*Horror 1940-1959: One of the greatest of Atlas’s horror series is also one of the shortest to collect. Menace ran a scant 11 issues from 1953-1954, right at the peak of the pre-code extravagance and infamy. Famous perhaps for Bill Everett’s contributions to several issues, ironically, we have the four issues to which he did not contribute: #7, #8, #10 and the last issue #11. But you still get Heath, Katz, Maneely, Powell, Romita, Shores, Sinnott and others, in a festival of fear in lowish grades that are still affordable! #7 FA/GD £55, #8 GD+ £95, #10 GD £75, #11 FA/GD £55. 

*War: Lovers of War comics have hit the jackpot this week, as our Atlas Explosion event gets down and dirty with Battle, the leading and long-lived War title, starting in 1951 and concluding in 1960. We have all but 2 or 3 of the complete run fresh into stock in a variety of grades from PR to FN/VF. The first 37 issues are Pre-Code. The roster of artists on show reads like a Who’s Who of comic art from the 1950s: Check. Krigstein, Everett, Kubert, Colan, Ayers, Williamson, Torres, Berg, Heath, Maneely, Orlando, Powell, Robinson, Romita, Severin, Tuska, Moskowitz, Sinnott, Whitney, Woodbriage and, during issues #63-70, a certain Mr Kirby and Mr Ditko also appear. One of the jewels in the crown of our Atlas event.
Selected issues illustrated here as follows: 
#1  VG+ £100, #2 FN+ £95, #3 FN+ £78, #6 FN+ £78, #11 FN+ £62, #20 FN+ £62, #24 FN+ £56, #25 FN+ £56, #34 FN/VF £66, #61 FN+ £50, #63 FN £56, #64 VG/FN £52, #67 FN+ £83.   

*Alan Class Reprints: We are delighted to present both an update to our stocks of these unique and popular items, and an enhanced format for them. We are now, wherever possible, as well as the original comic, including as many of the later comics that used the same printing plates in each set, thus presenting a more complete history of the plates’ use. In addition, each set also now comes with a colour information sheet on Alan Class and his comics, with a picture of the man himself. New this update are 13 plate sets, 1 Amazing Stories and 12 Astounding, including many early issues. Extras galore, including interior plates, printer’s instructions, cover proofs and sheets and even flongs! (Flongs are impressions of the original plate used for reprinting as an alternative to the plate itself). Particularly worthy of note are the sets for Amazing #1 (shown here), Astounding #17 which reprints a story from Amazing Spider-Man #8 and Astounding #29 (also shown here) which reprints the Giant-Man story from Tales To Astonish #50 (inc. cover).

*Annuals: Ten 1950s Boys’ Annuals new in this week, including Eagle Vol 6, a couple of Okay Adventure Annuals, an Ajax Adventure Annual, an Adventure Annual and a Spaceways  Annual (the latter two featuring Swift Morgan by Dennis McLoughlin) and four Robin Hood Annuals from 1957-1960 reprinting stories from Thriller Picture Library.   

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A nice run of the controversial Action from 1976 fresh into stock this week —  pre-ban issues up to 9th October 1976 (plus the first post-ban issue 4/12/76. Gruesome adventures of the cuddly man-eating shark Hookjaw, plus Hellman, Dredger and lots of other strips that got this title banned from distribution. The second issue (21/2/76) is in FN grade and comes with the Free Gift (Hookjaw transfer) in unused VF; comic and gift £50. The issue for 29th May is VG and also comes with Free Gift (Invasion Game) in pristine NM; comic and gift £25. Both these are pictured here; for details of other issues (while they’re still available!), check out our catalogue listings.

*Girls’ Comics: Two #1 issues this week from different decades. June #1 (1961) is a tired and somewhat browned off copy with a 2.5″ tear centre lower edge and rusty staples, but complete and the first issue of a long-running series, FA at £25. Lucky Charm #1 (1979) is the first issue of this classic reprint ‘done-in-one’ series featuring Valda, champion diver and girl of mystery; a slightly grubby copy with the first few pages loose at the bottom few inches only; GD at £20.

The festive season approaches again and it falls to us to advise you when you can buy vintage comics and books from us over the holiday period. Our last day open before Christmas will be Saturday 22nd December, when we shall trade for our normal hours from 10:30 till 18:00. We re-open again on Thursday 27th December. We will be closing early on New Year’s Eve (4 pm on 31st December) and closed New Year’s Day. In summary:

Monday 17th-Saturday 22nd December. Open as usual 10:30 to 18:00
Sunday 23rd-Wednesday 26th December. Closed
Thursday 27th-Saturday 29th December. Open as usual 10:30 to 18:00
Sunday 30th December. Closed as usual.
Monday 31st December. Open 10:30 to 16:00
Tuesday 1st January. Closed
Wednesday 2nd January onwards. Open as usual

Orders requiring posting paid for by 4 pm on Saturday 15th December will be posted on Monday 17th and should arrive in time for Christmas (if in the UK). After that, we will continue to post out before Christmas, but cannot guarantee pre-Christmas delivery. 

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 section:
*Marvel
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*DC: Although it’s listed as such in the Overstreet Price Guide and widely regarded as the first full appearance of the classic DC arch-villain Darkseid, we’re not convinced that just three panels of the Big Bad (and on video screens at that) in Forever People #1 really constitutes his first full appearance. Still, you pays yer money and you takes yer choice. This superior FN+ pence stamped copy has just minor edge wear and a very gentle crease in the bottom left corner, tight staples and very presentable. One of the more entertaining aspects of this issue is seeing guest  star Superman rendered by Al Pastino alongside Kirby’s characteristic style — a strange experience. Priced at £65. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*DC: For space-age derring-do, the Silver Age adventures of fearless test pilot Hal Jordan, a.k.a. Green Lantern, have few equals, and our new range of issues provides stirring examples of adventures on other worlds – as well as more terrestrial crime-stopping a’plenty! A selection from issue #5 up to issue #52 gives us team-ups with the Flash and the Earth-2 Green Lantern, the debuts of Sonar and Evil Star and clashes with Star Sapphire, Doctor Light and other vintage villains. Plus, from the ‘relevant’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow era, more hard-hitting haranguing from Denny O’Neil, mollified by beautiful Neal Adams artwork! Peace Out!

*Marvel: The debut of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, thus 1st appearances of Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, Mastermind and the Toad in the fourth issue of the X-Men from 1964. It’s a great pity that no one told Wanda that the clue to her costume colour was in her name, and thus she posed in a fetching shade of Emerald for the cover. This solid mid-grade copy has great colour and eye appeal; tight and flat and firmly attached at staples. It has a little spine wear commensurate with this grade, some pressure marks on the cover and a very faint, barely perceptible trace of a subscription crease. Another Lee & Kirby masterpiece VG+ pence copy at £375.

*Marvel: The landmark 25th issue of the Fantastic Four, Lee & Kirby’s flagship title that launched the Marvel Age of Comics, features the classic Thing/Hulk clash, as depicted on the cover with a deep purple background, and the colours on this copy really pop out at you! An outstanding copy with great cover colour and gloss. Tight and flat with good staples, firmly attached. Virtually no wear with great white pages. A couple of minor pressure marks in the logo area and a barely perceptible very faint vertical crease (like a subscription crease but much, much less pronounced) are the only faults that prevent this copy grading even higher. VF+ pence copy at £575.

*Marvel: A chunky update to our stocks of the sightless swashbuckler between issues #98 and #194 plus Annual #1, including many Frank Miller issues. #158 (1st Miller art) is FA at £5; #168 (1st Elektra) is GD p at £10.

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: A triumvirate of updates for one title! Men’s Adventures (Atlas 1950) went through distinct phases in its short 25 issue life. It started off with crime and adventure stories from #4 (the first issue) until #10, and it’s these that feature in this update, emblazoned with the strap-line ‘Stories For Men’. Crime, adventure, mystery, science fiction, war etc were all featured. Illustrated here is #5 VG/FN £49. This is a complete run of this series within a series; for details of the remainder, see our website listing. War and Horror issues are featured in separate updates (alas, we don’t have the two super-hero issues, #27 & #28, that finished the title.  

*War: The third and final part of our Men’s Adventures updates features issues #11-20 (all included) when the title was an out and out War comic with the strap-line ‘Stories Of War’. Still Pre-code, of course, so full of the guts and violence one associates with the genre from this publisher during this period. Some great covers in this run, and we’ve decided to showcase here an unusual, darkly humorous one (#17 FN £41). More Atlas coming very soon!

*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: Some uncommon items added to this popular section: from 1970, Comic Media #1, the long-running British ‘zine which later became Comic Media News and developed into what was arguably Britain’s first ‘prozine’. From 1977, the first (and only?) two issues of Mark Gruenwald’s Omniverse, in which the later Marvel Editor-In-Chief pondered the parallel universes of the comics medium (he’d have a much harder job of it these days…) and from 1972, the Gloria Steinem edited hardcover retrospective of Wonder Woman, not only a feminist appreciation of the Amazing Amazon’s cultural significance, but also serving as the first significant collection of Golden Age Wonder Woman stories! All this, plus top-ups to our stocks of Alter Ego, Amazing Heroes, Comics Journal, Comic Book Marketplace and From The Tomb.

*Power Comics: ‘The Brand New Comic for the New Breed of Comic Fans’ proclaimed Pow! #1 across its masthead. In 1967, Odhams Press, after successes with the Beano-esque Wham! and Smash!, hit upon its highly successful formula of Marvel reprints combined with original British humour and adventure strips. Nowhere was this more notable than in Pow!, their third launch, which featured Spider-Man reprints virtually from the beginning, backed up by Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, as well as well-remembered original strips ‘Georgie’s Germs’, ‘The Dolls of St. Dominic’s’, and ‘The Cloak’. Odhams Press proudly basked in the glory of the emerging Marvel Age of Comics and copied its style of blurb. The first four issues are now in stock, all in superior FN+ grade (#4 FN); we seldom grade UK comics better than FN. but these are flat, creamy white with vibrant colour and virtually no wear. We doubt they looked any better than this when they were in the newsagents. No Free Gifts, alas, but probably the best-looking copies we’ve ever seen. #1 FN+ £100, #2 FN+ £50, #3 FN+ £50 (all illustrated below) and #4 FN £20. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: One of the most popular Picture Libraries is Air Ace, tales of daring aviators defending the Empire’s skyways, and we’re delighted to replenish our severely depleted stocks with in excess of 200 copies new to our listings, from issue #101 to #544, filling many gaps in our ranks, in affordable mid-grades. Air Ace always (excuse the expression) flies out rapidly, so place your orders promptly to avoid disappointment!

Memorabilia & Esoterica: Strange bedfellows in this update as we present (a) an Airfix Construction Kit Catalogue from 1966 (VG £10) that features all those kits we put together as kids (providing one is of a certain age, of course) and (b) the Laurel & Hardy Book Of Wisecracks, 36 pages of the wit of the immortal duo originally presented as a supplement to Film Fun in 1937; this original (not a copy) has been reported as selling for £200, which makes ours at just £25 (VG) sound like a real snip!

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 section:
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s
*Romance
*Teen Humour/Funny Girls
*War
*Western
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Collected Editions: The bastion of 2000 AD and guardian of Mega-City One, several out-of-print softcover editions of Judge Dredd’s adventures have been added to our inventory: Cursed Earth (NM £35, pictured), The Pit (NM £25, pictured), Necropolis (NM £20) Judgement Day, featuring a team-up between Dredd and fellow 2000-AD alumnus Strontium Dog (NM £20) and the complete Apocalypse War (with Block Mania bonus, NM £20).

A UK classic in our previously-listed spot this week. The short-lived and notorious title Scream!, intended as a horror-themed companion to 2000 AD in 1984, fell foul to censorious cretins early in its existence. Despite prestigious contributors – including Alan Moore in its early issues – was pressurised off the nation’s newsstands during a strike after only fifteen weekly issues, belatedly – and without so much as the traditional ‘great news, chums!’ – merging a couple of its strips into Eagle series 2, albeit in greatly diluted form. We’ve lost count of how many sets of Scream we’ve sold over the years, but they never hang around in stock for long. We offer for your consideration our sole remaining issue of Scream! (at the moment) the #1 issue, a sparkling FN copy, comes with the Free Gift (Dracula Fangs) mint and unopened in its original bag and still taped to the front cover. #1 on sale for £50.

*DC: One of the stories which redefined the concepts of comics narrative and superheroic iconography in the 1980s, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen has been constantly in print since its 1986 debut, with myriad editions, collections and archives, but these are the original comics which set comics fandom and the industry alight. At first intended to be a ‘grim and gritty’ reinvention of the Charlton Comics heroes, who had only recently then come into DC’s possession, Dick Giordano convinced Moore to come up with original characters instead. Often imitated – frequently to the detriment of the medium – but never equalled, the 12-issue series is on sale in its entirety, averaging VF condition (#7 VG owing to an upper cover crease) at £100 the set. We don’t need to say much about the content of this most famous of later comics titles; either you know you want it, or you’re beyond hope. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Marvel: A significant latecomer to the Silver Marvel Age, the enigmatic synthezoid, the Vision premiered in Avengers #57 as a villainous pawn of the evil Ultron. Rapidly being discovered to be misguided, he was offered membership the next issue, in one of the most rapid reforms ever, and became a mainstay of the Avengers and the MU in general, particularly through his convoluted relationship with the Scarlet Witch. Based on a Simon & Kirby character from the 1940s, Roy Thomas’ love affair with all things Golden Age stood him in good stead, as the Vision captured the hearts and minds of readers worldwide… though the exquisite art by John Buscema doubtless didn’t hurt! Now a pillar of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and soon to co-star with the Scarlet Witch in a TV series, the Vision’s star continues to rise. This copy of his debut is VF- p at £200. Glossy cover, vivid colour, tight staples at cover and centrefold, only the very faintest unevenness at edge & corner, truly a beautiful copy of a key issue.

*Marvel: After the extraterrestrial invasion of the Saturnian Stone Men in his debut issue, Thor faced more pressing terrestrial concerns in his second-ever appearance, when, at the height of Cold War frenzy, his alter ego, Dr. Don Blake and Nurse Jane Foster fell into ‘Commie’ hands and became prisoners of the Executioner! (No, not that Executioner, though Stan & Jack clearly liked the name enough to recycle it shortly thereafter for the Asgardian assassin we all know and love.) This ‘Executioner’ was the dictator of the South American Republic of San Diablo, and while it may seem laughable to pit him against the Thunder God now, back then, in the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, it was very relevant. This is also the first appearance of Jane Foster, who’s held the title of Thor herself a couple of times! A Good+ copy, pence priced, this is a sound copy, clean cover image, with moderate wear at spine and edges and a small (half-inch) cover tear at right edge in the middle of the cover blurb. On sale at £180. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD