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:
*EC
*Horror 1940-1959
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*DC: In the Sixties, it was a common, if somewhat unethical, practise of the UK distributors of American comics to return the covers of unsold copies for credit, then rebind said coverless unsolds, four to an issue, in extra-thick collections behind a bodged-together cover as ‘Double Double’ Comics. These are literally random – any given issue of, say, Superman Double Double Comics may have copies of Superman, but is just as likely to have any other DC title of the period, from Super-hero to comedy to romance to war, or even the occasional Marvel and ACG comic that slipped into the pile! Most of them – not all – had at least a token issue of the series claimed on the cover, but after that, all the rules went out of the window, and even copies of the same issue, according to the cover, may have entirely different contents! (Hey, speculators – EVERY copy is a variant issue!) We have two of these daft beauties new in, Lois Lane and Superman, in GD £15 and VG £20 respectively, listed under ‘Double Double Comics’ in our DC catalogue, where you’ll also find content details. Remember – you’ve got to buy them all!

*Marvel: A stunning selection of the ‘New’ X-Men, the phenomenal re-creation of the vintage Marvel team by Wein, Claremont, Cockrum and Byrne which took fandom by storm (see what we did there…) in the 1970s! When the new international line-up was introduced, skeptics said it wouldn’t last, but the creators proved them wrong by the sheer force of quality, as issue after issue, the new team of Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and company kept the readers enthralled and thrilled. The period from Giant-Size X-Men #1 (introduction of the new team) to #143 is generally regarded as the New X-Men’s apogee, and we’re delighted to have a representation of key issues from that run. We begin with #95, the second New X-Men in the series’ own title, and featuring the death of a team member; we have a swathe of non-or low-distributed issues from #100 onwards, including #107 (first Imperial Guard and first Starjammers), #120 & #121 (the first appearances of Alpha Flight – cameo in #120, full appearance in #121), #130 (dynamic debut of the Dazzler!), #137 (Death of the Phoenix), #142 (conclusion of the groundbreaking “Days of Future Past” storyline), and plenty more – plus, as a bonus, a later key, #221, with the premier appearance of latter-day nemesis Mister Sinister! Pictured are #95 FN+ £50, #121 NM- £75 and #137 VF/NM £55. For details on everything else, well, you should know where to look by now…

*Marvel: Another run through the Silver and Bronze Age Marvel Universe, this time featuring updates to: Conan (inc the first annual/king-size), Daredevil, Fantastic Four (inc #51 classic Thing cover and #66 origin of Warlock begins), Hulk, a pre-Thor Journey Into Mystery (#82), Marvel Premiere (Legion of Monsters), Marvel Team-Up, Micronauts, Moon Knight, Amazing Spider-Man Annuals #3 & #4, Sub-Mariner, Tales To Astonish, 2001 and X-Men (inc #14, 1st Sentinels).

*Collected Editions: Four more entries for this popular category gathering up strips of years agone; we open with the 1975 Daily Mirror Book of Garth, which reproduced the epic science-fiction strip featuring superlative artwork from Frank Bellamy, one of the acknowledged masters of the medium. Although not the first Garth collection, we believe this to be the first full-size reprint of Bellamy Garth stories, in VG/FN softcover album form at £25. Next up, the Best of June & School Friend, a 2007 nostalgic compilation from Prion remembering the late and much-beloved weekly, with features, fashions and of course comic strips – ‘Lucky’s Living Doll’ and ‘Vanessa from Venus’ prominent among them! NM at £6. Our next spot (ahem) is taken by Rebellion’s release, The Leopard From Lime Street: young man bitten by a radioactive critter, gains powers, fights crime, has an ailing aunt and works part-time as a newspaper photographer… Hmm, does this sound oddly familiar? Well, despite any (coincidental, we’re sure) similarities, Tom Tully’s scripts caught the imagination of Buster’s readers, and with the artistic talents of Mike Western and Eric Bradbury, the series ran for almost a decade. This first in what we hope will be a series of albums is brand new at £15. Finally, the 1978 Hamlyn edition of The Trigan Empire, an attractive hardcover which was the first collection of the epic science-fiction strip by Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence from Look & Learn weekly. This copy is VG+ at £35.

*Humour Comics: Three fabulous first issues – and one scintillating second ish – grace our shelves this week. First, we have Nutty #1 from 1980, the first appearance of TV and merchandising star Bananaman, who featured in every issue until the title’s close in 1985, after which he continued in Dandy and then leapt over to Beano, where he resides today. This copy is an attractive FN at £20. Then the premiere of the somewhat infamous Sparky from the unenlightened year of 1965, where racist caricature ‘hosts’ were still apparently A Thing. Nevertheless, Sparky had a very respectable run, racking up more than 650 weekly issues until 1977, and this is where it all got started; VG/FN £65. Lastly, we the debut of have Whizzer & Chips, which is extremely well-remembered, running more than a thousand issues from 1969 to 1990. We have two first issues of Whizzer & Chips in stock, one GD with the partial Free Gift in FA/GD at £50 (the ‘Sid’s Stickers’ have come adrift from their backing sheet, and one has gone missing entirely), and another FA at £20. As a bonus, we also have a brace of second issues. The nicer copy is GD/VG £65 with a Free Gift – Sid the Charmer ‘Flick Book’ in VF. The second is a FA/GD £12.50.

The spotlight for our previously-listed stock this week falls on DC’s wonderful 80 Page Giant reprint compilations from the 1960s. So popular were their Superman, Batman etc annuals that they decided to bring them out on a more frequent basis, firstly in a series called 80 Page Giant which ran for 15 issues, then in issues numbered in the regular sequence of their parent titles. Always a popular choice for our customers, we have a good selection of these throughout our DC stock, including the examples shown below from the 15 issue run which started the sequence.

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:
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

We’re currently working on several boxes of British comics that collectively form the most unique selection we’ve ever offered in a short space of time. Fans of classic Boys’ Adventure story-telling, cult TV, fabulous art and the rarest of the rare in British comics will be gob-smacked in the coming weeks with the stuff we’ll be presenting as quickly as time allows. These will be coming your way in a series of Newsletter Extras over the summer, starting next week. Stay tuned!

*DC: In their third-ever appearance, the fledgling Justice League of America fought Professor Ivo and his android, Amazo, a ‘power siphon’ who absorbed all the JLA’s abilities and turned them against our heroes. This was the debut of a major Justice League villain – well, two, since the Professor menaced the team often enough by himself – and this classic story by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky has all the key elements in place which made the series such a delight: teamwork, intelligent use of powers, rapid changes of scenery, convincing menaces and exciting, action-packed artwork. (As a bonus, it also showcased the JLA’s inexplicable knowledge of geriatric trivia!) This is a chance to have one of the earliest JLA tales at an affordable price, since this copy, though complete, is in poor condition, with the cover virtually detached and separated, and extensive wear around the edges of the cover scene, especially across the logo. Nevertheless, the interior pages are clean and flexible, and the story remains a delightful folly all these years later. PR at £35. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Introduced as a supporting character in Fantastic Four, the Surfer, herald of the planet-devouring Galactus became so hugely popular that in 1968, he was awarded his own series, scripted by Stan Lee and featuring what is universally acknowledged as some of John Buscema’s finest artwork. We are delighted to have a range of these back in stock, including #1, #2 (debut of the Badoon), #3 (1st Mephisto), #4 (rare Thor cross-over number) and others from the first series through to the Spider-Man cross-over in #14. We also have, listed for the first time, the 1988 two-parter published under the Epic comics imprint, in which Stan Lee returned to writing the character, with the artwork being provided by the legendary French artist Moebius in a Trans-Atlantic collaboration! Our copy of issue #4, pictured, is VG- pence at £75. Details of the other issues in stock may be found in the Marvel section of our online catalogue. SORRY, SURFERS #1-4 HAVE NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man #252, like many Secret Wars ‘epilogue’ issues, featured a major ‘twist’ only explained retroactively. In Spidey’s case, it was a dramatic black & white costume which would eventually be revealed as an alien symbiote, which in turn would evolve into to Venom, who eclipsed most longer-established villains to become Spidey’s crucial nemesis for more than a decade. Although the first appearance of the symbiote in internal continuity was Secret Wars #8, its debut in real time was this very issue. This is a highly collectable VF grade pence copy at £50. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Like it or loathe it, there’s no doubt that Battlestar Galactica was one of the more successful attempts to cash in on the Star Wars wave in the late 1970s, and Marvel, no slouches themselves at cashing in, gave us a 23 issue series which lasted from 1979-1981. For all you fans (and we know you’re out there), we have every issue of that run now in stock, mostly in around VF and nearly all cents copies, so a great opportunity to pick up a complete run of a (for many) classic sci-fi series. Personally, I found the original BG a bit too cheesy, but I was quite a fan of the remake some years ago — just wanted to share that with you…

*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: Small but significant top-ups to Marvel and Warren’s lines of magazine-sized comics, headlined by Marvel Preview #2, the issue of Marvel’s ‘Showcase’ mag which featured the first full-length origin of the Punisher, then one of Marvel’s hottest new characters! Behind a splendid Gray Morrow cover, Gerry Conway and Tony DeZuniga bring us an action-packed story in which, as a bonus, we find out how Frank Castle went crackerdog. In addition, the back-up is the first appearance of Howard Chaykin’s rogueish paladin, Dominic Fortune. This copy is FN+ at £40. More Marvel mags include Haunt of Horror, and Monsters Unleashed, with Gabriel Demon Hunter, Tigra the Were-Woman, Son of Satan and their pals, and from Warren we have Monster World (no comics, but features on Hammer Horror, the 50s Superman TV show and the Ghost in The Invisible Bikini, among others), and Vampirella #2, with the curvaceous bloodsucker from Drakulon in fine fettle.

*Marvel UK: Two significant Marvel UK items in our First Quenchers #1 issue event. From 1977, their entry into the war comics field, Fury, with reprints of the eponymous Sergeant (and his Howling Commandos) behind a Dave Gibbons cover. This copy has the bonus of the Free Gift (plastic model warplane) still unassembled and on its framework. Comic is FN, gift is NM, £25 for the pair. And going further back in time, from 1972, Mighty World of Marvel #1, the very first Marvel UK release, with the debuts of the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man all reprinted within its pages. Generally in very nice condition, only slight tanning at the top edge prevents a higher grade; VG at £40.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: More than 70 copies of the 1980s Eagle revival are new to our lists, dates ranging from 17/9/83 through to 30/3/85 – the latter being the issue before absorbing fallen veteran stablemate Tiger. Although Eagle Mk II is under-rated by many, owing to its first-year habit of running a great many naff photo-strips, by now it was a solid SF anthology, featuring talented creators (John Burns, Oliver Frey, Jesus Redondo, Ian Kennedy, Ron Turner) and popular and well-remembered series such as ‘Manix’, ‘Doomlord’, ‘Danny Pyke’, Valiant-import ‘One-Eyed Jack’, and of course, the third iteration of ‘Dan Dare’. This selection is VG/FN, clean respectable copies, and highlights include the 100th issue (18/2/1984), the first merger with the short-lived Scream, bringing ‘Monster’ and ’13th Floor’ aboard (1/9/1984), and the 1984 and 1985 Holiday Specials.

*Humour Comics: We’re playing it for laughs in the second part of our mini-event, with festive editions of all your favourites: Beano (1970), Buster (1981), Cor (1970), Dandy (1986), Whizzer & Chips (1973) and Whoopee (1983). These seasonal delights are always the first plucked from our boxes!

*Girls’ Comics: Lucky thirteen Summer specials for ‘young ladies’ new to our listings! After they got too old for Bunty and Tammy, female readers were cunningly graduated into weeklies like Blue Jeans, Jackie, and Patches, which offered tales of (safe, tame) romance, features on fashion, beauty and pop, and friendly older-sister problem page presenters who were actually resentful middle aged men. These popular weeklies spun off their extra-length Summer Specials, and we have “Sunsational” stocks of Blue Jeans, Jackie and Patches Summer Specials, ranging from the 1970s to the 1990’s, as well as a stray Mirabelle Summer Special from, we think, 1977 (it’s a bit coy about giving any actual info., but it references punk bands, so…) Details on prices and grades in the Girls’ Comics section of our Online Catalogue.

In this week’s What’s Old spot, where we feature items from our previously-listed inventory, one of the earlier attempts at reprinting Golden Age Marvel material: the 1991 Captain America: The Classic Years Slipcased Edition, which collected, in two hardcover full-colour volumes, the first ten issues of Captain America Comics from 1941, by the team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Long neglected (apart from a few heavily-edited reprints in the 1960s) these stories from the beginnings of the Super-Soldier of World War II should have been a big hit – but unfortunately, someone in the colour separation department decided to add crude drawings to the yellow plate, resulting in inappropriate images coming out in the final print. Embarrassed, Marvel hastily ordered a recall of the product, and the vast majority were destroyed. This is a NM copy of the original printing (not the 1999 re-release, which was corrected and the offending images removed), and is on sale at £75. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Clearance Corner: We believe it was Agatha Christie’s character Tuppence Beresford who came up with the above quote when referring to her husband putting up an Edgar Wallace bookshelf, but there is no doubt that Wallace was one of the most prolific crime writers of the 20th Century. Here’s a chance to sample his wares for yourself with a varied selection of his novels, 26 in paperback and 2 in hardback (no DJs), all different. Publishers include Arrow, Collins, Digit, Hodder & Stoughton, John Long, Pan & Ward Lock. Dates range from 1930s to 1970s, with an emphasis on the 1950s. At just £5 for 28 books, how can you go wrong? These fit into a medium box and UK postage (if required) would be an additional £13.50.

*DC: First issues of DC series from three decades: from the 1960s, Rip Hunter Time Master, currently starring in the “DC Legends of Tomorrow” TV series; Plastic Man, the malleable manhunter created by Jack Cole and reinterpreted by Arnold Drake & Gil Kane and the Phantom Stranger, re-introduced to tie in to DC’s burgeoning horror/mystery line. From the 1970s we have Black Lightning #1, DC’s first attempt at an urban black crimefighter as created by Isabella and Von Eeden and the nefarious Joker by O’Neil and Novick, in his own (sadly shortlived) series at last; finally, from the 1980s, Arak, Son of Thunder, one of DC’s fantasy/sword & sorcery stars. Black Lightning #1 is FN+ £10; the Joker is FN/VF £30; and Rip Hunter FA/GD p £25. For the others, check out our online listings. SORRY, BLACK LIGHTNING & RIP HUNTER NOW SOLD

*Marvel: In Marvel Premiere in the early Seventies, Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, returned to active service after a few years in limbo. While his new solo series took a while to catch on, by 1974, under the auspices of Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner, it had gained sufficient ground to relaunch his title, and this debut issue features both Englehart and Brunner at their best, with Brunner’s illustrations, in particular, being remarkably lovely. This copy of Doctor Strange #1 is an attractive FN+, with only minimal corner and edge wear not impacting the cover scene, at £35. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Power Comics: Mostly, this is an update of Fantastic, the 1967 series which started serious sequential reprints of the Marvel Super-Heroes for the UK audience; we have the first thirteen issues in stock, with the #1 being a respectable GD at £30, prevented from a higher grade only by a slight narrow ‘chip’ at the front cover’s top corner. As a bonus, we have added the final issue of the senior Power title, Wham!, which – still more resembling a traditional British humour comic – hung up its cane and mortarboard with #167, now available in VG £15. For the other entries in this selection, check out the catalogue listing.

*Annuals: A brisk top-up to the Girls’ Annuals subdivision, with new stock for June (1969 and 1971), Penelope (1971), Pixie (1975), and School Friend (1972). The traditional mix of ballet, equestrienne, and boarding-school stories, with the occasional departure (the Penelopes still having a smattering of Gerry Anderson related stories plus a bunch of tough spy schoolgirls – no, really!) The doyenne of this selection is the very first Girl Annual, (distaff companion to Eagle), from 1952 in VG/FN at £15.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Horror is a genre rarely represented in the picture library format, which is why we’re particularly pleased this week to be offer to able you even just a soupcon of it in the form of a handful of issues of Nightmare Suspense Picture Library and Tales Of Terror from the 1960s.