*DC: 1970’s Batman #222 tapped into a then-recent real-life rumour that Paul McCartney, of the iconic Beatles, had been killed and replaced by a lookalike to keep the royalties coming. In this issue, Batman & Robin meet ‘Saul Cartwright’ of the super-group ‘The Oliver Twists’, who present a suspiciously similar dilemma to the world! How does it all turn out? Hey, buy the book and find out! This slice of psychedelic era nostalgia is a bright and sharp VF+ cents copy with no pence price or overstamp and can be yours for £175. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*DC: In the comic jokingly referred to as Justice League of America #3.5, but in reality Mystery In Space #75, Kanjar Ro, arch-nemesis of the Justice League, tackles Adam Strange AND the JLA, giving readers a chance to see the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes as rendered by the stellar artistic combination of Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson. Adam Strange’s interstellar adventures are a big favourite here at 30th C., and writer Gardner Fox’s addition of the JLA to the mix made many a fannish heart beat faster back in 1962. Still does, if we’re honest. This is a lovely copy; graded FN+ because of light tanning at the page edges and very light wear at spine and top edge, but beautiful cover colour and an unmarred cover scene. FN+ p £65. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*DC: All three iterations of DC’s various tabloid series are represented in our latest update. All-New Collectors’ Edition, C-62, tells of the making of ‘Superman – the Movie!’; Famous First Editions F-4 reproduces, cover to cover, the entirety of Whiz Comics #2, first appearance of Captain Marvel/Shazam!; and the cream of this crop, Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-51, gathers the entire Batman/Ra’s Al Ghul saga in one 76-page tabloid juggernaut. Not only does the artwork of Neal Adams look stunning at the larger page size, but Adams also provided a brand-new wraparound cover for this edition! C-51 is VG+ at £20; details on the others in our online catalogue. SORRY, PICTURED ITEM NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Ms Marvel, spinning out of Captain Marvel, former background character Carol Danvers got her own set of super-powers and a whole new supporting cast (including new boss J. Jonah Jameson) as she attempted to discover the mystery behind her own origins. Although moderately successful, the series was attacked by critics who derided Carol’s derivative costume, which made her look like Captain Marvel’s sidekick, and the fact that Marvel were offering a ‘powerful, confident’ heroine who suffered from blackouts and amnesia. Despite these jibes, Ms Marvel has been a prominent member of the Marvel Universe for nearly forty years in one guise or another – whether as Ms Marvel, Binary, Warbird, or most recently the latest Captain Marvel, her chequered history has provided many intriguing plotlines. With the Captain Marvel movie, starring Carol Danvers, being a blockbuster hit worldwide, early appearances of the character are hotting up. This copy of Carol’s first solo flight is a cents copy, VF/NM at £115.

*Marvel: One of Marvel’s most successful attempts at diversifying their line in the 1970s was their cash-in on the Martial Arts craze, with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu! His inauspicious debut in Special Marvel Edition, a series previously devoted to reprints, indicated that there wasn’t much faith in Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin’s co-creation, but readers took him to their collective hearts, and more than 100 issues ensued, with a star roster of creators including Doug Moench, Gene Day and Paul Gulacy. Here, however, was where it all started, in Special Marvel Edition #15, December 1973, with the Son of Fu Manchu discovering his villainous heritage, and setting out to oppose his father. This copy of Shang-Chi’s debut is an attractive FN-, with unbroken cover colour, tight staples, and only light spine and edge wear. Shang-Chi is now in line for a big screen debut – Marvel doubtless hoping to repeat the ‘outsider’ successes of Black Panther and Captain Marvel – so this debut will only increase in price. Never distributed in the UK, and therefore doubly sought after, on these shores, this FN- copy is on sale at £125. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: After a long run as the co-star of Tales of Suspense, Iron Man was given his own title in 1968, when the ‘Berlin Wall’ of Marvel’s distribution came down, and they were allowed to expand their range of titles. New in this week, a copy of Iron Man’s first solo issue, with Gene Colan’s hyperkinetic art driving the drama onward! This is a FA p copy, with notable wear at edges and corners, but the predominant drawback is light ink staining at the top cover, which has penetrated to the inside front cover, though mercifully not to the interior pages. Other than that, it would be a sound mid-grade copy, and given Iron Man’s pivotal status in the Marvel Universe, both Comic and Cinematic, this becomes a very affordable key issue. FA p £50. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: With #158, the, let’s be honest, creatively moribund Daredevil series got an influx of talent, as Frank Miller took over the artwork, and the title was restored to its heyday of visual excitement. This issue was springboard for the later critically-acclaimed run by Miller as writer/artist. (Once, cuckoo-like, he had gotten scripter Roger McKenzie removed from the book!) This copy of Daredevil #158 is a VF+ pence copy, with only the tiniest of irregularities at the top cover edge preventing a higher grade; on sale at £65.

*Marvel: The implacable robotic Sentinels, nemeses of the X-Men, have loomed large in the history of Marvel’s Mutant Heroes, making multiple appearances, each more fearsome than the last. The creations of a man determined to expunge the mutant genome from humanity, they emphasise the X-Men’s ‘otherness’, which is why they resonate so strongly with the readership – and in a world where fascism seems sadly to be coming back into fashion, they’re more relevant than ever! This is the first appearance of the Sentinels, an apparent FN p copy, with vivid unfaded red background and only very minor wear at spine, but a subtly trimmed right edge, not affecting the story pages. Priced to shift at £50. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: A chunky update to our stocks of Fantastic Four this week between issues #81 and #200, plus  Annual and Giant-Size. Highlights include #94 (debut of Agatha Harkness VF- £30), #112 (classic Hulk Vs Thing cover VG £30) and Giant-Size #4 (1st Madrox the Multiple Man GD+ £9).

*EC: Although best remembered today for its horror, crime and sci-fi titles, EC, after being attacked by censorious cretins in the 1950s, retrenched with a series of ‘New Trend’ titles, spotlighting different genres, still with the same outstanding stable of artists. Although the ‘New Trend’ series flopped, none of them lasting more than five issues, they remain examples of the pinnacle of comics art from the period. We have a selection of EC’s in this week – from the ‘classic’ line-up, we have additions to Shock SuspenStories and Two-Fisted Tales, and from the ‘New Trend’, new copies of the twist-ending anthology Impact and Piracy – the topic of which should really be obvious. Mostly in mid to low grades, and therefore very affordable. Depicted are Piracy #2 FN/VF at £85 and Shock SuspenStories #17 GD+ £35.

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Our Slab Happy update this week takes a dip into Marvel’s 1970s horror revival, with their award-winning Man-Thing and Tomb of Dracula series. All three are cents copies, and CGC Blue Label (unrestored) copies, immaculate in their – appropriately enough – plastic coffins. Man-Thing #12 is 9.4 (NM) at £25, Tomb of Dracula #6 is 9.0 (VF/NM) at £65 and Tomb of Dracula #51 is 9.4 (NM) at £30. If you’ve ever been slab-curious, here’s an affordable way to start!

*Alan Class Reprints: We have now secured direct from Alan Class himself the final Printing Plate sets which accompany his comics reprinting classics from the early days of Marvel. We’re launching this unique event with the most famous and in-demand Alan Class title of them all: Creepy Worlds #32, reprinting Fantastic Four #1 (cover and content).

So, you’ve got all the Marvel Comics there are? Actually — no, because this set comprises not only the comic Creepy Worlds #32, rare and highly sought after in its own right, but also the four colour cover lead plates produced by Alan Class used to print the cover, and a certificate of authenticity hand-signed by the publisher. As such, this is a one of a kind item, absolutely the only one there is.

In common with some other Alan Class issues we’ve seen, this copy of Creepy Worlds #32 features several small but significant differences from the final cover image of Fantastic Four #1 as it was originally published. The image is wider, showing more of the car the Thing is pushing aside; Sue’s word balloon has been repositioned; the ‘Featuring’ Box at the cover’s right has been dropped, obscuring parts of the shopfronts which are visible on FF #1’s cover; and the pedestrians/bystanders on the cover’s right differ – there are only three of them as opposed to five, and one is posed completely differently from FF #1 (Actually stepping on Reed’s word balloon!).

While the balloon and blurb repositioning could be explained as necessary accommodations to the different logos, the artistic differences are trickier to explain. Alan has said that his comics were taken reproduced from stats sent over from America, and we suspect, though we cannot confirm, that the cover stats were taken from the original art pre-correction, so that, although this version appeared after FF #1, it’s actually an older version of the drawing.

The comic itself is graded VG; the squarebound spine is sound, with minimal wear at upper and lower edges, but no missing pieces. Interior pages all firmly attached, no looseness or wear. There are two light diagonal creases, barely visible, on the front cover, not breaking cover colour, and a light patch of foxing visible on the white cover parts between the creature’s right elbow and the Torch’s head. Again, not deep enough to mar the cover image. Cover colours are bright and vivid, and there’s quite a bit of cover gloss. The lead printing plates show how the cover was built up in its various colours and all bear vivid residue of the (dry) coloured inks used.

This unique set, comic, four printing plates, and Certificate of Authenticity signed by publisher Alan Class, are priced at £1,500. Images are shown below, comprising front and back cover and splash page (high resolution images available on request) plus the four plates.

More Marvelous Alan Class Printing Plate sets coming soon!

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Football has always been a popular theme of British comics, but Scorcher, launching in 1970, was one of the earliest weeklies to make it an all-consuming theme. Given its respectable five-year run, the creators did a decent job of it, even if there was a lot of imagination-stretching to introduce variations: ‘Lags Eleven’ (footballing convicts), ‘Lord Rumsey’s Rovers’ (footballing aristocrats), the superbly bonkers ‘Kangaroo Kid’ (footballing feral child raised by marsupials) and ‘Billy’s Boots’, in which a klutzy lad finds a magically-endowed pair of boots belonging to a legendary player, and gains his skills from them – so, cheating, basically. ‘Billy’s Boots’ was the strip that Would Not Die, running for many years after Scorcher’s demise in Tiger, and reappearing in the 1990s in Striker. We are chuffed to welcome the first three issues into stock, in exceptional grades. From the same source as our ‘Immaculate Annuals’ selections – see other updates for details – these are uncirculated copies from a newsagent’s stockpile, in beautiful condition. The copies themselves are clean and fresh, VF, with only the very slightest edge discolouration from long-term storage, but tight corners and clean, firm staples. The free gift wallcharts – ‘Your Team Records’ in #1, ‘Your Team Progress’ in #2, and ‘The Road to the FA Cup’ in #3 – having been stored flat all these decades, are nearly perfect NM (we haven’t pictured these, but trust us, they are present!). Issue #1 VF with Gift NM is £75; issues #2 & #3, each VF with Free Gift NM, are £50 each. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Continuing our restocks of Micron’s Combat Picture Library, we have most issues new in, averaging Fine with several VF, from #201 to 255, after which it changed format and tried to look a little bit less like Commando! As noted in previous updates, Combat, particularly the earlier issues, is less frequently seen than its contemporaries, so we’re delighted to welcome this selection into our inventory.

*Girls’ Comics: By the 1970s, June had shed her long-time stablemate School Friend, and this decade saw her flirting with other titles, reflected in these extra-thick Holiday Specials; in 1972 it was June & Sandie, and in the latter half of the 70s it had switched to June & Pixie. Regardless of the co-star, the line-up remained reliable: ‘Bessie Bunter’, ‘Wee Sue’, ‘My Name Is Nobody’, ‘Lucky’s Living Doll’, ‘The Strangest Stories Ever Told’ and other favourites abounded. We have three of the scarce June Holiday Specials back in stock. 1972 is FN £60 (light foxing at left cover edge), 1975 is FN £50 (slight spine roll), and 1976 is VF £60.

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  T – Z
and in our British section:
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Collected Editions: Mentioned in a previous update as ‘forthcoming’, Charley’s War Volume Two: Brothers In Arms, is now back in print from those lovely people at Rebellion, meaning that all three volumes of the Definitive Edition, remastered from the original art with all colour pages restored, are now available. For those of you who haven’t read Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun’s dark saga of an ordinary young soldier in World War II, it’s justly one of the more acclaimed series in British comics history. With the re-issue of Volume Two, all three Definitive Editions are brand new at £20 each.

There is currently a fault on the BT line that services our card machine, so we are unable at present to take payment by card either over the phone or at the counter. We are hoping that BT are able to fix this as soon as possible, and will update here again as soon as the problem is fixed.

In the meantime, can we suggest that if you normally pay by card by phone that you consider making payment by bank transfer? It’s quick, easy and once you set us up on your online banking system, payment takes only seconds. It also saves you the trouble of getting through to us by phone (which can be difficult due to our level of business).

Our bank details are:
Bank: Lloyds
Account Name: 30th Century Comics
Account Number: 00547216
Branch Sort Code: 30-91-54

If you’re visting the shop during this period, you’ll need to pay by cash; there is a cashpoint a few yards from the shop across Lower Richmond Road outside Sainsburys.

*DC: The already critically-acclaimed New Teen Titans series by Wolfman and Perez took a surprising and significant turn right in the middle of the ‘Judas Contract’ storyline, when Dick Grayson, having decided to put away childish things, stepped out of Batman’s shadow and abandoned the Robin identity, taking on the mantle of Nightwing, an identity which – setting aside a couple of ‘wobbles’ – he’s maintained ever since! Tales of the New Teen Titans ( a minor title change from its original New Teen Titans designation) #44 saw the first appearance of Dick as Nightwing, and we have this important issue available, NM- p at £55.

*DC: A quartet of Silver Age issues of the Brave & the Bold, the series which by the mid-Sixties had become essentially a third Batman title, with the Gotham Guardian pairing with a new co-star each issue. The four issues listed this update have only two things in common: the inevitable presence of the Caped Crusader, and the fact that they are all in superb high grades, unusually so for the vintage. In issue #59, Batman and Green Lantern tackle the reality-warping Time Commander, a villain making his debut that issue; in issue #64, Batman and Eclipso, ordinarily a villain, work together on the side of good to battle the shapely Queen Bee; in #71, Batman and Green Arrow battle a Native American legend and in #84, Batman meets Sgt. Rock, living legend of World War II, in a story with art by the illustrious Neal Adams. As stated earlier, all of these issues are in exceptional condition, cents copies with no UK pricing, firm staples at cover and centrefold, tight sharp corners, and stunning vivid cover colour and gloss. #59 VF £57, #64 NM- £80, #71 NM £90 and #84 NM- £125.

*Marvel: One of the most sought-after story arcs of the 1960s is the trinity of Fantastic Four issues which introduced the Silver Surfer, a cosmic-powered being the equal of the combined FF… and the Surfer’s master, Galactus, an entity of even more monstrous might! Both became major figures in the Marvel Universe, with the Surfer repenting his role as Galactus’ herald and choosing the side of justice, while Galactus’ insatiable hunger drives him ever onwards to heinous acts. We have all three parts of this epochal story back in stock: Fantastic Four #48 is VG, cover and body of book detached from lower staple and a small (approx. 1/2″) lower spine split; the cover image is bright and vibrant with unfaded colours, corners sharp with minimal edge wear. #49 is FN – the first cover appearances of both the Silver Surfer and Galactus, this is an outstanding copy with only two minor flaws, a light diagonal cover crease upper right corner, and a ’10c’ sticker which has been superimposed on the original 12c price. Rounding out the trilogy, #50 concludes the saga and features the first appearance of Wyatt Wingfoot, long-time ally of the FF (and in later years main squeeze of the Sensational She-Hulk), who was the first significant Native American character of the Marvel Universe. This is a VG+ copy, with a light vertical crease, only intermittently breaking cover colour, and a tiny chip out of the right cover edge. All three of these milestone issues are cents copies, with no UK pricing. To summarise: FF #48 VG £600, #49 FN £450 and #50 VG+ £125. Shown below are front and back covers and splash page of #48 and front covers of #49 & #50; high resolution images of #48 are available on request.

*Marvel: Yes! It’s true! After several copies of Gambit’s debut have passed through our hands, we’ve finally run out of ‘Allo, Allo’ themed openings! But while this issue is a frequent visitor to our shelves, it never languishes for long. In August 1990’s X-Men #266, while temporarily de-aged to childhood (don’t you hate it when that happens?), Storm met a charismatic thief named Gambit, who aided her in escaping from the Shadow King. Unlike many one-off guest-stars, however, Gambit caught on with the reading public, and stuck around to become a mainstay of the team – fortunately ditching his original costume of pervy knickers, stripey tights and flasher-mac in favour of a more conservative ensemble! The recently-wed ‘Mr.Rogue’ (oops, sorry, spoilers…) has been a hugely popular X-Man ever since, and his full debut is always a hot choice with buyers. But because we’re too good to you, we’re adding in his first cameo appearance in X-Men Annual #14, playing a small but pivotal part in the ‘Days of Future Present’ saga. X-Men Annual #14 is NM £35; X-Men #266 is a respectable copy, with the main flaws two barely discernable creases (one vertical, one horizontal) across the logo area (faint and not breaking the cover colour), minor spine ‘ticks’, a tiny amount of wear at top and bottom spine and around the staples. FN+ cents at £50.

*Marvel: Response to the Claremont/Miller Wolverine mini-series of 1982 was such that Marvel began working on a Wolverine ongoing title almost immediately, but owing to editorial clashes, the series didn’t actually make its debut until 1988. Chris Claremont continued the scripting chores on the adventures of Marvel’s favourite mutant, now an entrepreneur/crimelord in the rogue nation of Madripoor, with art by the superlative team of John Buscema and Al Williamson. This is a superior NM- pence copy, with only the very lightest of spine stresses (not breaking cover colour) preventing a still higher grade. On sale at £40.

*Marvel: Hela, Norse Goddess of Death, had made a brief earlier appearance in the ‘Tales of Asgard’ back-up feature, but Thor #150 saw her first appearance in the mainstream continuity – and quite a debut it was, as her eldritch powers overwhelmed even Thor’s Asgardian might, in this Lee & Kirby classic. Now, of course, having been retconned as Thor and Loki’s older sister as of the ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ movie, Hela is hotly pursued – and this is a very affordable copy of her earliest full appearance. VG+, pence, with only light spine & edge wear but vivid deep colour and unmarred cover scene, it is on sale at £40. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Launched in 1972 as an ingenious copyright-saving legal trick, Marvel Team-Up paired Spider-Man (or occasionally the Human Torch) with other luminaries from the Marvel Universe, giving each of the guest-stars his or her own comic with their logo on the front, thereby assuring the legal bods that they’d been ‘published’, and asserting Marvel’s right to the character. likeness and logo. It was a cute legal trick with an unexpected benefit; because the overwhelming majority of the stories were done in one issue, to clear the field for the next guest, readers could pick up an issue of MTU and enjoy it without having to commit to the continued stories which, even then, were Marvel’s trademark. In short order, Marvel Team-Up was followed by Marvel Two-In-One, where the Fantastic Four’s Thing met, fought beside, and often fought against other Marvel super-stars. Both series lasted a healthy 100 or more issues, with Annuals and Specials. Continuing the dynamic duo theme, we also refresh Super-Villain Team-Up this update; a shorter-lived title than the other two, it also had more of a ‘story arc’ structure, as Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner battled each other, then kissed and made up before turning their attention to conquering the Marvel Universe. Our replenished stock of Marvel Team-Up spans from #16 to #144, highlights including issue #95, where Bobbi Morse premiered her new costumed identity of Mockingbird, and the Frank-Miller illustrated #100, which introduced the mutant called Karma. Our run of Marvel Team-Up goes from #2 to #34, with two sensational second appearances: the Guardians of the Galaxy in issue #5, having languished in limbo for half a decade since Marvel Super-Heroes #18 and #30, with the second appearance of Spider-Woman following her debut in Marvel Spotlight #32. Finally, our Super-Villain team-Up top-up commences with #5, featuring the debut of the sinister Shroud, and includes Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1 & #2, the extra-length issues which actually pre-date the ongoing series.