Korky kicked off with a great run of 42 consecutive Dandys numbered 110-151 from 1940 and these propaganda war issues in mainly higher grades made £2640 or nearly £70 each when the 10% buyer's premium was included. Earlier issues from 1938 and 1939 were offered individually and averaged £75-95 each.

This Beano Comic No 2 was in lower grade with some clear taped edges and tears but there are only a few known copies in existence, substantially less than the prized No 1 where around 18 copies have been unearthed in the last twenty years. A mid estimate £1023 carried No 2 away to its delighted new owner. A Beano Book from 1942 with fresh boards and no dedication reached £1100 and had Big Eggo dancing a highland fling on the cover.

Magic Comics are increasing in value from previous auctions and issues 53 and 54 broke through the £100 barrier at £110 each. Having only lasted for 80 issues they are rarer than Beano and Dandy comics from the same era.

Showing that there's robust life in pre-war comics, a margin-foxed copy of Film Fun No 1 with free gift Fatty Arbuckle picture plate made a record £550. At the other end of the grade spectrum we offered the highest grade copy of Radio Fun No1 ever seen at auction and £330 made cover star, George a very Jolly Gee-Gee.

Here was a rare bird of the duck variety and Donald's second annual published by Collins in 1939 was bright and fresh with cream pages. £341 fitted his bill.

Thriller story papers are well collected for their publication of crime series starring The Gang Smasher, The Shadow and Ironside Of The Yard and the complete 52 issue year of 1939 in two bound volumes was a prime example in Very Fine grade. A treble estimate £700 was successfully tendered.

A half-year bound volume of Knock-Out from 1942 starred the potent mix of Sexton Blake and Billy Bunter (one removing thieves, the other the Thief of Remove). Offered with a fresh annual for that same year, £275 was tempted from the tuck box.

Rover had some wonderful cover art in 1948 and a rodeo cowboy leaping from the page and a snoozing sign painter at 3 'o'clock set the scene for the complete 39 issue year at £250. Even in 1948 paper shortages were still in evidence as some copies of Rover were printed fortnightly.

Originally part of UK comics historian, Denis Gifford's collection this complete run of the first 10 Comicolour albums starred Simple Sim, Hugh And Hitch The Happy Hikers and Coal Black Jones, all drawn by 'Bang' (E H Banger). UK Superman artist, John Mccail also drew Captain Comet for the series and £165 proved that even an album collection can fly.

Cute Fun and Slick Fun were two of the quirky titles published by Gerald G Swan, many illustrated by E H Banger. This lot consisted of 17 annuals and 8 comics being bid to £170.

Corker Comics never reached publication but Denis Gifford's mock up hard back volume of the first 12 issues included artwork for characters Pop And Percy Pig, Larry and Horace all by 'RAM', an up and coming young artist later to gain comic fame of a different kind as Robert A Monkhouse. This unique piece of comics history raised £330.

In the mid Fifties DC Thomson went large with Beezer and Topper, titles which eventually eat into the sales of core stalwarts Beano and Dandy. Number 1s with free gifts are highly prized but The Beezer 1 with Whizz Bang and promotional flyer exceeded all expectations with a whopping £441 winning bid. The Beez kneez.

Whenever you come across the rare first issue of Cowboy Comics it has usually fallen apart, its rusty stapled interior often separated from a glue hardened spine. The original publisher's file copies of 1-6 in a bound volume were rare examples in wonderful fine/fine+ condition. Buck Jones and Kit Carson rode into the sunset with £385.

Giorgio De Gaspari, was one of the Studio D'Ami artists in Milan that Amalgamated Press used for illustrating their comics and annuals in the late Fifties. His work was wonderfully atmospheric and captured his subject's struggle against foe and elements alike with a flourish not associated with the commercial necessity of producing several boards a day, 5 days a week, ad infinitum. His illustrations are now being appreciated and £350 for Kit Carson's lone cowboy is entirely reasonable.

Here's De Gaspari's artwork of Spy 13 from the cover of Thriller Picture Library 266. £350.

De Gaspari once more, this time with Dick Daring Of The Mounties - Will Dick get to the top of the sheer cliff? He did and was boosted by a £330 winning bid.

Oor Wullie's only got a penny but it gets him a stick 'o' rock fer nuthin', he guesses his weight correctly - nae charge, an' gets a shillin' from a gent who hasnae a penny for a stamp. Now he can buy The Beano and The Beezer and he's got change. 'Aye, life's wonderful!' And it certainly was at £605.

Talking again of The Beezer, 40 issues from 1960 made £176 with 62 from the early Sixties at £266. Four quid each for Pop, Dick and Harry.

That other large-format stalwart from D C Thomson was not to be outdone. 42 issues of 1957's Topper were bid to £231. Nobody makes a Monkey out of Mickey.

We offered the complete year of Buster in two publisher's bound volumes starring Buster, Squad Car 13, Black Axe, The Shrinker and Charley Drake. It sold for £473. Hallo my darlings.

Our run of Thunderbirds artwork continues to impress. You don't need Brains to see the brilliance of Bellamy's art. He used Pelikan inks to get the brightest finish on his boards but they were quick drying, all the more testament to the realistic action of his composition. The inks also fade markedly over time so fresh Bellamy boards are even harder to find. £2200 found this one.

It's isn't all about comics and artwork. Barratt & Co were the the main publishers of sweet cigarette cards and their values are well documented. 10 years ago Captain Scarlet's complete cardset from 1967 had a book value of £55. Here they sold for £193. They may be sweet cigarettes but the Cap's smokin'.

Jaime is attacked by a shark and the seas are mined around the impenetrable fortress of The Black Dragon. John Bolton's staccato rendition of The Bionic Woman is never short on action and these boards are still undervalued in the writer's opinion - here at £132.

With a major motion picture slotted in for 2011 The Avengers stock is on the rise. A remaindered copy of #1 with a big biro '6' on the cover flew to £275 and Cap America's cover appearance on #4 found £137. High prices for mid grade pence issues. Can't wait for the movie, we hear that The Wasp is being played by Sting. Sorry.

Over on the left is the Beano Clickity-Clicker from 1960. At two inches tall and in full working order Dennis's click has the irritating resonance of a bullfrog trapped inside a loudspeaker.

Dennis The Menace was 60 last week but these days his jumper seems to have taken on more of a pastel hue. Last year a boy of eight complained to The Beano that his hero had got too nice. Jacob Rush pleaded with the comic's bosses to return the spiky-haired character to his naughty best after he was turned into a softie. 'I don't like Dennis because he doesn't have his catapult or water-pistol any more and he's not menacing enough,' said the boy from Ipswich, Suffolk. Even his father joined in to back up his son: 'For Jacob it means Dennis is boring.' The protest was to fall on deaf ears as he received a reply saying The Beano brought the character in to line with the CBBC TV series. Harrumph.

Not only that, his fearsome wire-haired Abyssinian wolf-hound, Gnasher can't bite anybody, Walter The Softie, Dennis's put-upon pal, has had to get a girl-friend called Matilda that the publishers have given him to counter suggestions that he may be gay (pur-leez), and the only threat that the slipper now holds is to moulder on one of Dad's shuffling feet.

I always thought that the point of Dennis's cartoons was to lampoon authority, highlight his defiance of it, with order only being restored by a jolly good whacking. And it was funny. In those days the only pc around was the local bobby.

Malcolm Phillips
Director
Comic Book Auctions Ltd.