*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Some classic Bond paperback editions in this week’s books update, including Diamonds Are Forever, Dr. No, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia, With Love (movie cover), The Man With The Golden Gun (1st PB edition), Thunderball (bullet-hole cover) and You Only Live Twice. Among the most famous adventures of the greatest spy/secret agent of them all!
From time to time, we have to make decisions to discontinue certain titles from our stock for reasons of space. This time it’s the turn of Look & Learn, the educational comic that started out a bit earnest and then with #232 was revitalised by the addition of Ranger, most famously featuring the Trigan Empire strip from that defunct publication, sumptuously illustrated by Don Lawrence and later by others. We’re clearing this title from our boxes to make room for some of the vast number of collections we’ve been buying in so we are able to offer our complete stock of approximately 165 issues (between #232 and #859 – #232 being the first issue to add Ranger and the Trigan Empire) with about 40 duplications among them at a bargain price of just £30 to the first person to order them. Grades range from Fair to Fine and as a bonus there’s an original free gift included. NB They don’t come bagged and boarded (as our normal stock does) and if the buyer wants them posted to a UK address, the postage cost would be an additional £25 (sorry, we won’t post these outside the UK, due to prohibitive postage cost). These are heavy, weighing in at over 15 kg, so if you’re thinking of collecting from our shop, you’ll need transport! We don’t want to throw them away, so we hope this limited-time offer will see them relocated in a good home! First come, first served — the first person to pay for them gets them!
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/Mystery 1960-1980’s
*Romance
*Teen Humour/Funny Girls
and in our British section:
*Younger Readers’ Comics
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
*Girls’ Comics: Stepping a little outside our usual remit, a selection of the pop mag Fabulous (later Fab 208). Launched in 1964, it gained the ‘208’ sobriquet in 1966 when it engineered a promotional tie-in with Radio Luxembourg, (broadcast on 208 wavelength) one of the new stations credited with shaking up the BBC’s somewhat staid monopoly on the listening airwaves. Fab 208’s USP was a plethora of full-colour pin-ups of pop princes and princesses, with the occasional prettier footballer thrown into the mix to tickle the magazine’s overwhelmingly female demographic. They delivered pin-ups in abundance, with the perfunctory text features taking very much a second place – though, allegedly, both the Monkees and George Best wrote regular columns! (Or at least their publicists did…) This selection of over 50 issues spans the years from 1964 to 1971, though with by far the heaviest concentration lands in 1967 and 1968, when the Beatles and the Monkees were king. (Though Doctor Who fans might check out 10/8/68, with cover model the lovely Wendy Padbury (or ‘Paddy Wenbury’, as those of us of a certain vintage will always remember her…), though not, unfortunately in her Who persona as Zoe! (and if you need to ask, ‘Who’s Zoe?’ then you’re too young to be reading this update – away with you, urchins!))
*DC: A decent copy just in of the ground-breaking debut issue of writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams’ run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow (continuing the numbering from the Green Lantern series). With #76, DC’s two Emerald Justice Leaguers teamed-up in a series of radical storylines featuring ‘relevant’ issues such as racism, sexism, drugs etc. Comics would never be the same again after this issue cited by many as the first issue of the Bronze Age. Just spine and edge wear commensurate with a VG grade on this cents copy priced at £150. Plus… a couple of bonus issues from the same run: #85, with the classic ‘My ward is a junkie’ cover and #87, featuring the first appearance of John Stewart, the black Green Lantern.
*DC: In our Batmania Max event this update, we have Batman Adventures: Mad Love, the comics one-shot by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm which redefined the Joker/Harley relationship, and catapulted Harley into her position as the breakout character of the late 20th century! This 1994 release was Harley’s second-ever comics appearance, and she takes centre stage in a tug of love between Batman and the Joker. This copy is an attractive VF- at £50, with only one light diagonal crease in the upper right corner cover precluding a still higher grade. Your chance to grab an early spotlight on a character whose popularity is growing at an epic rate!
*DC: A surprisingly under-represented period in our previous stock, this massive update of the second half of the JLA’s first century saw many changes and departures; original scripter Gardner Fox left after #65, being replaced by Mike Friedrich and Denny O’Neil, resulting for a time in a writing style that could most charitably be described as ‘histrionic’, culminating in the egregious #89, where a Harlan Ellison avatar guest stars, and the writer breaks the fourth wall to invite the readers to contemplate “the crash-pounding of my creative soul!”. No doubt they were all very sincere at the time. Fortunately, things calmed down a little after that, and the series reverted to decent super-heroics on the run-up to its centennial issue. However, highlights of this period include the reintroduction of the Robin of Earth-2 as an adult member of the JSA, the debut of the second Red Tornado, and the crossing over of Black Canary from Earth-Two to Earth-One, trading in her Justice Society membership for JLA status. This selection are all unstamped Cents copies, and averaging Fine or better grade, with many VF. Every issue from #51-100 now in stock; check out our catalogue for full details.
*Marvel: Probably the most sought-after comic of the 1970’s, Hulk #181 featured the first full appearance of Wolverine, the Canadian super-hero who, outstripping everyone’s expectations, became the most popular Marvel character created since the dawn of the Marvel Age. Created by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe (from a John Romita design), Wolvy was revived by Wein when he put together the “New” X-Men who debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1, and since then, Wolverine became the star of the lucrative X-Men franchise, and a multi-media darling in his own right. This issue, where it all really kicked off, is an apparent VG+, with good interior page quality, excellent cover colour and gloss, and one soft but long diagonal crease running from the top of the logo’s ‘K’ down almost to the bottom of the book, as may be seen on the accompanying illustration. The thing precluding an actual VG+ grade, however, is the removal of the Marvel Value Stamp, which has been neatly cut from an interior non-story page. Despite that, the overall condition of the book is very appealing, and given that this is routinely a £1,000+ item intact, we are confident of a rapid sale in pricing this copy at £350. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
*Marvel: This update features Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four from their classic Silver Age period, each issue featuring a famous guest star or two. First up, #14 VG/FN £95 with the Sub-Mariner, next #27 VG/FN p £60 with Subby again plus Dr. Strange, then #29 GD+ p £23 with the Watcher, and finally #55 VG+ p £30 with the Silver Surfer. Some of Marvel’s best!
*Marvel: Increasingly rising in popularity ever since their first appearance in the Fantastic Four mid-1960’s, the Inhumans remain one of the most original concepts in Marveldom and in recent years and indeed currently, are taking their place as a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe. We’re pleased to present the entirety of their first series under their own name, all 12 issues from 1975-76, written by Doug Moench with art by George Perez, Keith Pollard and others. Join Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak and all their chums for high adventure! Averaging VF and all listed in our catalogue with full grading and pricing information.
*Marvel: This week, we concentrate on some of Peter Parker’s extra-length adventures, with new listings for Amazing Spider-Man Annual (including #2, with “The Wondrous Worlds of Doctor Strange”, the only Steve Ditko illustrated crossover between his two most famous co-creations, #16, with the debut of Captain Marvel II/Photon/Pulsar/Spectrum/Whatever Monica Rambeau’s calling herself this week, and #21 (pictured VF/NM £25), the tear-sheddin’ weddin’ issue, where Spidey and his beloved Mary Jane finally tied the knot. (And no, we DO NOT SPEAK of that ‘One More Day’ gubbins…). Complementing these, the first three issues of Giant-Size Spider-Man, a quarterly title from the Seventies, which was Giant-Size Marvel Team-Up in all but name, as each issue paired Petey with a co-star – Dracula in #1, Master of Kung Fu in #2, and Doc Savage in #3.
*Gold Key/Whitman: More than half of the 1967-1978 Star Trek series from Gold Key has beamed down here in the 30th Century, with issues ranging from #2 to the penultimate #60, 32 additions in all. These eccentric adaptations of the cult TV series started oddly, as the original artist, Alberto Giolitti, was working from only a handful of black & white stills and had never seen the series; accordingly, errors in costuming and character portrayal abound, and the Enterprise was frequently shown landing on planets! Later issues adhered more closely to established canon, with unofficial sequels to on-screen episodes. Spottily distributed at best in the UK, these are not commonplace, and this substantial addition to our stock ranges from low, affordable grades on the early issues to very nice VF or even VF/NM condition on several of the latter. Don’t be a red-shirt – join the away team!
*Western: Having relatively recently replenished our stock boxes with good runs of Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid, it was high time we turned our attention to the final member of Marvel’s Western ‘Big Three’: Kid Colt Outlaw, and a run between #99 & #139. This incorporates our favourite period for the Kid, issues in the early 100’s, when he came up against a whole battery of Western ‘super-villains’ such as Iron Mask, the Scorpion, Doctor Danger and the Invisible Gunman, the Phantom Raider and, our personal favourite, the Fat Man and his Bewitched Boomerang! The run then continues with more conventional western fare, including the Giant issues #131 & #132. Full details, as always, in our catalogue.
*Modern Reprints: A long-overdue addition in the form of these handsome full-colour hardcovers chronicling the earliest days of what would become the Marvel Universe. Titles refreshed are All-Winners, Daring Mystery, Sub-Mariner, USA, and Young Allies, featuring not only the ‘big three’ of Sub-Mariner, Human Torch and Captain America, but also a plethora of lesser lights such as the Whizzer, the Destroyer, the Phantom Reporter, Fiery Mask, Angel, defender, Captain Terror and the Victory Boys! These are second-hand, but gently used and in prime condition, clean, glossy copies grading between VF and NM; priced at £35 each.
*Alan Class Reprints: A double-dip for our Alan Class ‘events’: in our ‘Redux’ programme, we revisit one of Alan’s ‘Big Six’ titles, Astounding Stories, for a selection of issues from #1 through to #55, around 30 issues new to our listings. These are Alan’s own file copies from his reference collection, each released with a signed certificate of authenticity from Alan Class, the publisher, himself. And in our ‘Marvellous Alan Class Reprints’ feature, we highlight those hotly-pursued issues which feature early cover-featured reprints – in many cases, the first reprint – of stories from the Marvel Universe. In this selection are included issues #28 and #29 (pictured), which reprint, respectively, X-Men #9 (1st X-Men/Avengers battle) and Tales To Astonish #50 (debut of Giant-Man and the Wasp’s nemesis, the Human Top!). #28 is FN/VF at £40; #29 is FN/VF at £35. For details of all other issues’ grades and prices, please see the listing in our catalogue website.
*Power Comics: A small but welcome update to our stocks of Wham! from 1965. By this time, the all-Baxendale lineup (apart from token reprint adventure strips) of the first year had been enhanced by other contributors, including Ken Reid’s Jasper the Grasper and the unstoppable Frankie Stein, who joined Eagle Eye Junior Spy (whose villain, Grimly Feendish, graduated to his own series in companion paper Smash!) Georgie’s Germs, the Tiddlers, and Danny Dare for a truly stellar comedy lineup. This selection runs from issue #46 to #80, in very affordable mid-grades, including the 1965 Christmas issue, #80 as pictured. Consult our catalogue for further details.
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: We’ve mostly listed all the pure Cowboy and Detective themed PL’s now that represent the C & D in the name of this feature, but this week we’re able to list several dozen issues of Thriller Picture Library, in which many stories feature Cowboy and Detective adventure, alongside historical adventure and much more. This update runs between issues #76 and #431, with an emphasis on the 100-400 range. Many of the usual recurring features are well represented, such as Dick Turpin, Captain Blood, the Three Musketeers, Dick Daring Of The Mounties, Battler Britton, Spy 13, Dogfight Dixon and John Steel. Grades are all over the place, ranging between a very tatty Poor and a sparkling FN/VF.
*TV & Film Related Comics: This major acquisition consists of the majority of the first 50 issues of TV Century 21, 1965’s epochal launch of the Gerry Anderson ‘shared universe’ of the near-future in comics form. Properties long established on TV, such as ‘Supercar’ and ‘Fireball XL5’, were joined by newcomer ‘Stingray’, and, in a strip that piloted International Rescue long before the TV launch of ‘Thunderbirds’, the solo adventures of ‘Lady Penelope: Elegance, Charm…and Deadly Danger’. This oversized, lavishly printed production, illustrated by the best artists in the British comics field at the time – Mike Noble, Ron Embleton, Frank Bellamy, Ron Turner, Keith Watson – was a huge hit, and has remained fiercely collected by comics aficionados and ‘Fanderson’ devotees alike. This is by no means a complete selection, but does include the earliest and hardest to find issues, as well as the elusive 1965 Summer Extra. Issue #1 is GD/VG at £200; #2 GD at £75; #3 GD/VG £100 and the 1965 Summer Extra in Fair (considerable spine wear, but otherwise respectable) at £75. For details of the other issues, including grades and prices, as always, check our online catalogue listing.
*Humour Comics: Although the years 1961-1964 are generally regarded as scarcer than most for D C Thomson’s leading British humour titles Beano and Dandy, we’ve found that 1965 issues are also less often seen in our experience, so we’re delighted to add a small selection of that year for both titles to our stock. About 7-9 of each, averaging a quite respectable GD/VG grade, with some variations.
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:
*War
*Western
and in our British section:
*Alan Class Reprints
*Humour Comics
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
*DC: The Justice League of America was DC’s showpiece title of the early Silver Age, with all its major characters in one series. Coming up with threats of a sufficient magnitude and ingenuity to face the combined might of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, the Martian Manhunter, Aquaman and Batman must have taxed the imagination of scripter Gardner Fox, but he rose to the challenge magnificently, with credible and ingenious stories ably illustrated by the art team of Sekowsky & Sachs. This selection features the first appearances of three vilest villains – space-tyrant Kanjar Ro (#3), demonic inventor Dr. Destiny (#5) and the fiendish lord of luck, Professor Fortune (#6), as well as the arrival on the team of Green Arrow, the first non-founding member, in #4. “Secret of the Sinister Sorcerers!”, “Slave Ship of Space”, “Doom of the Star Diamond”, “When Gravity Went Wild” – titles that still resonate down through the decades! Pictured below (all cents copies): #2 VG/FN £190, #3 VG- £125, #4 VG/FN £115, #6 VG £58.
*DC: Continuing our marathon exploration of the Gotham Guardian and his friends and foes, we reach Detective Comics #298, in which Batman & robin faced, for the first time, the menace of the sinister shape-shifter, Clayface! This was the second villain to use the moniker, and the two were not connected, the Golden Age version being a demented actor and this new iteration, in true sci-fi style, managing his malevolent metamorphoses courtesy of a radioactive meteor. As you do. Unlike the first Clayface, this one stuck around for a decade and became a major player in Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery. This attractive copy of a character debut is in FN+, priced at £100, and a lovely unmarred cover scene with unbroken purple background colour, and superior cream interior pages. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
*Marvel: In the fourth issue of Marvel’s Avengers series, the already formidable team of Iron Man, Giant-Man, Thor and the Wasp was augmented by one of the legendary heroes from the past. Captain America returned to action afters years in Post-WWII suspended animation, and rapidly became the acknowledged heart and soul of the Avengers, who have never flourished for long without him! This copy of an iconic issue is a superior VG+, clean, unmarred cover scene, with nice page quality and only the faintest hint of Marvel chipping at mid-cover edge. A pence priced copy, it is priced at £450. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD
*Marvel: We cover the second half of Spider-Man’s first hundred issues this update, with thirty new listings in the sequence in a mixture of grades. Highlights include clashes with the Kingpin, Vulture, Doc Ock, Shocker, Silvermane, Lizard, Chameleon, the Beetle, the groovy Green Goblin, and the ever-kuddly Kangaroo; while on the heroic side of the equation, there are guest-appearances by Ka-Zar, Madam Medusa, the Black Widow, the Prowler, and Iceman… who all ended up fighting Spidey, too! That boy just didn’t seem to get along with anybody… Stan Lee continued to script for most of this run, with the illustration handled occasionally by Gil Kane, but primarily by John Romita, whose background in romance stories meant that he handled the action with as much gusto as Kane, but devoted perhaps a little more of his attention to the lovely ladies, Gwen and Mary Jane, who populated Peter’s life – and a generation of readers was grateful! Full details in our catalogue. Illustrated: #51 VF p £90, #64 VF+ £69.
*
Marvel: There have been many line-ups of Marvel heroes calling themselves ‘Defenders’ – including the bunch soon to debut in their own Netflix TV series – but here, we’re talking about the originals: Doctor Strange, the Hulk, and the Sub-Mariner (aided periodically by the Silver Surfer and the Valkyrie). We have the first three issues of the showcase title Marvel Feature from 1971, in which not only did the Defenders come together for the first time, but in a separate new story Dr. Strange was reinvented, with all traces of his superheroic phase removed and original features, as the estate agents say, lovingly reinstalled. Following two more Marvel Feature adventures, the Defenders moved on to their own series, and we have the first 14, many of which were never distributed in the UK, plus their first Annual and the first Giant-Size Defenders. In addition to the first issue, highlights include #4, which re-introduced the Valkyrie (previously only a cunning guise of the Enchantress) as a fully-fledged super-hero, and # 9 & #10, chapters in the Avengers/Defenders War crossover event, one of the first of its type. Marvel Feature #1 is FN/VF at £95; Defenders #1 FN+ at £50. Full details of all issues in our catalogue.
*Marvel: Fu Manchu’s Number One Son (though he doesn’t like to talk about it) Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, was an offshoot of the 1970’s martial arts craze which far outstayed reasonable expectations, largely because of its foundation in the pulp novels of Sax Rohmer, and the sheer quality of its contributors – Doug Moench took a series which could have been an ephemeral cash-in (and no doubt was intended as such by the Marvel powers-that-be), and made it into a complex and multi-layered saga of deception, betrayal and conflicting loyalties, aided by such stellar artists as co-creator Jim Starlin, Paul Gulacy, Gene Day and Mike Zeck. Nowadays, Shang’s origins are tactfully alluded to rather than acknowledged, owing to a parting of the ways between the Rohmer estate and Marvel, but he remains an integral part of the Marvel Universe, and during the period of these issues, the fight with Fu Manchu was at its height. Shang-Chi debuted in issue #15 of a previously-reprint title, Special Marvel Edition, and ran in one more issue before, with #17, it was renamed in his honour. This selection runs from Special Marvel Edition #15, Shang-Chi’s first appearance, through to the 70th issue of his eponymous series (many of the earliest ones never UK-distributed), together with his first Annual and all four Giant-Size issues. The premiere issue, Special Marvel Edition #15, is FN+ at £50.
*Marvel: Following their debut in Marvel Super-Heroes #18, the Guardians of the Galaxy, having initially failed to ‘catch’, lay fallow for a few years until scripter and fan-turned-pro Steve Gerber brought them back in the 1970’s, in such titles as Defenders and Marvel Two-In-One. This time, the revised Guardians caught some interest, and a starring series was launched in the showcase title Marvel Presents from #3 onwards. Gerber’s typically satirical and oblique scripts proved popular with fans, but not alas with the general readership, and the series ended with issue #12, leaving the team as nomadic gust-stars for another decade or so. We have the complete GoG run in Marvel Presents new in, in high-grade cents copies. Check our catalogue for full details.
*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: Long ago in the days before the Direct Sales network of Comics Shops, there was one last valiant attempt in 1975 to conquer the mass-market newsstands which were, in 1975, the way most people still picked up their comics. Atlas Comics was launched on many glossy promises of royalties, creator ownership, return of original art, health insurance, merchandising percentages – all the things Marvel and DC had failed to provide for the new generation of writers and artists. Initially the imprint offered a tempting line-up of creators – Adams, Ploog, Ditko, Wood, Thorne, Heath, Sekowsky, and many more – on a diverse and intriguing set of characters, from the distant past to the far-flung future. However, three things scuppered the burgeoning line: they were a bit too diverse, with their characters too far apart in space and time to form a distinctive ‘universe’; the proposed benefits were rapidly reneged upon, causing many of the high-profile signings to jump ship very quickly; and DC and Marvel, it was alleged, conspired to put out multitudinous new series in an attempt to crowd Atlas off display, figuring that newsagents would give the limited space to a known ‘brand’ rather than an upstart. This last has never been proved, but it’s a fact that both companies suddenly lumped out a buttload of largely rubbish titles during this period – draw your own conclusions! Few of the Atlas titles reached the dizzying heights of #4, and most died after their first or second issues, but we have a high grade selection of this last great assault on the newsstands new in. Barbarians (featuring Ironjaw), Demon Hunter, Grim Ghost (Ernie Colon’s eerie and intelligent supernatural thriller), Ironjaw, Morlock 2001, Phoenix (no, not Jean Grey), Planet of Vampires, Police Action, Scorpion (Howard Chaykin’s loving tribute to the pulp heroes), Targitt, Tiger-Man, and Wulf the Barbarian.
*Modern Reprints: Several of DC’s Showcase paperback compilations, previously sold out from our inventory. More than a decade ago, DC launched a series of cheap compilation volumes, about the size and thickness of a telephone book (oh, ask your Mums, youngsters…) These black & white compendia, sometimes exceeding 500 pages, brought a big chunk of vintage series into the hands of the readers for a relatively bargainaceous price. New in this update are Ambush Bug Vol 1 (particularly sought after by fans of Keith Giffen’s cult hero), Aquaman Vol 1, Elongated man Vol 1, Martian Manhunter Vols 1 & 2, Robin the Boy Wonder Vol 1 and World’s Finest Vol 4. Prices range from £8 each upwards; full details in our catalogue.
*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: A selection of the 1970’s ‘prozine’, Amazing World of DC Comics, issues between #6 to #16, featuring interviews, behind-the-scenes features, and a plethora of illustrations including many unused production sketches, never-before published comic strips (including the entire ‘pilot’ issue of Secret Society of Super-Villains #1, entirely redone before publication) and spotlights on DC Horror, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Golden Age, and many more.
*Classics Illustrated: Following on from our reworking of our UK Classics Illustrated towards the end of last year, we have now done the same exercise with our US versions, adding edition details and other information to our existing listings, to enable collectors to choose with more accuracy the editions in stock. We’ll be adding new stock for both American and British editions in the not too distant future.
*Annuals: More stock for our ever-popular Annuals section, with the jewel in the crown being the Doctor Who Annual for 1968 (the copyright date, which is our policy for Annuals which don’t carry a year on the cover; it’s also known as the 1969 Annual). This is more highly sought-after than most because it features not only the Patrick Troughton iteration of the Doctor with his actual TV companions, Jamie and Victoria, but also because it also cover-features the Cybermen, who are second only to the Daleks as the Doctor’s greatest nemeses. This copy is in sound shape, with moderate corner and edge wear to cover and spine, but with an unclipped original price, and no owner/gift inscription. Graded GD at £50. Other entries this update are Star Trek (1978), Warlord (1984), X-Men (1996), Ripley’s Believe It or Not (1974 and 1975), Debbie (1981), and a pair of TV Favourite Comic Annuals from 1958 and 1959, featuring popular Western stars Lone Ranger, Matt Dillon, Roy Rogers, Rex Allen and Rin-Tin-Tin!
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: No relation to the earlier story paper, 1966’s Champion launch was an oddball mishmash of European reprints combined with a selection of new homegrown series such as Return of the Stormtroopers, School for Spacemen, and what eventually emerged as the breakout strip, the Phantom Viking, a Thor-adjacent superhero who transitioned from timid schoolteacher Olaf Larsen whenever his Viking ancestry was aroused by imminent danger. Despite being heavily promoted as “A companion paper to Valiant!”, Champion was amalgamated into Lion after a mere fifteen issues, with the Phantom Viking going on to have a respectable run in his second home. We have three early issues, including the first, new in of this sought-after short run. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD
*TV & Film Related Comics: A small update to a few titles in this very popular category: the first issue of Chips from 1982, based on the Channel 4 TV show of the same name for little kids, Look-In from 1979 with the 1st Dick Turpin strip, several Marvel UK Planet Of The Apes all featuring the Apeslayer strip (inc. the 1st Apeslayer appearance in #23), and TV Comic, 1 from 1958 and 4 from 1982.
*Humour Comics: More stock for the classic comic weekly Dandy, comprising virtually the entire run of 1969 and 1970, with only a handful of omissions. This period featured not only such stalwarts as Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan, but also Paddy Brennan’s adventure strip, “The Island of Monsters”, and “Dinah Mite”, plus special festive & holiday issues!
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: With this week’s CSD spotlight, we turn our attention once again to the fairer sex, with updates to three series: the obscure Girls’ Diary from 1964, a short-lived entry in the genre, the first three issues new in plus #8 (#1 pictured); School Friend, a more famous name, from its 1962 premiere issue (pictured), featuring the adventures of WWII resistance girl Linette, My Friend Sara, fashion model Tracy, and others; and Micron’s Schoolgirl’s Story Library, a text companion to their Adventure Library series, with a handful of early issues – we would tell you the year of publication, but apparently Micron though copyright dates were for sissies! With titles like “The Blue Lagoon”, “Typhoon!”, “Thunder Island”, and “Mystery Girl at Fairburn”, you’re guaranteed the usual heady mix of exotic foreign travel and boarding-school intrigue. Full details in our catalogue.
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: A small, overdue, restocking of the Horror subsection, with two H P Lovecraft classics, three Dennis Wheatley shockers and Stephen King’s masterly overview of the Horror genre in Danse Macabre. Lovecraft’s only full-length novel, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is joined by a collection of six of his shorter stories in The Shadow Over Innsmouth. From Dennis Wheatley we have three of his most famous novels: The Devil Rides Out, To the Devil – A Daughter and The Haunting Of Toby Jugg.
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
*Gold Key/Whitman
*Harvey
*IW/Super
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959
and in our British section:
*Girls’ Comics (M-Z)
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
*DC: This update features two complete series featuring the Gotham Guardian and all his chums. Beginning with Man-Bat, published in the dying days of 1975, which began with a genuinely spooky tale illustrated by Steve Ditko, then all went a bit Pablo Marcos in issue two – after which, there weren’t any more! Presumably, the series had been intended as an on-going – DC didn’t ‘do’ mini-series in the ’70’s – but for reasons never disclosed, future issues were pulled from the schedule before it ‘on-went’, leaving our anti-hero, appropriately, up in the air until his return as a recurring feature in Batman Family. Moving on more than a decade, we have the full set of four for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Miller, Janson and Varley’s ground-breaking tale of a near-future Batman, cynical and jaded, and the shattering events which caused him to return to the costume. Universally acknowledged, together with Watchmen and V For Vendetta, as one of the works which redefined the public perception of comics in the late 1980’s, this epochal series is available in high-grade first printings. #1 (pictured) in VF+ at £50.
*DC: A small run of DC’s try-out title Showcase featuring the following characters: Tommy Tomorrow, Dr Fate & Hourman (#55 FN £55), Teen Titans (#59 VF+ £110), Inferior Five (inc 1st app in #62), Angel & The Ape (1st app in #77), Firehair, the New Doom Patrol, Power Girl, Hawkman & the 100th Anniversary issue.
*Marvel: This week’s entry in our Spider-Mania event! When you’re dealing with a comic this significant, none of our usual snappy patter is needed. The fourth issue of Amazing Spider-Man, a Lee & Ditko classic which introduced Spidey to the gentleman who would become one of his most vehement enemies – and just occasionally, a reluctant ally – the shape-shifting Sandman, whose molecular mastery came close to baffling our hero. This exceptional FN- pence copy at £465 is in remarkable condition for its vintage, with vibrant cover colour and gloss, and only faint ‘blunting’ wear at the corners belying a still higher grade. Truly a lovely item, top quality and with the debut of a major villain.
*Marvel: Uncanny X-Men #141 and #142, towards the end of Claremont and Byrne’s hugely popular run on Marvel’s Merry Mutants, a two-part story featured an adult Kitty Pryde travelling back in time to her own teenage years, to prevent her own dystopian future, in which Mutants were interned in prison camps or hunted to death by Sentinels, from coming to pass. This powerful story was already a sought-after two-parter, but its popularity (and value!) skyrocketed after the release of the X-Men film, “Days of Future Past”, which adapted the narrative to the big screen (though, it must be said, Wolverine was very unconvincing in the role of Kitty Pryde…). These are now back in stock – though not, we suspect, for long – with #141 VF- £40 and #142 VF- £35. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD
*Marvel: Once again we’re expanding the range of our catalogue into the 1980’s with a complete run of the Squadron Supreme Maxi-Series from 1985, all 12 issues in high grade. Mark Gruenwald’s masterful tale of these Justice League homage characters from an alternate reality (as originally featured in the pages of the Avengers) and illustrated by such diverse hands as Bob Hall, John Buscema, Jackson Guice and Paul Ryan. Probably the finest story ever told of these characters and all for between £2.25 and £4 per issue! SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: A cult newspaper strip in the 1940’s, Sparky Watts is all but forgotten today, but this everyman super-hero – who preferred fighting crime and having bizarre adventures in a comfy cardigan-and-slacks ensemble, rather than the traditional tights – is one of the more imaginative creations of the 1940’s. Written and drawn by Boody Rogers, Sparky’s newspaper strip adventures ran in Columbia Comics’ Big Shot anthology since 1941, and he was launched in his own four-issue series in 1942. After an hiatus for that pesky WWII – during which Rogers was on active service – Rogers returned to draw all-new segments for Big Shot and for a further six issues of Sparky’s own series, during which things got really weird! Rogers is best remembered for the outré “female Li’l Abner on acid” strip, Babe, but Sparky’s adventures into wacky realms were just as distracting and endearing. We have issues #1 & #2 (the premier issue cover-featuring Hitler and Mussolini), and #4-7 of Sparky’s ten-issue solo run. Mild-mannered and bespectacled, yet irresistible to the ladies, Sparky shrinks into microscopic realms, revives the dead, ventures into space, and everywhere finds shapely ladies who’re warm for his form! (Even if their shapes are sometimes a little bit unusual…)
*Horror 1940-1959: Here’s a mini-fest to keep you going until we have a more substantial number of vintage horror through our doors. If EC was the acknowledged winner in the vintage horror ‘beauty pageant’, then Harvey and Atlas were the acknowledged Runner-Up and Miss Congeniality, with top-notch artists and stories reminiscent of the famous EC twist-ending tales – in fact, in Harvey’s case, sometimes a little too reminiscent, as they were prone to a tiny bit of plagiarism! But with artists of the quality of Lee Elias, Howard Nostrand, and Bob Powell, not too many readers were complaining, if they even noticed! We have a nice selection of lurid Pre-Code Harvey’s in mid-grade – new issues of Chamber of Chills, and Witches’ Tales – and some of the Post-Code Atlas, where writers were forced to tax their ingenuity and came up with ever more intriguing stories, in the pages of Journey Into Unknown Worlds, Strange Stories of Suspense, and Uncanny Tales.
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: A couple of dozen or more of Warren’s seminal horror magazine Creepy fresh in between #14 & #96. Such is the fame of this publication, that it needs little hype from us here, since new stock of Warren magazines is a beacon for many collectors with its superior selection of stories and moody black and white (and occasionally colour) art.
*Alan Class Reprints: Continuing our series spotlighting the Marvel reprint issues of the Alan Class series, we focus this week on Suspense # 9, with the reprint – probably one of the earliest reprints – of Journey Into Mystery #85, the comic in which Thor met Loki, his adoptive brother and nemesis, for the first time. (Well, in the comics pages; obviously they’d met before in ‘real life’. Ahem.) As noted previously, the Alan Class issues which feature Marvel covers and key Marvel reprints are spiralling up in value, and this, being an early Kirby Thor, Kirby cover, and a major villain debut, is hotly pursued. This VG copy, with good page quality and only minor wear at the top and bottom spine, is offered at £50.
*Marvel UK: New stock from the House of Idea’s British outpost, mainly focussing around Avengers (selection from #83-127) and Spider-Man Weekly from #81, all the way to #636 (and a 1996 Special!) including several ‘Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain’ issues, without which no Brian Braddock collection is truly complete. No, really. Also, light dabs of Mighty World of Marvel (around #200). Fantastic Four (second series), Super-Heroes, and Spider-Man and Zoids.
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: About 100 issues new in of Victor, the long-lived mainly War themed Boys’ Comic. The years featured in this update are 1964/65 and 1967-69, mainly in GD or VG condition. Consult our catalogue listing for full details.
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: It’s the final selection of Westerns from our CSD: Putney event as we saddle up with a whole posse of popular Picture Libraries embracing the Wild West mythology – Micron’s Cowboy Adventure Library #5 and Western Adventure Library from #16 to #33, World Distributors’ Picture Story Pocket Western, featuring heroes such as Tim Holt and Wyatt Earp, a whole parcel of Pecos Bill from 1963’s issue #4 through to #25, the Australian-distributed Silhouette Western Library ranging from #2 to #14, and Fleetway’s Wild West Picture Library and Lone Rider PL #2 (pictured) from 1961. Although that completes our CSD Putney pure Westerns, there will still be more Western adventures to come in this event where they are part of a more generic title, such as Top Three, Thriller PL or Valiant PL, all in the near future.
