Mick Austin - sales on HA

Just recording for posterity this selection of work by artist Mick Austin thta has been sold in the not too distant past on Heritage Auctions.com...

Mick Austin Fantastic Four Invisible Girl Illustration Original Art (Marvel UK, 1982). A large and beautiful portrait of Susan Storm, created in mixed media on a thick illustration board for an issue of the UK edition of Fantastic Four. Image area of 15.75" x 21.25". Light handling and corner/edge wear. Signed and dated. In Very Good condition.

Sold for $50 (or $79 with buyers premium)

Mick Austin Halls Of Horror #27 Cover Original Art (Quality Communications, 1983). This painting, created for the cover of an issue of the horror film and comics magazine Halls of Horror, evokes the films Jaws, Brides of Dracula, and The Night Stalker. It is rendered in mixed media on illustration board, mounted to a rigid backboard with adhesive tape at all four corners. Image area of 13.25" x 18.25". Light handling, corner/ edge wear. Signed and dated. In Very Good condition.

Sold for $380 (or $475 with buyers premium)

Mick Austin Halls of Horror Presents, Dracula Special #1 Cover Original Art (Dez Skinn, 1984). A bone-chilling portrait of Dracula, as portrayed by Christopher Lee in 1958's Horror of Dracula, rendered in mixed media on a thick illustration board with an image area of 12.5" x 17.5". Minor spots of light surface abrasion are present. Signed. Light handling wear. In Very Good condition.

Sold for $850 (or $1062.50 with buyers premium)

CI #128 - the Miracleman cover that never was

A recent Facebook chat took me down a Miracleman rabbit-hole recently...Suffice it to say the (first) cover below was used in the Diamond Previews catalogue cover BUT Todd McFarlane saw it and threatened to sue Comics International if it was used. So it wasn't used... 

...instead this was the cover that was used - you may recognise it as the cover (by Mick Austin) from Warrior #7 

The issue contains 5 pages all about Miracleman, including Mark Buckingham's original artwork for issue 25 which at that point was unpublished.

Here's the original chat...

Sez Dez volume 1

Always good to have another comic creator autobiography out...and here's the latest...

It says book 1 (Dez jokingly (??) says there'll be about 5 books in all) as this first book only covers the eary days of his career - schooldays through attempted research chemist year to Doncaster Newspapers then IPC's weekly comics.

What a lockdown project this has been! Order your copy today.

Errata

Note the following corrections & clarifications...

page 13 - the fanzine is called Ka-Pow [not Ka-Pow!]

page 14 - Bernie Wrightson [not Bernie Wrighton]
page 16 - Eagle not The Eagle

page 34 - chamois not shammy

page 70 - Eagle not The Eagle

page 70 - Tom Tully [not Tom Tulley]

page 82 - the Dave Gibbons cover wraps around issue #57 [not #58] of Fantasy Advertiser

page 87 - Scream! [not Scream]

page 89 - Eagle not The Eagle [multiple times on this page]

Quizzer issue 7

I've looked before (here) at the elusive Quizzer magazine that Dez Skinn published in the 1970s. 

Always alert to new info. about Quizzer I was delighted to spot this Ian Kennedy page from issue 7 on the Twitter feed of @Aston365

Dez Skinn's 'Warrior' volume 1

Inspired by a comment on episode 40 (here) of the 'Never iron anything' podcast - which was all about Dez Skinn's Warrior magazine - I thought I'd post up some details of his first Warrior...all are black & white, A4 size, have 1 or 2 pages of the particular story reprinted and are hard work to collect!  

Warrior, issue 1

Includes Wrath of the Gods by John M Burns, Kelpie - boy wizard by John M Burns, Erik the viking by Don Lawrence, Heros the Spartan by Frank Bellamy, Olac the gladiator by Don Lawrence and Black Axe - Saxon avenger by Tom Kerr.

Warrior, issue 2

Erik the viking by Don Lawrence, Thong by Steve Parkhouse, Wrath of the Gods by John M Burns, Heros the Spartan by Frank Bellamy, Kelpie - boy wizard by John M Burns, Black Axe - Saxon avenger by Tom Kerr and Olac the gladiator by Don Lawrence.

Warrior, issue 3 - cover by Barry (Windsor-)Smith

Erik the viking by Don Lawrence, Thong by Steve Parkhouse, Kelpie - boy wizard by John M Burns, Heros the Spartan by Frank Bellamy, Wrath of the Gods by John M Burns, Black Axe - Saxon avenger by Tom Kerr and Olac the gladiator by Don Lawrence.

Warrior, issue 4

Erik the viking by Don Lawrence, The knight from Nowhere by Eric Bradbury (script by Steve Moore), Thong by Steve Parkhouse, Heros the Spartan by Frank Bellamy, Kelpie - boy wizard by John M Burns, Wrath of the Gods by John M Burns and Olac the gladiator by Don Lawrence.

Warrior, issue 5 - cover by Angus McKie

Erik the viking by Don Lawrence, Thong by Steve Parkhouse, Olac the gladiator by Don Lawrence,  Heros the Spartan by Frank Bellamy, The mystic fountain (creators unknown) and Horatius - the hero of Rome (creators unknown).

Warrior, issue 6

Erik the viking by Don Lawrence, Swordspell by Angus McKie (script by Alan Booth) and Horatius - the hero of Rome (creators unknown).

Hammer collected comics from Dez Skinn

Not sure I've flagged these before but Dez Skinn has packaged up the horror comic strips from his Hammer comic days...available as single volume purchases or a 'bundle'. Dez did also put out a combined single volume but that doesn't seem to be available any more

here for here for £48.95

here you can get issues 1-4 for £9.95

here you can get issues 5-9 for £9.95

here you can get issues 10-14 for £9.95

here you can get issues 15-20 for £9.95

here you can get issues 22-24 for £9.95

Ron Turner in Quizzer - part 2

A long time ago (here) along with friend of the blog Jeremy Briggs I looked at a obscure comic-cum-puzzle-magazine 'Quizzer' - we just looked at one particular strip on that occasion but there are other nuggets in there...In this issue of Junior Quizzer there's some (long-lost) Ron Turner work, so here it is again for your enjoyment...

Junior Quizzer is (c) Dez Skinn

Ian Kennedy in Junior Quizzer - part 2

A long time ago (here) along with friend of the blog Jeremy Briggs I looked at a obscure comic-cum-puzzle-magazine 'Quizzer' - we just looked at one particular strip on that occasion but there are other nuggets in there...In this issue of Junior Quizzer there's some (long-lost) Ian Kennedy work, so here it is again for your enjoyment...

The answer to the puzzle is... driver Johnny Bull managed to drive his Centurion straight at the stout tree which lay ahead of the tank. He snagged the collapsed gun barrel against the trunk and drove the tank on hard...thus forcing the turret round, clearing his escape hatch!

Junior Quizzer is (c) Dez Skinn

Ian Kennedy in Junior Quizzer - part 1

A long time ago (here) along with friend of the blog Jeremy Briggs I looked at a obscure comic-cum-puzzle-magazine 'Quizzer' - we just looked at one particular strip on that occasion but there are other nuggets in there...In this issue of Junior Quizzer there's some (long-lost) Ian Kennedy work, so here it is again for your enjoyment...

The answer to the puzzle is...The Englishman collided on purpose so that when he opearted his brake parachute, both vehices slowed down!

Junior Quizzer is (c) Dez Skinn

Van Helsing's Terror tales arrives in paperback

A quick shout out for the new publication from Dez Skinn (just search for him on facebook) it's a glossy softcover edition of his previously published (albeit in a limited edition hardback - 100 copies only) reprints from House of Hammer magazine, Van Helsing's Terror tales.

You can expect contributions from Martin Asbury, Donne Avenell, Jim Baikie, John Bolton, Joe Colquhoun, Dave Gibbons, Trev Goring, Brian Lewis, Chris Lowder, Angus McKie, Steve Moore, Steve Parkhouse, Ramon Sola and Patrick Wright.

Iconic Warrior cover up for sale

Heritage Comics have revealed that they have Mick Austin's iconic cover for Warrior #16 up for sale here

As they say...Alan Moore's "Marvelman" tales were all-new stories inspired by the UK's answer to the original Captain Marvel (when the reprint options on the originals ceased). Mick Austin's cover painting captures the magic and sparkle of this man-with-God-like-powers. When the stories were eventually reprinted here in the US, conflicts with Marvel (not DC) forced the change in the character's name to "Miracleman". This issue mistakenly gave cover credit to Steve Parkhouse, but it is clearly signed by Mick Austin in the lower left of the 12.5" x 17.5" gouache image area. Originally created in illustration board, it has since been "skimmed" off of the board. A bit of production tape in the margins, and some minor foxing in the left marginal edge. In Excellent condition. 

The auction runs 21-23 February and the opening bid is $1100 

Some Zarjaz Saturdays - part 2

If only I had a time machine...these sound great...

Monster Mag #4+5

That one man publishing industry Dez Skinn has announced his next reprint venture...This time he's reprinting (and re-mastering) issues 4 and 5 of his Monster Mag title. 

Payment details etc. on the image below 

The Monster club is back from your nightmares

The one man publishing industry that is Dez Skinn has just launched his new title...

If you search facebook for 'House of Hammer magazine' you should find the details for this - as you'll see from the blurb that this is a strictly limited edition of 100 copies (of 32 page Monster goodness). Try not to have nightmares now people!

Halls of Horror 24 rises from the grave!

Great news for all horror comics fans Dez Skinn is to launch / re-surrect the previously unpublished issue 24 of his 'Halls of Horror' magazine - happy 40th birthday HoH! Details below

Warrior #0 - available now

Over on that facebook, here specifically (or just search for 'Warrior magazine') Dez Skinn has announced plans to print a limited edition* of Warrior #0...How it all came to be. A limited edition printing of the original mock-up dummy, produced in 1982, with a tad of 21st century enhancement.

Time to rush him some money people...

*quite how limited is unspecified

Doctor Who Weekly #0

Dez Skinn continues his one man effort to bring '70s comic strips back to the present day with this little beauty...

As he says on that facebook…
Talking about dummies (no jokes, please!) a while back I produced a special commemorative Doctor Who Weekly #0 - a printing of the original mock-up that I took along to the BBC to secure the license in 1979. Only 100 copies printed, which disappeared pronto. So, as a guest of the forthcoming Vworp convention and feeling I couldn't turn up empty-handed, I produced another limited edition of DWW #0 (a slight variant and without the s+n certificate so as not to devalue the original 100 but still with the explanatory "Letter from the Dezter").

Anybody not attending or impatient can actually get it from me now. It's £24.95 inc postage (UK; plus £4.00 Europe, £5.50 rest of world). Just Paypal the amount to Dezskinn1@yahoo.co.uk and we'll mail it out pronto.

Van Helsing's Terror Tales reprint volume launched

Dez Skinn is a one-man comics industry and has very definitely been there and done that in terms of the British comics industry. His latest volume is published in just a few days time, details below...

The 80 pages will cover just the 'Van Helsing's Terror Tales' from House of Hammer magazine. Hopefully this is the first of a series of volumes from Dez