*Alan Class Reprints: A big update this week to our post decimal stocks of Secrets of the Unknown (the earliest Alan Class title jointly with Creepy Worlds). Dozens of new issues in ranging from #127-244 plus 1 ‘S’ (for Special) issue. These are nearly all superior copies, mostly VF or better. See the regular listing for Alan Class Reprints in our catalogue for full details.
Category Archives: What’s New
British Update: 2000 AD #1 & #2 inc 1st Judge Dredd
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: At the beginning of 1977, around the onset of punk music, a comic was launched that captured the zeitgeist of the times, more anarchic and anti-establishment than anything that had come before it in British comics, no more so than in the persona of Judge Dredd, the iconic anti-hero who has gone on to become legendary after debuting in issue #2. This update we’re featuring the first two issues of 2000 AD. #1 (1st Flesh, Mach-1, Invasion, Harlem’s Heroes, new Dan Dare) is a GD copy, with some spine and edge wear, minor tears to back cover with very small piece of margin missing, plus the usual residue where the Free Gift was taped to the cover; there are4 minor ink stains to the bottom of the front cover (margin only). #2 (1st Judge Dredd) is VG, a solid copy with minor creasing but decent pages and staples. Please note there are no Free Gifts with these copies.
PICTURED: 2000 AD
#1 GD £60 SOLD
#2 VG £150 SOLD
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Ranger #2
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: The large size Ranger is probably best-remembered these days as the starting point for the Trigan Empire, although that was just one of the many quality strips that appeared in its pages, running for 40 issues before it was subsumed into Look & Learn. This copy of #2 (25/9/65) is complete with original Free Gift: Donald Campbell’s Book of Record Breakers. Unfortunately, the rusty staples on the booklet and on the comic have ‘bled’ throughout both, rendering them just GD. Nevertheless, a snip!
PICTURED: RANGER #2 GD WITH FREE GIFT GD £20 SOLD
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Twinkle #1 & #2 with Gifts
*Girls’ Comics: Twinkle, ‘the new picture paper specially for little girls’ launched in 1968, with the star power of Nurse Nancy, Betty Bright, Sally Sweet, Patsy the Panda and lots more. The age of its target audience has meant that relatively few of the #1 issues of this title have survived, let alone a FN unread copy as here, complete with its Free Gift, a St Christopher Charm Bracelet. And as if that’s not enough, we also have #2 in FN complete with ‘pretty pink ring’; both gifts come in their original envelopes. The prices for these items reflect their rarity.
PICTURED: TWINKLE
#1 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £200
#2 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £80 SOLD
British Update: Late 1960s Picture Romances
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: A big dose of love coming your way this week in the shape of 25 issues of Picture Romances from the late 1960s. A title new to our listings, with nice painted covers which echo the fashions of the times; is it just me, or do most of the men on the covers look suspiciously like Elvis Presley or James Dean? Published by Newnes and later by Fleetway, we have issues between #410 and #531 fresh in, mostly in a lovely FN grade, with a handful of VF and a few lower.
PICTURED: PICTURE ROMANCE #410 VF £6 SOLD
Obituary: Joe Sinnott 1926-2020
‘Joltin’’ Joe Sinnott, comics artist and inker and one of the last remaining figures of the classic Marvel Bullpen, passed away peacefully of natural causes at the age of 93 on the 25th June 2020. His family commented on Facebook that:
“He went peacefully with the knowledge that his family, friends and fans adored him. He enjoyed life and was drawing up until the end. He always loved hearing from all of you and having your comments read to him. Each and every one of you were special to him.”
Sinnott was born in 1926 in Saugerties, New York, and began his career as an illustrator in 1950, the same year he wed his spouse Betty (nee Kirlauski), the pair being inseparable until her death in 2006.
Sinnott’s work in the field was overwhelmingly for the company which in the 1960s would become known as Marvel Comics, but which in the 1950s produced a huge amount of material in the genres of War, Western, Science-Fiction, Horror, Crime and Romance, all of which Sinnott drew with equal skill and professionalism. Although he is primarily remembered as an inker, Sinnott was also an accomplished illustrator, providing full artwork for a multitude of these genre stories in Two-Gun Western, Battlefield, Journey into Mystery and Strange Tales.
Beginning in 1965, he began inking Jack Kirby’s pencils on Fantastic Four, and what seemed at first a routine assignment became a long-time association, providing what many consider the definitive look for the company’s flagship title. Following Kirby’s departure in 1970, Sinnott remained at Marvel, working with other artists such as Rich Buckler, John Buscema and George Perez on Fantastic Four, as well as embellishing other artists on Spider-Man, Avengers, Defenders, Thor and Captain America.
He officially retired in 1992, but continued to work on the Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strip until early last year. One of the most welcome of convention guests, always self-effacing and appreciative of his fans at personal appearances, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the Inkwell Awards in 2008, and the Eisner Awards’ Hall of Fame in 2013, in recognition of his contributions to the field.
Alan Class Rough Guide Updated
In case you don’t know, we keep a record on our site of the content of all Alan Class comics we’ve ever come across (whether they’re currently in stock or not). We’ve just updated this with additions and corrections. It can be found in the Alan Class section of our Extras features here.
Super-Housekeeping Update
Since we’re now trading by mail order only, it gives us the chance to maintain our catalogue even more accurately. All items sold since lockdown are now being deleted within a few days of sale. We are also working through our entire catalogue to delete those items that sold pre-lockdown since files were last updated. This means that as we finish updating a file, you can rely on the catalogue for that category being (and staying) as close to 100% accurate as it is possible to get, with virtually everything available, apart from items sold in the last few days (and just a tiny amount of human error). We have now completed this exercise for the following category:
*DC/Marvel
We will continue to post here as we make progress.
THE SQUARE MILE COLLECTION
This is an early Silver Age Collection from an original owner notable for the freshness and vibrancy of the cover colours and page quality; even those with minor reading and handling wear are vastly superior to the majority of comics that have been in circulation since the 1960s. The average grade is well above Fine, with many much nicer.
We’ve been releasing comics from this amazing collection since last November and we’re down to the last few comics now, but stick around for the grand finale — it’s a doozy! Each comic will come branded with a special label and certificate of authenticity verifying it as part of the Square Mile Collection. Here’s this week’s:
American Update: Fantastic Four #27: Sub-Mariner & Dr. Strange
*Marvel: Although Subby debuted (Silver Age-wise) and was a frequent guest star/villain in early issues of the Fantastic Four, it was much less common to see Dr. Strange turn up in these pages. Here they both are in FF #27, giving you the chance to see how Jolly Jack Kirby handled the Master of the Mystic Arts. This is a lovely copy, typical of the Square Mile Collection, tight and flat with good, firmly attached staples, nice off-white pages, no chipping and great cover colour and gloss. Just very minor edge wear, but a lovely item for any collection.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #27 VF- p £225 SOLD
American Update: DC Debuts: 1st modern Black Adam in Shazam #28
*DC: Issue #28 of Shazam from 1977 featured the return of one of Captain Marvel’s most powerful nemeses, Black Adam, who gained his mighty powers from the same source as the Captain himself. Having only appeared previously in the Golden Age Marvel Family #1 (1945), this modern-day debut was the second-ever appearance of Teth-Adam and his super-powered alter ego, and interest has risen ever since the announcement of the casting of grappling thespian Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Teth-Adam/Black Adam in Captain Marvel’s blockbuster. This is a lovely VF+ pence stamped copy, tight, flat and glossy with virtually no wear apart from very slight back cover only creases at spine.
PICTURED: SHAZAM #28 VF+ p £150
American Update: Superman/Flash Race Part II
*DC: From 1967, the second race between the Man of Steel and the Fastest Man Alive, in Flash #175! In an era when team-ups and crossovers were much less commonplace than they are today, these battles for the ‘Speed King’ crown were a hugely anticipated event – particularly since the rest of the Justice League of America guest-stars! This is a decent copy, with just some edge wear marring it.
PICTURED: FLASH #175 VG+ p £50
American Update: Houses of Mystery & Secrets
*DC: In that strange Twilight Zone of the 1960s for these titles, between their horror origins and 1970s relaunches as out and out horror titles, House of Mystery and House of Secrets featured mystery/adventure stories, often with recurring characters, and so we list this period in our regular DC stock. This update features issues of House Of Mystery between #126 and #153, including later issues with Martian Manhunter stories, plus House of Secrets between #53 and #73, featuring Mark Merlin, Eclipso and, in #73, the first appearance of Prince Ra-Man.
American Update: Spider-Mania Max/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Kraven the Hunter in Amazing #15
*Marvel: Another early Lee/Ditko classic Spidey new in, with the debut of Kraven the Hunter. Sergei Kravinoff, scion of exiled Russian nobility and the self-determined ‘Greatest Hunter in the World’, set out to entrap Spider-Man to, basically, big up his own reputation, and that slender premise has been parlayed into a surprisingly long career culminating in several major stories, most notoriously 1987’s ‘Kraven’s Last Hunt’. Originally just a highly trained and skilled human, Kraven has been retconned as having enhanced strength and longevity to make him more of a match for the super-set, and his moral ambiguity has led to him crossing the line between hero and villain many times – most recently, for example, he was a heroic member of Squirrel Girl’s supporting cast! Rumours of a Kraven media adaptation persist, so interest in this issue has spiked of late. This copy of his debut has deep cover colour and gloss and an unspoilt cover image; it’s tight and flat with good staples (although the centrefold is very slightly coming away from the top staple); very minor edge wear at spine, but a very superior copy. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #15 VG/FN p £550 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts/Slab Happy: 1st Thanos in Iron Man #55
*Marvel: They don’t come much hotter these days than Iron Man #55, wherein the cosmic arch-villain Thanos, nemesis of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, made his first appearance, the brainchild of fan favourite writer/artist Jim Starlin. Thanos has of course gone on to plague Marvel’s heroes in comics and movies ever since, but here is where it all started. This landmark issue also features the debuts of Drax the Destroyer, Mentor, Eros (later Starfox of the Avengers) and Kronos. With Avengers: Endgame, in which Thanos is the Big Bad, having broken box-office records in cinemas worldwide, the character’s debut is only going to become more sought after. This CGC unrestored blue label copy is graded at 3.5 and is a UK pence variant, as our American friends like to call it, and represents a chance to get a major key at a relatively affordable price.
PICTURED: IRON MAN #55 CGC 3.5 VG- p £250
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of the Blob in X-Men #3
*Marvel: 1964’s third issue of the X-Men introduced Frederick J. Dukes, a.k.a. the Blob, a formidable mutant whose ability to consolidate his body mass made him a literally immovable object – and made his nom-du-guerre kind of inappropriate, but then Stan & Jack were probably trying to tap into the movie ‘The Blob’, which had been a smash hit a few years prior, the story’s title echoing the movie’s theme song. Be that as it may, the Marvel Blob has had a long distinguished career as a villain and occasional anti-hero, and this copy of his debut is a lowish grade, with light cover staining and some discolouration at left cover edge; there is also a light but colour breaking crease across across the right bottom corner and some edge wear. Nevertheless, not too bad; the staples are good and firm, page quality decent and there is no chipping.
PICTURED: X-MEN #3 GD p £180
American Update: Spider-Mania Max/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut Of Man-Wolf in Amazing #124/125
*Marvel: John Jameson, son of Spidey’s nemesis J Jonah Jameson has had a long and chequered career in the Marvel Universe, appearing in various guises to threaten the wall-crawler, although in his normal state he has always been a friend to Spidey and has gone on to have heroic adventures. In Amazing Spider-Man #124 and #125, a two-part story, he is transformed into the menacing Man-Wolf, an alias in which he went on to have own 1970s series in Creatures On The Loose. These two copies are both VF/NM (there are no pence copies of these non-UK distributed issues), lovely things with barely discernable wear.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#124 VF/NM £180
#125 VF/NM £80
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 with Dr Strange
*Marvel: Spidey Ditko collectors should not overlook the two superb annuals he did whilst at Spidey’s artistic helm. The second of these, whilst not featuring the giant-length blockbuster of #1, nevertheless features a lovely 20 page new story co-starring Ditko’s other co-creation Dr Strange (and reprints of early Spidey stories and a Rogues’ Gallery pin-up section). This squarebound annual features an intact spine, great page quality, firm staples and excellent colour cover and gloss. There is minor glue-puckering at spine and a few faint pressure marks on the cover, but a much nicer copy than usually turns up with very minor edge wear. Peculiarly, this is both pence price printed and stamped.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #2 FN+ p £100 SOLD
American Update: VERY Pre-code Horror Fest: Eerie #1 (1947) – the first horror comic!
*Horror 1940-1959: It doesn’t come any more Pre-Code than this: Eerie #1 from Avon 1947. This is the legendary comic book that started the horror comics trend of the 1940s-50s, as well as the first horror comic with original content, long before the Comics Code was introduced. A man is haunted by the ghost of a stuffed tiger; an island is populated with flesh-eating lizards; a man disposes of his nagging wife with a subway train, but then is haunted by visions and hallucinations. The backup story is a humorous tale starring Goofy Ghost. Stories by sci-fi legend Henry Kuttner, working under one of his many pseudonyms. Cover by Bob Fujitani. Edited by Sol Cohen. Art by Bob Fujitani, Jon Small, George Roussos, Fred Kida and Joe Kubert. This was the only issue of this run, but the title returned as a regular series in 1951 (starting with #1 again). This is a decent copy; tight and flat with good, firmly attached staples, nice page quality and an unspoilt cover image. There are some specific defects which bring the grade down: a small 3.5 cm piece of tape reinforces the bottom spine, and what looks like rodent chew has attacked the top corners, going right through the comic to varying degrees, but no more than 2 sq cm at its worst; this can be seen on the scans provided and only affects the covers and margins of the stories. You probably won’t get too many chances to add this important comic to your collection. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: EERIE #1 (1947) FA/GD £1,000 SOLD
American Update: Silver/Bronze Horror from ACG, Charlton & DC inc #1 issues
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: A small update to three publishers from this period, inc ACG’s Unknown Worlds, Charlton’s Ghost Manor (#1), Many Ghosts of Dr Graves (#1) and three issues of gothic romance/horror with Haunted Love, plus Madam Xanadu #1 from DC.
PICTURED:
GHOST MANOR #1 FN/VF £40
MANY GHOSTS OF DR GRAVES #1 FN/VF £35
American Update: Early Sgt Fury inc #13 with Cap plus Annuals
*War: Early issues of Marvel’s premier war title re-stocked this week in low, very affordable grades. Many issues up to #20, inc. #3 with Reed Richards, #10 with the first appearance of the Skipper (later Captain Savage), and most famously, #13 guest-starring Captain America & Bucky. Giant-Size Annuals/Specials #1 & #2 are also here. For full grading and pricing information, consult our catalogue.
American/British Update: Miller Phantoms
*Phantom: The 1950s UK versions of the Ghost Who Walks have become very scarce in recent years, we suspect due to very dedicated Phantom collectors scooping up everything they can find, and then hanging on to them, so that very few come fresh to the marketplace. So, even just two copies coming into our stock, albeit in very low grade, is something to brag about. #15 is Poor, with a spine in shreds, no back cover and a crescent shape piece missing from the front cover right edge. #16 is Fair+, a little better with the spine mostly intact, but a small corner off bottom back cover and the faint remnants of a black felt tip marker ‘6’ on the centre front cover. Scarcity and demand has driven the prices up on these in recent times, so these are relatively affordable examples and will fill gaps in your collection until better copies come along (if they ever do).
PICTURED: PHANTOM
#15 PR £20 SOLD
#16 FA+ £25 SOLD
American/British Update: Dan Dare Pop-Up Book 1954
*Memorabilia & Esoterica: A rare and beautiful item this week: the Dan Dare Pop-Up Book from 1954, with stunning artwork and five amazing open out pop-up dioramas. Within these wonderful pages, Dan himself introduces you to some of his friends, and others, and tells in flashbacks some of their many adventures on various planets and in space. We’ve illustrated the cover and one of the dioramas. Spiral bound; the front cover has come away from the spiral and the back is hanging on (just), which keeps the price down, but the interior pages are great quality.
PICTURED: DAN DARE POP-UP BOOK 1954 FA/GD £25 SOLD
British Update: Batmania: Australian Batmans
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: The desirability of key American series in early reprint form has risen greatly in recent times, fuelled both by the spiralling prices for the US originals, and US collectors who have everything who are looking for new things to collect. The Batman series by K. G. Murray of Australia is a prime example, which reprints classic 1940s and 50s material from Batman and Detective Comics. Although this series originated in Australia, they were also distributed in the UK. Many issues now in stock between #60 and #98; consult our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: BATMAN
#97 VG £35
#98 FN £40
British Update: Spider-Mania Max: Spidey Weekly with Captain Britain plus Long Hot Summer bonus
*Marvel UK: Half a dozen issues of Spider-Man Weekly added to our stock this week between #236 and #243 when new Captain Britian stories appeared. Also, a 1983 Spider-Man Summer Special. Full details in our catalogue.
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Wizard 1970 x4 with Gifts
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: The D.C. Thomson story paper Wizard, launched in 1922, was laid to rest in 1963 – but after a decent interval the Powers-That-Be tried Wizard again, this time in comic strip format. The fact that football dominated its content (although there were also adventure strips and features) is reflected in this Free Gift selection from its first year of 1970. #13 has the booklet remembering the England World Cup win in 1966, #14 has the 1970 World Cup Scorebook, looking forward to Mexico 1970, #34 has the Football Pocket Pull-Out book, immaculate in its original plastic wallet, and #35 has 12 full colour cards of famous players on an uncut sheet.
PICTURED: WIZARD 1970 ALL SOLD
#13 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £25
#14 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £25
#34 GD WITH FREE GIFT NM £25
#35 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £25
British Update: Sally, Sally — Right Up Your Alley!
*Girls’ Comics: Sally, which ran from 1969 to 1971, is one of the most popular and elusive girls’ comics of the period. You can read all about the series and its famous stories in Will’s definitive lockdown article here. We’re particularly delighted to have new in this week a huge swathe of Sally, which is nearly although not quite a complete run, but does feature the first three and last issues, as well as many multiple copies of the same issue. Never before has so much Sally filled our boxes, but we suspect she won’t be here for long!
PICTURED: SALLY
14/6/69 FA £25 1st issue SOLD
21/6/69 VG £20 2nd issue SOLD
28/6/69 VG £15 3rd issue
Super-Housekeeping Update
Since we’re now trading by mail order only, it gives us the chance to maintain our catalogue even more accurately. All items sold since lockdown are now being deleted within a few days of sale. We are also working through our entire catalogue to delete those items that sold pre-lockdown since files were last updated. This means that as we finish updating a file, you can rely on the catalogue for that category being (and staying) as close to 100% accurate as it is possible to get, with virtually everything available, apart from items sold in the last few days (and just a tiny amount of human error). We have now completed this exercise for the following category:
*DC
We will continue to post here as we make progress.
THE SQUARE MILE COLLECTION
This is an early Silver Age Collection from an original owner notable for the freshness and vibrancy of the cover colours and page quality; even those with minor reading and handling wear are vastly superior to the majority of comics that have been in circulation since the 1960s. The average grade is well above Fine, with many much nicer.
We’ll be adding selections from this collection for sale here each week across the range of titles represented. These will be over a range of prices each week to suit most budgets, so that all interested collectors have an opportunity to purchase something from this special collection. Each comic will come branded with a special label and certificate of authenticity verifying it as part of the Square Mile Collection. Here’s this week’s:
American Update: Tales Of Suspense #43 – 5th Iron Man in VF/NM
*Marvel: One of the jewels in the crown of the Square Mile Collection this week, as we present Tales of Suspense #43, featuring the 5th ever Iron Man story in a vibrant VF/NM grade. Shellhead faces off in this issue against Kala, Queen of the Netherworld (a ‘She’-like ruler from under the Earth) in an adventure illustrated by Jack Kirby with inks by Don Heck. (There are also two superior back-ups by Steve Ditko and Matt Fox). Well, I guess Tony Stark always did have an eye for the ladies! This pence-priced copy is a superb VF/NM grade, flat and tight with no creases and excellent staples, and just the merest hint of edge wear along the top and at the spine, but almost invisible. Glossy and reflective with white to off-white pages, this must be virtually as nice as it was when it came off the presses in 1963. A great investment copy. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE #43 VF/NM p £1150
American Update: Batmania: Batman #222 – Batman and Robin Meet The Beatles (kind of…)
*DC: 1970’s Batman #222 tapped into a then-recent real-life rumour that Paul McCartney, of the iconic Beatles, had been killed and replaced by a lookalike to keep the royalties coming. In this issue, Batman & Robin meet ‘Saul Cartwright’ of the super-group ‘The Oliver Twists’, who present a suspiciously similar dilemma to the world! How does it all turn out? Hey, buy the book and find out! This slice of psychedelic era nostalgia is a nice FN- pence stamped example, tight and flat with good cover colour and gloss and good staples, just minor edge and spine wear.
PICTURED: BATMAN #222 FN- p £100 SOLD
American Update: Adam Strange in Mystery In Space
*DC: One of the most well-received articles posted here during lockdown was the one I wrote on Adam Strange, the interplanetary adventurer. So, we’re delighted to present a couple of his adventures from Mystery In Space this week: MIS #62 has the evocative title ‘The Beast With The Sizzling Blue Eyes’ and features a partial underwater cover with Alanna in scuba gear, with excellent little sci-fi back-up stories from Murphy Anderson and Sid Greene. MIS #82 has the iconic ‘World War on Earth and Rann’ cover, a double-length tale with Adam fighting to save two worlds, and a back-up by Sid Greene.
PICTURED: MYSTERY IN SPACE
#62 VG p £27 SOLD
#82 FN+ p £28 SOLD
American Update: The Legion of Super-Heroes in Adventure Comics
*DC: I think we’ve let it be known now several times that we’re named after our favourite comic characters, the Legion of Super-Heroes. You can read about our relationship with them in our Lockdown article here. The best period for the Legion was undoubtedly their run in Adventure Comics from #300-380, wherein the characters and their universe of the 30th Century were firmly established and their major foes and allies introduced. A massive restock for this series this week, with almost all issues from this run now in stock, many in different grades. There’s never been a better time to say ‘Long Live the Legion!’ Full details as always in our catalogue.
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: 1st full Wolverine in Hulk #181
*Marvel: This week the most sought-after comic of the 1970s. Hulk #181 features the first full appearance of Wolverine, the Canadian super-hero who, outstripping everyone’s expectations, became the most popular Marvel character created since the dawn of the Marvel Age. Created by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe (from a John Romita design), Wolvy was revived by Wein when he put together the ‘New’ X-Men who debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1, and since then, Wolverine has become the star of the lucrative X-Men franchise, and a multi-media darling in his own right. This issue, where it all really kicked off following a one-panel cameo in the preceding ish, has good interior off-white page quality, excellent cover colour and a number of faint fine creases at cover edges, spine and corners which do not in any way detract from the cover scene. Staples are tight and firm; there are minor pressure marks on cover which are barely noticeable Most crucially, the Marvel Value Stamp (probably the most important appearance of Shanna the She-Devil, bless her!) is still in place. This promotional coupon is the blight of Marvels from a certain period, often clipped and missing – but not in this instance! Between the frequently-missing Marvel Value Stamp, and the fact that this issue was never distributed in the UK, intact copies of Hulk #181 are keenly collected. Not the rarest Marvel key by any means, but probably the fastest-selling. High resolution images are available on request. As a bonus, we also have Hulk #182, the third part of the trilogy, in a lowish grade with more marked wear and a colour-breaking crease across the bottom right corner.
PICTURED: HULK
#181 FN £1750 SOLD
#182 GD/VG £35 SOLD
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Amazing Spider-Man #8 & #10
*Marvel: Not one, but two early issues of the Amazing Spider-Man for your consideration this week. Issues below #20 are getting harder and harder to come by, especially in decent shape, so we’re delighted to welcome these to our stock. Issue #8 is the ‘Tribute To Teen-Agers’ number, guest-starring the Fantastic Four’s Human Torch, a nice VG+ pence priced copy, flat with good staples (top staple off at centrefold), good cover colour and gloss and very minor edge wear, minor corner blunting and minor stress marks at spine. Issue #10 is the debut of the Big Man and the Enforcers, one of whom – the Ox – made quite a lengthy solo villainous career for himself; this is a great pence priced copy, tight, flat and glossy with a few faint pressure marks and unspoilt cover scene; the staples are a few millimetres in from the spine at the back cover, but are original.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#8 VG+ p £200 SOLD
#10 FN- p £250 SOLD
American Update: Slab Happy: Daredevil #7 CGC 6.5 DD vs the Sub-Mariner
*Marvel: After a little artistic floundering in his early issues, the Sightless Swashbuckler lucked out when the superlative Wally Wood took over illustrating his adventures. This is probably the finest Wood issue, marked not only by the premiere of the red Daredevil costume, (replacing his original outfit, which actually looked like it was designed by a blind man…) but also by a genuinely gripping battle in which Daredevil, overpowered by the vastly superior might of the Sub-Mariner, shows such courage and determination that even Namor’s scaly heart is moved to compassion. This is a nice CGC example of this classic issue.
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL #7 CGC 6.5 FN+ £260 SOLD
American Update: Spider-Mania Max/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of the Prowler in Amazing #78
*Marvel:The Prowler is a character who has been around since the Silver Age, a cat burglar with many iterations and identities, appearing in comics, TV, films and video games, but it’s here in Amazing Spider-Man #78 from 1969 that Hobie Brown, the original, first appeared. Created by Stan Lee & John Romita, the Prowler has become a regular of the Marvel Universe, getting his own series in 2016. This a beautiful pence priced copy, tight and flat with excellent staples, great cover colour and gloss and a few barely perceptible stress marks at spine.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #78 VF+ p £140 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Werewolf By Night in Marvel Spotlight #2
*Marvel: From 1971, the debut of Werewolf By Night in Marvel Spotlight #2. Created by Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Mike Ploog, the story of a young man named Jack Russell (no, really) who contracted a lycanthropic curse hit a high note with the readership and spun off into his own series after three try-out issues in Marvel Spotlight. This extra-thick #2 is the Werewolf’s first appearance and as a bonus, issued during Marvel’s fleeting flirtation with a 25c standard price, has a gorgeous Venus back-up reprint strip drawn by the incomparable Bill Everett. Squarebound issues are notoriously problematic, but the spine here is pretty solid with just a small nick at the bottom. Good cover colour and some gloss, with a slight vertical crease across the logo (non colour-breaking). Ever so slightly mis-cut. A decent mid-grade copy.
PICTURED: MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #2 VG+ £115 SOLD
American Update: Early low grade Fantastic Four
*Marvel: Here’s your chance to pick up some cheap and cheerful copies of Marvel’s First Family. Issues of Fantastic Four below #45 are keenly sought after these days, and we have a low to mid-grade selection in between #17 and #44. Included are the first appearances of the Super-Skrull, Rama-Tut, Molecule Man, the Hate-Monger, Attuma, Gorgon of the Inhumans and an early crossover with the X-Men. Full details in our catalogue, but your early attention is recommended; low grade copies this early don’t last long!
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #28 GD/VG p £45 SOLD
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Marvel Team-Up from #1-23
*Marvel: In 1972, Marvel came up with the brainwave of the team-up title (that DC had been doing in Brave & Bold for many years by then); ostensibly this was starring Spidey or the Human Torch with the guest star of the month, but it soon transformed to just Spidey with Johnny Storm making fewer and fewer appearances. We have an almost complete run of the non-UK distributed issues fresh in (#1-23, excluding #8 and #18), mostly in remarkable grades with many NM copies among them.
PICTURED: MARVEL TEAM-UP #1 VG £25
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Hey Kids! Brain-sucking Symbiote!
*Marvel: A Venom ongoing series launched in 2003 (which onwent for 18 issues), is added to our stock this week. Written by Daniel Way, all 18 issues are now available, and as you would expect for comics of this vintage, all in NM- or VF/NM.
American Update: Atomic Sci-Fi: Avon’s Out Of This World
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: The return of our Atomic Sci-Fi feature, where we spotlight those wonderfully retro futures inspired by the sci-fi of pulp magazines. This week we feature Avon’s Out Of This World one-shot from 1950. There were two printings of this in 1950; this, cover-dated June, is the first and sports one of those fabulous girl-abducted-by-robot covers so characteristic of the time, illustrated by Gene Fawcette. Within, there are two sci-fi stories gloriously depicted by the incomparable Joe Kubert plus a third fantasy tale of Crom the Barbarian by Gardner Fox and John Guinta. No true Atomic Sci-Fi collection is complete without one! This copy presents well; small spine split at bottom (just a few mm), and a couple of minor creases in the bottom right corner and along the spine, and some edge wear. The cover image is unspoilt apart from the letters ‘JE’ in felt-tip pen below the story titles (just over 1 cm high). A small back cover crease but nice colour and tight staples.
PICTURED: OUT OF THIS WORLD #1 VG- £270
British Update: Cor & Buster Easter Special
*Collected Editions: The latest bumper Cor & Buster Special is Easter 2020, published a little late due to the pandemic. All your favourites lurk within: Buster himself, Kid Kong, Face Ache, Gums, Ivor Lott & Tony Broke, Sweeney Toddler, Frankie Stein, Grimly Feendish and many more in all new strips!
PICTURED: COR & BUSTER EASTER SPECIAL NEW/MINT £5
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Score ‘n’ Roar #1 & #2
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Following the success of 1969’s Whizzer & Chips launch, the USP of ‘two comics in one!’ with an inbuilt rivalry proved so popular that publishers IPC/Fleetway went back to the well with Score ‘n’ Roar, two football comics in one – neither of which had existed previously as an independent entity. The rivalry aspect was provided by brothers, ‘Jack of United’ and ‘Jimmy of City’, who played for opposing teams – and in rival halves of the comic! Other strips included young prodigy goalie ‘Peter the Cat’, supernatural striker ‘Phantom of the Forest’ and obligatory comedy team of ne’er-do-wells, ‘The Mudlarks’. Score ‘n’ Roar #1 is a very attractive VF, with the original Free Gift – Football League Tables 1970-1971 – VF/NM, not punched out or assembled. #2 is more of a VG, with a looseness at the staples, but a VF Free Gift, more teams for your league tables, unpunched.
PICTURED: SCORE ‘N’ ROAR
#1 VF WITH FREE GIFT VF/NM £90 SOLD
#2 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £40 SOLD
British Update: Going Commando
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: A load of the most famous Picture Library fresh in this week in the range #531-666. This batch of Commando is characterised by very nice condition, nearly all FN, with a handful of VF and VG.
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Jackie from 1970 x3
*Girls’ Comics: A glossy big sister to Romeo aimed at a slightly trendier demographic, Jackie helped delight and inform (or brainwash, depending on your viewpoint) a generation of teenage girls and young women, with pop features and pin-ups, fashion and makeup tips, the ever-popular Problem Page, and scores of often beautifully illustrated romance comics stories. Free Gift issues of Jackie are uncommon, as the gifts were usually eagerly ripped away and consulted or applied in the hopes of snagging the Dream Boy, but these three are from a Newsagent’s uncirculated stock, and remain ‘gifted’. All are from 1970. #321 is VG/FN, with VF Gift (Super Styling Comb) still in its original sealed envelope. #355 is VG, with VF Gift (Eye Make-Up), still in original sealed envelope. #356 is VG/FN, with VF Gift (Zodiac Ring) still in original sealed envelope.
PICTURED: JACKIE:
#321 VG/FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £30 SOLD
#355 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £30 SOLD
#356 VG/FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £30 SOLD
British Update: School Friend Picture Library
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: Launched in 1962, School Friend Picture Library originally alternated, like its companion Princess PL, between two features – in this case, teen model Tracy Jones and plucky equestrienne Penny of Pine Ridge. By issue #13, they started introducing other featured characters into the mix – ‘My Friend Sara’ from the weekly, the Sparrows of Angel Street, French Resistance fighter Linette and others. Just a small clutch of these new in, but including #1.
PICTURED: SCHOOL FRIEND PICTURE LIBRARY #1 VG £25
THE SQUARE MILE COLLECTION
This is an early Silver Age Collection from an original owner notable for the freshness and vibrancy of the cover colours and page quality; even those with minor reading and handling wear are vastly superior to the majority of comics that have been in circulation since the 1960s. The average grade is well above Fine, with many much nicer.
We’ll be adding selections from this collection for sale here each week across the range of titles represented. These will be over a range of prices each week to suit most budgets, so that all interested collectors have an opportunity to purchase something from this special collection. Each comic will come branded with a special label and certificate of authenticity verifying it as part of the Square Mile Collection. Here’s this week’s (we’re nearing the end of this special collection now, and the DC comic below is the last Square Mile from that publisher):
American Update: DC Debuts: 1st Zatanna in Hawkman #4
*DC: One of my all-time favourite comics! While all early issues of Hawkman are superb, with high-flying sci-fi stories by Gardner Fox and luminous Murphy Anderson artwork (not that we’re prejudiced witnesses or anything…), the most sought-after in recent years is issue #4, featuring the debut of the Princess of Prestidigitation – Zatanna! Zee (as she’s familiarly known), a personal favourite here at 30th Century, is the daughter of DC’s Golden Age magician Zatara, and took her quest for her missing father through the pages of Green Lantern, Atom, Detective Comics and the Justice League of America in one of DC’s earliest ‘story arcs’, but this is where her illustrious career – which has branched out into both animated and live-action TV – began. (And yes, they did miss a bet by not having her featured on the cover – foolish mortals!). We’ve had a few copies of this through our hands in the past year or two, but this is by far the loveliest copy, tight and flat with firm staples, great cover colour and gloss, nice just off-white pages and virtually no edge wear. There’s one very faint crease (not colour breaking) below the ‘H’ in the logo and an almost invisible, very shallow crease at an angle up from the lower edge, but you have to look really hard to see it. I’ll let you in on a secret — this copy is even nicer than my personal copy and would be in my collection like a shot (except that my copy was signed by Murphy Anderson when I met him and his wife many years ago and remains one of my most treasured possessions). High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: HAWKMAN #4 FN/VF p £500
American Update: Iron Man #9 with the Hulk
*Marvel: In issue #9 of his own series, Iron Man faces off against the Hulk (or does he? You’ll have to read it to find out) as arranged by the Mandarin. George Tuska’s art, as inked here by EC alumnus Jonny Craig, has seldom looked better. This is a lovely Square Mile specimen, tight, flat, sharp, glossy and reflective, with just the tiniest nick to the right edge preventing an even high grade. White pages and firm staples.
PICTURED: IRON MAN #9 VF p £80