A first edition VIZ comic is to be sold at auction.

For nearly three decades it has been the rudest and crudest comic on the news stand.

Viz grew from a cartoon strip drawn in the bedrooms of two Newcastle brothers to a cult comic, whose characters are household names all over the world.

Now, collectors are being given the chance to get their hands on one of the magazine's first editions at a special auction on Tyneside.

Just 150 copies of the comic were printed when it was launched by Simon and Chris Donald and pal John Brownlow in December 1979.

And it is one of this rare batch that will go under the hammer at Newcastle auction house Anderson and Garland later this month.

The issue, then priced just 20p, is described as a 'Monster, Bumper Christmas Edition', and came with a spoof voucher for a free ice cream.

In includes a strip called Skinheed II, described as "the continuing tale of urban strife (and also adolescent discontent)."

Collectables specialist John Anderson said: "Chris Donald was only 19 when he and his brother launched the comic from their home in Jesmond, Newcastle.

"At its peak, the comic sold more than a million copies and gave us legendary characters like Sid the Sexist, the half-man-half-fish goalkeeper Billy and the Fat Slags.

"Chris quit the comic in 1999 and Simon has since left too but it's still going strong even at 14 times its first price on the magazine shelves.

At the time Viz started, Chris was working as a clerk for the Department of Health and Social Security in Longbenton, while younger brother Simon was still a pupil at Heaton Manor school.

They started selling it at a local bands' night at the Gosforth Hotel, on Gosforth High Street, and their local pubs The Brandling Arms and Collingwood in Jesmond, and the Punch Bowl in Cradlewell.

Chris and Simon, who still live in the North East, say they created the comic to make their friends laugh. They wrote down phrases and sayings they heard in pubs and based their characters on real-life people.

The world-famous profanisauraus, which gives definitions for made-up sayings, was also created by Viz and now sells as a separate publication in its own right.

Auctioneers are expecting the rare 1979 edition to be sold for a record amount, having seen others from the small batch do well in previous years.

Mr Anderson said: "Our copy is identical with another of the first 150 we sold in December 2004 for £483 - even down to the "free ice cream" printed in pink and stapled to the inside cover.

"We are hopeful this one will sell for even more than the last copy and perhaps set a new record for this, possibly Britain's most unusual comic."