*DC: For almost six years, from 1968 to 1973, Diana Prince lost her powers, gave up her costume and became the ‘New’ Wonder Woman. In the seminal issue #204, that all changed.  Her mentor during her powerless years, I Ching, was killed, and she got her powers and costume back, and there was also the challenge of Nubia in her debut. Our copy of this landmark issue is a very nice grade, with high gloss and vivid colours. Flat and tight with firm staples and white to off-white pages. Just very minor wear at bottom edge and a small amount of handling wear towards the top of the spine. A beautiful example.
PICTURED: WONDER WOMAN #204 VF £170

*Marvel: Not a dream! Not an imaginary tale! (How very DC-like of Marvel to use those blurbs!) How does Spidey get out of this one? Well, we’re not saying… In the 12th issue of Amazing, Spidey comes up again against the dastardly Doc Ock, with the results shown on the cover. This is a superior cents copy, with bright, reflective colours and virtually unmarked. There is just a suggestion of wear at the corners and a couple of miniscule stress marks at the spine, but the copy is tight and flat with good staples and white to off-white pages. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12 FN/VF £700

*Marvel: Six more excerpts from the Silver/Bronze Ages of Marvel this week, as detailed below:
IN THIS UPDATE:
AMAZING ADVENTURES #16 VG- p £11.75 Beast vs Juggernaut
CAPTAIN MARVEL #2 GD/VG p £9 vs the Super-Skrull
MARVEL PREMIERE #55 VF p £10 1st Wonder Man solo
MARVEL TALES #5 GD p £4 Giant; reprints early stories of Spider-Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Human Torch
TALES OF SUSPENSE #82 GD- £5 Iron Man vs Titanium Man, Cap vs Adaptoid
TALES TO ASTONISH #79 GD/VG p £8 Sub-Mariner vs Behemoth, Hulk vs Hercules

*Romance: Also from the Midas Collection this week, we feature three issues of Girls’ Romances, one of DC’s longest running romance titles, which started in 1950. Although mostly drawn by unknown artists, DC’s romance comics from this period featured a good standard of appealing art, and often very well composed and executed covers. Seldom seen, particularly over here in the UK, the Midas Collection is quite rich in this genre, with many more to follow.
PICTURED: GIRLS’ ROMANCES
#15 VG/FN £40
#18 FA/GD £13 Long spine split
#19 VG- £29

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: We have just four vintage Hotspurs left now in stock, all from 1959, where the former boys’ story paper was re-launched at #1 and re-branded as the ‘New Hotspur’ and featured mainly adventure and humour picture strips (with cover star Hotspur Harry), although text stories were still featured (such as The Boyhood Of Desperate Dan). All four early issues, now with lower prices, as follows:

IN THIS UPDATE:
NEW HOTSPUR 1959
#2 GD/VG £20 (PICTURED)
#3 VG £20 (PICTURED)
#5 FA £5
#10 FN £15 Christmas issue
SPECIAL OFFER! BUY ALL FOUR ISSUES FOR JUST £50!

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: This week, we return to the famous and long-running Sexton Blake Library. Often dubbed ‘the poor man Sherlock Holmes’, there’s still no doubting the popularity of Sexton Blake, who has probably had far more fiction written of him than the world’s greatest detective. Six issues new in this week from the 1950s. These are picture library sized, but mainly text. The series ran from 1915 to 1968, These issues follow the 1956 revamp by W Howard Baker when the covers took on a more gangster/sleazy mode and were drawn by notable artists such as Reginald Heade (#315 here) and David Wright. Written by a ‘harem’ of notable writers including Wilfred McNeilly, W Howard Baker, Michael Moorcock (one of many moonlighting as house name Desmond Reid), Peter Saxon and Jack Trevor Story, the longevity of the series is testament to the quality of the plotting and writing.
PICTURED: SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY: ALL AMALGAMATED 1950s
#315: THE RIDDLE OF THE INVISIBLE MENACE by REX HARDINGE GD £8 Heade cover
#365: NIGHT BEAT by ARTHUR MACLEAN GD/VG £6
#366: REQUIEM FOR REDHEADS by W HOWARD BAKER VG £7
#367: ASSIGNMENT IN BEIRUT by JAMES STAGG VG £7
#368: DARK FRONTIER by ARTHUR MACLEAN VG £7
#369: WOMAN OF SAIGON by PETER SAXON GD £5

*DC: The Seven Soldiers of Victory were DC’s second super-hero team after the Justice Society of America, and like their more famous predecessors, were drawn from characters in DC’s anthology titles. The Seven were: Green Arrow and Speedy, the Vigilante, the Shining Knight, the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy and the Crimson Avenger (although the latter’s sidekick, Wing, was involved in their adventures, he was for some reason never regarded as a member of the team). Apart from the Shining Knight, none of them had any super-powers. They appeared in Leading Comics #1-14, created by Mort Weisinger and Mort Meskin. Like the JSA, their stories featured separate chapters for each hero (or pair) and they all teamed up for the conclusion. Two rare issues from the Bute Collection this week. I must say these seem remarkable value considering their pedigree.
PICTURED: LEADING COMICS BOTH SOLD
#3 GD £100 A self-proclaimed great scientist, (Dr. Doome!) by use of a time machine, brings five of the greatest conquerors of all time to the present and engages them to seek out the five rarest metals on Earth, all to help him build a machine that will open the gate to the future. The Soldiers come up against Alexander the Great, Nero, Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun & Napoleon. Spine worn but intact. Reinforcing tape along lower half of right front cover inner. Edge wear with significant corner blunting. Spine roll with staples firm at spine; centrefold off lower staple. A couple of minor cover creases. Pages a nice off-white with very slight tanning to some edges.
#4 PR/FA £55 Five criminals, kidnapped by a robot, have their senses heightened by a certain extract created by a Dr. Brett, in order to be used by a paralyzed man known as the 6th Sense, who plans to use them to steal five jewels. Spine worn and taped. Edge wear with nicks and severe corner blunting. Small vertical tear at top margin (only) throughout comic. Staples are in place but spine is mostly brittle with most pages loose, but all complete. 

*Marvel: From the Bute Collection, it’s always a special moment here at 30th Century when we unveil the first appearance of a major Marvel character. After the successes of the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, Stan Lee enlisted his old colleague, Bill Everett, to co-create this acrobatic avenger of the streets. Sporting a yellow and red costume intended to evoke the jester-style livery of the 1940s Daredevil, young Matt Murdock lost his sight but gained phenomenal sensory powers to compensate, using them and his athletic skills to avenge the murder of his father… and the rest was history. This is an attractive mid-grade copy of this major key issue, pence printed. The cover is clean and virtually unmarked with strong colour. Minor edge wear and corner blunting, with a tiny upper spine split and nick of less than 1 cm. There is also minor handling wear on the cover, but nothing significant. Staples are tight and firm and supple pages are white to off-white. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL #1 VG+ p £2,300 SOLD

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, 8 issues of Amazing Spider-Man between the numbers shown above. Doctor Faustus, Nova, the Punisher, the Hitman, The Green Goblin, Flash Thompson, Mary Jane, Aunt May, the Chameleon & tons more.
IN THIS UPDATE:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#170 VF £15.50
#171 FN- £10
#175 VF+ £30
#176 FN/VF £12
#177 VF- £18
#178 VF+ £18
#185 VF £14.75
#186 VF+ £16

*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. A mixed bag this week, with adventure, war, horror, science fiction and the Spirit. In all cases, these are the only issues published by IW in these series (we told you their numbering was esoteric!).
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
DYNAMIC ADVENTURES #8 VG+ £5.75 Reprints Fight Comics #53 (Fiction House 1947). New cover by Sol Brodsky.
DYNAMIC ADVENTURES #9 GD p £2.75 Reprints Escape From Devil’s Island #1 (Avon 1952) Re-touched original cover by Everett Kintsler.
PURPLE CLAW #8 GD £3.50 Reprints Purple Claw #1 (Toby 1953) with cover from #1 by Bob Brown
THE SPIRIT #11 VG/FN £10 Reprints The Spirit #19 (Quality Comics 1950) which included reprints from various Spirit sections. New cover by Joe Simon.
THE SPIRIT #12 VG/FN £10 Reprints The Spirit #17 (Quality Comics 1950) which included reprints from various Spirit sections. New cover by Joe Simon. 
STRANGE WORLDS #5 GD- £20 (PICTURED) Reprints Strange Worlds #9 (Avon 1952) New cover by Carl Burgos.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Following strong sales and a big influx of new stock, we’re totally overhauling and relisting our Eagle stock: many additions and deletions and new streamlined pricing. One of the icons of British comics’ history, Eagle started up in 1950; every issue of its twenty year run starred Dan Dare, its most famous son, as well as loads of other strips, featuring the cream of British artists and superior quality printing and paper. Volume 13 is now processed and re-listed, continuing from earlier volumes previously done. Please refer to our catalogue for details. We have no stock from Volumes 14 and 15 at present, so Volumes from 16 upwards will be dealt with over the coming weeks, but for now they remain at half the old prices in our half-price sale.

We’re taking a short break next week, after filling orders received up to 4 pm today (3rd May) and posting them next Wednesday (7th May). There will not be a Newsletter nor stock updates next Saturday, but they will be back on 17th May. After this coming Sunday 4th May, we’ll next be filling orders on 18th May. You may of course continue to place orders at any time; we will acknowledge them and reserve items for you wherever possible.

*DC: Five consecutive issues of Superman from 1959, #129-133, which is as high as the Midas Collection goes in date/issue number. By this time, the classic Silver Age lore of the Superman Family was really kicking in. Decent low grade copies all. 
PICTURED: SUPERMAN
#129 GD- £35 1st Lori Lemaris; centrefold loose.
#130 GD £47 2nd Krypto app with Superman
#131 GD £34
#132 GD £34
#133 GD £34

*Marvel: A significant latecomer to the Silver Marvel Age, the enigmatic synthezoid, the Vision premiered in Avengers #57 as a villainous pawn of the evil Ultron. Rapidly being discovered to be misguided, he was offered membership the next issue, in one of the most rapid reforms ever, and became a mainstay of the Avengers and the MU in general, particularly through his convoluted relationship with the Scarlet Witch. Based on a Simon & Kirby character from the 1940s, Roy Thomas’ love affair with all things Golden Age stood him in good stead, as the Vision captured the hearts and minds of readers worldwide… though the exquisite art by John Buscema doubtless didn’t hurt! This nice glossy copy is a little above mid-grade, pence stamped, tight and flat with good staples and flexible off-white to white pages. There is a small vertical reading crease along the middle of the spine, just breaking colour and a short crease diagonal from the top edge down to the logo of about 2+ cm; if there is a colour break from that, it’s invisible in most lights. Presents very well.
PICTURED: AVENGERS #57 FN- p £180 SOLD

*Marvel: This 1993 six-parter by Michelinie, Bagley and Lim was Venom’s first solo series, and saw the start of his transition from outright villain to reluctant anti-hero – though predictably, there were many mis-steps along the way! Establishing an uneasy truce with Spidey, Venom relocates to San Francisco, but his past deeds follow him, when the father of one of his victims enlists super-powered mercenaries to take revenge, plus he’s faced with five further symbiotes – Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher and Agony – in a highly dysfunctional family gathering! All six issues now available as a set, all in sparkling NM condition, including the foil enhanced cover to #1.
PICTURED: VENOM: LETHAL PROTECTOR #1; Set #1-6 All NM £80

*Horror 1940-1959: Beware Pre-Code Buyers Beware! There are actually two series bearing this title. From 1952, the first series only consisted of 3 issues (#10-12) published by Youthful in 1952 (previously Fantastic, subsequently Chilling Tales). The second series, published by Trojan/Merit in 1953 lasted for 14 issues, and continued the numbering from the first, before renumbering at #5 after the first four issues. Thus there are two Beware #11s. This is the first from 1952 published by Youthful and features a gruesomely lurid cover with rats by Ed Goldfarb; his and other artwork inside including Harry Harrison. Suitable horrific content. A solid copy with vibrant cover where the colours pop. Tight firm staples and white to off-white pages. Small amount off margin on one page, not affecting story. Slight mis-cut does not appear to impact on the issue. Corner blunting but only minimal amounts of edge and corner wear on this good-looking copy.
PICTURED: BEWARE #11 VG £225 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Following strong sales and a big influx of new stock, we’re totally overhauling and relisting our Eagle stock: many additions and deletions and new streamlined pricing. One of the icons of British comics’ history, Eagle started up in 1950; every issue of its twenty year run starred Dan Dare, its most famous son, as well as loads of other strips, featuring the cream of British artists and superior quality printing and paper. Volumes 11 and 12 are now processed and re-listed, continuing from earlier volumes previously done. Please refer to our catalogue for details. Volumes from 13 upwards will be dealt with over the coming weeks, but for now they remain at half the old prices in our half-price sale.

*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 reach 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. In the first part of our re-listing, we have several Retief books, as well as other novels and short stories. Part 2 of our Laumer re-working will follow soon.
PICTURED: ALL BY KEITH LAUMER
GALACTIC DIPLOMAT Berkley Medallion 1966 1st  US PB VG £10. Retief short stories
THE MONITORS Mayflower 1971 1st UK PB VG/FN £4
NINE BY LAUMER Sphere 1970 1st UK PB VG/FN £5 Short stories
ODYSSEY Baen 2002 1st US PB GD/VG £5
RETIEF AND THE WARLORDS Pocket 1978 US PB VG £4
RETIEF: EMISSARY TO THE STARS Pocket 1979 US PB VG £4 Short stories
RETIEF OF THE CDT Pocket 1978 1st US PB thus GD/VG £4 Short stories

*DC: Three early Two-Face appearances lead off our Midas Collection releases for this week, one of the classic foes from Batman’s Rogues Gallery. 
PICTURED: BATMAN
#50 PR £90 In the cover story (cover by Bob Kane), after Harvey Dent begins having nightmares of being Two-Face again, Two-Face returns to start a new crime spree. Once Batman and Robin capture him, they learn that it is Harvey’s butler Wilkins, who had masqueraded as Two-Face so that Harvey would be blamed for his crimes. Story by Bill Finger. There’s also a Vicki Vale story and a third story where Batman is training a young boy to be his new partner. All art is by Bob Kane (Batman & Robin figures only) and Lew Sayre Schwartz. This is a Poor copy with the front cover detached with many chips out and a long tear across top right corner. Extra staples have been added to the spine at the interiors. Pages are a reasonable creamy colour, tanning slightly at edges. SOLD
#68 GD/VG £400 In the cover story (cover by Win Mortimer) featuring Harvey Dent, a second Two-Face emerges, following an incident where an actor is playing the role of Harvey Dent for TV. Story by Bill Finger; art by Bob Kane and Lew Sayre Schwartz. Also features a story where crooks steal from atom bomb proof caves; art by Dick Sprang. Plus a story centring on Alfred. A reasonable copy with solid structure, some minor chipping to right edge. Historic water stain around lower staple, unobtrusive on cover, more visible on splash margin. Nice pages and staples.    
#81 GD- £260 In the cover story (cover by Win Mortimer), Harvey Dent returns as the real Two-Face after he is caught in an explosion. He sets up the death trap for the Dynamic Duo as shown on the cover. Story by David Vern, art by Dick Sprang. In the second story, Robin reveals his secret identity at school. In the third story (written by Bill Woolfolk, art by Dick Sprang), the Caped Crusaders and Vicki Vale encounter the Phantom Bandit of Gotham City. This copy has a long crease down the centre, slightly diagonal and only very faintly breaking colour. 3 cm upper spine split, corner blunting and moderate edge wear. Cover off upper staple, but staples otherwise okay. Flexible cream-coloured pages.

*DC: From the Bute Collection this week, Showcase #1, starring the Fire Fighters featuring Fireman Farrell. Whilst Farrell didn’t go on to bigger things (unless you know something I don’t) he did make occasional subsequent appearances in the DCU, and was right here to launch this legendary series that gave birth to many DC super-stars, including Flash, Green Lantern, the Atom, Challengers of the Unknown and many more. Bearing in mind Farrell’s relative non-stardom in relation to those, completist collectors may be relieved to learn that this is only a Poor copy at the fraction of the price of a decent one. The front cover is taped on to the body of the comic with old tape along most of the spine, which also extends to seal cover tears; there is also tape reinforcement along top and bottom edges. The back cover is missing, but all pages are present and the staples hold the comic together fairly firmly. 
PICTURED: SHOWCASE #1 PR £100 SOLD

*Marvel: Three quality issues of Amazing Spider-Man from the Good Doctor Collection this week, featuring some of Spidey’s less common antagonists.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#80 FN+ p £50 Chameleon. Pence printed. Nice sound copy with good colour and gloss. Just tiny edge wear and a minor amount of wear at the spine in the masthead box.
#81 FN p £40 1st Kangaroo. Pence stamped. Minor spine and handling wear, but decent copy.
#93 VG+ £35 Prowler. Minor spine and handling wear, but decent copy. 

*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, two horror issues from the Daring Adventures series. The first, #9, is out and out horror, reprinting pre-code horror; the second, #15, features a KKK type gang from the old west, plus dark crime stories, all with horror undertones.
PICTURED: DARING ADVENTURES BOTH SOLD
#9 FN £40 Reprints Blue Bolt Weird Tales Of Terror #115, Star 1952. Redrawn cover of Avon’s Eerie #6. Art by Disbrow and others. 
#15 FN £45 Reprints The Hooded Menace, Avon 1951. New cover by Joe Simon (?)

*Western: If you’re a fan of ageing Western TV and movie stars gadding about in fancy shirts in a Wild West that never quite was, then these four issues of Hopalong Cassidy from the Midas Collection will be just the thing for you. Hop (William Boyd) started out in comic form from Fawcett in 1943, moving to DC with issue #86 in 1954, lasting until #135 in 1959. Great art by the estimable Gene Colan and Gil Kane. Photo covers on early DC issues.
PICTURED: HOPALONG CASSIDY ALL SOLD
#86 GD £29 1st DC issue
#99 GD £12
#124 VG £10 Fabulous greytone cover
#131 VG £10 

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Three more books by Damon Knight new to our listings this week, showing two sides to this multi-faceted stalwart of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Natural State is a book of three long stories; Turning On  is a book of several of Knight’s short stories; A Pocketful of Stars is an anthology edited by Knight including short stories by Bova, Dickson, Ellison, Leiber, Laumer, and many more.
PICTURED: DAMON KNIGHT
NATURAL STATE AND OTHER STORIES Pan 1975 1st UK PB thus VG £3
TURNING ON Sphere 1969 1st UK PB VG £4
A POCKETFUL OF STARS Gollancz 1972 1st UK HC FN £10 With DJ FN in removeable archival film

*DC: Probably the most famous cover in all the run on this week’s Superman release from the Midas Collection. From 1942, Superman #14 features the Man of Steel on the cover with an American eagle and a backdrop of the American flag in the form of a shield. The black background features weapons of war and indeed the USA was just on the brink of entering the war when this issue went on sale in November 1941; Pearl Harbour was just a month away. Cover by Frank Ray. Four stories here, all by Jerry Siegel with art by Leo Nowak (signed as by Joe Shuster). Clark Kent uncovers robbery by hypnotism over the radio; Superman investigates the schemes of an invention thief; he then encounters a mermaid whose father’s evil adviser is planning to invade the surface world; Superman responds to a lightning storm over Metropolis and the menace of the super-villain Lightning Master.
There are two main defects with this copy: the cover is detached (cleanly) at both staples and there is a slight mark over the ‘U’ and the ‘P’ (and the eagle’s wing) in the logo where a label had previously been attached – see scan. The spine is solid (tiny nick at base) apart from the staple holes. The cover’s black background would show every flaw, but fortunately there aren’t too many – just a couple of stress marks at spine, tiny nicks at edges and corners and a couple of chips out of the right edge. The year ‘1942’ has been written in pencil above the issue number in its circle. The centrefold is loose and a date and name have been written/printed in upper and lower margins on the splash page. Pages are a supple off-white to cream with some foxing at the very edges. Overall the copy presents very well for a lower-graded example. High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: SUPERMAN #14 GD £2,000