*DC: Headlining our Midas Collection releases this week is Superman #11, with its classic cover of Superman breaking free of chains by Fred Ray. Inside are four Superman stories written by Jerry Siegel, with art by Leo Nowak (signed as by Joe Shuster), with a Paul Cassidy frontispiece. Superman outwits terrorists, investigates a giant animal plot, secures a cure to a plague threatening Metropolis and encounters a bogus con man. This is a good-looking copy with slight grubbiness at cover edges, but only fairly minor wear. Very slight dust shadow in top right corner. Staples are a little rusty with little sign of rust migration with top staple coming loose at front and with the centrefold off both staples. Page quality is a nice clean off-white to cream and there is minor foxing to inside covers. The numbers ‘943’ are written in pencil above the logo to the left and at centre right (arrival date?). All in all, a decent copy that presents well. High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: SUPERMAN #11 VG £1,100 SOLD

*DC: By the time we got to Wonder Woman #109 in 1959, Kanigher, Andru and Esposito had taken over the creative reins to portray the Silver Age Wonder Woman who would go through the 1960s and beyond. No more so than in this issue from the Midas Collection, cover starring Wonder Girl in one of her earliest adventures, with an adult back-up story. Our heroine at various stages of her life was a recurring theme at this time. This bright copy has some cover creasing which breaks colour and a faint stain on the giant’s jacket, but is structurally integral with good staples, nice off-white pages and relatively minor top edge wear. 
PICTURED: WONDER WOMAN #109 GD+ £65 SOLD

*Marvel: For those looking for affordable copies of the earliest X-Men issues, this update is for you. Two damaged copies, but both perfectly readable with complete stories. Magneto and his Brotherhood of you-know-whats abound. 
PICTURED: X-MEN
#5 PR p £50 Pence printed. The masthead box picture and the image of the Angel above the logo have both been neatly cut out. Otherwise this copy would grade better than Good. Slight right edge chipping, creasing bottom right corner, nice pages and staples. Scarlet Witch still coloured emerald on cover, as on #4 (sigh!).
#6 App FA/GD p £65 Pence printed. Guest-starring Sub-Mariner. Story pages complete, but Cyclops pin-up page has been cut out. Some spine wear and chipping. Centrefold off lower staple, hanging on to upper. Wear and chipping to edges. Scarlet Witch coloured scarlet on cover for first time (yay!). 

*Marvel: Three femmes with varying degrees of fatale this week in their costumed debuts.
PICTURED: 
HULK #228 VF £25 1st Moonstone. Karla Sofen first appeared in Captain America #192, but it was in Hulk #228 that she became the villainous Moonstone, appropriating the alien power gem from the original Moonstone.
MARVEL SUPER-HEROES WINTER SPECIAL 1991 VF £45 This 80 page giant issue featured a wide range of adventures of many of Marvel’s biggest stars, but is these days remembered for the debut of Squirrel Girl, whose genetic anomaly enabled her to communicate with squirrels; although her adventures have been light-hearted in nature, in this first tale (drawn by Steve Ditko, no less) she managed to beat Dr Doom, before going on to appear throughout the MU, including in her own series.  
MARVEL TEAM-UP #95 FN- p £15 1st Mockingbird. Bobbi Morse first appeared in Astonishing Tales #6, before going on to become Mockingbird in this issue. She went on to have a long and illustrious career, as an agent of SHIELD and a member of many Avengers teams. She married and later divorced Hawkeye. This copy has a little wear and spine creasing. 

 

*IW/Super: From the Bute Collection, 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. NB usually with newly-drawn covers. Three comics with very different subject matters this week.
IN THIS UPDATE: 
DARING ADVENTURES #16 VG/FN £8.25 (PICTURED) SOLD Reprints various Chesler comics from the early 1940s. Super-hero and detective/crime. Cover by Joe Simon.
LOVE AND MARRIAGE #12 FN £7.50 Reprints My Secret Marriage #4 (Superior 1953). Cover by Joe Simon. 
MYSTERY TALES #16 GD/VG £7.50 SOLD Reprints Tales Of Horror #2 (Toby 1952). New cover by Ross Andru. Art by Fass, Dresser, Hollingsworth & Elkin. Pre-Code Horror. 

*Alan Class Reprints: Long-time visitors to our site will remember that we’ve been selling the Printing Plates from Alan Class’s Private Archive for many years. Although they ran out in 2023, there has always been the possibility of a few more being located with the co-operation of Alan himself. Such has now happened with Creepy Worlds #41 and Suspense #52, which reprint the covers and stories of Ant-Man/Giant-Man and the Wasp from Tales To Astonish. The sets comprise the lead printing plates used in the original comic’s colour cover printing, a copy of the comic printed with these plates and a certificate of authenticity signed by Alan Class himself. These are packaged in a special protective presentation case. The quality of these plates are among the best we’ve seen. Full details follow (please remember that these sets are not available for postage to addresses outside the UK).

PICTURED:

CREEPY WORLDS #41 Comic and Plate Set £120
*Comic VG with first page loose. Reprints Ant-Man story and Jack Kirby cover from Tales To Astonish #41, plus Charlton & Atlas. Pre-decimal
*Colour cover plates: 4 with high quality definition, good colour inks.
*Signed certificate of authenticity
*Presentation case

SUSPENSE #52 Comic and Plate Set £125 SOLD
*Comic FN. Reprints Giant-Man and Tales Of The Wasp stories from Tales To Astonish #56, inc Jack Kirby cover, plus ACG and Atlas. Pre-decimal
*Colour cover plates: 4 with high quality definition, good colour inks.
*Signed certificate of authenticity
*Presentation case
*Extra: Printer’s colour cover proof

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’ve been fortunate enough to acquire a selection of British Library Crime Classics, a contemporary series which reprints classic novels from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, bound in attractive uniform editions which feature period paintings as their covers. A celebration of famous and forgotten authors and a milestone in publishing for the British Library. All books are in like new, unread condition at a uniform price of £5 each. Further information is shown in our catalogue. Here’s four more of them, including a short story anthology from Martin Edwards, the series overall editor, featuring mysteries on the waves from many famous names such as Conan Doyle, Hornung, William Hope Hodgson, C S Forester, Crispin, Innes and many more. 
PICTURED: BRITISH LIBRARY CRIME CLASSICS ALL SOLD
FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS: THE 12:30 FROM CROYDON 2016 UK PB Originally published 1934 Like New £5
MARTIN EDWARDS (Ed): DEEP WATERS 2019 1st UK PB Like New £5
J JEFFERSON FARJEON: THE Z MURDERS 2015 UK PB Originally published 1932 Like New £5
MICHAEL GILBERT: DEATH HAS DEEP ROOTS 2019 UK PB Originally published 1951 Like New £5

*DC: Also from the Midas Collection this week, five issues of Adventure Comics from 1958/59. In this period, the line-up featured cover and lead story Superboy, a delightful and charming feature including a meeting with the young Green Arrow in #258. Back-ups of Green Arrow drawn by Jack Kirby (first three) or Lee Elias (last two) and Aquaman by Ramona Fradon complete the line-up. UK Silver Age collectors are always keen to get their hands on these issues that lead up to the regular distribution of DC comics in this country starting in 1959, since they have the same feel and flavour as the earliest distributed issues.
IN THIS UPDATE: ADVENTURE COMICS
#250 FA/GD £22.50 Green Arrow by Jack Kirby
#251 VG+ £65 (PICTURED) Green Arrow by Jack Kirby SOLD
#252 GD/VG £45 (PICTURED) Green Arrow by Jack Kirby
#258 VG- £40 (PICTURED) Superboy meets young Green Arrow
#265 GD- £16 Water stain on cover SOLD

*DC: Unlike its sibling title House Of Mystery, House of Secrets started in 1956 after the Comics Code Authority came in, and thus has no pre-code issues. What it does boast is clever horror/mystery/science fiction stories by some top artists and often classic covers. These early and consecutive issues date from 1959/60 and thus span the beginning of UK distribution. They all feature the recurring Mark Merlin mysteries. 
IN THIS UPDATE: HOUSE OF SECRETS
#24 PR/FA £5 Water stained and marked cover edges. More than moderate spine wear. SOLD
#25 GD/VG £18.25 With IRS Collection certificate SOLD
#26 FA+ £7.75 Small corner off splash; story barely affected. SOLD
#27 FA/GD £9.25 Taped spine; subscription crease SOLD
#28 GD £12.25
#29 GD/VG p £16.50 (PICTURED) Pence stamped. 

