Words | Virginia Blackburn

Comics are loved by millions of people and many of them are highly prized for their classic characters,
brilliant art work and gripping story lines – so if you haven’t done so already, start collecting now…

NOSTALGIA MAY NOT be what it once was, but it has certainly fuelled some interesting areas of collecting. Comic books, much beloved by
little boys (and, to a lesser extent, little girls) are big business. In 2004, the first ever edition of The Dandy, dating from December 1937, sold for £20,350. It was one of only between 15 and 20 still known to be in existence, and not only was it in pristine condition, but it even had the original free gift it was sold with – a tin whistle – attached. If you too have kept very good quality editions of the comic books of your youth, you might just find that
you have your hands on something valuable.

“Comics as we know them today first started appearing in the 1930s and 1940s,” says Rob Rudderham of 30th Century Comics, a London-based specialist comics’ dealer. “Superman and Batman were launched in the United States, and The Beano and The Dandy came out in the UK.
In the US, they evolved from newspaper strip cartoons, which had been running since the end of the 19th century, while in the UK, they emerged from the traditional story papers, such as Magnet and Gem. These papers carried more and more illustrations until they turned into fullblown comics. The new form proved very attractive and took off. The best ones for collectors to look for now are the first appearances of a new character, such as Spiderman or The Fantastic Four, or key moments in their story.”

Comics became collectable almost from the moment they first appeared, but, until recently, American comics were much more sought-after than their British counterparts. Not only were the American ones printed on better, glossier paper, which meant they lasted longer, but they also introduced characters that became global names. They even have their own time frame: a golden age, from the late 1930s to the mid 1950s, a silver age, from the mid 1950s to the late 1960s, and a bronze age, from the late 1960s to 1980. No such categorisation exists for the British market, although since the mid 1990s, there has been a massive growth in interest in early British comics.

On both sides of the Atlantic, though, craftsmanship was astoundingly high. “The art work in these comics is fabulous,” says Geoff West, of the London-based book dealers The Book Palace, which specialises in comic books. “It might have been commercial art, but they were highly
accomplished artists. People like Frank Bellamy drew for The Eagle, while Frank Hampson created Dan Dare.”

Of course, there were other names that are less well known today. “There was a series that ran from the late- 1940s to the late 1960s called Classics Illustrated,” says West. “It was a US series, but it was printed in Britain, too, in full colour with glossy covers. It covered all the famous
classics in comic book form, such as Treasure Island, Black Beauty and much of Shakespeare, and people remember reading them when they were children. Depending on their condition, one of these books could be worth from £5 or £6 to several hundred.”

Condition is crucial to the comic book’s value. Rob Rudderham estimates that a first edition of a Spiderman comic in mint condition would cost between £10,000 and £20,000 – he has one in stock in a moderate condition which is valued at only £2,000. Condition matters so much that even the much older comics are all but worthless if they are a mess. Rudderham has some comics dating from the 1930s that are worth as little as £3, and others dating from the 1960s that are worth thousands.

A further factor greatly affects value – if the comic still retains the free gift that originally came with it. Many early British comics had free gifts attached: The Beano’s first appearance was accompanied by a “whoopie” mask,so called, because you put it on and leapt out yelling
“whoopie!” Free gifts were often thrown away, and so a magazine with the gift still attached could be worth four or five times more than its giftless counterpart.

The gifts themselves often had quite a history, according to Malcolm Phillips of Comic Book Postal Auctions, the establishment that sold the £20,350 copy of The Dandy, still the most expensive British comic ever sold.

“The publishers DC Thompson used to use the same sort of free gifts with different titles,” he says. “For example, when the first edition of Hotspur came out in 1933, it came with a black mask. Five years later, The Beano appeared, with exactly the same design of mask, the only
difference being that it was beige.”

Most comic books were aimed at boys. However, a few that were aimed at girls are now beginning to attract collectors’ interest in their own right. In the 1970s, a series of titles appeared, including Misty. It was, essentially, gothic horror for teenage girls, created by the artists responsible
for 2000 AD. While many of them now sell for £4 to £6, they, too, came with free gifts, which, if still attached, can rise the value to between £25 and £50 – not a fortune, but a nice sum if you have a few of them.

Another series that is also relatively cheap but very popular, is Fables, a Vertigo comic book series created by Bill Willingham which featured story lines such as how Snow White divorced Prince Charming due to his infidelity, and is now deputy mayor of “Fabletown”. A first issue is worth about £10, with subsequent ones valued at £3 or £4. However, this is a modern series and as such, it’s unlikely to be worth a lot for decades yet. When it comes to collecting, the earliest incarnations of Superman, Batman et al, are still the most valuable fare.