*DC: From the Bute Collection this week, an early Detective Comic, #43 from 1940. Headlining Batman, of course, with one of Robin’s earlier appearances, this issue also features Spy, Red Logan, Crimson Avenger, Speed Saunders, Larry Steele, Cliff Crosby and Slam Bradley. A dynamic Batman cover by Bob Kane is followed by the Batman lead (The Case Of The City Of Terror), written by Bill Finger, with art by Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos. Bruce and Dick on vacation discover a town that is run by corrupt officials and organised crime. This is a remarkable condition copy, one of the nicest of this age we’ve ever seen. Structurally very sound (with just a small nick at top of spine), sharp edges with very minimal wear. Staples are clean and excellent (top just a little loose), and pages are a flexible white to off-white. For a short length down the right hand side, mainly across Batman’s cape, there is what appears to be a printing defect line (see scan); there is no evidence that this is either a stain or a mark suffered after printing. Small pencil monogram on the moon. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: DETECTIVE COMICS #43 VG £1,300

*DC: Three consecutive issues of the Man of Steel from the Midas Collection this week in mixed grades. 
PICTURED: SUPERMAN
#55 FA £60 Three intriguing Superman stories, including one featuring the Prankster. Cover detached. Tatty spine with small chunk out top rear. Ragged right edge with long tear half across central cover. Centrefold loose; rusty staples with little rust migration.  
#56 PR £30 Superman meets Smarty Pants, the infant prodigy who causes him all sorts of problems. Plus a Prankster story and another. Cover detached with many holes in spine and chunks out. Ragged right and bottom edges. Two pieces of tape sealing small tears over Superman’s figure. Pages and staples okay. 
#57 GD £275 Great cover with Lois in Superwoman costume, illustrating the inside story featuring a future descendant of Lois who has super powers. All three stories feature Wayne Boring art. Some spine roll and 3 cm tear at centre right edge, which extends to lessening degree over early pages. Nice cover image with a couple of shallow vertical creases that don’t break colour and a small area of discolouration above the logo (see scan). Nice pages and staples. Ad for Superboy #1. 

*Marvel: This trilogy of issues is renowned not just for the debut of Lorna Dane (Polaris), a significant addition to the X-Men mythos, but also for the artwork by Jim Steranko, one of our favourite artists and one of the most innovative. His storytelling sums up the spirit of the late 1960s, and his all too brief body of work has always left his fans clamouring for more. Although Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD constituted his main body of work, he did dip a toe into the water of other titles, including these three issues of Marvel’s Merry Mutants (covers on all, interior art on #50 & #51). Think psychedelia, West Coast, pop/rock posters, drop-out culture – Steranko A Go Go!
PICTURED: X-MEN
#49 VF- p £185 1st Lorna Dane (later Polaris). Steranko cover. Pence stamped. Glossy and bright, with only minor corner blunting and edge wear. Firm staples, supple white to off-white pages.  
#50 VG+ £190 1st Lorna Dane in costume. Steranko cover and interior art. Dynamic green-tinted cover, one of the great iconic masterpieces of the later Marvel Silver Age. Some minor edge wear with tiny colour-breaking creases at extremities. Slightly dinked at top of spine with corner blunting. Firm staples, supple white to off-white pages.  
#51 VG p £55 Steranko cover and interior art. Pence stamped. Some wear and narrow colour-breaking creasing at right corners. Short vertical crease above Marvel Girl. Corner blunting and minor handling wear. Firm staples and supple off-white pages. 

*Marvel: Mighty Marvel gave Jack Kirby free reign to develop the 2001 A Space Odyssey concepts into his own cosmic series in 1976. He started out with a Treasury Special, adapting the famous film, and then spun off into his own wild miasma of mad science-fiction in an ongoing series (that on-went for 10 issues), introducing along the way the character of X-51, later Mister Machine/Machine Man. We have the Treasury edition plus every issue of the series (excluding #8 which introduced Machine Man); the Treasury is mid-grade; the series all lovely high grade. 
IN THIS UPDATE:
2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY
TREASURY SPECIAL VG+ p £25 (PICTURED)
#1 VF+ p £22 (PICTURED)
#2 VF £8.75
#3 VF/NM p £9
#4 VF+ p £8
#5 VF+ p £8
#6 VF- p £6.25
#7 VF p £6.75
#9 VF p £6.75
#10 VF+ p £8

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: In the wake of Mad’s success, a plethora of imitators sprung up, with no fewer than four from Atlas alone – while editor Stan Lee commanded some of the finest artistic talents in comics, he certainly was shameless in his bandwagon-jumping in the 1950s! We have four of the seven issue run of Crazy, parodying a diverse range of classic stories, TV shows, movies, and other tropes in the cultural zeitgeist of 1953-1954, with artwork by a dazzling range of talents: Everett, Maneely, Hartley, Berg, Post, Heath, Brodsky, Sekowsky and Drucker all contributed to the series’ short run. As can be seen from the covers, there was a strong emphasis on horror spoof. 
PICTURED: CRAZY
#1 FA/GD £100 Cover by Everett. Art by Hartley, Maneely, Everett, Berg & more. Some spine roll with worn spine. Colour-breaking creasing and small tears around all edges. Wear and tear around staples (and small tear throughout comic at centre spine), but the staples hold firm. Decent creamy coloured pages. 
#3 FA/GD £35 Cover by Maneely. Art by Maneely, Hartley, Post, Everett, Heath. Taped spine with three staples added. Just small amounts of wear and tear to other cover edges. Nice off-white pages. 
#4 FA/GD £35 Cover by Maneeley. Art by Everett, Post, Hartley, Brodsky, Maneely. Taped spine with four staples added. Small amounts of wear and tear to other cover edges. A few colour breaking creases. Nice off-white pages. 
#5 VG+ £100 Cover by Burgos. Art by Maneely, Ayers, Post, Sekowsky. Solid copy with intact spine (tiny nick at top) and just one small colour breaking crease across bottom right cover corner. Minimal wear. Staples are tight and firm at spine and centrefold and pages are a supple white to off-white. 
 

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: In 1978, the last significant title in DC’s horror/mystery line was introduced, and significantly differed from the rest of the line. Firstly, in that, rather than a series of short anthology stories, each issue was one book-length tale of mystery, and secondly that its hostess, the mysterious Madame Xanadu (Beautifully evoked on Michael Kaluta’s covers) was an active participant and advisor in each narrative, rather than just hanging around in the background to introduce the story. Creators in the short but striking run included David Michelinie, Val Mayerik, Gerry Conway, Vicente Alcazar, Roger MacKenzie, Ric Estrada, and Johnny Craig, but the series also gave opportunity to brand-new writers. Running to only five issues, the series was a casualty of the infamous ‘DC Implosion’, but Madame Xanadu’s adventures continued, first in Unexpected, then in her own one-shot comic, and she has gone on to greater prominence in the DC Universe’s occult community. We have the complete run available as a complete set of this low-distribution and keenly-sought series.
PICTURED: DOORWAY TO NIGHTMARE #1-5 Complete Set £35
#1 VG (PICTURED)
#2 VF
#3 VF-
#4 GD/VG
#5 FN/VF 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Three titles published by Paget in the super-hero/adventure mould between (we believe) 1948-1951. They varied in duration. Wonderman and Oh Boy lasted 23 issues each (with one combined issue) while Dymanic lasted just a single issue. They are rare and highly sought after today, with some of the earliest work of Mick Anglo and also Bob Monkhouse in some issues (although we think no Bob in the examples in this update). Overall excellent condition on these. In a sort of colour (reds, blues and greys).
PICTURED: 
DYNAMIC FN £40 Gail Garrity Girl Wonder, Captain Justice (Wonderman), Cyclone, Jack Fenton, Stuporman.
OH BOY #12 GD/VG £35 The Tornado, Tex Lomas, Gail Garrity Girl Wonder. 3 cm upper spine split, goes slightly into short cover tear.
WONDERMAN #5 FN £50 Wonderman (Mick Anglo’s first super-hero), Nip McGee Special Detective, Trigger Lee.  

 

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: a mixed bag of vintage science fiction this week. Isaac Asimov’s Space Ranger is an early novel by him, the first in the space opera series of that name; Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon is a post-apocalyptic tale, originally from 1959; the award-winning Joe Haldeman is represented by Mindbridge, a novel of monstrous alien encounter and Frank Herbert’s The Dosadi Experiment is a stunning evocation of alien culture. 
PICTURED: 
ISAAC ASIMOV: SPACE RANGER NEL 1973 2nd UK PB VG/FN £5
PAT FRANK: ALAS, BABYLON Harper 1993 1st US PB thus VG £4
JOE HALDEMAN: MINDBRIDGE Orbit 1977 1st UK PB VG £4
FRANK HERBERT: THE DOSADI EXPERIMENT Futura 1981 2nd UK PB FN £5

*DC: The Joker Is Wild! From the Midas Collection, a classic Joker issue of Batman, #37 from 1946. The cover depicts the Joker using the very symbols of Batman: the Bat-Signal, Batmobile and Batplane, against the Dark Knight detective, as in the story ‘The Joker Follows Suit!’ Plus two other stories centring on a hospital and a movie set. Cover and all interior art by Jerry Robinson; writers unknown. This CGC encapsulated copy is graded at 3.5 VG- and is unrestored blue label. Case perfect, cream to off-white pages, CGC serial number 0212045003. High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: BATMAN #37 CGC 3.5 VG- £950

*DC: The Joker Is Wild! Daringly, in 1975, DC awarded the Joker his own title, (in defiance of the Comics Code, which said that villains couldn’t be shown to triumph) and was thus the first mainstream on-going title to headline a villain. Not that it ‘on-went’ for long, stopping at #9. But what was a Bronze Age curio has now become a much sought-after short series with one of the hottest characters in comics. We have a complete set of issues #1-9 now available, featuring the Joker up against a huge array of heroes and villains: Two-Face, the Creeper, Green Arrow, the Royal Flush Gang, Sherlock Holmes (!), Luthor, the Scarecrow and Catwoman. A mixture of grades all shown below; #1 is a very nice VF-. NB Only available as a complete set at this time. 
IN THIS UPDATE: JOKER COMPLETE SET #1-9 £240 SOLD
#1 VF- (PICTURED)
#2 FN p 
#3 VG 
#4 FN/VF p
#5 VG+ 
#6 GD p 
#7 GD+ 
#8 FN 
#9 VG+ (PICTURED) 

*Marvel: Although I collected this period of Strange Tales primarily for the little Dr Strange masterpieces by Lee and Ditko that appeared as back-ups, there’s no denying the significance to the Marvel Universe of the Human Torch lead stories. They gave us an insight into the private lives of the Torch and his partners (who frequently appeared) and introduced some key villains such as the Wizard and the Plant Man (who both appear here – okay, so maybe the Plant Man wasn’t all that). By the time of the issues featured in this update, Dr Strange had at least fought his way on to the covers of most issues. 
IN THIS UPDATE: STRANGE TALES ALL SOLD
#118 VG p £27 (PICTURED)
#121 FA p £5.50 Creasing, cover grafitti, book shop stamp
#122 VG- p £16.50
#125 GD p £15.25 Sub-Mariner. Faint book shop stamp

*Marvel: Six consecutive issues of Marvel’s Merry Mutants include Havok & Longshot, Freedom Force and the Fall Of The Mutants tie-in issues, #226 & #227. All in high grade. 
IN THIS UPDATE: X-MEN ALL SOLD 
#223 VF/NM £5
#224 VF £4.25
#225 VF+ £4.50
#226 VF+ £4.50
#227 VF+ £4.50
#228 VF+ £4.50

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: It’s rare for us to get an American comic into stock that predates the name of this category, but here’s an amazing item from 1937, predating even Superman, Batman & Marvel Comics #1. Funny Picture Stories Vol2 #2 was published by Ultem in October 1937. The name is a bit of a misnomer, just as the front cover comedy scene is misleading; although there are a fair number of comedy shorts, the emphasis in this anthology series is on adventure, western, crime and detective stories, featuring characters such as Cutter Carson, Tin Mule, Boomerang, Jack Strand and many more in its 68 pages. There are also feature pages and an illustrated pirate story. The condition on this is quite remarkable for its age. The white background on the cover is close to white and the colours are sharp. The corners are almost square and the spine is solid and intact. Top staple is firm; the cover is off bottom staple, but both staples hold the comic together well and are firm at centrefold. There is a tiny bit of rust migration on the upper staple. Tiny nick at top of spine, but no other nicks or tears. Excellent pages are a supple off-white. Your chance to obtain a rare antiquity from the dawn of American comics as we know them. 
PICTURED: FUNNY PICTURE STORIES V2#2 VG £265 SOLD 

*Romance: Finally from the Midas Collection this week: Secret Hearts was a long-running DC romance title, lasting 153 issues until 1971. Five issues new in between #22 & #29. Although mostly drawn by unknown artists, DC’s romance comics from this period featured a good standard of appealing art, and often very well composed and executed covers. Seldom seen, particularly over here in the UK, the Midas Collection is quite rich in this genre, with many more to follow.
PICTURED: SECRET HEARTS
#22 VG+ £33 Good dog art
#23 GD+ £19 Cover foxing; small cover corner off (but present) top right 
#26 VG+ £33
#27 VG £13
#29 GD/VG £10

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: This week’s release of Love Story Picture Library, the longest running romance picture library from Fleetway, comprises 12 issues from 1968, between #687 to #699. The series always maintained a high standard and the very accomplished art reflected the fashions and mood of the times. Virtually no touch of rust on the staples of these nice copies, but some creasing or puckering on a few copies.
IN THIS UPDATE: LOVE STORY PICTURE LIBRARY ALL SOLD
#687 FN £5
#689 FN/VF £6
#690 FN/VF £6
#691 FN/VF £6
#692 FN/VF £6
#693 FN/VF £6
#694 FN £5
#695 FN £5
#696 FN/VF £6 (PICTURED) 
#697 FN £5
#698 VF £7
#699 FN/VF £6

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: Angels was a British television seasonal drama series dealing with the subject of student nurses, which was broadcast by the BBC between 1975 and 1983. It was described as the “Z-Cars of nursing”. It was known for its gritty realism and tackling of social issues. We have four Angels novels, mostly written by Paula Milne, who devised the series. The later ones are not common. 
PICTURED: ANGELS
ANGELS: PAULA MILNE & LESLIE DUXBURY Pan/BBC 1976 3rd UK PB GD/VG £3
DUTY CALLS: VALERIE GEORGESON Mayflower/Granada 1979 1st UK PB FA/GD £3
FLIGHTS OF ANGELS: PAULA MILNE Pan/BBC 1976 1st UK PB GD/VG £10
THE NEW ANGELS: PAULA MILNE BBC 1978 1st UK PB GD/VG £10

*DC: From the Midas Collection this week. There are a couple of firsts about Superman #6: it’s the first issue to feature the classic and familiar Superman logo, and also the first to feature a general splash page (as shown in our image below). The cover by Joe Shuster shows an iconic Superman pose and is complete with a printed signature by Clark Kent. Four Superman stories written by Jerry Siegel, with art by Paul Cassidy, ghosting for Joe Shuster. Poor old Lois Lane had a rough time of it this issue, wrongfully arrested for murder, nearly burned to death and seriously injured and taken to hospital where a transfusion is necessary…provided by Clark Kent! (?) This is a low grade but appealing issue; the cover is hanging on, mainly by the back of the upper staple (lower is off), and the ragged spine is split for most of its length, with some roll. The cover image has good colour, although is a bit grubby with wear and (small) tear at the edges. The staples hold the interiors together fairly well and the page quality is a fairly nice off-white to cream. High resolution images are available on request.  
PICTURED: SUPERMAN #6 FA £750

*DC: All-Flash was a quarterly/bi-monthly series from the 1940s that did ‘just what it said on the tin’ – all stories starring Jay Garrick, the first Flash. From the Midas Collection, just one issue from 1944, #17, sadly in quite a poor state. This features stories of gangsters, aliens, magic and an ‘energetic elephant’, all by Gardner Fox and Martin Neydal. This is an unabashed Poor copy, with the cover taped on inside and out, and severe chipping at edges and corners with small pieces missing. Pages are brittle and mostly loose, but the issue is complete and readable (carefully!). But hey – this makes it very affordable for a Golden Age classic!
PICTURED: ALL-FLASH #17 PR £40 SOLD

*Marvel: Three key issues of Daredevil from the Bute Collection this week. 
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL 
#131 VF p £160 1st Bullseye. Pence printed. In the Frank Miller era of Daredevil, Bullseye, the unfailing assassin, became firmly established as DD’s bête noire, causing the Man Without Fear endless grief and misery. But a lot of people, even today, aren’t aware that Bullseye wasn’t a Miller creation; step forward Marv Wolfman and Bob Brown, who presented The Assassin Who Never Misses for the first time in Daredevil #131, two years before the Miller regime kicked in! The Bute copy is clean, flat and glossy, with only a very shallow non-colour breaking crease of about 2.5 cm horizontal from central spine preventing an even higher grade. SOLD
#158 VF p £80 1st Frank Miller art. Pence printed. Frank Miller took over the art on Daredevil this issue, before scripting in months to come, thus starting arguably the greatest run ever for the sightless swashbuckler. Featuring the Black Widow, Death-Stalker and the Unholy Three. A lovely glossy and clean copy with just some stress marks at the spine which only minutely break colour. 
#168 VF+ p £120 1st Elektra. Pence printed. For a visually-impaired gentleman, Matt Murdock saw, as our American cousins would put it, a lot of action with the ladies; for a while in the 1980s and 1990s, every second plotline involved a Woman From His Past, with attendant complications. But by far the most memorable of these was Elektra, the tormented assassin whose conflicted relationship with our hero struck so deep a chord with readers that even after she died, she was brought back (twice) by popular demand. Written and drawn by the acclaimed and controversial Frank Miller, this Bute copy of Elektra’s debut is a high grade example, tight, flat and glossy with only a very tiny amount of handling wear. 
 

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Dead Of Night was a Marvel series (1973-1975) in their Bronze Age horror revival, reprinting horror stories from the 1950s. The final issue (#11) debuts this iteration of the Scarecrow. We’re offering here the complete set of 11 issues in decent mixed grades as a set. Grades listed below:
PICTURED: SOLD
DEAD OF NIGHT #1-11 COMPLETE SET £85
#1 FN- (PICTURED)
#2 VG
#3 VG
#4 FN+
#5 VG+
#6 VG+
#7 VG+
#8 VG+
#9 FN 
#10 VG+
#11 GD/VG (PICTURED)

*Alan Class Reprints: Whilst researching his book with Alan Class, Secrets Of The Unknown… Alan Class, our good friend Nick Neocleous discovered something hitherto unknown among many comic experts (myself included). For a two month period, Alan experimented with a stapled format rather than his usual squarebound binding, at least for some of the copies of 12 issues, two of each from six titles. More information on these can be found in Nick’s book (if you don’t have a copy and would like one, email us and we’ll be in touch). None of these have turned up in Alan Class’s archives, so no file copies exist. We do have available this week one of these stapled issues, Sinister Tales #117, which reprints the cover and contents of Daredevil #5, alongside the usual mix of fantasy, adventure and supernatural stories. In very nice condition; unfortunately, someone has coloured in (quite well and accurately) some of the figures on the first few pages of the Daredevil story. Still a lovely copy of this obscure item. Special thanks to Nick Neocleous.  
PICTURED: SINISTER TALES #117 FN £25

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for this books category, with an image for each book. This week, we come to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, one of the earliest exponents of gothic horror, and Ursula K Le Guin, the famed award-winning science fiction author. Le Fanu’s Carmilla pre-dates Dracula by twenty-six years, Carmilla is the original vampire story, steeped in sexual tension and gothic romance; here in a rare edition. Le Guin is represented by an early novel, City of Illusions, and a short story collection, The Wind’s Twelve Quarters. 
PICTURED: 
JOSEPH SHERIDAN LE FANU: CARMILLA Scholastic 1971 US PB FN/VF £15
URSULA K LE GUIN: CITY OF ILLUSIONS Ace 1967 1st US PB VG £10
URSULA K LE GUIN: THE WIND’S TWELVE QUARTERS VOLUME 1 Panther 1978 1st UK PB GD £5

*DC: Four consecutive Batman issues from 1955/56 feature from the Midas Collection this week, including Ace, the Bat-Hound, Vicki Vale, the Joker and the Penguin.
PICTURED: BATMAN
#96 GD+ £100 Nice Batmobile as fire truck cover. Stories by Bill Finger, art by Sheldon Moldoff. Strong, colourful and undamaged cover image. Some spine and edge wear. Firm staples and decent off-white to cream pages. There is a thumbnail size chunk out of the back cover bottom edge which extends into the bottom margins of the last few pages.  SOLD
#97 GD £150 Bat-Cave cover, with Ace the Bat-Hound, in his second ever appearance, displaying the common tendency of DC supporting characters by discovering the Dynamic Duo’s secret identities. Ace is also on the loose within, as well as the Joker. Stories by Bill Finger + ?, art by Sheldon Moldoff. Nice colourful cover image with a couple of small tears at edges (bottom one taped, leading to short colour-breaking creases). 5 cm upper spine split. Firm staples and near white pages.
#98 VG £160 Mystery, adventure and science-fiction, the three panel cover promises. Includes a Vicki Vale story centring on the Batmobile. Stories by Arnold Drake, Bill Finger and Edmond Hamilton, art by Dick Sprang and Sheldon Moldoff. Nice copy with vibrant colour cover. Firm staples and supple white to off-white pages. Back cover tear taped on inside. A couple of small margin stains.
#99 GD+ £100 Great Bat-Cave Phantom cover. Last Golden Age Penguin story. Stories by Bill Finger and Edmond Hamilton, art by Sheldon Moldoff. Unmarked cover with good colours. Moderate spine wear. 4 cm tear at right edge sealed by tape on inside. Staples attached and okay with some wear at centrefold. Small stain on back cover top edge and through top margin of last few pages. 5 cm lower spine split. Nice off-white pages. 

*DC: Two #1 issues from the Quirky Corner of the Midas Collection this week.
PICTURED:
FEATURE FILMS #1 FN+ £200 From 1950, adaptation of the film ‘Captain China’, drawn by Jack Sparling. Photo cover from the film, starring John Payne, Gail Russell and Lon Chaney. Lovely condition copy with bright colours and only the most minimal wear; faint trace of a crease across bottom right corner, but virtually non-colour breaking. Tiny chip out top edge back cover. A rare item in a rare grade for its time; only four issues in this series were published. 
GANG BUSTERS #1 VG/FN £200 From 1947, the first issue of a long-running crime series ‘based on the smash radio hit!’ Tough, violent and uncompromising. With atmospheric art by Dan Barry, Howard Sherman, Ed Moore, E E Hibbard and George Roussos. A superior copy with only minor edge wear and tiny chips out front cover top edge and back cover bottom edge. Slightly mis-cut as can be seen in the scan. Strong colour and a clean image; presents very well.

*Marvel: If you’re looking for really nice copies of Amazing Spider-Man for your collection, then look no further than the Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection. All high grade; even the few that fall below VF (and most are above) are really good-looking copies – no duds here, and nearly all cents copies. Following a last panel cameo in the previous issue, the Punisher made his second full appearance in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #135, alongside the menace of the Tarantula. This is a lovely fresh copy, glossy with vibrant colour, firm tight staples and supple white to off-white pages. There is a very faint suggestion of vertical pressure lines near the top and bottom of the spine, but no sign of colour breaks. Sharp, square corners.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #135 VF £150