*DC: One issue of the 1970s amiable but generally nondescript Shazam! series has mushroomed in popularity and price over the last few years. Issue #28 from 1977 featured the return of one of Captain Marvel’s most powerful nemeses, Black Adam, who gained his mighty powers from the same source as the Captain himself. Having only appeared previously in the Golden Age Marvel Family #1 (1945), this modern-day debut was the second-ever appearance of Teth-Adam and his super-powered alter ego, but what has caused the spike in interest is the casting of grappling thespian Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Teth-Adam/Black Adam in a forthcoming cinematic blockbuster. The considerable star power of Mr. “The Rock” has caused such anticipation that copies of this issue are going for crazy money – so, in a spirit of compromise, we’ve settled on a price that’s only a bit eccentric, rather than outright insane. This VF- copy of Shazam #28 can be yours for £90. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
Category Archives: What’s New
American Update: First issue of ongoing Nightwing series from 1996
*DC: In 1984, Dick Grayson, the first and most famous Robin, came out from under Batman’s shadow after a mere 44 years to assume the identity of Nightwing, and in 1996 (after a precursor mini-series the previous year) started his own ongoing solo book, and has never looked back. (Well, apart from being dead a couple of times, but in the DCU that’s barely an inconvenience.) Known affectionately by his many fans as “Batman Done Right” – i.e. possessed of empathy and social skills – Nightwing has become a popular mainstay of the DC Continuity in his own right, and this copy of his first ongoing issue is an attractive VF at £15. Rumours abound of a forthcoming Nightwing movie, so folks who are hesitating – now’s the time to purchase!
American Update: Superman Returns! Almost 100 Bronze Age issues newly added
*DC: Just short of 100 new issues of Superman added to our lists, in the number range from #234 to #325 (1971 to 1978), an area in which we were previously under-represented. Averaging FN+ or better, with many VF or higher, the early part of this run is by O’Neil, Swan and Anderson, a period when the Man of Steel lost much of his vast powers temporarily, and had to relearn what it meant to be a superman. Other highlights of this run involve the return of Krypto to the Superman mythos after a long absence, the debuts of various villains – Terra-Man, Vartox, Atomic Skull – and a plethora of guest heroes and villains, including Star Sapphire, Batgirl, Green Lantern, the Flash, Solomon Grundy and more! This run also had a great many stunning Neal Adams covers, two of which are pictured here: #243 VF £21, and 252 FN+ p £27. For prices and grades on the rest, please check our catalogue.
American Update: DC Silver/Bronze Age Sweep
*DC: Another journey through the SIlver/Bronze Ages of DC with additions for the following titles: Action Comics, Atom, Blackhawk (from #129), Challengers Of The Unknown, Detective Comics, 80 Page Giant, Joker, Justice League Of America (from #15 inc Crisis On Earth 1 & 2 in #21 & #22), Mister Miracle, Rip Hunter Time Master, Strange Adventures (#110), Super Friends & World’s Finest.
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts! Black Widow debut in Tales Of Suspense #52
*Marvel: The latest sensation in our weekly Mighty Marvel Firsts event! In 1964, the adventures of Iron Man were enlivened by the appearance of the lovely but lethal Natasha Romanoff, code-named the Black Widow, one of the Kremlin’s deadliest operatives. Originally an appealing but unoriginal femme fatale in modern dress, inspired by Caniff’s Dragon Lady and other Mata Hari wannabes, Natasha proved surprisingly adaptable, allying herself first with the second Crimson Dynamo (also premiering in this issue) and later Hawkeye, and trading her cocktail dress and veil for the first of many costumed ‘looks’ as she switchbacked from villainess to heroine, culminating, of course, in her on-screen embodiment by Scarlett Johansson in the Avengers and other Marvel movies. This issue is where ‘Tasha’s career kicked off, and it’s a beauty; cents copy with no pence stamp or overprint, flexible white interiors, firm staples at cover and centrefold, deep cover colour and gloss, minimal corner and edge wear. The only flaw is a sadly unremovable label with the previous owner’s name and address at the upper left corner, so David R. Ward of Lebanon, Connecticut, if you’re still out there, shame on you. If it wasn’t for that, this would be an easy VF or better, but as it is, we are grading it as FN-, with a price of £225.
