ALAN MOORE 1st ever published work 1969 Utopia no.1 comics fanzine HP Lovecraft

	£		3,100
	$		5,235

A new selection of rare comics fanzines from my large collection built up over the years....

New Alan Moore discovery - previously unknown fanzine article written in 1969 – predates everything! 

This auction is for an original 44 year old British Comics fanzine which contains Alan Moore’s first ever published work

Ultra-rare comic fanzine “Utopia / Valhalla” no.1, dated May 1970 ("fandom's first ever dual-zine")

"He was the last of the great horror writers. Some say, the greatest."

As other collectors may know, one of my passions is finding long-forgotten and super-rare British Comics Fanzines. Serious Alan Moore scholars will know he began his long career writing and drawing in school magazines and fanzines at the very start of the 1970s.The earliest known identified to date is the two page feature he wrote on the pulp character, “The Shadow”, which was published in Seminar no.2 date September 1970 (edited by Trevor Goring). 

Utopia / Valhalla no.1 was published 4 months earlier

Only two copies of Seminar no.2 have ever appeared for sale to date (strangely both selling within a week of each other in 2009). I’d known about the existence of Utopia / Valhalla no.1 from a review written in Oracle no.19 (yet another early fanzine). However, knowing print-runs of fanzines of this era were almost always just 100 or less, the chances of finding a copy 44 years later seemed pretty unlikely. Obviously, I’m now very pleased to have found a copy. It features a two page feature written by the teenage Moore entitled “Howard Philip Lovecraft”. The article ends by stating “© Alan Moore 1969” which means he must have written it when he was 15 or maybe 16 years old.

The article is essentially a short biography of Lovecraft; a writer Moore has referenced through much of his career including some very recent work. The editor (Paul McCartney) writes that the feature was to be accompanied by three of Moore’s drawings too (which are named) but were going to be held off for issue no.2 (which was certainly never published). 

I've never found any other reference to this work or this fanzine in any of the Moore biographies or on the web, so I’m pretty sure this is previously undiscovered.

I do know this fanzine only lasted one issue and in 25 years I’ve never seen another or even knew of its existence until relatively recently. It could well be the only copy still in existence but I’ve no guarantee of that of course.

The 2 copies of Seminar no.2 sold for around £350 each but no other copies have ever surfaced since (my copy was bought by a chap from Northampton!). Whatever happens, it can certainly considered to be ultra-ultra rare and must be considered a grail purchase for both Moore & fanzine collectors.

What's more, the fanzine also features…

Stan Nicholls, Wonder Woman, Western Comics, Steve Moore, Heroes Unlimited & other fanzines, Pre-decimal comic adverts including "This Month's Special Feature: Blackhawk", Ron Bennett etc

Front & back covers by Alan Hunter

Condition: FN, stapled sheets and back cover detached

Will only be posted by Special Delivery / Tracked Airsure

Multiple purchases welcome and postage will be combined

Any questions please ask, I am not a business - I am a collector too!

best regards

Ewan