This Dandy bound volume for 1953 included the New Year issue from 1954 and featured the Coronation issue ‘Holiday Paper’ and ads for the first and only Desperate Dan Annual. An unprecedented bidding battle resulted with a stellar winning bid of £3550.00.

The complete year of 1952 Beano comics was not to be outdone and included Dennis The Menace’s first front cover appearance with Biffo in issue 540. There was industrial action in June of that year and the comic’s circulation was severely disrupted so complete years are subsequently scarce - especially in the [vfn/nm] grades presented here. There were even front cover margin messages on six issues to newsagents detailing the distribution problems. £2950 took away these scarcities.

Talking of Biffo, DC Thomson front cover artwork does not appear very often and The Bear’s adventures in this 1953 Beano original piece saw Biffo literally painting the town red. Drawn and signed by the legendary Dudley Watkins it sold for £2700.

This Dandy front cover artwork from 1961 by Jimmy Crighton saw Korky up to his usual tricks and was also accompanied by a printer’s proof of the front cover. Proof positive at £1300.

Have a look at this Oor Wullie Book from 1941 in beautiful condition. His adventures were drawn together in a volume for the first time with selected appearances from The Scottish Sunday Post ‘Fun Pages’. This established the wee lad as a firm favourite with everyone north of the border, his adventures continuing to the present day. Expected to fetch more, Dudley Watkins artistic excellence was still rewarded with £4550.

In very low grades these 12 hard-to-find war years Beanos were taken to a heady £420.

Dandy the same where six lower grade 1939 issues rose to £320, over £50 each.

Scoops was the UK’s first science fiction weekly and all 20 issues were compiled in this bound volume, including the serialisation of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle’s The Poison Belt in numbers 14-18. Scooped up at £380.

The Adventures of Dick Boss are not widely known outside the Netherlands where the eponymous hero and his creator have legendary status. Conceived during WWII by Alfred Mazure, Dick Boss’s wartime adventures were banned in German-occupied Holland when Mazure refused to rewrite his hero as a Nazi spy. Little did the Germans know that Mazure, himself, was a member of the Dutch resistance – an episode more dangerous in real life than he could ever have penned in fiction. These small fully illustrated pocket books reached £360 and £520 respectively.

A near complete run of 91 issues of Comet from 1952-54 included a free gift with number 257 the Comet Magic Glasses which brought sharp focus to a winning bid of £580.

The first 45 issues of Lion in a bound volume were offered here with the free gifts for nos. 1 and 2 and Frank S Pepper’s Captain Condor journeyed into space at £760.

Rocket 1-32 with two Space Badges went even further stratospheric as Robbie The Robot blew a £600 fuse.

A near complete run of 70 TV 21 & Joe 90 comics took a fiver each with £360.

Three original artworks of Joe Colquhoun’s Charley’s War secured Corp. Charley Bourne respite at £1320.

Our US section highlighted  Batman #36 with an early Penguin story at £430.

Four issues of Adventure from the early 50s had amateur restoration to various parts of their covers and they sold at £410.

 

Issues 4, 5 6 and 8 of Superboy were also restored by their original owner, tipping the scales at an affordable £250

Superman 27 had tape repairs, overseen by Lois Lane for £450.

The scarce World’s Finest #8 was not in the world’s finest condition with amateur restoration but with ‘Sink The Japanazis’ war bonds cover it raised £450.

Here’s World’s Finest #22 in the higher grade of [fn-] at £220.

Regarded as the first ‘supernatural’ comic, this example of Eerie #1 from 1947 had a nearly detached spine but it still ghosted to £155.

We teamed 1950 Haunt of Fear 16 (#2) and #4 here. With noticeable defects and some brittle page edges these keys still took £240.

One of the all- time classic covers, this cents copy of Amazing Spider-Man #50 was graded Fine Minus and realised £230.

Fantastic Four #26, 32, 33, 45, 46 and 52 were key issues including the first appearance of Black Panther and, although there were small colour touches to the covers, a strong £740 took them away.

A CGC 8.5 copy of Marvel Preview #4 from 1976 previewed £340.

Hawkeye made his first appearance in Tales Of Suspense #57 and this cents Fine Plus copy excelled at £440.

The X-Men 3 illustrated here had a tiny mutant colour touch to its top spine making a [fine] £280.

Where would we be without some romance in our lives? 19 DC issues with titles like ’Falling In Love’, ‘Heartthrobs’ and ‘Secret Hearts’ entwined the winning bidder to part with £240 – lovely.

 

In August this year the World Health Organisation classified ‘hoarding’ as a medical disorder. Key signs of a problem hoarder were itemised as follows:

1) Keeping items of no monetary value such as teabags or junk mail.
2) Becoming overly attached to some items.
3) Refusing to discard old newspapers, magazines and similar reading material.
4) Deteriorating relations.

Psychiatrists associated with the project have said, and I quote:
‘Excessive acquisition is characterised by repetitive urges or behaviours related to amassing or buying such items’.
Once a UK treatment centre is established, I’m confident that Compal customers will form an orderly queue.