UPDATED: Reference books of David Ashford

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 David Ashford.

Now updated with a cover for 'The hardboiled art of Denis McLoughlin'

The art of Denis McLoughlin - David Ashford (2012)

The Fleetway picture libraries volume 2, the Thriller libraries - David Ashford & Steve Holland (2010) 

Masters of fun and thrills - Norman Wright & David Ashford (2008)

The Thriller comics companion - David Ashford & Norman Wright (2001)

first edition of 100 copies (numbered 1-100)

second edition of 50 (numbered 101-150)

Lightning swords! Smoking pistols! - Norman Wright & David Ashford (1995)

Sexton Blake - a celebration of the great detective - Norman Wright & David Ashford (1994)

The hardboiled art of Denis McLoughlin - David Ashford (1994)

The 'Comet' collectors guide - Steve Holland & David Ashford

The 'Sun' collectors guide - Steve Holland & David Ashford

The 'Thriler' picture library - an illustrated guide - David Ashford & Steve Holland

Super detective library - David Ashford & Steve Holland

'Cowboy comics library' index - David Ashford & Steve Holland

'Knockout' index - David Ashford, John Allen Clark & Steve Holland

this is A4 sized rather than A5 sized

The comic art of Roy Wilson - Alan Clark & David Ashford(1983)

The Mike Western story - Steve Holland

I've looked before at the British comics reference works by a number of authors...

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). Alan Clark is here

One author I've NOT looked at (yet!) is Steve Holland. For me, the book that I'd recommend you all try and pick up is this slim volume, The Mike Western story. This rare volume has 28 pages and is A5 in size. This is the original version....

...and this is a later reprint volume...

A5 sized, 36 pages (plus covers) - so a slightly expanded version. In the introduction to this version Steve Holland says there are less than 50 printed copies of the original version.

Good luck hunting down either version

Reference books of David Ashford

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

Lofts & Adley is here

Alan Clark is here 

Dennis Gifford is here 

...but there's more to come. Next up is author David Ashford

The art of Denis McLoughlin - David Ashford (2012)

The Fleetway picture libraries volume 2, the Thriller libraries - David Ashford & Steve Holland (2010) 

Masters of fun and thrills - Norman Wright & David Ashford (2008)

The Thriller comics companion - David Ashford & Norman Wright (2001)

first edition of 100 copies (numbered 1-100)

second edition of 50 (numbered 101-150)

Lightning swords! Smoking pistols! - Norman Wright & David Ashford (1995)

Sexton Blake - a celebration of the great detective - Norman Wright & David Ashford (1994)

The hardboiled art of Denis McLoughlin - David Ashford (1994)

no image to hand - can you help?

The 'Comet' collectors guide - Steve Holland & David Ashford

The 'Sun' collectors guide - Steve Holland & David Ashford

The 'Thriler' picture library - an illustrated guide - David Ashford & Steve Holland

Super detective library - David Ashford & Steve Holland

'Cowboy comics library' index - David Ashford & Steve Holland

'Knockout' index - David Ashford, John Allen Clark & Steve Holland

this is A4 sized rather than A5 sized

The comic art of Roy Wilson - Alan Clark & David Ashford(1983)

Correcting comic myths (1) - How many issues of Eagle were there?

Part 1 of an occasional series dedicated to pedantry, I mean correcting common comic mis-conceptions,...

How many issues of the original Eagle comic/magazine were there?
Easy you say, just look it up some likely places and surely they'll all agree? Ok, let's have a look at some of those likely places then...
1). Denis Gifford's 'Complete catalogue of British comics' (1984) says 991.

 2). The international book of comics (Denis Gifford, 1984) says 991

3). The British comic catalogue 1874-1974 (Denis Gifford, 1974) says 991

4). British comics and story paper guide 1982 (Denis Gifford) says 991

(so the four Denis Gifford publications, unsurprisingly, agree on 991 issues)

5). Penny Dreadfuls and Comics (Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, 1983) also has 991

6). Wikipedia says 991 issues

7). Comic Vine says 991 issues

8). The comic guide (1983) says 991 issues

9). The Comic Book price guide for 1997-8 says 987 issues 

10). The online version of the Comic Book price guide (here) says 987 and 997 issues depending on which bit of the entry you read.

So, that's not exactly clear - it's either 991 issues or 987. I think safe to say that all the places quoting 991 issues draw on the work of Denis Gifford as their source material.

So the final choice then is between 991 or 987 (the figure, remember, quoted only by the Comic Price guide), which is it?

The correct answer is 987 issues - so well done Steve Holland, commiserations Denis Gifford.

This is broken down as follows:

volume	issues	notes
1	52
2	52
3	52
4	38	short year as the end of the volume moved from the anniversary of the launch of Eagle to the end of the calendar year
5	53
6	52
7	52
8	52
9	52
10	45	printers striker so fewer issues
11	53
12	52
13	52
14	52
15	52
16	52
17	53
18	52
19	52
20	17	Eagle merged with Lion
	987

Note that for volumes 1-3 the start/end date of the volume were in April (to co-incide with the April launch date of Eagle; volume 4 was shortened to get to the end of the calendar year; volume 5 (and all subsequent volumes) ran from the start of January.

The complete adventures of the Three Musketeers

The Book Palace have just announced here the publication of their next reprint volume of classic British comic strips

As they say...

Collected in a single volume for the first time, this classic of comic strip adaptation brings to life all the action and poignancy of Dumas's novel and its sequel (the enthralling mystery surrounding the Man in the Iron Mask).

Arturo Del Castillo was one of the greatest masters of Argentinian comic strip. His artistic skill is recognised internationally and his work on The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The King's Musketeers (all included here) is regarded as some of the finest pen and ink work ever created for comic strips.

These 3 comic strips originally appeared in the British comics Film Fun and Lion in the early 1960s. This is the first time they have ever been reprinted in this complete form. The quality of his penmanship is simply stunning on these strips. Also included here are 14 pages of rare reproductions of original del Castillo artwork.

The Three Musketeers are amongst the handful of literary characters who are known to virtually every person on the planet! Unlike most literary characters, the Musketeers are fashioned out of history: there really was a d'Artagnan and historical counterparts for each of his companions, although the romance woven around the characters came from author Alexandre Dumas's imagination.

I've already ordered my copy, so what are you waiting for?

Author: Alexandre Dumas; edited by Steve Holland
Artist: Arturo del Castillo
Publisher: Book Palace Books, due 30 April 2018
Number of pages: 112
Format: Flexi Cover; Black & White illustrations
Size: 9" x 11" (216mm x 280mm)
ISBN: 9780955159688

priced at £20 (plus £3.95 UK postage)