*Marvel: Between the horror (pre and post code) and the fully fledged Big Panty Monster era, there was a period, as Atlas transitioned into Marvel, when science-fiction stories were dominant in both Marvel’s long-ruuning titles such as Journey Into Mystery and Strange Tales, and in the new titles on the market such as Tales Of Suspense and Tales To Astonish. Such is the case here with two issues of Journey Into Mystery from 1959. Even here there were hints of the Big Panty Monsters that were to follow, and Kirby and Ditko were already in the thick of it. 
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY
#51 VG £135 SOLD Cover by Russ Heath. Interior art by Sinnott, Maneely, Kirby, Burgos & Ditko. Nice clean copy with black background. Slight dink at base of spine looks like impact damage. Some spine and handling wear and a few horizontal creases that look like they were there during the printing process. Tight, firm staples and supple creamy pages. 
#52 VG £135 Cover by Jack Kirby. Interior art by Kirby, Maneely, Ditko, Forte, Burgos and Sinnott. Very attractive copy with slight spine roll, minor wear and creases at spine and edges, small stain to back cover spine area and tiny corner off bottom back cover left. Tight, firm staples with hint of rust and off-white to cream pages with small edge foxing. Great cover with nice gloss. 

*Marvel: Almost every issue of New Mutants between #51 and #70 added this week, the first of many X-Men spin-off titles that followed in the wake of the success of the mutant franchise in the 1970s. Featuring a wealth of top-notch creators and imaginative characters at prices that won’t break the bank. Includes the Fall Of The Mutants storyline in issues #59-61. Full details as always in our catalogue.

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Collectors should note that there are two runs of Charlton’s Bronze Age horror series Beyond the Grave. The original run comprised the first six issues from 1975-76; the numbering sequence continued into the second run #7-17 from 1983-84. The second run are all reprints from this and other Charlton series, including appearances by Charlton’s exotic horror hostess Winnie the Witch, an oft-used sobriquet, but never as sexily as in this hip-cat blue-skinned character. Lots of Ditko present throughout this entire run. The earliest issues are mid-grade, rising as high as VF in the second run.
IN THIS UPDATE: BEYOND THE GRAVE Complete Set #1-17 Av FN £80; #17 PICTURED. SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: The Fleetway Super Library series are hugely popular and eminently collectable, none more so than the series which started out as ‘Fantastic’, #1 & #2 (then changed to ‘Stupendous’ with #3). Original bumper-length stories of two of Fleetway’s most popular characters alternated: The Spider & The Steel Claw. We have 8 of the Stupendous series in this update; 132 pages each of original action, all in pretty nice to excellent shape.  

PICTURED: FLEETWAY SUPER LIBRARY: STUPENDOUS SERIES
#3 VG £20 Steel Claw: The Waves Of Peril SOLD
#5 FN £30 Steel Claw: The Cold Trail
#6 FN £30 Spider: The Bubbles Of Doom
#14 FN/VF £35 Spider: The Scarecrow’s Revenge
#17 FN/VF £35 Steel Claw: Treason By Request SOLD
#18 VG/FN £25 Spider: Dr Argo’s Challenge
#19 VG/FN £25 Steel Claw: March Of The Gorillas SOLD
#26 FN £30 Spider: Child’s Play

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: No introduction to arguably the greatest American detective writer is really needed from me here. Chandler’s books, such as The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye remain high in profile due to his fame and popularity, and their film versions are classics of film noir. He himself contributed screenplays to that genre such as Double Indemnity and Strangers On A Train. His creation, Philip Marlowe, is the quintessential American private detective, and the dry, sometimes laconic prose style of Chandler’s writing set the tone for generations of imitators to follow. He wrote seven novels and lots of short stories and we feature many of them in our catalogue. This week we’re adding three more volumes.
PICTURED: ALL BY RAYMOND CHANDLER ALL SOLD
THE BIG SLEEP Penguin 1962 9th UK PB GD/VG £8 The classic Marlowe
PEARLS ARE A NUISANCE Penguin 1964 1st UK PB GD/VG £5 Four long stories; one Marlowe
TROUBLE IS MY BUSINESS Penguin Undated circa 1950 1st UK PB GD/VG £12 Five long stories

*DC: What a significant issue this is from the Midas Collection. A striking cover by Jerry Robinson, a reverse scene of the classic cover on #9, a Joker lead story The Joker Reforms by Bob Kane, two more mysteries drawn by Jack Burnley, before the final story by Kane again, debuting Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s butler, an integral part of the Batman family ever since and star of big and small screens. This of course is the fat Alfred before he got skinny as a result of a stay at a health resort not too long after. CGC 2.5 GD+ Unrestored blue label, case perfect, white to off-white pages, CGC serial number 0205327003. An interesting sidebar to this copy is that there is a small chip missing out of the cover at the base of the spine. This chip is actually included (outside the CGC case) with handwritten correspondence which seems to be between a former owner and CGC, where the owner asks for the chip to be included inside the case, but CGC state they cannot do this since it would ‘float’ in the slab. You come across all sorts of odd things in this business… High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: BATMAN #16 CGC 2.5 GD+ £2,250

*DC: The Spectre was granted his own series following a successful try-out run in Showcase, and Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson continued their wonderful work there on the Ghostly Guardian. Both creators returned to the series for later issues, and there were also a handful of issues drawn by Neal Adams, among other distinguished creators. This first issue though continued the tone and atmosphere from the Showcase issues as the Spectre takes on Captain Skull, an 18th Century pirate with psionic powers. This is a very nice pence stamped example from the Bute Collection, with a glossy black background cover, tight, firm staples and near-white pages. There is some creasing along the right edge, which does break colour.
PICTURED: SPECTRE #1 VG p £50

*Marvel: Both the Cobra and Mr Hyde had previously been defeated by Thor, but when they teamed up in Journey Into Mystery #105, they formed a formidable partnership to menace the God of Thunder in a two-part adventure continuing into #106. They were back again in #111, with the life of Jane Foster hanging on Asgard intervention. Also in this update, the Grey Gargoyle is back in #113, with Thor’s secret identity at stake. 
IN THIS UPDATE: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY
#105 FA p £10.25 SOLD Pence printed. Three punch holes near spine, otherwise decent mid-grade copy.
#106 GD p £19.75 Pence printed. Book shop stamps.
#111 VG £33 (PICTURED) Felt-tip price on cover, see scan. 
#113 VG £29 Pence stamped. 

*Horror 1940-1959: Three consecutive Pre-Code issues of Atlas’s Mystic from the Bute Collection this week, in nicer grades than this type of thing commonly shows up in. All three would grace a quality horror collection. The high standards of art and story from Marvel’s predecessor are maintained. 
PICTURED: MYSTIC
#22 FN+ £300 SOLD Outstanding Mummy cover by Russ Heath, with interior matching story by Maneely. Other interior art by Forte, Eadeh & Preddy. Excellent glossy copy with great colour and no cover markings. Staples are tight and flat, pages are off-white and supple. Minor corner blunting, with very slight stress at staples, and soft, non-colour breaking crease near spine below bottom staple. Presents very well. 
#23 VG+ £175 Literally chilling cover by Russ Heath. Interior art by Rosen, Andru, Tomlinson, Brodsky & Stallman.  Cover unmarked except for arrival date in crayon above butler’s head. Minor edge wear, a little faint creasing at spine just breaks colour. Staples are tight and flat, pages are off-white and supple. Minor corner blunting with three faint creases across bottom right corner, very soft and subtle and only the shortest one showing a fine and short colour break. 
#24 VG/FN £200 Horrific alien/monster unmasking cover by Carl Burgos. Interior art by Maneely, Gil Kane/Matt Fox, Certa, Winter, DiPreta. Glossy cover with no markings. Staples are tight and flat, placed a little to the right of the spine; pages are off-white and supple. A few short stress marks at spine break colour for an mm or two. 

*Flash Gordon: Like Superman, Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood etc, Flash Gordon, the interplanetary adventurer, has become one of the iconic heroes of literature, TV and film. Created by Alex Raymond in newspaper strip form in 1934, Flash has been with us ever since, with perhaps the 1980 film featuring the Queen theme song (from which this post is taken) being the character’s highest profile outing. There have been a wealth of comic series, and this week we feature one of the best, the 1966 series that started out from King (later being taken over by Charlton and Gold Key/Whitman). We have all of the King run, plus the first Charlton issue (#11). #1, #4 & #5 are drawn by my favourite comic artist Al Willamson, with several other issues by Reed Crandall, a worthy successor. 
IN THIS UPDATE: FLASH GORDON ALL SOLD
#1 VG £13 (PICTURED)
#2 GD £3.50
#3 GD £3.50
#4 GD/VG £5
#5 VG+ £7.50
#6 GD £3.50
#7 VG+ £8
#8 FN/VF p £14.75
#9 VF+ £24
#10 FN+ £5.25
#11 VG/FN £8.25
#12 FN/VF £16

