UPDATED: Norman Wright reference books

My look at comic reference books has, to date, covered a number of authors such as...

i). Dennis Gifford books here (with all Gifford posts here)

ii). Lofts & Adley books are here

iii). Dennis Gifford is here 

iv). David Ashford is here

v). Ray Moore is here

vi). Martin Hamer is here

vii). Colin Morgan is here

vii). Alan Clark is here

...but there's more to come. Next up is author Norman Wright. I suspect that there are quite a few of these that I'm not aware of but you've got to start somewhere!

UPDATE: 3 x booklets containing essays on Biggles now added to this listing

Fighting, Fun & Flights of Fancy, Norman Wright - limited edition of 125 copies

Camels, Condors & Worldwide Wanderings, Norman Wright - limited edition of 125 copies

Facing Flak & Looking Back, Norman Wright - limited edition of 60 copies

Enid Blyton's magazine, 1953-1959, Tony Summerfield & Norman Wright, 32 pages

George E Rochester, 1898-1966: an index of his work, Bill Bradford & Norman Wright, 24 pages

cover image not to hand - can you help?

W.E. Johns & Modern Boy: an index, Norman Wright, 40 pages

Sexton Blake: a celebration of the great detective, Norman Wright & David Ashford

Sunny stories: an index, 1942-1953,Tony Summerfield & Norman Wright

Enid Blyton's Sunny stories: 1937-1941, an index, Tony Summerfield & Norman Wright

all Blyton images swiped from here

Lawless 2025 - the photos, part 7

For anyone (like me!) who thinks it'a a very long time to wait until Lawless 2026 here's some photos of Lawless 2025 to help keep you going until May 2026.

Simon Bisley prints were here

More prints & Bisley paintings were here

Bisley pencil work is here

Original comic art for sale here

Brian Bolland was here

The convention floor was here

and now we have some of the guests...

Here's Hunt Emerson

Here's Ant Williams and Patrick Goddard

Here's Ben Willsher

and Hunt again

UPDATED: Comics Diaries

I've looked at the diaries produced by Eagle, Girl & Swift before, but in separate posts, so I thought I might usefully pull that information together into a single post.

I've now started adding other comics / comic strips to this listing - all new entries are shown in red. For this post I've added details of some Giles diaries.

c/o Steve Keene-Elliott who says...

From what information I've managed to gather, there were 4 Giles Diaries issued in total:
• Giles Diary 1994 (ISBN-10 0091778808, Random House, 1993)
• Giles Pocket Diary 1995 (ISBN-10 009178574X, Ebury Press Stationery, 1994)
• Giles Diary 1995 (ISBN-10 0091785162, Ebury Press Stationery, 1994)
• Giles Desk Diary 1996 (ISBN-10 0091806445, Vintage/Ebury, 1995)

Having said that, I've never seen the 1996 one, it's been on my wishlist for a very long time!

Rupert

Rupert diary, 1993

Rupert diary, 1995

Rupert diary, 2013

Rupert diary, 2015

Rupert diary, 2016

Eagle

Diaries were produced for at least 1951-63. No diary would have been produced for 1950 (Eagle launched in mid-April so that would have made no sense). I have copies of diaries for the following years...1951-63, so I'm just missing any produced from 1964 onwards. 

Diaries typically look like this...

Girl

This auction lot mention a Girl diary for 1953. Looks very similar to the 1956 one!

Only example I've ever seen - no idea how many were produced. This is for 1956.

Swift

Only example I've ever seen - no idea how many were produced

Judge Dredd diaries

For the year 2000...

and these images (all swiped from here) of a numbered limited edition version of the year 2000 diary as well

Doonesbury desk diaries

Doonesbury desk diary for 1984

Doonesbury desk diary for 1985

Doonesbury desk diary for 1988

Doonesbury desk diary for 1989

Doonesbury desk diary for 1991

Princess Tina diary 1968

image c/o Janis Cross (on the "Girls comics - UK" facebook group)

Princess Tina diary 1973

with more details here c/o friend of the blog Jeremy Briggs

TV21 diary for 1970

Originally priced at seven shillings in 1970 Letts published a much coveted, TV21 “desk diary”, featuring photographs from many of the Gerry Anderson series. Produced so it could be used for any year during the 1970s, they’re considered quite rare today, offered for eye watering prices unblemished on auction sites. Perhaps Anderson Entertainment should take note. “The price put it out of the range of many a fan of the time,” recalls John Freeman, “including me.”

The Murdersville blog has some more photos of interior pages

UPDATED: Commando - heritage characters

Updated to include another Braddock story in issue 5891

Updated to include a V for Vengeance (from The Wizard) - issue #5887

Updated to include another Codename Warlord story - issue 5841 - which is out now!

Updated to include another Kampfgruppe Falken issue (#5827) which is out now!

Updated to include another Union Jack Jackson issue (#5813) and a Sergeant Rayker issue (#5817)

Updated to include Commando 5803 (which is on sale currently). It's another Lord Peter Flint issue

Updated to include issue Commando 5799 which is on sale currently. It's another Cadman issue - art by Mike Dorey.

To celebrate the release (last week I think) of Commando issue 5759 (below) and the inclusion of Kampfgruppe Falken in it I thought I'd log the other back issues of Commando that feature other DC Thomson 'heritage' characters.

Have I missed any? Just let me know!

Commando 5759

Commando 5827

Braddock has two issues so far

Commando 5269

Commando 5267

Commando 5875

The daredevil bomber pilot returns! Now that his squadron had converted to Vickers Wellingtons, Sergeant Matt Braddock couldn’t wait to get airborne. But a hairy first mission soon left him without a navigator – luckily, the impressive Sergeant George Bourne was looking for a new crew. Bourne and Braddock were soon thick as thieves, but it wasn’t long before Braddock’s gung-ho attitude landed them in an Italian POW camp. Braddock was going to have to rely on more than his flying skills to get out of this one!

Commando 5891

After his daring escape from an Italian POW camp, Braddock found himself craving his next adventure. Luckily, adventure had a way of finding him! German Focke Wulf Condors were causing problems for the Allies in the Atlantic, and the Brits didn’t have any planes with the same range. Braddock’s solution? Steal one of the German kites, of course! But this mission would require a crack team, and some of Brad’s flight crew were more up to the task than others. Could they pull it off?

Lord Peter Flint has appeared in 4 issues as well

Commando 5255

Commando 5263

Commando 5803

Lord Peter Flint, AKA Codename: Warlord, relied on being a 'coward' to stop being suspected as a secret agent! So when a journalist tried to write a hit piece on him, that was the least of his worries! He was busy stopping a REAL assassination plot!

Commando 5841

Britain’s finest spy, Lord Peter Flint, is on another top-hole adventure! After Warlord’s most disastrous mission yet, Flint ends up as the number one target of ‘six of the best’ assassins the world has ever seen!
But why does the phrase ‘six of the best’ seem familiar to him? Who is the mysterious sixth assassin who is an ‘old friend’ of Flint’s?
Will these questions be answered – or will this be the end of Codename Warlord?!

Cadman has 3 issues so far

Commando 5697

That cowardly cad returns! From the pages of The Victor to Commando, Cadman the Fighting Coward looks skyward to escape the trenches - but he soon finds that life in the Royal Flying Corps isn't any easier or safer than on the ground!

5665 - interior art by Mike Dorey, cover art by Mike Dorey & Neil Roberts

5799 - interior art by Mike Dorey, cover art by Mike Dorey

Union Jack Jackson

Commando 5287

Commando 5813

Union Jack Jackson's back! With a little help from his pals, Jack must find an airfield which has been launching attacks on Navy convoys. But he get more than he bargained for when he sees aircraft taking off from the back of a submarine!

Sergeant Rayker

Commando 5817

Last seen in Warlord in 1984, Sergeant Moses Rayker returns! Trapped behind enemy lines, Rayker encounters an unfriendly face in the form of Buford ‘Bubba’ Ballard. Will Rayker end up smacking the tar outta him before they make it back?

Commando 5857

Legendary Warlord character returns to Commando! Sergeant Rayker was tasked with rounding up four drunken US Marines. But not long after he finds himself under enemy fire with the drunken marines in tow. Perhaps this job isn’t as easy as it sounds!

from the pages of The Wizard - Commando 5887 - V for Vengeance: Prisoner 7234

As air raids wreak havoc over the skies of Berlin, dread pervades the Nazi party. High-ranking officials are being assassinated one by one by the mysterious group named ‘The Deathless Men’. At the scene of each crime, the killers leave a list of future victims alongside a proclamation titled ‘V for Vengeance’.
Desperately, those whose names are listed seek answers, but their only clues link each assassin to deceased prisoners of a concentration camp – are the dead returning to seek revenge?