*Undergrounds: From 1982 onwards, the multi-talented Hernandez Brothers (Jaime, Gilbert and Mario) revolutionised indie/undergroung comics with Love & Rockets, telling tales of a diverse cast of gripping characters – Maggie & Hopey in “Locas”, the denizens of Palomar in “Heartbreak Soup”, Errata Stigmata and myriad others. The multiple-award-winning series continues today, in its third iteration, and there have been numerous spin-offs focussing on particular characters. We are pleased to have issues #2-50, virtually a complete run of the original series, averaging VF and all first printings, new to our stock, as well as a respectable run from the second series (#6-20), and several of the tie-in series: Luba, Luba’s Comics and Stories, Maggie and Hopey Color Fun, New Tales of Old Palomar and Penny Century. Those of you familiar with the Hernandez’ skills have a chance to fill in those elusive gaps in your collection, and if you haven’t discovered them yet, then there’s never been a better time to get started!

*DC: We don’t normally make a song & dance about ‘modern’ comics (the ones usually consigned to our downstairs department), but this is one case in which we’ll happily make an exception. As part of our massive Flash update, we have issues from 1977’s #251 all the way through to 1985’s #350, the final issue of Barry Allen’s first series, and a farewell (at least until the effects of Crisis On Infinite Earth were nullified) to the Silver Age Flash! Along the way, highlights include the death of Iris Allen in #275, the debuts of several latter-day members of the Flash’s Rogue’s Gallery (Rainbow Raider #286; Colonel Computron #304; and Big Sir #338), George Perez’s artistic debut at DC #289, and the two-part epic demise of professor Zoom in issues #323 and #324! Many of these later issues were illustrated by the Flash’s original artist, Carmine Infantino, and, while not at his peak, they still show outstanding craftsmanship. This run is characterised by outstanding grades, averaging VF or better. You won’t find these in our catalogue, but downstairs in our shop. Enquiries welcomed.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A small update to our stock of classic Eagle from the 1950’s and 1960’s, with new copies from Volumes 6, 7, 19 & 20.

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:
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Marvel: A substantial sweep through the first 100 issues of the World’s Mightiest Heroes, commencing with #2 (debut of the ever-phunky Space Phantom) and progressing to #96, incorporating many issues previously missing from our listings. Approximately 50 copies new in, highlights including the debuts of the Swordsman, the Sons of the Serpent, the Squadrons Supreme AND Sinister, Arkon, the Invaders (though to be fair, they didn’t call themselves that then…), Red Wolf & Lobo, and Nighthawk, plus two issues poorly distributed in the UK; #25, in which Cap’s Kookie Quartet go up against Doctor Doom, and issue #58, in which, one issue after his debut, the origin of the Vision was told for the first time. In a wide range of grades and prices to match, there’s something to suit the taste and budget of every Avengers fan! Highlights pictured below (left to right) are: #2 VG p £135, #3 VG £120, #7 VG+ p £55, #21 VF+ p £65 & #24 VF+ £62.

*Classics Illustrated: A second instalment of our overhaul of this popular category, this time giving full identification information for our stock of UK versions between number #17-30. Included are copies of #17 (the Deerslayer) with new British cover image (pictured); we’ve also added some newly arrived issues such as #24 (A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth).

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Following extensive sales on the famous Action from 1976 onwards, we’re pleased to have sourced some additional copies between #1 (14/2/76) and the last issue of the ‘first run’ (16/10/76), before the comic was infamously banned and went on hiatus for a couple of months. See what all the fuss was about with Hookjaw, Hellman and all their chums. #1 VG/FN £32.50; most other issues a nice Fine; see catalogue for full details.

*Magazines & Books About Vintage US Comics: Lest often seen, and with quite low distribution, we are pleased to present eight issues of DC’s self-published ‘house’ fanzine of the 1970s from #3 to #10, all in VF or better condition. Each issue focuses on a particular character or creator; #3: Julius Schwartz, #4: Batman, #5: Sheldon Mayer, #6: Joe Orlando, #7: Superman, #8: Carmine Infantino, #9: Legion Of Super-Heroes, #10: DC behind the scenes production team. A fascinating insight into DC in the mid 1970’s.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A further large update to our stocks of the long-lived Tiger weekly. This time we add a few issues from 1966, then all issues from 1972 & 1973 previously missing from our listings, followed by the first half of 1974 and just a few from 1975.

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:
*Religious
and in our American/British section:
*Tarzan/E R Burroughs
*Phantom
*Flash Gordon
*Spirit
*Modesty Blaise
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Marvel: Another round-up of waifs and strays that have recently come in from Marvel’s Silver/Bronze Age, including Captain America, Champions (scarce last issue #17 NM £20), early Daredevils (#6, #8 & #16, low grade with book centre stamps), Power Man & Iron Fist (#57 with the X-Men), Super-Villain Team-Up, What If, X-Factor & X-Men (#142 Days Of Future Past).

*Marvel: In the early 1960’s, DC’s Annuals were reprint compilations of stories that had appeared only ten years or so before, but when the new and dynamic Marvel Comics Company hit the stands, they decided to go one better! Their early Annuals featured all-new, extra-length adventures created by the monarchs of the Marvel Bullpen, in which major events occurred in stories still fondly remembered today. We have half-a dozen such events new to our listings: Avengers Annual #1 (a mammoth battle teaming the Old and New Avengers against six of their deadliest foes) and #2 (a powerful ‘parallel world’ adventure, in which our heroes face their own dictatorial counterparts); the much-underrated Daredevil Annual #1, with the sightless swashbuckler tackles Electro and his Emissaries of Evil, with superbly dynamic Gene Colan art; Hulk Annual #1, with the Green Goliath discovering the land of the Inhumans, behind a classic Jim Steranko cover; Fantastic Four Annual #3, with the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl guest-starring every Marvel hero and villain of the day; and – the Big One – Fantastic Four Annual #1 from 1963, by Lee & Kirby, featuring an epic struggle with the Sub-Mariner and his Atlantean armies! This VG- pence-stamped copy is in excellent condition with only moderate spine & corner wear, good page quality, offered at £75.

*Classics Illustrated: We’ve always stocked a wide range of both US and UK versions of Classics Illustrated, but have not always listed all the information necessary to identify editions. Having delved into the arcane arts of Classics identification, and mindful of serious Classics collectors’ need for this information, we have now commenced to rectify this, starting with the UK versions, which are notoriously the most difficult to pin down. In addition to issue number and title, we are now listing HRN (Highest Reorder Number) together with Filled In Number, country of printing, which printing each issue is and other identification notes such as ‘line drawn cover’, ‘Australian edition’ ‘stiff cover’ etc. It’s a weird and wacky journey, but we hope you’ll bear with us as we progress this in instalments. Along the way, we’ll be adding some newly received issues to our stock. This time we’ve added all the information for issues #1-16 and added titles like #4 (Macbeth), #6 (A Tale Of Two Cities – line drawn stiff cover 1st printing), #10 (Robinson Crusoe), #13 (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde – line drawn stiff cover 1st printing), and #15 (Uncle Tom’s Cabin – line drawn cover 1st printing). Many more instalments to come!

*Harvey: Our stocks of the World’s Most Affluent Brat are enriched (ahem) this week by new additions to no fewer than ten Richie Rich titles – RR & Casper; RR & Dollar the Dog; RR & Gloria; RR Billions; RR Dollars & Cents; RR Inventions; RR Millions; RR Riches; RR Success Stories; and RR Vaults of Mystery. Phew! Descending from these lofty fiscal heights, we also add Chamber of Clues – the short-lived Post-Code successor to Chamber of Chills – Harvey Pop Comics #2, starring Bunny and a cast of thousands (but not, alas, Fruitman) in a “Rock Happening” – and a rather lovely copy of 1958’s Race For The Moon #2, with beautiful Kirby/Williamson artwork, in a highly attractive VG+ for £40.

*TV & Film Related Comics: We’re spoiling you this week with a second Free Gift Farrago. This time it’s the turn for Countdown; #1 (FN+) comes with its Free Gift (Giant Space Fact Wall Chart FN) with the four stamps from issue #1 stuck in (comic and gift both illustrated here); offered at £110. We also have issues #2, #4 & #5 in VF and #6-7 in lower grades. For the uninitiated, Countdown was very much the successor to the classic TV Century 21 and featured classic strips such as Lady Penelope, Dr Who, Joe 90, Captain Scarlet, UFO, Thunderbirds and more, many in full colour.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: From 1983/84, we present one of D C Thomson’s later Boys’ Adventure weeklies, Spike, all 67 issues, fearturing the strips Iron Barr, Starhawk and many more. Our fine copy of #1 (£25) comes with its Free Gift, still sealed in its original bag, the Lockheed P38J WW2 Glider, #7 in a series of 12, and one of the less common numbers. This series was previously poorly represented in our stock, so here’s your chance to get the whole lot in one go!

*Girls’ Comics: A healthy update to our stocks of the girls’ tabloid Diana, adding many issues from years previously poorly represented in our listings. We have a few from 1967, most of 1968 and 1969 and just a handful from 1970 and 1972.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: D C Thomson’s Starblazer, the done-in-one science-fiction picture library adventure series, ran for a very respectable 281 issues between 1979 and 1991 and we have several dozen issues new in between #10 & #187. We’ve seen a huge increase in popularity of this series in recent years, and in addition to our new stock, we’ve taken the opportunity to bring our Starblazer listing bang up to date, but it won’t stay that way for long!

*Marvel: Two new runs of Amazing Spider-Man fresh into stock this week. The first features issues between #153 & #170, the second issues between #223 & #246. In both cases, many issues have been added previously missing from our listings. Mostly nice grade copies, the first run all cents, the second all pence. Some classic adventures of the ol’ web-spinner!

*Girls’ Comics: The TV show the Avengers was a huge phenomenon in the 1960’s, reaching its peak when the debonair John Steed was partnered by Mrs. Emma Peel, a dynamic figure who grabbed the consciousness not only of men and boys – for obvious reasons – but of women and girls, who saw in her a more adventurous role model than the usual TV fare. The Avengers, like many popular TV series, were adapted into comics, but unusually, they appeared not only in general-interest adventure series, such as TV Comic, but also in girls’ weeklies. “The Growing Up Of Emma Peel” (or Emma Knight as she then was) ran briefly in June & School Friend, but more significantly in 1967, Diana ran the Avengers in glorious full-colour from issues 199-224, eight separate adventures of Steed and Mrs. Peel which, unlike their rather anodyne TV Comic counterparts, captured the feel of the TV series with a darker tone, including violence and occasional fatalities, unusual for the traditionally sedate Diana. Incredibly sought-after, the Avengers issues never stay with us for long, so we are pleased to announce a run of issues #211 to #224 – the latter the final Avengers appearance. We open with the close of their battle with the Vikings, then have in the entirety of their clashes with Black Heart and her Seven Dwarfs, the Mad Hatter, and the Secret Six. Sumptuous artwork by Emilio Frejo, assisted on many issues by studio-mate Juan Gonzales Alacrejo, makes these a delightful set of ‘bonus episodes’ for fans of the series!

*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: New in, a range of the ever-popular Walking Dead ongoing, Kirkman and Adlard’s saga of a bleak and post-apocalyptic world, which has been delighting both comics readers and TV viewers for years now. This selection commences with #91 and runs through to the 120’s, including the debuts of characters such as Jesus (no, not that Jesus – in #92), Ezekiel (in #108), and of course the first Nagan in #100. All in high grades, and increasingly sought after, grab ’em before they shamble away!

*Marvel: 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 FN+ p #47 at £35, and a VF+ p #48 at £25.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: From 1979 to 1984, D.C. Thomson capitalised on their inventory by issuing Red Dagger, a reprint title in which, each issue, a serial that had previously graced Victor, Hornet, Wizard, Hotspur, Wizard or Bullet was gathered up, judiciously edited down, and re-presented as a done-in-one story.  We have a virtually complete run of this highly collectable series (28 issues new in out of a possible 30), from the very first (“Twisty”) to the last (“Eleven Little Soccer Boys”), along the way visiting friends old and new such as Morgyn the Mighty, the Black Sapper, Braddock of the R.A.F., Bernard Briggs the Bouncing Goalie, and the Tough of the Track, among others. Averaging VG-FN, these are a very affordable way to obtain a flavour of the classic adventure series.