*Clearance Corner: A superb opportunity from Clearance Corner this week to acquire a truly vintage selection of Free Gifts originally issued with comics (plus a couple of bonus items). These comprise booklets, albums, photo cards, badges etc as follows: 2 from Adventure, 5 from Hotspur, 7 from Rover, 11 from Wizard, 2 combined gifts from those titles, 1 from Triumph, 1 from Scout, 1 from Modern Boy, 1 from Schoolgirls’ Weekly, 1 from Punch and 1 otherwise unidentified book (a tiny Atlas from 1894!). All bagged and labelled with as much information as we have about them. So that’s 33 items available for just £40! Many (but far from all) are pictured here. UK postage if required would be an extra £5. 

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 files in our American/British section:
*Mad & Other Parody
and in our British section:
*Annuals
*TV & Film Related Comics
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

Today the world is full of tributes to Stan ‘The Man’ Lee and you can read all over the net about his life and works. There are also very many glowing tributes from those who knew and worked with him. All we can add is a personal perspective. As kids growing up in the 60s, all three of us here were primarily DC fans, but as the Marvel Age of Comics took hold, we became captivated with the universe Stan was creating, with the assistance of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and a handful of others. Stan’s heroes were people we could identify with, who had some of the same problems of normal life that we ourselves faced. 

The legacy of Stan’s work will of course live on in comics and in film; virtually all the big names you can think of in Marvel all stemmed from his pen in the 1960s. More than any other single comic creator, Stan is responsible for the success of the comics industry over close on 60 years and is the one household name everybody knows. Comic shops like ours would probably not be around without him. And, fitting that Stan should have a reputation as a nice guy — in an industry where the terms ‘legend’ and ‘icon’ are bandied about two-a-penny, no one is more deserving of those titles than The Man himself. He is a bigger legend than any of those he created, and his memory lives on every time you open a Marvel comic. 

‘Nuff Said, True Believers…

*DC/Marvel: The DC/Marvel Crossovers are always hugely popular, so we’re delighted to have a handful back in stock: the Marvel & DC Presents team-up of the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans, the Silver Surfer & Superman prestige format one-shot of 1996, and a selection of both 1996 and 1997’s Amalgam one-offs, in which the DC and Marvel Universes collided to bring us JLX! Bruce Way.ne, Agent of SHIELD! Thorion of the New Asgods! Magneto and the Magnetic Men and many more!

*Marvel: Feline-themed slinky femme fatale with a penchant for plunder and an irrational crush on a super-hero? Nope, not Selina Kyle, but a slightly less famous Cat-Woman, Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, who premiered in Amazing Spider-Man #194! Seemingly a throwaway villain, akin to dozens of others introduced in the period (The Spot? The Skinhead? Banjo, anyone?), Ms. Hardy caught on with the readership and became Spidey’s favourite ‘frenemy’, becoming seriously romantically involved with our hero for some time. Still a major player in the MU, Felicia’s debut issue is a highly desirable VF+ cents copy (no UK distributed copies of this issue), with minimal wear and excellent eye appeal – like the lady herself! On sale at £125. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Lorna Dane had met up with the X-Men in the previous issue, rescued by Iceman after being caught up in one of the bouts of anti-mutant hysteria which sweep Marvel-Earth twice a week, but it wasn’t until issue #50 that she had her Big Reveal: she was the daughter of Magneto, Master of Evil Mutants and the heir to all his power! Fortuitously, this issue was one of a handful drawn by Jim Steranko, and his innovative layouts, cinematic storytelling and nifty costume design for Lorna (who, though generally known as Polaris, didn’t formally adopt that codename until years later) made this story a gripping read with stunning visuals. To say that Lorna’s history has been convoluted is an understatement – the ‘official’ position as to whether she’s Magneto’s offspring or not has changed many times (she is at the moment, but give it a week or two…), but – except when she’s had psychotic breaks and become a villain, as you do – she’s been a stalwart member of the X-Men and/or X-Factor for decades now. This copy of her premiere is a lovely VG/FN, pence copy, light to moderate edge & corner wear but unimpeded iconic cover image, on sale at £60. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Approximately 100 new issues added to the ‘New’ (from 1975 on) X-Men, commencing with #100, in which the original and the new teams face off for the first time… or do they? Other highlights of this run include #129 (double debuts of Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde), #130 (first Dazzler), #137 (first death of Jean Grey – she does that quite a bit), #201 (1st Nathan Summers, later Cable), #212 and #213 (spectacular Wolverine/Sabretooth clash), #221 (1st Mr. Sinister), #244 (1st Jubilee) and Annual 9 (epic Asgardian cross-over with New Mutants). Also: Jean Grey scoffs stars! Psylocke gets a face lift! Rogue joins the team! Second ‘Full Gambit’! and lots more mutant madness!

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: By the 1950s, Blackhawk and his band of international adventuring aviators, having won World War II, devoted themselves to ever more outlandish adventures, battling evil scientists with monstrous, death-dealing machines, and also facing off against sundry sinister shapely ladies with exotic aliases. We have five new Blackhawk entries in our 1950s stock from Quality Comics, ranging from 1951’s #46 to 1956’s #102, all in very affordable mid to low grades. Bill Ward, Reed Crandall and others bring us Amora and her Death Patrol! The Crimson Hoods! The Doom Cloud! and the deadly but delectable trifecta of Hitla, Communa and Vampira, all in the same issue (#97). Hawk-AAA!

*War: Another of the plethora of War titles released by the company who would become Marvel, Marines In Battle flirted with historical stories a little, but rapidly coalesced around its series character ‘Iron Mike’ McGraw, a tough-as-nails ‘gyrene’ (your guess is as good as ours…) who did quite a bit of Commie-smashing in most of the series’ 25 issues. One-off stories also appeared in each issue, of course, and the usual menu of A-list artists took their turns on the title: Shores, Colan, Sinnott (as an illustrator rather than an inker), Williamson and Crandall, to name but a few. We have most of the series new in stock from 1954’s premier issue (pictured, App. FN+, £61), through to the finale, #25, in 1958.

*Marvel UK: Another tantalising top-up to Marvel UK, where all your favourite classic stories were re-edited and pasted up into all sorts of odd configurations to fit the weekly comic market. We have new stock for the regular titles Captain Britain, Complete Fantastic Four, Mighty World of Marvel, Monster Monthly, Spider-Man Comics Weekly and Thor, with four Specials – one Summer (Frantic, Marvel UK’s Mad-alike) and three Winter (Conan, Daredevil and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends). Of particular interest, we suspect, will be the Superman & Spider-Man one-off, a magazine-sized reprint of the second Supes & Spidey meeting, and Mighty World of Marvel #198, a partial reprint of Hulk #181, featuring (most of) the first appearance of Wolverine! MWOM is only PR/FA – splash page neatly coloured in, moderate wear and a thumb-sized piece out of the cover mid-spine (cover image unimpaired), but it is an affordable copy of an issue that’s soaring up in price to an unbelievable extent.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Following the success of 1969’s Whizzer & Chips launch, the USP of ‘two comics in one!’ with an inbuilt rivalry proved so popular that publishers IPC/Fleetway went back to the well with Score ‘n’ Roar, two football comics in one – neither of which had existed previously as an independent entity. The rivalry aspect was provided by brothers, ‘Jack of United’ and ‘Jimmy of City’, who played for opposing teams – and in rival halves of the comic! Other strips included young prodigy goalie ‘Peter the Cat’, supernatural striker ‘Phantom of the Forest’ and obligatory comedy team of ne’er-do-wells, ‘The Mudlarks’. We have acquired the first four issues of this popular but less frequently seen series back in stock, all in Fine condition. Issue #1 is £45; #2 & #3 are £20 each. For the rest of our Score ‘n’ Roar stock, please see our online catalogue. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Clearance Corner:  This week’s bargain lot comprises 17 issues (inc. #1) of the British (faux American) comic from the 1950s featuring Pecos Bill, ‘the legendary hero of Texas’. Despite the character being from American folklore, this series originated in Italy and was reprinted for the British market by L Miller. (NB one of these issues is from the Westworld 1970s series). We’re offering this lot for the ridiculous price of just £10. Grades range from FA to FN. (UK postage, if required, would be an extra £3.50).

*DC: In the wake of the successful Silver Age revivals of Flash and Green Lantern, DC decided to try one of their most popular Golden Age characters, Hawkman, recast in a ‘Space-Age’ mode. This version was Katar Hol, police officer sent from Thanagar to study Earth law-enforcement customs, and his helpmate Hawkgirl was no silly debutante as in the original, but both his colleague in policing and his wife. A husband-and-wife superhero team was virtually unheard-of at that time, and Gardner Fox’s scripting presented the Hawks as a true partnership of equals, with derring-do all over Earth and on other worlds. After two successful runs in Brave & Bold, and a short series in Mystery In Space, Hawkman was awarded his own series, superbly illustrated by Murphy Anderson, and we have the first issue of that ongoing back in stock. This is a cents copy, with no UK price marking, sound and attractive, with good colour, decent interiors and an unmarred cover image, but the cover is detached from the bottom staple, and there is a small lower spine split. GD/VG at £60. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*DC: The crusading aquanauts, the Sea Devils, created by Bob Kanigher and Russ Heath, were one of DC’s more ‘out there’ properties – clearly inspired by the TV show Sea Hunt, then still in syndication, the exploits of four diverse divers – a brain, a brawn, a babe, and a brat – seems like an unlikely hit, but the series embraced the phantasmagorical, with hidden undersea realms, fantastic creatures and mythical figures stalking a surprisingly busy and congested ocean. We have new copies of issues between #8 and #29 of the first series, all previously unrepresented in our inventory, and all in mid to high grades, the lowest being a VG+ and the highest a sparkling VF+. Dive! Dive! Dive!

*Marvel: While early issues of the Amazing Spider-Man are always popular, the debuts of his major villains are the hot-button items, and this is one of the hottest. Issue #3 of Spider-Man’s series saw the first appearance of Doctor Otto Octavius, a.k.a. Doctor Octopus, the villain who, perhaps jointly with the Green Goblin, is regarded as our hero’s definitive nemesis. Doc Ock (as he’s familiarly known) has been the bête noire of Spidey for decades, but this is where the vendetta began. This copy of #3 is GD-. Sound, but a little tired, moderate spine wear and a small nondescript cover scribble beneath Doc Ock’s lower left tentacle which, if you weren’t paying attention, could be taken for part of the cover background. There are similar light pen markings on the back cover and on the lower splash page, but the story itself is unmarred. There is also a small (approx 1.5″) tear on the upper back cover edge. Nevertheless, nice unspoilt cover image, and decent page quality. GD- p £400. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: By its tenth issue, Wolfman and Colan’s highly-acclaimed run on Tomb of Dracula was in full swing, racking up plaudits from critics and fans alike, when suddenly there came a character who was to outstrip even the success of his comic-book ‘parent’. Blade the Vampire Slayer debuted in issue #10, and, numerous comic-book appearances and a highly successful movie trilogy (Marvel’s first such, in fact) behind him, remains one of the more enduring breakthrough characters of the 1970s. This is a Pence copy, in superior FN/VF condition, excellent cover colour and gloss, firm staples at spine and centrefold, only very faint wear at lower cover edge precluding higher grade. FN/VF p £250. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Our Atlas Explosion mega event turns to crime this week. The crime genre mushroomed in the mid-to-late 1940s, with gats, gunsels and dangerous dames abounding from every publisher, inspired largely by the success of Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay, the series most famously condemned for its excessive violence. Ever vigilant for a new trend, Timely/Atlas was an early adopter, with All-True Crime taking over the numbering of the sadly defunct Sub-Mariner series in 1948. For 24 issues, until 1952, All-True Crime hypocritically lectured the youth of America on the delinquent practices that they should avoid – while showing them, often in great detail, how to pull of the heists and con tricks! We have 12 issues between #31 (pictured GD £12) to the final issue #52, newly arrived; grades ranging from FA to VG.

*Western: The long-running series Gunsmoke Western ran from 1955 to 1963, commencing with #32, taking over the numbering from the defunct Tales of the Black Rider series. It is of course entirely coincidental that a popular and long-running TV show, Gunsmoke, debuted earlier in the same year, 1955, as this sound-alike title, ahem ahem. Gunsmoke Western relied on the established star power of Kid Colt, paired at first with Billy Buckskin, who swiftly made way for Wyatt Earp as Colt’s long-term stablemate, with occasional later visits from Two-Gun Kid Mk I. In addition to Maneely and Severin as the mainstays, other prominent artists were ‘Mad’ alumnus Jack Davis, and Jack Kirby towards the end of the run. We have 28 of the 46 issues, ranging from the premier issue, #32, through to 1960’s #61, in a wide variety of grades. Illustrated are issues #46 (VF £56) and #47 (VF £60). The remainder can be rounded up in our online catalogue.

*Collected Editions: Two more much-anticipated entries in Rebellion Publishing’s Treasury of British Comics Series. Black Max, originally seen in Thunder weekly, was a German pilot of World War II, Maximillien Von Klorr, who is not only the scourge of the Tommies in his own right, but also commands a squadron of deadly, giant bats who fight at his side! Well, obviously. Frank Pepper and Ken Mennell created the strip, with Pepper scripting. Eric Bradbury and Alfonso Font are the artists in this volume, which also encompasses the strip’s leap-over to Lion after Thunder’s cancellation. From the 1980s we welcome volume 1 of The Thirteenth Floor, revolving around a housing estate called Maxwell Towers, and the AI who runs it, a computer named Max, who’s very good to his tenants… unless they start behaving badly, in which case Max’s punishments for delinquent behaviour beat the heck out of ASBOs! This slender concept proved hugely popular with the readers of Scream! and Eagle Mk. II and John Wagner, Alan Grant and Jose Ortiz (with occasional guests) provide ironic twist-ending comeuppances a’plenty for various malfeasants. Both these compilations are brand new paperbacks: Black Max at £11, Thirteenth Floor at £15.

*TV & Film Related Comics: Almost thirty new issues from these years, previously almost unrepresented in our stock. Primarily sought after by Doctor Who completists, as by this time the Time Lord’s comic-strip adventures had rejoined TV Comic after their sojourn in Countdown/TV Action, but the popular franchises Star Trek and Tarzan also had all-new adventures in every issue, as well as old reliables Tom & Jerry, Pink Panther, Basil Brush, Popeye, Mighty Moth and the TV Terrors!

*Humour Comics: Home of Mickey the Monkey, Foxy, Beryl the Peril, Figaro and the Whizzers From Oz, among myriad others, the over-sized tabloid Topper delighted generations from its inception in 1953 to its closure in 1990. Here we have a new selection of mostly previously-unlisted issues from 1968, 1969 and 1971, almost forty numbers in all, in very affordable mid-grades.

*Undergrounds: Something uniquely quirky this update. In 1973, Bruce Hershenson published Steve Ditko’s Avenging World, an underground comic which followed on from Ditko’s earlier Mr. A (himself an extreme version of the Question, whom Ditko created for Charlton Comics). While Mr. A had a titular hero and a narrative, while still presenting extreme and uncompromising viewpoints, Avenging World is Ditko’s excoriation of all that was wrong in the world in 1973 – and, given that the work has been subsequently reprinted many times, the challenges, whether one agrees with Ditko’s assessment of them or not, are still faced by the world today.

In 1984, Ditko, in conjunction with Robin Snyder, released a limited number of the first printings of Avenging World with Ditko’s signature. This signed copy is one of a handful such gifted to the late Martin Skidmore, via Snyder, in acknowledgment of the contributors to a Ditko feature in Martin Skidmore’s fanzine Fantasy Advertiser. This specific copy belonged to the artist/colourist Steve Whitaker, who passed away in 2008, and was recently sent to us by a member of his family. While, I emphasise, we have no physical evidence of provenance, Robin Snyder, when contacted, was gracious enough to confirm that the Ditko signature is genuine.

In our twenty-five years of trading, we have not previously encountered another signed Steve Ditko comic – in fact, he was notorious for refusing to sign comics he had worked on, when requested – so we believe this to be a rare item indeed. The condition of the comic itself is VG+  (Steve Whitaker, bless him, was not meticulous with his collection, which he used as working reference) and, while sound, shows wear at the edges, particularly at the top and bottom spine. Interior pages are clean and unmarred. We are offering this virtually unique item at £300. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

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 files in our American section:
*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics
and in our American/British section:
*Tarzan/E R Burroughs
*Phantom
*Flash Gordon
*Spirit
*Modesty Blaise
and in our British section:
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material
and in our Books Section:
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*DC: One of DC’s longest-running and best-remembered series, Adventure Comics is now replenished with 20+ issues from #266 through to #495. At various times this starred not only the Boy of Steel, but also Aquaman, Green Arrow, Tales of the Bizarro World, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Supergirl, Zatanna and more. Highlights of the run include an Aquagirl prototype in #266, #267 with the second-ever appearance of the Legion of Super-Heroes as Superboy’s guests, #300 with the first of the Legion’s own ongoing series, and #403, a Giant issue reprinting the entire ‘Death of Lightning Lad’ saga, one of DC’s earliest ‘story arcs’, though they hadn’t coined the term then. What, you’re detecting a Legion bias here? Don’t look so surprised, bearing in mind the name of our business…

*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, normally regarded only as an inker but here supplying full artwork. This lovely relaunch is an attractive VG, pence copy, sound at staples, high gloss, vibrant colour and only two diagonal upper cover creases preventing a higher grade. On sale at £65. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD