*Undergrounds: It’s been a while since we’ve taken a stroll down to Quirky Corner, but – bless my soul – when we do, we come across something very unique! Antonio Ghura was one of the unsung heroes of the British underground scene in the 1970s. Creator of Raw Purple, Bogey, Hot Nads, The Laid Back Adventures of Suzie and Jonnie and a plethora of illustrations for counter-culture magazines, his best-remembered title was Truly Amazing Love Stories, a pastiche of 1950s romance comics, with sentimental plots embellished by explicitly filthy illustrations. While Ghura’s decorative style is pleasing to look at, the content means that this, more than even many other Underground Comix, is most definitely for adults only. Truly Amazing Love Stories #1 was published in 1977 and was a sell-out, but by the time Ghura found the capital to print #2 in 1983, unreliable distributions and increasingly censorious zeitgeist meant that #2 failed, and, disheartened, Ghura moved to Rome and became a street artist, never publishing the completed issue #3. In recent years, however, an enterprising publisher put together the previously-unpublished #3: yesterday’s undiscovered filth is on sale – today! Issue #3 of Truly Amazing Love Stories is brand new, Mint at £10; don’t let the relatively innocuous cover fool you…

*War: This week we embark on the listing of the very many War comics from our Atlas haul. Battlefront, launched in 1952 and lasting 48 issues, straddled the Pre- and Post-Code era and culminated in 1957. We are excited to have a complete run of this series (although a damaged issue #36 is included as a bonus with #37) newly stocked, with a dazzling array of artists; Heath, Maneely, Robinson, Check, Sale, Orlando, Powell, Sinnott, Everett, Colan, Drucker, Romita, Crandall, and Williamson all contributed over the title’s run, with Heath and Maneely standing out not only among the most frequent interior artists, but also providing some of the more dynamic and (at least in the Pre-Code era) outright lurid covers on the series. Series characters Combat Kelly and Battle Brady make appearances, with their characteristic black humour, but the standard of this anthology is high, with something to appeal visually even to non-fans of the war genre. Issue #14 (FN+ £50) is depicted; for grades and prices on the rest of the complete series, report to our online catalogue! War will break out here again very soon!

*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: Another substantial addition to our inventory of Alter Ego, Roy Thomas’ ‘prozine’ devoted to the Golden and Silver Ages of comics, with articles, indexes, retrospectives, trivia and interviews aplenty. Sixty issues, from #81 to #140, averaging NM, new in our stock this week!

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Coincidentally, we have a fistful of second issues with their original free gifts to offer this week: Battle #2 FN, with the Into Battle Poster, also Fine, £27.50 the pair; Champ #2 VF (pictured) with partial Free Gift – Super Soccer Star pictures, but no wallet, also VF – at £12; Spike #2 VG (pictured) with Free Gift (Ten Tattoo Transfers) in FN at £10 and Vulcan #2 FN (pictured) with Free Gift (Magical Numbers Card Game) in VF at £25. As a bonus, Champ #3 and #4 are also new in, with their respective gifts – more Super Soccer Star Pics and Snappy Sticker Badges – respectively, and from 1971, an issue of Lion with ‘My Favourite Soccer Stars’ Album and 8 accompanying cards in GD.

*Humour Comics: ‘A new comic for boys and girls’, averred this 1965 launch from DC Thomson, though it ought really to have said ‘for white boys and girls’, as the peculiar racist caricature of the titular character would surely offend and deter any readers who were not of the Caucasian persuasion. Nevertheless, the title did have a great deal to offer readers who, it seemed, were slightly younger than the Dandy and Beano set, with an almost fairy-tale character to some of the series like ‘Dreamy Dave and Dozy Dora’, while others – ‘Freddy the Fearless Fly’, ‘Keyhole Kate et al – were new versions of old Beano stalwarts with the serial numbers filed off. Nevertheless, Sparky had a very respectable run, racking up more than 650 weekly issues until 1977, and this is where it all got started! This copy has a significant corner, approximately 2″ by 3″, off the back cover, which, although it has become separated, is still enclosed with the comic Please see attached picture to assess the extent of the flaw. In every other respect, it’s a very presentable GD copy of a well-remembered and long-running title’s debut, which we have priced at £35.

*DC: This week’s visit to Batmania features the debut of one of his most famous female nemeses. In 1966, the Batman TV show was at the height of its success, but with the notable exceptions of Catwoman and the Siren, most of the actresses playing guest-villains were, to try to be tactful, of more mature years, and Poison Ivy was brainstormed with the idea of joining the TV show as a younger and more physically active recurring villain. As it turned out, Ivy never made it onto the small screen – at least not in the Sixties – but she did catch on with the comics audience, and has remained a staple of the Batman Rogue’s Gallery ever since, her profile being considerably upped in recent years by her status as Harley Quinn’s favourite gal-pal, and the character’s presence in the dark and gritty ‘Gotham’ TV series. This copy of Ivy’s first appearance is a superior FN+. The red cover background is unfaded and unmarred, still glossy and vibrant. Spine is in excellent shape, extremely faint wear at lower right cover edge. There is light wear at lower cover edge, including a minute tear (2mm) approx. 6 cm out from the spine. Two faint diagonal creases, not breaking the cover colour, are visible from the upper and lower edges of the lower left blurb, converging on Ivy’s right calf & ankle. A cents copy, no UK price or overstamp, with clean, flexible interiors, and – most crucially – the centrefold pin-up, frequently missing from copies of this issue, is firmly in place. Cover, back cover and splash page shown below; high resolution images are available on request. FN+ £475. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: 1964’s third issue of the X-Men introduced Frederick J. Dukes, a.k.a. the Blob, a formidable mutant whose ability to consolidate his body mass made him a literally immovable object – and made his nom-du-guerre kind of inappropriate, but then Stan & Jack were probably trying to tap into the movie ‘The Blob’, which had been a smash hit a few years prior, the story’s title echoing the movie’s theme song. Be that as it may, the Marvel Blob has had a long distinguished career as a villain and occasional anti-hero, and this copy of his debut is an extremely attractive FN copy, with only light wear at edges and corners, a small smudge around Marvel Girl’s left foot, and small initials written lightly and inexplicably in the Comics Code Stamp. A pence copy, it is on sale at £300. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Sentinel of Galactus, Norrin Radd, aka the Silver Surfer, became a hugely popular guest character following his early appearances in the Fantastic Four, and one of his most sought-after guest-shots – still prior to the premier issue of his ongoing series – is Tales to Astonish #93, in which the Surfer and the Incredible Hulk face off, courtesy of Stan Lee and Marie Severin. Cosmic power and epic action with a poignant ending – and a Sub-Mariner story, too! This issue has increased in price lately, as, even though it’s the Surfer’s twelfth appearance, it’s his first crossover with the wider Marvel Universe, outside of the Fantastic Four series. This copy is a FN p copy, with a tiny hint of label residue around the price, but otherwise attractive unmarred cover, on sale at £50.

*Horror 1949-1959: An early entry in the Atlas Horror stakes, Adventures Into Terror launched with #43 (continuing from the defunct teen-humour title Joker Comics, which must have come as a bit of a jolt to subscribers) before switching to correct numbering with #3. We have ten of this famous Atlas series, from #3 to the final issue, #31, where, in 1954, it was cancelled along with a whole swathe of other horror titles with the advent of the Comics Code Authority. As an entirely pre-Code Title, Adventures Into Terror is now in high demand, and the covers on several of these issues are not only disturbing but beautifully drawn, with many showing off Bill Everett’s art at his finest. Other contributing artists include Maneely, Heath, Sinnott and Sekowsky. Illustrated are #13 GD- £50 and #31 GD/VG £75, but several others are lower grade and very affordable opportunities to sample this classic horror title.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: The first issue of the ground-breaking weekly Battle, still with its original free gift! The brainchild of Pat Mills, Battle broke away from the stoic stereotypes of British war comics, presenting a more naturalistic, more pessimistic, and, yes, more violent picture than before, generating substantial sales but considerable outrage. Early popular features such as ‘D-Day Dawson’ and ‘Rat Pack’ were later joined by ‘Johnny Red’ and ‘Charley’s War’ to controversy and acclaim. We have a newly-acquired copy of the first issue, dated 8th March 1975, in Fine, with a Fine graded gift of ‘Combat Stickers of World War II’, at £40. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Humour Comics: Premier and/or Free Gift issues are the theme for this update, as we restock four popular series. Cor #1 from 1970 is sadly only a Fair – generally presentable, but there is a small tear inside where, we assume, the Free Gift was stuck then removed decades ago. This affects two stories slightly – ‘Spoilsport’ and ‘Andy’s Ants’ – so this flaw means it’s graded FA at £20. Cracker, the very strange weekly from D.C. Thomson, debuted in 1975, and despite a respectable run, seems little remembered these days – a pity, as its off-beat (and excruciatingly corny) humour had a certain charm. We have issue #1, sadly without the Free Gift, but a decent VG, at £15 and issue #2 in FN with the Free Gift – the ‘Cracker Bang’ – also FN. These paper noisemakers are a staple of British Comics, having been around since at least the 1930s, but because of the force necessary to get them to make the noise, they didn’t endure and seldom survive. This comic & gift combo (pictured) is on sale at £25. The first issue of the 1971 ‘reboot’ Knockout is also new in, a very respectable Fine copy, sadly without the Arrow Toffee Bars, on sale at £15. And finally – the big one: (No, not the Big One, that was a different comic…) Nutty, the 1980 launch which gave the world the multi-media star power of ‘Bananaman’. We have not one but two copies of Nutty #1, one FN with the Lemon Flavour Space Dust VF (pictured, though we seriously don’t recommend consuming it) at £30 for comic and gift; the second #1 is VG without gift at £15. We also have issue #2 VG £7.50 and issue #3 FN with Free Gift – the ‘Whirlyjig’ – also FN at £20, also pictured.

*Undergrounds: Not named for the Wizard from the films, but rather because its first iteration (1963-1969) originated in the creator’s native Australia, Oz Magazine’s London edition hit the streets in 1967, and became much more notorious than its parent, being the subject of controversy, media hysteria, and a very famous obscenity trial.

An integral part of the UK’s underground press, Oz became synonymous with the psychedelic counterculture, though it always had more fangs than the derisive ‘hippie’ label implied, regularly enraging the British Establishment with a range of left-field stories including heavy critical coverage of the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement, discussions of drugs, sex and alternative lifestyles, and contentious political stories, presented alongside daring and innovative artwork, including contributors from the world of Underground Comix.

Regularly raided by police, the Oz team, weary and disheartened, finally gave up with issue 48 in 1973, but each went on to success in other fields, disproving the disparaging comments made by the judge in their 1971 obscenity trial that they were, among other things, misfits and incompetents.

We have acquired a selection of the rare early issues of the London OZ, including the very first, in a remarkable state of preservation given their vintage. Issue #1 VG/FN is £800, #2 VG £200, #7 FN/VF £125, #10 FN £100 and #13 VG £75. Limited circulation – and frequent seizures and destruction by the loveable lads and lasses of the Metropolitan Police – ensure that these counter-cultural artefacts are vanishingly scarce today.

Images for the first issue are shown right: front and back covers and page 1; other issues shown below. High resolution images for #1 are available on request. SORRY, THESE HAVE 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:
*Charlton
*Dell
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Clearance Corner: Our bargain basement offerings are back with a difference this week! Rather than bundling up a lot for your consideration, we’re offering you a chance to pick any issues you want from our listing of Rover, the UK comic story paper that ran from 1922 to 1973, for just 50p each! Ignore the individual prices shown in our catalogue. We have hundreds in stock from 1933-1973, all listed in our Boys’ Adventure & War Comics category. One of D C Thomson’s Big Five, Rover thrilled generations of boys through the middle of the 20th Century, and absorbed stablemates Adventure & Wizard along the way (all issues known as Rover & Adventure and Rover & Wizard are included in this offer). Shop visitors can of course pick up any quantity; mail order is for a minimum of 20 issues (£10) plus p&p. As with all Clearance Corner lots, this is only available by mail order to UK addresses, since the cost of shipping elsewhere is unviable. This offer will remain available while stocks last but once they’re gone, they’re gone!

*DC: Originally co-created by Jack Kirby in Showcase #6, the Challengers of the Unknown were four adventurers who were brought together by a plane crash that ought, by all reason, to have killed them. Since they were ‘living on borrowed time’, the quartet decided to use their special skills to fight all threats, terrestrial and otherwise, to the betterment of humankind. Later joined by two honorary lady members (it was the Sixties…), the Challengers mainly ended up fighting monsters, aliens, robots, and at least one monster alien robot woman! Fondly recalled by many as sporting some of the goofier nemeses of the Silver Age, we have added 16 new issues to our listings of the Challengers’ own series, from #21 through to #74. Highlights include their crossover with the other Champions of the Bizarre, the Doom Patrol, in #48, and a Deadman guest-appearance illustrated by Neal Adams in #74, but each and every issue has a distinctive quality you won’t find anywhere else.

*Marvel: Of the post-Ditko run of Amazing Spider-Man, one of the most in-demand issues is #50, wherein artist John Romita hit his stride and started doing some of the finest work of his career. The cover to #50, with Peter’s temporary abandoning his Spider-Man identity, has become etched in the minds of a generation, endlessly imitated and ‘homaged’, and as if that wasn’t enough, this epic issue featured the first appearance of the Kingpin, one of Spider-Man’s most significant villains! (Later shoplifted by Daredevil, but that was a decade or two in the future…) Our newest copy of ASM #50 is GD, a pence copy with light spine and corner wear. Centrefold is loose, cover firmly attached. Largely unimpaired cover scene, with only a few tiny flecks of broken colour on Spidey’s torso. Interiors clean, off-white, flexible, a mid-grade copy with considerable eye appeal. GD p £65. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: ‘This Female Fights Back!’ was the tagline of Ms Marvel, Marvel Comics’ attempt to publish a solo heroine with a bit more longevity than 1972’s Claws of the Cat. Spinning out of Captain Marvel, former background character Carol Danvers got her own set of super-powers and a whole new supporting cast (including new boss J. Jonah Jameson) as she attempted to discover the mystery behind her own origins. Although moderately successful, the series was attacked by critics who derided Carol’s derivative costume, which made her look like Captain Marvel’s sidekick, and the fact that Marvel were offering a ‘powerful, confident’ heroine who suffered from blackouts and amnesia. Despite these jibes, Ms Marvel has been a prominent member of the Marvel Universe for nearly forty years in one guise or another – whether as Ms Marvel, Binary, Warbird, or most recently the latest Captain Marvel, her chequered history has provided many intriguing plotlines. With the Captain Marvel movie, starring the Carol Danvers iteration of the character, launching in 2019, early appearances of the character are hotting up, and in view of extensive recent sales, we’ve taken the opportunity to completely refresh our listing for ‘Captain Carol’, deleting sold items and adding in 18 new listings for numbers between #2 to #23, the final issue of her original series, mostly in respectable and affordable mid-grades. Buy ’em while you can!

*Horror 1940-1959: Following its modestly successful run as a super-hero title, Harvey Comics’ Black Cat jumped on board the horror trend, and rapidly became known for some of the most gory and lurid stories of the Pre-Code Era. While generally acknowledged as one of the most consistent in terms of quality, with artists such as Powell, Fujitani, Elias and Nostrand, Harvey was never afraid to go for the gross-out shocker, and none of their covers had more notoriety than this issue’s featuring an unfortunate gentleman who has apparently mistaken a tube of radium for a tube of Polos. As you can imagine, it doesn’t end well. Widely vilified at the time by Doctor Wertham and his censorious associates (and many copies consequently destroyed), this is one of the rarest and most sought-after Harvey Pre-Code horror issues. This copy is in reasonable shape, with a loose but present centrefold, moderate edge and corner wear, and one horizontal tear mid-cover (approx 3″), which nevertheless does not detract from the cover scene. Images of this item’s front and back covers and splash page are reproduced below. High resolution images are available on request. Graded at GD- and priced at £700. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Western: Heading up the Western branch of our Atlas Explosion event comes one of Timely/Atlas’ earliest Western series, Wild Western (Wild West for its first two issues), an anthology title which ran from 1948 to 1957. Occasionally spotlighting one character in several stories, more often it presented a variety of features, with many of Atlas’ established Western heroes – Apache Kid, Black Rider, Gunhawk, Two-Gun Kid, Ringo Kid, Kid Colt Outlaw and more we’ve forgotten – stopping by for a spell! We have 39 of the series’ 57 issues new in stock, commencing with issue #13 and concluding with that final issue, #57. Artists involved include Colan, Berg, Maneely, Heath, Severin, Powell, Romita and Shores, to name but a few. Pictured are #14 (VG+ £34) and #21 (FN £32); for grades and prices on the others, see our online catalogue, and check in again in the near future for more from our Atlas Western Round-Up!

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: After too long an absence we’re delighted to welcome a few issues of the Fleetway Super Library Stupendous Series! Entitled Fantastic Series for the first two issues (rebranded, we believe, to avoid confusion with Power Comics’ Fantastic weekly, which was in publication at the time) this ran from 1967 to 1968. Originally published fortnightly, these extra-long digests provided 100+ pages of (as far as we know) all-new adventures, not reprinted from the weekly comics. Like its companion Libraries (Front Line and Secret Agent), Fantastic/Stupendous alternated its cover stars, and here we have alternating tales of Valiant’s Steel Claw – intermittently invisible super-agent Louis Crandell – and from Lion, the Spider, megalomaniac anti-hero and scientific genius! Seven new issues in, from #5 to #19. ‘The Man Who Stole New York’, ‘March of the Gorillas’, ‘City Beneath the Sand’ and other extra-length epics can be yours – if you’re quick! Pictured are #10 and #14, both FN/VF £22.50 each. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: A nice substantial update to our stocks of the D.C. Thomson Girls’ Picture Libraries: Bunty and Judy, the ‘Big Sisters’, are represented by 22 of each from their respective first 50 numbers, Bunty commencing with #8 (VG £12) and Judy from #2 (GD £10). There’s also a scattering of their younger sisters, Debbie and Mandy Picture Libraries, added in this week. Join ‘Ballerina Behind Bars’, ‘Becky’s Buffalo’, ‘Bess of the Black Arrows’ and the ‘Slaves of the Staring Eye’ for fun and adventure!

*Clearance Corner: Not strictly a comic, so a little outside our normal bill of fare, Blighty magazine from the 1950s presented a slice of British life and was quite highly regarded in its day. A precursor of later magazines such as Tit-Bits and Parade (which is what Blighty migrated into), Blighty pervaded humour, sports, cartoons, glamour, show-biz etc in its 32 pages and the issues featured in this bargain lot all sport very attractive painted good-girl covers by Tomkins. All 12 on offer date from 1958 and are in reasonable condition. Yours for just £15 (UK postage if required will be an extra £3.50). SORRY, THIS LOT HAS NOW SOLD

*Collected Editions: The renaissance of classic British comics continues, with this week’s release of two new collections: Ballad of Halo Jones Volume 3, with Alan Moore and Ian Gibson’s futuristic everywoman ending up on a decaying ghostworld, with no hope for a future, and no way out except by joining the military! Meanwhile, in Misty Volume 3, the archive from the popular girls’ mystery weekly collects ‘Wolf Girl'”, by Eduardo Feito and Jordi Badia Romero, together with a selection of shorter subjects from the anthology, many of which themselves have a lycanthropic theme. Both of these are brand-new retrospective paperback collections, Halo Jones at £10 and Misty at £14.

*DC: A nice top-up to our stocks of Action Comics from the classic SIlver Age (mainly), with Superman at his best, running from #279-439, with the emphasis on the earlier part of that range and mostly featuring issues previously missing from our listing. All the earlier issues co-star Supergirl, with a few later Legion of Super-Heroes and other back-ups.