*Marvel: An all-star entry for the Marvel Universe’s First Family this week. Five landmark issues of the Fantastic Four, each of which featured the debut of a guest hero, villain or supporting character who would become crucial to the FF, and the greater Marvel Universe, in decades to come. In #45, we first met the Inhumans en masse, the Royal Family of Attilan from whom the previously-introduced Medusa and Gorgon had sprung. In #46, we had the full debut of Black Bolt, the silent monarch of the Inhumans. In #48, of course, we saw for the first time not only the planet-devouring Galactus, but also his herald, the cosmic-powered Silver Surfer. #50 brought us the conclusion of the first Surfer/Galactus story arc and the premier of Wyatt Wingfoot, friend of the FF and later main squeeze of the She-Hulk, who despite being around for decades has yet to manifest a single super-power (is that even legal in Marvelworld?). Last but far from least, #52 presented the Black Panther, monarch of a mysterious African nation who would later join both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four themselves. All of these epic issues are illustrated below for your appreciation: #45 GD- p (light book centre stamp) £70,  #46 VG p £55,  #48 FA p, covers detached & separated £200, #50 FN p £125 and #52 PR/FA p, covers detached and separated £60. The low to mid grades on these key issues make them relatively affordable to the casual reader – if you’re quick; we don’t expect to have these in stock for long! SORRY, #48 & #52 NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Three years after the debut of the Black Panther, 1969’s Captain America #117 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 of course figure largely in the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, so this first appearance, long undervalued, is now climbing. This is an attractive VG+, cents copy with no pence price or overstamp, clean and tight with only light to moderate wear at the edge and spine but an unimpeded cover scene and clean interiors, on sale at £65. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: From the earliest days of Marvel’s Sightless Swashbuckler, issues #2 to #4 of his first series, in low to mid-grades; issue #2, with the evil Electro and a cameo by the Fantastic Four, is PR/FA p £25 (covers separated & detached); issue #3, with the debut of the ominous Owl, is FA p £30 (lower spine split, horizontal cover fold) and pictured, we have #4, with the first appearance of the Purple Man – who, as Killgrave, has become a televisual bête noir for Jessica Jones and her Defending chums in the Netflix show! This copy of #4 has light to moderate spine wear, slight top spine split, but sound and clean, GD/VG p £50. All of these vintage items have seen better days – haven’t we all? – but they’re complete and relatively affordable early issues of one of Marvel’s iconic characters. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Marvel: A chunky update to our stocks of the Marvel split title, Tales To Astonish between #52 and #101. Highlights include: #52 (GD- p £13.75) 1st Black Knight (villain), #60 (VG+ p £45 pictured) Hulk series begins, #70 (VG+ p £21.25) Sub-Mariner series begins and #101 (VG £12.25) final issue, and also dozens of others in a variety of grades and prices — see our catalogue for details. Through the mid 1960s, a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe!

*Marvel: Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars, the brainchild of then Editor In Chief Jim Shooter, was the first of the mega Marvel crossovers in 1984 and was festooned with landmark events, new characters, new costumes, deaths etc. All jolly exciting at the time! We have many of the original 12 issue series fresh into stock. Consult our catalogue for details (you’ll find it listed under Secret Wars). 

*War: While not the first war-themed comic, the unimaginatively (but accurately) titled War Comics was the first Atlas series to embrace the battle genre. Launched in 1950, it ran on a steady schedule until issue #49 in 1957, with the violence barely dimming after the introduction of the Comics Code Authority, which hit this series from #33. This pioneering title, which launched dozens of sibling titles from the company who would become Marvel, featured an illustrious roster of artists: Kubert, Krigstein, Everett, Torres, Romita, Crandall, Drucker, Heath, Orlando, Robinson, Sale, Shores, Sinnott and Severin – the latter performing, among his many other gigs on the series, a rather cheeky EC swipe, in War #43, of a story from Two-Fisted Tales #31! War Comics is newly stocked from the first issue to the final, lacking only number #11 from the complete run. Illustrated are #2 FN £56, #13 FN+ £55 and the penultimate #48 FN+ £50, but as with all the long-running series in our Atlas influx, there are many different grades and prices to be found in our online catalogue.

*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: From 1991, commencing as an unpretentious adzine for aficionados of Golden and Silver Age Comics to sell and trade, Comic Book Marketplace mushroomed in popularity during the first wave of investment and speculation, and quickly evolved into a slick magazine with articles and features on classic titles, creators and publishing companies, with the appreciation outstripping the commercial aspect. Over the course of more than 100 issues, overcoming two publishing hiatuses, CBM enlightened, educated and entertained before it breathed its last with 2005’s issue #121, its declining readership having largely switched allegiance to the Internet. We have a virtually complete run of this classic body of scholarship, criticism and nostalgia, from its premier issue to its final number, missing only a handful of the earlier intervening issues. Pictured are #1 VF £20 and #17 FN £5 (by which time it had settled into what would become, with minor variations, its ‘slick’ format). Grades and prices on all other issues in stock in our online listings.

*Annuals: From the 1950s to the 1960s, hardcover annuals of the DC heroes from the London-based Atlas publishing (no relation to Marvel’s ancestor) were a staple of Christmases nationwide, in which otherwise superhero-deprived urchins were exposed to peculiarly-recoloured reprints of adventures from up to a decade prior. We have several of these engaging curiosities back in stock – Superboy Annuals from 1964-1965 until 1967 (before 1967, they were released with dual years, to span the before and after Christmas periods), co-featuring Rex the Wonder Dog and Bobo the Detective Chimp, and Superman from 1963-1964 to 1967, co-featuring Green Arrow, Batman and others.

*Humour Comics: 1967’s Giggle was an odd launch for Fleetway, primarily translated European reprints with only a smattering of new material, the slightly-taller size was an odd format, and the whole exercise seemed to be a test run – possibly a cost-cutting measure – to see if Euro-reprints (which Fleetway had been partially using for many years) could sustain their own weekly. If so, then the answer was ‘no’ – or possibly ‘Non’ – as after a couple of months it settled down to the more conventional size, and after 38 issues was absorbed into Buster, leaving Giggle as an odd cul-de-sac in the promenade of British comics history. Nevertheless, it isn’t often seen, and we are quite pleased to have a selection of issues in for your delectation from June to December of 1967.

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: In excess of 50 copies, ranging between #1 to #319, a cavalcade of light adventure and comedy from a myriad of schoolgirl protagonists; the Schoolgirls’ Picture Library launched in 1957 with ‘Leader of the Secret Avengers’, (no relation to Captain America and company), and hung up its hockey sticks in 1965 with #327, though it didn’t die so much as metamorphose into June and School Friend Picture Library, which took up the numbering. These, however, are all Schoolgirls’ PL’s, starring Mimi the Mesmerist, Jacey (aka Miss Adventure), Aunt Jemima, Space-Girl Zenda and many more. This selection is generally higher than average grades, with the early issues being held back only by rusty staples, which cause slight discolouration at the spine, and most of the later numbers averaging Fine, gleaming and glossy with vibrant cover colours. As a bonus, we have a smattering of Schoolgirls’ ancestress, Schoolgirls’ Own Library, which are text stories often of recurring characters, including an early tale of plucky Resistance fighter Mam’selle X! Pictured are Schoolgirls’ Picture Library #1 (GD/VG £50), and a selection of later numbers – #176 FN £15, #178 FN £15, #220 VG £8, and #284 FN £10. Price and grade details on everything, of course, in our online catalogue.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: In our 25 years of trading, we’ve only ever come across one collection of Commando Picture Library to rival this one. This week we’re proud to present nearly 100 issues of this famed title, mostly in nice condition, including many VG and FN copies, almost consecutively complete from  #25 to #118 with just a handful missing.

D. C. Thomson’s Commando wasn’t the first of the war-themed Picture Libraries, starting a little later than its Fleetway contemporaries in July 1961, but it has proven by far the most enduring, still going strong today as one of the few mainstays of the British comics industry. Now publishing numbers in the 5000’s, this update sees a chance to see how it all began.   

The first 200 issues are now keenly sought by collectors, and seldom come up for sale. This collection surfaced in the USA (would you believe?) and we’re proud to repatriate them! Sales were brisk the last time we had any Commandos from this early range, even though prices are not cheap, but reflect both their rarity and desirability. Pictured below are the choicest four examples: #26 VG £50, #27 VG £75 (infamous Jap torture cover and story), #40 FN £50 and #42 FN £50, and there are dozens of others listed in our catalogue, where you can check for grades and prices and fill the gaps in your collection with this rare opportunity.

*Collected Editions: Latest in Rebellion’s popular series of collections of classic UK comic strips is this collection from Jinty. The remarkably prescient ‘Fran of the Floods’ told the tale of climate changing catastrophe as Fran Scott is at first mildly amused by the never-ending rain, but her smiles turn to terror as the ensuing chaos plunges the country into an aquatic nightmare as society crumbles – or rather, dissolves. From Alan Davidson and Phil Gascoine, this fondly-remembered cautionary tale is now collected in paperback in full for the first time ever. Brand new at £13.

*DC: From Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ acclaimed run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow in which DC’s two Emerald Justice Leaguers teamed-up in a series of ‘relevant’ storylines such as racism, pollution, overpopulation, etc., the first appearance of the other Green Lantern of Earth – no, not Guy Gardner, this is the other other one. John Stewart, architect and social crusader, gained the GL uniform when Hal Jordan was incapacitated, and although the well-meaning creators endowed him with a lot of ‘angry black man’ clichés in his first appearance, he became an integral part of the DCU, being the only GL of Earth for prolonged stretches, and, thanks to his appearances in the Justice League cartoon series, becoming for a generation the first Green Lantern they encountered. This copy of John’s first appearance is a clean and attractive VG+, faint pence stamp on cover, light wear at cover edges, but no significant defects, on sale at £50. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: This week, we ‘look back in wonder’ in our Slab Happy third party graded book extravaganza. One of the things that ‘everyone knows’ – which means it’s only 50% likely to be true at best – is that when Marvel introduced Wonder Man as a misunderstood reluctant villain, DC, who of course publish Wonder Woman, said ‘Oi! No!’, and forced Marvel to kill off Wonder Man for fear of reprisals from DC (whose distributors were also handling Marvel at the time.). Later, when Marvel were free from DC’s yoke, they reintroduced Wonder Man, giving Simon Williams a convoluted history of being related to both the villainous Grim Reaper and the android Vision (family dinners are a right larf in the Marvel Universe…), and establishing him as a long-running Avenger and star of his own series. This is where Wonder Man’s strange history began, and this copy is a CGC blue label (no restoration), 4.5 (VG+ equivalent), on sale at £135.

*Marvel: Yes, we have had a lot of Thor in over recent months; but we’ve also said farewell to a lot of issues, as the Scion of Asgard and his wacky chums are eternally popular among our discerning customers. Therefore, I say unto ye that we’re chuffed to welcome in excess of sixty new back issues to our Thor listings, commencing with #126 – officially the first issue of Thor proper, having taken over the number from his original home of Journey Into Mystery – and ending with #255, including many from the late #180s to the #220s which were previously unrepresented in our inventory!

*Power Comics: There was only one Summer Special for the Power Comics series Fantastic, and it’s rather clunky full title, as seen in the header above, indicates that by this time it had already devoured two of its weaker weekly siblings, in the hatch, match-and-despatch pattern so beloved of traditional British weeklies. This is ‘A Treasure-Store of Power Style Super-Hero Action and Laughs containing the nest of FANTASTIC, SMASH and POW weekly!’ as it says on the packet. Not common in any condition, dating from the dying days of the Power Comics regime, most known copies tend to have very rusty staples. The staples on this copy, in fact, have rusted through to the point that the cover is detached from the body of the comic, but structurally the rest of it is sound. In view of this drawback, we have graded it as FA/GD and priced it at £25. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Girls’ Comics: The definitive British Girls’ comic, Bunty was not the first such, but it was the most enduring, lasting for 2249 weekly issues from 1958 to 2001. It is remembered fondly by generations of followers of the Four Marys, Lorna Drake, Moira Kent, and our eponymous tomboy heroine.

Bunty was the first of the D.C. Thomson girls’ titles to get her own oversized Summer Special, and the first of these, released in 1963, is believed to be one of the rarest, if not the rarest, Summer Special.

We have acquired several Bunty Summer Specials, in an extraordinary state of preservation, given their vintage and the fact that these large-format magazines were often creased, folded or damaged either on display or in the possession of eager young readers.

We begin with 1963, the first Bunty Summer Special released, in FN+ at £400; then we progress to 1965 FN+ £175, 1968 FN+ £100, 1970 VF £100, 1971 FN+ £60, 1972 (the original, not the smaller facsimile souvenir released in 2009) VF £85 and 1973 FN £50.

From 1974 to 1979, there were no ‘solo’ Bunty Specials released; instead, our heroine teamed up with stablemate Judy for the Bunty/Judy Summer Special, featuring popular series from both weeklies, and our final entry in this listing is the 1975 Bunty/Judy edition VF £85.

All of these remarkably preserved items have tight staples with no rust or discolouration; clean, bright, vibrant colours with minimal fading or occasional slight dustshadows at edges; sharp corners, glossy interior pages with absolutely no stains, scribbles or other markings.

The provenance of this selection is from a newsagent’s former stock, archived for decades, and we suspect that not only were they never sold, they were never even opened prior to our assessment of them.

We confidently predict that these are the nicest examples you’ll find – and in several cases, the only ones you’ll find!

