*Annuals: Although there was a Topper Book published in 1954, this was a factual picture book and not really an annual of the characters from the comic. This came a year later in 1955, where established stars such as Beryl the Peril, Mickey the Monkey and Captain Bungle rubbed shoulders with serious adventure stories, puzzle pages and factual educational pages within. We have the 1955 1st ‘proper’ annual, as well as examples from 1956 and 1958, all printed in a unique landscape format. 
IN THIS UPDATE: TOPPER ANNUAL
1955 GD/VG £30 (PICTURED) 1st proper Annual. Wear at top and bottom spine and 1st 2 pages loose at top part of binding only.
1956 FN £35 (PICTURED)
1956 VG £25
1958 VG/FN £20  (PICTURED) 2 available.

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Crime, Spies & Sleaze category for something rather exceptional. The US publisher Midwood specialised in material we categorise as ‘sleaze’ and this certainly fits the bill. Two novels in one book: Perfumed by Jason Hytes  (‘Three wives – three promiscuous ways to spend an afternoon.’) and Pampered by Kimberly Kemp (‘Husband and wife sharing the same mistress.’). All Midwoods are enthusiastically collected, but this one especially so due to the ten interior black and white full page illustrations by Frank Frazetta (five of which are reproduced below). These, and the extreme rarity of this title, make it one of the most highly prized volumes from this niche publisher. A pretty good copy; minor creasing at the spine and very slight binding separation towards the rear, but no loose pages.
PICTURED: SOLD
JASON HYTES – PERFUMED
KIMBERLY KEMP – PAMPERED
Midwood 1963 1st US PB VG £125

*DC: Another special issue of Batman from the Golden Age courtesy of the Bute Collection. Batman #17 features an iconic cover by Jerry Robinson (signed as by Bob Kane) with Batman and Robin aloft upon an American Eagle against a black sky and yellow moon, encouraging us to: ‘Keep the American Eagle flying! Buy war bonds and stamps!’  Four Batman stories within, including a Penguin caper, with art by Bob Kane and Jack Burnley. This is a notoriously tough comic to get in decent grade due to the black cover, but this copy holds up pretty well. There is some wear with chips out along the bottom edge (nothing too serious, see images) and a tiny weeny colour-breaking crease across the bottom right corner. There is also a 2 cm tear at bottom edge below the moon which is barely noticeable and is without loss. Both staples are tight and firm and the pages are supple and a beautiful off-white. A long and a short indentation show on the inside front cover and only faintly show on the outside front cover when viewed from a certain angle. There are one of two other very faint lines on the front and back covers which do not break colour and perhaps suggest that the comic was used to rest on at some time in its history, but to the best of our knowledge there are no colour touches nor any restoration to the cover. Inside covers are tanned but not brittle. Certainly a remarkable copy. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: BATMAN #17 VG- £1,200

*DC: The brainy leader, his best friend who’s big and strong, the blonde girl friend and her kid brother. Yes, of course it’s the Sea Devils. Debuting in Showcase in August 1960, over a year before their counterparts in Fantastic Four, Dane, Biff, Judy and Nicky thrilled us with undersea adventures for a very respectable 35 issues, plus their three try-out issues in Showcase. Art on issues up to #10, plus some later covers (as on #14 shown here) was by the superb craftsman Russ Heath, lending an air of quality to the series, although the art standards were reasonably strong after his departure.
IN THIS UPDATE: SEA DEVILS ALL SOLD
#4 FA p £5.25
#10 GD+ p £9.25
#11 GD/VG p £9
#12 GD+ £8.25 off bottom staple
#14 VG p £11.75 (PICTURED)
#29 GD- p £4 Loose staples; off bottom staple.

*Marvel: In Tales Of Suspense #58, Iron Man and Captain America were ‘in mortal combat’ (as a result of the machinations of Kraven the Hunter and the Chameleon, who had hopped over from Amazing Spider-Man). Cap was to co-star in the title with the very next issue and pitting the stars against each other in the last ‘solo’ issue was obviously a popular ploy, since Marvel did the same thing with Giant-Man and the Hulk over at Tales To Astonish. This is a reasonable pence printed copy with good colour and an unmarked cover. Staples are firm at centrefold, but slightly loose at top staple at spine. Pages are a supple cream. Some corner blunting and minor edge wear; there are a couple of sharp colour-breaking cover creases across the bottom right corner (Iron Man’s foot). 
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE #58 VG- p £80 SOLD

*Marvel: X-Men #134-137 concluded the Phoenix storyline begun years earlier in #101 as, via the machinations of the Hellfire Club, Jean Grey first became the Black Queen, leading to her emergence as Dark Phoenix and cosmic justice. Or at least we thought it was Jean Grey at the time. I don’t have room here to unravel the convoluted history of Phoenix and her subsequent role in the MU, but as a reader of these at the time, you really felt that Jean died and, if you were my age, you’d lost someone you’d grown up with. Lovely copies of these four key issues from the Good Doctor, all in clean, unmarked and fresh condition with only very minor wear (the #137 has a tiny bit more than the others, but nothing much).
PICTURED: X-MEN
#134 VF p  £50
#135 VF p £50 SOLD
#136 VF p £45
#137 VF- £55

 

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Six issues of one of Charlton’s flagship 1970s horror titles freshly in this week between #70 and #113. Plenty of Ditko work in nearly all of these.
PICTURED: GHOSTLY TALES ALL SOLD
#70 FN+ £15.25
#99 FN p £9
#107 FN p £6.75
#108 VG p £4.75
#109 GD p £2.50 Book shop stamps and felt tip pen price
#113 FN p £5.75

*Power Comics: Appetite for UK reprints of Marvel Silver Age key issues has grown enormously over the last few years, driving the prices upwards. Fantastic #5 features the first UK reprint of X-Men #4 (first half), featuring the debut of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (inc Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch) and is now highly sought after. Now, take care here – there are sellers who will try to convince you that Fantastic #6 features the debut of the Scarlet Witch – that’s not true. Odhams reprinted X-Men #4 over two issues in Fantastic #5 & #6. Although the cover of X-Men #4 featured on Fantastic #6, the siblings actually debuted in the first part of the story in Fantastic #5. Note that we are blessed this week to have 3 copies of this historic issue newly available, all in solid VG.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC #5 VG £15 3 available.

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror category for Philip K Dick, one of our best-selling authors; many would consider him the finest exponent of science-fiction of the late 20th century. I guess his themes of religion, drugs, counter culture and destructive relationships hold wide appeal. We are blessed with an excellent stock of his works, the enhanced re-listing of which we’ve been spreading over several updates. This sixth and penultimate part features just one volume, but, significantly, a first edition HC of one of his major later works. Valis is a theological detective story, the first part of an intended trilogy (the second being The Divine Invasion). The intended third part did not take shape before Dick’s death, although his final novel, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, touched on the same themes and is considered by some to complete the trilogy. This first edition of Valis is published by Kerosina in 1987, complete with DJ, and features cover and interior art by Keith Roberts. Limited to 1500 copies. Owner’s label and BBC stamps on front and back inside pages, otherwise FN.
PICTURED: PHILIP K DICK: VALIS Kerosina 1987 1st UK HC VG/FN £75 With DJ (VG/FN)
 

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: This week, more of Gerry Anderson’s iconic creations. These have fired the imagination of generations of children and still remain high in the nostalgia ratings of many an adult collector. Many books originated soon after the TV series in the 1960s, mostly written by John Theydon. More information, including condition notes, is given in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
ANGELS: THE CREEPING ENEMY by JOHN THEYDON Armada 1968 1st UK PB GD £15
CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE SILENT SABOTEUR by JOHN THEYDON Armada 1967 1st UK PB FA £7
THUNDERBIRDS by JOHN THEYDON Armada 1966 1st UK PB FA £7
THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO by ALLAN/G & S ANDERSON Armada 1966 1st UK PB VG £12

