*Marvel: Marvel’s Misunderstood Mutants, the X-Men, took down many fearsome menaces in their early days, but with the debut of the Sentinels, in issue #14, they faced, for the first time, implacable robotic killers designed specifically for them – to overpower and eliminate the mutant species! The Sentinels have been a bane of the X-Men ever since, and this is an opportunity to own their premier appearance in FN+ p at £75, a beautiful copy with unbroken vivid cover colour and gloss. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*War: The ever-popular war genre is extensively restocked this week with new stock from Marvel – Sgt. Fury from #44 to the final issue of #167 (reprinting #1), plus Annuals – and with a tad more variety from DC, with GI Combat, Our Army At War (including the special issue #300), Our Fighting Forces (from #33 onwards), the surprisingly enjoyable Sgt. Rock Special from 1992, and Weird War Tales (including the first GI Robot!). Not content to stop there, we also have two additions from Atlas Comics – but from the two different companies of that name! From the 1950s, Man Comics, with mighty-thewed men fighting the Commie Menace, and from the 1970s Blazing Battle Tales, with ‘Sgt. Hawk’ and other not-at-all-derivative features.

*Marvel UK: Our latest Free Gift Farrago is a goodie! In 1976, Marvel UK’s attempt to broaden their readership by generating a new British hero, Captain Britain was the subject of much controversy, not least because he was created by two Americans (Chris Claremont & Herb Trimpe) who, from the evidence presented here, had never met an English person, and whose interpretation of the UK’s manners and mores made the Austin Powers films look like documentaries. Be that as it may, the character endured to become a respected icon of the medium, and these early issues are now attracting keen collector attention, primarily because of early appearances by characters who have become, as the young people say, ‘hot’ in the media. This is a nice sequential run, featuring all the landmark first appearances associated with the series – the good Captain himself, in #1 of course, plus his supernatural guardians Roma and Merlin; our hero’s psychic sister Betsy Braddock, later to become the X-Men’s Psylocke, in #8 and Lance Hunter, later better known as ‘Mr. Mockingbird’ from Marvels ‘Agents of SHIELD’ television series in #19. #1 is FN with Free Gift (CB Mask) VF at £40 (taped inside as orginally presented); #2 VF with Free Gift (Boomerang) in FN at £30; #8 VF £80; #19 VF £15 and #24, in our experience the rarest of the three Free Gift issues, is FN with Free Gift (Super-Jet glider) in VF at £50; all other issues can be checked out in our online catalogue. Rumours still abound of the Defender of Albion being optioned for his own media crossover, so better buy now while the opportunity’s there!

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A large update to our stocks of Victor, the long-lived war story themed title from the years 1970-1972, greatly increasing the choice of grades available in our catalogue for those years.

*TV & Film Related Comics: We have three separate premier issues for you in this category from our First Quenchers event. First, Doctor Who Weekly, from 1979, with the Free Gift stickers. This launched during the Tom Baker era, and featured new comic strips by soon-to-be superstar Dave Gibbons. Doctor Who Weekly later regenerated – appropriately – into Doctor Who Monthly, and then into Doctor Who Magazine, but it has become the official World’s Record Holder for longest-running periodical devoted to a single TV series – and this is where it all began! Next, Look-In, the ‘Junior TV Times’ which launched in 1971 with a Magpie-heavy emphasis for its first year of life (it was originally going to be named after the ITV ‘Blue Peter’ copycat, but for a last-minute change of heart). Look-In lasted for more than 1,000 issues, ending in 1994, and is best remembered for its comic-strip adaptations of TV series. Finally, Target, a short-lived attempt in 1978 from Polystyle, publishers of TV Comic, to broaden their market; featuring adaptations of popular crime shows such as ‘Kojak’, ‘Charlie’s Angels’, and, unusually for a kiddie comic, the decidedly post-watershed ‘Hazell’ and ‘Taggart’, it lasted a mere 18 issues before becoming a footnote in comics history. Doctor Who Weekly #1 is VF with Free Gift Transfers (also VF) at £25; Look-In #1 is VG at £35 and Target #1 in VG/FN with FN Free Gift (Superbikes poster!) at £30.

*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. Nevertheless, it isn’t often seen, and we are quite pleased to have the first issue back in stock, in FA (reasonable general condition, but corner off front cover marginally affecting logo of first story) at £10.

For our existing stock spotlight this week, we turn to 1965’s Fantastic Four #45 which saw the culmination of a long-running subplot – and the introduction of a whole new family of supporting super-stars. Since #36, the mysterious Madame Medusa had been a thorn in the side of the FF, and latterly, from #44, she had been pursued by the equally mysterious Gorgon. Now, the pair’s true origin, and their royal heritage, was revealed, as Black Bolt, Monarch of the Inhumans, made his first appearance, along with Crystal, Karnak, Triton and Lcokjaw – as the origin of Medusa and Gorgon was revealed. An instant hit, the Inhumans became major players, either with the FF or in various series of their own, and their own TV series is about to spin off from the hit “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” show. This copy of the Inhuman’s debut is a FN+ p copy, with beautiful unmarred cover scene, deep cover colour and gloss, and superior interior pages. On sale for £200.

Here are the details of an event to remember the life of Alan Austin:
Alan Austin (The Guv’nor) 1955-2017
Please join Alan’s friends as they remember his life together.
The Bell Middlesex Street
London E1 7EX
Wednesday 5th July at 7pm
0780 325 3151
We’ll be there and hope to see many of you who knew Alan.

*DC: In 1973, the town of Metropolis, Illinois, petitioned to be affiliated with the Superman character, becoming the official ‘hometown’ of the Man of Steel for public relations purposes. Among the media tie-ins for this event was the release of this one-off tabloid comic – DC’s first in the format later popularised by their Limited Collectors’ Edition series and its spin-offs – featuring new and reprint Superman and Superboy comics stories, plus multiple features and a stapled-in poster, a Map of Krypton. Of extremely limited distribution even in the US – and almost never seen in the UK – this rarity is a must for Superman completists. This copy is GD at £35. Considerable edge & corner cover wear, but the original poster is still firmly in place. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: A trio of first issues here, two landmarks, and one oddity that wouldn’t exist at all if not for a scheduling conflict. In 1968, distribution restrictions on Marvel’s titles were lifted, and the double-feature titles such as Tales to Astonish spun off each character into their own title. But Iron Man, from Tales of Suspense, and Sub-Mariner, from Tales to Astonish, were left with ‘orphaned’ serial chapters when their stablemates, Captain America and the Hulk, took over the numberings of TOS and TTA respectively, so Marvel decided to produce a one-shot, Iron Man and Sub-Mariner, to wrap up the serials and enable Shell-Head and Subby’s own series to start ‘clean’ with new book-lengthers. Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1 (and only) was cover-dated April ’68, and followed in May by the first issues of Iron Man and Sub-Mariner’s ongoing solos. We have all three new in stock: Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1 is VG p £30, Iron Man #1 is FN- p £180 and Sub-Mariner #1 is VG p £50. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Marvel: In 1968, Ultron was introduced as the secret leader of the Masters of Evil. At first seemingly, ‘just another robot’, he became one of the Avengers’ greatest enemies, particularly when his poignant connection to Hank Pym, Goliath, was revealed, and his menace has metastized into other media, most notably the ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ film of recent years. We have Avengers #54, in which Ultron made his first fleeting appearance, and #55, in which his full villainy was unleashed, new in for your enjoyment. #54 is FN+ p £36, #55 VG p £44, and both covers may be inspected here.

*Western: So popular was our recent Mighty Marvel Western event that we’ve managed to wrangle a few more into our corral here at 30th Century for you. Included are Kid Colt #130 & #131 (2 giants), a few Rawhide KId (inc. #50 with Kid Colt), Red Wolf #1, Ringo Kid, and a few Two-Gun Kid (inc. #85 with Rawhide Kid & #89 with Kid Colt and the Rawhide Kid). Round ’em up, pardners, yee-hi!

*Marvel UK: No fewer than fourteen premier issues from the UK House of (Recycled) Ideas! #1’s of Blockbuster, Captain America, Savage Sword of Conan (1st series, weekly), the Daredevils (with Moore & Davis’ Captain Britain), Complete Fantastic Four, Forces In Combat, Frantic, Fury, Future Tense, Marvel Madhouse, Marvel Team-Up, Rampage (1st series, weekly), Savage Action, and one of the most mind-bending rebrandings of all – The Thing Is Big Ben! Must be seen to be disbelieved!

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Well, more like Five Star Westerns, because we have one-off additions to our digest-sized tales of the Wild West. Lone Rider, Totem, Western Star, Wild West and Wild West Holiday Special all lightly restocked this week!

*Girls’ Comics: Mirabelle, one of the romance comics that arose to compete with Marilyn, Roxy and Cherie, lasted longer than most of her sisters, outlasting even the redoubtable Romeo to be virtually ‘Last Chick Standing’ in 1977, outlived only by Jackie. Despite a respectable run of 1,009 issues, it’s little remembered these days, which is rather a pity, as its romance comic strips were a cut above, and some of the earlier painted covers (particularly those by Shirley Bellwood, later of Misty fame) rather stunning. We only have around twenty new Mirabelles in stock, but they’re good ‘uns: a handful from 1964 to 1966, then a more generous portion from 1969 to 1975, including Christmas, New Years’ and Halloween issues, plus enticing straplines like: “He Looks Happy…But There Are Times When Donny Osmond Cries!” How can you resist? As a special bonus, we have one free gift issue, with a Flexidisc of the New Seekers to be played on your hi-fi turntable. Check the website catalogue for the details!

On a regular cycle, we sweep through our entire stock to delete sold items and keep our listing as up to date as possible. We’ve just finished deleting sold items from the following file in our British section:
*Humour Comics A – C
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Marvel: The Founding Family of the Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four, are given overdue recognition this week as we expand their catalogue listing to include issues #201 to #300, and up to their 20th Annual. This run starts and ends with, honestly, frankly bog-standard boilerplate stuff, but encompasses the selection from #232 to #295 where John Byrne took over as writer/artist, and tackled it with a freshness and enthusiasm that had long been absent from the series. Revisiting all the classic villains – Galactus, Dr. Doom, the Skrulls, Ego the Living Planet – and allies old (Inhumans, Black Panther) and new (She-Hulk, Frankie Raye the She-Torch!) into the mix, his enthusiasm and creativity reminded everyone why they’d originally loved the FF in the first place. This run also sees two significant marriages: Black Bolt and Medusa in Annual #18, and Ben Grimm and… somebody (Ssh! Spoilers!) in #300 and an important ‘pilot’ during this run was the X-Factor prelude in #286.

*DC: A rare treat this week with a classic from DC from 1943: an early squarebound issue of the omnibus title Comic Cavalcade (which ran from 1942 to 1954). The cover stars, Wonder Woman, Flash & Green Lantern are the big names in solo stories, but there are many other strips as well, including Hop Harrigan and Sargon the Sorceror. This is a decent enough, solid copy, with some wear but an engaging and largely unspolit cover image (slightly marred by book shop stamps — see scan). Minor creasing and some wear but no significant tears. The drawback is a taped spine, plus tape reinforcement along the inside front and back covers. Nevertheless, a relatively nice, relatively affordable copy of something we don’t see every day! GD- at £125. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Three early issues of the Fantastic Four this update feature the first appearances of three of the team’s greatest nemeses (and one of their staunchest allies). Issue #13 brought us to the mysterious Blue Area of the Moon, and introduced the enigmatic Watcher, cosmic custodian of devices of unimaginable power. Moreover, it featured a Russian scientist re-creating the flight which gave the FF their powers to gain super-abilities of his own – and by staffing his ship with trained primates, making sure his ‘teammates’ were subservient to him! The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes (Mikhlo, Igor and Piotr – we knew you were dying to know!) became a recurring feature in the Marvel Universe, even after the Cold War thawed. In issue #18, the Skrulls, sworn enemies of the FF since their second issue, developed their own super-soldier with all the powers of the FF – and one more! The Super-Skrull has been more seen on Marvel’s cosmic stage than with the FF in later years, but this is where he got his start. And in issue #20, a mild-mannered nebbish became the Molecule Man, putting the FF through their paces while wreaking havoc on a world which had dismissed and ignored him. #13 is GD/VG £115; #18 an extraordinary VF- at £355 and issue #20 VG/FN £95. SORRY, #13, #18 & #20 NOW SOLD

*Marvel: A huge update to our Marvel file this week, with the most significant of these ‘sweeps’ through various titles that we’ve added for some time. Included are: Captain America (with #112 Kirby album issue plus #172-175 guest-starring the X-Men), Conan, Dr. Strange, Fantastic Four (inc. #31 & #57, Him (Warlock) in #66 & #67 plus low grade annuals), Hulk, Iron Man (#8-11), Marvel Premiere, Amazing Spider-Man (from #52 and inc. issue #400), Spidey Super Stories, Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Sub-Mariner, Tales Of Suspense (inc. #54 2nd Mandarin), Tales To Astonish (Giant-Man & Sub-Mariner issues inc. #90, 1st Abomination) & X-Men (from #6, inc. 1st Lucifer & X-Men/Avengers clash in #9, 1st Mimic in #19 and 1st Barry Smith art in #53). Quite a haul added to our Marvel inventory, and you can check out grades and prices in our catalogue.  

*Western: Launched as a reprint title in 1970, DC’s All-Star Western chugged along, adding a couple of original series, including the rather splendid ‘El Diablo’ illustrated by Dick Giordano and Gray Morrow, achieving respect but not a great deal of attention. With its tenth issue, dated Feb-March, 1972, all that changed. Jonah Hex, a horribly-scarred, surly and cynical bounty-hunter with a compulsion to defend the innocent, joined the line-up, and a superstar was born. Created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga, Hex was heavily ‘influenced’ (ahem ahem) by the spaghetti-western fad prevalent at the time, as popularised by such actors as Clint Eastwood, but his own twisted code of honour kept readers fascinated through his own 92-issue series and myriad subsequent relaunches, as well as other-media appearances in film and in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow TV show. This copy of All-Star Western #10 is FN-, and on sale at £100. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Modern Reprints: We have new in the 1998 reprints of Valor, second of EC’s short-lived title which was the second in its ‘New Direction’ line – an attempt to win fresh audiences following the introduction of the Comics Code Authority. Valor was dedicated to tales of action and adventure in various period settings, including Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, the Crusades, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic era, but despite glowing art from the likes of Reed Crandall, Bernard Krigstein, Joe Orlando, Angelo Torres, Al Williamson and Wally Wood, the series never took flight, and ended after five issues. The entire five-issue series was reprinted by Gemstone, and is in stock at between £2 – £2.50 each. We’re in rather more traditional territory with Vault of Horror Vol. 6, in Gemstone’s self-styled ‘Annual’ series, representing six issues of the ‘floppies’ in consecutive order. Gore and ghoulishness unbridled from Graham Ingels, Jack Kamen, and all the gang, NM at £12.

*Power Comics: There was only one Summer Special for the Power Comics series Fantastic, and it’s rather clunky full title, as seen in the header above, indicates that by this time it had already devoured two of its weaker weekly siblings, in the hatch-match-and-despatch pattern so beloved of traditional British weeklies. This is “A Treasure-Store of Power Style Super-Hero Action and Laughs containing the nest of FANTASTIC, SMASH and POW weekly!”, as it says on the packet. Not common in any condition, dating from the dying days of the Power Comics regime, it’s exceedingly hard to find in high grade, as most known copies tend to have very rusty staples, as does, indeed, this copy. The staples have rusted through to the point that the cover is detached from the body of the comic, but structurally the rest of it is very sound. A difficult one to grade because of this dichotomy – like the proverbial curate’s egg, parts of it are excellent – but we’ve compromised on GD+, and are asking £25. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Following the success of 1969’s Whizzer & Chips launch, the USP of ‘two comics in one!’ with an inbuilt rivalry proved so popular that publishers IPC/Fleetway went back to the well with Score ‘n’ Roar, two football comics in one – neither of which had existed previously as an independent entity. The rivalry aspect was provided by brothers, ‘Jack of United’ and ‘Jimmy of City’, who played for opposing teams – and in rival halves of the comic! Other strips included young prodigy goalie ‘Peter the Cat’, supernatural striker ‘Phantom of the Forest’ and obligatory comedy team of ne’er-do-wells, ‘The Mudlarks’, and things ran comfortably along until the following year, when Scorcher took a decisive lead in the battle of Fleetway footie rags, and S’n’R (by then just ‘Score’) ended with the traditional ‘Great News, Readers!’ straplining the issue of 26th June 1971. ‘Jack’ and ‘Jimmy’, plus ‘Nipper’ and ‘Lord Rumsey’s Rovers’, moved into Scorcher, where they had respectable further runs. We have almost a full run of Score ‘n’ Roar, 40 issues, lacking only the third. Averaging Fine condition, this exceptionally nice run of a scarce niche series is a real opportunity for collectors. Issue #1 is GD/VG at £30; for the rest, grades and prices are shown in our catalogue.

*Girls’ Comics: If you did know Suzy, you’re apparently in quite a small and select club, as, for a series that ran at least 230-something issues from 1982 to 1987, it’s curiously un-remembered. A slick magazine from D C Thomson, a sort of half-way house between Bunty and Jackie, it featured a mix of traditional comic strips, photo-strips (adventure themed rather than romantic, from a more innocent time when photographers taking kids off to warehouses was less likely to be met with restraining orders) and pop features, never afraid to over-sell Adam Ant and Bucks Fizz! Along the way, it incorporated the companion paper Tops (sometimes known as TV Tops), making very little difference to its profile, as it was always media-heavy anyway. Eventually, after a perfectly respectable run, Suzy stumbled into the jaws of Bunty, in turn making very little difference to the ‘host’ title – the eponymous hostess co-starred on Bunty’s front page for five or six issues, and then every trace of Suzy was gone as if it had never been. We have 24 copies of this amnesia-inducing curiosity available for purchase, from 1982’s #2 to 1986’s #177. Check our online catalogue for details, before the Mists of Lethe overwhelm us all…