The Hamer Comic Annual Guide
For the last 3 years I have used The Comic Book Price Guide 1997/1998 by Duncan McAlpine to help me identify, catalogue and price my comic book collection. The Comic Book Price Guide series has long been seen as the British comic collectors' bible and I have been anxiously awaiting a new edition. However, according to Gaz from www.26pigs.com, Duncan McAlpine had stopped making the guide after 97/98 as it was too much work, but he may bring out another. In the mean time what other guides are available?
I have recently found another guide, called The Hamer Comic Annual Guide it is written by Martin Hamer, owner of Hamer 20th Century Books in Worksop, Nottinghamshire and www.hamerbooks.co.uk. Hamer 20th Century Books was founded in 1986 as a specialist company dealing in Rupert Bear, Dandy, Beano, British Comics, ephemera and original artwork limited edition prints and autographs.
The Hamer Comic Annual Guide, as the title suggests concentrates on annuals, however, where an annual has a specific relationship to a comic or is from a highly collectable title then the price and dates of the comics are included too. The book is written in a very colloquial style with lots of personal anecdotes and comments from Martin Hamer. It identifies and values thousands of British Comics and Annuals with 13 full colour plates of the early undated books such as the highly collectable Rupert, Dandy and Beano. There is a special section on Rupert the Bear with a complete at-a-glance chronology of all the seriously sought after books, not just annuals. The guide also contains hints and tips on collecting, restoration, pricing and grading of comics and annuals.
In the introduction Martin Hamer writes that the guide intentionally omits annuals that were published in the 19th Century and annuals which started after 1979 or annuals that did not run to a second issue. These points are what I think lets the guide down. Generally it does not have the depth of information that the McAlpine guide had. Admittedly the section on Rupert is the most comprehensive that I have read, but the other annuals have very vague descriptions. Some of the prices are way below the prices that I have seen, bought or sold and Hamer does not even say when a series finished. For example under Victor he lists the first 2 annuals separately at £15 each, the 1960s issues at £10 and then blocks all of the 1970s and 80s as £5 each. It would have been extremely useful if he had put that the series ended in 1993 and in my experience the 1970s annuals have achieved a higher prices than the 80s and 90s issues. The main point that lets the guide down, though, is the omission of many 1970s annuals such as 2000AD, Shiver & Shake and Starlord.
An other useful guide is Green's Guide to Collecting TV, Music & Comic Book Annuals, which is reviewed here.
The Hamer Comic Annual Guide No.1 is a very interesting guide and although it lacks some of the detail of the McAlpine book it is still a worthwhile addition to any collector's bookshelf.
The Hamer Comic Annual Guide is available from amazon.co.uk here.
