*Marvel: Also from the Good Doctor Collection this week, Sub-Mariner #8 features one of those classic covers with two opposing figures set on a black background, in this case Subby and Ben Grimm. Art by John Buscema at the height of his powers, more than ably inked by Dan Adkins. Roy Thomas spins a potent and poignant tale of Sub-Mariner and women in his life against a backdrop of a battle with the Thing. These covers are notoriously difficult to get in high grade, since the glossy black shows every fault. However, this copy is as good as we’ve ever seen. Glossy and vibrant, looking like it’s just come off the presses. Corners are square, staples are firm and tight at spine and centrefold, pages are white. It’s not a perfect copy: there’s one short crease above the bottom staple which does not break colour, and it’s slightly mis-cut so that there’s a thin white edge at the bottom. For those that are bothered about such things, there’s a pence stamp on Subby’s body (there aren’t many other places they could have put it where it would have showed up!). But a fabulous high grade copy — it’ll be a long time until you see another in such a great state of preservation.  
PICTURED: SUB-MARINER #8 VF+ p £215

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Ah, jungle comics, the forgotten genre of comics’ Golden Age. Inspired by Tarzan, the 1940s and 50s gave rise to a whole horde of jungle denizens (you wonder how they all fitted into the jungle!). Fiction House were among those who did the genre proud in various titles, and this week’s Bute Collection selection highlights three of their titles. Fight Comics and Jumbo Comics were anthology titles that for long periods cover-starred jungle girls Tiger Girl and Sheena (the original Queen of the Jungle) respectively, alongside adventure strips from other genres. Jungle Comics starring Ka’a’nga, Lord of the Jungle and his rather prosaically named mate Ann was pure jungle back to front with many other jungle denizens headlining. Two issues (Fight #73 and Jungle #138) cover feature the gorgeous art of Maurice Whitman, my favourite cover artist of the genre with exquisite composition and luminous colours. 
PICTURED:
FIGHT COMICS #73 FN £50 Nice solid copy with great colour; minor spine and edge wear SOLD
JUMBO COMICS #144 VG+ £44 Solid copy with some marking along spine; small arrival date.
JUNGLE COMICS
#117 FN+ £69 Superior copy with little wear; small pencil mark on cover.
#138 VG £33 3 cm lower spine split, top edge wear, otherwise nice.

*Modern Reprints: Three large format classic EC reprints from two different series this week. First up, from 1992 Tales From The Crypt Extra-Large comic #1 (of 6), a tabloid/treasury sized compendium of full colour classics. Then, two issues of EC Classics, the magazine-sized reprint series from 1985 with 8 stories on high quality paper, also in full colour. 
IN THIS UPDATE:
TALES FROM THE CRYPT #1 EXTRA-LARGE COMIC GD £12.50 Clear-taped spine.
EC CLASSICS: BOTH SOLD
#1 VF+ £8 TALES FROM THE CRYPT VF+ £8
#2 NM £8 WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY NM £8

*Power Comics: Appetite for UK reprints of Marvel Silver Age key issues has grown enormously over the last few years, driving the prices upwards. In this instance, if you add the factor of the hugely successful WandaVision TV series, these first UK reprints of X-Men #4, featuring the debut of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (inc Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch) are now highly sought after. Now, take care here — there are sellers on eBay (and elsewhere) 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 (complete with Wanda’s miscoloured outfit), she actually debuted in the first part of the story in Fantastic #5. We’re offering both issues in one lot, both VG, for one price.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC #5 & #6 VG £40

*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 and the works of Isaac Asimov. The term Grand Master is often used to describe the science fiction giants of the Golden Age, but it’s never been more appropriate in its use than for Isaac Asimov. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books; best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as much nonfiction. A lot of his science fiction was written as connected themes, most famously the Foundation series, but also Galactic Empire, Robots and even the Space Ranger juvenile science-fiction stories. Examples of all of these may be found in our newly re-worked catalogue. As well as ingenious sci-fi ideas, Asimov was also an expert at the human side of the genre. We have a lot of his titles in stock, but feature here a few that are particularly recommended.
PICTURED: ALL by ISAAC ASIMOV
ASIMOV’S MYSTERIES FN £5 Panther 1974 6th UK PB; Thirteen fiendishly ingeniously stories of science fiction crime and detection
THE GODS THEMSELVES VG £3 Panther 1975 3rd UK PB
THE MARTIAN WAY GD £5 Panther 1966 1st UK PB; short stories
PEBBLE IN THE SKY VG £6 Corgi 1958 1st UK PB
THE REST OF THE ROBOTS GD/VG £3 Panther 1969 3rd UK PB; short stories, spine sunned
SECOND FOUNDATION VG/FN £8 Panther 1966 2nd UK PB; 3rd in the Foundation series
THE STARS LIKE DUST FA/GD £5 Panther 1958 1st UK PB; small losses at top and bottom spine

It’s never too early to plan and do your Christmas shopping. Here’s a list of relevant dates for our trading during the festive period:

Saturday 10th December: Last day for orders for pre-Christmas delivery. You need to place your order no later than 4 pm. Orders placed after this deadline will not be posted until the New Year. This is also the day we shall be issuing our last Newsletter before Christmas.
Wednesday 14th December: Last posting before Christmas for all orders placed by 4 pm on Saturday 10th and paid for by 4 pm on Tuesday 13th December.
Saturday 31st December: Newsletter resumes. All orders placed after 4 pm on 10th December (up to 4 pm on 31st) will be filled this weekend and bills issued on 1st January 2023.
Wednesday 4th January: Posting for all paid orders outstanding.

Please note that these posting dates may be subject to change if Royal Mail announce any further strike action over this period.

*Marvel: Well, #10 wasn’t Dr. Doom’s first return to the pages of Fantastic Four following his debut in issue #5, but was the latest of many, in which he sets out to destroy the team from within. This above average pence printed copy from the Good Doctor Collection is solid and supple with great colour. There are a couple of very soft vertical creases on the cover which do not break colour and a couple of horizontal lines either side of the Human Torch which look like they were there when the copy came off the presses. Tiny nick to right cover edge, but corners only slightly blunted, staples firm at spine and centrefold and nice creamy pages. There is just a suggestion of a narrow dust shadow along the right edge, and printed slightly off centre with the spine line just a couple of mm around the back cover. A very nice example of this early issue.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #10 VG/FN p £450

*Marvel: In Captain America #180, Steve Rogers, disillusioned with the American government, took on the alternative identity of Nomad, reverting to be Cap again a few issues later. The third and most famous incarnation of the Nomad identity was Jack Monroe, who became Nomad in Captain America #282. Both issues newly available this week.
PICTURED: CAPTAIN AMERICA
#180 VF p £85 1st Steve Rogers as Nomad. Lovely glossy, rich copy with just minor handling wear and a touch of white spine. Lies flat with near white pages and firm, tight staples.
#282 NM- £25 1st Jack Monroe as Nomad. Beautiful tight, flat copy with square corners, rich colour and gloss. Near white pages, with just the tiniest sign of having been read at the top of the spine.

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: One of the most significant comics from the prestigious Bute Collection this week: All Winners Comics #1 Summer 1941. Featuring Captain America and Bucky, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch and Toro, the Angel and the Black Marvel. They each appear in separate stories and the All-Winners Squad wasn’t formed until #19  (although there is an All-Winners text story in this issue written by Stan Lee). Cover by Alex Schomburg, Torch strip by Carl Burgos, Black Marvel by Stan Lee/Al Avison, Captain America by Kirby and Simon, Sub-Mariner by Bill Everett, Angel by Paul Gustavson. Thus all the characters are depicted by their signature writers and artists.
Although a low grade copy, the cover image is bright, clean and almost unmarred; the spine is considerably worn with small nicks at top and bottom, and a small mark above the ‘w’ in the logo. Page quality is pretty decent off-white to cream with just one or two faint marks in the margins. The spine is (neatly) split for about 12 cm in three separate splits; the staples are secure at the back but off at the front cover. All together the comic hangs together pretty well and is a reasonably solid copy. High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: ALL WINNERS #1 FA/GD £3,000 SOLD

*Marvel UK: Here’s your chance to get the British reprints of the complete first appearances of Wolverine, published less than 2 years after the originals in Hulk #180-182. Key Marvel issues reprinted in British publications have become very sought after collectables in recent years, and have risen in price significantly. Such an example is Mighty World Of Marvel #197, #198, #199 & #200, the first reprints of these classics! #197 represented Wolverine’s first cameo appearance from Hulk #180, and the first ‘Full Wolvy’, from Hulk #181, was divided over MWOM #198 & #199; #200 reprinted the first half of Hulk #182 with Wolverine’s departure. These issues sliced the original stories in half, slapped a new splash page (don’t get too excited, it’s usually Ron Wilson) on the second segment, and gave readers all the black & white excitement they could stand! Decent examples here, all in a reasonable VG grade, with just minor edge and reading wear. These copies of #198 & #200 were printed without an upper staple. On sale as a set of four only.
PICTURED: MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL #197-200 Set of four VG £225

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: ‘Target Top Secret’ is the title of the very first issue of Fleetway’s hugely popular Air Ace Picture Library dating from 1960. Brilliantly painted covers of aerial encounters are a huge selling point for this series. Our latest copy of #1 is a nice mid-grade copy with a solid spine and nice pages. Tiny bit of wear to top right corner and faint creasing at the base of the spine which does not break colour. The single staple (as printed) has a little rust with some (non-extensive) migration at the rear cover and pages.
PICTURED: AIR ACE #1 VG £75

*Mad Books: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we turn to 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. Following strong sales in this category, we only have a small quantity in stock at the moment, but have thus been able to convert the whole file to our new layout in one go. A few selections are shown here; see our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED:
THE MAD FRONTIER GD/VG £4 Signet 1962 14th US PB
MAD IN ORBIT GD £4 Signet 1962 10th US PB
UTTERLY MAD GD £8 Ballantine 1952 1st US PB Reading crease; small cover scuff

*DC: Dozens of issues of World’s Finest, the Superman/Batman team-up series, added to our stock this week in the above number range. Featured issues include the Joker/Luthor team, the Clayface/Brainiac team, the debut of the Composite Superman (the villain with all the powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes), plus Loads of Monsters and Aliens with Strange Powers. All this plus many little back-up stories starring Green Arrow and Aquaman. Please see our catalogue for full details.

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, the sixth issue of the X-Men from 1964, in which both Professor X and Magneto speculate that Namor the Sub-Mariner might be a mutant and set out to recruit him to their cause. As you might imagine, fun, games and lots of fisticuffs etc ensue in this Lee & Kirby classic. Noticeable that even this early in their careers, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were getting cover billing and lots of exposure. This is a very nice pence printed copy, with an ummarked cover, good colours and some residual gloss. Excellent off-white pages and staples tight at spine and centrefold. A small amount of corner blunting, a very shallow reading crease at spine which does not break colour and a few minor stress marks there which just do. All in all, a superior mid-grade copy.
PICTURED: X-MEN #6 VG+ p £325 SOLD

*Marvel: A run of Daredevil new in this week, comprising most issues between #19 and #33, covering the changeover from Romita to Colan on the art chores. Included is #25, debut of the Leap Frog. See our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL #25 VG p £32 1st Leap Frog

*Dell: Just a handful of Dell’s TV & Film adaptations this week as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE:  ALL SOLD
KING RICHARD & THE CRUSADERS FC588 VG- £12.75 Matt Baker art
SEA HUNT #7 VG+ p £13.25 From the TV show
THIEF OF BAGHDAD FC1229 FA £2.75 Movie Classic. Crandall/Evans art. Covers detached
WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER FC682 VG £9.75 Adaptation of the movie The Sword & The Rose

*Horror 1940-1959: In the main, Pre-Code Horror isn’t my bag (with some notable exceptions), but I do quite admire the four titles published by Ace: Baffling Mysteries, Beyond, Hand Of Fate and Web Of Mystery. They are well-crafted and have a nice house look about them, qualities I would find quite attractive to collecting. A lot of this is down to the very accomplished artwork of the Matt Bakeresque Lou Cameron, which appears liberally throughout the line. They have certainly risen in popularity over the years. The Bute Collection has yielded just two examples so far:
PICTURED:
BAFFLING MYSTERIES #21 GD/VG £80 Solid enough with a worn spine with short upper and lower splits. Staples and pages okay, unmarked cover image.
WEB OF MYSTERY #25 GD+ £70 Spine quite worn and tired, lower staple coming loose, but okay.

*Annuals: An uncommon item this week. Dan Dare’s Spacebook from 1953 features ‘new black and white strips, articles, stories’ on Eagle’s favourite son. The spine is totally intact and undamaged on this hardcover celebrating the Pilot of the Future, but the outer boards have quite a lot of scuff and wear marks.
PICTURED: DAN DARE’S SPACEBOOK 1953 GD £40

*Humour Comics: In our regular #1 slot this week, the first issue of Whoopee from 9/3/74. Sadly, the Super Squirt Ring Free Gift is absent, but it does come with the envelope it was packaged in including its instructions for use. The comic is a little tanned, but structurally sound. Both comic and partial gift are VG.
PICTURED: WHOOPEE #1 VG £25 with partial free gift VG SOLD

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we turn to the earliest by alphabet in our TV/Film Tie-Ins category, where the TV show or film pre-dated the book. Included here are the first 1990 novel (a taut political thriller of a dystopian Britain starring Edward Woodward), the novelisation of Alien, a tale of the Angels from Captain Scarlet, the uncommon first ever Avengers novel from 1963 with Steed and Cathy Gale, and three novels from the New Avengers series. See our catalogue for the full selection.
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
1990 by WILFRED GREATOREX VG £10 1977 2nd UK PB
ALIEN by ALAN DEAN FOSTER VG £3 1979 1st UK PB (2nd printing) Movie stills at centre
ANGELS: THE CREEPING ENEMY by JOHN THEYDON VG/FN £30 1968 1st UK PB
THE AVENGERS by DOUGLAS ENEFER VG £40 1963 1st UK PB (2nd printing) 1st Avengers book; uncommon
THE NEW AVENGERS: THE EAGLE’S NEST by JOHN CARTER FN £7 1976 1st UK PB

*DC: Two landmark issues of Adventure Comics before the Legion of Super-Heroes began its regular feature with #300. In #282, Superboy encounters Star Boy, who was introduced as having all of Superboy’s powers and the newest member of the Legion. Obviously, the editors forgot about him for quite a while after the Legion feature was launched, because it was quite a while before he appeared again with a hasty explanation that his powers had worn off, just leaving him with his ability to make things super-heavy (evidently the Legion already had enough members with Superboy’s powers). In #293, we were treated to the debut of the Legion of Super-Pets, including the very first appearance of Comet the Super-Horse, joining Krypto, Streaky and Beppo. I’ll let you in on a little secret: this was the very first story featuring the Legion I ever read, when it was originally published in 1962. 
PICTURED: ADVENTURE COMICS
#282 VG- £59 With slight reading crease at spine and faint central subscription crease. Tiny chipping at right edge, very small upper spine split. Some gloss, off-white to cream pages, firm staples.
#293 VF+ £300 A superb copy, with brilliant unmarked cover with great colour and gloss. Square corners, supple white to off-white pages, firm, tight staples at spine and centrefold. Virtually no wear. SOLD

*Marvel: Leading our Good Doctor releases this week: The Black Knight has a long and distinguished history at Marvel. Originally, a heroic knight at the court of King Arthur in the Atlas series of the 1950s, the name was revived in the Silver Age, first as the villainous foe of Giant-Man, and later as the new Black Knight (Dane Whitman) in the Avengers and elsewhere in the Marvel Universe (both US & UK). Avengers #47 features the first appearance of Dane Whitman, with him becoming the Black Knight in #48.
PICTURED: AVENGERS
#47 VF £235 Bright and glossy, lovely off-white to white supple pages and excellent staples. The only wear is a couple of short creases which don’t break colour near the spine, created from reading. A beautifully fresh copy.
#48 FN/VF p £275 Pence stamped. Colourful and glossy, with slightly blunted corners. Lovely off-white to white supple pages and excellent staples. It’s one of those copies which is printed slightly off centre so that a very small piece of the cover image is shown along the spine edge of the back cover. Tiny creases at bottom right cover do not break colour.

*Marvel: When the Ant-Man name was unclaimed in the late 1970s, a brainier-than-average 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, specifically to find a cure for his dying daughter, as was revealed in Marvel Premiere #47 and #48, the two-part tale which (after a non-costumed cameo in Avengers #181) was Scott’s first full appearance. John Byrne and David Michelinie created this different take on the hero, and since then, Scott has had his ups and downs – been in jail a few times, been dead a few more, been a love-slave of the Purple Man (No, really. Google it. Better yet, don’t) – but he’s fought his way back to respectability, and has achieved cinematic stardom in two eponymous movie hits, plus pivotal roles in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’. This double-dip debut for our loveable scientist scofflaw consists of nice high-grade copies.
PICTURED: MARVEL PREMIERE
#47 VF/NM p £150 Pence printed. Tight, flat, shiny, great staples, white pages, just an absolute minimum of handling wear.
#48 VF+ p £35 Pence printed. Tight, flat, shiny, great staples, white pages, just an absolute minimum of handling wear. A tiny bit askew in the printing with white spine towards the bottom. SOLD

*Marvel: If you’re looking for really nice copies of Amazing Spider-Man for your collection, then look no further than the Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection. All high grade; even the few that fall below VF (and most are above) are really good-looking copies – no duds here, and nearly all cents copies. This week, we jump to the final 40 issues of the original series of Amazing Spider-Man, from #401-441 (mysteriously missing just #434). Lots going on here as you might imagine: Maximum Clonage, crossovers with other Spidey titles, the female Dr Octopus, Onslaught, Carnage (inc cosmic Carnage in #430-431), Black Tarantula, Free Gift issues and a whole load more. Hundreds of earlier issues from this collection still to come!
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #430 NM £50

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: From the Bute Collection this week, four Issues of Quality’s mammoth (60 page) anthology title Feature Comics. Starring Doll Man as the cover and lead feature, there was a plethora of additional adventure and humour strips such as Rusty Ryan, Lala Palooza, Mickey Finn, Swing Sisson and a host of others.
IN THIS UPDATE: FEATURE COMICS
#86 GD/VG £25 SOLD
#88 VG £30 Loose centrefold
#89 FN+ £55 (PICTURED) SOLD
#90 GD/VG £25