*DC: From the early Silver Age (as reckoned by our American cousins), Superman #93 features three stories of the Last Son Of Krypton, tying into the light-hearted mood of the then-popular ‘Adventures of Superman’ TV show (though, it must be said, with rather better special effects): ‘The Super-Joke On Superman’, ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Double’, and the cover-feature ‘The Man Superman Feared’. This vintage item is an attractive VG+, with clean unimpaired and flexible interior pages, firm staples at cover and centrefold, vivid cover colour and overall considerable eye appeal. VG+ £135. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: In the wake of the Kung Fu craze which swept the mass media in the 1970s, Marvel, having already scored big with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, tried to repeat the success with Iron Fist, an orphaned Caucasian boy who learned mystical martial arts in the hidden land of K’Un Lun. Danny Rand had a successful run in Marvel Premiere, then graduated into his own title, co-starred with Power Man for years, and remains an active part of the Marvel Universe to this date, both in comics and in both his own Netflix show and the companion Defenders series. New in, we have Marvel Premiere #15, his first appearance, in which Roy Thomas and Gil Kane kicked off the career of the fisting fury (no, that sounded wrong). This is a CGC Blue Label, no restoration, graded 7.5, the equivalent of VF-, on sale at £150. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Having driven away the Hulk in their previous number, the newly-formed Avengers set off to track him down in their third issue – not to apologise or reconcile, but in an attempt to neutralise any harm he might do. Unbeknownst to them, Old Jade-Jaws had found a new chum, the savage Sub-Mariner, and the two together formed an alliance that took every ounce of strength and ingenuity the Avengers could muster in this epic battle – so epic, in fact, that Marvel had to do a call-back to it in Journey Into Mystery #112! Light spine wear and minimum fine creasing at the edges leave the cover scene of this pence copy unimpaired, and it’s in tight, clean VG+ condition, on sale at £155.

*Marvel: While the Kingpin actually made his debut in ASM #50, he didn’t make the cover cut for that issue, which famously carried the much-homaged ‘Spider-Man No More’ image. Wilson Fisk loomed large (well he would, wouldn’t he?) on the cover of #51, however, consolidating his position as a power player in Spidey’s Rogue’s Gallery. This is a VF+ p copy, crisp and bright, tight staples, excellent cover and gloss, with only the tiniest sliver out of the upper back cover top preventing a yet higher grade. On sale at £150.

*Marvel: From 1971, the debut and early adventures of Werewolf By Night in Marvel Spotlight #2, #3 & #4. Created by Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Mike Ploog, the story of a young man named Jack Russell (no, really; stop laughing at the back there) who contracted a lycanthropic curse hit a high note with the readership and spun off into his own series after these three issues. As a bonus, the extra-thick #2, issued during Marvel’s fleeting flirtation with a 25c standard price, has a gorgeous Venus back-up reprint strip drawn by the incomparable Bill Everett. Issue #2, the premier WBN, is VG/FN, light wear at top and bottom of spine but otherwise clean and tight copy, on sale at £65, with #3 FN £15, and #4 FN/VF £25. None of these were distributed in the UK, so here’s an uncommon chance to grab the ‘pilots’ for the popular and long-running series! SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Marvel: A nice selection of Silver Age Captain America issues following on from his solo relaunch in 1968, after a long stint in Tales of Suspense. Commencing with #101, and including issues up to #137, this selection features, among others, the Red Skull, the Sleeper, the Trapster, the fabulous Falcon and the Amazing Spider-Man, with a variety of grades and prices! Illustrated are #109 VF p £40, with Cap’s origin retold and #112, a special Album Retrospective of Cap’s career, VF+ p £40. For grades and prices on all our other Cap stock, consult the online catalogue.

*War: From 1955 to 1957, Marines In Action detailed the adventures of Rock Murdock (who we would not be at all surprised to find retconned onto Daredevil’s family tree), Boot Camp Brady and other military heroes, backed up by anthology war stories, in another of the finely-crafted (amazingly so, given the gruelling schedules the artists had to adhere to) combat anthologies. Marines In Action lasted 14 issues, and we have all but one (missing #9) of the complete series. Maneely only supplied covers for this series (including that of #1 GD- £14, pictured) but Everett, Berg, Severin and other master crafstmen are well represented.

*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: Two long-overlooked characters in the Marvel pantheon were Star-Lord, the cosmic adventurer who was introduced in a few issues of Marvel Preview and never really went anywhere, and the even more obscure Rocket Raccoon, a trash-talking throwback to the funny-animal era who was introduced in a back-up story in that same title. Both simmered into obscurity – until their revival as central characters in the sensationally successful Guardians of the Galaxy movies. This update, we present a FN/VF copy of Marvel Preview #4, the not-then-legendary Star-Lord’s debut, at £135, and a FN+ copy of Marvel Preview #7, where Rocket Racoon lurks behind the cover-featured Satana, at £140. Both have fewer laughs than the movie version (and definitely much quieter soundtracks!), but this is where these cult characters commenced, and prices are continuing to go bonkers with both unlikely heroes’ pivotal roles in the ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ blockbuster. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD