*DC: From 1966, this Bute Collection copy of Batman #181, featuring the debut of one of the Gotham Guardian’s most famous female nemeses is the first copy we’ve had in for a number of years. Poison Ivy was brainstormed with the idea of joining the hugely-popular TV show as a younger recurring villain – most of the villainesses, aside from Catwoman, being, let’s be kind, ladies of a certain age, it was thought a fresher face was needed! She sadly never made it onto the small screen – at least not in that decade – but the comics audience caught Poison Ivy with a vengeance, and she’s remained a staple of the Batman Rogue’s Gallery ever since, her profile being considerably upped in recent years by her status as Harley Quinn’s… well, the jury’s out, but let’s say very good friend. At least. This mid-grade copy has good cover colour, firm, tight staples and nice quality white to off-white pages. It has a vertical subscription crease down the centre, some minor wear at spine and bottom edge and a tiny scuff without loss on the ‘N’ in the logo. Most importantly the centrefold pin-up (frequently missing, depriving the second story of its splash page) is firmly in place!
PICTURED: BATMAN #181 VG+ £450

*Marvel: Captain America #117 from 1969 features the first appearance of the Falcon. Three years after the debut of the Black Panther, this issue saw the debut of Marvel’s second African-American super-hero. Having switched bodies involuntarily with the Red Skull, Cap ends up on Exile Island, being hunted by the Skull’s henchmen. Rescued by a young man named Sam Wilson and his pet hawk, Redwing, Cap persuades Sam of the importance of a costumed identity as a symbol, and Sam adopts the guise of the Falcon, first to inspire revolution in the native population of Exile Island, and later as an aspirational figure in Sam’s Harlem home. The Falcon and his avian sidekick Redwing would become a mainstay of Cap’s series, and eventually of the Marvel Universe at large. This is an attractive mid-grade copy with great cover colour and gloss. Minor creasing and wear at edges, just breaking colour. Nice firm staples and supple white to off-white pages. 
PICTURED: CAPTAIN AMERICA #117 VG+ £125

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week: The Frightful Four (The Wizard, Medusa, Sandman and the Trapster) were formed in Fantastic Four #36 to first menace our heroes, but arguably their most infamous encounter with Marvel’s First Family was in issues #41-43, a trilogy of betrayal, despair, love and hope, with Stan and Jack at their best.
IN THIS UPDATE: FANTASTIC FOUR
#41 App GD/VG p £10 Pence stamped. Ad page and letter column panels out; story OK. 
#42 VG/FN p £26 Pence printed; a Marvel Pop Art production
#43 FN £34 A Marvel Pop Art production 

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Weird Mystery Tales was a horror/mystery anthology published by DC between 1972 to 1975 and lasting 24 issues. Early issues featured material by Jack Kirby; other notable artists featured included Alfredo Alcala, Tony DeZuniga, Michael Kaluta, Alex Niño, Howard Purcell, Nestor Redondo, Jack Sparling, and Bernie Wrightson. Horror hosting was shared between Destiny, Eve and Dr E Leopold Maas (the latter on the Kirby stories). Our run of all 24 issues, offered here as a set, is mostly in high grade, with many around VF and only a few around VG. 
WEIRD MYSTERY TALES Complete Set #1-24 Av VF- £230 (#1 PICTURED) 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: 20 issues of War Picture Libraries, one of Fleetway’s ‘Big Three’ war titles, restocked this week between #17 and #106. These are lower graded and very affordable copies. 
PICTURED: WAR PICTURE LIBRARY #71 GD £3