*DC: More this week from the Legion of Super-Heroes in their inaugural run in Adventure Comics in the 1960s. These are the comics after which we were named, taking place of course in the 30th Century. And this is a real rich stream, with the debuts of many major villains (and one new Legionnaire), plus Neal Adams covers between #365 & #369. Outstanding grades on most of these; all cents copies.
IN THIS UPDATE: ADVENTURE COMICS
#361 VF+ £40 (PICTURED) 1st Dominators
#362 FN £12 1st Mantis Morlo
#363 VF+ £40 (PICTURED)
#364 FN £12
#365 VF/NM £55 (PICTURED) 1st Shadow Lass SOLD
#366 FN £12.25
#367 VF £39 1st Dark Circle
#369 NM- £50 (PICTURED) 1st Mordru SOLD
#370 VF+ £40 (PICTURED)

*Marvel: A landmark issue. Strange Tales #110, already the showcase title for the Fantastic Four’s junior member, the Human Torch, presented a mystery back-up strip starring a supernatural champion named Doctor Strange. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, already the creators of hugely popular twist-ending tales in a plethora of Big Panty Monster comics, turned their talents to an eldritch hero, and Doctor Strange was born! Essentially a retread of Marvel’s previous Dr. Droom character, where this Doctor had the advantage was in Steve Ditko’s powerful and gripping artwork, quite unlike anything else in the field, which catapulted the good Doctor from an interesting novelty into the Marvel Universe’s Master of the Mystic Arts. Unheralded on the cover – honestly, is anyone really bothered if Paste-Pot Pete’s Invincible Paste-Gun does finish the Torch off? – the stylish back-up story introduced the Sorceror Supreme to the Marvel Universe, commencing a lengthy career which has crossed over very successfully into the MCU. Here he faces the recurring threat of Nightmare for obviously the first time.

This is a lowish grade pence-printed copy, but therefore relatively affordable. The cover colours are strong and the staples are tight and firm if a little rusty (with no rust migration). There are very short tears at the lower staple, but these are without any loss. There is also some corner blunting with wear at top and bottom spine. The spine itself is a little worn, but other edge wear is minimal. The cover image is very attractive with just a couple of short colour-breaking creases in the bottom right corner and a barely noticeable 10 com crease vertically down from the top edge; you can only see any faint colour-break in this for a few cms. Pages are a supple and very respectable off-white to cream. There are two or three very short tears on interior pages without loss (including pages 2/3 of the Dr Strange story). All in all, not a bad copy. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: STRANGE TALES #110 GD+ p £1,000

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week: Tales of Asgard, the back-up feature showcasing the pomp and grandeur of the Norse pantheon, began in Journey Into Mystery #97, and by the time we got over issue #100, had gushed in ever-increasing leaps and bounds into the main storylines. No more so than in #104, the wonderfully titled Giants Walk the Earth, wherein Thor encounters Surtur the fire demon and Skagg the storm giant. Plenty of Asgard too in #111 and #113 also included in this update.
IN THIS UPDATE: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY
#104 VG+ £47 (PICTURED) Nice clean, unmarked copy with just minor edge wear and some corner blunting; no specific faults.
#111 VG- p £24 Pence-stamped. A touch of rust at upper staple, without migration and staples both firm. Minor wear and corner blunting. SOLD
#113 VG/FN £38 Lovely clean copy with bright colours, good staples and minimal wear at top edge, including a couple of short, soft creases that do not break colour. SOLD

*Marvel: Six more packed issues of the X-Men this week, from #172-177, during which the artistic reins passed from Paul Smith to John Romita Jr. Features Wolverine’s truncated wedding to Mariko, Cyclops’ completed wedding to Madelyne Pryor, the return of Phoenix in the 20th Anniversary special and lots more.
IN THIS UPDATE: X-MEN ALL SOLD
#172 VF £6.75 (PICTURED)
#173 VG/FN £5
#174 FN/VF £6
#175 FN+ £8.50 20th Anniversary special; Phoenix returns
#176 VF £6.75
#177 VF+ £7.50

*Horror 1940-1959: In our Pre-Code Horror slot and Bute Collection release this week, we present issue #12 of Fawcett’s This Magazine Is Haunted, a title famous for its horrific covers. Hosted by Dr. Death in a shameless bit of nominative determinism, the series went on to be published by Charlton from #15 onwards.
PICTURED: THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED #12 GD £110 Wall of Flesh story with art by Bob Powell. Cover by Sheldon Moldoff (?). Decent copy with nice page quality and firm staples. Tiny colour breaking crease across bottom right; cover colours are good. Cover is unmarked except for three faint-sh) book shop stamps (two also on back cover, where a tiny piece is missing from the bottom edge close to the spine). The comic is slightly mis-cut so that there is a narrow white spine and a narrow white border along the bottom edge. For all that, presents pretty well.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: This digest-sized comics series, most famous under its later title of Thriller Picture Library, ran for 450 issues until 1963, and while it featured a plethora of characters during its lengthy run, the trend for the early years was for historical swashbucklers based on fictional (but serendipitously copyright-free) characters, but also featuring crime, war, western and science-fiction adventures and sometimes (almost) real people! The artists were all accomplished Fleetway professionals, and readers thrived on these beautifully-illustrated pocket adventures. Issues #31-50 (missing just #42), fresh in this week, mostly centre on adaptations of historical novels. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: THRILLER COMICS/PICTURE LIBRARY
#44 GD £15 King Of Sherwood.
#45 GD £15 The Count Of Monte Cristo
#49 GD £15 Guy Fawkes
#50 GD £15 Captain Blood

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror category for Philip K Dick, one of our best-selling authors; many would consider him the finest exponent of science-fiction of the late 20th century. I guess his themes of religion, drugs, counter culture and destructive relationships hold wide appeal. We are blessed with an excellent stock of his works, the enhanced re-listing of which we’ve been spreading over several updates. This fifth part features seven novels or short story collections. We’ll be spotting more Dick soon…
PICTURED: ALL BY PHILIP K DICK
THE TRANSMIGRATION OF TIMOTHY ARCHER Granada 1983 1st UK PB GD/VG £8
THE TURNING WHEEL AND OTHER STORIES Coronet 1977 1st UK PB VG/FN £10
THE VARIABLE MAN Sphere 1977 UK PB VG £6
VULCAN’S HAMMER Arrow 1976 1st UK PB GD £6 SOLD
WE CAN BUILD YOU Fontana 1977 1st UK PB FN £15
THE WORLD JONES MADE NEL/Sidgwick & Jackson 1976 UK PB FN £15
THE ZAP GUN Panther 1975 1st UK PB FN £7

*Books About Books: We’re pleased to add two more books on H P Lovecraft to this small but growing category. Sometimes it seems that Lovecraft has had more books written about him than any other writer in his genre. Both of these do what they say on the tin and were issued without dustjackets.
PICTURED: ABOUT H P LOVECRAFT
DONALD R BURLESON: A CRITICAL STUDY Greenwood 1983 1st US HC VF £40
BARTON LEVI ST. ARMAND: THE ROOTS OF HORROR IN THE FICTION OF H P LOVECRAFT Dragon Press 1977 1st US HC VG £40

*DC: Amazingly, given their lengthy careers, 1967’s Superman #199 was the first time Superman and the Flash had ever raced competitively, and writer Jim Shooter and artist Curt Swan drew every ounce of drama out of the situation, throwing tricks, traps and dilemmas as the Man of Steel and the Crimson Comet battle their way to the finish line, with the ostensibly benign agenda, needless to say, being subverted for fiendish purposes. An historic issue, and great fun into the bargain! This is a worn, pence stamped copy. The staples are fine at spine but the centrefold is detached. Lots of wear and creasing at corners and edges, which show significantly on black and dark background. There is a long 13 cm colour-breaking crease across the top right hand corner. Pages are a bit creamy, but okay.
PICTURED: SUPERMAN #199 GD- p £50 SOLD

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, we present the first appearance of one of Spider-Man’s most nefarious foes, Electro, the master of electricity, in Amazing Spider-Man #9. From this original clash with Spidey, Electro has gone on to appear throughout the Marvel Universe across many decades. This is a lower graded pence printed copy, with the front cover off the bottom staple; otherwise the staples are firm throughout. Edge and corner wear aren’t heavy, with a few fine creases just breaking colour at bottom right corner. There is a long diagonal crease faintly breaking colour from centre bottom logo down across the text to level with Electro’s shoulders. The cover colours are a little muted. Pages are a supple, decent off-white to cream.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #9 GD+ p £350

*Marvel: Continuing our special Warlock event from last week, we move on to Strange Tales #178-181, where Jim Starlin expanded the Warlock franchise into the whole universe, introducing new cosmic characters and setting the path on which the character was destined to tread in his future in the MU. The story continued into Warlock #9-15 (see below).
IN THIS UPDATE: STRANGE TALES (all pence printed)
#178 VF+ p £50 (PICTURED) 1st Magus
#179 VF+ p £35 1st Pip the Troll
#180 VF/NM p £100 (PICTURED) Intro Gamora
#181 VF+ p £30 1st full Gamora

*Marvel: A lovely run of mostly high grade issues of Fantastic Four #80-93 from the Bute Collection, every consecutive issue, from the last months of Lee & Kirby on Marvel’s flagship title. Kirby was at his most grandiose with many spectacular full page spreads throughout. Some memorable storylines from the less common #80 with Tomazooma, Crystal joining leading to an Inhumans epic (#81-83), one of the best Dr Doom sagas in Latveria (#84-87), a Mole Man two-parter (#88-89) and Ben as a Skrull slave on a gangster-led world in the fight game (#90-93). 
IN THIS UPDATE: FANTASTIC FOUR
#80 VF £45 (PICTURED)
#81 FN/VF p £29
#82 VF- £40 (PICTURED)
#83 VF p £42 (PICTURED)
#84 FN/VF £32
#85 FN+ £26
#86 VF £44 (PICTURED)
#87 VF p £30 SOLD
#88 VG p £11.75 SOLD
#89 FN- p £12.25 SOLD
#90 VF p £36
#91 VF p £36
#92 VF p £25
#93 VF p £36

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Formerly Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love (#1-4), this title changed its name to Forbidden Tales Of Dark Mansion with #5 (obviously, someone thought it might sell better without the word ‘love’ in the title). But the series retained something of the gothic splendour of its first four issues in the remainder of the run up to #15, the final issue. We have all issues under this new title from #5-15 in a variety of grades. This series is less often seen than many.
IN THIS UPDATE: FORBIDDEN TALES OF DARK MANSION ALL SOLD
#5 VG- £8.75 (PICTURED)
#6  FN+ £9
#7 VG £5
#8 FN/VF £10.75
#9 FN £7.50
#10 FN/VF £10.75
#11VF- £12.25
#12 VF- £12.25
#13 VG/FN £6.25
#14 VG/FN £6.25
#15 VG £5

*Annuals: 3 nice annuals from the 1950s this week, including Kit Carson from 1956 & 1957 and Sharp-Shooter Western Album. The Kit Carsons feature many colour pages/strips as well as black and white plus several colour plates. The Sharp-Shooter (softcover album) has many UK Western stories including some Buffalo Bill stories by the excellent Dennis McLaughlin, who also contributed the cover. 
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
KIT CARSON’S COWBOY ANNUAL
1956 VG £10
1957 FN £15
SHARP-SHOOTER WESTERN ALBUM VG £15 (PICTURED)

*Mad Books: This week, reinforcements for our Mad Books category, celebrating those fondly remembered paperback books featuring the best of Mad. Wit, sarcasm, parody and irony never go out of style. Eight volumes new in (including some devoted to specific creators) as follows (NB condition notes in our catalogue):
PICTURED:
SERGIO ARAGONES: MAD ABOUT MAD Signet 1970 1st US PB GD £3
DAVE BERG: MAD’S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT THE NEIGHBORHOOD Warner 1984 1st US PB VG £6
THE IDES OF MAD Signet 14th US PB GD £4
AL JAFFEE: GHOULISH BOOK OF WEIRD RECORDS Signet 1979 1st US PB VG/FN £8
AL JAFFEE: AL JAFFEE MEETS HIS END Signet 1979 1st US PB GD/VG £7
MAD FOR BETTER OR VERSE Signet 1968 1st US PB GD £3
DON MARTIN: THE MAD ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN KLUTZ Signet 1967 1st US PB FA/GD £4
THE SOUND OF MAD Warner 1980 1st UK PB GD £4