*Horror 1940-1959: Resting our extensive Atlas horror updates for a week – still many more to come, folks! – we turn our attention to one of the 1950s more notorious publishers, Harvey Comics. Although best known today for their barrage of juvenile titles starring Richie Rich and his little chums, Harvey were at one point prominent players in the horror field, with their mystery titles being acknowledged as gorier than Atlas’ and approaching the artistic quality of EC’s. Black Cat Mystery took over the numbering from a defunct super-heroine series, and artist Lee Elias proved as adept at delineating corpses and vengeful ghouls as he was at the Hollywood-based heroics of Linda Turner. Elias was joined on the series by Powell, Nostrand and Fujitani, and the covers are among some of the most iconic of the genre. We have a selection of Black Cat Mystery from #37 to #48 (#48 depicted VG+ £72 with free incomplete #40). Several of them are complete but low-grade copies at very affordable prices.

*Western: 1956’s Frontier Western had a smattering of series characters who appeared intermittently – the Pecos Kid and Ringo Kid, for example – but was primarily noteworthy for its outstanding line-up of artistic contributors, including Matt Baker, Reed Crandall, Gene Colan, Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Gray Morrow, John Romita, Doug Wildey – it’s a whole passel of talent penned in just ten issues! Striking covers by Heath, Maneely and Severin also characterise this short-run but high-quality anthology. Issue #6 (FN+ £42) is illustrated, but the complete series of ten issues is currently available.

*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: Two different historical tomes for your consideration this week. Comics artist Greg Sadowksi produced ‘B. Krigstein’ in 2002 for Fantagraphics Books, a tribute to, and appreciation of, one of Sadowkski’s own artistic heroes, the iconic Artist Bernie Krigstein, illustrator of ‘Master Race’ for EC as well as many other acclaimed stories. This first volume runs from 1919 to 1955, a handsome and lavishly-illustrated hardcover, VF £25. In 2010, the UK’s ILEX publishers issued ‘Comic Art Propaganda’ by Fredrik Stromburg, a compendium of the way the comics art has been used to inform, and deform, the minds of people over the decades. This full-colour hardcover with dustjacket is VF £20.

*Collected Editions: Originating in the short-lived Ranger weekly, but best remembered from its lengthy run in Look & Learn, the sumptuous science-fiction saga ‘The Trigan Empire’, written by Mike Butterworth and illustrated by Don Lawrence, is regarded as one of the highest accomplishments of the UK comics industry. However, most readers found the two-page weekly instalments somewhat insufficient. Two early attempts to remedy this were the 1973 Look & Learn Book of the Trigan Empire, which mimicked the British hardcover Annual format to present a collection of strips behind a new Lawrence cover; and the 1978 oversized hardcover from Hamlyn, which featured almost three times the number of story pages as its predecessor (though oddly they don’t reprint much of the same material). Both of these full-colour collections are back in stock. The 1973 volume is FN at £45, while the 1978 volume is FN/VF £55.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: More stock for the ever-popular combat-themed Picture Libraries, with light top-ups to Air Ace (from #219), Commando (from #115), Valiant (from #17) and War (from #240).

This year, as usual, we’ll be participating in the wonderful London Bookshop Crawl, organised by Ninja Book Box. This event, taking place over Friday 8th to Sunday 10th February*, gives you a chance to visit many of London’s bookshops (selling both old and new books). With a choice of approaches, from rugged individual exploration to organised tours, there are plenty of ways to get your literary fix. Many places will have offers only available to Crawlers: here at 30th Century Comics we will be offering 10% off all purchases from our Book department to anyone who mentions the Bookshop Crawl. Full details can be obtained from www.bookshopcrawl.co.uk.

*NB We will only be open on Friday and Saturday.

*DC: DC’s Limited Collectors’ Edition tabloids of the 1970s, most of which were non-distributed in the UK, are highly sought-after now, their extra dimensions not lending themselves to long-term storage, and being more prone to damage than the average comic book. One of the most popular in the series is number C-37, starring the Batman and his Rogue’s Gallery, an ‘All-Villain Special’ featuring vintage tales of the Joker, Catwoman, Two-Face, the Penguin and the Scarecrow. This non-distributed item is a stunning VF+, with vibrant cover colour, sharp edges and unbroken cover gloss; if not for the tiniest crease in the upper left corner, it would pass as a new item – in fact, we’d bet money you’ve had comics advertised as ‘mint’ that were less appealing than this. On sale at VF+ £40. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: One of the most sought-after Marvel Comics of the 1960s is Fantastic Four #48, 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 more heinous acts. Both have gone on to long and illustrious careers in the greater Marvel Universe, and this copy of the double debut is one of the nicest we’ve beheld, with tight staples, sharp edges, off-white interior pages and deep, vibrant, unbroken cover colour and gloss. There is minimal spine wear, and an extremely faint vertical line, barely perceptible, which runs from the top cover edge through the centre of the logo (the central ‘t’ and ‘r’ on the two rows) before vanishing entirely around the first ‘a’ in ‘Galactus’. However, this line does not break the cover colour, and would be easy to miss if you weren’t specifically looking for it. FN+ pence on sale at £900. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Following his return to active service in Avengers #4, Captain America became a companion feature of Iron Man in Tales of Suspense. After the division of the Marvel double-feature books in 1968, when distribution embargoes were slackened, Cap gained his own series again, though it retained the numbering of Tales of Suspense, premiering with #100. Featuring the talents of Lee, Kirby and Shores, this re-introduced the Sentinel of Liberty in solo action to the modern age (though between the retelling of his origins and his ongoing plotlines, he certainly had enough pals along for the ride in this first issue!). This copy is a very respectable edition, clean and appealing, tight staples at cover & centrefold, superior inside pages, minimal corner and edge wear, an above-average copy of Cap’s premier issue. FN p £150 SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: The Black Panther’s series in Jungle Action, which attracted a lot of acclaim at the time, was known for being verbose, introspective, reflective and philosophical. When the character’s co-creator, Jack Kirby, took over as writer and artists on T’Challa’s follow-up solo series, the results were… a considerable contrast. Shouting! Explosions! Aliens! Time-Travel! Implausibly-muscled ladies with black lipstick! Cosmic critters! All were here, and all playing at full volume all the time, in the crazed kinetic frenzy that Kirby was renowned for, as the King of Wakanda faced off against the Six-Million Year Man, King Solomon’s Frog, the sinister Agents of Kiber, Yetis, Samurais, and other bizarre menaces. We have the first five issues of Kirby’s 1970s relaunch back in stock, including two copies of #1, the nicer of which (VG+ p £20) is depicted. Prices and grades on the others in our online catalogue. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: The Jungle genre, in which a white person becomes king or queen of a remote primitive nation, has fallen out of favour recently for obvious historical reasons, but in the 1940s and 1950s it was all the rage, and Atlas had several entries in the field. Chief amongst them were two jungle goddesses – Lorna, as previously listed in our catalogue, and Jann of the Jungle, who debuted in 1954’s Jungle Tales anthology, swiftly ousting her stablemates to become sole proprietress of the title, renamed ‘Jann of the Jungle’ from #8 onwards. Jane Hastings, stuntwoman and animal trainer, came to Africa to shoot a movie and stayed behind when the natives acclaimed her as ‘Jann’, their heroine of a generation ago, who turned out to be Jane’s grandmother. Nothing implausible there, then. Drawn by (among others) Arthur Peddy, Al Williamson and Jay Scott Pike, Jann’s beautifully-illustrated adventures gave reigning jungle queen Lorna a run for her money. We have new issues of Jungle Tales and of Jann’s own title back in stock, with the striking Bill Everett cover on #16 (VG £41) illustrated here.

*War: Making his debut in Battle Action #5, Battle Brady (real name unrevealed, unless his parents had a really weird sense of humour) was a Texas native who eschewed US issue weapons in favour of his family’s heirloom six-shooters, and frequently charged into combat against the Koreans shouting ‘Remember the Alamo!’ The slender concept of this Hank Chapman/Joe Maneely co-creation proved surprisingly popular, and Battle popped up all over the many war titles that Atlas produced. Eventually he took over the Men In Action anthology with #10 to gain his own title, issue #11 of which was used in the notorious pro-censorship book Parade of Pleasure. We have several Battle Brady’s new in stock, from #10 (1st issue of series, VG £39, pictured) on, replete with the violence and xenophobia for which the Atlas war line is renowned. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: ‘Get Your Hands On Our Damned Dirty Apes!’ – Marvel’s magazine devoted to the cult sci-fi classic launched in 1974 with a comic-strip adaptation of the Planet of the Apes movie, alongside a plethora of features, articles and other strips set in the Apes’ world. Popular with both comics and movie buffs, Planet of the Apes magazine is highly sought after on two fronts, and we’re chuffed to welcome back 13 issues – including two #1s – for what we’re convinced will be a very short stay in our boxes! Our nicer #1 (VG+ £20) is pictured – the rest may be found in our online catalogue! Ook ook!

*Marvel UK: We turn to our very own shores for this week’s Spidey fix! From 1984, two issues of Spider-Man Weekly, issues #607 and #608, which featured a brand-new Spider-Man story by the team of Mike Collins, Barry Kitson and Mark Farmer, wherein Spider-Man discovers a different neighbourhood to be friendly in, when he ventures over to the UK. Both of these issues are in VF condition, and have their original free gifts – in the case of #607, it’s a set of rub-down transfers of Spidey & his Friends N’ Foes with a backdrop; in #608, it’s a Spider-Man sticker. Issue #607 VF with NM Free Gift is £30, #608 VF with NM Free Gift is £25.

*Girls’ Comics: Although best remembered these days for its merger with June, School Friend had a long and distinguished career as a solo act, commencing as a story paper for girls in 1919, and being rebranded as a weekly comic with a new #1 in 1950. The relaunch saw the debut of School Friend’s most enduring feature, ‘The Silent Three’, a masked trio of schoolgirl avengers who enforced justice and uncovered mysteries in their boarding school of St. Kit’s. The Silent Three caught on big-time, eventually having adventures worldwide, and are fondly remembered by generations of Ladies of a Certain Age. This first issue of School Friend is Poor, with rusty staples and considerable spine and corner wear, but complete, apart from a small coupon cut from one page affecting a text story. The Silent Three feature is unharmed. A piece of comics history on sale for £40. 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 file in our British section:
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics T – Z
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*DC: The 80 Page Giants starring Batman and Robin were a regular attraction through the 1960s and 1970s, extra-length editions of the ongoing series re-presenting stories from previous decades seldom seen by the contemporary audience in those pre-Internet days. We have a stack of these stonkers new in, from #176 to #233, plus the 100-Page #257 and Annual #7, many new to our listings. Themes include Fantastic Foes, Strangest Cases, Danger Around the World, Deadly Traps, All-Villain Issue and the scarcer-than average #208 (pictured), with a new framing sequence by E. Nelson Bridwell and Gil Kane surrounding stories of Poison Ivy, Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman and more, asking the question: ‘Who is the most important woman in Batman’s life?’. Our copy of #208, with a small piece of tape on the front cover, is GD/VG £10; details of the others, as always, in our online catalogue.

*DC: In the 1970s, the then-moribund Legion of Super-Heroes franchise was given a new lease of life, largely due to fan-turned-pro Dave Cockrum, who extensively redesigned most of the team’s costumes and gave a sleek and, for the first time, genuinely futuristic look to the team’s 30th Century milieu. Commencing with occasional Legion back-ups in the Superboy title, Cockrum’s revisualisation of the heroes and their setting proved so popular that with its 197th issue, Superboy was renamed Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes (still under ‘Superboy’ in our listings), and continued that way until the end of 1979, when the team kissed goodbye to the Boy of Steel and reclaimed the series as their own. Cockrum left after #202 to work on an obscure little series you won’t have heard of called the X-Men, but other artists maintained the series’ success. We have almost forty new issues, the majority not previously in stock, from #199 to the final, #258, highlights including the Wedding of Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy, the death of Invisible Kid, the arrivals of Wildfire, Tyroc and Blok and the awesome Earthwar Saga. We’re prejudiced witnesses here, as you may infer from the name of our business, but nevertheless, we say it with pride: ‘Long Live the Legion!’

*Marvel: There were many highlights of Frank Miller’s acclaimed and ground-breaking run on Daredevil, but prominent amongst them must be #168, with the first appearance of his former and future lover and nemesis, Elektra, martial artist with a troubled past. A breakout character who became a star in her own right, Elektra’s debut has increased in desirability since the character’s rehabilitation in the Netflix DD TV show (for obvious historical reasons, we do not speak of the Jennifer Garner movie…). This newly-acquired copy of Daredevil #168 is an outstanding VF/NM pence copy, bright and glossy with tight staples and white interiors at £110. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: In 1976, the House Of Ideas came up with Nova, designed originally to be an ‘everyman’ character like Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but quickly developing into a cosmic ‘soldier’ more akin to DC’s Green Lantern. Luckily, DC’s lawyers didn’t notice the parallels. Although the original run lasted a mere 25 issues, Nova has returned many times to the Marvel Universe, and where he shines is in the protracted cosmic crossovers of which Marvel is so fond. The Nova Corps having been namechecked in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, it can only be a matter of time before the man himself makes an on-screen appearance, so grab this while you can! This Nova #1 is a superior VF/NM cents copy, no pence price or overstamp, on sale at £60. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: A chunkly top-up for one of our best-selling titles as we fill in some gaps in our stock of Avengers between issues #100 & #200, in a variety of grades. Highlights include the anniversary issue #100, 1st Mantis in #112 and Thanos cover and appearance in #125.

*Marvel: Mar-Vell, the Kree warrior sent to conquer Earth from within, got his own series in Marvel’s 1968 expansion year, chock-a-block with intrigue as his superior officers schemed to overcome the planet, and Captain Marvel played a double game. Overtly a good soldier following orders, he secretly strove to thwart their agenda, as he came to sympathise more with Earthlings, particularly one Carol Danvers, the security agent who would, decades down the line, take over the role of Captain Marvel herself. We have added more than twenty issues of Captain Marvel to our stock, from his second issue through to #53, more than half entirely unrepresented in our previous inventory. Although the upcoming cinematic Captain Marvel release stars Carol, Mar-Vell is rumoured to be among the supporting cast, and interest in his first series is accelerating, so now’s the time to buy!

*Gold Key/Whitman: A chunky update to our stocks of the Gold Key title Magnus Robot Fighter, between issues #7 & #32. With superlative art by Russ Manning and gorgeous painted covers, this sci-fi extravaganza was a cut above anything else being published by Gold Key at the time and remains a timeless classic.

*Horror 1940-1959: Among the many short-run mystery series produced in the wake of the Comics Code Authority was this eight-issue series launched in 1956, and closing doors a year later. Despite its obscure status, it features some very lovely cover work, and several tales concocted with imagination and vigour to compensate for the restraints on violence enforced by the Code. Charming and elegant work from Severin, Everett, Williamson, Powell, Orlando and Torres and more. Illustrated are #2 VG £60 and #4 VG £57.