*Western: One of Marvel’s ‘Big Three’ of Western Heroes is refreshed this update, with new issues added to our stock from 1963’s #64 to 1968’s #92, with Matt Hawk, crusading lawyer, taking up the masked identity of the Two-Gun Kid to tackle outlaws beyond the reach of the law. Dick Ayers, Don Heck and Ogden Whitney were among the prominent artists on this run, which began with #60 (when the previous iteration of the Two-Gun Kid was revealed to be a dime-novel hero who ‘inspired’ young Mr. Hawk) and ran until 1977, though the series became largely reprint after 1970. In the years in question, though, Two-Gun followed in the footsteps of Rawhide Kid and Kid Colt in fighting a series of increasingly fantastic menaces, including many proto-supervillains such as Goliath, the Rattler, and the Silver Sidewinder. Later (much later), Two-Gun was integrated into the Marvel Universe proper, in Avengers and She-Hulk, so every true Marvelite has to load up their saddlebags with his adventures!
30CC
American/British Update: The Spirit, and other Eisners!
*Spirit: A long-overdue update to the chronicles of Will Eisner’s classic noir crimefighter, and other Eisner creations! We have the 1973 underground release from Kitchen Sink, with the first new Spirit material in almost a decade, and an almost complete 16-issue run (lacking only #8) of the Warren magazine edition from 1974 onward, with brand-new covers and recolouring on selected sections. The Spirit also appeared intermittently in Will Eisner’s Quarterly, a magazine from Kitchen Sink which, from 1983 on, showed the breadth of Eisner’s creativity, with works-in-progress from his famous ‘City’ chronicles. All eight issues back in stock. Finally, for many years, Eisner illustrated the US Armed Forces giveaway, PS: Preventive Maintenance Monthly, a digest-sized instructional magazine. We have one issue, from 1968, with comic-strips and numerous spot illos by Eisner.
Clearance of Girls’ Crystal Story Papers 1941-1952
From time to time, we have to make decisions to discontinue certain titles from our stock for reasons of space. Such is the case with the classic Story Paper incarnation of Girls’ Crystal. Girls’ Crystal, which started out as ‘The Crystal’ for its first 9 issues in 1935 and existed as a Story Paper (i.e. a compendium of text stories with illustrations) until 1953 when it was rebranded as a sequential art comics strip comic. Stories such as ‘The Cruising Merrymakers,’, ‘The Schoolgirl Detective’, ‘Bunty & The Gay Cavalier’, ‘The Mystery Boy Of Castaway Isle’ and countless more thrilled at least a couple of generations of schoolgirls. We’re clearing this title from our boxes to make room for some of the vast number of collections we’ve been buying in so we are able to offer our complete stock of approx. 250 issues (between 1941 & 1952) at a bargain price of just £25 (a £400 value) to the first person to order them. Grades range from Poor to Very Good. NB They don’t come bagged and boarded (as our normal stock does) and if the buyer wants them posted to a UK address, the postage cost would be an additional £17 (if you’re outside the UK, we’ll quote you for postage). We don’t want to throw them away, so we hope this limited-time offer will see them relocated in a good home! First come, first served — the first person to pay for them gets them! SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD
British Update: Eagle Volume 15 (1964) complete inc. merger with Boys’ World & Free Gift Supplements
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A complete run of the classic Eagle Volume 15 from 1964 added to our inventory. This year saw the merger with Boys’ World (#41), where, in addition to all the regular features such as Dan Dare, Blackbow the Cheyenne, Iron Man & Heros the Spartan, Michael Moorcock and John Burns’ Wrath Of The Gods continued from Boys’ World to its conclusion. A feature of this year also were Free Gift supplements, with issues #9 & #10 sporting the two-part Roger Moore’s How To Be A Detective, #42 with an Olympic Special and #44 with a Battle Of The Space Fleets Game. Much to enjoy in this volume, very many issues of which were previously missing from our listings.
American Update: Pride of the Panther! Kirby’s Black Panther series (virtually) complete!
*Marvel: The Black Panther’s series in Jungle Action, which attracted a lot of acclaim at the time, was known for being verbose, introspective, reflective and philosophical. When Jack Kirby took over as writer and artists on T’Challa’s follow-up solo series, however, the results were… a considerable contrast. Shouting! Explosions! Aliens! Time-Travel! Burly ladies with black lipstick! Cosmic critters! All were here, and all playing at full volume all the time, in the crazed kinetic frenzy that Kirby was renowned for, as the King of Wakanda faced off against the Six-Million Year Man, King Solomon’s Frog, the sinister Agents of Kiber, Yetis, Samurais, and other bizarre menaces. Owing to one of Jolly Jack’s ongoing creator disputes with Marvel, he departed the series abruptly with #12, and other hands brought the outstanding plot-threads to a conclusion with #15. We have virtually the entire series (lacking only #11) new in in high grades. Klimb aboard for Kirby Kraziness!
American Update: Black Lightning Strikes!
*DC: As part of their late-Seventies expansion programme, DC attempted to diversify their lineup, and one major event was their first black super-hero to headline his own title, with 1977’s Black Lightning. Jefferson Pierce, a crusading erudite teacher and Olympic gold athlete, donned a false ‘fro and adopted ghetto-talk to defend the Metropolis suburb of Suicide Slum, tackling street-level crimes that the high-flying heroes didn’t deign to touch. This being the DC Universe, though, it wasn’t long before he teamed up with Superman and became thoroughly ‘mainstreamed’, but while it lasted, scripter Tony Isabella (who had previous on Marvel’s streetwise African-American hero, Luke Cage) and artist Trevor Von Eeden did impart a different flavour. A casualty of the DC implosion, this series ended with #11, but we have the full run back in stock in very nice grades, including the scarce extra-length final issue!
British Update: Conclusion of our Marvel UK ‘Refurbishment’
*Marvel UK: We’re delighted to announce the conclusion, for now, of our massive re-evaluation of the British Marvel section of our catalogue. Whereas many numbers had previously been flat-rated and ungraded, the increase in interest of recent years has prompted us to bring our Marvel UK stock up to the same standard as you’ve come to expect from the rest of our inventory, with accurate grades. With the refurbishment of the ‘final five’ titles, Marvel Team-Up, Punisher, Secret Wars, Super-Heroes and Titans, our Marvel UK stock is comprehensively graded for your collecting convenience!
American Update: Batmania Max – Watching the Detectives – issues #261-270!
*DC: Continuing our monumental Batman update, we return to his ‘parent’ title, Detective Comics, and a selection from the 1950’s where the Gotham Guardians were routinely battling aliens, robots, and sinister scientific devices. This batch, #261-270 (lacking #267, listed a couple of weeks ago and now sold) is well within those tropes, with “The Secret of the Fantastic Weapons!”, “The Satellite From Gotham City!”, “The Power That Doomed Batman!”, and “The Creature From Planet X!” among the featured stories, as well as the debut of one of Batman’s more bizarre recurring villains, Dr. X – and his sinister doppelganger, Dr. Double-X!
British Update: CSD Putney – Pearson’s TV Picture Stories!
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: An unusual addition to our CSD: Putney event this week, as Pearson’s TV Picture Stories Library featured both cowboys and detectives, alongside other TV favourites – though as far as we’re aware, no schoolgirls – on a regular basis: New comic-strip stories featured popular TV heroes of the day, some well-remembered (“Charlie Chan”, “Highway Patrol”, “Dixon of Dock Green”, “Adventures of Robin Hood”) and some of which would draw blank looks from anyone under 60 (“Murder Bag”, “OSS”, “Sword of Freedom”). We have added ten new items to our inventory, numbers ranging from #4 to #36, and have also added numbering information for our existing stock which was previously missing from our listings. Thrill to Charlie Chan in “The Sweater!” (gasp), join the Highway Patrol in the mystery of “The Stolen Brain” and watch the TV (so it looks like) with the cast of Dixon Of Dock Green!
Housekeeping Update
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 file in our British section:
*Girls’ Comics (Titles beginning with A-F)
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.
American Update: High Grade Tomb Of Dracula
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980’s: Dozens of issues of Marvel’s vampire saga fresh in this week. This selection of Marv Wolfman’s and Gene Colan’s horror magnum opus is a tale of two halves: issues from #8 – #29 (#10 is not included) are mostly low grade and very affordable pence copies, whereas from #41 onwards (complete to the final issue #70), the average grade is VF/NM, and all are cents copies. A chance for collectors of high grade material to acquire copies not often seen as nice as this. Please consult our catalogue for full details.
British Update: 3 decades of Humour over 5 titles
*Humour Comics: A chunky update to this category, including Beano (1964, 1968, 1969 & 1970, with 1st Nibbles), Beezer (1981-1983), Buster (1966, 1970 & 1971), Sparky (1970) & Topper (1981 & 1983).
American Update: Silver/Bronze Age Marvel Sweep inc. 1st Deathlok
*Marvel: Another one of our very popular sweeps through the Marvel Silver & Bronze Ages, this time adding Astonishing Tales #25 (FN+ p £20 1st Deathlok), Daredevil (inc #81 Black Widow joins & #100), a nice graded range of Fantastic Four between #81 & #109 (cents copies), Hulk Annual #7 (John Byrne), a consecutive run of cents copy Strange Tales from #121 to #125 featuring the Torch & Thing and Dr Strange, Thor and the X-Men (inc #100).
British Update: 25 Years Of Hotspur!
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Over 200 issues of one of the most long-lived and venerable Boys’ titles new in from the years 1949 right through to 1974, with most years in that range represented to varying degrees. Along the way, Hotspur regenerated into New Hotspur in 1959 (although it soon dropped the ‘New’) and in doing so transformed from a story paper into a comic proper, full of adventure strips. Generally, our new influx of stock is in nicer grades than those previously listed in our catalogue.
Travel Disruption Monday 9th January – Update
Due to major disruption to public transport in London today we are finding it difficult to complete the journey to the shop. Please bear with us, as we hope to open soon, and accept our apologies if you have been inconvenienced.
We’re pleased to announce that the shop is now open. Thanks for you patience.
British Update: Wolverine’s First Full Appearance reprinted in Mighty World of Marvel (with free German Edition!)
*Marvel UK: Key Marvel issues reprinted in British publications have become very sought after collectables in recent years, and have risen in price significantly. Such an example is Mighty World Of Marvel #198 & #199, reprinting the Wolverine debut story from Hulk #181. These issues sliced the original story in half, slapped a new splash page (don’t get too excited, it’s only Ron Wilson) on the second segment, and gave readers all the black & white excitement they could stand! These two fine (literally Fine) copies are competitively priced at £100 and £50 respectively, but because we’re just too good to you, we’re throwing in a near-mint Hulk #181 in as a free gift with the #198! Mind you, it’s in German, so we hope you’re a cunning linguist.
American Update: Batmania Max! – The Killing Joke (1988) 1st Printing!
*DC: Our second Batmania Max instalment this week features one of the most influential one-shots of the 1980’s, themselves a transformative decade for the comics medium. The Killing Joke had humbler beginnings, having been intended originally just to be a regular Batman Annual. As the months crept on and it became evident illustrator Brian Bolland wasn’t going to get the job done in time, (shocked face), plans were altered and it became one of the earliest Prestige Format one-shots – and in so doing, gained a place in comics history. Alan Moore’s script explored and redefined the origin of the Joker, and kicked off a chain of controversial events which transformed Barbara Gordon, the then-retired Batgirl, into the covert intelmeister Oracle, a pivotal figure in the DC Universe. Bolland’s illustrations are superb; Alan Moore’s script is generally highly acclaimed, and the whole package is acknowledged as hugely significant in the ‘maturing’ of comics. This copy is in a superlative VF/NM condition, with only the most minute signs of wear at the corner preventing a NM grade. Yours for £50.
British Update: Complete Run of TV Tornado including scarce Dr. Who, Prisoner, TV Avengers covers!
*TV & Film Related Comics: The 1967/1968 run of TV Tornado has always been a favourite among collectors with popular features including Tarzan, the Phantom, Flash Gordon, the Saint, and many others. The major selling point for Gerry Anderson completists, however, is the addition of The Mysterons, antagonists of Captain Scarlet, in their own series from issue #36, following the absorption of TV Tornado’s companion title, Solo. Another phenomenon of recent years is the fierce competition for certain later covers featuring various media stars. TV Tornado had gotten into the habit for a while of featuring a media-star ‘Cover Man’ portrait on the cover, and while folks were largely indifferent to the likes of Simon Dee, Leslie Crowther or Harry Secombe, covers associated with cult TV shows – such as The Prisoner, Doctor Who or John Steed from TV’s Avengers – have spiralled massively up in price, owing to interest from, generally, collectors outside the comics-reading world. We have been fortunate in acquiring a complete run of TV Tornado, first to last, all 88 issues, generally in very attractive grades, with several duplications including some lower-graded reading copies. Highlights include issue #1 FN+ £75; #48 (Prisoner cover) FN £30; #58 (Two-page Doctor Who Feature) FN £22.50; #59 (Patrick Troughton/Doctor Who cover) FN £60; and #64 (John Steed/Avengers cover) FN £30.
American Update: First appearances of Dormammu and Clea in Strange Tales #126!
*Marvel: Despite the Human Torch & Thing combo valiantly clinging to top billing in Strange Tales by this point, everybody who mattered knew that Lee & Ditko’s Doctor Strange was the real selling point of the title, and that appeal was only sharpened when issue #126’s Doctor Strange mini-epic introduced not only the Dread Dormammu, who was to become Strange’s greatest foe, but also the then-nameless Clea, who was to become Strange’s greatest love and partner-in-mystic-peril (well, except when she’s occasionally mad. Or dead. Or evil. Hey, it’s the Marvel universe…) This highly desirable double debut is a pence-stamped copy with lovely deep purple background colour, still vivid and unbroken. The narrow gap between the logo and the cover’s top edge has raised the question of trimming, but we see no evidence of that, and online image searches disclose most, if not all, other copies have the same logo placement. Offered in FN- at £85.
American Update: Batmania Max – Running Away from Mister J! – Harley Quinn (2000) #1-37
*DC: In the first of two doses of Batmania Max this week, we focus on current media darling Harley Quinn. Following her ‘promotion’ from the DC Animated/Younger Readers line to full-blown status in the ‘real’ DCU, (Psst. It’s not really real…), Harley Quinn’s next move was to break away from being the Joker’s live-in moll/punching bag and spin off into her own series, written by Karl Kesel and illustrated by Terry and Rachel Dodson, in a delightful screwball comedy that saw Harl trying to do the right thing, but often for the wrong reasons – aided and abetted by her gal-pals Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and others from the great, good, and gorgeous of the DCU. Kesel’s witty, self-aware scripts (with the occasional skilful sidestep into tragedy) and the Dodson’s unabashed ‘Good Girl’ art style mean that the early issues of this series, though often aspired to, have never been equalled in the not-noticeably-humble opinion of this reviewer. Harley’s ever-expanding popularity means that folks are desperate for her early appearances, and we’ve been lucky to acquire the first 37 (lacking only the finale) of her 2000-launched series, plus the ‘our Worlds At War’ one-shot, all in high grades, with many NM or nicer. #1 (pictured) in NM at £75; consult our catalogue listing for other details.
Books Update: Stellar Authors, Stretching All The Way From A To D!
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Fifteen Science Fiction books by authors who should need no introduction join our bookshelves today. Venturing only four letters into the alphabet, they are Brian Aldiss, Isaac Asimov, J G Ballard, Arthur C Clarke and Philip K Dick. Every book is a highlight, but notable amongst them are Report On Probability A, Aldiss’ take on quantum mechanics and the multiverse theory, which is complex enough to make Schrodinger’s cat need a lie-down, Ballard’s The Drowned World, where the Triassic Age returns to London, and Philip K Dick’s The Transmigration Of Timothy Archer, the final part of the Valis trilogy, an exploration of belief. Other titles include Dick’s Our Friends From Frolix 8 and the Simulacra, Ballard’s Low Flying Aircraft and Clarke’s Tales Of ten Worlds, plus more.
American Update: Consciousness-Expanding Adventures with Warlock and Doctor Strange in Marvel Premiere!
*Marvel: The first ten issues, from 1972 and 1973, of Marvel’s ‘Showcase’ title, Marvel Premiere, which re-introduced new or previously-failed concepts for a stab at solo stardom. In the first two issues was Roy Thomas’ messianic super-hero of Counter-Earth, Warlock, superbly illustrated by Gil Kane; issues #3-10 featured the return of the Master of the Mystic Arts, Doctor Strange, by a variety of creators including Stan Lee, Gardner Fox, Barry Smith, Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner. Both achieved their own titles as a result of these tryouts, and while Warlock’s may have had the shorter run (1-8, then a later 9-15 under the hands of Jim Starlin), the good Doctor’s series ran to 81 issues, and he’s seldom been out of print since. In decent mid-high grades, these cosmic and supernatural adventures pushed the boundaries of what was accepted in the medium, and were the focus of both praise and controversy.
American Update: The Rising and Advancing of a Spirit – Master Of Kung Fu Fights Again!
*Marvel: New issues of Marvel’s Master of the Martial Arts (and Fu Manchu’s Number One Son, though they don’t talk about that much these days) Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu! Beginning with a very nice ND #23 in high grade, wrapping up ith #105, this selection covers Day, Zeck, Moench, Gulacy, and all the high notes of this acclaimed series.
American Update: Captain America and the Falcon – high-grade 1970’s issues!
*Marvel: A dozen new issues of the Star-Spangled Avenger’s solo series, opening with #122 and taking in the Cap/Falc/Spidey three-way of #137 & #138, but mainly focussing on the Englehart & Buscema period, from #163 up, with early appearances of the Serpent Squad, Moonstone, the Yellow Claw, and the debut of the nefarious Nightshade, pence-priced copies, but in high grades, averaging VF/NM.
American Update: Just Imagine… Justice League of America #1!
*DC: Heralded at the time of its release with the house ad: “Just Imagine… the mightiest heroes of our time have banded together to stamp out the forces of evil”, and by Cracky, the original line-up – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash and the Martian Manhunter – gave it a good shot, devoting themselves not just to America – or even Earth – but to other worlds, galaxies and dimensions, thwarting the bad guys on a universal scale, as imaginatively portrayed by writer Gardner Fox and artists Sekowsky and Sachs! Following a three-issue tryout in Brave & Bold, the team was awarded its own title – oddly, not numbered #1 on the cover, as the practise then was for newsagents to return new titles unsold, as “there was no demand for them!”. This VG copy is cents priced, with no UK price or overstamp, and would generally grade higher save for a little bit of handling wear at mid-spine. With the cinematic debut of the Justice League being imminent, now’s the time to get ahead of the curve and grab this issue at £675. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
British Update: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!
*Girls’ Comics: And among those having fun in this update are June (new issues in from 1963, 1969 and 1971), Bunty (1969), and Tracy (1981-1983), along with the other girls’ anthologies Girl (second series, 1981-1987), Girls’ Crystal (1962) and School Friend (1964). Does anyone else think Tracy’s a bit OCD with her devotion to her feathery pet? I swear, if that girl lived n Gotham, she’d grow up to a life of crime as ‘The Budgie’…! but I digress. The Four Marys, Tomboy Tessa, Bessie Bunter, My Friend Sara, the Lonely Princess and the usual posse of equestrienne gymnast schoolgirl resistance fighters bring us the usual medley of ballerina war-orphan student-nurse shenanigans!
British Update: Out-Of-Print Memoir of Leo Baxendale
*Magazines/Books About Vintage UK Comics: “A very Funny Business”, the 1978 memoir of legendary British comics creator Leo Baxendale, details his story from his early beginnings to becoming the internationally-acclaimed co-creator of the Bash Street Kids, Minnie the Minx, Little Plum, the Three Bears, and dozens more beloved characters from the childhood of generations of readers. Lavishly illustrated, this gives insights not only into Baxendale’s own career, but also other iconic comics creators such as Ken Reid (‘Faceache’) and the habits and practises of the D.C. Thomson publishers. This copy is in Fine condition, clean with minimal wear and no defacements, offered at £25.
American Update: Spider-Mania! A quartet of early Amazing Spider-Man adventures, including 1st Electro!
*Marvel: It starts here! After significant restocks, we’re re-launching our popular ‘Spider-Mania’ themed updates with multitudinous new listings of Marvel’s favourite wall-crawler! We kick off with four early issues, featuring classic members of Spidey’s Rogue’s Gallery. Issue #7 sees the return of Spidey’s avian arch-nemesis, the villainous Vulture; #9 presents the debut of the egregious Electro; and issues #11 & #12 feature a double-dose of dastardly doings with perhaps Spider-Man’s greatest enemy, Doctor Octopus! All four are pence-printed copies, contemporary with their US-priced brethren but overprinted for UK distribution. #7 is VG/FN at £190, #9 GD at £80, #11 VG+ at £155, and #12 VG/FN at £130. Lots more Spider-Mania in the weeks to come! SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD
British Update: CSD Putney – Huge Schoolgirls’ Picture Library update! Zanna, Silent Three, Miss Adventure, many more!
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: One of the largest updates in our CSD: Putney event, more than 200 issues of the popular Schoolgirls’ Picture Library are newly listed, including many, many numbers not previously in our inventory! Ranging from 1957’s #8 through to 1965’s #326 (the penultimate issue, as it mutated into June & School Friend Picture Library with #328), this massive and exciting influx features many popular recurring series characters, including Zanna of the Jungle, Space-Girl Kim, the Co-Eds of Merrydown School, Mimi the Mesmerist, the Grey Ghosts, Princess Anita, Wong and Pete, Miss Adventure, Umpha the Porpoise, the Merrymakers, the Rolling Stones (not those ones), the Peewits, Miss Adventure, and of course, the definitive boarding-school avengers, the Silent Three! A variety of grades, but most hitting around the Fine mark, very attractive yet affordable above average grade copies. We anticipate keen competition for these, so get your orders in early!
American Update: EC Classics, Flashbacks and more!
*Modern Reprints: A long-overdue top-up to this popular category, primarily focussing on EC, the groundbreaking company of the 1950’s which redefined public perception of comics as ‘not just for kids’… though not always in the most positively-received light! We have twelve of the 1970’s East Coast Classics series, which reprinted various EC titles in full-colour as ‘samplers’, plus additions to the Gemstone reprints of the 1990’s with new stock for Incredible Science-Fiction, Shock SuspenStories, Weird Fantasy, MD, and Piracy, plus the 2016 full-colour facsimile of EC’s short-lived super-heroine, Moon Girl, from Canton Street Press. But it’s not only EC’s – we add to our stock of the limited-edition fandom-generated Flashback Facsimiles with repros of USA Comics #1 and Young Allies #1, the 1983 THUNDER Agents series, and – wait for it – Silver Surfer Vs. Dracula!
British Update: The Sting Of The Hornet!
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: More stock for the classic D.C. Thomson weekly Hornet, beginning with a generous portion from 1965, an amuse-bouche from the years 1966-1970, and a mere soupcon of ’73 and ’74 – around 50 issues in total, including many copies previously unrepresented in our stock. Join mystery athlete Wilson (yes, he did appear in Wizard and Buddy as well; he put himself about a bit), the V For Vengeance team, ‘Bouncing’ Bernard Briggs the goalie, the Barefoot Detective, Abdul the Terrible, the Swamp Rat and more for action and (well-mannered) excitement!
American Update: With One Magic Word – FOOM!
*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: Twelve more issues added of Marvel’s self-published ‘prozine’ from the 1970’s, FOOM (Friends Of Ol’ Marvel), which featured an array of creator interviews, features, and much archival and unpublished artwork, a plethora of delight for the Marvel maniac! New additions range from #8 to #21, and include ‘theme’ issues such as Cosmic Heroes (#9), X-Men (#10), Kiby’s Return (#11), and Star Wars/Sci-Fi (#21).
British Update: Near complete Eagle Vol 14 (1963) inc. Free Gift Farrago
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: We present a near complete run of classic 1st series Eagle Volume 14 from 1963, inc two issues following the merger with Swift that include the Free Gifts. #10 (GD with VF Free Gift) at £20 is the first issue of Eagle & Swift and includes both the pictorial plastic wallet for football player cards and the first four full colour cards for it; #11 (GD with VF Free Gift) at £10 includes four more cards for the wallet. Volume 14 of Eagle started out with classic racing car covers, before Dan Dare returned to the cover slot as illustrated by Keith Watson, who was responsible for some of the most striking cover imagery of the entire series. Famous interior features included Frank Bellamy’s Heros The Spartan in full colour across the centrefold and Blackbow the Cheyenne.
British Update: Fine and Dandy! Dandy 1964-1968 (and a token 1957) newly stocked!
*Humour Comics: Dandy, the second most famous weekly humour comic, is restocked with approximately 100 new issues in our ongoing campaign of revitalising our Beano and Dandy inventory. Apart from a token 1957 issue that slipped through our radar previously, this latest update spans the years 1964-1968, and features not only the famous Dandy alumni ‘Korky the Cat’ and ‘Desperate Dan’, but also such obscure series as ‘Winker Watson’, ‘Dirty Dick’, and ‘Spunky and His Spider’. Really, what more needs to be said? There’s a nice selection of Christmas, Easter and April Fool’s issues present, and the majority of the new stock is in very affordable low-to-mid grades.
British Update: Warlord & Wizard – two generations of D.C. Thomson adventure!
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Top-ups of two perpetually popular papers this week, both from the famous Scottish publisher D.C. Thomson. Warlord, which was launched in the 1970’s but with a very retro WWII ambience, has its earlier issues replenished – most of the first forty numbers, from #2 up plus many issues from the 1980’s. And from an earlier time, when the actual WWII was fresh in the minds of most adults, Wizard is restocked for 1952, 1953, and 1960, three years previously under-represented in our archive. These years are not complete, but they do offer a substantial proportion of the extant issues, with more than 100 copies new in.
Iron Mania! A quartet of critical Iron Man issues – First Appearance in Tales of Suspense #39, plus Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1, Iron Man #1, and Iron Man #55 (1st Thanos)!!
*Marvel: For this special release, a very special quartet of comics starring Tony Stark – millionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist, and the Armoured Avenger!
We begin with Iron Man’s very first appearance, in the pages of Tales of Suspense #39, abducted by Reds behind the Bamboo Curtain (it was a different time…) and forced to manufacture advanced weapons to crush capitalism, Tony Stark turned the tables on his captors by devising a cybernetic suit of armour which transformed him into an unstoppable juggernaut of justice – but at the cost of a near-fatal injury to his heart, which required constant contact with his robotic armour to keep beating! Under the artistic talents of (usually) Don Heck (who devoted special attention, bless him, to the many shapely ladies Tony Stark romanced), the sophisticated world of Tony Stark vied with the action-adventure of his Iron Man persona for the readers’ attention. Following the blockbuster success of the Iron Man movie franchise, demand for this issue has never been higher. This cents copy is GD/VG, a sound, clean and attractive copy with flexible off-white interiors and very minor spine wear which would easily grade VG or better but for a small (3 x 2 cm approx.) corner torn off the lower right cover, as may be seen in the accompanying scan. In every other respect a superior second-hand major key issue, but that defect does bring it into the range of affordability at £2,000. High resolution scans are available on request.
With Iron Man and Sub-Mariner #1, ‘A Special Once-In-A-Lifetime Issue’, its unique position is simply a result of a scheduling tangle which arose when Marvel was finally allowed by its distributors to increase its restricted 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’s with new book-length adventures. This cents copy, with no UK price or overstamp, is a lovely clean, tight & bright copy with excellent cover gloss. One of the easiest Silver Age Marvel titles to complete – buy one and you’ve bought them all! FN/VF at £65
Our third star item this update is Shell-Head’s first solo issue from 1968, Iron Man #1. As mentioned earlier, after a long run as the co-star of Tales of Suspense, Iron Man was given his own title when the ‘Berlin Wall’ of Marvel’s distribution was broken down. With the kinetically frenzied artwork of Gene Colan at its finest, this FN pence-stamped copy boasts glorious deep purple colour, unfaded and vivid, with white interior pages. Offered at £225.
And finally Cyril, 1972’s Iron Man #55, at the time a virtual ‘fill-in’ issue written and drawn by Jim Starlin, has become an unexpected collector’s item over the ensuing decades, particularly after the release of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which brought Drax the Destroyer and Thanos into public consciousness. This issue was used by Starlin to lay down many of the cornerstones for his patented cosmic epics in Captain Marvel and elsewhere, and it features the first appearances not only of Thanos and Drax the Destroyer, but also of Eros (later to play a major part in Avengers history as Starfox), Mentor, Kronos, and guest-villains, the bodacious Blood Brothers! Iron Man shows up for a couple of panels, here and there, we’ve heard… This cents copy is in VG/FN condition; other than the vestiges of a subscription crease (a long, but light vertical crease down the middle of the comic, where it was originally folded for mailing), there are no other flaws. Offered at £175. (And don’t forget that Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is scheduled to hit cinemas soon, so buy now before the speculators attack!) SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
Window Update: Sale of the 30th Century
Dr Evilla has gone for a simple design to celebrate our New Year Graphic Novel Sale which starts on 3rd January, showing a selection of just a few of the goodies on offer. (She strenuously denies the scurrilous rumour that it was a quick job done yesterday following a late night of carousing on 31st!)
New Year Graphic Novel Sale!
2017 kicks off with the biggest sale of graphic novels and similar material that we’ve ever staged, with hundreds of trade paperback and hardcover collections offered at up to 75% off normal retail. Super-Heroes such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Deadpool and the Guardians of the Galaxy and many more are all heavily featured, along with darker Vertigo material such as Transmetropolitan and other independents by the likes of Alan Moore, Garth Ennis etc and alternative independent stuff by creators such as Will Eisner, Donna Barr, Carla Speed McNeill and Posy Simmons, to name just a few. The sale includes very many graphic novels that are long out of print. Everything is offered on a first come, first served basis for shop visitors only — due to the expected high turnover, we are unable to list these sale items on the website or offer them by mail order. The sale starts on Tuesday 3rd January at 10:30 when our shop reopens after the New Year break.
New Year Opening Hours
American Update: Batmania Max: Watching the Detectives: 1st Bat-Mite in Detective Comics #267
*DC: A lovely key issue in this week’s Batmania Max update: Detective Comics #267 features the debut of that interdimensional imp Bat-Mite. Although Bat-Mite’s stated purpose in visiting our dimension was to aid Batman, just like his Superman related counterpart Mr. Myxyzptlk, his real intention seemed to be to have fun (without perhaps the edge of menace inherent in some of Superman’s imp’s appearances); nevertheless the outcome was the same — mischief, headaches and problems for the Dynamic Duo! Our copy of Detective Comics #267 is a lovely clean bright FN/VF issue at £325 (cents copy, of course, since it predates UK distribution) with minor edge and spine wear and a couple of pressure marks near the logo (only visible in a certain light) precluding a higher grade; nice just off-white page quality too! A seldom seen key! SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
American Update: Scott Lang, Does Whatever an Ant-Man Can!
*Marvel: Last time we had these comics in, Will did such an entertaining write-up on them that we’re unashamedly using it again. When the Ant-Man name was unclaimed in the late 1970’s a scientific opportunist and sneak-thief, Scott Lang, stole Hank Pym’s old apparatus and became the second bearer of that title! But it’s okay – he did bad things for good reasons, to find a cure for his dying daughter, as was revealed in Marvel Premiere #47 and #48, the two-part tale which (after a cameo in Avengers #181) was Scott’s first full-length adventure. John Byrne and David Michelinie created this different take on the hero, and since then, Scott has had a few setbacks – been in jail a few times, been dead a few more, been a love-slave of the Purple Man – but he’s fought his way back to respectability, and is currently the star of one of Marvel’s more entertaining series – as well as the recent Marvel cinematic hit. This double-portion debut consists of a VF+ p #47 at £60, and a FN+ p #48 at £10.
Housekeeping Update
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 file in our American section:
*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards
and in our Books Section:
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
British Update: More TV 21 second series
*TV & Film Related Comics: We’re delighted to have another batch of second series TV21 from 1970/71 fresh into stock. Starting out with a mixture of Football, Gerry Anderson, Star Trek and other TV favourites, it morphed eventually into more of a Marvel reprint title, featuring Spider-Man, the Silver Surfer and the western Ghost Rider (of all things). Star Trek was there till the bitter end though. About 20 issues between #15 & #93 new in, all in nice grades.
British Update: Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A further chunky update to our stocks of Tiger, between the years 1974 and 1980 plus 1983/84, with over 175 issues added to our listings. This period for this classic title has grown significantly in popularity over the past few years, so a good opportunity here to check your wants against our catalogue stock!
British Update: 3 favourite humour titles updated: Cor, Sparky, Whizzer & Chips
*Humour Comics: Overdue updates to one of our most popular categories, as we top up Cor (1970/71), Sparky (1969-1971) and Whizzer & Chips (1969 inc 2nd issue VG £15 as pictured, to 1971). About 40 issues in total.
American Update: A Merry Marvel Silver/Bronze Sweep!
*Marvel: It’s been a while since we just breezed on through the Marvel stock, topping up and gap-filling with some (following recent huge sales) still pretty significant selections of stock. Highlight of this latest update include Avengers Annual #10 (1st appearance of Rogue, featured character in the new Star Wars movie…what do you mean, “That’s a different Rogue?!”) in a very affordable VG, the first issue of Black Panther’s solo book from 1976, with Kirby Kraziness unleashed in “King Solomon’s Frog!”, a lovely high-grade early Captain America #107, a selection of Daredevil between issues #13 and #198, including Moondragon’s origin by Jim Starlin in #105, the first US appearance of Captain Britain in Marvel Team-Up #65, a run of X-Factor between issues #2-26, and a wide range of issues of X-Men between #132 and #264, plus token touch-ups to Ghost Rider, Ka-Zar, Marvel Two-In-One, Master of Kung Fu, Nova, Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Sub-Mariner and Thor.
American Update: Justice League of America – Consecutive Run, #101-261!
*DC: A monumental top-up to the adventures of the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes, as JLA is restocked with every consecutive issue from #101 to its fateful finale, #261, including the first series of Annuals! This was a period of great change for the team, and this run sees the expansion of the roster by recruiting Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkwoman, Zatanna, Firestorm, and eventually – Gods Help Us – Vibe, Vixen, Gypsy and Steel! (But we try to remember the good times…) The JLA/JSA team-up also inaugurated the tradition of including a third team in the mix, such as the Freedom Fighters, Shazam’s Squadron of Justice, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the New Gods, All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc. Suffice to say that some combinations were more successful than others! Highlights include the 100-Page issues in the early #100’s, the acclaimed Steve Englehart-scripted run commencing with #140, the Identity Crisis retconned cross-overs in #166-168, and three unique items from the Brian Bolland collection, complete with certificates of authenticity signed by Bollo himself! While this run encompasses a wide range of grades from Fair to VF/NM, it’s accurate to say that they skew towards the higher side. As always, full price and grade listings in our online catalogue.
British Update: CSD Putney: Tales of the Totem! – Totem Picture Library from #1
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: It’s the turn of Cowboys (and Indians) in our CSD event this update, and we have another oddity for you – Totem Picture Library! Commencing in 1961, Totem brought us, like its companion title Radar, translated-from-the-Spanish adventures of ongoing characters Kit the Sheriff, Roy Dallas, and, in later issues, Canada Pierre (isn’t that a stop on the Docklands Light Railway?) in tales of Western derring-do. This selection, though not a complete run, offers a substantial amount between #1 and 1964’s #40, in very respectable condition, averaging FN/VF and with many VF copies among the incoming.
American Update: Savage Sword of Conan rides again!
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: More from Marvel’s ‘mature readers’ version of Cimmeria’s favourite son, Savage Sword of Conan, with new issues in stock from a range between #17 to #65. Reputedly artist John Buscema’s favourite assignment, and his enjoyment of his work shows. Join everyone’s favourite savage swashbuckler for adventure, magic and mystery in the Realms That Never Were…
British Update: New Wave Meets Old School – Bullet, Crisis and Deadline restocked!
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Three separate titles with two very different philosophies recharged this update: 1976’s Bullet, one of the later entries in D.C. Thomson’s adventure oeuvre, nevertheless hewed very firmly to the old school of boys’ weeklies, with war, sport and spies being the staples – underneath the trendy veneer of moustache, mullet and medallion, our protagonist ‘Fireball’ was reassuringly stiff-upper-lipped after all. By contrast, the 1980’s brought the comics revolution in the UK – a halcyon decade in which comics were going to be the next adult mass communications medium (remember then?) and two of the comics in the forefront were Deadline, birthplace of Hewlett and Martin’s Tank Girl, and Crisis, the 2000 AD spin-off which took a dystopian look at the near future. All three of these series have fresh stock – scattered in the case of Deadline, extensive in the cases of Bullet and Crisis – added for your delectation. Full grade and price details, as always, in our catalogue listings.