*War: A substantial update to DC & Marvel titles in our War category, including from DC: All American Men Of War (from #35), Captain Storm (from #1), GI Combat, Men Of War, Our Army At War, Sgt Rock, The Unknown Soldier & Weird War Tales, and from Marvel: Captain Savage, a big chunk of Sgt Fury from #24 & War Is Hell (#10 with Death).
Yearly Archives: 2015
British Update: Free Gift Farrago! Fleetway’s Big Cats (1): Jag from #1 with Free Gift
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A new feature in our Autumn extravaganza is a three part update entitled Fleetway’s Big Cats. We open with a long run of Jag, from #1 (4/5/68) and featuring all the over-sized issues up to and including 15/2/69 (after which it lasted just a few more weeks in a smaller format before being merged in with Tiger — ‘great news, chums!’). The debut issue featured The Mouse Patrol by Eric Bradbury, The Indestructible Man by Jesus Blasco and Custer by Geoff Campion, but perhaps the most enduring strip was Football Family Robinson, drawn by Joe Colquhoun, which commenced in the issue dated 27/7/69 and survived into Tiger when Jag folded. Our Jag #1 ties in with our Free Gift Farrago event in that it comes with the Free Gift: Bobby Moore’s Book Of The FA Cup; both comic and book are GD/VG: £50 for the pair. Most copies in this run though are a sparkling FN grade; we’ve never seen better, and as usual when we get Jags in, they won’t stay with us very long. (I bet you can guess the subjects of our upcoming Fleetway’s Big Cats updates parts 2 and 3 — stay tuned!)
American Update: Meanwhile, over in the Fiction House Jungle…
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: We celebrate the king and queen of the jungle, Fiction House style, with #17 of Kaanga & #147 of Jumbo Comics featuring Sheena. Under the glowing colours of covers by superb cover artist Maurice Whitman, the idealised early 1950’s world of the African Jungle with all its perils and adventures awaits. Mid-grade copies, easily worth £18 each of anyone’s money!
American Update: The Mother Of All Pre-Code Horror Fests — as easy as ABC!
*Horror 1940-1959: A baker’s dozen of chillers in our visit this week to the Mother Of All Pre-Code Horror Fests, all titles starting with A, B or C! From Atlas: Adventures Into Terror (#7 with Wolverton art) & Adventures Into Weird Worlds; from Ace: Baffling Mysteries (inc. #5, the 1st issue) & Beyond; from Trojan: Beware; from Harvey: Black Cat Mystery and from Youthful: Chlling Tales #17 with a moody Matt Fox cover. Almost all these spine-tinglers are in very inexpensive lowish grade and just right for the Pre-Code aficiando on a budget!
Books Update: Who Knows What Evil Lurks In The Hearts Of Men?
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: The Shadow knows, and now you can too, as we have ten novels based on the popular 1930’s pulp fiction character. The Shadow used a bewildering array of pseudonyms (Kent Allard, Lamont Cranston and Isaac Twambley among others), as did the authors of these books. The original writer was Walter Gibson, but most of these books are credited to Maxwell Grant, although in Grove Of Doom the author is confusingly given as Walter Gibson alias Maxwell Grant. (Maxwell Grant was in fact a house name, usually for Dennis Lynds). Titles include The Living Shadow, The Night Of The Shadow, The Shadow Strikes, The Shadow’s Revenge and Shadow Beware. Unusually we have ..Cry Shadow! in a Hungarian PB, printed for distribution in the US. Nearly all of the books are 1st US PB, grading GD or VG, with the majority published by Belmont.
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 files in our American section:
*Modern Reprints
and in our American/British section:
*Tarzan/E R Burroughs
*Phantom
*Flash Gordon
*Spirit
*Modesty Blaise
and in our British section:
*Younger Readers’ Comics
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
Books Update: Film and TV – Space, Earth & Ocean
*TV/Film Tie-Ins: There’s something for adventurous landlubbers, would-be astronauts and mariners in this latest update. On land we have the Avengers in Heil Harris! (Emma Peel takes over the world!), Callan in A Red File For Callan, Dangerman in Hell For Tomorrow, and Invaders At Ground Zero (the first Tales for Tomorrow novelisation). In space we have two Space: 1999 books, Astral Quest and The Space Guardians, while on the ocean wave we have The Boatniks, the novelisation of a Walt Disney film featuring Phil Silvers.
British Update: Free Gift Farrago! Vulcan: Full sets of both Scottish & National Editions with Free Gifts – the rarest UK title?
*Boy’s Adventure & War Comics: In 1975, Fleetway/IPC tried to cash in on its fondly-remembered adventure series by launching a new anthology, Vulcan, in an unusual slick-paper format with dimensions approximating those of the American comic book format, rather than the customary magazine size of UK comics. Gleaning features from across its vast inventory, they ran “The Trigan Empire” from Look and Learn, as the lead, with “Kelly’s Eye”, “Mytek the Mighty” and “The Steel Claw” from Valiant, “The Spider” and “Robot Archie” from Lion, and “Saber, King of the Jungle” from Tiger, for a cross-section of top talent, including Don Lawrence, Reg Bunn, Solano Lopez, Joe Colquhoun, and Jesus Blasco – an A-list roster for a Z-List budget, as IPC paid no reprint royalties at the time! Vulcan was tried out in a Scottish-only edition with the first issue released in March 1975, and after a successful 30-issue run, re-launched with a national edition in September that year. Sadly, the National edition ran only for a further 28 issues; despite top-notch creators and well-loved characters, it seems there just weren’t enough readers around who appreciated the series. By January 1976, Vulcan was a thing of the past, absorbed into Valiant, with only three pull-out mini-comics allocated to finish out the serials. Any issues of Vulcan are scarce these days – the relative flimsiness of the slick paper stock means that copies are rather too easily damaged, unless stored carefully – but most elusive are the Scottish editions, which had a proportionately restricted print run. We are very happy to have acquired complete runs of both the Scottish and the National editions, all 58 issues, plus multiple duplicate copies, plus the Holiday Special of 1976. Many of these are in high grade, and, in line with our Free Gift Farrago, we also have a handful which are complete with the original Free Gifts – a phenomenon almost never seen! (#1-3 of the Scottish and #2 of the National). Prices on the Scottish editions are high, but we believe they’re justified by the scarcity of the items – in our 20+ years of trading, we have only ever seen half-a-dozen Scottish Vulcans before, and believe me – we’ve been looking! We expect demand to be high, so place your orders early.
Scottish Editions: (all free gifts FN or better)
#1 with Free Gift: Super Shaking Skeleton VG £350
#2 with Free Gift: Identikit GD £150
#3 with Free Gift: Flick Book Cinema FN £200
Later issue prices start at £30 each
National Edition:
#2 with Free Gift: Magical Numbers game FN £25
British Update: Free Gift Farrago begins! Countdown #1-3
*TV & Film Related Comics: Our Free Gift Farrago opens with the first three issues of Countdown, the 1971 successor to TV 21 which carried on the Gerry Anderson strips such as “Captain Scarlet”, “Thunderbirds” and “Stingray”, while adding series like “Dr. Who” and “Secret Service” in to the mix. The best-kept secret of the series, however, was the eponymous strip “Countdown”, a brand-new space opera stylishly illustrated by John M. Burns. Of these three issues, #1 and #3 have the original Free Gifts – ‘Spacefact’ stamps/stickers in both #1 and #3, plus the Giant ‘Spacefact’ Wallchart in issue #1! All in a sparkling Fine condition: #1 (with chart and stamps) £125, #2 (no free gift) £20, #3 (with stamps) £50.
American Update: 2 Avengers Key issues!
*Marvel: A brace of (almost) debuts this update, as we offer you Avengers #55 and #196, featuring Ultron and the Taskmaster respectively! Well, we say almost-debuts because each of these villainous gentlemen made a ‘teaser’ appearance in the preceding issue – but these were their fist full-fledged forays into felony! The #55 is an attractive VG+ (£50), which is off the lower staple and bears a small, neatly-inscribed previous owner’s name at cover top, but still possesses excellent page quality. The #196 is a pence-priced VF (£35), sound and tight throughout.
American Update: A salvo of Western
*Western: Saddle up – it’s time to hit the range again with Dell’s Boots & Saddles, Johnny Ringo, and Lone Ranger, and additions to our stock of Weird Western Tales, starring the one & only Jonah Hex!
