*Marvel: Marvel’s ‘women’s comics’ line of the early 1970s was a conscientious, if misjudged, attempt to broaden the readership by putting female characters and female creators in the spotlight. Sadly, the lack of experienced women in the industry, and some creative inconsistencies, meant that it was short-lived and badly-supported , with all three titles cancelled after four or five issues. Its longest legacy – no disrespect to Shanna the She-Devil or Night Nurse – was the Cat, whose first super-heroic career may have been brief, but who was later reworked into Tigra the Were-Woman, while her old costume was passed on to Patsy Walker as Hellcat, so Marvel got a twofer – two successful characters for one failed one! Not that the Cat didn’t show promise; issue #1’s origin is drawn by Marie Severin and Wally Wood, and is absolutely lovely. PICTURED: CAT #1 FN/VF £55

*Marvel: The tabloid-sized Treasury Editions published by Marvel from 1974 to the 1980s may not have caught on as a permanent format, but they certainly have their fans, particularly among a certain generation in the UK whose earliest exposure to the iconic Marvel characters was via these huge compendiums of classic adventures! We have the regular Marvel Treasury Edition series restocked, issues from #2 to #14, starring the FF, Avengers, Spider-Man, Conan and more, plus a couple of one-off Special Editions in the same format: Special Marvel Edition #1, starring the Spectacular Spider-Man; the 1974 Marvel Treasury Special – a festive medley called Giant Super-Hero Holiday Grab-Bag – and the 1976 Marvel Treasury Special, Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, an all-new epic written and drawn by Jack Kirby.
PICTURED:
MARVEL SPECIAL EDITION #1 FN+ £17.50 SOLD
MARVEL TREASURY SPECIAL VF+ £30 SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: While it looks a bit odd to the more ‘woke’ 2020s, the Jungle genre was hugely popular in the last century. In the wake of Edgar Rice Burrough’s famous Tarzan, every popular medium, including comics, was awash with implausibly-muscled, barely-clad white people hanging around in Africa saving grateful ‘natives’. Despite the unfortunate retrospective cultural baggage, many of these stories were beautifully crafted, and Fiction House, publisher of Jungle Comics, was one of the better practitioners, employing some of the finest writers and artists in the business. These three issues of Jungle Comics date between 1950 and 1952, all featuring the same line-up: peroxide Tarzan Kaanga and his shapely mate Ann, jungle psychic Tabu, Wambi the Jungle Boy (a rare non-caucasian protagonist in the genre) Captain Terry Thunder of the Congo Lancers, and Camilla, ‘Wild Girl of the Congo’. (They missed an opportunity for Camilla and Terry to team-up, since they were neighbours…) Like most Golden Age comics, creators were not credited, but informed sources tell us that writer Ruth Roche and artists Bob Kubbers, Jack Kamen and Enrico Bagnoli, among others, contributed to these issues, with the lead Kaanga story and accompanying covers illustrated rather spiffily by Maurice Whitman. These are attractive mid-grade specimens. #130 is VG/FN, with the only drawback being that a previous owner has attempted to brighten up the logo by applying whiteout on the letter ‘N’. Issue #139 is GD, off top staple, and #149 is FA, with considerable spine wear and writing on the cover logo. Full details, of course, in our online catalogue.
PICTURED: JUNGLE COMICS #130 VG/FN £43

*Alan Class Reprints: Five more plate sets from the Alan Class Private Collection, each one reprinting a story from the Silver Age of Marvel’s super-heroes – in most cases, as previously remarked, the first reprinting of these classic tales, very shortly after their first release! All five sets feature, in addition to publisher Alan Class’s file copies of the comics, the four lead printing plate sets originally used in production, plus a hand-signed Certificate of authenticity from Alan Class himself. All sets are supplied in a plastic presentation/display case.

Astounding Stories #63 reprints Avengers 56, ‘Death Be Not Proud!’ a time-travelling classic by Thomas and Buscema. Creepy Worlds #120 reprints Silver Surfer #11, from the highly-acclaimed original series by Lee and Buscema. Secrets of the Unknown #52 presents both tales from Strange Tales #120, the lead with the Human Torch teaming with X-Men’s Iceman, and the Doctor Strange tale ‘House of Shadows!’, the former by Kirby, the latter by Ditko. As a bonus, this set also includes an additional comic, SOTU #131, featuring the same content. Sinister Tales #108 reprints the origin of the Living Monolith from X-Men #56, illustrated by Neal Adams, plus the three part origin of the Angel from issues #54 to #56. And last but far from least, Suspense #61 reprints Tales of Suspense #48, the debut of Iron Man’s more streamlined and familiar red & gold armour. This comes with two interior printing plates, one of which is the Iron Man splash page. Full details, as always, in our catalogue.
PICTURED: SUSPENSE #61 VG/FN: PRINTING PLATE SET £50

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: This week, we set our sights on sport, with three Summer/Holiday Specials partly or wholly themed around the sporting life. Jag Football Special, from 1968, features articles and photos of real-life football and footballers, as well as ample comic strip content. This 96-page stonker is VG, sound and firm at staples, with minimal corner and edge wear, and a slightly faded spine. Best of Billy’s Boots from 1990 is an oddity, collecting the popular strip from Scorcher long after its demise, as a one-off. This bright and tight copy is graded VF, and features a cover-touted introduction by Kathy Tayler, who was presumably famous at the time. Victor, of course, wasn’t entirely devoted to sport, but its 1971 Summer Special’s 40 pages were 50% sporty, between the Tough of the Track, the Boyhood of Lester Piggott and sundry other boxing, cricket and motor-racing stories, fronted by manly adventures and World War II heroics. These oversized Summer Specials are getting much harder to find as the years wear on, and this VG copy, though displaying minor wear from having been stored folded for many years, is bright and unfaded, staples firmly attached.
PICTURED:
BILLY’S BOOTS HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1990 VF £15 SOLD
JAG FOOTBALL SPECIAL 1968 VG £30 SOLD
VICTOR SUMMER SPECIAL 1971 VG £30 SOLD

*Humour Comics: ‘A new comic for boys and girls’, averred this 1965 launch from DC Thomson, though it ought really to have said ‘for white boys and girls’, as the peculiar racist caricature of the titular character would surely offend and deter any readers not of the Caucasian persuasion. That aside, the series was well-crafted although seemingly aimed at a younger audience than stablemates Dandy and Beano, with an almost fairy-tale character to some of the series like ‘Dreamy Dave and Dozy Dora’ while others – ‘Freddy the Fearless Fly’, ‘Keyhole Kate’ – were retreads of old Beano stalwarts. By the late Sixties, the title aged up its target audience slightly, Sparky himself was mercifully shuffled off, and a new lead character, ‘Barney Bulldog’ took the covers, together with his life-partner, a slightly younger bulldog named Ben. Sadly, they broke up after a few years, and Barney was last seen sobbing into his pint in the Coleherne. After an interval, the cover was taken by ‘Some Mummies Do ‘Ave ‘Em’, which took its title, but nothing else, from the Michael Crawford-fronted popular sitcom. The slender premise – a family of ancient Egyptian mummies came alive after museum hours, to the consternation of the guard – was presented with verve and charm, seeing the title out to its 1977 conclusion. We have approximately 160 issues of Sparky newly added, from 1967’s #136 to 1976’s #620, including previously-unrepresented years 1973, 1974 and 1976.

Dr. Evilla celebrates the coming of 2020 with a window display of some of our top US comics currently in stock (as of the time of writing). To see large images of these, simply check out the slideshow. And all the best for the New Year to all of you from all of us at 30th Century! 

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*Childrens’ Books:  First appearing in the Magnet #1 (1908), Billy Bunter was originally a minor character in the stories of Greyfriars School, but as time went on and the stories grew in popularity, author Frank Richards (Charles Hamilton) realised the comic potential of his most famous creation, so much so that after the Magnet ceased publication in 1940, Bunter was the starring figure in his own series of novels from 1947 to 1967. We have five examples joining our stock this week (all HCs with Dust Jackets): Billy Bunter Afloat & Bunter Out Of Bounds are 1st editions, Billy Bunter’s Double a 3rd edition, and Billy Bunter Of Greyfariars School (the 1st Bunter novel) and Billy Bunter And The Blue Maurituius are faithful facsimiles published by Hawk Books. The ‘Fat Owl Of The Remove’ has now passed into legendary status as an icon of English literature, so here’s your chance to get acquainted with his antics. Yarooh!
PICTURED:
BUNTER OUT OF BOUNDS: 1ST VG/FN WITH DJ GD £35
BILLY BUNTER AND THE BLUE MAURITIUS: FACSIMILE VF WITH DJ VF £25
BILLY BUNTER’S DOUBLE: 3RD FN WITH DJ VG £30
BILLY BUNTER AFLOAT: 1ST VG/FN WITH DJ GD £35

*Marvel: In issue #22 of the Marvel Universe’s First Family, the sinister subterranean Mole Man resurfaced to perpetrate more dastardly schemes upon the surface world – but to be honest, that drama was overshadowed, in the long term, by developments in the life of the team’s distaff member. Sue Storm, the Invisible Girl, who had been mostly a bit wet and useless so far, discovered new applications of her power. Instead of merely being able to turn herself invisible, she gained the ability to render others invisible, and, more importantly, her invisible force fields, which rendered her a true asset to the team – though she was still told when and how to use them by a man for a depressingly long time, but that was the Sixties for you. This VG/FN p copy has a tiny hint of fading mid-lower cover edge, but is otherwise crisp, clean and vivid.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #22 VG/FN p £75 SOLD

*Marvel: Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, becoming discontented with his role in the Fantastic Four, strikes out with a new partner, the Acrobat, as ‘The Torrid Twosome’ (a much less mirth-inducing title then than it would be now), to the chagrin of his former partners. Needless to say, it’s all a bluff, as Johnny pretended to fall in with the Acrobat to learn his larcenous schemes – and while it was refreshing to see Johnny not played as a dupe for a change, this issue would have been glossed over as unremarkable, but for the fact that the Acrobat later resurfaced as a faux-Captain America, testing the waters for the eventual Silver Age revival of the genuine Cap. This ‘prelude to a pilot’, as it were, is FN p, with light spine wear and very slight foxing above upper staple area, but clean bright pages and firm staples.
PICTURED: STRANGE TALES #106 FN p £70

*DC: Following his debut in Green Lantern #59, in what was effectively an ‘Imaginary Story’ (though the editors didn’t call it that), Guy Gardner returned unexpectedly to the DCU in Green Lantern #116, substituting for an incapacitated Hal Jordan, and kicking off the lengthy string of appearances which led to his own series in the 1990s, as well as a lengthy term in the latter-day Justice League. Green Lantern #141, meanwhile saw the appearance of a coterie of outer-space rebels and heroes who would go on to greater things as the Omega Men. Both these latter-day milestones are back in stock; the GL 116 is VG p, light to moderate wear and with one faint book centre stamp on the cover, while #141 is a desirable VF/NM cents copy.
PICTURED: GREEN LANTERN
#116 VG p £20 SOLD
#141 VF/NM £30

*DC: We continue our run through the Silver/Bronze ages of the DCU with additions to the following titles: Suicide Squad, Superboy (lots of Legion stories prior to the title change with #197, and even more Legion thereafter), New Adventures of Superboy (#50 Anniversary issue with the Legion), Super Friends, Supergirl (1st series), Superman (including Giants and Annuals, with Annual #11 by Alan Moore), Superman Family and Swamp Thing.  

*Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man #102 saw the conclusion of a story begun in #100, when our hero, Peter Parker, suddenly became a true ‘Spider-Man’, an eight-limbed aberration. In this issue by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, Spidey battles the dual menaces of Morbius the Living Vampire (who had debuted the previous issue, but whose origin was disclosed in this), and the ever-loveable Lizard, before finding himself mercifully – ahem – ‘disarmed’ by story’s end.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #102 CBCS 8.0 VF £120

*Marvel: The first series of Marvel Feature, having been home to the successful Defenders try-out and the less successful Ant-Man series, rounded out its run with two issues teaming the Fantastic Four’s Thing with the Hulk and Iron Man, respectively. Given the successful launch of the Spider-Man starring Marvel Team-Up the previous year, it was clearly hoped that a second team-up book might be viable – and boy, was it ever! Illustrated by Jim Starlin and written by Wein and Friedrich, respectively, these done-in-one tales proved so popular that Marvel Feature was cancelled to make way on the schedules for Marvel Two-In-One, an ongoing series teaming Bashful Ben with a bewildering variety of the great and the grotty from the wider Marvel Universe. Both of these scarce Two-In-One ‘pilot’ issues, never distributed in the UK, are available in high grades.
PICTURED: MARVEL FEATURE
#11 VF £45
#12 VF- £15

*Marvel:  Writer Don McGregor’s 1970s run on the Black Panther strip in Jungle Action was renowned for its ambitious, philosophical, emotionally textured, and verbose – by Cracky, was it verbose – nature, receiving acclaim and derision in roughly equal proportions. Following Jack Kirby’s very different take on T’Challa in the Panther’s first solo series, McGregor made a return to Wakanda in a serial in Marvel Comics Presents, and subsequently in this four-part, squarebound Prestige Format series, in which T’Challa, the Black Panther, is being hunted in Wakanda by Solomon Prey, a taloned and winged villain who is also setting himself up as the kingdom’s resident illegal drug lord — while, at the same time, T’Challa decides to reunite with his former love, Monica Lynne. Duty, love, responsibility, obsession, obligation and philosophy are the themes on display, as well as a fair bit of gratuitous violence and flying dinosaurs, because, well, why wouldn’t you? So is McGregor rambling loon or unacclaimed genius… or a bit of both? Buy this complete NM Prestige Format mini-series and find out! £20 for the set of 4.
PICTURED: BLACK PANTHER: PANTHER’S PREY #1 (SET OF #1-4 NM £20)

*Marvel: A chunky update to the Sub-Mariner/Hulk era of this shared title, with many issues added between #72 & #100. A quality period, with the art of Gene Colan, Bill Everett, Marie Severin and Dan Adkins standing out.

*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: No, not X-Men – that’s a different update! – but Next Men, the science fiction series pioneered by John Byrne over at Dark Horse Comics. Though Next Men in general remains a respected run, the appeal of this issue specifically is that it’s the first full appearance of Mike Mignola’s character Hellboy, who appears in a Mignola-drawn chapter. Hellboy, of course, has been the star of two successful movie franchises, and looks to be in the public consciousness for some time to come. This is a respectable FN+ copy, with only a number of small spine ticks precluding a higher grade.
PICTURED: NEXT MEN #21 FN+ £40

*Marvel UK: Commencing in 1972, Marvel UK started re-packaging ‘vintage’ (from all of a decade previously!) stories for the British audience. This involved breaking up the book-length tales to shorter instalments for serialisation, and thereby often necessitating brand new covers and splash pages, including early work by luminaries such as Jim Starlin. We have a selection of Spider-Man Comics Weekly from its third issue up to its thirteenth, all before the mag switched from pulp to slick covers. Often the form in which a generation of readers first encountered the Marvel heroes, these UK editions, particularly the earlier, ‘pulp’ ones, are becoming harder to find as they’re snapped up by aging nostalgists.
PICTURED: SPIDER-MAN #5 FN £8 SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A latecomer to the D.C. Thomson weeklies devoted to war stories was Warlord, but its tardy arrival didn’t prevent it from being a success, running until 1986 and clocking up a very respectable 627 issues before being subsumed into its stable-mate Victor. With such features as Union Jack Jackson, Bomber Braddock, Code-Name Warlord and Young Wolf, Warlord set out to enthrall a new generation of war devotee readers. New listings for this popular series begin with issue #1 (28th September 1974) and end with #115 (4th December 1976), approximately fifty issues added to our inventory.
PICTURED: WARLORD #1 VG £15

*Girls’ Comics: The more observant of you will have noticed we’ve been working our way backward through the classic long-running girls’ comics, and this week we hit our fabulous finale with the doyenne of the girls’ weeklies, Bunty! Though not the first girl-centric comic paper, Bunty was the longest-running (1958 to 2001) and this week we present 300+ issues from almost a decade, with numbers ranging from 1967’s #498 to #986 in 1976. The Four Marys, Moira Kent, Toots and a multitude of friends are ready and waiting!

*Modern Reprints: More from Marvel’s reprint lines, including a facsimile edition of Eternals #1 (£4) and the following cheap and cheerful True Believers reprints, all at £1 each: Carol Danvers (1st app from Marvel Super-Heroes #13), Hulk Head Of Banner (Hulk #6), Annihilation Moon Dragon (1st Moon Dragon from Iron Man #54), Annihilation Nova (1st Nova from Nova #1) & X-Men Betsy Braddock (1st Betsy Braddock from Captain Britain #8-10).
PICTURED: ETERNALS #1 FACSIMILE NEW/MINT £4

Updates will resume here after Christmas, so it just remains for us to wish you all the very best for the festive season and the year ahead, and to thank you for all your custom throughout 2019. We’ll leave you with a reminder of when we’re open over the holiday period:

Monday 23rd December: Open as usual 11 a.m to 6 p.m.
Christmas Eve Tuesday 24th December: Closed
Christmas Day Wednesday 25th December: Closed
Boxing Day Thursday 26th December: Closed
Friday 27th December: Open as usual 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday 28th December: Open as usual 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monday 30th December: Open as usual 11 a.m. to 6 p m.
New Year’s Eve Tuesday 31st December: Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
New Year’s Day Wednesday 1st January: Closed
Thursday 2nd January onwards: Open as usual 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: This time we’ve added seven Robert Silverberg books. Winner of many SF awards, Silverberg wrote at an incredibly fast rate (estimated as equivalent to a novel each week), but unusually he wasn’t driven by financial necessity, as so many SF authors were. Time travel was a theme that he frequently used, and several of these books reflect that – The Masks Of Time, The Time-Hoppers and Up The Line. The other titles are Nightwings, Stepsons Of Terra, The Man In The Maze and To Open The Sky. All except The Time-Hoppers are 1st PB editions, and The Masks Of Time has stunning Bruce Pennington cover art.

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze:  From the Golden Age of crime fiction, we present seven mysteries by one of the ‘Queens Of Crime’, Ngaio Marsh, the New Zealand Dame who wrote of Inspector Alleyn in a series of novels from 1934 to 1982. She was passionate about the theatre and painting (she was also a Shakespearian producer) and these themes often appear in her work. Despite her nationality, the vast majority of her books are set in England and have a distinctive British air about them. Featured in this update are: Colour Scheme, Dead Water, False Scent, Off With His Head, Photo-Finish, Spinsters In Jeopardy and The Nursing Home Murder, all but one in an attractive Fontana cover style.

This is an early Silver Age Collection from an original owner notable for the freshness and vibrancy of the cover colours and page quality; even those with minor reading and handling wear are vastly superior to the majority of comics that have been in circulation since the 1960s. The average grade is well above Fine, with many much nicer.

We’ll be adding selections from this collection for sale here each week across the range of titles represented. These will be over a range of prices each week to suit most budgets, so that all interested collectors have an opportunity to purchase something from this special collection. Each comic will come branded with a special label and certificate of authenticity verifying it as part of the Square Mile Collection. Here’s this week’s: