*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: I’m often harping on here about the Queens Of Crime, those indomitable (mostly) British women who dominated the crime/detective genre in the Golden Age Of Detective Fiction, roughly between the wars. Well, there was one male writer active at the time who was their equal, and he was an American to boot, although he lived a significant part of his life in England, where most of his tales were set. John Dickson Carr (who also wrote as Carter Dickson) was the master of the locked room mystery, a setter of seemingly impossible puzzles for his recurring cast of detectives. He also wrote many historical mysteries which are equally engaging. Six new mysteries in this week, five featuring Dr Gideon Fell and one historical (The Witch Of The Low Tide); all in US editions. The Three Coffins (UK title The Hollow Man) is often regarded as the finest locked room mystery ever. Full details, with condition notes, in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL BY JOHN DICKSON CARR ALL SOLD
DEATH-WATCH Dell 1952 US PB GD/VG £8
HAG’S NOOK Dell 1951 US PB GD/VG £8
THE MAD HATTER MYSTERY Dell 1953 US PB GD/VG £8
THE THREE COFFINS Dell 1965 1st US PB thus GD/VG £10
TILL DEATH DO US PART Bantam 1950 1st US PB thus VG £8
THE WITCH OF THE LOW TIDE Bantam 1963 1st US PB thus GD £6

*DC: The Joker Is Wild! A unique pairing of two issues of Batman with the Joker: from 1964, the very last issue of the ‘old look’ Batman, #163, wherein the Clown Price of Crime is both judge and jury at the trial of Batman (this issue also features a future Batman & Robin story with Bat-Girl as Batwoman II); and from 1966, the first Joker story with the ‘new look’ Batman in #186, with the Joker’s new henchman, the midget Gaggy. 
PICTURED: BATMAN BOTH SOLD
#163 FA/GD p £29 Worn and creased, with tape repair on inside to right middle cover. 
#186 GD p £14 Some wear and creasing to bottom cover edge, with what looks like label residue.  

*Marvel: 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. Available here in this CGC certified copy in 5.0 (VG/FN) Universal Grade (unrestored blue label). Case perfect, off-white pages, CGC serial number 3954525003. High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #9 CGC 5.0 VG/FN £840  

*Marvel: Stan & Jack were at the height of their pomp and grandeur on Thor during the period covered by this update from the Good Doctor Collection. Featuring a depowered Thor hoodwinked by the Circus of Crime, a brush with Loki and an adventure with Pluto and the Olympian pantheon, these issues also see the end of the Tales from Asgard back-up and the beginning of the Origins of the Inhumans. 
IN THIS UPDATE: THOR
#144 GD- p £14.25
#145 FN/VF £28
#146 VG/FN £16.25 Origins of Inhumans begin. 
#147 VF £44 (PICTURED)
#163 VF £28
#164 VF- £24

*IW/Super: We continue with our series of updates from that most esoteric publisher IW/Super. IW Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s, named for the company’s owner Israel Waldman. Comics were published under both the IW and Super imprints and were notable for publishing unauthorised Golden Age reprints of other company’s properties. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. Basically, it seemed to be whatever they could get their hands on that determined the esoteric nature of their output. Thus you get super-heroes, war, romance, western, funny animals, crime, horror, science fiction and just about every genre within their pages. Full details of what was reprinted in what are listed in our website catalogue. NB usually with newly-drawn covers. Over the next few months, we’ll be presenting a series of issues from this publisher; this week, the #1 and only Dr Fu Manchu, which reprints the Avon 1951 one-shot, the Mask Of Dr. Fu Manchu with art by the wonderful Wally Wood, assisted by Joe Orlando and Sid Check; the new cover is by Carl Burgos. Back up is a Flash Harper, news photographer story by A C Hollingsworth. This is a nice solid copy, clean, glossy and bright, minimal edge wear, tight, firm staples and supple white to off-white pages. 
PICTURED: DR FU MANCHU #1 FN £45 SOLD

*Horror 1940-1959: From the Bute Collection this week, one of the most famous horror titles of the 1950s. Confident of the success of their horror showcase, Avon Publishing followed up their 1951 debut issue with an ongoing series. Always a quality title, showcasing the work of Wally Wood & Joe Kubert, among many others, with evocative preludes in moody black and white on the inner front covers. A moody and evocative cover to #4 by Wally Wood (note the rows of skulls that form a pathway border for the zombie) and the inner front cover prelude is also by Wood. Interior art by Gene Fawcette, Jim McLaughlin and others. A mix to conjure with of pyromania, ghost ships, intelligent puppets and phantoms. This copy has some wear at spine, edges and corners, but has a strong cover image with supple off-white to cream pages and a little foxing at page edges only. The spine is intact, with just tiny nicks top and bottom. Good staples (lower off at cover), but with tiny amounts of rust migration. 
PICTURED: EERIE #4 GD/VG £225 

*Humour Comics: We have 16 issues of Dandy from 1950 new in, to complement our comprehensive existing stock from that year, now at great prices. Most of these new issues have been removed from a bound volume and have small binding holes along the spine and varying degrees of spine wear, but they don’t look too bad at all. We have numerous first appearances, plus the April Fool, Easter and Christmas issues. If you’re a fan of vintage Dandys and looking for issues from 1950, you should really take a gander at our catalogue! Samples below.
PICTURED: DANDY
#437 VG £30 Easter issue
#465 FN £25

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for this books category, with an image for each book. Violet Paget, who wrote under the name of Vernon Lee, was born in 1856 and died in 1935. She was a noted student and authority on Italian drama, poetry, music and art of the 18th century, and wrote many books on this period. She also wrote horror/ghost stories with an elegance and eloquence of style, with a flowing, almost poetical nature to her prose. Set in the period and place she knew best, these are macabre stories of ghosts, obsessions and revenge. We have two of her collections published by Corgi in paperback in 1962 with striking covers by Fritz Wegner; they’re both uncommon. 
PICTURED: by VERNON LEE BOTH SOLD
THE VIRGIN OF THE SEVEN DAGGERS 1st UK PB Corgi 1962 VG/FN £10
RAVENNA AND HER GHOSTS 1st UK PB Corgi 1962 VG £10 (back cover scuff)

*Mad Books: This week, reinforcements for our Mad Books category, celebrating those fondly remembered paperback books by the usual gang of idiots featuring the best of Mad. Wit, sarcasm, parody and irony never go out of style. Five volumes new in as follows (NB condition notes in our catalogue):
PICTURED:
SERGIO ARAGONES: MAD AS A HATTER Warner 1981 1st US/UK PB GD £5
HOWLING MAD Signet 1967 1st US PB GD £5
A MAD GUIDE TO PARENTS, TEACHERS AND OTHER ENEMIES Warner 1990 2nd US PB VG £5
MADVERTISING Signet 1972 1st US PB VG £10
SWING ALONG WITH MAD Warner 1991 1st US PB FN £10

*DC: From our fabulous Arch Collection this week, Showcase #8 from 1957 presents the second appearance of Barry Allen as the Silver Age Flash, together with the debut of one of the chief members of his Rogues’ Gallery, Captain Cold. Cover and all art by Carmine Infantino; two stories, by Robert Kanigher and John Broome. This is a lower-graded copy, with minor water damage to the front cover, with some staining to the right edge around Flash’s head and further down, and more extensive staining to the back cover, plus a tear sealed by interior tape at the back cover top corner. There is also a historical tape snag on the ‘H’ of the Flash logo, which has pulled some of the colour partially off a small area (see scan). Other actual wear is not extensive. Staples are firm at spine (centrefold off lower) and pages are a decent off-white. A nice enough copy to fill your gap, albeit with a feel of water damage. High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: SHOWCASE #8 GD- £600 SOLD 

*Marvel: ‘You are already too late, mortals! Nothing can stop me now!’ A typical word balloon from Marvel’s Big Panty Monster era at the dawn of their Silver Age, where the Earth was constantly threatened by alien monsters with a line in Big Panties to hide their modesty. Kirby and Ditko reigned supreme throughout. Amazing Adventures (1st series 1961) was a title rich in this sub-genre; interestingly it lasted just six issues under that title before being rebranded as Amazing Adult Fantasy for #7-14. They dropped the ‘Adult’ from the title for #15, the last in the series, and we think you probably know what happened after that. All six issues of Amazing Adventures also feature Dr Droom, the first Marvel Silver Age super-hero later called Dr Druid. Three issues new into stock.
PICTURED: AMAZING ADVENTURES ALL SOLD
#2 VG- £100 This is a decent copy with nice black background cover. Some residual gloss remains. Some spine wear (not too bad) and colour breaking creases across top and bottom corners at right of cover. Supple off-white pages; staples good but top off centrefold. A couple of faint and unobtrusive biro marks on cover.  
#3 GD/VG £85 Moderate spine and edge wear with short, colour-breaking stress marks. Hard crease across extremity of bottom right corner breaks colour. Someone has named the BPM on the cover in pencil, where erasure has been attempted. Good firm staples and nice off-white to cream pages. 
#4 GD/VG £85 Moderate spine and edge wear with short, colour-breaking stress marks. A hotel name (?) is faintly stamped across part of the cover background. Good firm staples and nice off-white pages. 

*Marvel: After more than 3 years, the award-winning run of Chris Claremont and John Byrne on X-Men, one of the best-loved periods for Marvel’s Merry Mutants, came to an end in 1981 with issue #143. From the Good Doctor Collection this week, we have the final issue in that run plus three of the issues leading up to it following the death of Phoenix in issue #137. Cyclops leaves team in #138; Kitty Pryde joins in #139, as Alpha Flight make a return appearance; it’s all against the Wendigo in #140 and in #143, Byrne wraps up his tenure as Kitty encounters a very Alien threat. 
IN THIS UPDATE: 
X-MEN
#138 VF p £30
#139 VF p £39 (PICTURED)
#140 VF p £27
#143 FN £16.25

*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: It’s been quite a while since we’ve had any of these Jack Kirby one-shot gems through our hands, so we’re delighted to see them. Hunger Dogs is a magazine-sized full colour DC Graphic Novel; the other two are black and white magazines. All written and drawn by Jolly Jack himself. Kirby says ‘Don’t ask! Just buy it!’
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
HUNGER DOGS FN £30 The conclusion of Kirby’s Fourth World saga. Nice copy with some wear and stress marks at spine. 
IN THE DAYS OF THE MOB FN £40 Kirby does gangsters, complete with bound-in Dillinger Wanted poster. Very nice copy with minor edge wear. 
SPIRIT WORLD GD/VG £20 Kirby does prophecy, reincarnation, haunting, black magic, complete with bound-in poster of the occult world. Moderate wear to corners and edges, with tiny chips out back cover corners. 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Our Long Hot Summer feature continues with a rara avis of the comic world, the forerunner of the Lion Summer/Holiday Special which started in 1968, this extra-thick one-off from 1967 didn’t actually feature any of the Lion regulars, but rather adaptations and articles on ‘the Greatest Films Ever Made’, as the cover boasts. These include Thunderbirds Are Go, Batman, The Lost World, Tobruk, Quo Vadis, You Only Live Twice and others. This chunky 96 pager is in reasonable condition, a few nicks at the edges, some wear around the firm staples and as is not unusual with a comic this thick, just a hint of spine roll. Handling wear renders it slightly wavy rather than perfectly flat, but comfortably readable. 
PICTURED: LION SUMMER SPECTACULAR EPIC 1967 VG £60 SOLD

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Erle Stanley Gardner was not just the creator of Perry Mason – at the time of his death, he was the best-selling American author of all time, one of the most ingenious plotters in the field, with stunning twists and reveals. Nowhere more so than the 30 novels he wrote of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam, the most untypical pair of detectives, written under the pen name of A A Fair. We have four such mysteries, published in the contemporary Hard Case Crime imprint, which brings you the best in hardboiled crime fiction, ranging from lost noir masterpieces to new novels by today’s most powerful writers, featuring stunning original cover art in the grand pulp style. Cover art on these by Robert McGinnis and Laurel Blechman. The Knife Slipped is the ‘lost’ Cool and Lam novel, not published until the Hard Case Crime edition in 2016. More information in our catalogue. 
PICTURED: BY ERLE STANLEY GARDNER (writing as A A FAIR)
THE COUNT OF NINE Hard Case Crime 2018 1st UK PB thus VF £6 SOLD
THE KNIFE SLIPPED Hard Case Crime 2016 1st UK PB VF £6 SOLD
SHILLS CAN’T CASH CHIPS Hard Case Crime 2020 1st UK PB thus Like New £7
TURN ON THE HEAT Hard Case Crime 2017 1st UK PB thus Like New £7 SOLD

*DC: A rare treat this week with a classic from DC from 1945 extracted from the Bute Collection: an early squarebound issue of the omnibus title Comic Cavalcade (which ran from 1942 to 1954). The cover stars, Wonder Woman, Flash & Green Lantern are the big names in solo stories, but there are many other strips as well, including Hop Harrigan, Red, White & Blue and more. This is a pretty decent copy with the squarebound spine intact and a great central cover Halloween image. There is some corner wear and edge wear along the right edge, with a small scuff mark over the ‘A’ in ‘Cavalcade’. The worst flaw is a chunk off the top right cover corner of about 6cm by 2.5 cm (see scan). Firmly bound and stapled with supple off-white pages.
PICTURED: COMIC CAVALCADE #12 GD+ £200 SOLD

*DC: Six issues spanning the DC Silver/Bronze Ages as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
ADVENTURE COMICS #403 GD p £4.75 Giant starring the Legion of Super-Heroes
AQUAMAN #5 FA+ p £10
BRAVE & BOLD #38 FA p £8.50 Suicide Squad
DETECTIVE COMICS #500 FN £7.50 Anniversary Giant
INFERIOR FIVE #4 GD/VG p £3.50 Thor parody
STRANGE ADVENTURES #150 VG+ p £15.25 Atomic Knights

*Marvel: As the Marvel Universe expanded into the 1960s, it began to interact, with heroes (and villains) crossing over into each other’s titles, and, eventually, some two part stories, such as the clash between the X-Men and the Avengers in X-Men #45 and Avengers #53. Of course, Magneto was at the root of it all! It started in X-Men #45, which spotlighted a clash between Cyclops and Quicksilver, leading directly into an Avengers/X-Men confrontation in Avengers #53. Two lovely copies freshly available this week.
PICTURED:
X-MEN #45 VF p £65 Pence stamped. Beautiful copy with vibrant colour and white background. Just very minor edge wear and corner blunting. Good staples and white pages.
AVENGERS #53 VF p £100 Pence stamped. Beautiful copy with vibrant colour and white background. Just one or two stress marks at spine do not break colour. Good staples and near-white pages. SOLD

*IW/Super: We continue with our series of updates from that most esoteric publisher IW/Super. IW Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s, named for the company’s owner Israel Waldman. Comics were published under both the IW and Super imprints and were notable for publishing unauthorised Golden Age reprints of other company’s properties. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. Basically, it seemed to be whatever they could get their hands on that determined the esoteric nature of their output. Thus you get super-heroes, war, romance, western, funny animals, crime, horror, science fiction and just about every genre within their pages. Full details of what was reprinted in what are listed in our website catalogue. NB usually with newly-drawn covers. Over the next few months, we’ll be presenting a series of issues from this publisher. This week, both issues of the Human Fly (no, not the later Marvel character, but the Blue Beetle (?)) plus the first issue of two of Space Mysteries.
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
HUMAN FLY
#1 VG £15 (PICTURED) Reprints Blue Beetle #44 (Fox 1940). New cover by Carl Burgos.
#10 GD £8 Reprints Blue Beetle #46 (Fox 1940). New cover by Ross Andru.
SPACE MYSTERIES #1 VG- £35 (PICTURED) Reprints Journey Into Unknown Worlds #4 (Atlas 1950). New cover by Carl Burgos (?)

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: 22 issues of Battle Picture Library newly added from 1969-1971 between #431 and #558. All are superior condition copies, clean, bright and unmarked, with virtually no staple rust. Grades range from FN to VF; prices are between £2 and £2.50. Full details as always in our catalogue.

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for this books category, with an image for each book. This week, we return to the works of Keith Laumer who was a prolific American writer active in the second half of the 20th Century. Before taking up writing, he had careers in the US Air Force and the US Foreign Service, the latter inspiring perhaps his most famous works, the Retief series, which deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring 27th Century diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder (Retief books were featured in the first part of our Laumer update). In this second and final part of our re-listing, we have a couple of Lafayette O’Leary novels (a humorous character who manipulates his own dreams), as well as other novels including a collaboration with Rosel George Brown. More information, as always, in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL BY KEITH LAUMER
THE TIME BENDER Berkley Medallion 1966 1st US PB GD £4
TIME TRAP Berkley Medallion 1970 1st US PB VG £6
A TRACE OF MEMORY Mayflower 1968 1st UK PB GD/VG £4
THE WORLD SHUFFLER Coronet 1978 1st UK PB VG £4
WORLDS OF THE IMPERIUM Mayflower 1970 1st UK PB GD £3
WITH ROSEL GEORGE BROWN
EARTHBLOOD Berkley 1968 1st US PB GD/VG £5

*DC: Another gem from the Midas Collection this week, a CGC encapsulated copy of Superman #23 featuring a classic war periscope Nazi cover, with a striking image of Superman swimming in pursuit of a Nazi sub with a stricken sinking ship in the background, all seen through the lens of the sub in question. Cover by Jack Burnley. Stories by Don C Cameron and Jerry Siegel, art by various, all signed as by Joe Shuster. Stories feature Superman visiting an army training camp and being so impressed that he decides that he is not needed to fight this war, and that ‘our boys can handle the job alone’. Plus murder at a college, a fashion scandal and a drugs in sport story. CGC Universal blue label (unrestored), white pages, case perfect. CGC serial number: 2069234002. Prospective buyers should note the cover creasing (see image) and the CGC grader’s notes which state: ‘large, multiple crease full center of front cover breaks color’. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: SUPERMAN #23 CGC 4.0 (VG) £1,500

*DC: NOW AT A REDUCED PRICE! Batman #58 features a Penguin cover and lead story, classic ‘State-Bird Crimes’. ‘Returned’ copy, where the logo was cut off an unsold copy and returned by the newsvendor for credit. The rest of the cover has bright colours and a solid image, but the covers are detached from the comic. Small split at base of spine. Staples tight at centrefold. Page quality quite decent although top of splash page is a little mottled where it has been exposed. Benefits from logo on splash page being in a similar position to the missing cover logo. All pages complete and present.
PICTURED: BATMAN #58 INCOMPLETE £75

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor this week: Thor was really getting into the whole pomp and grandeur thing of Asgard and the Norse myths by the time we got the stage just before the title change from Journey Into Mystery to Thor. All the trappings in these issues, plus the Absorbing Man to boot. Nowhere was this apparent more so than in the splendid Tales Of Asgard back-ups; #119 featured the debuts of the Warriors Three, Hogun, Fandral and Volstagg in that issue’s back-up. Generally nice copies on offer here.
IN THIS UPDATE: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY WITH THOR
#119 VG+ p £40 (PICTURED) A Marvel Pop Art Production. 1st Warriors Three. Decent pence printed copy with some edge wear/minor creasing. Good staples and nice pages.
#121 VF+ £125 (PICTURED) A Marvel Pop Art Production. Superb copy, tight and flat, reflective cover, square corners, great staples and near white pages. SOLD
#122 GD- p £10 A Marvel Pop Art Production. Large water stain on back cover. SOLD
#123 VF £80 (PICTURED) Great copy with very minimal edge and corner wear. Reflective cover, great staples and near white pages. SOLD

*Horror 1940-1959: From the Bute Collection this week, two pre-code issues of Astonishing from Atlas, whose material in this genre was always of a consistently high standard of story and art.
PICTURED: ASTONISHING
#27 GD+ £49 Cover by Maneely, interior art by Andru, Roussos, Tuska, Fujitani and others. Some cover wrinkles, short upper spine split, moderate edge and spine wear. Good staples, nice pages.
#29 VG+ £150 Classic decapitation cover. Cover by Everett, interior art by Heath, Colan, Fujitani, Benulis, Sinnott. Glossy cover with some creasing (mostly not breaking colour), tiny crease across bottom right cover, otherwise minimal wear. Good staples, nice pages. SOLD