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for this books category, with an image for each book. This week, a very mixed bag. Science fantasy from Ward Moore & Avram Davidson, mind control from Dan Morgan, a famous adult fantasy from William Morris (yes, that William Morris) and an all-star science fiction anthology from Sam Moskowitz, crammed with the best of Golden Age authors. 
PICTURED: 
WARD MOORE & AVRAM DAVIDSON: JOYLEG Pyramid 1962 1st US PB VG £5
DAN MORGAN: THE MIND TRAP Corgi 1970 1st UK PB GD/VG £3
WILLIAM MORRIS: THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD Ballantine Adult Fantasy 1969 1st US PB VG/FN £8 SOLD
SAM MOSKOWITZ (Ed): MICROCOSMIC GOD MacFadden-Bartell 1968 1st US PB GD/VG £5

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: 3 early Pans this week, featuring the authors’ prime detectives. Blake’s Nigel Strangeways, Brand’s Inspector Cockrill and Marsh’s Inspector Alleyn. Befitting their age, these are not in the best of condition; notes on that may be found in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
NICHOLAS BLAKE: THERE’S TROUBLE BREWING Pan 1949 1st UK PB FA/GD £6
CHRISTIANNA BRAND: GREEN FOR DANGER Pan 1948 1st UK PB FA/GD £6
NGAIO MARSH: DIED IN THE WOOL Pan 1948 1st UK PB GD £6

*DC: This week’s complete set comes from the Bute Collection and comprises the full run of Beware the Creeper from Steve Ditko. After leaving Marvel, Ditko took his talents to the opposition, and one of his earliest creations for DC was the Creeper, the manic anti-hero who was secretly controversial broadcaster Jack Ryder. Obviously revelling in his liberation, Ditko’s art showed great vitality and energy, perfectly suiting the skewed viewpoint of his protagonist. Following his debut in Showcase #73, the Creeper was granted his own title, which ran for six issues. All six issues presented here together, all in superior grades with an average of FN+. All pencils by Ditko, except for the cover of #6 (Gil Kane) and the second half of the story in #6 (Jack Sparling). 
IN THIS UPDATE: CREEPER, BEWARE THE: Complete Set #1-6 Av FN+ £100; #1 (FN/VF) pictured. Nothing lower than FN. All pence stamped copies. SOLD

*Marvel: Following the relaxation of distribution regulations in 1968, Marvel expanded by cancelling its double-featured books Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense, giving each hero space to breathe in his own comic. Three, however, continued the numbering of their parent titles, and one such was Doctor Strange, former star of Strange Tales, whose first solo issue was numbered #169. This opening issue of Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme was a book-length retelling of his origins, scripted by Roy Thomas and lavishly illustrated by Dan Adkins, often regarded only as an inker but here supplying full and excellent artwork. This is a high grade cents copy, with beautiful gloss and colour to the cover. It’s flat with tight staples and white to off-white pages. Just the merest suggestions of edge wear and spine stress, which are extremely minor. 
PICTURED: DR STRANGE #169 VF £280

*Marvel: Six consecutive issues of Amazing Spider-Man from #110-115, featuring the first appearances of the Gibbon (#110) and Hammerhead (#113), as well as Doctor Octopus and Kraven the Hunter. 
IN THIS UPDATE: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 
#110 VG+ p £11.75 Pence printed. SOLD
#111 VG/FN p £29 Pence printed
#112 VG+ p £25 Pence printed
#113 FN/VF p £32 (PICTURED) Pence printed
#114 GD/VG p £8 Pence printed SOLD
#115 VG/FN p £29 Pence printed

*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: Along with Patsy Walker, Millie the Model was one of two Marvel primary funny girls and had numerous spin-off titles. One of these, A Date With Millie, had in fact two short series in the 1950s. This update has the first issue of the second series dating from 1959 and features, as the cover proclaims, comics, fashions, gags, games and romance. Starring Millie and her rival Chili, this standard size comic crams in loads of stories of varying length, fashion pages, gags, modelling tips (handy for all our readers) and more. This is a nice copy, with good colours, page quality and tight, firm staples. There is a tiny chip out right edge, and the remnants of a dink at the bottom spine with a little bit of non-colour breaking creasing. An uncommon item from the Bute Collection. 
PICTURED: A DATE WITH MILLIE #1 VG/FN £150