*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 cover authors between Mason & Merak. David Mason is featured with a time travel thriller graced with a cover by Steranko; Richard Matheson has a book of short stories (‘weird, horrific and incredible’); Harold Mead creates a world of reborn horror; Shepherd Mead’s tale is one of lazy people of the future with easy morals; plus two quirky helpings of space opera from A J Merak published in the cult Badger Books imprint of John Spencer. 
PICTURED: 
DAVID MASON: THE SHORES OF TOMORROW Lancer 1971 1st US PB GD/VG £4
RICHARD MATHESON: THIRD FROM THE SUN Bantam 1962 US PB GD £4
HAROLD MEAD: THE BRIGHT PHOENIX Corgi 1960 1st UK PB GD/VG £4
SHEPHERD MEAD: THE BIG BALL OF WAX Mayflower 1962 1st UK PB thus GD/VG £4
A J MERAK: HYDROSPHERE Badger 1960 1st UK PB GD £15
A J MERAK: NO DAWN AND NO HORIZON Badger 1959 1st UK PB GD £15 

This week’s update for Dandy 1946 issues sees the completion of a project we’ve been working on for some time. All our Beano and Dandy issues from 1946-1950 have now been overhauled and revisited, fully annotated with notation of special issues such as Christmas, Fireworks etc and 1st appearances of prose and comic strip characters. We’ve also added dozens of issues for those years which have recently come into stock. Best of all, we’ve drastically reduced the prices on those years to better reflect the marketplace and to bring them more into line with later issues. If you’re a collector of vintage Beano and Dandy issues, or you know someone who is and who may be in need of a unique Christmas present, you owe it to yourself to check out the listings in our Humour Comics category.  

*DC: These early pre-distribution issues of Tales Of The Unexpected are not common over here in the UK, and feature sci-fi, fantasy, supernatural and mystery stories from many famous artists. 
IN THIS UPDATE: TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED ALL SOLD
#12 GD £24 Cover by Bill Ely. Interior art by Cardy, Meskin, Kirby and Ely. Worn spine with 4 cm upper spine split.
#13 FN £70 (PICTURED) Cover by Jack Kirby. Interior art by Ely, Meskin, Papp, Cardy and Kirby. Really nice copy with good colour and gloss, tight staples and supple white to off-white pages. Minor edge and spine wear and small wax crayon mark on logo. 
#17 GD- £24 Greytone cover by Ruben Moreira. Interior art by Kirby, Ely, Baily and Mooney. Edge and spine wear with small colour-breaking creases. Long spine splits top and bottom; cover off bottom staple. 
#18 App VG/FN £43 (PICTURED) Cover by Jack Kirby. Interior art by Mooney, Meskin, Cardy and Kirby. Solid copy with great cover and reflectivity. Minor corner blunting and spine wear, with narrow reading crease breaking colour. Tight, firm staples and excellent white to off-white pages. A coupon has been neatly cut out of an ad page; stories not affected. 

*Marvel: Before the coming of Ant-Man, Tales To Astonish was in full Big Panty Monster mode, where said monsters were out to conquer or destroy the Earth, provided, in many cases, that they were equipped with sufficiently capacious panties. Dominated by Kirby and Ditko, this is a great period to collect for fans of these two titans of the Marvel Age of Comics. PICTURED: TALES TO ASTONISH
#24 GD £36 SOLD Long Kirby lead, plus Ditko and Heck. Great line in Big Panties by the Abominable Snowman. Chipping to right edge, but otherwise not a bad copy. 
#29 VG+ p £72 SOLD Pence printed. Two Kirby stories, plus Ditko and Ayers. Nice clean copy with minor edge and handling wear, breaking colour at spine. A few creases at top right corner extremity break colour. Good staples and pages. 
#32 GD/VG £60 Two Kirby stories, plus Ditko and Heck. Clean cover with some edge and handling wear. Back cover chewed slightly at lower edge, markings from which go most of the way through the comic within the margins. 

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: The Green Hornet is a crime-fighting super-hero originating on American radio in 1936. He has appeared in film serials in the 1940s, The Green Hornet television series in the 1960s, (which co-starred Bruce Lee in his first adult role), multiple comic book series from the 1940s onwards, and a film in 2011. His first comic series from 1940 was initially published by Helnit before being taken over by Harvey with issue #7 in 1942. The Bute Collection boasts two issues from Harvey, both in pretty good shape. The title was an anthology series, featuring Green Hornet covers and stories, plus super-heroes, crime, adventure and a small amount of humour. Many notable creators were involved. 
PICTURED: GREEN HORNET
#10 VG+ £325 Cover and Green Hornet stories believed to be by Arturo Cazeneuve. Spirit of ’76 by Bob Powell, Mike Lancer written by Mickey Spillane, the Blonde Bomber, female detective, and super-hero Zebra drawn by Alex Blum; plus more. Solid copy with unmarked cover showing good gloss and great colour. Minor edge and spine wear with some corner blunting, tiny split at top of spine. Staples are nicely attached and page quality is a supple off-white. 
#23 VG £275 Cover by Alex Schomburg. Green Hornet story by Jerry Robinson. Spirit of ’76 and Blonde Bomber stories by Bob Powell. Super-hero Zebra faces vampires by Bob Fujitani; plus more. Nice clean copy with colourful unmarked cover except for some colour-breaking reading creases along the spine. Fairly minor edge wear and corner blunting. Staples are firm and pages are white to off-white. Small tear at top centre back cover. 
 

*Alan Class Reprints: In the regular part of our Alan Class listings this week we’ve added nine early issues of Secrets Of The Unknown, Alan’s earliest title alongside Creepy Worlds. All in decent condition, there’s plenty of Kirby and Ditko to be found in most issues from #32 upwards. 
IN THIS UPDATE:
SECRETS OF THE UNKNOWN
#8 FN £17.25 (PICTURED)
#11 VG+ £5
#14 VG £4.75
#32 VG+ £6.25
#37 VG+ £5.50 SOLD
#39 VG+ £5.75 SOLD
#40 VG+ £6.75 SOLD
#42 VG/FN £5.25 SOLD
#45 VG+ £6 SOLD

We’re taking a short break next week, after filling orders received up to 4 pm today (25th October) and posting them next Wednesday (29th October). There will not be a Newsletter nor stock updates next Saturday, but they will be back on 8th November. After this coming Sunday 26th October, we’ll next be filling orders on 9th November. You may of course continue to place orders at any time; we will acknowledge them and reserve items for you wherever possible. This is our last scheduled break until Christmas. 

*DC: To be honest, the Flash probably had a Rogues Gallery where the villains all had the best costumes and the Trickster, debuting in #113 was one of the most colourful ones, resplendent on the cover of his debut issue. He would go on to have a long and infamous career in the DCU, but this is where he got his start. Wonderful stories by John Broome, illustrated by the magnificent Carmine Infantino at his very best. This is a solid mid-grade copy enriched by DC’s wonderful colour palette. Pence-stamped but otherwise unmarked cover save for a few tiny white specks. A small amount of wear to the top edge and a few short horizontal spine creases which narrowly break colour at their inception. Tight, firm staples and supple good quality off-white pages. 
PICTURED: FLASH #113 VG+ p £120

*Marvel: Another high grade early Daredevil from the Bute Collection. After a little artistic inconsistency in his early issues, the Sightless Swashbuckler lucked out when the superlative Wally Wood took over illustrating his adventures. This is probably the finest Wood issue, marked not only by the premiere of the red Daredevil costume, (replacing his original outfit, which actually looked like it was designed by a blind man…) but also by a genuinely gripping battle in which Daredevil, overpowered by the vastly superior might of the Sub-Mariner, shows such courage and determination that even Namor’s scaly heart is moved to compassion. This is a really nice copy with great cover colour and gloss, tight, firm staples and white to off-white pages. There are a few very narrow stress marks at the spine, with extremely tiny colour breaking at the points of stress. A little handling wear at top edge. There are two very thin white lines at the right edge level with Namor’s hands, which are printing wrinkles from the production process and do not reflect wear. In common with very many copies of this issue, there is a mis-cut along the right edge to the effect that it is very slightly angled in; this is not trimming, but an aspect of the production process. MMMS Wants You box featured on cover.
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL #7 FN/VF £400

*Marvel: Also from the Good Doctor Collection this week, two significant events in the lives of Reed & Sue in Fantastic Four Annuals #3 & #6. #3 features the wedding of Sue & Reed and just about everyone in the Marvel Universe, including Patsy & Hedy and Stan & Jack (even Kid Colt makes a cover appearance!). In #6 Sue gives birth to Franklin, plus there’s the debut of Annihilus.
IN THIS UPDATE: FANTASTIC FOUR BOTH SOLD
ANNUAL #3 GD- p £20 Pence stamped, small lower spine split, blunted corners, much edge wear.
ANNUAL #6 GD p £45 (PICTURED) Pence stamped, spine splits, edge wear and creases. 

*Horror 1940-1959: Two pre-code ACG horror issues from the Bute Collection this week. PICTURED:
THE CLUTCHING HAND NN (#1) FA+ £80 From 1954, the one-shot Clutching Hand, with several stories ranging from 1 page each to several pages each. Cover by Ken Bald, art on stories by Paul Gustavson, Harry Lazarus, John Rosenberger, Sheldon Moldoff, Edmond Good & Ken Landau. Body parts, vampires a doll man, shrunken heads, flowery death, zombies, a killer dog – it’s all here! Spine taped and covers detached from body of comic. Reasonable pages with good staples at centre. Edge wear but good cover image.
SKELETON HAND #6 FA £25 SOLD From 1953, the sixth and final issue of this series, with several stories of varying length. Cover by Sheldon Moldoff, with accomplished interior art (no famous names). A medium, the Devil, imps, a graveyard, a witch, living myths, a demonic monster and a body – that’s all here too! Covers detached and separated; edge wear and back cover staining. Staples okay at centre, if a little rust migration. Reasonable page quality. 
 
 

*TV & Film Related Comics: From 1969, the much-publicised Joe 90 Weekly, released to tie-in with the latest Gerry Anderson ‘Supermarionation’ TV series, in which bespectacled nine-year-old Joe McClaine acquired phenomenal skills by having computerised knowledge downloaded into his brain, and set out as the unlikeliest secret agent of all, for the World Intelligence Network (W.I.N.) Sadly, for all its pre-publicity, Joe 90 turned out to be a rare Anderson flop – apparently young viewers related to adult heroes, not kids their own age – and the show foundered after 30 episodes, with the comic’s run lasting only a few weeks longer before being incorporated into TV 21 Mk. II! Now, however, the short achievable run of Joe 90 is much sought-after, having the usual quality artwork of the Anderson adaptations, and co-featuring comic strip versions of such popular TV shows as Star Trek, the Champions and Land of the Giants. We have a copy of #1 new in this week, in reasonable condition, but with a heavy horizontal fold and some edge wear. 
PICTURED: JOE 90 #1 GD £70

*Pulp Fiction: New Worlds, the most famous British science-fiction pulp, has what can only be described as a convoluted history since its first publication in 1939. In 1950, a companion title, Science Fantasy, was launched, but when the publisher of both, Nova, went out of business in 1964, the reins were taken up by Roberts & Vintner (later under the Compact imprint), who published both magazines in paperback book format. With Michael Moorcock at the editorial helm, New Worlds championed what became known as the New Wave of science fiction; Science Fantasy retained a more traditional approach to some extent, but both titles were instrumental in developing the careers of Moorcock himself, Brain Aldiss, J G Ballard and Keith Roberts, among many others from both sides of the Atlantic. Science Fantasy later rebranded as Impulse/SF Impulse, with Harry Harrison as the nominal editor, Keith Roberts in actuality. From this period, we have #142 and #163 of New Worlds, #2 and #11 of Impulse; great reading from a seminal time in British SF. New Worlds #142 was the first issue published by Roberts and Vintner and thus the first edited by Michael Moorcock. New Worlds #163 was the first issue I ever read and was thus my personal introduction to the SF New Wave in the shape of the surreal short story You: Coma: Marilyn Monroe by J G Ballard. Both issues of Impulse feature great covers by Keith Roberts; #2 illustrated the ‘Lady Anne’ sequence of his masterwork Pavane. Please see our catalogue for notes on condition. 
PICTURED: 
IMPULSE (UK) 2 Compact APRIL 1966 GD £4 SOLD
(SF) IMPULSE (UK) 11 Compact 1967 GD/VG £5
NEW WORLDS (UK) 142 Roberts & Vintner MAY-JUNE 1964 FA £10 SOLD
NEW WORLDS (UK) 163 Compact JUNE 1966 GD/VG £5

*DC: Also from the Midas Collection this week, five issues of Adventure Comics from 1957/58. In this period, the line-up featured cover and lead story Superboy, with back-ups of Green Arrow and Aquaman (drawn in delightful consistent style by George Papp and Ramona Fradon respectively). UK Silver Age collectors are always keen to get their hands on these issues that lead up to the regular distribution of DC comics in this country starting in 1959, since they have the same feel and flavour as the earliest distributed issues.
PICTURED: ADVENTURE COMICS
#241 GD £32 (PICTURED) Features the female archer Queen Arrow
#242 FA £16.25
#243 FA/GD £23.75 Glued spine
#244 FA/GD £23.75
#248 FA £15.50

*DC: A gang of misfits endowed with strange powers and led by a guy in a wheelchair… sound familiar? Yes, you knew it was the Doom Patrol, didn’t you? Debuting in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963, a few months before the X-Men), the Doom Patrol took over that title, as eventually it morphed with #86 into their own title. Five earlyish issues in lower grade this week.
IN THIS UPDATE: DOOM PATROL ALL SOLD
#92 FA/GD p £5.75
#93 GD £8.25
#94 GD+ p £9.50
#96 PR/FA p £3 Water damaged
#97 GD £8.25 Previous owner’s name in biro above logo 

*Marvel: In the wake of other Marvel hits starring occult characters, and with the Exorcist movie taking big box-office, Stan Lee had originally proposed a series starring Satan himself, but Roy Thomas commuted it to Satan’s offspring, a demon/human hybrid who used his evil-spawned power for good, in rebellion against his father. Daimon Hellstrom duly appeared in Ghost Rider #2 (following a cameo in #1) as an antagonist before moving into his own solo series in Marvel Spotlight, and then progressing to his own book. Daimon remains a prominent character today in the Marvel Universe, though he doesn’t use the Son of Satan soubriquet any more, and in these more sensitive times his origins are usually politely glossed over. We have a nice glossy copy on offer here, pence printed, with great colour, tight and flat with good staples, supple white to off-white pages. Just tiny corner blunting, the odd small mark of wear at the spine and a faint soft crease across the very bottom right cover corner preclude a higher grade. 
PICTURED: GHOST RIDER #2 FN/VF p £60

*Romance: ‘Why, oh why did I ever have to fall in love with a doctor?’ (Hmm…) Thus bemoans Linda Carter on the cover of issue #3 of her 1961 series from Merry Marvel. The life, laughs and loves of a student nurse rendered by Stan Lee & Al Hartley in a nine issue series, of which we have four in this update from the Bute Collection, sadly all in fairly low grade, but with prices to match. We don’t see these on these shores very often, so a rare chance to pick up some issues of this elusive Marvel. Nothing to do with a later Wonder Woman actor… 
IN THIS UPDATE: LINDA CARTER, STUDENT NURSE
#2 FA/GD £19.50 (PICTURED) Long upper spine split
#3 FA £10 2 pin-up pages missing; stories okay. 
#7 FA £13.25 Long spine splits
#9 GD- £22.50 Final issue 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries. Four of the earliest issues of the most famous and longest running Picture Library of them all this week, still going strong after nearly 65 years! This week, we’re pleased to present issues #6-9 from that very first year of publication in 1961. These are all from the same source, where a previous owner had added two extra staples near the spine, which have rusted to varying degrees over the years. They make the copies a little tight to open, but don’t impair the reading of them. The spines were also taped, and some tape remains on some issues, with a residue on others. Nevertheless, the cover colours remain vibrant, with little other wear or creasing and well-preserved pages. Previous owner’s name in biro and small lettering top of back covers. Highly collectable.
PICTURED: COMMANDO
#6 GD £60 SOLD Extra staples, tape residue at spine. Vivid colour cover; clean, crisp pages. 
#7 FA/GD £50 SOLD Extra staples, tape and residue at spine, with a little puckering. Vivid colour cover; clean, crisp pages. 
#8 GD £60 Extra staples, tape residue at spine. Vivid colour cover; clean, crisp pages. 
#9 FA £40 SOLD Extra staples, tape and residue at spine, with moderate puckering. Vivid colour cover; clean, crisp pages. Four staples, so tighter than others. 

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: This week, we return to the famous and long-running Sexton Blake Library. Often dubbed ‘the poor man’s Sherlock Holmes’, there’s still no doubting the popularity of Sexton Blake, who has probably had far more fiction written of him than the world’s greatest detective. Six issues new in this week from the 1950s. These are picture library sized, but mainly text. The series ran from 1915 to 1968. These issues follow the 1956 revamp by W Howard Baker when the covers took on a more gangster/sleazy mode and were drawn by famous book cover artists such as Reginald Heade and David Wright (here on #392). Written by a ‘harem’ of notable writers including Wilfred McNeilly, W Howard Baker, Michael Moorcock (one of many moonlighting as house name Desmond Reid), Peter Saxon and Jack Trevor Story, the longevity of the series is testament to the quality of the plotting and writing.
PICTURED: SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY: ALL AMALGAMATED 1950s ALL SOLD
#377: PANIC IN THE NIGHT by JAMES STAGG GD/VG £6
#378: HOMICIDE BLUES by DESMOND REID GD/VG £6
#379: FLASHPOINT FOR TREASON by DESMOND REID GD/VG £6
#380: DEADLINE FOR DANGER by ARTHUR MACLEAN GD/VG £6
#391: PASSPORT TO DANGER by JAMES STAGG GD £5
#392: THE COPY-CAT KILLINGS by MARTIN THOMAS GD/VG £6

*DC: Unlike its sibling title House Of Mystery, House of Secrets started in 1956 after the Comics Code Authority came in, and thus has no pre-code issues. What it does boast is clever horror/mystery/science fiction stories by some top artists and often classic covers. These early issues are not often seen on these shores and we have half a dozen issues in mixed grades newly available.
IN THIS UPDATE: HOUSE OF SECRETS
#12 GD £21 SOLD Cover by Kirby. Interior art by Baily, Ely, Cameron, Kirby. Edge and corner wear with some creasing. Solid copy with nice pages. 
#14 GD £14.50 SOLD Cover by Brown. Interior art by Purcell, Ely, Meskin, Cardy. Cover loose, off staples. 
#15 VG/FN £36 (PICTURED) SOLD Cover by Brown. Interior art by Moldoff, Roussos, Cameron, Ely. Nice solid, clean copy.  
#16 GD/VG £21 Gorilla Genius cover by Brown. Interior art by Cardy, Ely, Brown. Solid, clean copy with small chip out top edge. 
#19 VG- £24 (PICTURED) Cover by Baily. Interior art by Cardy, Meskin, Baily. Nice copy but colour-breaking creasing across right top corner.
#22 GD+ £15.50 SOLD Cover by Dillin. Interior art by Ely, Elias, Meskin. Minor creasing; some wear spine, top and bottom edges.