Eureka, the young world weekly (1998)

Eureka was an effort by ex-Eagle editor Derek Lord to launch a comic for young people in a similar vein to Eagle all those years before. There may have been more than one dummy produced (it was a project that had a long gestation period) but this is a copy of the dummy I have, A4 sized, full colour, 16 pages

page 2 has a tiny signature - WMS - which is for Bill Storie.

Here Derek Lord sets out his vision for Eureka

Show horse rustlers, by, it looks like the signature says, Nigel Park______ but the speech bubble (in frame 4) obliterates most of the surname. Very frustrating. The signature MUST be that of Nigel Parkinson but it's very unlike his usual cartoon-y style. This is the best art in the whole thing and is very much in the style of someone like Harry Lindfield or Mike Noble. 

Here's a close-up on that signature

John Ryan supplied this Captain Pugwash drawing

William Rudling drew Chloe

William Rudling also wrote & drew The Adventurers

I've since found this link to ace cartoonist Nigel Parkinson's blog for a strip that was intended for Eureka (but wasn't included in the dummy, above)

instead the dummy had this (below) version of Hadrian's Heroes in it instead...art by GM (this was Gordon Matthews) 

I prefer Nigel Parkinson's version!

Jeremy Briggs covered Eureka for Down the Tubes here and here - both the articles are well worth a read as they give a more detailed look at Eureka.

Unique Dandy comic up for sale this week

There's a fascinating copy of The Dandy up for sale here, previously owned by artist Duncan Scott, who died in 2021- as the seller explains...

Published by DC Thomson October 30th 2010.

This comic is number 26 of only 37 that were created specifically for the artists and staff working on The Dandy relaunch comic. The back cover was originally left blank for signatures etc.

This copy was given to DC Thomson artist Duncan Scott. Later on before his death he agreed on my request to draw The Bash Street Kids, Colin the Vet and The Neds.

...the auction runs until Tuesday lunchtime - good luck if you bid!

• Read a tribute to Duncan Scott here on downthetubes 

UPDATED: Scouse Mouse an incomplete guide

New comic highlighted in purple...

One of the first comics I ever blogged about was 'Ace' or 'Scouse Mouse presents Ace!' comic to give it it's full title.

I'm still not clear on the chronology of this comic but I know that the last issue was April 1989 (see the Werewolf cover, below). 

Scouse Mouse presents the Ace! comic, fun special

Scouse Mouse presents Ace! comic, issue 1

Scouse Mouse presents Ace! comic, issue 2

Scouse Mouse comic, issue 3

Based on the image from the image on the back of issue 3 (above) we know that the title was then re-named 'Scouse Mouse and the scallywags'...

Scouse Mouse and the scallywags!comic, issue 4

ebay listing dates this to November 1987

This is un-numbered but if issue 4 (above) is from November then this is presumably issue #5 (December 1987) 

It ends up as just being Scouse Mouse by the time it merges into Whizzer & Chips (on 15th April 1989 - the Scouse Mouse logo was dropped from the masthead after precisely 4 weeks, apparently) - so maybe the December date on the above comic means it's from 1988. Again, copyright dates are missing from these comics.

Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags, January 1988

Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags, Smoochy February Edition

Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags, Mad March Edition

Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags, Super Spring Edition

As this has the same price as previous issues I'm assuming it wasn't actually a holiday special type issue (despite the title) so I'd guess this was Spring 1988

Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags, Jolly June Edition

I'm assuming this is from June 1988 - Nigel Parkinson draws the first strip here (and has signed his work).

The comic ends up as just being Scouse Mouse by the time it merges into Whizzer & Chips (on 15th April 1989 - the Scouse Mouse logo was dropped from the masthead after precisely 4 weeks, apparently)...

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 1, November 1988

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 2, December 1988

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 3, January 1989

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 4, February 1989

image not to hand - can you help?

