*Marvel: One of the more popular sub-genres we’ve observed in the last couple of decades is the Marvel ‘Big Panty Monsters’ – huge invading aliens who seek to subjugate Earth’s teeming masses (while bedraped for the sake of decency in enormous knickers!). These were usually the lead feature in anthology titles such as Tales to Astonish, Strange Tales and Tales of Suspense, and we’re delighted to welcome a sensational septet of such issues back into stock. We open with the short lived series Amazing Adventures (1961), which introduced the first super-hero of the Marvel Age – yes, even before the Fantastic Four! Doctor Droom (no, not ‘Doom’, not ‘Strange’, either) gained amazing abilities in Tibet and fought supernatural and alien incursions for a very short time, before the reading public decided that his powers of hypnosis and, er, yoga, weren’t really all that much cop. He fared better when revived in the Seventies as Doctor Druid. Two of his early appearances are here in Amazing Adventures #2 and #4, though neither is cover-featured. In Strange Tales #95, the ever-cuddly ‘Two-Headed Thing’ (no relation to Ben Grimm) makes an appearance, and Tales of Suspense #13 brings us ‘Elektro’, who as a robot, was exempt from the panty-wearing requirement. Continuing with Tales of Suspense, issue #34 goes more for quiet drama with ‘Inside the Blue Glass Bottle’, but by #37 we’re back to form with the gigantic Hagg, Hunter of Helpless Humans! Tales to Astonish #31, with ‘The Mummy’s Secret’, wraps up (ha ha) this instalment of monstrous tomfoolery and hullabaloo. Illustrated are Amazing Adventures #2 VG £75, Strange Tales #95 FN p £68 and Tales of Suspense #37, an extraordinary VF- at £170. For details of the rest, please see our online catalogue.