*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Following mega-sales, Britain’s premier sci-fi weekly, 2000 AD, is hugely restocked with close to 200 new issues from the years 1979 to 1983. A handful of issues from the early #100’s, then pretty solidly with minimal gappage from #150 upwards, a period where the series was generally acknowledged to be in its prime. A hot new writer called Alan Moore was beginning to make his impact, and Kev O’Neill, Dave Gibbons, Ian Kennedy, and Ian Gibson were all regular contributing talents. Highlights from this period include the debut of Nemesis, first as a one-off in #167, then as an ongoing series in #178, the first appearances of long-running stories Mean Arena and Ace Trucking Co. in #178 and #232 respectively, and an interesting curiosity, the virtual pro debut of a promising young artist named Alan Davis on “Harry Twenty on the High Rock”, commencing in #287. Plus, a plethora of issues with art by the legendary Brian Bolland, all tagged in our listings where in stock, culminating in the Judge Dredd serial, “Judge Death Lives!” from #224 on.

*Humour Comics: A couple of dozen issues of Buster from 1973 added to our catalogue to replenish a year of this very popular title that we were almost out of. Includes the Easter issue for that year.

*Clearance Corner: Two complete and very different series from Marvel’s Epic imprint comprise this week’s bargain. Black Dragon is a stirring medieval knights adventure written by Chris Claremont with beautiful art by John Bolton; Plastic Forks is Ted McKeever’s acclaimed metaphor for the underprivileged. Nothing in common except quality! Black Dragon #1-6 complete, Plastic Forks #1-5 complete. Both series (11 comics) for just £10. UK postage (in a twister mailer) if required would be an additional £3.50. 

*TV & Film Related Comics: The second of our specially featured British updates this summer is an excellent selection of Lady Penelope (later just ‘Penelope’). Although not a complete run, this update features over 60 issues, ranging from #2 to #200 (the series finished at #204) and includes the one special: the 1966 Summer Extra. By far the rarest of the main Gerry Anderson series, we seldom see as many as this all in one go. Starting out in 1966, apart from Lady P herself (the original role model for Mary Berry?), the early issues featured Marina, Space Family Robinson, the Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched and the Perils of Parker, soon adding the Man From UNCLE. Later the Monkees, the Girl From UNCLE, Daktari and the Angels came on board, before it changed title to Penelope in 1968, and concentrated on her ladyship’s adventures as a girl, turning into more of a traditional girl’s comic. Eventually, it shrank from tabloid to standard size and ended in 1969, after a very respectable run. A mixture of grades are available from PR to FN, but mostly a reasonable batch condition-wise. The 1966 Summer Extra is only FA, with edge and spine tears, and some unobtrusive pen marks on 2 panels of the first story, but is a genuine rarity at £75. For full grading and pricing information, consult our catalogue, while they’re still there!

 

*DC: A small selection of classic items for our Detective Comics stock, commencing with 1956’s issue #235, revealing the origin of Batman’s costume. The striking cover of issue #262 (pictured FN £85) introduces Anubis, the ‘Jackal of the Underworld’ (unusually for the decade, a brand-new costumed villain), and #270, featuring “The Creature From Planet X” is more era-appropriate, as the Dynamic Duo square off against a giant alien. Finally, from the Swingin’ Sixties, #362 features an early Silver Age appearance by the Riddler (re-popularised by the Batman TV show) in “The Night Batman Destroyed Gotham City!” Full details in our catalogue.

*Marvel: In the Frank Miller era of Daredevil, Bullseye, the unfailing assassin, became firmly established as DD’s bête noire, causing the Man Without Fear endless grief and misery. And can we ever forget Colin Farrell’s epic performance as Bullseye in the Daredevil movie? Well, maybe if we’re lucky and get hit in the head with a blunt object. But a lot of people, even today, aren’t aware that Bullseye wasn’t a Miller creation; step forward Marv Wolfman and Bob Brown, who presented The Assassin Who Never Misses for the first time in Daredevil #131, two years before the Miller regime kicked in! We are pleased to present a Fine cents copy, without UK stamp or overprint, of this increasingly-significant debut issue at £60. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Modern Reprints: From DC’s Archives Series, the handsome full-colour hardcover volumes reprinting, in sequence, the earliest adventures of the Man of Steel, beginning with his debut from 1938’s Action Comics #1! Created by Jerry Siegel and Jerome Shuster, Superman was turned down by several syndicates as a proposed newspaper comic strip, before the then-new publisher National/DC took a chance on the neophyte creators – and the entire superhero genre was born! Now out of print, Volumes 1 and 2 are NM at £30 each; the slightly rarer Vols 3 & 4 NM at £35 each.

*Marvel UK: For our #1 issue event this week, the second ongoing series from Marvel UK which saw Spider-Man spin off from Mighty World Of Marvel to star in his own mag, backed up by the God of Thunder, the Mighty Thor. The longest-running Marvel UK series, outdoing even its parent at 667 issues, Spider-Man Comics Weekly is now becoming a focus of collector interest from our American Cousins. This is where it all began; owing to the cheap newsprint paper the earlier Marvel UK titles were printed on, high-grade copies are difficult to find, but this is a highly attractive VG/FN copy, with just minor creasing at the top of the spine, for £50. Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #9 and the very first Thor story from Journey Into Mystery #83, both in glorious red, black and white! SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*TV & Film Related Comics: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Weekly was the a title of Marvel UK’s Star Wars comic series. Although in effect it continued onwards from the Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back titles, the series was renumbered at #1 for this title. The series reprinted stories from Marvel’s American Star Wars series, along with several original tales. The American comic’s issues were usually split into smaller segments and appeared over a number of issues. We have the entire 155 issue run fresh into stock, plus the three holiday specials. That’s a whole lotta force!

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: A smashing selection just in of Princess Picture Library, ranging from #2 to #117 (nearly the last issue). The early numbers are all even, which means that up to the #70’s, we’re looking at Ballerina Sally and her various adventures in ballets of seemingly interminable variety. Later issues focus on a more rotating cast. This selection includes both many lower-graded copies of issues already in stock, offering cheaper alternatives, as well as many issues that are new to our listings. 

Our exclusive window designer, the glamorous but deadly Dr. Evilla, has come up with a tribute to the fondly-remembered TV shows of Gerry Anderson, firmly anchored in the collective consciousness of more than one generation! Thunderbirds, Lady Penelope, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Stingray, Fireball XL5 and more can all be found in our catalogue and within our walls. And watch out for some significant additions to our Gerry Anderson related stock coming very soon!  

*Clearance Corner: Our latest bargain features 4 complete mini-series, 3 Captain America and 1 Falcon. The Caps are: Dead Men Running (#1-3 2002), What Price Glory (#1-4 2003 art by Steve Rude), The Chosen (#1-6 2007); the Falcon mini is #1-4 1983. All 17 comics are available for just £6. All in VF/NM condition. These fit into a plump twister mailer and UK postage if required will be an extra £3.50.

There’s a twist to our What’s Old feature this week. As well as spotlighting a nice GD/VG copy of Flash #108 at £100 that predates UK distribution, we’re now offering with it a free copy of #115, in decent shape but incomplete with a story page missing. Both issues feature two stories, one in each with the villainy of Gorilla Grodd. (In #115, the Gorilla Grodd story is missing its final page, but the second story is a lovely, complete Elongated Man and Flash piece, so a great gap-filler until you can get a complete copy and hey, the price is right!). SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Two early epic appearances by Spider-Man’s favourite foes: issues #9 of Amazing Spider-Man brought us the deadly Electro, one of Spidey’s most enduring villains, and #11 saw the second appearance of the sinister Doctor Octopus, who probably ties with the Green Goblin as Spidey’s ultimate nemesis. Both separately and together – as part of various incarnations of the Sinister Six – these gentleman have been thorns in Spider-Man’s side for decades, and these early Stan Lee/Steve Ditko collaborations are what brought them to life. Our copy of #9, pictured, is FA/GD at £100; #11 is PR/FA, complete but with extreme spine wear and decent complete interiors, at £49. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes continue to enjoy rapid turnover here at 30th C., so we are pleased to refresh our Avengers stock with new copies of key issues from the latter 100’s of the series. We commence with issue #144, in which the former teen-humour superstar, Patsy Walker, gets firmly integrated into the Marvel Universe when she dons the costume of the Hellcat for the first time. Moving on to #181, a seemingly innocuous cameo by one of Hank Pym’s associates turns out to be the first appearance of Scott Lang, who would become the second Ant-Man. In #195, we briefly glimpse the polymath kill-pilferer Taskmaster, one of Marvel’s cleverer latter-day villains, and in #196 (pictured VF/NM £55), we are treated to his first full-on appearance. Pausing briefly at the controversial #200, wherein Ms. Marvel made a startling decision which removed her from the MU for a time, we progress on to two important Annuals – #7, with Jim Starlin at his most cosmic, throwing in Captain Marvel, Warlock, Thanos and all the gang for Universe-threatening shenanigans and #10, with not only the return of Ms. Marvel – addressing, thankfully, most of the more egregious and glossed-over aspects of Avengers #200 – and the first appearance of the eventual X-Man known as Rogue! Full details of grades and prices in the catalogue listing, folks – you know what to do next…

*Marvel: Another sweep through the Silver & Bronze Age Marvel universe! In the majority of cases, the newer additions are in substantially differing grades to existing stock, giving our beloved punters even more choice – the high-grade investment, or the more affordable reader? Now the choice is yours! Titles given a light brush-up include Amazing Adventures, Astonishing Tales, Battlestar Galactica, Captain America, and Captain Marvel, while rather more substantial restocks have been done on Avengers (from the early to late 100’s), Conan (#40’s to #70’s), and a swath (is that a buckling swath?) of Daredevil from issue #22 to #121!

*Romance: While the horror and crime series generally got the brunt of the blame for the comic-burning and mass cries for censorship of the 1950’s, romance certainly came in for its share of criticism, and one of the examples cited by popular psychologists at the time was Charlton’s True Life Secrets #23. The cover depicted a shapely young lady with far too much eyeshadow contemplating some proffered bling, and asking the question; “…And just what must I do to get those?”. Contextually, it looks like the gentleman wasn’t expecting her to do his windows, his taxes, or his motor maintenance. The contents, though competent, are relatively innocuous (sorry to disappoint), but the cover caused outrage, and remains infamous today. This copy is a lovely high grade – FN/VF – and is on sale at £80.

*Power Comics: ‘The Brand New Comic for the New Breed of Comic Fans’ proclaimed Pow! #1 across its masthead. In 1967, Odhams Press 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!, 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’. We have a copy of #1, GD/VG at £50, structurally sound with some slight sunshadow at the spine and very slightly rusty staples. The Free Gift of Spider-Matic pistol has, sadly, long since scarpered. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Football has always been a popular theme of British comic strips, but Scorcher was one of the earliest weekly comics to make it an all-consuming theme, and, given its respectable five-year run, did a decent job of it, even if there was quite a bit of imagination needed to introduce enough variations on the theme; “Lags Eleven” (footballing convicts), “Lord Rumsey’s Rivers” (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 this is the first appearance of the popular series. This copy of Scorcher #1 is only GD – perfectly sound and respectable, but with noticeable corner wear – but the Free Gift Soccer Wall Chart is VF, virtually untouched by the ravages of time. The comic and gift are available for £40. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Humour Comics: Our Summer/Holiday Specials British comics event continues with a virtually complete run of Cor!! Summer/Holiday Specials, lacking only the final issue from 1983, but covering more than a decade of fun & thrills! Starring Gus the Gorilla, Ivor Lott & Tony Broke, Hire-A-Horror, Spoilsport, Andy’s Ants, Jasper the Grasper, Chalky, and a cast of, well it must be dozens, Cor!! is, while not the longest-running IPC/Fleetway comedy weekly, is among the most affectionately remembered, and this panoply of seaside shenanigans will evoke many happy memories. Pictured are 1971 (the first Cor!! Summer Special) FN £20, 1972 FN £15, and 1975 FN £15; for details on the others check out the Humour Comics section of our online catalogue.

*Younger Readers’ Comics: Many issues new in for this category from the 1960s/70s: Jack & Jill (inc. two Christmas issues), Pippin (inc #1 and a Christmas issue), Playland (Christmas issue 1970), Robin (Christmas issue 1968), Teddy Bear, Toby (#1), Toytown (#2) and Yogi Bear’s Weekly (1964 New Year issue).

*Girls’ Comics: Pixie was a short-lived title from IPC which commenced in June 1972 and merged with June after 30 issues in early 1973. Printed on better quality paper than most of its contemporaries, and with more colour pages, the star strips mostly featured famous characters etc from literature, such as Black Beauty, The Naughtiest Girl In the School, Marion of Sherwood and Secret Garden. We have almost all the run new in, from #1 to the 1972 Christmas issue, including #3 with Free Gift (a sheet of stick-on doll’s clothes). These latter three issues are shown below. 

*Crime, Spies and Sleaze: Sax Rohmer is undoubtedly best remembered as the creator of the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu, but he also created an equally villainous female equivalent in the shape of Sumuru. Quoting from the back cover of ‘The Slaves of Sumuru’ (one of the three books in this update): ‘Sumuru is a woman of eternal beauty and surpassing evil, a woman who uses all her voluptuous charms to enslave men and change them into cringing, obidient shadows willing to kill and betray at one whispered word from her…’ I think that says it all! Other titles in this update: ‘The Sins Of Sumuru’ and ‘Sinister Madonna’, three of the five books featuring this arch-villainess, all UK editions from the early 1960s.

*Clearance Corner: We’re clearing out our stock of the early large format Comets and Suns, 24 comics in all for a splendiferous price of just £10 (previously on sale at around £150!) . There are 21 Comets from 1948-1951 (one with Supplement/Free Gift) and just 3 Suns (inc two of the same, but also the very first issue from 1947). Full of picture strips and text stories from a charming bygone age; condition ranges from GD to FN, with nothing horrible! These form a small parcel if UK postage required at an additional £3.50. SORRY, THIS LOT HAS NOW SOLD