*DC: The artwork of Carmine Infantino is so inextricably linked with Adam Strange in the minds of veteran fans that it’s a surprise to many that Adam’s earliest adventures were illustrated by Mike Sekowsky, who imparted a lush wildness and kinetic energy to the series which made it more reminiscent of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ fantasy adventures than the sleek, machine-tooled science fiction of Asimov, Hamilton, et al. This, the third ever Adam Strange appearance, was his final outing in Showcase before he graduated to the lead series in Mystery In Space for which he is best remembered. Pre-distribution, this cents copy sports a nifty Gil Kane cover and the first (and only Silver Age) appearance of the Adam Strange logo at the masthead and is a highly attractive VG+ at £170. Unbroken black cover background, vivid colour, minimal corner wear and no creasing, tight staples, and all the exotic interplanetary derring-do you could wish for!

*DC: A decent Silver Age update for both the Boy and Man of Steel this week: Superboy between #78 (FN £75 pictured, origin Mr. Myxyzptlk and Superboy costume) and #128; Superman between #165 & #190, plus Annual #6, which reprints the very first Legion of Super-Heroes story.

*Marvel: As the premier series of the Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four did seem to spend a lot of time incubating the stars of tomorrow, as their guests frequently spun off into their own titles. One of the most popular ‘break-out’ stars was the Silver Surfer, and in issue #50 the former Norrin Radd, having been introduced two issues previously as the minion of the planet-devouring Galactus, breaks away from his master and defends the threatened planet Earth. Cosmic menace; epic grandeur; and, hm, college hi-jinks, as the Human Torch commences his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it struggle with higher education. That last aside, this defining issue for the Surfer is a FN cents copy with a beautiful unmarred cover, on sale at £125.

*Marvel: A tempting selection of Tales of Suspense for the discerning collector, opening with #49, featuring a team-up in which, rather implausibly, the X-Men’s Angel is on the verge of defeating the Armoured Avenger! The first X-Men crossover is illustrated by Steve Ditko, in a bit of a departure for Shell-Head. We also have superior cents copies of #61 and #62, with the villainy of the Mandarin, and not one but two copies of #63 (both pence), retelling the origin of Iron Man’s captivating co-star, Captain America! Finally, the Big One – issue #65, with the first Silver Age appearance of the Red Skull, Cap’s classic nemesis, in FN+ p £80 (pictured). SORRY, #65 HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Jim Steranko, despite his comparatively small output, revolutionised the art of comics storytelling with his cinematic and design-oriented artwork, and while he is most famous for his work on Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, some of his most striking work was done on the Captain America issues he illustrated. We have two of these back in: #110, VG+ p £17.50, which features the first appearance of Madame Hydra, a.k.a. the Viper, who became a major villainous player; and 111, VG/FN p £17.50, with death and return of Captain America. No, the first one. (Well, maybe the second…does being frozen in ice count?). Both of these stunning issues are highly sought after, and these affordable mid-high grade copies are extremely attractive purchases. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Jet & Thunder were two short-lived early 1970s productions from Fleetway, lasting just 22 issues each before being absorbed into Buster & Lion respectively. Their short runs make them highly collectable today. We have a handful of Jet from May-July 1971 new in, plus a couple of Thunder from 1970 & 1971.

*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. Even the token adventure strips, such as “Wee Tusky”, lacked the tension noticeable in the other titles. 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 is a very presentable FA/GD, with moderate wear and browning but all pages complete, at £35. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

To complement our new copy of Fantastic Four #50 (see post above), our previously listed feature this week is FF #55, where the Silver Surfer, a huge hit with readers, swiftly returned to the title after the initial Galactus trilogy. This time he picks a battle with the Thing following a jealous hissy-fit involving Alicia. Jack Kirby is at his bombastic best on this stand-out cover, with a luscious purple background. FN+ pence copy at £50.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Our latest high profile British spotlight falls on 2000 AD, the title that changed the face of British comics forever! At the beginning of 1977, around about the onset of punk music, a comic was launched that captured the zeitgeist of the times, darker, more anarchic and anti-establishment than anything that had come before it in the comic world; nowhere more so than in the persona of Judge Dredd, the iconic anti-hero who has gone on to become legendary after debuting in issue #2. This very special update we’re featuring the first three issues of 2000 AD in exceptional condition as follows:
#1: Featuring the debuts of Mach-1, Invasion, Harlem’s Heroes, Flesh and the new Dan Dare. A tight, flat copy with good staples and off-white pages; just a faint browning age line along the spine keeps it from grading higher than FN/VF. The Space Spinner is not present, but has left only the most minimal of marks where its tape has been carefully removed from the front cover. Priced at £125.
#2: 1st appearance of Judge Dredd. Again, a tight flat copy with good staples and beautiful near white cover and page quality with no age marks for a sparkling VF grade. The Free Gift, Biotronic Stickers, are unused on original backing sheet and grade at VF+, with just the tiniest of 2 creases at the left hand edge only. The nicest copy and gift we’ve ever seen. Priced at £450.
#3: A little more tan than #1 & #2, but still with great off-white pages (very minor dog-earring to a few). Good tight staples. Grading at FN. The Free Gift, Red Alert Survival Wallet, is present and grades at VF+, never having been assembled and still on original card backing. Priced at £80.
SORRY, THESE ARE NOW SOLD
 

*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 most of the ‘Death of Superman’ saga new in stock, from the first cameo appearance of the villain Doomsday in Superman (2nd series) #73, Doomsday’s first full appearance in Superman: Man of Steel #18, through to the regular and deluxe (still sealed with free gifts) editions of the actual death issue, Superman #75, and concluding with the return of the Kryptonian Crusader in Adventures of Superman #500, deluxe edition, sealed with trading card. Superman #75 (Deluxe Collectors’ Edition) is NM 1st printing £30; Superman, Man of Steel #18 is VF/NM p £25. Details of the others may be found in our online catalogue. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Marvel: The X-Men, once a Marvel mainstay, had been languishing in the limbo of reprints and guest-shots when Len Wein and Dave Cockrum knocked fandom’s collective socks off with Giant-Size X-Men #1, reshaping the moribund franchise into the form internationally recognised today. With issue #94 of the X-Men’s own title, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler and their chums moved into the formerly reprint series and continued the excitement. This issue, never distributed in the UK and scarce anywhere in the world, is VG+ with moderate corner and edge wear, but glossy, unblemished cover scene and, as a bonus, a signature by writer (technically co-writer, but he was to take on full scripting soon) Chris Claremont, who autographed the lower splash page back in 1982. This copy can be yours for £150. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: A fistful of major Avengers issues this update, beginning with #28, which saw the first appearance of the cosmic entity known as the Collector, now immortalised in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and other appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This VG cents copy is £40. Issue #55 saw the first full appearance of Ultron, the malevolent mechanism who challenged the team on many occasions. This VG- pence copy is £25. In #83, we were treated not only to the debut of the Valkyrie – admittedly a persona adopted by the evil Enchantress here, but soon to become a star in her own right – but also the Lady Liberators, a team of heroic ladies who were nobody’s weaker vessels! #83 VG pence £25. In #87, we learned for the first time the detailed origin of the African Avenger, the Black Panther – this copy FN+ cents £40; and finally, the 100th issue, a true landmark illustrated by Barry Smith and featuring every single Avenger to that date. Those of us old enough to remember this the first time round will recall the ‘special’ feel of this story. This FN pence copy is £30. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Tales to Astonish is a favourite Marvel amongst us DC-philes at 30th Century, with its charming and realistic romance between Ant/Giant-Man and his lovely partner the Wasp, the grandeur and pageantry of the Sub-Mariner series, and… well, yeah, the Hulk was in there too. We have a nice selection of TTA new in, from #37 (Ant-Man’s third adventure in costume), then a consecutive run of #62 to #69, and selections along the way to #99. This run includes the debut of the Hulk’s nemesis the Leader, the ‘New’ Giant-Man, the shapely but sinister Madam Macabre, and a farrago of outlandish super-heroics from Bob Powell, Bill Everett, Gene Colan and diverse other talents. With the exception of #37 (picture FN p £70), all of our new TTA’s are cents copies, with no UK price stamp or overprint. Check our our cataogue for full details.

*Western: When the 1940s craze for super-heroes waned, All-Star Comics, former home of the Justice Society, was succeeded by All-Star Western, with the Trigger Twins, Strong Bow, Dan Foley and Johnny Thunder replacing the likes of the Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and, er, the other Johnny Thunder. The revised title rode the 1950s Western fad for more than a decade, with classic creators like Barry, Toth, Infantino, Anderson and Kane turning out superbly-crafted frontier adventures. We have a dash of new All-Star Westerns in stock, commencing with #71 and culminating with #113 in 1961, a few issues before the title’s demise, but still as meticulously-produced as after.

*Marvel UK: A nice selection of the Marvel UK imprint ‘Spider-Man Comics Weekly’ from 1973 fresh in. Starting at #1 (in an admittedly disappointing FA/GD at £10), we have most of the first 50 issues, and most of them are in much nicer shape. Reprinting the earliest adventures of your friendly neighbourhood webslinger, these are many readers’ first exposure to the character, and are now keenly sought after, not the least by our American cousins, to whom of course they are much rarer. Check out our catalogue for grades, prices and availability.

*Boys’ Adventure and War Comics: A whole box full of Victors added to our shelves this week from the years 1975 & 1976, with virtually every issue for those years now available. Most of our new additions are VG or FN with some GD.

*Younger Readers’ Comics: Of the many comics adaptations of Gerry Anderson’s TV oeuvre, one of the more obscure is Candy, a Younger Readers’ series which focussed on a show which never actually happened. Legend has it that Anderson tried to sell a juvenile series, “Candy and Andy”, for which extensive prop and costume work was done, and when no TV producers took it up, used it instead as the basis for the third ‘Century 21’ comic, after TV 21 and Lady Penelope. Frankly, given the stills from the show which adorn the covers, the characters come across as more creepy than cuddlesome, but nevertheless the comic lasted 150+ issues, enhanced by the media presence of co-stars Topo Gigio, Tingha and Tucker, and Winnie the Pooh. The unusual landscape format makes these rarer than most Anderson-related memorabilia. We have a couple of earlier issues, #8 and #10, new in, then a selection from the #30’s to #50, including the Christmas issue from 1967 (pictured). 

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:
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics (W – Z)
*Humour Comics
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: …or so says Robyn Hitchcock in the song of the same name (look it up!). But you can enjoy Chandler any time of day with our impressive new selection of his vintage paperbacks, a mix of novels and short stories. Star of the show is Chandler’s most famous privtae eye, Phillip Marlowe, in arguably his greatest novel ‘Farewell, My Lovely’; that most famous of hard-boiled detectives also features in ‘The Lady In The Lake’, and several earlier protagonists star in ‘Pearls Are A Nuisance’, ‘Killer In The Rain’, ‘Smart Alec Kill’ and ‘Trouble Is My Business’. These are all Penguin 1970s editions and most feature recoloured movie covers, many with Humphrey Bogart, the definitive on screen Marlowe. We also have one earlier Ace anthology, a UK 1st PB, of ‘Pick-Up On Noon Street’. Great reads all.

*DC: Following the successful ‘reboots’ of the Flash and the Green Lantern, DC, in the late 50s/early 60s, rushed to reinvent more of its Golden Age characters with a Space Age twist. One such was the Atom, who in the 1940s was just a short guy who beat people up a lot (overcompensating much?), but in the 1960s became scientist Ray Palmer, who harnessed the power of White Dwarf star matter to become the Atom, a Tiny Titan adventuring in a land of the giants! Gardner Fox’s imaginative script, if somewhat shaky on the hard science, ran high in drama, and the superb kinetic artwork of Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson made this a memorable debut. Now a staple of DC’s ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ TV series, the Atom has gone through many iterations, but remains a central figure in the DC Universe. This copy of his first appearance is a VG+ cents copy, with only a 2″ diagonal tear at the base of the back cover – relatively unobtrusive – precluding a still higher grade. On sale at £260. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*DC: 1985 saw the release of DC’s universe-redefining series, Crisis On Infinite Earths, in which worlds lived, worlds died, and all the surviving parallel Earths were merged into one, causing headaches for writers and apoplexy for fans for a generation! Created to celebrate DC’s 50th Anniversary of publication, this series was both a major event and a quality item, being created by Wolman and Perez, the team behind DC’s then-hottest property, the New Teen Titans. There was a genuine feeling of momentous changes, and while knock-off reality-altering ‘epics’ have become repetitive and predictable, the original series has never been equalled. We have the first 6 issues of this 12 issue series fresh into stock; the first issue is VF+ at £10; for details on the price and grades on the others, see our online catalogue.

*Marvel: A brace of early classics from the Fantastic Four, the foundation of the current Marvel Universe: issue #6 featured the first pairing of Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner as ‘The Diabolical Duo’ and issue #9 features the eviction of the FF from the Baxter Building as they become bankrupt, and their unexpected debut as movie stars, in one of the more off-beat early adventures! Both of these beauties are cents copies, no UK price stamp or overprint, with vivid unfaded red cover backgrounds, firmly attached covers and centrefolds, and superior inside page quality, only minimal corner & edge wear (fractionally more so on the #6) displaying their vintage. The #6 is GD/VG £265; #9 VG £225.

*Marvel: A quartet of Spider-Man specials from three decades: 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 FN/VF p at £20. In 1987, Peter/Spidey and his long-time sweetheart Mary Jane Watson tied the knot in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, which featured two variant covers by John Romita Sr. – a ‘civilian’ version, and a ‘superhero’ variant! Both are now highly sought-after, and we’re delighted to offer both this update, the ‘civilian’ edition VF+ p £20, and the ‘superhero’ edition FN p £15. Finally, 1992 saw the extremely limited release of Spider-Man Special Edition: The Trial of Venom, a one-shot originally only available through the mail after making a donation to UNICEF. This is NM at £25. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD