Rare Viz comic sells for £900 at auction in North East

A rare early edition of adult comic Viz has fetched a staggering £900 at a North East auction.
This rare copy of Viz No.4 sold for 900 at auction.This rare copy of Viz No.4 sold for 900 at auction.
This rare copy of Viz No.4 sold for 900 at auction.

A copy of No. 4 of the iconic comic, which was founded in Newcastle in 1979 by Chris Donald, went under the hammer at Anderson & Garland in Newcastle.

It made more than a 1st edition which was sold for £880 in 2014 at the same auction house.

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Fred Wyrley Birch, specialist at Anderson & Garland, said: "We have sold 1st edition copies of Viz in the past for less than this 4th edition made.”

“There was a great deal of interest in this section of the sale, with plenty of local bidders in the auction room, as well as collectors from around the world on the phone and internet."

The comic section of the sale raised £13,458 - almost double the pre-sale estimate.

Viz parodies the British comic of the post war period, and many of its characters have featured in long-running strips, becoming well-known in their own right, including spin-off cartoons.

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Characters often have rhyming or humorous name, such as Roger Mellie, the Man on the Telly, Sid the Sexist and Johnny Fartpants.

In the science fiction section of the auction, a large private collection of Dr Who memorabilia sold for £4,569.

It included a life-size specimen of one of the Doctor's most famous adversaries, the Daleks, which sold for £440 to an avid Dr Who collector from Reading.

The sale also included a large quantity of toys and games, which made £4,489, with a Märklin electric train selling for £650.