American Update: A skirmish of War
*War: New listings for our combat-crazed chums, kicking off with the 1st issue of Combat Kelly and His Deadly Dozen, Marvel’s attempt to clone their long-running Sgt. Fury series; and ably backed up by new entries for DC’s Our Army At War, Sgt. Rock, and Unknown Soldier!
American Update: Calling All Girls! It’s Quirky Corner!
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: In this week’s Quirky Corner entry, two of the “Largest Circulation Magazine For Girls”, or so it proudly claimed – Calling All Girls! This launched in 1941, and by 1943 and 1944 , the issues offered here, was well into its swing of encouraging even the “Junior Miss” set that they, too, could play their part in defeating the Axis – and pick up some grooming and fashion tips into the bargain! Comic strips included the ongoing adventures of teen-queen “Judy Wing”, and a selection of comics biographies of famous and/or heroic girls. These charmingly dated combinations of comics, beauty, recipes and short fiction were the inspiration for Timely/Atlas’ Miss America Magazine, but Miss A. won the day, whereas Calling All Girls was gone by 1950, though it was sporadically revived thereafter. Nevertheless, a pleasing look through the windows of nostalgia, quite unlike anything else recently acquired.
American Update: Batman: Death In The Family
*DC: In the closing days of 1988, DC responded to the universal derision of Jason Todd, the second Robin, by launching a special storyline in which the reader would get to vote on whether Jason carried on as Robin, or whether he died horribly at the hands of the Joker. A special Toll-Free Number was set up, and by a large margin, readers voted to dispense with the services of the Robin known colloquially as “Jason Toad”. “Death In The Family” was a double-Jim production – Jim Starlin scripted, Jim Aparo illustrated, and all four Batman issues, #426-429, featured classy covers by Mike Mignola. We have all four back in stock and in Near Mint condition, so if you missed it before, here’s another chance to see one of the most controversial and biggest-selling story arcs of the late 20th Century!
British Update: A Western Round-Up in UK/AUS Reprints
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: A small selection of Western titles new in this popular section from World Distributors (Ben Bowie & His Mountain Men, Red Ryder, Roy Rogers & Western Classic – Indian Fighter), Jenson (Kid Colt) & Top Sellers (Lone Ranger). Ride ’em, cowboy!
American Update: It’s here! Spider-Mania!
*Marvel: The first instalment of our autumn Spider-Man event is right here! We’re kicking off with the earliest issue in this batch (#3) and the latest run (#151-190 + Annuals and Giant-Size). Our Spidey #3, featuring the debut of Doctor Octopus, is a GD cents copy at £225, with some chipping and wear but an unmarked cover image; a more full description can be found in our catalogue listing. A consecutive run from #151-190 is also new in, almost all in very high grade with plenty of VF+, VF/NM, NM- and even NM copies. Highlights from this period include battles with Doc Ock and the Green Goblin, encounters with the Punisher, Peter Parker’s graduation, and the debut of such dastardly foes as Mirage, Will O’The Wisp and the Rocket Racer (perhaps not the most fearsome of Spidey’s Rogues’ Gallery). We also have a range of annuals new to our listings and Giant-Size #4 with the Punisher. Lots more Spidey coming up in the weeks ahead, so keep your webs on the alert!
Comic & Book Storage Supplies
By popular demand, we’ve expanded our range of bags, boards and boxes for storing comics and books to cover a wider selection of sizes. In addition to our existing range of American and British standard size comic bags and boards, we now carry bags for paperback books, picture libraries, Golden Age American comics and larger British comics, with boards to match, and picture library sized boxes are also new. Check out our full range of standard and archival storage supplies at our revamped Comic & Book Storage page.
Books Update: Old Masters III – Michael Moorcock
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Michael Moorcock is certainly one of the most productive and versatile Science Fiction and Fantasy authors around. We have added new titles to his already substantial section. Titles include A Cure For Cancer and The English Assassin (Books 2 and 3 of the Jerry Cornelius series: Book 4, The Condition Of Muzak is already available), The Bull And The Spear (Book 4 of the Corum series), The Land Leviathan and The Steel Tsar (Books 2 and 3 of the Oswald Bastable series, to go with The Warlord Of The Air already present), The Bane Of The Black Sword (Book 5 in the Elric series), The Ice Schooner and The Eternal Champion.
American Update: Vampire Tales
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: We return to Marvel horror for this week’s magazine update and Vampire Tales, with eight issues new in from #2 upwards.
British Update: A Flight of Eagles
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A small update to our stocks of Eagle, the classic Boys’ weekly with Dan Dare, for the following volumes: 9, 12, 14-18.
American Update: The Mother of Pre-Code Horror Fests begins! Thing #17 VF
*Horror 1940-1959: Our Autumn extravaganzas begin right here with the first instalment of our latest Pre-Code Horror Fest – The Mother of them all and our biggest ever! We start with one of the nicest graded examples of this genre we’ve ever come across — Charlton’s Thing #17 in a sparkling VF grade at £450. This copy of the final issue of this acclaimed infamous series has white inner and back covers, a glossy black background front cover, virtually unmarked, tight staples, presents flat with only slightly off-white pages — for 61 years old, it’s looking a lot better than I do! Beneath a moody and atmospheric classic Ditko cover, we get, amongst other stories, a classic Alice Through The Looking Glass parody and a classy piece of work by Bob Powell. Somewhere in an attic there must be a mouldering copy which is ageing instead of this one! There’ll be many more spine-tinglers along very soon in a variety of grades and prices, so keep your eyes peeled and avoid injuries to them!
American Update: Captain Action & Stalker – 2 complete short series from DC with classic artists
*DC: Spotlight on two complete series from DC this time with classic art. First up, all five issues of Captain Action (the toy franchise hero) from the Silver Age with art by Wally Wood & Gil Kane. Then, all four issues of the sword and sorcery hero Stalker from the Bronze Age, with art by Steve Ditko and Wally Wood. A chance to grab some inexpensive work by major comic artists!
American Update: Silver/Bronze Captain America
*Marvel: We start and end this Captain America update with the King! Commencing with Kirby’s #108, we proceed by way of Steranko’s #111 through the Gene Colan years and the Falcon on to Frank Robbins and Nomad before finishing off with Kirby’s second coming in the mid 1970’s. Plenty to enjoy here in the Star Spangled Sentinel of Liberty’s classic adventures!
British Update: Mandy 1970-1981
*Girls’ Comics: More from Mandy, with lots from 1970 and 1971, filling many previous gaps with nice condition copies, then a handful from 1971, 1974, 1979 & 1980, finishing with a large chunk from 1981, mostly issues not previously listed.
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 files in our American section:
*EC
*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards
*War
*Western
*Religious
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
British Update: Bunty 1969/1970
*Girls’ Comics: A further update to our stocks of Bunty, the most venerable Girls’ title of all, this time from the years 1969 and 1970, filling many gaps in our lists.
Coming Attractions!
We’ve got such a wealth of wonderful stuff lined-up in the weeks ahead, that we just wanted to take this opportunity to preview some of it and whet your appetites. Our American side will be headlined by the return of our Pre-Code Horror Fest, featuring possibly our biggest selection yet of spine-tingling and shocking tales from the days before censorship, plus another returning goodie ‘Spider-Mania’, with several big updates to your friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler from his early days onwards, including many key issues. On the British side, our Free Gift Farrago will be back on a wide range of titles, plus we’ll have not one but two complete runs of probably the rarest British comic of them all, including Free Gifts. Our book department will be showcasing what are possibly the two most collected pulp titles and have a number of star items. That’s all we can say for now, but we can assure you of an autumn full of material to cheer (or terrify) you through the darker, colder nights. Of course, we’ll have tons of other stuff too! Stick with us, pilgrims!
American Update: 1st Medusa & 1st Inhumans in Fantastic Four #36 & #45 in low-ish grade
*Marvel: Interest in Fantastic Four #36 and #45 has rocketed in the last year or two, so much so that prices have eclipsed even the first appearance of the Silver Surfer in #48. #36 features the debut of the Frightful Four, including the first appearance of Madam Medusa, the first Inhuman to be unveiled in the Marvel Universe. #45 reveals the whole group, including Black Bolt, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Crystal and Lockjaw. Both our new copies are only graded as Good; #36 has a diagonal cover crease, edge wear and a two-fingernail size piece out of the lower right cover (£40); #45 has a worn spine and cover edge creases (£75); both are cents copies. Low grades, but affordable prices mean that these key issues won’t be with us very long.
American Update: The Unexpected!
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980’s: By 1968, DC’s Tales Of The Unexpected had evolved into just ‘The Unexpected’ from issue #105 and was an out-and-out horror title, joining many others into the 1970’s. We have a big update to this title, with about three dozen issues new in between #114 and #222, the ‘last mind-tingling issue’.
American Update: A real mixed bag in Mags!
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: We have a very diverse lot for you in this week’s magazine update, featuring a galaxy of artistic stars. We kick off with the early Punisher appearance in Marvel Super Action #1, then Adventure & Fantasy Illustrated, both from NMP featuring Sienkiewicz, Sutton, Heck, Boyette, Russell, Ditko & Sekowsky. Argosy V3#2 from 1990 sports a Steranko cover and includes the Kirby pencil only story ‘Street Code’. Basically Strange (1982 from JC Prods.) has a Corben cover, with Toth, Wood, Thorne and Jones inside, while the Comic Crusader Storybook from 1977 has work by Steranko, Adams, Byrne & Ditko. We also have Jim Starlin’s graphic novel for Eclipse: ‘The Price’, and Howard Chaykin’s adaptation of Michael Moorcock’s ‘The Swords Of Heaven, The Flowers Of Hell’. Both Copies of Thrilling Adventure Stories from Atlas Seaboard are included in high grade, with Heath, Thorne, Toth, Severin, Simonson and more, and we round off with JCP Features Thunder Agents from 1981, featuring new Thunder Agents stories and reprints by Adams and Kirby. Something there for everyone!
British Update: Mandy 1967-1970
*Girls’ Comics: Some early Mandys for your consideration, the earliest new in being #8, and then dozens more from 1968-1970, mostly in nicer grades than those of our previously existing stock. A good time to top up your collection with one of our most popular and best-selling girls’ titles.
American Update: Iron Fist — High grade cents copies
*Marvel: A superior product of the Kung Fu craze of the 1970’s, in the hands of John Byrne, Iron Fist was a quality comic, transcending its genre and giving the world a new Marvel hero with a legacy that still lasts today. We have new in issues #1-13, mostly in high grade (VF or better) and all cents copies. Martial arts mayhem mixed with solid story-telling and Byrne’s exquisite art.
American Update: DC Silver Age Sweep
*DC: A few dozen classic Silver Age titles added to our DC stocks including: Adventure Comics #282 (1st Star Boy), Aquaman, Atom, Brave & Bold #44 (Hawkman by Kubert), Doom Patrol #100 (Origin Beast Boy), Hawk & Dove, House Of Mystery, House Of Secrets, Justice League Of America, Sherlock Holmes, Strange Adventures, Superman & Tales Of The Unexpected (#91, 1st Automan).
British Update: Mandy & Judy 1991-1995
*Girls’ Comics: Our range of the combo title Mandy & Judy is greatly expanded with dozens of issues added from 1991 (the first year) up to 1995.
American Update: Catalogue Expansion: Rocket Raccoon
*Marvel: We continue our foray into the selective listing of certain post-Bronze Age titles with everyone’s favourite procyonid Rocket Raccoon, in the shape of his 1985 four issue mini-series. Written by the Raccoon’s creator Bill Mantlo with classy and stylistic art by Mike Mignola (no less) we have issues #2, 3 & 4 in stock in lovely VF condition at £20 each. The star of the screen and several series of recent and upcoming times, the Raccoon’s fortunes have never been greater!
British Update: Bunty 1968
*Girls’ Comics: A nice range of Bunty new in from 1968, in VG to FN condition, including the Christmas issue for that year.
British Update: A large new range of Annuals fresh in!
*Annuals: A chunky update to our Annuals stock across most sub-categories. In Humour, Beryl The Peril, Dennis The Menace, Knockout, Sparky & Whizzer & Chips; in Film & TV Related, the Avengers (1967 with Steed & Mrs Peel), Catweazle, Dad’s Army, Daktari, Thunderbirds (1967) and TV Comic (1969 with Patrick Troughton’s Dr. Who); in Boys’, the Odhams trilogy of Pow, Smash & Wham plus Riders Of The Range & Tiger; and finally in Girls’, Girl, Sally and three School Friends from the 1950’s. A wide range of tastes catered for in this update.
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 American section:
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics
and from our British section:
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
Books Update: A Huge Haul Of Horror
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Taking advantage of the extra space on the bookshelves, we have added more than thirty horror titles, many of them anthologies. Authors/editors include Lady Cynthia Asquith, Algernon Blackwood, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, John Burke, R Chetwynd-Hayes (Unbidden), Peter Haining (notably Dr Caligari’s Black Book), Edward D Hoch, Harry Ludlam, Eric Frank Russell (Dark Tides), Kurt Singer and Herbert Van Thal. There are also two listed under No Author, presumably because they are so bloodcurdling that no-one was prepared to admit to them. So as the nights draw in, what better way to spend a long dark evening than enjoying a spine-chilling tale or two?
British update: Sparky 1965-1973
*Humour Comics: The early years of Sparky have been missing from our listings for too long, so we’re delighted to welcome a few dozen into the fold, primarily from the first year of publication (1965) up to 1970, but with a handful from 1971-73 also. This includes the period when Barney Bulldog took over cover feature from our eponymous hero. Includes Christmas, April Fool and Easter issues.
Books Update: Mr Hitchock’s Gruesomely Ghoulish, Hideously Horrifying And Mysteriously Macarbre Murders
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Not content with directing some of the most effectively terrifying films, Alfred Hitchcock lent his name to compilations of tales of chilling death in several collections often revealing a penchant for appalling puns. We have a number of books from each of ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents..’ and ‘Alfred Hitchcock’s ..’ series of anthologies, as well as his ‘My Favourites In Suspense 1’. Featuring renowned authors such as Jerome Bixby, Robert Bloch, John Burke, Ruth Chatterton, Jonathan Craig, Roald Dahl, August Derleth, Hal Ellson, Brett Halliday, Edward D Hoch, James Holding, Damon Knight, Fritz Leiber and Arthur Porges and numerous others, you’re guaranteed a spine-tingling time reading these.
Window Update: Archie’s Approaching 75th
Inspired by the news that Archie and Friends will achieve 75 years in the comic business in December, Dr Evilla decided to get in an early celebration. Apart from the well-known main characters, Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead (with their alter egos Pureheart the Powerful, SuperTeen, Miss Vanity and Captain Hero), this window also feature other favourites such as Sabrina, Josie (and her Pussycats), L’il Jinx, Little Archie and Cosmo the Martian. Archie’s enduring popularity can be seen by the success of the recent reinventions of his life in Riverdale and his surprising encounters with some unusual foes: sharks and extreme weather, Predator and zombies. All together now… Honey de de de de de de, Oh Sugar Sugar ..
Shop Update: Shop exterior – collect the set (3)
American Update: 1st Guardians Of The Galaxy in Marvel Super-Heroes #18
*Marvel: In the year 3007, the countries of the world are brought together in the United Lands of Earth, spreading the Terran empire throughout the known galaxy – when interplanetary harmony is disrupted by the arrival of the voracious Badoon, who overcome Earth and her dominions, leaving only a few scattered freedom fighters to battle on – the Guardians of the Galaxy! Such was the premise of the original story created by Arnold Drake (writer of the Doom Patrol, another popular band of outcasts) and Gene Colan in issue #18 of Marvel Super-Heroes, January 1969. A powerful and moving story, it lay dormant for some years, until revived by Steve Gerber in the Seventies, whereupon the Guardians became a regular, if infrequent, part of the Marvel Universe, before the recent movie (featuring, it must be said, an entirely different cast) catapulted the title into public consciousness. This copy is an attractive Fine+, pence stamped, at £125, with only minimal edge & corner wear, but unbroken cover colour and gloss despite a soft crease across the bottom right corner, and excellent interior page quality. Harder to find in any condition, and sure to become scarcer yet as Guardians of the Galaxy II heads toward your local multiplex!
British Update: Sparky #1 23rd January 1965
*Humour Comics: “A new comic for boys and girls”, averred this 1965 launch from DC Thomson, though it ought really to have said “for white boys and girls”, as the peculiar racist caricature of the titular character would surely offend and deter any readers who were not of the Caucasian persuasion. Nevertheless, the title did have a great deal to offer readers who, it seemed, were slightly younger than the Dandy and Beano set, with an almost fairy-tale character to some of the series like “Dreamy Dave and Dozy Dora”, while others – “Freddy the Fearless Fly”, “Keyhole Kate”, et. al – were new versions of old Beano stalwarts with the serial numbers filed off. Even the token adventure strips, such as “Wee Tusky”, lacked the tension noticeable in the other titles. Nevertheless, Sparky had a very respectable run, racking up more than 650 weekly issues until 1977, and this is where it all got started! This copy has a significant corner off the lower right front cover, though not impinging upon the stories, and three tears to the back cover, but everything is clean and readable in a very presentable FA/GD at £40.
American Update: Scooby-Doo Team-Up with the Gotham Girls
*DC: It’s a funny business this comic business. As you know, being a vintage comics specialist, we rarely feature modern comics here, let alone one that’s just been published this week, but we have a point to make. Scooby-Doo Team-Up #12, released on Wednesday 23rd September, was already changing hands on that date on eBay for between £20 and £25. We assume it must have been under-ordered, that enough subscribers and retailers didn’t spot that the issue guest-starred the Gotham Girls, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Catwoman & Batgirl. Consequently, there must be more demand than there are copies to go round, hence the inflated eBay price. So, what’s a retailer to do? If we put it on sale at our regular price (£2.25), speculators will attempt to buy up all our copies and sell them on eBay for £20-£25. So, having made sure our regulars got it at the regular price, we’re putting a copy on sale at £15 in the hope that it will be bought by someone who actually wants to read it rather than speculate on it. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
British Update: Express Weekly late 1950’s/early 1960’s
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A nice selection of Express weekly (later TV Express) from 1957 to 1961. A leading competitor to Eagle, Express did its very best to match its rival, not only in presentation and layout, but also in quality, Ron Embleton’s work on “Wulf the Briton” being one example. Other residents of Express include “Biggles”, “Sgt. Pinto”, “No Hiding Place”, and “Jet Morgan”, in a superior selection of adventure and comedy.
British Update: Radio & Film Fun late 1950’s/early 1960’s
*TV & Film Related Comics: New additions to our listings of Film Fun (1959-1962), and Radio Fun (1958-1959) featuring a mixture of licensed characters and original creations; prominent series include detective (and occasional costumed hero) the Falcon, Superman, Donald Duck, Scoop Donovan, Terry-Thomas, Goofy, and Jack O’Justice! The new influx ranges from Good to Fine, and sees these venerable titles struggling to adapt to a new decade, resulting in some interesting experimentation.
American Update: Super DC Giants
*DC: The clunkily-named Super DC Giant continued its numbering from Super DC Weekly, an abortive attempt to launch a DC comic in the UK equivalent to what Odhams had achieved with Fantastic and Terrific for Marvel. Wasting nothing, DC’s Powers-That-Be converted the title into a rotating anthology, repackaging old inventory under various themes, frequently with some new bridging material added. New in stock this week: issues spotlighting Top Guns of the West (two different), Supergirl, House of Mystery, Best of the Brave & The Bold, and Jack Kirby’s Challengers of the Unknown!
American Update: Quirky Corner: Heroes’ Hangout #1 & 2
*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: As we meander along to Quirky Corner this time, we discover two of the rarest artefacts ever to pass through our hands: From the earliest days of US comics fandom, Heroes’ Hangout # 1 and 2, from 1963 and 1964, respectively! Issue #1 (FN £75) is an old-school duplicated ‘zine (the kind you had to type out on stencils which printed in a funny purple hue), from November 1963. It’s the limited run first printing (Number 17 of 100), and has as an additional bonus an eight-page mini-comic (centre picture below – also, confusingly, named Heroes’ Hangout #1) which we infer was a bonus insert with the first issue. Issue #2 (VG £30), from February or March 1964 (depending whether you believe the cover or the editorial page) graduated to black stencils; it’s missing its final two pages, but they were only adverts. Vanishingly few artefacts remain from the early years, so here’s an opportunity to grab a slice of fandom history, edited by Rudi Franke, and featuring very early works by Bill DuBay, Roger Brand, Ray Miller, John McGeehan, and others!