A comic genius
Bob’s full house – his art and magazine collection, at least – is up for auction
IT HAS been a roller coaster week for collectors of comic book art. First, Stan Lee, the former president and maestro behind Marvel Comics died in Los Angeles. He was 95 and leaves a legacy of some of the most popular superheroes such as Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and X-Men.
Then, as if to soften the blow, news filters out of an auction of comic artwork collected by another enigmatic figure: comic and gameshow host Bob Monkhouse.
Yes. The frontman to Bob’s Full House, Celebrity Squares, Bob’s Your Uncle, The 65,000 Dollar Question, Family, The Golden Shot and Bob Says Opportunity Knocks among others was one of this country’s foremost collectors.
His viewing fans – 20 million of them at his height– were aware only of his comic timing. Few knew of his passion for comic artwork and even fewer that writing and drawing them was how his career started.
One man who did was Malcolm Phillips, owner of Comic Book Auctions who got to know Bob personally as a buyer. Bob died in 2003 and over the last four years, Malcolm has been entrusted by his estate to disperse some of his amazing collection.
The latest is an online timed CBA auction, part of a 240-lot sale that can be viewed now on The Saleroom.com (the-saleroom.com). Bids can be placed in advance, but the auction proper starts at 2pm on Friday, November 25. Each lot is open for 45 seconds and the sale is expected to last until 7pm.
The focus this time is on original comic artwork collected by Bob rather than the comics themselves, and such is his reputation among collectors, his name is expected to create a bidding premium.
“The fun thing was he was a comic who collected comics,” Malcolm says. “The sort of customers we have are pretty knowledgeable and they know that he had this wonderful collection of not only comics but original film scripts such as the Goons, all kinds of things. He was a polymath as a collector, but his main area was comics.
“What put him on the map with collectors were Oh Boy! and Wonderman, where he often signed his work ‘RAM’ for Robert Alan Monkhouse. Other drawings were sometimes signed ‘Ramon’”.
As his career progressed, Bob kept in touch with comics illustrators. Malcolm describes him as “an avid reader, he was well acquainted with artists who are now well known”.
Frank Hampson is best known as the creator and artist of Dan Dare, while Frank Bellamy is well known for his work on Eagle comic – later taking over the flagship Dan Dare strip. “Bob knew them both and was collecting their work from the 1950s-80s, right the way through, 40 years, and they just used to send him stuff and inscribe it,” Malcolm says.
“He’d say ‘could I have a piece for the wall’ and they would just send it – it was like that in the old days – and in return, he would give them a few fun phrases, say, if they were making a speech at a wedding.” The collection includes an original drawing from Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday No 1, dating from 1884, a penny weekly magazine considered to be the first comic strip magazine featuring a recurring character. It is estimated at £250-£300, while ‘Vote For Sloper’ artwork dated 1900, drawn and signed by WF Thomas, is estimated at £300-£350. More recent works include double-page Thunderbirds artwork from 1966, drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for TV Century 21 No 90 (estimate £1,800£2,300); Erik The Viking artwork from the early 1960s by Don Lawrence for Lion comic (£150-£200); Trigan Empire colour artwork.
“Trigo and his arch-enemy, Zer Thorus, face the searing wilderness”, drawn and painted by Don Lawrence from Look and Learn, February 28, 1970 (£400-£350); and Garth: three original consecutive artworks drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy from the Daily Mirror dated January and February, 1974 (£350-£400).
In a timed auction in May this year, CBA sold copies of Oh Boy! from 1948 (Nos 3,4, 5, 11, 12) published by Paget, which featured art and lettering by Bob. Together with a copy of Dynamic comic, they made £460 against an estimate of £90-£130.
In December last year, Triumph/ Superman Nos 771-792 from 1939, with four covers by UK artist John McCail, sold for £1,220 against an estimate of £700-800. Superman made his US debut a year before in Action Comics No. 1 and these first UK reprints previewed the US superhero genre in the UK.
Although he never met “Uncle Bob” face to face, Malcolm knew him quite well from his dealings in the comics collecting scene.
“He bought a considerable amount from us in the early years. He was always a gentleman on the telephone with a super dry wit. In retrospect, I wish I’d had time write it all down.
“His TV personality was this slick entertainer but he was nothing like that in real life, just a genuine fan and collector, respected by everybody in the business.
“He used to write me letters which I have in my own collection and, for instance, he did this thing, where instead of saying ‘to Malcolm Phillips, Comic Book Auctions’ or whatever, he had drawn a bloke sitting on a stool falling back off it, pointing at my name on the letter with his hand held to his head with beads of sweats flowing in every direction.
“It was just the way he did things like that – totally unnecessary but absolutely charming.”