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
and in our British section:
*Alan Class Reprints
*Rupert
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*DC: Another modern title we’re making an exception for this week as we continue our catalogue expansion programme. From the Batman Adventures TV show to the pages of the DC Comics Universe, Harley Quinn, the Joker’s former inamorata, broke loose of “Mr. J.” and set off on her own solo series in 2000, under the skilled hands of writer Karl Kesel and artists Terry and Rachel Dodson. The gleeful combination of comedy, cheesecake and wanton mayhem enchanted readers, and we have most of the first 19 issues – all Dodson-illustrated – now in stock, nearly all high grade, with many achieving the unusual NM/M condition. Issue #1 is NM at £45. Harley’s chums Catwoman and Poison Ivy were frequent guest-stars, and even Batgirl makes a special surprise appearance – or does she? So join Harley and the Gotham Girls as they seek out romance, adventure, and exploding rubber chickens, in one of the most fondly-remembered series of this millennium so far!

*Marvel: In the 1980’s, the original X-Men – Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman and Marvel Girl – had a surprising reunion as X-Factor (no relation to the later talent show!) in one of Marvel’s earliest attempts to cannibalise the success of their hot title, the ‘New’ X-Men. But among the rank & file bad guys they fought, one emerged with true ‘star potential’ – so much so, in fact, that he’s the antagonist of the upcoming X-Men film! We are talking, of course, of Apocalypse, the immortal blue-skinned demigod deemed the First Mutant, who made his first brief appearance in X-Factor’s 5th issue, and showed his first full-on fury in issue #6! Both of these debut issues are new in, issue #5 in NM at £25, and #6 in either VF at £30, or VF+ at £35; high demand is anticipated.

*Girls’ Comics: A Poptastic Update! The long-lived Valentine is new here this week, with many issues from its early years (1959-1963) and its delightful mix of comic and pop music content, typified nowhere better than the cover stories which portrayed a comic strip based on a hit song from the pop charts of the time. Highlights here include the Valentine issue (!) from February 1963 and the Holiday extra from 1963 with its Elvis cover, which seems little more than an excuse for gratuitous photo-shoots of pop and movie star hunks in swimwear, GD at £25.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: In the 1950’s Amalgamated Press provided two ‘companion’ Adventure Weekly titles, Comet & Sun, which offered a wide range of adventure & humour strips in a mix of full colour and black and white, at the unusual size of contemporary American comics rather than the larger traditional British size. Comet headlined Buffalo Bill and Sun Billy The Kid, although many other famous characters appeared: in Comet, Billy Bunter, Jet Ace Logan & the Lone Ranger, in Sun, Roy Rogers, Battler Britton and Tom Merry’s Terrible Three, to name but a few. Several dozen issues new to our listings: Comet from 1954, 1956, 1957 & 1958, Sun from 1957 & 1958.

*Western: Between 1950 and 1952, Avon published a bewildering range of Western one-shot titles, and we have all of them (bar one) now available. Titles such as Bad Men Of the West (Giant), Blazing Six-Guns, Butch Cassidy & The Wild Bunch, Chief Victorio’s Apache Massacre (Frazetta art), Custer’s Last Fight, King Of The Bad Men Of Deadwood, The Masked Bandit, Outlaws Of The Wild West (Giant), Pancho Villa, Teddy Roosevelt & His Rough Riders and many more feature many covers and much interior art by Everett Kintsler. Scarce in the US, these seldom turn up in the UK and represent a chance to grab a piece of Western comics’ history at affordable prices. Full details in our catalogue listing. Yee-Ha!

*DC: Two of DC’s longest running titles recharged this week, Action Comics & Adventure Comics from the early Silver Age. Action runs between #253 and #313, Adventure between #272 & #340. The most significant issue is Action #253, featuring the second appearance of Supergirl following her debut in the previous issue. This copy is GD at £50, with a worn spine and top edge and some ink markings on the logo and Comics Code Authority stamp (see scan); nevertheless, a reasonable copy of a less common issue.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Fifteen new entries in this section for Super-Detective Picture Library, the highly collectible detective/mystery series from the 1950’s, numbers between #21 & #152. Recurring characters featured this update include The Saint, Lesley Shane, Rick Random, Blackshirt, Vic Terry & Rip Kirby, among others.

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:
*TV & Film Related Comics
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*Marvel: In 2006, Marvel launched what has become a recurringly popular franchise written by the creator of the Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman. We all laughed at the name, sniggering that ‘Marvel Zombies’ was a term applied to fanboys of a particularly obsessive nature, but Marvel had the last laugh with this unexpected hit! We’re expanding our catalogue once again to more modern times to bring you the complete 5 issue first series, all in 1st printings (and many subsequent printings with variant covers). See the zombie versions of your favourite Marvel characters in all their gruesome unwholesomeness!  All pricing, grading and edition details in our catalogue.

*DC: From the 1960’s, classic issues of Superboy (from #79 up) and Superman (from #150 up). A great period for Kal-El this, with the writers expanding and developing the rich Super-Mythos. Many early Legion of Super-Heroes appearances feature in the pages of these issues. Mostly solid mid-grade copies that present well, and nearly all cents copies. Full details as always in our catalogue.

*EC: A trinity of classic sci-fi issues from the fifties’ premier publisher. EC were themselves most proud of their science-fiction titles, and with justification – not only did they benefit from the A-List roster of artists common to the EC Bullpen – Williamson, Crandall, Wood, Kamen – but they also featured some of the most daring and innovative stories, genuinely challenging people’s perception of the medium. This update, we have two issues of Weird Science – #19, VG- at £77, with a stunningly grotesque cover image, and a #21 in Poor at £13. A spine split brings this latter copy down to a very affordable price. Continuing Weird Science’s numbering, the ‘merged’ title Weird Science-Fantasy #26 presents a special investigation of the Flying Saucer phenomenon, in Good at £35.

*Archie: From 1959, the first foray in Archie’s return to the superhero genre, after their earlier costumed characters had been seen off by a certain red-headed teen funster by the mid-1940’s. The Double Life of Private Strong was dated June 1959, and created by the respected team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. It detailed the adventures of a regular army private who became imbued with superhuman abilities, and took to a life of crimefighting as the Shield! (Why they didn’t actually *call* the comic “The Shield” is lost in the mists of time…) In addition to Private Strong’s debut and origin, this #1 issue also features the first appearance of Archie’s other super-hero, the Fly, predating the Adventures of the Fly #1 by a few months. Sadly, despite Simon & Kirby bringing their A-game to the series, Double Life of Private Strong only lasted two issues – rumour has it that Marvel objected to the patriotic hero’s resemblance to their Captain America, and threatened litigation against Archie unless they ceased and desisted – even though Marvel wasn’t publishing Cap (or any super-heroes) at the time! This copy is an attractive Fine+ pence stamped copy, with unmarred cover scene and off-white, flexible interior pages, offered for £75.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: We extensively re-stock the ever-popular Thriller Picture Library this week, with dozens of issues new in ranging between #6 & #235. Including many titles previously missing from our listings, this new selection is in a range of grades between Poor and Fine. Having come to us all the way from Australia, these are ‘Overseas Price’ copies, otherwise identical to the UK priced copies. A high point of the British comics industry in the 1950’s with a superior standard of story and art.

*DC: It’s 1966 and Batmania’s sweeping America, with the Batman TV show in full swing and it seemed you couldn’t pick up a DC comic without Batman being involved. Even here, in Lois Lane #70, the Caped Crusader and Robin make an appearance, but the show is stolen by one of his most famous foes, Catwoman, making her first entrance into the Silver Age of Comics. For good measure there’s also the Penguin and plenty of Superman too (natch!) in this book-length tale of villainy, crime, magic and impersonation. All beautifully rendered at the hands of Kurt Schaffenberger, who knew how to tell a story! A lovely FN+ pence copy, clean, bright and tidy with just some wear towards the spine at £55.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Our Free Gift Farrago update this week turns to two popular British weeklies: from 1956, 2 issues of Hotspur (#1014 & #1016) with their free gifts: 2 per issue World’s Best Cricketers glossy photo cards; then a further Hotspur (#675 2nd series 1972) with Super-Duper Football Poster; rounding off with the Silver Jubilee issue of Tiger from 22nd September 1979 complete with Tiger Favourites Booklet plucked from its years of publishing history. As always, grades and prices may be found in our catalogue.

*Marvel: Another visit to the Silver/Bronze Ages of the House of Ideas, this time featuring the following titles: Conan, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Howard The Duck, Invaders (Giant-Size #1), Iron Fist, Iron Man (many issues in high grade between #101 and #150) and Marvel Tales (many early giant issues reprinting Spidey and other Marvel classics).

*Annuals: A big lot of humour annuals fresh in this week, ranging from 1959-2011! Many perennial favourites featured including Beano, Beano/Dandy compilations, Beezer, Beryl the Peril, Broons, Buster, Dandy, Dennis the Menace and Desperate Dan.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Having played for Melchester Rovers since 1954 in the pages of the Tiger weekly, Roy Race finally got his own spotlight with Roy of the Rovers weekly, in 1976. A huge success, his title lasted until 1993, and the character has enjoyed sporadic revivals since then. We have the first two issues of RoTR weekly new in stock: issue #1 is in Fine, with not only an exclusive article by the Duke of Edinburgh (devoid of controversial content, so presumably HRH was on his meds that day), but also the original free gift, a fold-out wallchart (unmarked and VF) on which you were supposed to follow your team’s seasonal progress. Issue #2 is also Fine with the free gift, but the gift – a do-it-yourself Supporter’s Rosette with adhesive letters – is only VG, having been filled out by a Fulham loyalist!

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: From its inception in 1976, the Action weekly courted controversy by featuring as ‘heroes’ characters who would traditionally be regarded as antagonists; German tank commanders, man-eating sharks, and so on. The escalating levels of violence in series like “Hellman”, “Hookjaw”, “Dredger”, “Death Game 1999” and their stablemates caused increasing concern – and sharply rising sales as a result of all the publicity! Eventually, Action was hoist by its own petard, and publication was suspended while a reconfiguring of the series in a safer direction was implemented. Pre-ban issues, however, remain highly sought after, and we have a new batch in – just for you! Beginning with the very first issue in FN, this new selection is characterised by exceptionally high quality, particularly for British weeklies, which were printed, after all, on the cheapest disposable pulp paper. Most of these new additions achieve the seldom-seen grade, on UK pulp weeklies, of VF: white pages, bright colours, tight staples and flat copies with no spine roll or page-sliding. A handful dip to a ‘mere’ Fine, but the vast majority are in remarkable preservation. To top it off, we also have four of the Summer/Holiday Specials from 1976 and 1977, 1979 and 1980, not in quite as high a grade overall, but still eminently respectable.

*Annuals: Top-ups in three key divisions in this category. In Film & TV, we have two extraordinary condition items – the 1963 Fireball XL5 Annual in Fine/VF, illustrated by Eric Eden. Aside from one colouring page which has been very lightly done, this is in a remarkable state of preservation, and not common in any condition. We also have from 1965 the very first TV Century 21 Annual in a remarkable VF, with the ‘Owner’s Name’ page not filled in, and the price unclipped. Truly  beautiful copy. Other new listings in TV & Film related include the very first Dr. Who Annual from 1965, Man From U.N.C.L.E.Television Picture Story Book from 1967 (with Jet Dream and her Stunt-Girl Counterspies!) and TV Comic from 1965, featuring Fireball XL5 and Supercar. In Boys’ Annuals, We have a swathe of mid-seventies hard-bitten action with – appropriately – Action and Battle, plus 1977’s Spider-Man Annual, and 1900’s 2000 AD. And in Girls’,  we revisit our favourite doe-eyed goth waif with far too much makeup, as Misty welcomes us to the Land of the Shadows in her 1983 and 1985 Annuals. Full pricing and grading information in our catalogue listings.

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980’s: In the 1970’s, Marvel’s relaunched horror line focused on the Big Three Hollywood Monsters: Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman (Werewolf). Much quality art abounded throughout and in the Monster Of Frankenstein, early issues were graced by the work of Mike Ploog. Here we have all 18 issues of the run from 1973-75, all cents copies, in a variety of grades from Fair to Very Fine+.

*Dell: A handful of  Dells from the early 1960’s, starring the first Danger Man comic (Four Color 1231 FN+ £30, pictured) and also featuring Adventures In Paradise (from an unknown in the UK TV show), an early Turok (#20) and 2 Movie Classics horror issues: Twice Told Tales and The Wolf Man.