*DC: While they have a great deal of charm filtered through the veil of nostalgia, most folks agree that Batman in the late Fifties and early Sixties got a bit goofy, with monsters, aliens, robots, unexpected super-powers, and a host of Bat-caped ladies, imps and critters running around an increasingly bizarre Gotham City. This was all swept away by the ‘New Look’, which re-established Batman as serious detectives and crime-fighters – but you know what? Here at 30th Century we celebrate the nonsensical, and there’s plenty of that in this selection of Batman’s own title, from #150 to #163, the last issue before the ‘New Look’ took over. This unbroken consecutive run features – in addition to all the above mentioned tropes – some of the classic villains: the Joker, Clayface, and the Silver Age return of the Penguin in #155, the Bumbershoot Bandit having taken a sabbatical for a few years prior. Pictured are #152 FN+ £50 (Joker story, but blink and you’ll miss it) and #155 FN+ £250, the Penguin’s Return; for everything else – including a fire-breathing Ace the Bat-Hound, because why not? – check out the online lists.

*DC: More of the 1970s oversized tabloid editions issued by DC, most of which never made it over here to the Old Country in any quantity, and which are keenly sought today. We open with Famous First Edition F-4, reprinting, cover to cover, Whiz Comics #2, the first appearance of the original Captain Marvel, now known (because of interference from the House of Ideas) as Shazam! We then move on to Limited Collectors’ Edition C-21, also starring Captain Marvel/Shazam, C-39 – Secret Origins of Super-Villains – starring the Joker, Luthor, the Cheetah, Captain Cold, Sinestro and Dr. Sivana, as well as their heroic opposition; and we close with C-52, aka The Best of DC Vol. 1, with a Neal Adams cover fronting a selection of DC’s most distinguished and famous stories. Issue C-52 (VF £15) is pictured; the rest can be found in our catalogue listings.

*Marvel: A two-‘Fist’ed Slab Happy Event, with the first issue of Iron Fist’s solo series (following his successful ‘tryout’ run in Marvel Premiere) and issue #14, which saw the first appearance of a character destined to become a major villainous figure, the savage Sabretooth! Both of these outstanding items are CGC Blue Label copies, with no restoration whatsoever. The issue #1 is CGC graded 9.0 (VF/NM equivalent) at £100, and #14, CGC 7.5 (VF- equiv.) is £175. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Marvel: We here at 30th Century consider the X-Men line-up of Storm, Wolverine, etc., having been around a mere 45 years, to be a bit ‘nouveau’, so we’re always happy to see more of what we old codgers call the ‘proper’ X-Men! This week, we add four early numbers to our lists; #5, #7, #10 and #11. The first two are cataclysmic clashes with our hero’s opposites, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, with guest-villain the Blob along for the ride; issue #10 presents the debut of Ka-Zar, Lord of the Hidden Land, and his sabre-toothed chum Zabu and issue #11 saw the premier appearance of the cosmic entity known only as the Stranger. Illustrated are #10 VG- p £55 and #11 VG+ p £50. For details on the others – and all our other stock of Marvel’s Merry Mutants – check out our online listings.

*Marvel: As part of our ongoing program to expand the range of our catalogue, we’re adding the first ongoing series of Punisher to our stock this week from 1987, beginning with the very first issue and comprising dozens more plus annuals. Not everyone’s cup of tea, we’ll admit, but, as sales attest, there’s no denying the popularity of the vendetta seeking Frank Castle.

*Marvel: A large quantity of Marvel Silver/Bronze issues across a wide range of titles as follows: Battlestar Galactica (final issue), Captain Marvel (nice grade early issues), Conan (#14 with Elric), Daredevil (Miller issues), Fantastic Four (#57 and Annual #2 with Dr Doom & the Silver Surfer), Hulk (Annual #1), Giant-Size Invaders, Iron Man, Ka-Zar, Machine Man (high grade issues), Marvel Chillers (#3 with Tigra), Marvel Classics Comics, Marvel Premiere, Marvel Super-Heroes (#20 with Dr Doom), Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-In-One, New Mutants (#87 2nd printing with Cable debut), Red Sonja, Secret Wars (#1), Shogun Warriors (final issue), Son Of Satan, Star Wars, Strange Tales, Sub-Mariner (nice grade early issues) and last, but no means least, Tales Of Suspense. 

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: A briefly flourishing field after the superheroes faded in the Fifties was the ‘Spy’ sub-genre, an offshoot of the crime comics, in which daring, cool-headed agents thwarted the onset of the Red Hordes, aided, and sometimes opposed, by slinky and dangerous ladies. Atlas’ Spy Fighters was one such, launched in 1951 and starring fearless federal agent Clark Mason as he travelled the world fighting for peace… by any means necessary! We have most of Spy Fighters’ 15-issue run, from #1 (FN £72, pictured) to 1953’s #15, when the title, like most crime comics, fell foul of the incipient Comics Code.

*Western: Two short-run series for our Atlas Western update this week – plus one guest! Billy Buckskin was launched in 1956, attempting to cash in on then-current craze for all things Davy Crockett related with a junior lookalike. Despite eye-catching covers by Maneely and excellent interior art by Mort Drucker (later famous for TV & movie parodies in Mad Magazine), Billy Buckskin lasted only three issues, and we have the first two. 1957’s Western Trails looked good, with Severin covers, interior art by Maneely and Severin, and starring the popular Ringo Kid character; but for some reason it ‘stalled’ never getting beyond its second issue. Both issues now in stock. And finally, a guest ride-along by Gunhawk, a.k.a. Red Larabee, whose series lasted longer than either of these others; low-grade issues added in this week. Illustrated: Billy Buckskin #1 GD+ £20 and Western Trails #1 VG £24.

*Annuals: Doctor Who, of course, has been a fixture in the zeitgeist almost since the TV series debuted in 1963, and it wasn’t long before a world of merchandise emerged themed around Gallifrey’s favourite son and his time-traversing adventures. The BBC released Annuals of original material for the lucrative Christmas gift market commencing in 1965, and we are delighted to have exceptionally nice copies of the first three. The 1965 Doctor Who Annual, the first, is FN+ £25; the 1966 Annual, scarcer than its parent, is also FN+ at £40 and the 1967 Annual, the first featuring Patrick Troughton as the second Doctor, is significantly less common than the first two. This FN/VF copy is £60. All three have unmarked interiors, with the original prices not clipped, no puzzles or activity pages filled in, no gift dedication or previous owners’ names written in; the 1965 and 1966 Annuals have very minor wear at the spine tips, and a small ‘bubble’ in the laminate on their front covers. The 1967 Annual has a tiny impact flaw at the upper right front cover corner, and a matching mark on the back cover, indicating it has been dropped at one point, but without significant damage. All three are clean, bright, superior copies, and the second and third issues are genuinely uncommon. (NB: There is some confusion on certain sales sites regarding the dates. Because they were released for the Christmas gift market, some vendors call these the 1966, 1967 and 1968 Annuals. We go by the actual years of release, since there are no exterior cover dates.) SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*TV & Film Related Comics: Another exciting update for our stocks of Lady Penelope this week. This rarest of the Gerry Anderson TV titles started out as a ‘traditional’ Gerry Anderson venture similar to TV Century 21 or Joe 90;  it evolved into more of a pop/TV mag and ended up as more of a traditional girls’ comics as the name changed to just ‘Penelope’. All three ‘faces’ are featured in this week’s update with new issues in between #24 & #179; pictured are #27 VG/FN £22.50 and #147 VF £25.

*Clearance Corner: A rootin’ tootin’ riot of ‘faux’ British 1950s westerns up for grabs this week from Miller, Westworld and other publishers. All feature material originated in the UK or Europe rather than the genuine US of A. Titles include Ace High Western (1), Broncho Bill (2), Colorado Kid (3), Jim Bowie (2), Kid Dynamite (1), Little Sheriff (8), Pancho Villa (3), Pecos Bill (3) & Rocky Mountain King (6). All in decent condition and previously on sale for well over £100, this lot is now offered at the bargain price of just £30. UK postage if required will be an extra £5. SORRY, THIS LOT HAS NOW SOLD

*DC: After a decade in retirement, Catwoman was brought back as one of the major antagonists in 1966’s Batman TV show, and in short order returned to the comics pages – not in Batman or in Detective Comics, which one might have reasonably expected, but in the 70th issue of Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane! Well, obviously. In a full-length thriller (and a rather fetching variation of her classic costume), Selina Kyle transformed Superman into a Puss of Steel, resulting in the inevitable (ahem) catfight with Lois when the latter discovered her beloved’s fate. Other guest-appearances by the Penguin, Batman and Robin stretched the story out to the extent that it had to be concluded in the following issue. It’s all complete hooey, but huge fun, with Kurt Schaffenberger’s illustrations at their finest. This copy of Lois Lane #70 is a striking VF- pence, with only the faintest wear at corners and spine precluding a higher grade. On sale at £175. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: An all-star entry for the Marvel Universe’s First Family this week. Five landmark issues of the Fantastic Four, each of which featured the debut of a guest hero, villain or supporting character who would become crucial to the FF, and the greater Marvel Universe, in decades to come. In #45, we first met the Inhumans en masse, the Royal Family of Attilan from whom the previously-introduced Medusa and Gorgon had sprung. In #46, we had the full debut of Black Bolt, the silent monarch of the Inhumans. In #48, of course, we saw for the first time not only the planet-devouring Galactus, but also his herald, the cosmic-powered Silver Surfer. #50 brought us the conclusion of the first Surfer/Galactus story arc and the premier of Wyatt Wingfoot, friend of the FF and later main squeeze of the She-Hulk, who despite being around for decades has yet to manifest a single super-power (is that even legal in Marvelworld?). Last but far from least, #52 presented the Black Panther, monarch of a mysterious African nation who would later join both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four themselves. All of these epic issues are illustrated below for your appreciation: #45 GD- p (light book centre stamp) £70,  #46 VG p £55,  #48 FA p, covers detached & separated £200, #50 FN p £125 and #52 PR/FA p, covers detached and separated £60. The low to mid grades on these key issues make them relatively affordable to the casual reader – if you’re quick; we don’t expect to have these in stock for long! SORRY, #48 & #52 NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Three years after the debut of the Black Panther, 1969’s Captain America #117 saw the debut of Marvel’s second African-American super-hero. Having switched bodies involuntarily with the Red Skull, Cap ends up on Exile Island, being hunted by the Skull’s henchmen. Rescued by a young man named Sam Wilson and his pet hawk, Redwing, Cap persuades Sam of the importance of a costumed identity as a symbol, and Sam adopts the guise of the Falcon, first to inspire revolution in the native population of Exile Island, and later as an aspirational figure in Sam’s Harlem home. The Falcon and his avian sidekick Redwing would become a mainstay of Cap’s series, and of course figure largely in the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, so this first appearance, long undervalued, is now climbing. This is an attractive VG+, cents copy with no pence price or overstamp, clean and tight with only light to moderate wear at the edge and spine but an unimpeded cover scene and clean interiors, on sale at £65. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: From the earliest days of Marvel’s Sightless Swashbuckler, issues #2 to #4 of his first series, in low to mid-grades; issue #2, with the evil Electro and a cameo by the Fantastic Four, is PR/FA p £25 (covers separated & detached); issue #3, with the debut of the ominous Owl, is FA p £30 (lower spine split, horizontal cover fold) and pictured, we have #4, with the first appearance of the Purple Man – who, as Killgrave, has become a televisual bête noir for Jessica Jones and her Defending chums in the Netflix show! This copy of #4 has light to moderate spine wear, slight top spine split, but sound and clean, GD/VG p £50. All of these vintage items have seen better days – haven’t we all? – but they’re complete and relatively affordable early issues of one of Marvel’s iconic characters. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Marvel: A chunky update to our stocks of the Marvel split title, Tales To Astonish between #52 and #101. Highlights include: #52 (GD- p £13.75) 1st Black Knight (villain), #60 (VG+ p £45 pictured) Hulk series begins, #70 (VG+ p £21.25) Sub-Mariner series begins and #101 (VG £12.25) final issue, and also dozens of others in a variety of grades and prices — see our catalogue for details. Through the mid 1960s, a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe!

*Marvel: Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars, the brainchild of then Editor In Chief Jim Shooter, was the first of the mega Marvel crossovers in 1984 and was festooned with landmark events, new characters, new costumes, deaths etc. All jolly exciting at the time! We have many of the original 12 issue series fresh into stock. Consult our catalogue for details (you’ll find it listed under Secret Wars). 

*War: While not the first war-themed comic, the unimaginatively (but accurately) titled War Comics was the first Atlas series to embrace the battle genre. Launched in 1950, it ran on a steady schedule until issue #49 in 1957, with the violence barely dimming after the introduction of the Comics Code Authority, which hit this series from #33. This pioneering title, which launched dozens of sibling titles from the company who would become Marvel, featured an illustrious roster of artists: Kubert, Krigstein, Everett, Torres, Romita, Crandall, Drucker, Heath, Orlando, Robinson, Sale, Shores, Sinnott and Severin – the latter performing, among his many other gigs on the series, a rather cheeky EC swipe, in War #43, of a story from Two-Fisted Tales #31! War Comics is newly stocked from the first issue to the final, lacking only number #11 from the complete run. Illustrated are #2 FN £56, #13 FN+ £55 and the penultimate #48 FN+ £50, but as with all the long-running series in our Atlas influx, there are many different grades and prices to be found in our online catalogue.

*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: From 1991, commencing as an unpretentious adzine for aficionados of Golden and Silver Age Comics to sell and trade, Comic Book Marketplace mushroomed in popularity during the first wave of investment and speculation, and quickly evolved into a slick magazine with articles and features on classic titles, creators and publishing companies, with the appreciation outstripping the commercial aspect. Over the course of more than 100 issues, overcoming two publishing hiatuses, CBM enlightened, educated and entertained before it breathed its last with 2005’s issue #121, its declining readership having largely switched allegiance to the Internet. We have a virtually complete run of this classic body of scholarship, criticism and nostalgia, from its premier issue to its final number, missing only a handful of the earlier intervening issues. Pictured are #1 VF £20 and #17 FN £5 (by which time it had settled into what would become, with minor variations, its ‘slick’ format). Grades and prices on all other issues in stock in our online listings.

*Annuals: From the 1950s to the 1960s, hardcover annuals of the DC heroes from the London-based Atlas publishing (no relation to Marvel’s ancestor) were a staple of Christmases nationwide, in which otherwise superhero-deprived urchins were exposed to peculiarly-recoloured reprints of adventures from up to a decade prior. We have several of these engaging curiosities back in stock – Superboy Annuals from 1964-1965 until 1967 (before 1967, they were released with dual years, to span the before and after Christmas periods), co-featuring Rex the Wonder Dog and Bobo the Detective Chimp, and Superman from 1963-1964 to 1967, co-featuring Green Arrow, Batman and others.

*Humour Comics: 1967’s Giggle was an odd launch for Fleetway, primarily translated European reprints with only a smattering of new material, the slightly-taller size was an odd format, and the whole exercise seemed to be a test run – possibly a cost-cutting measure – to see if Euro-reprints (which Fleetway had been partially using for many years) could sustain their own weekly. If so, then the answer was ‘no’ – or possibly ‘Non’ – as after a couple of months it settled down to the more conventional size, and after 38 issues was absorbed into Buster, leaving Giggle as an odd cul-de-sac in the promenade of British comics history. Nevertheless, it isn’t often seen, and we are quite pleased to have a selection of issues in for your delectation from June to December of 1967.

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: In excess of 50 copies, ranging between #1 to #319, a cavalcade of light adventure and comedy from a myriad of schoolgirl protagonists; the Schoolgirls’ Picture Library launched in 1957 with ‘Leader of the Secret Avengers’, (no relation to Captain America and company), and hung up its hockey sticks in 1965 with #327, though it didn’t die so much as metamorphose into June and School Friend Picture Library, which took up the numbering. These, however, are all Schoolgirls’ PL’s, starring Mimi the Mesmerist, Jacey (aka Miss Adventure), Aunt Jemima, Space-Girl Zenda and many more. This selection is generally higher than average grades, with the early issues being held back only by rusty staples, which cause slight discolouration at the spine, and most of the later numbers averaging Fine, gleaming and glossy with vibrant cover colours. As a bonus, we have a smattering of Schoolgirls’ ancestress, Schoolgirls’ Own Library, which are text stories often of recurring characters, including an early tale of plucky Resistance fighter Mam’selle X! Pictured are Schoolgirls’ Picture Library #1 (GD/VG £50), and a selection of later numbers – #176 FN £15, #178 FN £15, #220 VG £8, and #284 FN £10. Price and grade details on everything, of course, in our online catalogue.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: In our 25 years of trading, we’ve only ever come across one collection of Commando Picture Library to rival this one. This week we’re proud to present nearly 100 issues of this famed title, mostly in nice condition, including many VG and FN copies, almost consecutively complete from  #25 to #118 with just a handful missing.

D. C. Thomson’s Commando wasn’t the first of the war-themed Picture Libraries, starting a little later than its Fleetway contemporaries in July 1961, but it has proven by far the most enduring, still going strong today as one of the few mainstays of the British comics industry. Now publishing numbers in the 5000’s, this update sees a chance to see how it all began.   

The first 200 issues are now keenly sought by collectors, and seldom come up for sale. This collection surfaced in the USA (would you believe?) and we’re proud to repatriate them! Sales were brisk the last time we had any Commandos from this early range, even though prices are not cheap, but reflect both their rarity and desirability. Pictured below are the choicest four examples: #26 VG £50, #27 VG £75 (infamous Jap torture cover and story), #40 FN £50 and #42 FN £50, and there are dozens of others listed in our catalogue, where you can check for grades and prices and fill the gaps in your collection with this rare opportunity.

*Collected Editions: Latest in Rebellion’s popular series of collections of classic UK comic strips is this collection from Jinty. The remarkably prescient ‘Fran of the Floods’ told the tale of climate changing catastrophe as Fran Scott is at first mildly amused by the never-ending rain, but her smiles turn to terror as the ensuing chaos plunges the country into an aquatic nightmare as society crumbles – or rather, dissolves. From Alan Davidson and Phil Gascoine, this fondly-remembered cautionary tale is now collected in paperback in full for the first time ever. Brand new at £13.

*DC: From Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ acclaimed run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow in which DC’s two Emerald Justice Leaguers teamed-up in a series of ‘relevant’ storylines such as racism, pollution, overpopulation, etc., the first appearance of the other Green Lantern of Earth – no, not Guy Gardner, this is the other other one. John Stewart, architect and social crusader, gained the GL uniform when Hal Jordan was incapacitated, and although the well-meaning creators endowed him with a lot of ‘angry black man’ clichés in his first appearance, he became an integral part of the DCU, being the only GL of Earth for prolonged stretches, and, thanks to his appearances in the Justice League cartoon series, becoming for a generation the first Green Lantern they encountered. This copy of John’s first appearance is a clean and attractive VG+, faint pence stamp on cover, light wear at cover edges, but no significant defects, on sale at £50. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD