*Marvel UK: In 1976, Marvel UK’s unprecedented and experimental 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 and 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 issues are now attracting keen collector attention. This week, we present a full run of the jolly good Captain’s first series #1-39 (every issue). This is an exceptional run (the finest we have ever seen), with sharp corners, bright colours and white pages., with none of the Fun Pages filled in. You’ll find these copies in our catalogue graded from FN/VF (just a couple), with most VF or VF/NM, grades we seldom award to UK comics. #1 and #2 (including Free Gifts) plus #8 (1st Betsy Braddock) are included and have recently been previously listed, but are still available and included here for completeness; full details of those may be found in our catalogue. In addition, we have completely overhauled our stock of our already existing issues of this series and now every copy shows details of the Fun Page status.
PICTURED: CAPTAIN BRITAIN
#1 VF WITH FREE GIFT VF/NM £300
#2 VF WITH FREE GIFT NM £75
#8 VF+ £250

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Crime, Spies and Sleaze Category for authors alphabetically from Henry Kane to Helen MacInnes. A real mixed bag here, from hard-boiled US detectives (Murdered Madame and Ben Gates Is Hot), a thriller set in post-war Berlin (My Name Is Celia), a sleazy mystery (Gin Wedding), to psychological thrillers (Hold Back the Night and Above Suspicion) and an exposure of the white slave traffic (The Road To Buenos Ayres). Wholesome stuff for everyone!

PICTURED: ALL SOLD
HENRY KANE: THE CASE OF THE MURDERED MADAME Signet 1965 1st US PB thus VG £7
RAYNE KRUGER: MY NAME IS CELIA Ace 1960 UK PB GD £5
ROBERT KYLE: BEN GATES IS HOT Mayflower Dell 1966 1st UK PB FN £10
ANN LAWRENCE: GIN WEDDING Intimate Novels 1951 1st US PB VG/FN £15
DESMOND LESLIE: HOLD BACK THE NIGHT Digit 1958 1st UK PB GD £7
ALBERT LONDRES: THE ROAD TO BUENOS AYRES Digit 1960s? 1st UK PB VG £6
HELEN MACINNES: ABOVE SUSPICION Fontana 1967 UK PB GD £5

*DC: Four superb issues of the Justice League of America this week. #27 features a strange alien being/force. #28 has the JLA banned from using their powers by the machinations of Head Mastermind. In #31, Hawkman joins the team to help solve a mystery centering on the team’s Sanctuary. #32 features the menace of Brain Storm. Beautifully crafted tales of compelling excellence.
IN THIS UPDATE: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
#27 GD/VG p £16 Restapled at upper staple.
#28 VG p £24 (PICTURED) Restapled at upper staple. 
#31 FN p £27
#32 VG p £14.75 Restapled at upper staple. SOLD

*Marvel: Two more very nice issues of the X-Men from the Good Doctor Collection this week. #41 features the menace of Grotesk the Sub-Human (I fondly remember Grotesk picking his name after Hank McCoy had called him that); and #42 features the Death of Professor X (or so we thought at the time).
PICTURED: X-MEN
#41 FN £55 Nice bright copy with a little wear breaking colour narrowly along spine and right bottom edge.
#42 VF- £90 Solid black background copy with great colour and gloss; just a tiny colour breaking crease in very extremity of top right corner.

*Marvel: Six Marvel #1 issues for your consideration this week, always colleactable, from the Silver Age to the Modern Age, as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
CHAMPIONS #1 FA/GD p £5
ETERNALS #1 VG+ p £10
FANTASY MASTERPIECES #1 VG+ p £15 Reprints pre-hero Marvel stories by Lee, kirby, Ditko etc with Stan Lee photo.
HUMAN TORCH #1 VF £30 (PICTURED) Reprints 1st Johnny Storm solo story from Strange Tales #101 and original Golden Age Torch story from Human Torch #33
INHUMANS #1 FN/VF £25 (PICTURED)
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #1 VF+ £18 (PICTURED)

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Following Adventures Into The Unknown and Forbidden Worlds, which both started earlier, Unknown Worlds was ACG’s third venture into the horror/mystery/whimsy field of the 1960s, offering much the same fare by the same creators as its two elder siblings. Six more examples featured this week.
IN THIS UPDATE: UNKNOWN WORLDS ALL SOLD
#35 FN p £10.75
#38 VG £6.75
#45 VG £6.75
#47 FN p £11 (PICTURED)
#51 VG p £5
#52 GD/VG p £4.75

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: This week’s release of Love Story Picture Library, the longest running romance picture library from Fleetway, comprises 10 issues from 1966/67, consecutive from #601 to #610. The series always maintained a high standard and the very accomplished art reflected the fashions and mood of the times. These new additions are mostly in excellent condition, with little wear or creasing in most cases, and virtually no staple rust.
IN THIS UPDATE: LOVE STORY PICTURE LIBRARY ALL SOLD
#601 VF £7
#602 VF £7
#603 VF £7
#604 VF £7
#605 VF £7
#606 FN/VF £6
#607 FN £5
#608 VF £7
#609 FN/VF £6
#610 FN £5

*Mad Books: This week, reinforcements for our Mad Books category, celebrating those fondly remembered paperback books featuring the best of Mad. Wit, sarcasm, parody and irony never go out of style. Eight volumes new in (including some devoted to specific creators) as follows (NB condition notes in our catalogue):
PICTURED:
SERGIO ARAGONES: VIVA MAD Signet 1968 1st US PB GD £5 SOLD
HOWLING MAD Warner 1990 US PB VG £4
AL JAFFEE: GOOD LORD! NOT ANOTHER BOOK OF SNAPPY ANSWERS TO STUPID QUESTIONS Warner 1980 1st US PB GD £5
THE MAD MORALITY Signet 1970s 2nd US PB GD £3
THE MAD READER Ballantine 1961 14th US PB GD £3
MAD’S TALKING STAMPS Warner 1974 1st US PB GD £3
MAD VARIATIONS Warner 1984 1st US PB VG £4
THREE RING MAD Warner 1977 US PB VG £4 SOLD

*DC: We don’t see early issues of Strange Adventures very often, so we’re delighted to feature from the Bute Collection this week, issue #6  of DC’s co-premier science fiction title (along with Mystery In Space), from 1951. With art by Curt Swan, Bob Oksner, science fiction master Virgil Finlay, Win Mortimer and others plus a fantastic cover. Sadly, only a Poor copy, with almost detached covers, a brittle spine with many pages coming loose and a missing ad page. But all story pages complete and the cover image virtually intact. 
PICTURED: STRANGE ADVENTURES #6 PR £15 SOLD

*Marvel: One of the most sought-after story arcs of the 1960s is the trinity of Fantastic Four issues which introduced the Silver Surfer, a cosmic-powered being the equal of the combined FF… and the Surfer’s master, Galactus, an entity of even more monstrous might! Both became major figures in the Marvel Universe, with the Surfer repenting his role as Galactus’ herald and choosing the side of justice, while Galactus’ insatiable hunger drives him ever onwards to heinous acts. We have all three parts of this epochal story newly in stock from the Bute Collection.

PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR
#48 FN- p £1,100 1st Galactus & Silver Surfer. Nice clean pence printed copy with unmarked cover and strong colours. Edge wear is minimal, very slight along top edge only, and a tiny bit of chipping at right of bottom edge. There is also a tiny crease at bottom right corner that breaks colour. To the right of the number box there is an incipient crease of less than 1 cm that also breaks colour. Strong spine; small amount of corner blunting. Staples are tight and firm, pages are a lovely, supple white to off-white. High resolution images are available on request.
#49 VF- £1,100 1st Galactus and Silver Surfer cover. Very nice clean copy with unmarked cover and strong colours. Very minimal edge wear (just very slight at top edge) and very minor corner blunting. Strong spine; no creases apart from miniscule crease across bottom right corner which just breaks colour but is hard to see. Staples are tight and firm, pages are a lovely, supple off-white. High resolution images are available on request. 
#50 FN- £235 Final part of Galactus/Silver Surfer trilogy. Nice clean copy with unmarked cover and strong colours. Minimal edge wear at top and bottom only, with a tiny chip out bottom right corner and minimal corner blunting. There is a small impact dink at bottom spine; colour is only very faintly broken. Strong spine; staples are tight and firm, pages are a lovely, supple white to off-white.

*Marvel: I don’t need to tell you much about Star Wars, do I? Suffice it to say that after adapting the first film in Star Wars #1-6, Marvel went on to tell new stories of Han, Luke, Leia and the gang. Issues #27-34 featured here. Lovely high grade cents copies.
IN THIS UPDATE: STAR WARS ALL SOLD
#27 VF+ £11
#28 VF £9
#29 VF+ £11 (PICTURED)
#30 VF+ £11
#31 VF+ £11
#32 VF+ £11
#33 VF £9
#34 VF+ £11

*Horror 1940-1959: Adventures Into Weird Worlds is one of the most popular of Atlas’s Pre-Code Horror titles, not the least because of the pencils of comics maestro Bill Everett. Here he does the darkly amusing cover and an interior story. Other artists include Bernie Krigstein and Vic Carrabotta. This is not an awful copy. The cover image is strong. There are small amounts of edge wear and chipping and three small pieces of tape around the spine (top, bottom and lower staple). A couple of short horizontal tears at staples appear to have been sealed, and there are long but unobtrusive spine splits. Cover is off bottom staple but secure at top and centrefold. Page quality is very decent. There may have been one or two very small colour touches at spine. There is also some ink bleed from the cover through to the inside cover.
PICTURED: ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS #10 FA £40 SOLD

*Alan Class Reprints: In issue #31 of his Suspense series, Alan Class reprinted the third appearance of Iron Man (inc cover) from Tales Of Suspense #41, wherein our hero battled the uncanny powers of Doctor Strange! No, not the Master of the Mystic Arts, but a super-scientist whose nefarious schemes nearly ended Shell-Head’s career before it took off. Smilin’ Stan Lee, however, clearly liked the name, and mentally filed it away for early re-use, inspiring the much more successful and enduring second Doctor Strange, who debuted shortly thereafter. This is a relatively low grade copy, with an upper spine split of about 3 cm which extends through the first few pages and a loose first page. Nevertheless, a Jack Kirby Iron Man classic at a bargain price! Listed in the regular part of this category in our catalogue.  
PICTURED: SUSPENSE #31 GD £30

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Who are the Queens Of Crime? By my count, six authors who rose to fame in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction between the wars, and leave behind a legacy in crime writing that will never be matched. The most famous of course is Agatha Christie, also Dorothy L Sayers, Gladys Mitchell, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey and Margery Allingham, the latter of whom concerns us here. They all had their recurring detectives of course, and Margery Allingham’s was Albert Campion, a suave sleuth of noble blood, perfectly portrayed on TV by Peter Davison. Six Allingham Penguins in classic green and white stripe livery from the 1950s fresh in this week featuring Campion in typically clever murder mysteries, including his very first outing in The Crime At Black Dudley. Full details, including condition notes, await you in our catalogue.
PICTURED: All by MARGERY ALLINGHAM ALL SOLD
THE CASE OF THE LATE PIG Penguin 1959 4th UK PB VG £4
CORONER’S PIDGIN Penguin 1950 1st UK PB FA/GD £5
THE CRIME AT BLACK DUDLEY Penguin 1953 2nd UK PB FA/GD £4
LOOK TO THE LADY Penguin 1953 2nd UK PB VG £9
MORE WORK FOR THE UNDERTAKER Penguin 1959 3rd UK PB VG £7
MYSTERY MILE Penguin 1952 2nd UK PB GD/VG £6

*DC: Along with Strange Adventures, Mystery In Space was DC’s premier science-fiction title founded in the Atomic Age. Issues #2 and #3 date from 1951. Whitney Ellsworth was credited as editor, but, apparently, Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger were actual co-editors. The quality line-up of writers (Robert Kanigher, Edmond Hamilton, Manly Wade Wellman, Jerry Coleman) and artists (Carmine Infantino, John Giunta, Murphy Anderson, Irwin Hansen, Bob Oksner, Gil Kane, Frank Giacoia) carries over from the debut issue. The recurring cover feature Knights Of The Galaxy appears for the second and third outings.
PICTURED: MYSTERY IN SPACE
#2 FA/GD £85 Wonderful Infantino cover. Spine is heavily taped with clear tape all along its length. Small number of colour-breaking creases at edges and corners. Cover detached at staples, but they hold the rest of the comic together well. Reasonable off-white/slightly cream pages. Small chunk out of back cover edge (slightly large than thumbnail size). 1/- stamp on back cover (don’t know where that came from!)
#3 VG+ £150 Another great Infantino cover with nice black background. Cover paper is a little worn around the staples, but they hold the cover in place very well. Slight corner blunting and minimal creasing at edges, with a long crease at upper right edge breaking colour. Slight chipping at front cover edge; one narrow chip hanging on with no loss; more chipping at back cover edge. Reasonable off-white/slightly cream pages. Pink colours from front cover bleed through slightly to inside front cover.

*DC: You either love ’em or hate ’em, but there’s no denying that Jack Kirby’s Fourth World sequence for DC is hard to ignore, with its eccentric ideas and writing style. And there’s also no denying that the characters he created (Darkseid, Orion, Mister Miracle etc) have been a significant legacy for the DC Universe right up to today. His New Gods series was at the vanguard of the Fourth World stuff, and featured the first appearances of Orion, the Black Racer, Steppenwolf & the Forager. We have Jolly Jack’s complete 11 issue run of New Gods fresh in; a variety of grades, all pence copies. (There were a few non-Kirby issues beyond #11, but we won’t talk about those here…) Carry On, Apokolips!  
IN THIS UPDATE: NEW GODS
#1 GD/VG p £25 (PICTURED) 1st Orion SOLD
#2 VG+ p £11.75 2nd full Darkseid
#3 VG p £9 1st Black Racer
#4 FN p £9
#5 VG+ p £6.75
#6 FN p £9
#7 VG+ p £15 1st Steppenwolf
#8 FN p £9
#9 FN+ p £11.75 1st Forager
#10 FN+ p £8.50
#11 FN p £6.75

*Marvel: Five consecutive issues of Tales Of Suspense from the Good Doctor Collection this week, from #70 to #74 (1965/66). These have a special resonance for me since they are among the earliest issues of this title I picked off the spinner racks when they first came out. After a couple of WW2 adventures with Bucky, Cap faces the menace of a Nazi legacy in the modern day in the Sleeper trilogy in #72-74. Iron Man concludes his initial encounter with the Titanium Man, has quick forays with the Mad Thinker (and his Awesome Android) and the villainous Black Knight, before the set-up to his adventure with the Freak in the following issue. 
IN THIS UPDATE: TALES OF SUSPENSE ALL SOLD
#70 VF p £48 (PICTURED)
#71 VG/FN £14.25
#72 FN p £15.50
#73 FN/VF £27
#74 FN- £15.75

*Marvel: For the budget conscious, six issues of classic Fantastic Four this week, all in varying states of disrepair, but great as reading copies. 1st four by Kirby, last two by Romita.
IN THIS UPDATE: FANTASTIC FOUR ALL SOLD
#51 FA p £15 Classic This Man, This Monster
#71 GD p £6.75
#73 GD p £10.25 With Spider-Man, Thor & Daredevil
#82 FA/GD p £5.25 With the Inhumans
#105 GD+ p £5.75
#106 FA/GD p £3.50 Upper spine split

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: From the Bute Collection this week, a decent copy of the short-lived Jungle Action #1 from 1954, a pre-code issue.. Featuring the slinky Leopard Girl by Al Hartley, Jungle Boy by John Forte and Lo-Zar, Lord of the Jungle by Joe Maneely, plus more. Nice clean copy with strong colour, tight staples, supple off-white pages. Short colour-breaking creases across bottom corners, slight mark at top centre above logo. We have awarded this an ‘Apparent’ grade (and priced accordingly) as it is missing the first page of the text story/ad page. All picture strip stories are complete.
PICTURED: JUNGLE ACTION #1 App VG+ £50 

*Humour Comics: Continuing our policy of providing more information for Beano and Dandy, we have ten new issues of Dandy in this week from 1952, but sadly none of them are first appearances or special dates or with flyers, most in jolly nice condition though.

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Another visit this week to the dynamic world of James Bond. This week’s featured books need no introduction from me. Ian Fleming’s iconic creation is known worldwide thanks to the hugely successful movie franchise, but James Bond got his start in novels, so it is in this category that these books belong. And let me tell you, the books are darker and deeper than the films, less gadgety and more visceral. We have four examples this update: two from the elusive ‘Models’ cover sequence from the late 1960s, which are less often seen, and two of the ‘Girls With Guns’ covers from the 1970s/80s. More information, including condition notes, can be found in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL BY IAN FLEMING
JAMES BOND: CASINO ROYALE Pan 1969 28th UK PB VG £10
JAMES BOND: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY Pan 1969 17th UK PB VG £10
JANES BOND: GOLDFINGER Triad Granada 1982 UK PB GD/VG £6
JAMES BOND: ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE Triad Granada 1977 1st UK PB thus VG £7

*DC: Another gem from the Bat-Vaults of the Bute Collection this week. Batman #19 is a classic issue and a joy for Dick Spang fans, as he illustrates not just the cover, but all four stories as well. The inventive cover scene has Robin mixing up a batch of chemicals, in the fumes from which we see the story titles displayed. Batman Makes A Deadline is a tough thriller focusing on a crime reporter; Atlantis Goes To War involves a nazi submarine base hidden in lost Atlantis (!); The Case Of The Timid Lion has someone using the Joker’s calling card to perpetrate jokes and robberies, which doesn’t amuse the Joker, nor Batman & Robin; and in Collector of Millionaires, Bruce Wayne is kidnapped and replaced by a lookalike in a dastardly plot. Four very different but equally absorbing stories.
This issue is generally in nice shape. Wear is limited to a very slight spine roll and tiny white wear marks around the staples and at right edge. There is one short 4 cm crease breaking colour across the bottom right corner. Cover colours (on an undamaged black background) are good and the cover image is strong and unspoilt. Pages are flexible and a nice off-white with excellent staples firm and tight at spine and centrefold. The comic has been mis-cut in the production process, resulting in a sloping white edge at the bottom of the cover and the top edge being correspondingly truncated a little. The margins (only) on the inside pages are similarly affected. Also, some of the pages are a little short in the lower margin with serrated edges, which suggest they were made from paper at the beginning or end of a roll. These aspects are very slight and are of course production problems rather than being due to age or wear. They don’t spoil the look or feel of this well-presenting issue. And what a treat to get an early Batman with the Joker in such nice shape! High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: BATMAN #19 VG £750

*DC: A handful of issues starring Lois Lane this week: first up, from the Eighty Page Giant series: #14, highlighting Lois’s rivals for Superman’s love. Then two issues of Lois from her regular series, #93 and #112. Polishing off with Lois Lane Annual #2.
IN THIS UPDATE:
EIGHTY PAGE GIANT #14 FA/GD p £7 (PICTURED)
LOIS LANE
#96 GD p £3.25
#112 VG p £6
Annual #2 GD/VG p £16.50

*Marvel: A more modern excursion into the Bute Collection this week. This 1993 six-parter by Michelinie, Bagley and Lim was Venom’s first solo series, and saw the start of his transition from outright villain to reluctant anti-hero – though predictably, there were many mis-steps along the way! Establishing an uneasy truce with Spidey, Venom relocates to San Francisco, but his past deeds follow him, when the father of one of his victims enlists super-powered mercenaries to take revenge, plus he’s faced with five further symbiotes – Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher and Agony – in a highly dysfunctional family gathering! All six issues now available as a set, including the foil enhanced cover to #1.
PICTURED: VENOM: LETHAL PROTECTOR #1; Set #1-6 Averaging VF+ £50 SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Also from the Bute Collection this week, some true vintage from Quality Comics from 1944 in the shape of Police Comics #29 & #30. Police Comics was the title in which Plastic Man first appeared (from #1) and although I don’t see many police involved, this bumper-sized anthology title contained a whole wealth of detective, mystery and super-hero strips, as well as a fair sprinkling of humour. In these issues you get Plastic Man by Jack Cole and the Spirit by Will Eisner, the occult detective Destiny, Manhunter, the Human Bomb and a number of comedy shorts.
PICTURED: POLICE COMICS BOTH SOLD
#29 FA/GD £45 Cover detached from single staple, pages all secure. Small upper spine split; chips out top and centre right front cover and top and bottom edge rear. Moderate wear and tear. Cover image unspoilt with good colour; good page quality. 
#30 GD- £50 Cover detached from single staple, pages all secure. Otherwise only minimal wear. Cover image unspoilt with good colour; good page quality.