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 5, March 1989

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 6, April 1989

George Nicholas also worked on the Budgie Malone comic - which I looked at here , here and here as well as Were Bears comic (here). All 3 titles are hard to collect - so good luck in your collecting. 

I've tried to piece together all the appearances of Were Bears, Star Bears and Scare Bears here 

George has a website here

Friend of the blog Stephen Archer has let me have the following information about the 1989 issues of Whizzer & Chips...

Beginning with 15/4/89, and omitting 22/4, 17/6, 15/7, 16/9, 11/11, 18/11 and 9/12 (as those dates aren’t held by the British Library) and are thus uncheckable, Scouse Mouse appeared continuously until the end of the year with the exceptions of 14/10 and 2/12.

Comics artist Nigel Parkinson has provided this timeline...

a). 2 issues of ACE in 1986;

b). 13 issues of Scouse Mouse (and the Scallywags) published by Modelbrisk, 1987-8; 

c). 6 issues of Scouse Mouse published by Fleetway 1988-9

Cartoon Aid - Olympic Book

A while ago (here) I looked at this book/annual which had been produced by the Cartoon Aid charity (it's from the era of Band Aid so it doesn't take much imagination to see where the title came from)...

I've now discovered they produced a further book - entitled 'The Cartoon Aid Olympic Book'. There are 5 colours in the Olympics and there are at least 3 different colour editions of this book. I've only got the red version but I'm assuming that all the books are the same, they just have a different colour cover.

The book doesn't have an introduction or a list of contributors but it is a full colour A4 sized book with hundreds of page long with single image cartons (rather than comic strips) all on the theme of the Olympics. The cartoons come from all over the world so most of the contributors won't be known to you,

Here are some of the cartoons by some British creators...

some  Davy Francis art there

Andy Capp not using the Olympic flame for the purpose for which it was designed

More Davy Francis art

And here's Nigel 'Beano' Parkinson's contribution...the question is whatever happened to Mafia Mouse?

Space Precinct 2040 - part 2

And now we have issues 4-6...

Cover by Mick Austin
story one - The last Warrior (writer Ian Carney; Art by John Erasmus; letters by Annie Parkhouse)
story two - Christmas spirit (writer Stephen Jewell; art & lettering Gary Chaloner)
cutaway drawing (by Graham Bleathman) of Slomo (robotic secretarial assistant)

Cover by Tony Luke
story one - True believers (writer Simon Jowett; Art by Graham Manley; letters by Annie Parkhouse)
story two - Timebomb (writer Cory MacRae; art Andrew Currie; inks Graham Higgins; colours Nigel Parkinson; lettering Peter Nichols)
cutaway drawing (by Graham Bleathman) of inside the space hopper 

Cover by Colin MacNeil
story one - Cruise control (story by Paul Grist, art by Colin MacNeil, colours by Nigel Parkinson; lettering by Elitta Fell)
story two - True believers (writer Simon Jowett; art by Graham Manley)

Space Precinct 2040 - part 1

Here are the contents and covers to the first 3 issues of 'Space Precinct' by Manga Publishing. The title lasted 6 issues in total...

cover by Kev Walker
story one - The last warrior [writer Ian Carney; art John Erasmus; lettering Annie Parkhouse]
story two - parental guidance [writer William Cade; art Andrew Currie; lettering Peter Nicholls; colours Steve Whitaker]
cutaway drawing (by Graham Bleathman) of 88th precinct station house

cover by John Erasmus
story one - The last warrior [writer Ian Carney; art John Erasmus; lettering Annie Parkhouse]
story two - Arcadia [writer David Hine; art David Hine; lettering Elitta Fell; colours Nigel Parkinson]
cutaway drawing (by Graham Bleathman) of police cruiser.

cover by John Higgins
story one - Arcadia [writer David Hine; art David Hine; lettering Elitta Fell; colours Nigel Parkinson]
story two - The last warrior [writer Ian Carney; art John Erasmus; lettering Annie Parkhouse]
cutaway drawing (by Graham Bleathman) of inside the space suburb.