*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: It isn’t often we get to bandy about the phrase, “A Queen-Size Update!”, but we are pleased to announce the arrival of the first six Millie the Model Annuals, in which Miss Millicent Barbara Collins and her eternal ‘frenemy’ Chili Storm travel the world in romantic adventures, while finding time to change outfits and hairdos every few panels! Issue #1, released in 1962, is believed to be the second Marvel Annual ever, and despite an unfortunate watermark on the upper cover, is a genuine rarity; GD- at £20. (Mind you, Millie always came over here to the UK in lesser quantities than the rest of the Marvel universe, so none of her issues are commonplace) Fun, folly, fashions, and even a tear-shedding’ wedding in Annual #4; what more can you ask?

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Continuing our 1930’s update, we’re spotlighting Skipper – the one of D.C.Thomson’s ‘Big Five’ which was suspended “for the duration” at the outset of World War II, but never made it back. A dozen new issues, primarily from 1937. In addition to Skipper, we also have selections of Rover from 1931 to 1937, a pair of Adventure from 1934, and a couple of oddities: Topical Times from 1938 and 1939, and a Red Letter from 1941, two series which are more the antecedents of general magazines rather than the precursors to comics that the story papers were, but we thought we’d give them a try! These slices of history from the days of The Empire are strangely compelling in retrospect.

*Girls’ Comics: As promised, here’s our huge Tammy update, with a couple of hundred issues new in. We start at #1 (6/2/71), a Fine graded copy and superior to the other copies we have listed. We then have many more issues from Tammy’s first year, after which we jump to a comprehensive update for 1975-1978. Christmas, April Fool, Valentine, Birthday, Fireworks & Halloween issues abound, and there’s even the Silver Jubilee issue. Tammy collectors, get your skates on and fill your boots, to mix a metaphor or two!

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:
*DC
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Two adventurers with a big following in this update, both fondly remembered for their hit TV series: The Saint by Leslie Charteris and the Baron by John Creasy. Ten Saint novels new in of 1950’s and 1960’s vintage, including his first adventure, publishers including Pan, Hodder and Brown Watson. Five Barons from the 1960’s and 1970’s, published by Corgi and Hodder.

*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: Some unusual fare in this week’s magazine update. Two rare Batman items: from 1966 and the height of the TV show craze, 3D Batman, reprinting classic Batman stories in the 3D format and including stills of Adam West & Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo (sadly, no 3D glasses present) and from 1990, the strange-looking hardcover graphic novel Batman: Digital Justice, an early computer generated work (listed here because of its size). These are backed up by three magazines from 1975 by Atlas Seaboard: both issues of Devilina and #2 of Thrilling Adventure Stories, with art by Toth, Heath, Severin and Simonson under an Adams cover.

We’ve now added many new bookcases inside our shop (located near the staircase to the basement) and this new location is where you’ll now find TV/ Film Tie-Ins, Pulp Fiction, Childrens’ Books and Mad Books, leaving Science-Fiction, Fantasy & Horror and Crime Spies & Sleaze in the tall bookcases at the rear of the shop. This allows us room for about a further 600-700 books to go out on sale, so look for a big expansion to our book stocks in all categories in the weeks ahead.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A decent-sized update to three of our best-selling Boys’ titles: Lion (just a soupcon from 1952 & 1964 then many from 1971-74), Tiger from 1965-68 and Valiant (a soupcon from 1965/66, then many from 1972-75).

*Marvel: A Nifty Nineties Triple-Threat this update, as we venture out of our vintage zone to present the first appearances of a trio of characters who defined the decade of big hair, implausible musculature and a superabundance of weaponry! First up, New Mutants #87, the first full appearance of Cable, the telekinetic mercenary who was sent back from the future to prevent his present becoming the X-Men’s past. Or something like that. This VF/NM pence copy (£40) has excellent white pages, and only the tiniest spine roll precluding a higher grade. Following on, another New Mutants, this time #98, with the palpitating premier of everybody’s favourite Merc-With-A-Mouth, Deadpool, as well as the accompanying debuts of the delightful but deadly Domino and the villainous Gideon. This is a Fine cents copy (£50), in decent shape but with light label residue at the upper cover corner. Rounding out, Uncanny X-Men #266, with the least plausible French accent since the cast of ‘Allo ‘Allo, the debut of Gambit, soon, if rumour is to be believed, the star of his own movie franchise! (As soon as anybody works out exactly what his powers are.) A very decent VF pence copy here (£50). SORRY, NEW MUTANTS #98 HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Marvel’s most controversial hero of the Silver Age, the Silver Surfer, restocked this update! Issues from #2 to the final issue #18, of his original series are now back in stock, mostly mid-high grade copies up to Very Fine+. By John Buscema at his most awesome, and Stan Lee at his most loquacious, these well-remembered and highly acclaimed tales express the Sentinel of the Spaceways’ despair about humanity’s propensity for intolerance and violence – usually just before he turns around and twats someone with the Power Cosmic! Dramatic highlights from this selection include #2 (debut of the brutal Badoon), #3 (first appearance of Surfy’s arch-nemesis Mephisto), #4 the rare Thor crossover issue), #14 (battle with Spider-Man) and #18 (in which our peaceful hero finally loses the plot and decides he’s at war with planet Earth – so it’s just as well his book was cancelled! Phew!)

*DC: Several issues of Detective Comics new in from #349 upwards, including many 100 Page issues and culminating in the 500th Giant Anniversary issue.

*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: For this week’s magazine update, we turn to 1975 and feature 6 out of the 8 issues of Marvel’s Doc Savage magazine, the pulp favourite hero in beautifully-rendered adventures. All issues present except #1 & #4, mostly in Fine condition.

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:
*Marvel
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Humour Comics: A substantial update to our Humour stocks, covering the following titles: Buster 1961, Giggle 1967 (#2), Hoot #1 & 2, Krazy 1977, Magnet 1937, Monster Fun 1975, Nipper 1987 inc final issue, Shiver & Shake 1973/74, Topper 1955 & 1981-83, Viz and Whoopee 1974 (from #3), 1976 & Best Of Monthly.

*Power Comics: A long overdue update to the Odham’s Press titles with small amounts of Fantastic & Pow and quite a few more Smash & Wham.

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Titter ye not Missus! It’s not that type of adult fantasy, instead it’s fairy stories for grown-ups, the sort that Lin Carter and C S Lewis would have approved of. Around 1970 Pan/Ballantine issued a set of adult fantasy books that are considered to be the definitive collection of the genre. We are delighted to add a number of them to our Books section, including The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle, Don Rodriguez and At The Edge Of The World by Lord Dunsanay, The World’s Desire by H Rider Haggard & Andrew Lang, Evenor by George MacDonald, The Wood Beyond The World by William Morris (taking time off from wallpapering) and three by Evangeline Walton, The Children Of Llyr, The Song Of Rhiannon and The Island Of The Mighty. The books mainly range from GD to FN and all have beautiful and distinctive cover art.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A big update to our classic Eagle stocks, starting in 1950 with a few issues from Volume 1, then substantial amounts from Volumes 17-20, right up to and including the final issue Volume 20 #17 26/4/69.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: A small selection of early numbers of War Picture Library new in between #5 & #20, mostly in VG to FN condition.

*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: This week’s magazine update features, from 1980 onwards, a complete run (34 issues) of Epic Illustrated, Marvel’s shameless attempt to tap into the Heavy Metal market – but with fewer airbrushed boobies and a bit more, you know, actual content. This slick full-colour mag showcased a galaxy of star talents, and really needs no better sales pitch than a list of the illustrious contributors: Ellison, Moorcock, Corben, Byrne, Adams, Windsor-Smith, Sim, Starlin, Vess, Gulacy, Claremont, Bolton, Austin, Moore, Bode, Sienkievicz, Wrightson, Williamson, Veitch, Totleben, Steranko, Russell, Bode, Kaluta, Steranko, and scores more! This run averages VF, with a scattering of Fine and nothing less than VG.

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980’s: Werewolf By Night, featuring the adventures of the lycanthropic Jack Russell (yes, someone must have been having a laugh…) had a respectable run and is reasonably commercial, but one issue almost never found is #32, which is sought-after not for our hairy hero, but for the guest mercenary hero-villain, Moon Knight. Created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin, the silver-clad avenger proved such a hit with the readership that he made numerous return appearances all over the Marvel Universe before gaining his own series, which has appeared intermittently to the present day. This is the first appearance of the character known as “Marvel’s Batman”, and copies in high grade command wince-inducing prices; this GD/VG pence copy is marred by light creasing of the lower right cover and some mild spine wear, but is much more affordable at £35.

*DC: From the days before UK distribution, we have two early issues of Brave & Bold from the late 1950’s. In those days, before it later became a try-out series for new characters in a similar vein to Showcase, Brave & Bold featured tales of heroes of bygone years, namely the Silent Knight, Robin Hood, and, in particular the Viking Prince, the latter superbly illustrated by the incomparable Joe Kubert. These two issues, both a very presentable VG at £50 each, are the earliest Brave & Bold we now have in stock, and wonderful comics they are too!

*Girls’ Comics: A couple of dozen issues of material aimed at older girls this week, which means fashion, pop & romance! Romeo, the long-running DC Thomson romance weekly for young women, is scarce as the proverbial hen’s teeth, so we’re particularly chuffed to have ten new issues for our stock, ranging from 1959 to 1972, in grades from Good to Fine. The psychedelic fashion covers from the ’70’s are worth the price of admission alone –  But we don’t stop there! Other new listings in this category include Roxy from 1958 & 1959, Mirabelle from 1961 to 1969, and Valentine from 1969 & 1970 – the latter providing a particularly intriguing contrast, as Valentine swaps its blue & white comic-strip covers for the ubiquitous photo-covers during this time. We also have one issue of Go-Girl from 1969 (no, we’d never heard of it either – learning all the time!), and, in an experiment, several issues of Petticoat from 1969, a young women’s magazine with no comics content. These provide a kaleidoscope of fashions, hairstyles, dating rituals and tactical strikes in the battle of the sexes over three decades – and the art, by Romero and other European illustrators, is often very lovely indeed. If you’re going to catch Cupid’s arrow, move sharpish – these are never on our shelves for very long!

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 Books section:
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze
*TV/Film Tie-Ins
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*DC: Two lovely Golden Age items from DC this week that have both seen better days, but still have much enjoyment left in them. First up, from 1944, Leading Comics #12, with a classic book-length Seven Soldiers Of Victory story; heavy spine wear but decent page quality and unmarred cover image; GD+ £45. Secondly, from 1954, World’s Finest #69, with solo stories for Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Tomahawk & others; heavily taped spine, heavy cover scuff over Superman figure; worn and torn but complete; PR £25.