*IW/Super: I.W. Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s, named for the company’s owner Isreal Waldman. Comics were published under both the IW and Super imprints and were notable for publishing unauthorized Golden Age reprints of other company’s properties.  Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. Basically, it seemed to be whatever they could get their hands on that determined the esoteric nature of their output. Thus you get super-heroes, war, romance, western, funny animals, crime, horror, science fiction and just about every genre within their pages — and we’ve got lots of all of ’em this update, with several dozen new issues added to our catalogue. A great way to sample Golden Age material at a fraction of the price of the originals.

*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: A nice FN copy of the 485 page thick paperback by Sean Howe: Marvel Comics – The Untold Story, first published in 2012. This tells the candid history of Marvel Comics from the beginning, with insights into the personalities of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and many other creators and behind the scenes people at Marvel. Priced at £10. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: We’ve lost count of how many sets of Scream we’ve sold over the years, but they never hang around in stock for long. The achievability of a short 15 issue run plus the horror subject matter make this an irresistible title for many. Another complete run fresh into stock, all 15 issues plus one of the Holiday Specials (for 1988). As a bonus, the #1 issue, itself a sparkling FN copy, comes with the Free Gift (Dracula Fangs) mint and unopened in its original bag and still taped to the front cover. #1 on sale for £60; please consult our catalogue for full listing. 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: We’ve just added a large number of issues of 2000 AD from #301 to the significant #520, which combines a celebration of 10 years of futuristic mayhem with the first appearance of the new look comic. Noteworthy within this run is the 1st appearance of Halo Jones in #376, together with a Christmas issue, a couple of Free Gifts and an unusual Atari Promo Flyer. All this and a liberal seasoning of Alan Moore – in two words: Ir Resistible!

*TV & Film Related Comics: It’s 1953, a different age before even I was born and Amalgamated/Fleetway celebrated the media age with the launch of a new weekly topically called TV Fun. Most of the strips and features within are no doubt unknown to succeeding generations, but worthy of note are the Arthur Askey full colour cover by Arthur Martin, The House With Red Shutters with George Heath art and the inimitable Professor Jimmy Edwards strip. This is a remarkably well preserved VG copy of #1 at £30. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

With the Justice League movie riding high in the cinemas, what better time to remind you that we have the very first issue of the first series of Justice League of America (1960) in stock? Encapsulated and graded by the PGX company as 6.5 (FN+) and priced at £2500. We’ve seen some astronomical price rises on these key movie books over the last few years, and slabbed key issues represent the best in comics investment.

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:
*Harvey
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*DC: Our Batmania event is given over this week to a latecomer. It’s rare for us to feature a series from this century in our catalogue, but we make an exception here, since the Batman ’66 ‘family’ of series are inspired by the much-loved Adam West TV show, and appeal to many fans of vintage Batman. Featuring many villains from the TV show (including some who never made it into comics before), we have the complete original 30 issue series (#1 NM £15 pictured) including the first ’66 appearance of ‘Harlequin’ (who strangely wasn’t around in ’66! #25 NM £10), plus the complete 6 issue minis ‘Meets The Green Hornet’ and ‘Meets The Man From UNCLE’, as well as the prestige format one-shot based on the non-produced Two-Face script by Harlan Ellison (‘The Lost Episode’). Everything in lovely NM condition. 

*DC: In 1986, post Crisis On Infinite Earths, DC entrusted the future of Superman to the hands of Joihn Byrne, who commenced his time on the character with a defining 6 issue mini-series, Man of Steel, which established the origins of Superman and his place in the DCU with a changed post-Crisis continuity (whoever could have imagined such a thing would be possible?). Be that as it may, this mini was a high quality series in terms of story and art, reintroducing all the main players in Superman’s story for the first time (yes, we know that doesn’t make sense!). All six issues, pence copies, now available as a set, averaging VF condition, for £25. SORRY, THIS SET HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: It’s a rainy cold afternoon as I type this, so what better way of cheering yourself up than with a cuddly brain-sucking symbiote? Fun for all the kiddies! Here’s Venom in all the g(l)ory of his first full appearance in the 25th Anniversary issue of Amazing Spider-Man (#300) with art by fan favourite Todd Macfarlane. Whilst not rare, the demand for this milestone issue is phenomenally high and we’ve sold many a copy over the years — it never hangs around for long. This is a VF+ pence copy priced at £175, the only defects being a couple of very minor (barely noticeable) indentation marks on Spidey’s cover image, the tiniest of stress marks at the spine and a small dink at the bottom of the spine. Tight, flat and glossy with excellent page quality. I suspect many a Spidey fan would be ecstatic to find this in his/her Christmas stocking! SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Most of the first series of What If? (commencing in 1977) new into stock. Capitalising perhaps on DC’s Imaginary Stories, Marvel presented alternative scenarios for all their famous characters, including #1 (now available in NM for £40) ‘What If Spider-Man Joined the Fantastic Four?’ and, now grown in significanace, #10 (VF £25 pictured) ‘What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor?’ Now of course she IS Thor, so in a manner of speaking, this is the first female Thor appearance. See our catalogue for full listing.

*Miscellaneous 1960 onwards: Star of the big screen Predator joins our ranks this week, with issues #1 & #2 of the first Dark Horse series from 1989, the first appearances of the big guy in comics. #1 is a 1st printing, but with a tiny corner off the upper right back cover – VF at £15. SORRY, #1 NOW SOLD

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: A chunky update to our Charlton horror stock of Haunted (known as Baron Weirwulf’s Haunted Library from #21 onwards). Just as idiosyncartic as all other Charlton horror from this time, this new selection includes the first appearance of Baron Weirwulf himself in #21.

*Annuals: A nice range of UK Marvel annuals new on our shelves and filling a gap in our inventory. Titles include: Avengers 1975-77, Captain America 1981 (technically a collectors’ edition hardcover reprinting the Steranko issues), Captain Britain 1978, Fantastic Four 1979-1981, Hulk 1978-1983, Marvel Annual 1970, 1973 & 1976. Some of these are among the earliest of their type printed; the 1980 and 1981 Hulk Annuals feature new John Higgins and David Lloyd art on original Hulk strips. Always particularly popular with our customers across the poind, these esoteric gems, mostly in very nice condition, are sure not be be hanging around for long. 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: An overdue update to this very popular category sees new issues of Thriller Picture Library (between #130 & #182) and Wild West Picture Library from #2 upwards plus 1970s and 80s Holiday Specials freshly added to our listings. 

*Girls’ Comics: More Judy’s hit the shelves, this time from 1979, 1980 and previously missing, 1981. Mainly in FN or VG grades, with Christmas and New Year issues and the very special 21st Anniversary issue (#1097, 1981). This is our last Judy update for a while, so grab ’em while you can.

*TV & Film Related Comics: The latest very special offering in our ‘British Are Coming’ event, showcasing the very best in British comics, is a seldom seen set of TV Comic from 1967 with Patrick Troughton Doctor Who covers. These are as rare as the proverbial hen’s teeth, and in all our 25 years of trading, we’ve only ever seen a handful of them before. This is a complete set of the second Doctor’s cover appearances, ranging from #788 (21/1/67) to #809 (17/6/67) – 22 issues. Although other famous TV series strips appear within (such as Adam Adamant and Orlando), it is for the Doctor Who strips (copiously populated by Daleks, of course) that these are prized. Whilst grades on some of these aren’t too clever (1 PR, 9 FA, 11 GD, 1 VG), they are all intact with unspoilt cover images.
Because it seems a shame to break up this set, we’re initially offering these as a lot for £395. If not snapped up within a short time, they will then be listed and offered individually, when a further announcement will be made here. We will not be able to take orders or reservations for individual issues until then.
Always my favourite Doctor!
SORRY, THESE ARE NOW SOLD

*DC: Following his first successful run in Brave & Bold, Hawkman, the Pinioned Policeman from the planet Thanagar, was invited back for another three-issue run, accompanied, of course, by his partner in crimefighting as well as in life, the lovely Hawkgirl. Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert reiterated their roles as writer and artist, turning out some of the best-loved work of their long and illustrious careers. In two high-flying adventures, our heroes deal with “Earth’s Impossible Day” and the cover-billed “Men Who Moved The World!”, tackling crooks, aliens and gravitational flip-flops with ingenuity and insouciance, like Nick & Nora Charles with wings. This is a superb VF- p copy, tight corners and staples, brilliant white pages, with distinctive greytone cover, on sale for £80.

*Marvel: Following the arrival of the ‘New’ X-Men, in Giant-Size X-Men #1 and thereafter, a lot of people felt the ‘old’ X-Men were somewhat redundant. This was more so in the case of Jean Grey, Marvel Girl, who didn’t seem to have any identity other than being an X-Man and Cyclops’s love interest. But that was rectified in spades in #100, in which the ‘New’ X-Men were faced with murderous versions of the original team, and then, escaping from a plummeting spaceship bombarded with radiation (as you do), Jean was transformed into the cosmic-powered entity known as the Phoenix – and the X-Men would never be the same again! Although Phoenix herself doesn’t appear until #101, the entire set-up of her origin is in the preceding issue, so we list the pair in this update. #100 is  GD/VG p at £35, while the #101 is a nice FN/VF p at £140. With the Phoenix looming large in the forthcoming X-Men movie franchise, now is the time to get these highly sought-after issues!

*Western: In 1948, a country & western song written by Stan Jones, “Ghost Riders In The Sky”, hit the charts and has been engrained into the zeitgeist ever since, with multiple recordings – most famously Frankie Laine. What’s this got to do with comic books? Well, one year later, while the song was still being played everywhere, a western hero, Ghost Rider, debuted in Magazine Enterprises’ Tim Holt, and won his own series shortly thereafter, his western/horror adventures continuing until the advent of the Comics Code. One of the Ghost Rider’s most prominent creators was Dick Ayers. Fast forward to 1967, and Marvel Comics released a new western hero called…Ghost Rider, illustrated by the very same Dick Ayers and identical to the 1940s character, which was in turn inspired by the song. An unrestrained homage (a.k.a. shameless rip-off), this told the tale of Carter Slade, mild-mannered schoolteacher who, when danger calls, throws on luminous bedsheets and takes some ‘herbs’ (winky winky) given to him by friendly Native Americans to become the Frontier Phantom, the Ghost Rider! GR’s original run lasted a scant 7 issues, but he’s reappeared, as first the Night Rider and as the Phantom many times since. We are chuffed to have the original series in full back in stock, from #1 (VG/FN p £20) to #7, in superior mid grades. Saddle up for spooky rough-riding adventure! SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Power Comics: ‘The Brand New Comic for the New Breed of Comic Fans’ proclaimed Pow! #1 across its masthead. In 1967, Odhams Press, after successes with the Beano-esque Wham! and Smash!, hit upon its highly successful formula of Marvel reprints combined with original British humour and adventure strips. Nowhere was this more notable than in Pow!, their third launch, which featured Spider-Man reprints virtually from the beginning, backed up by Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, as well as well-remembered original strips ‘Georgie’s Germs’, ‘The Dolls of St. Dominic’s’, and ‘The Cloak’. We have a copy of #1 GD/VG at £50, structurally sound with moderate spine and edge wear, and very slightly rusty staples. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Girls’ Comics: 75 new copies of Judy from these two years, both shamefully under-represented until now. In addition to the regulars – ‘Bobby Dazzler’, ‘Wee Slavey’, ‘Fay Farrell, District/Island/Student Nurse’ – my, she led a full life – there were lots of interesting and peculiar new seies at this time, such as ‘Spog’ (short for ‘Space Dog’), ‘Vicky the Evacuee’, and not one, but two strips entitled ‘Supergirl’. one of which sported a logo so similar to Superman’s that it’s a wonder DC’s lawyers didn’t have an aneurysm! Our previous recent top-up of Judy gathered much attention, so we’re expecting more of the same from all you fans of plucky schoolgirls, equestriennes, war orphans and ballerinas out there!

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:
*Horror 1940-1959
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s
*War
*Western
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

Some time back, we cleared our shelves of Champion, the venerable Boys’ story paper that ran from 1922-1955. Now, from deep in our vaults we’ve unearthed 8 Free Gifts that accompany this series as follows:
Recordbreakers Album (completed) 1934
Sports Wallet (completed) 17/10/36
Autograph album (completed with autographs from comics) 5/6/37
Defence Forces of the World booklets #1-4 (pre WW II)
The R.A.F At War album (completed) 11/5/40
These are available at a snip for just £10; first come, first served. UK postage if required will be an additional £2.50 
SORRY, THIS LOT HAS NOW SOLD

*DC: Following the success of their Limited Collectors’ Edition tabloid series in the 1970s, DC branched out into non-reprint editions, which were rebranded All-New Collectors’ Edition – though, confusingly, they kept the same numbering sequence. One of the most sought-after issues – and by a long way the most contentious – was issue #C55, which featured an all-new tale of the Legion of Super-Heroes, at that time one of DC’s strongest-selling series. Featuring the wedding of two founding Legionnaires, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad, this was completely undistributed in the UK and not commonplace in the US, with the result that rabid completist Legion fans (yes, like us!) had to have it, and sought it out regardless of expense or effort, despite the fact that, frankly, the expanded page size did the Grell & Colletta ‘artwork’ no favours whatsoever. Didn’t matter to the diehard Legion folks – and still doesn’t, decades later, as every copy to come through our hands has vanished as if abducted by the Time Trapper! This copy is an outstanding VF+ at £40 SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD