*DC: This week’s excursion into the Midas Collection starts with two issues of Batman from 1944, which have both seen better days, but where the low grades puts them within reach of a greater number of collectors. 
PICTURED: BATMAN BOTH SOLD
#21 FA+ £120 Batman and Robin head west to see if they can stem the tide of cattle rustling; the Caped Crusaders must stop a criminal mastermind who uses a genius in military science to plan crimes; they have to outwit a criminal element which targets a Lord Burleigh, a man who has come to America to interest an American oil company in his discovery; and the Penguin invents a small motion picture camera with telescopic lenses, which is precise enough to see combinations to wall safes as they are being opened. Cover by Dick Sprang. Stories by jack Schiff, Don C Cameron, Al Schwartz and Joseph Greene. Art by Sprang and Ed Kressy. This copy has good colour; the cover image is marred by a missing thumbnail chunk out of the front cover at the spine near the top staple (see scan); approx half the chunk is present but detached. The damage extends to a bigger chunk off the back cover, which we have scanned here for reference. There is an 11 cm hard crease across the bottom right corner, with a shorter crease within it; neither of these break colour. Further creasing at top of spine and across top right corner. Cover off top staple, secure at bottom. Both staples secure at centrefold. Some wear at spine and corners. Reasonable off-white page quality.  
#22 FA £120 1st Alfred cover and solo story. Alfred is in love, and to impress the fair maid he has designs on, he poses as the Batman, unaware that his “girl” is actually the Catwoman in disguise; a clever gangster and his gang use a powerful telescope to look in on various places of interest, like banks and museums; Alfred is in a life and death situation unless he can put the practices into play that he has learned from Batman; and the Cavalier taunts the Caped Crusaders once more. Cover by Dick Sprang. Stories by Al Schwartz, Bill Finger and Mort Weisinger. Art by Bob Kane, Jack Burnley and Jerry Robinson. Lots of wear and tear and colour breaking creasing, particularly at spine and right edge. Small chips out bottom spine and top right corner. Cover off both staples, which are also off at centrefold. A large corner is off the splash page, affecting the first story (we have scanned the splash here for reference). Reasonable off-white page quality.