American Update: Spider-Mania continues with three consecutive classic Steve Ditko issues
*Marvel: We’re well known for our curmudgeonly ways here at 30th C., and while respecting Romita, we tend to still regard Steve Ditko as the definitive Spider-Man artist, so we’re delighted to welcome into stock three consecutive Ditko-drawn classics: issues #26 and #27 are clashes with Web-Head’s bete noire (bete verte?), the Green Goblin, while #28 brings us the debut of the malevolent Molten Man, in one of the most striking and inventive covers of Spider-Man’s early years. #26 is VG+ p £62, #27 VG- p £42 and #28 VG p £110.
American Update: Sweet After-Christmas! Luke Cage/Power Man restocked from the second issue to the final
*Marvel: A huge update to Marvel’s premier Blaxploitation superhero, Luke Cage (a.k.a. Hero For Hire, Power Man, et al.), who started as a mash-up of clichés but rapidly evolved into a mainstay of the Marvel Universe, and currently the star of not one but two Netflix TV shows – his own eponymous series, and the Defenders. This massive restock, more than 100 issues, takes us from Luke’s second issue (pictured VF £32) through his ‘merger’ with Iron Fist with issue #50, and the final issue of that series, Power Man & Iron Fist #125. Many of these are high-grade, and the earliest issues were never distributed in the UK. All of these may be found under ‘Power Man’ in our listings.
American Update: Akira – Post-Apocalyptic Manga Classic
*Marvel: A double departure from our ‘norms’ this update, being both a modern (1980s) series and a translated manga, which we don’t usually deal in at all. However, Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1982 tale of covert psychic operatives in a post-World War III nuclear-devastated Japan gripped the imagination of the Japanese public, becoming a multi-million seller, and spinning off a hit anime feature movie. Marvel’s Epic division started repackaging the translated series in full-colour Prestige Format volumes in 1988, and its success resulted in Akira being the first manga series to be reprinted in its entirety. We have most (lacking only #7) of the first 33 issues of this highly-acclaimed 38 issue series new in stock, the first and second issues both being first (English language) printings. Pictured is #1 FN/VF £10, with most of the other issues averaging VF; details on the others may be found in our catalogue listing.
American Update: Crime, Sports, History and Cursed Brides! A Miscellany of Golden Age thrills!
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: A diverse representation of the range of genres on sale on the crowded newsstands of the 1940s and 1950s. We open with the crime/action anthology Crown Comics, with a nifty ‘cursed brides’ cover, a new issue of Comic Media’s Dynamite, featuring Pete Morisi’s hard-boiled eponymous detective, Timely’s ‘Classics Illustrated’ wannabe, ideal, with the tale of Richard the Lion-Hearted, Star’s Shocking Mystery Cases (crime thrillers with an L. B. Cole cover), Timely’s Sports Action, and two outstanding oddities: Vic Verity #1 from 1945 (pictured), by Captain Marvel co-creator C C Beck, VG+ at £69, and Your United States from 1946, an edu-comic cited by Wertham in his infamous anti-comics tome Seduction of the Innocent – GD/VG £30.
American Update: Rounding up the Rawhide Kid – More Leather-Slappin’ Adventures with the Marvel Western Hero
*Western: It looks like you cowpokes just can’t get enough of the classic Marvel Western heroes, so here’s another heapin’ helpin’ of the rough-ridin’ Rawhide Kid, from #20 to #101 of his original series, with appearances from his fellow ‘Kids’, the Two-Gun Kid (in #40) and Kid Colt Outlaw (in #50), as well as guest-villains both historical and fictional such as the Masked Maverick, Doc Holliday, Marko the Manhunter, Jesse James, the Masquerader, the Cougar, and Calamity Jane!
British Update: Annuals – Boys’ Adventure, TV & Film and a dash of Western
*Annuals: Around the festive season, many Annuals are purchased as novelty gifts, and we replenish our depleted stock now with an influx of classic titles and a few esoteric additions. In Boys’ Adventure and War Annuals, the leader of the flock, appropriately, is Black Bob, the Dandy Wonder Dog, whose 1955 Annual, VG £30, is pictured here. Other new entries include top-ups of the popular series Hotspur, Lion, Smash, Tiger and Valiant from the 1970s, the 1983 Dracula’s Spinechillers one-off, and the Big Battle Annual from somewhere in the early 1960s – no relation to the later more famous series from the 1970s. In TV & Film Related Annuals, we have new entries for Captain Scarlet, Countdown, TV Century 21 and the 1966 Thunderbirds Television Story Book; our solitary Western Annual this time is The Dakotas (1963), “from the thrilling television series”, as it asserts on the cover (blank looks all round).
British Update: Garth, Trigan Empire and more Collected Editions
*Collected Editions: A quartet of additions to this ever-popular section collecting classic British comics. Don Lawrence and Mike Butterworth’s epic sci-fi saga from the pages of Look & Learn, the Trigan Empire, in an attractive mass-market hardcover from 1978 which was the first sequential reprint of this much-loved series, GD at £25. We also have back in stock 1975’s Daily Mirror Book of Garth, which reproduced the epic science-fiction strip featuring superlative artwork from Frank Bellamy, one of the acknowledged masters of the medium. Although not the first Garth collection, we believe this to be the first full-size reprint of Bellamy Garth stories, in GD/VG softcover album at £15. Rounding out, we have two collections from Hibernia Press, a small company which valiantly battled to keep series in the public eye: Baker’s Half-Dozen from Speed FN/VF £5 and Doomlord from the 1980s Eagle FN £4.
British Update: 2000 AD #201-300: Judge Death & Rogue Trooper
*Boy’s Adventure & War Comics: Another 2000 AD update, this time covering progs #201 – 300. This turbulent era includes Bolland’s Judge Death, the ‘possible death’ of Judge Dredd (#262), as well as #212 with a Free Gift of a Buck Rogers sticker album, #213 with a Free Gift of more stickers, first appearances of Rogue Trooper (#228) and the Ace Trucking Co (#232) and, in the spirit of the season, a Christmas issue (#296).
British Update: The Eagles Have Nested
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Roosting comfortably in the boxes in our basement are more Eagles from Volumes 17, 18, 19 and 20. Including the infamous Volume 18 issues misnumbered Volume 12 (someone really wasn’t paying attention) and a Christmas issue from Volume 19. Towards the end of its life, Dan Dare was still going strong (although in reprint form), as was Blackbow the Cheyenne; newer features included Iron Man (from Boys’ World), Smoke Man and the Marvel reprint of Tales Of Asgard.
British Update: Countdown! Virtually complete run of 70s sci-fi Spectacular
*TV & Film Related Comics: The 1971 successor to TV Century 21, Countdown, launched with a heady mixture of new Gerry Anderson material – led by a comics adaptation of the brand-new series, ‘UFO’ – as well as ‘Doctor Who’ (shoplifted from stablemate TV Comic, where it had been running from 1964) and the rather handsome eponymous space opera ‘Countdown’, illustrated by John M. Burns. The Gerry Anderson material, ‘UFO’ excepted, soon reverted to reprints from TV 21, but nevertheless this weekly dose of sci-fi action continued unabated until issue #35, when the Persuaders joined up, and the weekly began its transition from a purely science-fiction comic to a more generalised adventure anthology. This selection, a lacking only a handful of issues, opens with #1 in GD £30, #2 VG £15 (pictured), #3 VG/FN £17.50 (pictured) and runs through to #58, the last issue before rebranding itself as TV Action. The scarce 1971 Holiday Special is also included FA/GD £12.50 (pictured).
British Update: First Quenchers: Giggle #1 – debut issue of short-run humour weekly from 1967
*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, a genuine rarity, and this copy of the premier issue is in nice tight shape, VG at £25. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
British Update: Dan Dare, Judge Dredd, Sporting Supermen and more – appraised and indexed
*Magazines/Books About Vintage UK Comics: A diverse selection in this popular and seldom-updated category. From an unknown year – we suspect 1971, but aren’t certain – a copy of Astral, the Official Journal of the International Dan Dare Club, one of the first mags devoted to the Eagle’s space guardian; Dan Dare is also spotlit in the later Phoenix #1, undated but from some point shortly prior to 1990, from internal evidence. From circa 1998 (what is it with these folks not dating stuff?), Class of ’79 #1 focuses on Judge Dredd and other 2000 AD alumni, while the 2006 hardcover Sporting Supermen, by Brendan Gallagher, explores the history and background of iconic characters such as the Tough of the Track, Wilson, Roy Race, Johnny Cougar, Skid Solo and more. Finally, a pair of the coveted CJ Publications indexes by Steve Holland and David Ashford – the Cowboy Comics Library Illustrated Guide, and the Thriller Comics Library Illustrated Guide, from 1993 and 1991 respectively, with a wealth of information on those cult titles.
American Update: 30th Century Batcave! Extensive new Batman-related stock in our downstairs catacombs!
As long-term customers are aware, in addition to the plethora of vintage items available in our catalogue, we carry a multitude of more modern comics in our basement which we don’t catalogue, because of the relatively low price and the frequency of turnover making it impractical to do up to date listings. Usually, we don’t draw attention to these, but we have a special case: followers of Batman and his chums may wish to know that we have recently added around a thousand modern Bat-themed comics to our downstairs inventory, including lengthy runs of Nightwing, Robin, Catwoman, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, and Batman: Shadow of the Bat (from the respective beginnings of each series) and long runs of Detective Comics and Batman himself from the mid-1980s upwards, plus an accompanying blizzard of one-shots, mini-series and specials. Sorry, lists are not available – you’ll have to come in and check out the boxes for yourself, but hurry – we expect there to be a rapid turnover on these titles!
British Update: The British Are Coming! Long Hot Summer Holy Grail – Dandy-Beano Summer Special 1963 GD £750
*Humour Comics: In 1963, D.C. Thomson of Dundee, publishers of the successful Dandy and Beano humour weeklies, put together an oversized ‘combo’ of the two titles for the lucrative Summer Holiday market. A huge success, this groundbreaking edition started a tradition of separate Summer Specials for each title the following year, and was widely emulated, becoming the industry’s standard practice for a plethora of series from Thomson and their competitors in the following decades. This is one of the rarest and most sought-after items ever through our hands, certainly on the UK side, and the first copy in any condition we have seen in our close to 25 years of trading. This copy is graded GD. It has a triangular tear in the upper front cover staple area, wear at the centre spine where, owing to its size, it has been stored horizontally folded for a long period, a 1″ tear at lower mid back cover, and slight grubbiness lower mid-spine and mid-edge on the front cover. Offsetting that, however, is the clean, unmarred condition of the interiors, firm staples at centrefold, and, as previously noted, the extreme rarity of this item in any condition. On sale at £750.
Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!
We’re closing at 6 pm today, and after that we’re closed for three days, reopening on Wednesday 27th December. Look out around that time for our next update and a Newsletter EXTRA! featuring the last in our series ‘The British Are Coming’; as you might expect, we’ve saved the very best and (arguably) the rarest for the grand finale of our 2017 releases of the best in British Comics. We’d just like to take one last opportunity to wish you all the best for the festive season, and pass on our thanks and appreciation for making 2017 our best year ever.
Housekeeping Update
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:
*Archie
*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics
and in our American/British section:
*Classics Illustrated
and in our British section:
*Collected Editions
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
American Update: DC Comics Presents with debut of New Teen Titans, Cyborg, Raven and Starfire
*DC: In the 1980s, it was the habit of DC to slip in previews of new forthcoming series as ‘bonuses’ in the middle of otherwise standard issues. One such was the 26th issue of Superman’s team-up title DC Comics Presents, which featured a self-contained mini-comic with the first appearance of the New Teen Titans. Reviving yesteryear’s moribund collection of sidekicks, Marv Wolfman and George Perez invigorated the limping franchise with new characters, epic storylines, and a more character-based approach strip-mining popular franchises of the day – not least the highly-successful X-Men! This presents the debut not only of the team itself, which became DC’s sales juggernaut, but of three characters who went on to greater things: enigmatic empath Raven, alien space babe Starfire, and Cyborg, who of course has now been retconned into a founder of the Justice League. For the record, the ‘main’ story, a Jim Starlin-drawn Superman/Green Lantern team-up, is pretty nifty, too! This copy of DCP #26 is a cents copy, with no UK price or overstamp, FN/VF at £65. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
American Update: Son of a Preacher Man! – Preacher #1 newly added to our lists
*DC: Another more ‘modern’ addition to our listings is Preacher #1 from DC’s Vertigo imprint. A mere 23 years ago, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon brought us the tale of the eponymous Preacher, Jesse Custer, who travels across America on a mission to track down God with the assistance of his gorgeous hitwoman girlfriend and his best friend, an Irish vampire. As you do. Sexist, racist, violent, twisted, homophobic, misogynist and thoroughly, thoroughly blasphemous, Preacher was also intelligent, viciously insightful, and outrageously funny. Lasting 66 issues and a handful of Specials, Preacher broke boundaries and won both acclaim and controversy in abundance. Recently made into a TV show which has attracted a cult following, readers should be advised that the TV series is restrained and discreet compared to the original comic! No, really. This copy of #1 is VF- p £60. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts! Beware… The Ghost Rider! Johnny Blaze’s debut in Marvel Spotlight #5
*Marvel: The latest in our weekly instalments of 1st appearances of major Marvel characters. Ghost Rider had been the title of a short-lived Western series of the 1960s, and in 1972, writer Gary Friedrich and artist Mike Ploog reinterpreted the cowboy trope with the nearest modern equivalent – a motorbike rider! In the wake of ‘Easy Rider’ and adding in lashings of the then-popular Satanic-possession movies, they came up with Johnny Blaze, stunt-rider turned emissary of Satan, having sacrificed his soul to save his loved ones. But this being a Code-Approved Marvel comic, Johnny’s battle of wills with his demonic master usually led to his actions coming down on the side of good, despite Old Nick’s best efforts. And speaking of Old Nick, some of you may be aware that Nicolas Cage starred in two truly execrable Ghost Rider films; put them out of your mind – we assure you, the comic series is much better! Ghost Rider went on to 80+ issues of his original series after a successful run in Marvel Spotlight, and remains a mainstay of the Marvel Universe today. This issue, Marvel Spotlight #5, is where his long career began, and this VG/FN copy – never distributed in the UK – can grace your collection for £110. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
American Update: The Gruesome Twosome are back! First Appearances of Cable and Deadpool
*Marvel: New Mutants, the ‘X-Men In Training’ series of the 1980s, launched two latter-day super-stars of the Marvel Universe as guest-stars in its pages; in issue #87, readers were introduced to perma-grumpy future-warrior Cable, who came back to the past, Terminator-like, to affect the events of his own future. Cable’s never-quite defined powers mostly consisted of shouting at people a lot (kind of like a cyborg Gordon Ramsay), but that didn’t stop him having a long career as the star of several series of his own title, as well as taking over the New Mutants and rebranding them as X-Force. In New Mutants #98, Deadpool made his first appearance, and caught on with a vengeance; originally a fairly generic assassin for hire, it took a little while for the Merc-With-A-Mouth to evolve into the wisecracking, loveable, multi-personality psychotic he’s known as today, but he has become a phenomenon of the 21st century, hero of his own series and countless spin-offs, and of course starring in one of the highest-grossing movies ever. Deadpool 2 is due in the cinemas soon – co-starring Cable, what a coincidence – and we have both #87 and #98 to offer you, in affordable mid-grades. #87, technically Cable’s first full appearance (he stuck his face into the previous issue for a panel or two) is FN+ p at £40; Deadpool’s debut in #98 is FN p £65. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD
American Update: “A Blind Man Shall Lead Them” – Nice grade Fantastic Four #39 with Daredevil and Doctor Doom
*Marvel: What’s the measure of a hero? Not possessing powers, but having the courage to do the right thing when you are powerless – as Marvel’s First Family, having lost their amazing abilities, nevertheless took on the nefarious Doctor Doom, aided only by the sightless swashbuckler, Daredevil! One of the underrated classics of the early Marvel Universe, this is a tale of triumph over adversity, by Lee and Kirby at their creative peak. This copy of Fantastic Four #39 is a superb FN/VF, cents copy with no UK price markings, tight, flat, firm staples at cover and centrefold, and an unmarred, vivid midnight-blue cover. On sale at £82. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
American Update: Big Panty Monster Classics from Journey Into Mystery and Strange Tales
*Marvel: Before the Marvel Universe, the company sustained itself on mystery titles such as Journey Into Mystery, Tales to Astonish, and so on, which fell into an enjoyable formula: a huge monster threatening the Earth (clad, for the sake of decency, in mysteriously-obtained enormous knickers!) by Lee and Kirby, a sci-fi tale usually drawn by Don Heck, and a twist-ending tale by Lee & Ditko. These ‘Big Panty Monster’ comics, as we dubbed them, are very popular as ‘prequels’ to the Marvel Universe proper, and two fine examples are new to our lists this week Journey Into Mystery 69, VG+ p £58, with ‘Korilla’ and ‘The Iron Giant’, and Strange Tales #95, an extraordinarily bright & tight FN/VF p £75, starring the “Two-Headed Thing!” Grab your gargantuan underwear for fast-paced adventure in the nearly-Marvel manner!
American Update: Spider-Mania: Amazing between #200 & #400
*Marvel: Lots of highlights amongst dozens of issues new in this week of Amazing Spider-Man between #200 & #400, mostly filling gaps in our stock. These include the giant-size 200th Anniversary issue, sundry Hobgoblin appearances, 1st Puma in #256, 1st Silver Sable in #265, iconic cover on #301, 1st Venom cover on #316 and #400 anniversary issue, plus lots more. #301 and #316 (both NM at £25 and £40 respectively) pictured here; full details of all in our catalogue, as ever.
American Update: Massive Silver/Bronze Age Marvel sweep
*Marvel: Another jaunt through the Silver & Bronze Ages of Marvel, with well over a hundred new issues added from the following titles: Amazing Adventures (Beast issues, including 1st mutated Beast in #11), Avengers (inc #55 1st full Ultron, #59 1st Yellowjacket, #87 origin Black Panther & anniversary #200), Captain America, Conan, Contest Of Champions, Daredevil, Dazzler, Dr Strange (2nd series), Fantastic Four (inc #129 1st Thundra), Ghost Rider (from #2), Inhumans, Iron Man, Machine Man, Marvel Spotlight (2nd series Star-Lord issues), Marvel Super-Heroes (Spider-Man & Medusa issues), Marvel Tales (Giants #1 & #2), Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-In-One (from #2 plus Ann #2 Starlin Thanos saga), Nova, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer (1st series and Moebius two-parter), Spidey Super Stories, Spider-Woman, Strange Tales, Sub-Mariner, Thor (inc Journey Into Mystery With) & Wolverine (early issues from 1988 ongoing). Whew!
American/British Update: Tarzan restocked – DC, Dell & Gold Key
*Tarzan/E R Burroughs: We’re pleased to have significant new additions to our recently-depleted Tarzan stock, all from the continuously-numbered series which began with Dell back in 1948, and ended with DC in 1977. In the Dell sequence, we have numbers from #61 to #124, Gold Key from #160 to #190, and DC from #223 to #257.
American/British Update: Phantom from Gold Key and King
*Phantom: A more slender update than we usually like to bring you, but after significant sales on the Ghost Who Walks, we wanted to get more out as soon as possible, so just a touch of new Phantoms to our backlist, from the Gold Key and King eras of Africa’s mysterious guardian.
American/British Update: Crumbs! Collected Works of the Underground’s Most Infamous Artist
*Undergrounds: A selection of collected editions of the notorious and controversial Robert Crumb, who has been cocking a snook at the Establishment since the early 1960s. ‘Book of Mr. Natural’, several volumes of Fantagraphic’s ‘Complete Crumb’, ‘R. Crumb’s Carload O’Comics’, ‘R. Crumb’s Head Comix’ (20th Anniversary softcover reprint from 1988), several volumes of the ‘R. Crumb Sketchbook’, and the three (to date) hardcover volumes of ‘Waiting For Food’ (Vol 1 pictured), a Dutch-published (don’t panic, it’s in English) archive of the sketches Crumb has done on placemats in restaurants while… well, read the title, silly. If you’ve ever wondered what all the fuss was about – here’s your chance to find out!
American/British Update: Corgi and Dinky Toy Catalogues, John Lennon & Monkees publications
*Memorabilia & Esoterica: A long overdue update for this section for things that don’t fit in anywhere else, but are very much collectables in their own right. This week we feature two very different categories: vintage Corgi and Dinky Toys catalogues from the 1960s, plus books by John Lennon and a couple of copies of Monkees Monthly from 1967. Many of the catalogues feature vehicles from TV and film, including James Bond, Batman, Gerry Anderson, the Avengers etc. A selection is pictured below; full details in our catalogue listing with prices and pictures for each item. SORRY, ALL TOY CATALOGUES NOW SOLD
British Update: It’s A Boys’ Boys’ Boys’ Boy’s World!
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: In 1963, Odhams, the publishers of Eagle, decided to expand their line with a new adventure comic, Boys’ World, with a classy line-up of creators including acclaimed novelist Harry Harrison (who created Merlo the Magician for the series) and Ron Embleton, whose illustrations on the mythological fantasy Wrath of the Gods are still well-remembered. Harrison’s own novel ‘Death World’ was adapted into ‘The Angry Planet’, by excising all female characters (well, this was a boys’ comic…), and other notable strips included Dr. Who parody ‘Doctor What’, ‘Ghost World’, ‘Billy Binns’, whose magic spectacles conferred temporary amazing abilities) and ‘Iron Man’ – no relation to the Marvel character, but a story of a humanoid robot finding his way in the world. Both Billy Binns and Iron Man went on to longer careers when the title merged with Eagle after 89 issues. This new influx takes in the end of 1963’s Volume One, and #1 – 32 of 1964’s Volume Two, including Christmas, New Year, and the First Birthday issue with ‘Planes of Tomorrow’ pull-out. Averaging VG/FN, these are mostly attractive copies of a short-lived quality publication.
British Update: Big war-themed Picture Library update
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A chunky update for several war-themed Picture Library titles, including Battle (between #21 & #200), Combat (between #26 & #399), Conflict, Lion (between #22 and #120), Valiant (between #29 & #142) and War (between #40 & #470).
British Update: First Quenchers Plus! Countdown with Free Gift Farrago
*TV & Film Related Comics: Our First Quenchers #1 British comics event continues! When the first series of TV Century 21 faltered, competitors Polystyle were quick to generate a successor in ‘Countdown’, featuring many of the most popular Gerry Anderson TV shows in comic strip form. Fireball XL5, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, Stingray all graced its pages, plus a brand-new sci-fi strip ‘Countdown’, illustrated rather spiffily by John M. Burns, and the star power of a Doctor Who comic series imported from TV Comic! This classy, slick package presented in its first issue a ‘Giant Space Fact Wall Chart’ (stickers to be stuck in in successive weeks), tapping into the public obsession with astronautics following the successful moon landing. Our Countdown #1 is FN, with completed free gift (VF, all stickers/stamps stuck in) on sale at £110. The accompanying second issue is VF £25.
British Update: Fine and Dandy! 1940s vintage issues new to our listings
*Humour Comics: A small but select batch of the founding DC Thomson humour weekly, Dandy, new in; issues #213, #278, #279, and #318 – the former three being the earliest issues now in our inventory. Home of well-remembered characters such as Korky the Cat, Desperate Dan, and Black Bob the wonder Dog (as well as some less well remembered – Danny Longlegs? Nellie Elephant?), Dandy was a part of the psyche of generations of British children, and despite having gone to its rest in 2015, is still recollected fondly. Pictured is issue #279 FN £55.
British Update: Wow! What An Update
*Humour Comics: Just a few Wow!s added to increase the merriment of the shop by another increment. This late addition to Fleetway’s Humour publications now has issues added ranging from #7 to #42.
Housekeeping Update
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 British section:
*Alan Class Reprints
*Annuals
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
Reminder: Last day for Christmas mail order
Orders for delivery before Christmas must be placed and paid for by 4 pm today.
Books Update: Hell’s Bells – It’s Freewheelin’ Frank
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Straddling the genres of Crime and Sleaze is this extremely rare book, touted as the first about Hell’s Angels by a Hell’s Angel. Frank Reynolds, Secretary to the San Francisco chapter in the 1960s recounts his adventures to Michael McClure, confirming all of Middle America’s worst fears. Interestingly, Frank emerged from this part of his life to become a Zen hermit!
Christmas/New Year opening plus last post for Christmas
Over the forthcoming holiday period, we shall be open normal hours every day with the following exceptions:
Closed: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day.
Last post: Mail orders paid for by 4 pm on Saturday 16th December will be despatched on Monday 18th, and if in the UK, should arrive before Christmas. After that, we cannot promise to be able to get anything in the post in time to arrive before Christmas.
American Update: A Kirby Trilogy! Demon, Kamandi and Omac First Issues
*DC: Following his critically-acclaimed ‘Fourth World’ series of intersecting titles at DC, Jack Kirby branched out into three stand-alone series. (Lesser talents have subsequently tried to ‘link’ them, but we shrug dismissively at such efforts). The Demon told of Jason Blood, an innocent man possessed by a mediaeval entity, the malevolent Etrigan, and Blood’s struggles to subvert the Demon’s powers for good; Kamandi, in the wake of the Planet of the Apes phenomenon, showed a post-apocalyptic future in which all humanity has degraded to virtual beasts, oppressed by all manner of super-evolved animals and Omac – One-Man Army Corps – was a near-future upgrade of Kirby’s Captain America concept, as feeble Buddy Blank became the invincible superhuman warrior under the omniscient direction of Brother Eye, in a 1984-insipred surveillance-ridden future which has particular resonance in the present day. The first issues of these series, the premier appearances of each title character, are new in, in high grade Cents copies, no UK price stamp; Demon #1 VF £50, Kamandi #1 VF+ £50 and Omac #1 FN/VF £20.
American Update: The ‘Death’ of Superman! Superman (second series) #75 Collectors’ Edition
*DC: In 1993, the wider world was rocked by the demise of Superman, who perished at the hands of the man-monster named Doomsday. Cynical fans, of course, knew better, fully expecting the Man of Steel’s eventual return, but the media brouhaha was considerable, driving civilians into comics shops in unprecedented numbers. We have the Deluxe Collectors’ Edition of Superman #75 back in stock, and still sealed in the original bag with all the free gift paraphernalia, 1st print, NM at £30.
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Daredevil #1, first appearance and origin!
*Marvel: This week’s entry in our Mighty Marvel Firsts event is Daredevil #1. 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. In a yellow and red costume intended to evoke the jester-style livery of the 1940s Daredevil, Matt Murdock lost his sight but gained phenomenal sensory powers, using them and his athletic skills to avenge the murder of his father…and the rest was history. Following his successful Netflix series, Daredevil has finally washed away the stain of the Affleck movie, and Marvel’s Sightless Swashbuckler has never been more popular! This copy of his premier issue is GD/VG, with minor foxing at the spine & top edge, minor corner and edge wear, and one diagonal cover crease at top right corner, but firm staples and excellent interior pages. A highly attractive mid-grade copy of an increasingly popular debut, pence copy on sale at £600. Stay tuned for another Mighty Marvel First next week! SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
American Update: Spider-Mania: Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #1
*Marvel: 1976’s Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #1 marked the second ongoing Spider-Man title published by Marvel, in what people feared might dilute the franchise – if only they knew! Intended originally to focus more on Spidey’s civilian alter ego, it rapidly evolved into an adjunct to and frequent crossover with Amazing Spider-Man, founding the practise which was to become industry standard in later decades. This copy of PPSM #1 is VF+, cents copy with no UK price or overstamp, at £35. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
American Update: High Grade Bronze Age Iron Man Issues
*Marvel: A selection of extremely attractively graded Iron Man issues from the Seventies, numbers ranging from #41 to #60. Pence copies, the lowest grade on these beauties is VF, with many achieving the heights of NM; bright, glossy copies with vivid colour, tight staples and white interiors. This period also features, coincidentally, several of the goofier adversaries in the Golden Avenger’s Rogue’s Gallery: Demon-Queen, Firebrand, Raga Son of Fire, and most oddball costume of all, the Slasher! (IM #41; look it up online, we dare you) Pictured is the pick of the litter, #56 NM p £69, a Jim Starlin homage to the Big Panty Monsters of yesteryear.
American Update: 1980s X-Men including key issues
*Marvel: A nice selection of 1980s X-Men in this week, almost all high grade, between issues #166 & #258, mostly filling gaps in our stock including the following key issues: #212 & #213 (Wolverine vs Sabretooth both NM p at £19 each), #221 (1st Mr. Sinister NM p £30), #244 (1st Jubilee NM p £30) & #256 (1st Psylocke as Asian ninja NM p £13.75).
American Update: Amazing Fantasy Omnibus – Complete Series in Deluxe Hardcover!
*Modern Reprints: In the days before the Marvel Universe, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko provided scores of collaborations for the ‘Big Panty Monster’ series such as Strange Tales and Tales to Astonish, twist-ending fables with a sting in the tale. These proved so popular that one of the newer BPM titles, Amazing Adventures, was, with its seventh issue, rechristened Amazing Adult Fantasy (in the days when Adult had a more innocent connotation), and devoted entirely to the Lee & Ditko twist-ending short stories. Despite raves from the fans, the new format was not a success with greater America, and with its final issue – renamed again, to just Amazing Fantasy – Stan & Steve tried a roll of the dice to achieve commercial success with an offbeat character called Spider-Man, of whom you may have heard. This lavish hardcover full-colour volume, published in 2007 and now long out of print, re-presents the entire series in all its permutations, Amazing Adventures to Amazing Adult Fantasy to plain Amazing Fantasy, a parade of many of Marvel’s finest early moments. This is a superior copy, at first glance virtually as new, but closer examination does reveal minor wear at the top and bottom of the dustjacket, and two creases in the lower dustjacket. Therefore we have graded it VF and priced it at £120.
British Update: A Bumper Crop Of Annuals
*Annuals: Offering evocative retro presents for the festive season, we’ve overhauled our stock of annuals, adding dozens in the following sub-categories:
Humour: Beano, Beezer, Buster, Dandy & Dennis the Menace – lots from the 1970s to the 2000s.
TV & Film Related: Star Wars 1980s.
Boys’ Adventure: Lots of Marvel from the 1970s/80s – Mighty World of Marvel, Spider-Man, Super-Heroes & Titans; Plus Starlord and Tornado.
Western: Lone Ranger
Girls: Bunty, Debbie, Judy, Mandy, Patches & Tammy (mostly 1980s).