Book and Magazine Collector 318

The latest issue of Book and Magazine Collector is now available and features the first part of a series of articles entitled Forgotten British Comics on the titles of the so called Pirate Publishers, those companies that produced often one-off comics titles during the paper rationing on the late 1940s and the comics boom of the early 1950s.

Comics historian David Ashford takes a break from the magazine's long running Great British Comics Artists series to look at the now almost forgotten comics that some of those artists began their careers in. The first part of the series looks at Scion comics who's output included titles such as Big Pirate, Gunflash and All-Sorts Comic

The interest these comics generate for the modern comics reader most often is for the artists they include and Scion titles had art by Ron Turner, Ron Embleton (who simply signed himself as Ron) and Joe Colqhoun amongst others. The interest for the magazine collectors in these comics is the prices that these rare titles go for with the article covering 10 Scion comics ranging in price from £8 to £15 each.

Book and Magazine Collector issue 318 is available for £3.50 from WH Smiths and Easons, or from the B&MC website.

Other Pirate Publisher comic strips were reprinted in Ugly Duckling Press' Great British Fantasy Comic Book Heroes which was reviewed here.