*Charlton: An overdue update to that most eclectic of publishers Charlton with a mix of titles from the 1960s and 1970s as follows: Blue Beetle (Ditko series), Emergency, Emergency Doctor, Gorgo, Gorgo’s Revenge, Hot Rod Racers, Hot Rods & Racing Cars (inc final issue #120) and the Six Million Dollar Man.

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: The horror series Werewolf By Night had been toddling along happily for a while, chronicling the adventures of young lycanthrope Jack Russell (stop sniggering at the back there…), when the boat was suddenly rocked in WBN #32 by a vigilante whose only goal seemed to be the annihilation of our hero – and his silver-armour and weapons seemed likely to achieve it! The man who would later be revealed as Marc Spector had a much deeper back story, of course, and in his multitudinous appearances since, has developed a complex background oscillating between ‘Marvel’s Batman’ and ‘Multiple-Personality psychotic inhabited by Egyptian Gods’. Be that as it may, he remains hugely popular, and a near-future Moon Knight movie having been recently confirmed, demand for his debut is intensifying. This copy of Werewolf By Knight #32 is a pence copy, an outstanding VF- with only the most vestigial corner wear precluding still higher grading. Our asking price for this is £500. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Western: Two short-run series for fans of the Wild West this week, beginning with the Arizona Kid, in which 17-year old Davy Larabee rescues Captain Cliff Macklin from outlaws, earning a coveted place in the Texas Rangers – but his first assignment is to track down a Ranger gone bad! Russ Heath provided much of the interior art for this series, and we have five of the six-issue run of this 1951 launch now in stock, although the first and fifth issues are Canadian editions – but the content is identical to their US counterparts. A few years later, in 1954, Outlaw Fighters graced the newsstands for five issues, all now in our lists; this anthology offered a more diverse range of illustrators than most Atlas westerns – Benulis, Greene, Pakula, Hartley, Shores, Colan, Tumlinson and Forgione – though Maneely and Heath were still roped in for cover duty. Pictured are Arizona Kid 4 (VG+ £24) and Outlaw Fighters #2 (VG £17); for details of the rest, please consult our online catalogue.

*Annuals: From the Golden Age of the Western, six British annuals in either FA or GD condition: Billy The Kid 1958 and 1959 and Kit Carson from 1955, 1958, 1959 & 1960. Fondly remembered by those who read them as children and very evocative of the genre that ruled our film and TV industries at the time.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Warlord weekly had a very respectable run, lasting in excess of 600 issues from 1974 to 1976, and in keeping with most popular series of the time, it issued extra-sized Summer Specials for the typical holiday market. But 1976’s Warlord Peter Flint Special was a bit different, focusing on Flint, the eponymous Warlord of the title. This one-off, with family-friendly features like the ‘No-Mercy Spy-Game’, is available in VG for £15. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Launched in 1982, Warrior revolutionised the concept of the British comic, aimed squarely at a mature audience with intelligent and thought-provoking series and an A-List line-up of creators: Alan Moore, Garry Leach, Steve Dillon, Alan Davis, David Lloyd, John Bolton, Steve Parkhouse, John Ridgway, Jim Baikie and more pooled their collective talents for a genuinely stunning line-up of strips, including Marvelman (later Miracleman) and V For Vendetta. Unfortunately, threats of legal action from Marvel Comics and arguments between creators and publisher meant that many of the major ‘draws’ left, to be replaced by lesser talents or European reprints, and the series ground to a halt with issue #26, in 1985, a brief but glorious run. We have the entire 26-issue series in stock, in very affordable low to mid-grades but complete, as well as the one-off Marvelman Special.

*Girls’ Comics: Half a dozen VG or FN copies of the nest-selling Misty fresh to pour catalogue this week from 1978/79, mostly issues previously missing from our listings.

On a regular cycle, we sweep through our entire stock to delete sold items and keep our listing as up to date as possible. We’ve just finished deleting sold items from the following files in our American/British section:
*Classics Illustrated
*Undergrounds
and in our British section:
*Humour Comics
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Clearance Corner: A charming bargain lot in Clearance Corner this week. Classics Illustrated Junior, the companion to the famous Classics Illustrated series, commenced in 1953 and ran for 77 issues, featuring many famous (and some not so famous) fairy tales with brightly painted cover illustrations. Included in this lot of 36 different issues are Sleeping Beauty, Jack & the Beanstalk, Puss In Boots, Rumplestiltskin, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Rapunzel, Snow White & Rose Red and many more. The UK version of this was called Pixi Tales and there is one issue of that included in this lot of otherwise US versions, making 37 in total, all in a mix of FA to FN grades. We have to clear something to make room for our Atlas Explosion, so these, with regret, have to go. Here’s your chance for a real bargain — just £25 the lot (UK postage if required would be an extra £7).

For our previously listed spotlight this week, we feature a modern classic. In 1989, Neil Gaiman, not yet the superstar author he would later become, took the venerable DC superhero the Sandman and completely refurbished the concept – revamping the titular hero as an immortal embodiment of the Dreamworld, Gaiman opened the door to a myriad of adventurous possibilities, modernising the concept without invalidating or discarding either previous Sandman series (the 1940s and 1970s strips), but instead enfolding them into a larger meta-narrative. The Neil Gaiman Sandman series ran for 75 issues and a Special, and won an insane array of awards. This is where it all began, in this instance in a beautiful NM/M pence copy, on sale for £135. You know us, we’re very picky graders and believe if submitted to a third party grader, this would qualify as a 9.8.

*DC: In 1985, for the company’s 50th Anniversary, DC released Crisis on Infinite Earths, a 12-part series in which all the multiple parallel Earths of the DCU, long established ever since ‘Flash of Two Worlds’, faced annihilation, in an attempt to reconcile the conflicting alternate realities, and result in a more comprehensible DC Universe. Marv Wolfman and George Perez delivered a truly epic story, sending shockwaves through fandom as veteran characters perished, mostly permanently. (Well, until reality rebooted again, but in fairness that was decades later…) For all its flawed legacy (it was unevenly followed up by other creators, resulting in a ‘streamlined’ DCU that was actually more confusing, and it set the precedent for sprawling cosmic crossovers to become a tedious annual occurrence), COIE was an epochal event in the evolution of comics. Marvel’s Secret Wars may have done it first – but Crisis did it with style, expertise, and a genuine air of consequence. This 12-issue set averages NM- condition (some NM, a few VF/NM), mostly pence copies. Pictured are the two best-remembered issues of the series, #7 (VF/NM) and #8 (NM p), with the demises of the Silver Age Supergirl and Flash, respectively. This is being sold as a complete set of 12 only, at £125. SORRY, THIS SET HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: One of the later breakout characters of Marvel, Frank Castle, aka bereaved urban vigilante the Punisher, became one of the company’s super-stars in the 1990s, but had spent most of the previous two decades ‘bubbling under’ as a guest-starring anti-hero. His first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #129 is rare in any condition in the UK, where, owing to the presence of Spider-Man Comics Weekly, the US title was embargoed for several years. This is a cents copy (there are no pence copies, of course), bright and glossy, with considerable visual appeal. Firm corners, staples tight at cover and centrefold, this looks at first glance to be a higher grade than its assigned GD+, but there are three flaws: a barely-visible Book Centre Stamp over the logo, a small ‘7p’ handwritten above the Punisher’s head, and minor warping throughout the lower inch of the book owing to water exposure in the past. However, the page distortion is very light and is unaccompanied by any of the staining, discolouration or odour that often goes with watermarking, so it doesn’t interfere with enjoyment of the story. This GD+ copy of a very high demand comic is on sale at £300. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Following his tryouts in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 & #13, Mar-Vell, the Kree warrior sent to conquer Earth from within, got his own series in Marvel’s 1968 expansion year, chock-a-block with intrigue as his superior officers schemed to overcome the planet, and Captain Marvel played a double game. Overtly a good soldier following orders, he secretly strove to thwart their agenda, as he came to sympathise more with Earthlings, particularly one Carol Danvers, the security agent who would, decades down the line, take over the role of Captain Marvel herself. Although the upcoming cinematic Captain Marvel release stars Carol, Mar-Vell is rumoured to be among the supporting cast, and interest in his earlier appearances is consequently rising. This copy of Captain Marvel #1 is a VG p copy, clean and highly presentable with only light cover creasing, not affecting the primary cover image. On sale at £50.

*Marvel: From time to time, as the years advance, we add to our catalogued ranges of stock, and it’s the turn of the Mighty Thor for a ‘boost’, as we increase our range of listed issues to include the run written and (mostly) drawn by Walt Simonson, who revitalised the series commencing with #337. Almost 100 issues new to our listings, including #337 itself, which introduced the horse-faced alien thunder god Beta Ray Bill, a concept which should never have worked, but oddly caught on with readers at large, as well as debuting the Enchantress’ previously-unsuspected younger – and against all odds, wilier – sister, Lorelei. #337 is VF p at £50. For details of the rest, please see our online catalogue. You can’t go too far wrong with a giant frog, now can you? SORRY, #337 NOW SOLD

*Marvel: In the Seventies, Marvel was experimenting with a wide range of genres, and the dystopic near-future science-fiction field showed promise, with ‘Killraven’ over in Amazing Adventures and, here in Astonishing Tales #25, the premier of Deathlok, a cyborg assassin who rebelled against his programming and searched for his purpose – while shooting people a lot. The creation of Rich Buckler and Doug Moench, Deathlok has remained a fixture in the Marvel Universe – including his portrayal by August Richards in the Agents of SHIELD TV series – and this copy of his debut issue is VG p £20, with his second appearance (in AT #26, in case you couldn’t guess), also new to our lists at VF p £9.75. Completist bonus: AT #25 also features a two-pager with George Perez’s first Marvel artwork! SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: In mediaeval times, Sir Percy of Scandia fought the evil Modred in a Hollywood version of King Arthur’s Court, as reinterpreted by Stan Lee and doubtless created in the hope of riding the coattails a range of cinematic successes. However, illustrator Joe Maneely gave the predictable tropes vivid life and vigour with his exquisite linework, which, although reprinted many subsequent times, has sadly been generally badly produced, losing much of the beauty and detail of the original comics. This character’s connection to the mainstream Marvel Universe has been established through his villainous and heroic descendants (one Master of Evil, one Avenger), so there will always be demand for this series, but mostly it’s hotly pursued for the sheer quality of the work. We have three of the five-issue run in stock, all in mid to low grades, making them uncommonly affordable, proportionately speaking. Issue #1 is PR at £35, #3 FA £30 and #5 GD- £45. For more detailed descriptions, please see the online catalogue listing. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Western: Formerly Cowboy Action (#1-11), Quick-Trigger Western featured in its short run rather superior artwork from the Atlas bullpen – which, it has been noted many times elsewhere, was already a cut above the average. Although devoid of ongoing characters, Quick-Trigger made up for it by presenting outstanding artwork by Williamson, Crandall, Torres, Baker, Orlando, Kirby and others behind very striking covers by Heath, Maneely and Severin. While this was no doubt unplanned – the story assignments were almost certainly random, and shuffled into any title that needed filling – Quick-Trigger’s line-up is particularly serendipitous, and a treat for fans of the Atlas artistic stable. We’re missing only the debut issue, #12, from an otherwise complete Q-T run. Pictured are #15 FN £34, and #17 FN+ £41.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Football has always been a popular theme of British comics, but Scorcher, launching in 1970, was one of the earliest weeklies to make it an all-consuming theme. Given its respectable five-year run, the creators did a decent job of it, even if there was a lot of imagination-stretching to introduce variations: ‘Lags Eleven’ (footballing convicts), ‘Lord Rumsey’s Rovers’ (footballing aristocrats), the superbly bonkers ‘Kangaroo Kid’ (footballing feral child raised by marsupials) and ‘Billy’s Boots’, in which a klutzy young lad finds a magically-endowed pair of boots belonging to a legendary player, and gains his skills from them – so, cheating, basically. ‘Billy’s Boots’ was the strip that Would. Not. Die., running for many years after Scorcher’s demise in Tiger, and reappearing in the 1990s in Striker. This is the first appearance of the popular series, and in addition to the #1 (FN £30), we also have the second and third issues new in stock. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Girls’ Comics: A younger sibling to Mirabelle, Melanie grabbed the pop & love stories market with a fresh, upbeat style that compared favourably with its stablemates. The highlight of Melanie was its comic strips – this was before the ‘photo-love’ era – which were often very beautifully drawn, by a range of artists unknown but leaning heavily, we suspect, on the Romero studios. We have a range of Melanie, none previously in stock new in, averaging Fine, from 1973 to 1974, including the first issue in Fine with Free Gift! The Free Gift, also Fine, is a flexi-disc in which David Cassidy talks exclusively to Melanie readers! #1 FN with FG Fine is £20; for the other issues, please see our online catalogue.

We’ve been getting a lot of incidence lately of our emails to customers going into their spam/junk folders, which it seems a lot of you don’t check regularly. If you’re waiting for an email from us, please check your spam/junk folder and if you find it there, mark us as a safe sender on your system for future use. Remember, sometimes email is the only way we have of communicating with you, and we’ll always reply to genuine emails — we don’t want you to think we’re ignoring you!

*DC: Although it seems like only yesterday, John Constantine aka Hellblazer, occult troubleshooter, has ‘haunted’ the DCU for 33 years now, star of multiple ongoing titles of his own and numerous guest appearances. It all started here, in the pages of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing #37 from 1985. This nice VF- pence copy can be yours for a bargainaceous £35. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Well, T’Challa, the Black Panther, has been all the rage since his smash hit movie and his first appearance in Fantastic Four #52 has rocketed up in price accordingly. So here’s a chance to grab a decent lower graded copy while it’s still at a price that’s (hopefully) within reach. This GD/VG cents copy is a little worn along the spine (and to a lesser extent the edges), but the cover image is totally clean and unmarked. There is slight looseness at the staples, but they hold firm and the centrefold is well attached. Page quality is nice (with minor scribble on lower splash margin only). Priced at £250.  

*Marvel: It’s a Ditko mini-extravaganza in this week’s Spider-Mania prime update, with the following 4 consecutive issues from1965. #28 features the debut of the Molten Man, a decent copy of this notorious black cover background issue that has sustained some spine wear and a small patch of moisture discolouration to the bottom right edge of cover and first few pages (mainly visible inside). #29, featuring the Scorpion, is a superior apparent FN+ copy, but the interiors have been printed/collated off centre and are a bit wonky, so we’ve priced it down accordingly. #30, the Steve Ditko plotted ‘Claws Of The Cat’ story is a beautiful high grade cents copy. #31 is another lovely copy featuring the first appearances of Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn and Prof Warren, as well as being the first part of the classic Doc Ock/Master Planner trilogy. #28 GD+ p £80, #29 App FN+ £50, #30 VF+ £240, #31 FN+ £185. SORRY, #28, #29 & #31 NOW SOLD
 

*Marvel: ‘A Special Once-In-A-Lifetime Issue’, the cover of this one-shot boasted, and its unique position is simply a result of a scheduling tangle which arose when Marvel was finally allowed by its distributors to increase its range of titles. The Hulk took over the numbering of Tales to Astonish and Captain America the numbering of Tales of Suspense, but that left ‘orphaned’ chapters of the Iron Man and Sub-Mariner serials languishing, so they were used in this oddball one-off so that both Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner could start off their #1 issues with clear storylines. This new addition is FN+ pence, clean & bright, sound staples, good cover colour and minimal edge & corner wear. One of the easiest Silver Age Marvel titles to complete – buy one and you’ve got the set! FN+ p at £65. This is exactly the same grade and price as a previous copy we had in October, which sold instantly… SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: From 1981 and the days when alternate future storylines were not really as cliched as they’ve since become, one of the most compelling of them all: the classic Days Of Future Past two-parter from X-Men #141/142 by Claremont & Byrne. This was virtually Byrne’s swan song on the title. Featuring an aged X-Men line-up against the Sentinels (and the first appearance of Rachel Summers aka the second Phoenix), this really is the story where, as the cover proclaims “Everybody Dies!” Even a huge DC fans such as us thoroughly enjoyed this classic and if you’ve not read it, you owe it to yourself to do so. Both cents copies; #141 FN/VF £35, #142 FN+ £20. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD