*Horror 1940-1959: More from our Pre-code Horror Fest as we unleash a further 8 issues: two each of Stanmore’s Mister Mystery (#5 & #15), Story’s Mysterious Adventures (#5 & #13), Ajax-Farrell’s Strange Fantasy (#5 & #13) and Post Code issues of Atlas’s Mystery Tales (#44 & #53). We have a few weeks left in our fest yet, so keep an uninjured eye out!
Yearly Archives: 2015
American Update: Catalogue Expansion: Iron Man to #150
*Marvel: We’re continuing our programme of extending our catalogue into the 1980’s (and occasionally beyond); this time, it’s the turn of the Invincible Iron Man, with stock now listed up to #150. A good period for the Golden Avenger this, with creators such as David Micheline, Bob Layton and John Byrne at the helm. Dominated of course by the Tony Stark alcoholism storyline, as epitomised by the startling cover to #128 (VF+ p £40), reproduced here.
British Update: Joe 90
*TV & Film Related Comics: 10 new issues in of Joe 90 from 1969 from #8 through to the last issue #34. Like Joe’s companion title Lady Penelope, these are much rarer than TV Century 21, so will be keenly sought after!
British Update: Battle Picture Library from #1
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: A chunky update to another of Fleetway’s classic war-themed Picture Libraries from the 1960’s: this time Battle (from #1 PR/FA £25), including many of the first 20 issues and then running up all the way to #100 and beyond and finishing off with a handful from the second series. Some powerful and gripping reading awaits the lucky purchaser!
American Update: Superman from the early 1960’s
*DC: A decent amount of lowish grade Superman issues from the early 1960’s between #134 and #162, plus Annual #3, a period rich in Superman lore and in the opinion of those of us at 3oth Century, the best period for the Man Of Steel. Superman’s family of characters really expanded in this era to include appearances by Superboy and Super-Baby, flashbacks to Krypton, the dastardly deeds of Lex Luthor, the classic ‘Superman Under A Green Sun’ in #155, sundry Legion appearances inc. the classic ‘Last Days Of Superman’ in #156, the debuts of Nightwing & Flamebird in the Bottle City Of Kandor, lots of Supergirl, the story of the Kents’ death, and the imaginary Superman-Red/Superman-Blue in #162. Plus a handful of issues from the 1970’s.
Housekeeping Update
On a regular cycle, we sweep through our entire stock to delete sold items and keep our listing as up to date as possible. We’ve just finished deleting sold items from the following file in our British section:
*Humour Comics
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.
British Update: A miscellany of Girls’!
*Girls’ Comics: Small updates to many Girls’ titles, including some less common ones: Debbie (1973 & 1977), Girl (1952 & 1954), Jackie (1975 & 1978), Judy (1960 and 1st Birthday issue 1961, pictured), Princess (1983/84), Sandie (1972), School Friend (1954), Tina (1967) and Tracy (1979-1981, inc. #1 GD £20 pictured).
Books Update: Seven Of Five
*Childrens’ Books: Seven scintillating Enid Blyton tales of pluck, resolve, stiff upper lips and plenty of backbone join the bookshelves today, as the Famous Five make a welcome reappearance, all in Hardcover with Dust Jackets, from the 1950’s and 1960’s. The ripping yarns include the Five variously falling Into Adventure, getting Into A Fix, going Off In A Caravan, going Off To Camp, On A Treasure Island, On Finniston Farm and On Kirrin Island Again. Summer holidays were REALLY long in those days!
American Update: Spider-Mania Conclusion inc 1st & 2nd Punisher
*Marvel: Our Spider-Mania event concludes with a nice selection from the 1970’s primarily from the run between #’s 125-150, though with a few earlier stragglers – beginning with #97, the Non-Code Approved Drug story featuring the Green Goblin! Other highlights include the debuts of the Grizzly, the Cyclone, the scintillating Spider-Mobile, and the first full appearance of Clone Gwen Stacy (look, you had to be there…), but ‘top of the shop’ have to be the first and second appearances of everybody’s favourite gun-happy killer, the Punisher, in issues #129 and #135 respectively! This is from the period when distribution went south in the UK, so hardly any of these issues appeared in any quantity, and these are primarily high-grade, averaging FN or better, with many VF. The Amazing Spider-Man #129 is VG+ at £200, #135 VF+ at £50.
American Update: Flash #139 — 1st Professor Zoom
*DC: One of the most sought-after issues of the classic Flash run, the debut of Barry Allen’s counterpoint nemesis – Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash – is back in stock, in an extremely attractive VG (pence copy £60). Apart from general minor corner & edge wear, this copy has excellent interior page quality, and only one specific flaw – a tiny tear just below the bottom staple – precluding the higher grade it superficially deserves. But you know how picky we are here in the 30th Century! With the Reverse-Flash’s current prominence in the popular Flash TV show, interest in this character has spiked, so now is a good time to purchase.
American Update: Marvel: Four Fabulous Femme Firsts!
*Marvel: This update, the debuts and/or first issues of a captivating quartet of Marvel’s fabulous fighting femmes fatales! The Cat (Greer Nelson, later to become Tigra) in #1 of her-short-lived 1972 title (FN/VF £15), magnificently illustrated by the team of Marie Severin and Wally Wood; Fantastic Four #36 (FA £25), which saw the first appearance of the evil FF, the Frightful Four, but most importantly brought us the magnificent Madame Medusa; Marvel Spotlight #32 (FN+ £25), which saw the premiere and origin of Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman; and last but far from least, the first solo issue of Red Sonja (#1 NM p £30), She-Devil With A Sword, who had made such an impact in Conan that fans clamoured for her own series!
American Update: Make a date with our 1970’s DC & Marvel Calendars
Something very out of the ordinary this update with two pieces of vintage merchandise:
*DC: A beautifully-preserved vintage item, the Super DC Calendar from 1977 features all-new artwork from a roster of DC’s artistic super-stars – Neal Adams, Curt Swan, Joe Kubert, Wally Wood, Kurt Schaffenberger and more, with pages devoted to Wonder Woman, the Justice Society, the Justice League, Superman, Batman and all the others you’d expect. Highlight for Legion of Super-Heroes completists will be the centre double-page illustration of a Legion Vs. Fatal Five showdown! In a striking VF grade at £30.
*Marvel: From 1976, the Mighty Marvel Bicentennial Calendar features Marvel’s most famous characters in a plethora of patriotic situations; all the Marvel ‘big names’ are here, so fans of the Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor, FF, Avengers and – of course – Captain America will be well satisfied, but there’s also pages devoted to some outer fringes of the Marvel Universe, such as the cosmic heroes (Warlock, Silver Surfer, Captain Marvel), Marvel Monsters (Dracula, Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing), the Invaders, and the Black Panther. All-new illustrations by Brunner, Starlin, Kane, Romita, Buscema and more. Fine at £45.
Front & back covers of both reproduced below:
British Update: Free Gift Farrago! Tracy #3
*Girls’ Comics: An early issue of one of D.C. Thomson’s more successful latter-day girl’s titles: Tracy #3, from 1979, featuring all the well-loved themes such as blindness (“Dark Days For Jo”), cruelty to relatives (“Hard-Hearted Hannah”), malevolent supernatural powers (“The Hateful Hands of Heather Smith”), and enforced servitude (“Slave to the Beauty Queen!”). All good fun stuff for the young’uns, not forgetting our budgie-obsessed titular heroine. The top attraction for this issue, however, is that it comes with the original Free Gift – a Lucky Ladybird Brooch – still in its pouch attached to page 3 of the comic. A photo of the gift in situ may be seen here, alongside the cover reproduction. VG at £25.
American Update: Catalogue Expansion: X-Factor
*Marvel: After Jean Grey’s return from the dead (no, the first one), Marvel decided to employ the then largely-dormant original X-Men in a new title, X-Factor, with the peculiar twist that half the team would masquerade as mutant-hunters, who would then take the mutants they ‘captured’ to a place of safety, where they could be trained in the correct use of their powers while finding a refuge from those who hated them. Quite why Marvel figured such a self-loathing concept should be a hit is lost to the past, but the idea was quietly jettisoned after the first twenty or so issues, becoming just another X-Book – and rather better for it! Entered into our catalogue under our Catalogue Expansion programme, we have X-Factor’s first issue through to #26 – conclusion of the Fall of the Mutants storyline – newly listed for your delight. We suspect most folks will be interested in issue #6, the first full appearance of Apocalypse, but #24 features the first full Archangel and the origin of Apocalypse, while Freedom Force, Boom-Boom, Tower, Frenzy, Skids, Rusty and more all make early appearances in this run.
American Update: Quirky Corner: Bring On The Bunny!
*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: We swing over to Quirky Corner for a real fab gear experience! In the halcyon days of the 60’s, multiple publishers vied for space on the newsstands, and not just with super-heroes, but with other genres too. While Archie and his chums had a headlock on the field, every publisher tried to do “an Archie”, but frequently with a distaff twist, so it was an everygal, rather than an everyman, who was their central character. Among the competitors: Charlton’s My Little Margie, based on a popular TV show of the 1950’s; Tippy Teen, drawn by Archie-alumnus Samm Schwartz, which was published by Tower, the same company that published Wally Wood’s superlative THUNDER Agents (and outsold and outlasted it – there ain’t no justice!); and Harvey’s Bunny. Bunny… was a bit peculiar, even by the standards of the genre. Although her adventures were squeaky-clean, she herself was curvier than average, and her name clearly intended to evoke the Playboy Bunny girls who were at their apex in the 1960’s. She hung around with roman-a-clef rock groups – the Beagles, the Marmalade Mirage – and featured such oddball back-up strips as ‘Captain Flower’, ‘Sooper Hippie’, and the strangest superhero of all, ‘Fruitman’. We have two new issues of Bunny in stock, both Fruitman-enriched, as well as a couple of Tippy Teens, a My Little Margie with a charming ‘Space Witch’ cover, and – saving the best and rarest for last – Harvey Pop Comics, in which Bunny, the Soular System, the Marmalade Mirage and the gang – but no Fruitman, alas – invite you to plug Bunny’s electric comic in for a Rock Happening! As they aver on the interior pages, Bunny’s the zooviest!
American Update: Kirby & (Windsor) Smith Treasury Editions
*Marvel: A trio of triumphant Treasuries from Marvel’s experimental mid-1970’s heyday: Marvel Treasury Edition #4, featuring Conan the Barbarian as illustrated by Barry Smith, one of the handful of artists whose work was enhanced, rather than diminished, by being reprinted in enlarged format; Marvel treasury Special – Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, an all-new Jack Kirby extravaganza profiling the Sentinel of Liberty’s pivotal role in the American psyche; and finally, 2001: A Space Odyssey, another all-original Kirby classic loosely adapting the Kubrick film, but serving more as a ‘pilot’ for Kirby’s ongoing Marvel title of the same name. All are in decent shape, though the Bicentennial Battles has acquired a peculiar light blue-gray tinge on 20 or so of its interior pages, which we can only attribute to a flaw in the paper stock. Nevertheless, all three of these are genuine rarities, so move swiftly to satisfy your evil needs!
American Update: Superman Movie Treasury Editions
*DC: A pair of later tabloid editions, coming at a time when DC had all but abandoned the format, but riding on the success of the Christopher Reeve Superman films: All-New Collectors’ Edition C-62, featuring Superman; the Movie, and DC Special Series #25, starring Superman II. Although in the numbering sequence of comics series, there two don’t actually feature any comics content, but instead exploit the tabloid format for lavish illustrations of the articles about the films, and pin-ups of their respective stars.
British Update: Super Detective & Thriller Picture Libraries
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: A nice selection of mostly mid-grade additions to two of the most popular Picture Libraries, Super-Detective and Thriller. Super-Detective issues range from #24 to #116, and feature popular characters such as Lesley Shane, Vic Terry, Temple Fortune, Dirk Rogers, Blackshirt, Sherlock Holmes and Rick Random. (Including several VF facsimile editions of the latter’s tales). From Thriller, we commence with #109 (Oddly, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, a far cry from the usual red-blooded adventure fare), and go through to #440, starring the ubiquitous Spy 13.
American Update: Early Warrens: Famous Monsters & Spacemen
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: A dash of early Warren mags this time – before they were even known by that name, pre-Creepy – with their very first title, Famous Monsters of Filmland, and its companion title Spacemen! These had no comics content, focussing primarily on articles concerning vintage genre movies, which were in many cases playing widely on TV for the first time in the US. Replete with page-filling stills, they also threw an occasional sop to a more modern audience by featuring films or shows coming out at the time, such as the then-new Outer Limits. We have issues 2 and 4 of Spacemen new in from 1961 and 1962, a selection of the US edition of Famous Monsters of Filmland from 1962 to 1965, and, most significantly, the first UK edition from 1958 (pictured GD- £25), which, as far as we can tell, was released contemporarily with its US sibling.
British Update: TV Comic 1969-1972 with Dr. Who & the Avengers
*TV & Film Related Comics: A massive update for the scarce and much sought-after TV Comic, virtually complete from May 1969 through to October 1972. The ‘star’ strips of course are Dr. Who & the Avengers, but there are many other features, both adventurous and humorous, which will evoke waves of nostalgia among fans of a certain age: Tarzan, Tom & Jerry, Catweazle, Animal Magic, Skippy, Basil Brush, the Road Runner, the Perils of Penelope Pitstop (halp! halp!) and others. We don’t see these through our hands very often, and never before such a comprehensive run as this; we anticipate keen interest!
British Update: Jinty 1977-1979
*Girls’ Comics: A significant amount of Jinty new in between June 1977 and February 1979. Always a popular choice of many of our regular customers, another chance to fill those elusive gaps in your collection!
American Update: The Mother Of All Pre-Code Horror Fests: Atlas’s Marvel Tales & Mystic
*Horror 1940-1959: This week, mostly low grade examples of two of Atlas’s major contributions to Pre-Code Horror: 6 issues of Marvel Tales (plus 3 Post Code issues for good measure) plus 5 issues of Mystic from #2 upwards. These sort of things are getting increasingly harder to come by, and in these grades, the prices are very affordable!
British Update: Knockout 2nd series 1971-1973
*Humour Comics: A big update to our stocks of Knockout, 2nd series, which ran from 1971 to 1973. Many issues added previously missing from our listings; included are the Fireworks and Christmas issues from 1972; many copies in Fine condition.
Books Update: More Science Fiction Anthologies
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: An eclectic selection of anthologies join our shelves today, including Isaac Asimov’s Before The Golden Age trilogy collected into one hardcover book, John W Campbell’s choice of stories from the famous Astounding pulp and a tribute to him (The John W Campbell Memorial Anthology, edited by Harry Harrison), as well as a collection of stories from another famous pulp, Weird Tales (Worlds Of Weird, edited by Leo Margulies) which has the additional attraction of Virgil Finlay cover and interior art. In addition there is The Year’s Best Science Fiction Novels (edited by Bleiler & Dikty: it’s a slim hardcover book, so none of the novels can be too long), The Best Science Fiction Of The Year #9 (edited by Terry Carr), 100 Years Of Science Fiction Book Two (edited by Damon Knight), The End Of Summer: Science Fiction Of The Fifties (edited by Malzberg & Pronzini) and Other Worlds, Other Gods (edited by Mayo Mohs).
American Update: A DC Silver/Bronze Sweep
*DC: Updates to many titles in our DC Silver/Bronze Age stock, including Aquaman, Atom, Detective Comics, Green Lantern (inc. 1st Guy Gardner in #59), Hawkman, Justice League Of America (inc #100 & the 100 page #110), Strange Adventures, Superboy (Giant #129), Superman (inc. #233 – ‘Kryptonite No More’), Teen Titans, Wonder Woman (inc. the less common #115) & World’s Finest.
American Update: Early Iron Man & Starlin Warlocks
*Marvel: A small update to two popular Marvel titles: Iron Man from #8 upwards and the Jim Starlin run on Warlock.
British Update: A small selection of Humour & TV/Film Related Annuals
*Annuals: Small updates to two sub-sections of this category: in Humour, the Beezer and Buster annuals for 1971, plus in TV/Film Related: the wacky Impossibles 1968, TV Comic 1970 & TV21 1971.
Books Update: Madder By The Minute
*Mad Books: Some nice additions to the ever popular Mad Books section, with many being 1st US PB. Titles include Big Mad On Campus, Boiling Mad, Mad’s Spy Vs Spy Follow-Up FIle, Son Of Mad And Swinging Mad.
American Update: A Round-Up of DC & Marvel Westerns
*Western: Several issues from the big two, DC & Marvel from the 1950’s to the 1970’s, including from DC: All-Star Western (1970’s series), Tomahawk (from #27 and inc. the 1st Miss Liberty in #81) & Weird Western Tales, and from Marvel: Kid Colt from #106 (inc. the Kirby Big Panty Monster cover #107 and the rare Giant-Size #1) plus Two-Gun Kid, a run of low grade issues from #60 upwards.
Housekeeping Update
On a regular cycle, we sweep through our entire stock to delete sold items and keep our listing as up to date as possible. We’ve just finished deleting sold items from the following file in our Books section:
*Mad
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.
British Update: We, who would Valiant be…
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A massive update to our stocks of Valiant, one of the best and our most popular Boy’s titles, right from 1963 (the title started in late 1962) through to the last issue in 1976. Joys along the way include the first Valiant & Smash (with 1st Swots & Blots and Janus Stark) and 1st Valiant & TV21 (with 1st Star Trek in title). A whole heap of adventure from the 1960’s and 1970’s and a chance to fill your gaps!
British Update: War Picture Library
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: A huge haul of over 100 issues new in of War Picture Library, one of Fleetway’s premier titles in this category, ranging from #21 to #1107 of the first series, plus a smattering of the second series. The biggest selection of these we’ve had in a while, so fill yer boots!
American Update: All New, All Different X-Men! #94 & Giant-Size #1
*Marvel: Not the soon-to-be-released All-New, All-Different X-Men, you understand; that’s different. No, this is the original 1975 ‘reboot’, in Giant-Size X-Men #1 and X-Men #94, in which Len Wein, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum bestowed a multinational twist to the established Marvel Mutant franchise, and kicked off a sales blockbuster that thrives and multiplies today. Giant-Size X-Men #1 featured the first ever appearances of Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Thunderbird, and the second full appearance of Wolverine, as they teamed up with Cyclops and with established X-Men allies Banshee and Sunfire in forming a new team to investigate the disappearance of the originals! In issue #94 the story continued, replacing the reprints which had dominated the title since #66, with the departure of all the originals barring Cyclops, leaving the neophyte heroes up against the menace of Count Nefaria. Neither of these were ever distributed in Britain, so their scarcity gains an extra layer here, and copies are vigorously sought-after. Our Giant-Size #1 is VF- at £400; X-Men #94 is a stunning VF at £275.
British Update: Captain Britain in Free Gift Farrago!
*Marvel UK: Our Free Gift Farrago features Marvel UK’s own home-grown super-hero, Captain Britain! We have the first (2 copies!)and second issues of his 1976-launching weekly by Claremont and Trimpe, each with their respective free gifts of a Captain Britain Mask (fair enough) and a Captain Britain Boomerang (Sorry? Was he suddenly Captain Australia?). Neither gift has been assembled or punched out (excuse the expression) and is in immaculate condition. The issue #1s are VF at £25 and FN at £20 with gifts respectively. In addition, we have the relaunch issue, #24, with its free gift, a Captain Britain ‘Super-Jet’ one-piece glider. This is apparently rarer than the first or second issues, and we have a copy in VF at £20.
American Update: Spider-Mania explodes!
*Marvel: Our Spider-Mania event really moves into high gear this week as we release several dozen issues ranging from the first full Mary Jane Watson appearance in #42 up to the anniversary issue #100. Along the way, we encounter the first appearances of such luminaries from Spidey’s Rogues’ Gallery as Silvermane, the Prowler, the Kangaroo & the Schemer, guest appearances by Ka-Zar, the Human Torch, Quicksilver, Medusa and the Black Widow and Spidey fighting in Merrie Ol’ London in #95 (cor blimey!). This new selection is characterised by all being cents copies and the vast majority being high grade, averaging VF with many VF+ and even VF/NM issues in evidence, just a few of which are shown here: #59 VF+ £95, #70 VF+ £69, #75 VF/NM £80, #77 VF+ £58, #82 VF/NM £77. Next week, the cavorting conclusion to our Spider-Mania event!
Books Update: Old Masters IV – Harlan Ellison
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: A fresh batch of Harlan Ellison’s works top up our bookshelves today, with a mixture of Horror and Science Fiction all in Ellison’s inimitable style. Books include Approaching Oblivion, Doomsman (in a double book with The Thief Of Thoth by Lin Carter), From The Land Of Fear, Paingod And Other Delusions, Shatterday, The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World and The Time Of The Eye.
Books Update: Hank Janson With Style
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Hank Janson was invented by Stephen Frances. His racy detective novels of the 40’s and 50’s, generally published on a monthly basis, filled the gap formed when American pulp fiction was banned from the UK, and were immensely popular. (In fact they were so racy that author, publishers and distributors were prosecuted for obscenity in 1954). The late 1950’s Alexander Moring imprint, with red and yellow stripes across the top of the cover was arguably the most stylish of all. The front covers either featured art by the brilliant, elusive Reginald Heade, or produced in his style. Interestingly, many Alexander Moring publications have Heade covers that have been modified, usually by the addition of just enough clothing on the young ladies to avoid another prosecution for obscenity. Today we release 19 of these distinctive books, all but one Alexander Moring publications. In Hank Janson’s world things are rarely what they seem, and in this case the final book was published by George Turton, but in the Alexander Moring style. Notable amongst these books are Sweet Fury (FN/VF), Avenging Nymph (VG/FN), Bring Me Sorrow (VG/FN), Cactus (VG), Devil’s Highway (FN), Don’t Cry Now (FN), Sinister Rapture (FN), Tension (FN) and Whiplash (FN).
British Update: Stand By For — Action!
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: You won’t find this kind of Action in Marineville, kids! Action, the trailblazing comics weekly which escalated the degree of violence ever seen in a ‘kid’s comic’ to an unprecedented level, debuted in 1976 and tipped over the industry with its violent detectives, bloodthirsty soldiers (Allies and Axis), futuristic sports carnage, and of course, the ever-loveable maneating white shark, “Hookjaw”. We have new stock from the first year of publication, the earliest being the third ever issue; jump aboard and see what all the fuss is about!
American Update: Flashbacks
*Modern Reprints: We’re nostalgically delighted to have 13 of the Alan light ‘Flashback’ reprints from the 1970’s available. Fondly remembered by fans of a certain vintage, each of these is a facsimile of a Golden Age comic, complete with editorial and advertising matter. Reprinting early works from DC, Timely/Marvel, MLJ/Archie, Fawcett, Quality and other publishers, these were the first concerted attempt at archival reprinting of Golden Age material, long before the age of Archives, Masterworks, and interweb streaming thingies. (Kids today, you don’t know you’re born. When I was your age…) Erm, anyway. Re-presenting a plethora of goodies, highlights include first issues of Pep, Human Torch, Military, Sub-Mariner, early issues of All-Star, Captain Marvel Adventures and All-Star Comics, and the dazzling debuts of such immortal characters as the Shield, the Comet, Blackhawk, and, erm, the Red Bee and Michael. This selection ranges from issue #5 (Military Comics #1) to #37 (Captain Midnight #1), and averages Fine+ grade.
British Update: Favourite Boys’ Picture Library titles
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Small updates to five favourite titles in this very popular category: Air Ace, Commando (inc some nice Fine graded copies between #178-190), Football Picture Story Monthly, Lion & Valiant.
British Update: A miscellany of Humour
*Humour Comics: Small updates to many favourite funnies from 4 decades as follows: Buster 1967 and Buster Special Puzzle Book 1976, Giggle 1967, Hoot 1986, Krazy 1977, Nutty 1980/81, Plug 1978, School Fun 1984, Topper 1958, Whizzer & Chips 1975 and Whoopee 1976.
British Update: Marvel UK Transformers
*TV & Film Related Comics: A further outing for those Heroic Autobots of Marvel UK, the Transformers, featuring dozens of issues between #44 & #206, filling some gaps in our stock.
British Update: Mandy concludes: 1988/89
*Girls’ Comics: The finale to the mammoth Mandy project we’ve been working on for some time, with virtually all of 1988 added and the start of 1989. We’re sure they’ll be more Mandys in our future, but for the time being, we have plenty listed to be getting on with!
American Update: The Mother Of All Pre-Code Horror Fests Strikes Again!
*Horror 1940-1959: As if last week’s horrific Halloween happenings weren’t enough, there’s a further nine entries in our Pre-Code Horror Fest this week, each one a different title: from Fiction House, we have Ghost #4 (Maurice Whitman cover), from Comic Media, Horrific #12 (Don Heck ‘Big Head’ cover), from Standard, Out Of The Shadows #12, from Atlas, Spellbound #23, Strange Tales #30 (pictured) and Uncanny Tales #45, from Star, Spook #24 (with L B Cole cover and transvestism story), from Fawcett, the one and only issue of Unknown World (with Norman Saunders painted cover), and from Ajax Farrell, Voodoo #16. Affordable grades here for a cauldron full of chills! And more to come…
Books Update: Evocations of childhood
*Childrens’ Books: Today we release some examples of the most well-loved and memorable childrens’ books. Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland is available in a 1933 hardcover edition, with stunning illustrations (colour plates) and pictorial board by A E Jackson. C S Lewis’ Narnia books are represented in both the Puffin editions with all illustrations by Pauline Baynes and Fontana Lions editions illustrated by Steven Lavis (cover) and Pauline Baynes (interior). Two Monica Edwards stories, Punchbowl Midnight and Spirit Of Punchbowl Farm have been added as well as The Lost World (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), The Moon Of Gomrath (Alan Garner) and a fine facsimile edition of Billy Bunter In Brazil.
American Update: Early 1960’s Detective Comics
*DC: Ten new issues in of Detective Comics from the early 1960’s between #275 and #332. All in lowish, affordable grades, highlights include a lovely Bat-Mite/Batwoman cover on #276 and a Joker cover and story (#332). Backing up the Batman main feature at various times are the Martian Manhunter, Roy Raymond TV Detective and the Elongated Man.
Housekeeping Update
On a regular cycle, we sweep through our entire stock to delete sold items and keep our listing as up to date as possible. We’ve just finished deleting sold items from the following file in our Books section:
*Childrens’ Books
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.
British Update: Jackpot (mostly) 1980
*Humour Comics: A couple of dozen issues of the wacky Jackpot fresh in, mostly from 1980, but with a smattering from 1979 and 1981 as well, mostly in a nice Fine condition.
Books Update: In A Land Fafhrd, Fafhrd Away
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Fritz Leiber’s Sword and Sorcery tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser’s exploits in the land of Nowhen first appeared in 1939, continuing for another 50 years. Much applauded and loved, and often imitated, the stories were highly influential for many authors, including Joanna Russ (Alyx) and Terry Pratchett (Bravd and the Weasel). We have all seven titles of the series, in high grades (VF/NM or NM), the first six all being the Mayflower edition of 1979.
American Update: Avengers #8 VF+
*Marvel: We present a stunning VF+ copy of Avengers #8, with just very minor edge wear preventing a higher grade. Featuring the first appearance of the nefarious Kang, this cents copy is tight and flat with excellent page quality.