*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Combat Picture Library, published by GMS, whilst perhaps not as popular as it’s illustrious contemporary Fleetway cousins Air Ace, Battle, Commando & War, is nevertheless keenly sought after by some collectors and has stories of a similar quality. We have a substantial run in of early issues, including #1-3 (pictured below). The previous owner, at some point after he bought them as new, chose to reinforce them with extra staples and tape (in some cases), and has done them no favours. It’s a great shame since without those ‘precautions’, many of them would have graded FN. Nevertheless, it makes these uncommon issues very affordable and they’re still very capable of giving many hours of reading pleasure!
Category Archives: What’s New
British Update: Mandy 1985-1987
*Girls’ Comics: A substantial update to our stocks of the very popular girls’ weekly, Mandy, from August 1985 through to December 1987, nearly every issue added, filling many gaps in our stock and featuring copies that are all at least VG, with the vast majority being fine.
American Update: The Mother Of All Pre-Code Horror Fests: Crime Suspenstories & Haunt Of Fear
*EC: We turn this week in our Mother Of All Pre-Code Horror Fests to EC, surely the most (in)famous publisher of them all, and several issues of two titles: Crime Suspenstories and Haunt Of Fear. The former, ostensibly a crime title, is really more horror-orientated, focusing on the more gruesome side of crime, and indeed the earlier issues in this update include a story from its stablemate Haunt Of Fear, which itself is represented here in four full-on horror issues in low, affordable grades. Both series of course are crammed full of art by the best the industry had to offer in the 1950’s, and arguably, the best ever artists. Our Fest will return next week, in the special Halloween Week here at 30th Century.
Books Update: Nick Carter And Raymond Chandler
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: It was just after 10.30 and the shopowner was still switching on lights as I bid Farewell, My Lovely to the dame who had driven me here. The shop front was blue, with a High Window. The white shops on either side made it look like a skink tongue sandwich. The Little Sister had told me that The 13th Spy with The Eyes Of The Tiger would be there to discuss the case of the Killer In The Rain. I went in – a bell chimed as the door opened………..
…… Nick Carter had used the time since arriving at the shop to reconnoitre: the layout map from the Brain Boys had been as exact as ever, but even they, he mused, hadn’t been able to solve the conundrum of the man he was due to meet. John Dalmas or Philip Marlowe? Which was the real man – or were the rumours of a third identity – Raymond Chandler- true?…….
…….Spotting the Killmaster I headed for the Book section at the back of the shop. He moved like The Golden Serpent and was dressed smartly, in the latest fashion – no wonder the doxies fell like ninepins for him. He was holding The Judas Spy – the right book. I picked up The Lady In The Lake and looked him in the eyes……..
……..Could this world-weary and jaded man be the legendary PI he was expecting? Would he be able to trade information important enough to defeat the Commie menace? Only one way to find out. Nick gave the code phrase, “Operation : Moon Rocket”, and was pleased to hear ” A Bullet For Fidel” in response. The man gave Nick a quizzical look, arched an eyebrow and said “Well, Trouble Is My Business”.
British Update: 1960’s Eagle Annuals + Lion
*Annuals: A small update to our annuals stock, featuring five Eagle annuals from the 1960’s in decent shape, plus the Lion Annual from 1971.
British Update: Knockout (both series)
*Humour Comics: A chunky update to both series of the venerable Knockout, which in its first incarnation was a mixed humour and adventure title. The earliest, from 1939, is our oldest in stock, and we also have issues from 1958, 1961, 1962 and 1963 including the final issue of the first series 16/2/63. An even bigger dollop of the second series is also new in, when the relaunched title was aiming for out and out laughs: issues from 1971 (inc. #1) and 1972, inc. the first birthday issue, filling substantial gaps in our stock.
British Update: Fleetway’s Big Cats (2): Lion 1958-1963
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: The second in our series of updates spotlighting Fleetway’s ‘Big Cats’ focuses on Lion between the years 1958-1963. Almost all are GD to FN. 1958 is almost complete from Jan to Oct, as is 1959 (inc. the 2 undated and unnumbered issues between June & August); 1962 is from July onwards, and 1963 from Jan to March, including the first Zip Nolan app. in 19/1 (pictured). Watch out for Tigers — coming soon!
British Update: Wherefore art thou, Romeo? – Right here!
*Girls’ Comics: Wherefore art thou, Romeo? Well, for a short time, the answer to that question’s going to be: Putney! Romeo, the D.C. Thomson weekly picture-story paper for women, is insanely hard to find in any condition, (presumably grown-up ladies were in the habit of throwing out that week’s issue as part of their housewifely duties!) and the most we at 30th C. have ever had at once have been a dozen or so, in our 20+ years. But no longer! We’ve been phenomenally lucky in acquiring more than 120 issues of this often beautifully-illustrated romance comic, from 1957’s issue #8 through to the early part of 1972, in a wide variety of grades from Poor to Fine, and even with a handful of duplicated copies, so that more than one lucky punter can have a crack at ’em! We don’t expect to get this lucky twice, and any Romeos we’ve previously listed have tended to sell out within the day, so move swiftly if you want to secure your share of the teardrops n’ moonlight melodrama!
Housekeeping Update
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
*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics
and in our British section:
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
American Update: Spider-Mania continues with issues between #104-125, including #121 & #122!
*Marvel: Our Autumn Spider-Mania event continues with a new selection of the Wall-Crawler’s adventures, this time from the early 1970’s, a period when distribution in the UK got decidedly on the spotty side, before ceasing altogether as a result of the Marvel UK launch. We open with #104 and close with #125, taking in the deaths of both Gwen Stacy and the Green Goblin in #121 and #122 respectively, as well as the debuts of Hammerhead and the Gibbon, and guest appearances from Ka-Zar, the Hulk, and Dr. Strange. #121 and #122 come in at FN+ £80 and FN/VF £80, relatively affordable for such key items. SORRY, SPIDEYS 121 & 122 HAVE NOW SOLD
British Update: 4 Girls’ Summer/Holiday Specials
*Girls’ Comics: A quartet of Summer/Holiday Specials this update, with the Bunty-Judy combo Summer Special from 1977 (GD/VG £25), the Tammy Summer Special, also from 1977 (FN £40), and a couple of true rarities – Tina Holiday Specials from 1976 (FN £50)and 1979 (VG £40)! Tina, more commonly remembered from its long run as Princess Tina, was hugely popular in the 1960’s, (it switched back to being just ‘Tina’ in 1972) and these Special editions continue many of the favourite features from the weekly, including ‘Chairman Cherry’, ‘The Happy Days’, and, close to the hearts of a generation of furtive boy readers, curvaceous secret agent ‘Jane Bond’. Rarer than the weeklies – because more often discarded or mislaid on their way to/from the traditional Summer Holiday – Summer Specials are increasingly collectable.
American Update: 1st Master Of Kung Fu in Special Marvel Edition #15 x2
*Marvel: One of Marvel’s most successful attempts at diversifying their line in the 1970’s was their cash-in on the Kung-Fu craze, with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu! His inauspicious debut in Special Marvel Edition, a series previously devoted to reprints, indicated that there wasn’t much faith in Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin’s co-creation, but readers took him to their collective hearts, and more than 100 issues ensued, with a star roster of creators including Doug Moench, Gene Day, and Paul Gulacy. Here, however, was where it all started, in Special Marvel Edition #15, December 1973, with the Son of Fu Manchu discovering his villainous heritage, and setting out to oppose his father. Not one, but two copies of Shang-Chi’s debut newly available, in VF- (left) at £60 and FN/VF (right) at £50. SORRY, BOTH NOW SOLD
American Update: Small additions to Magazines & Books About…
*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: A small but esoteric addition this update: from 1969, Heroes Unlimited #7, from the early days of UK comic fandom, with Paul Neary art; 1974’s Al Williamson Checklist, with info and classic comic strips; the newspaper comic-themed Strip Scene, from 1977-1979; and additions to our range of Fantagraphic’s Nemo.
British Update: Boy’s Own Paper: Late 1950’s/Early 1960’s
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Boys’ Own Paper started in 1879 as a vessel for inculcating morals and clean living to the youth of that time, as an antidote to the ‘Penny Dreadful’ of that era, and proved a huge success, lasting 2,511 issues until 1967, and spawning a plethora of imitators. As an antecedent of the modern comic, we have a selection of Boys’ Own Paper new into our stock, 30+ issues ranging in dates from 1957 to 1964; although the Christian message was mercifully diluted by that time, the emphasis was still on healthy outdoor activities and fiction with clean-limbed heroes defending the interests of the Empire. Biggles, the famed aviator created by W. E. Johns, was a frequent feature. Many issues from this time came with a supplement, concentrating either on the big hardware boys were supposedly fond of (trains, planes, etc.) or models thereof. Where present, these supplements are noted.
American Update: DC & Marvel War
*War: A substantial update to DC & Marvel titles in our War category, including from DC: All American Men Of War (from #35), Captain Storm (from #1), GI Combat, Men Of War, Our Army At War, Sgt Rock, The Unknown Soldier & Weird War Tales, and from Marvel: Captain Savage, a big chunk of Sgt Fury from #24 & War Is Hell (#10 with Death).
British Update: Free Gift Farrago! Fleetway’s Big Cats (1): Jag from #1 with Free Gift
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A new feature in our Autumn extravaganza is a three part update entitled Fleetway’s Big Cats. We open with a long run of Jag, from #1 (4/5/68) and featuring all the over-sized issues up to and including 15/2/69 (after which it lasted just a few more weeks in a smaller format before being merged in with Tiger — ‘great news, chums!’). The debut issue featured The Mouse Patrol by Eric Bradbury, The Indestructible Man by Jesus Blasco and Custer by Geoff Campion, but perhaps the most enduring strip was Football Family Robinson, drawn by Joe Colquhoun, which commenced in the issue dated 27/7/69 and survived into Tiger when Jag folded. Our Jag #1 ties in with our Free Gift Farrago event in that it comes with the Free Gift: Bobby Moore’s Book Of The FA Cup; both comic and book are GD/VG: £50 for the pair. Most copies in this run though are a sparkling FN grade; we’ve never seen better, and as usual when we get Jags in, they won’t stay with us very long. (I bet you can guess the subjects of our upcoming Fleetway’s Big Cats updates parts 2 and 3 — stay tuned!)
American Update: Meanwhile, over in the Fiction House Jungle…
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: We celebrate the king and queen of the jungle, Fiction House style, with #17 of Kaanga & #147 of Jumbo Comics featuring Sheena. Under the glowing colours of covers by superb cover artist Maurice Whitman, the idealised early 1950’s world of the African Jungle with all its perils and adventures awaits. Mid-grade copies, easily worth £18 each of anyone’s money!
American Update: The Mother Of All Pre-Code Horror Fests — as easy as ABC!
*Horror 1940-1959: A baker’s dozen of chillers in our visit this week to the Mother Of All Pre-Code Horror Fests, all titles starting with A, B or C! From Atlas: Adventures Into Terror (#7 with Wolverton art) & Adventures Into Weird Worlds; from Ace: Baffling Mysteries (inc. #5, the 1st issue) & Beyond; from Trojan: Beware; from Harvey: Black Cat Mystery and from Youthful: Chlling Tales #17 with a moody Matt Fox cover. Almost all these spine-tinglers are in very inexpensive lowish grade and just right for the Pre-Code aficiando on a budget!
Books Update: Who Knows What Evil Lurks In The Hearts Of Men?
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: The Shadow knows, and now you can too, as we have ten novels based on the popular 1930’s pulp fiction character. The Shadow used a bewildering array of pseudonyms (Kent Allard, Lamont Cranston and Isaac Twambley among others), as did the authors of these books. The original writer was Walter Gibson, but most of these books are credited to Maxwell Grant, although in Grove Of Doom the author is confusingly given as Walter Gibson alias Maxwell Grant. (Maxwell Grant was in fact a house name, usually for Dennis Lynds). Titles include The Living Shadow, The Night Of The Shadow, The Shadow Strikes, The Shadow’s Revenge and Shadow Beware. Unusually we have ..Cry Shadow! in a Hungarian PB, printed for distribution in the US. Nearly all of the books are 1st US PB, grading GD or VG, with the majority published by Belmont.
Housekeeping Update
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:
*Modern Reprints
and in our American/British section:
*Tarzan/E R Burroughs
*Phantom
*Flash Gordon
*Spirit
*Modesty Blaise
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.
Books Update: Film and TV – Space, Earth & Ocean
*TV/Film Tie-Ins: There’s something for adventurous landlubbers, would-be astronauts and mariners in this latest update. On land we have the Avengers in Heil Harris! (Emma Peel takes over the world!), Callan in A Red File For Callan, Dangerman in Hell For Tomorrow, and Invaders At Ground Zero (the first Tales for Tomorrow novelisation). In space we have two Space: 1999 books, Astral Quest and The Space Guardians, while on the ocean wave we have The Boatniks, the novelisation of a Walt Disney film featuring Phil Silvers.
British Update: Free Gift Farrago! Vulcan: Full sets of both Scottish & National Editions with Free Gifts – the rarest UK title?
*Boy’s Adventure & War Comics: In 1975, Fleetway/IPC tried to cash in on its fondly-remembered adventure series by launching a new anthology, Vulcan, in an unusual slick-paper format with dimensions approximating those of the American comic book format, rather than the customary magazine size of UK comics. Gleaning features from across its vast inventory, they ran “The Trigan Empire” from Look and Learn, as the lead, with “Kelly’s Eye”, “Mytek the Mighty” and “The Steel Claw” from Valiant, “The Spider” and “Robot Archie” from Lion, and “Saber, King of the Jungle” from Tiger, for a cross-section of top talent, including Don Lawrence, Reg Bunn, Solano Lopez, Joe Colquhoun, and Jesus Blasco – an A-list roster for a Z-List budget, as IPC paid no reprint royalties at the time! Vulcan was tried out in a Scottish-only edition with the first issue released in March 1975, and after a successful 30-issue run, re-launched with a national edition in September that year. Sadly, the National edition ran only for a further 28 issues; despite top-notch creators and well-loved characters, it seems there just weren’t enough readers around who appreciated the series. By January 1976, Vulcan was a thing of the past, absorbed into Valiant, with only three pull-out mini-comics allocated to finish out the serials. Any issues of Vulcan are scarce these days – the relative flimsiness of the slick paper stock means that copies are rather too easily damaged, unless stored carefully – but most elusive are the Scottish editions, which had a proportionately restricted print run. We are very happy to have acquired complete runs of both the Scottish and the National editions, all 58 issues, plus multiple duplicate copies, plus the Holiday Special of 1976. Many of these are in high grade, and, in line with our Free Gift Farrago, we also have a handful which are complete with the original Free Gifts – a phenomenon almost never seen! (#1-3 of the Scottish and #2 of the National). Prices on the Scottish editions are high, but we believe they’re justified by the scarcity of the items – in our 20+ years of trading, we have only ever seen half-a-dozen Scottish Vulcans before, and believe me – we’ve been looking! We expect demand to be high, so place your orders early.
Scottish Editions: (all free gifts FN or better)
#1 with Free Gift: Super Shaking Skeleton VG £350
#2 with Free Gift: Identikit GD £150
#3 with Free Gift: Flick Book Cinema FN £200
Later issue prices start at £30 each
National Edition:
#2 with Free Gift: Magical Numbers game FN £25
British Update: Free Gift Farrago begins! Countdown #1-3
*TV & Film Related Comics: Our Free Gift Farrago opens with the first three issues of Countdown, the 1971 successor to TV 21 which carried on the Gerry Anderson strips such as “Captain Scarlet”, “Thunderbirds” and “Stingray”, while adding series like “Dr. Who” and “Secret Service” in to the mix. The best-kept secret of the series, however, was the eponymous strip “Countdown”, a brand-new space opera stylishly illustrated by John M. Burns. Of these three issues, #1 and #3 have the original Free Gifts – ‘Spacefact’ stamps/stickers in both #1 and #3, plus the Giant ‘Spacefact’ Wallchart in issue #1! All in a sparkling Fine condition: #1 (with chart and stamps) £125, #2 (no free gift) £20, #3 (with stamps) £50.
American Update: 2 Avengers Key issues!
*Marvel: A brace of (almost) debuts this update, as we offer you Avengers #55 and #196, featuring Ultron and the Taskmaster respectively! Well, we say almost-debuts because each of these villainous gentlemen made a ‘teaser’ appearance in the preceding issue – but these were their fist full-fledged forays into felony! The #55 is an attractive VG+ (£50), which is off the lower staple and bears a small, neatly-inscribed previous owner’s name at cover top, but still possesses excellent page quality. The #196 is a pence-priced VF (£35), sound and tight throughout.
American Update: A salvo of Western
*Western: Saddle up – it’s time to hit the range again with Dell’s Boots & Saddles, Johnny Ringo, and Lone Ranger, and additions to our stock of Weird Western Tales, starring the one & only Jonah Hex!
American Update: A skirmish of War
*War: New listings for our combat-crazed chums, kicking off with the 1st issue of Combat Kelly and His Deadly Dozen, Marvel’s attempt to clone their long-running Sgt. Fury series; and ably backed up by new entries for DC’s Our Army At War, Sgt. Rock, and Unknown Soldier!
American Update: Calling All Girls! It’s Quirky Corner!
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: In this week’s Quirky Corner entry, two of the “Largest Circulation Magazine For Girls”, or so it proudly claimed – Calling All Girls! This launched in 1941, and by 1943 and 1944 , the issues offered here, was well into its swing of encouraging even the “Junior Miss” set that they, too, could play their part in defeating the Axis – and pick up some grooming and fashion tips into the bargain! Comic strips included the ongoing adventures of teen-queen “Judy Wing”, and a selection of comics biographies of famous and/or heroic girls. These charmingly dated combinations of comics, beauty, recipes and short fiction were the inspiration for Timely/Atlas’ Miss America Magazine, but Miss A. won the day, whereas Calling All Girls was gone by 1950, though it was sporadically revived thereafter. Nevertheless, a pleasing look through the windows of nostalgia, quite unlike anything else recently acquired.
American Update: Batman: Death In The Family
*DC: In the closing days of 1988, DC responded to the universal derision of Jason Todd, the second Robin, by launching a special storyline in which the reader would get to vote on whether Jason carried on as Robin, or whether he died horribly at the hands of the Joker. A special Toll-Free Number was set up, and by a large margin, readers voted to dispense with the services of the Robin known colloquially as “Jason Toad”. “Death In The Family” was a double-Jim production – Jim Starlin scripted, Jim Aparo illustrated, and all four Batman issues, #426-429, featured classy covers by Mike Mignola. We have all four back in stock and in Near Mint condition, so if you missed it before, here’s another chance to see one of the most controversial and biggest-selling story arcs of the late 20th Century!
British Update: A Western Round-Up in UK/AUS Reprints
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: A small selection of Western titles new in this popular section from World Distributors (Ben Bowie & His Mountain Men, Red Ryder, Roy Rogers & Western Classic – Indian Fighter), Jenson (Kid Colt) & Top Sellers (Lone Ranger). Ride ’em, cowboy!
American Update: It’s here! Spider-Mania!
*Marvel: The first instalment of our autumn Spider-Man event is right here! We’re kicking off with the earliest issue in this batch (#3) and the latest run (#151-190 + Annuals and Giant-Size). Our Spidey #3, featuring the debut of Doctor Octopus, is a GD cents copy at £225, with some chipping and wear but an unmarked cover image; a more full description can be found in our catalogue listing. A consecutive run from #151-190 is also new in, almost all in very high grade with plenty of VF+, VF/NM, NM- and even NM copies. Highlights from this period include battles with Doc Ock and the Green Goblin, encounters with the Punisher, Peter Parker’s graduation, and the debut of such dastardly foes as Mirage, Will O’The Wisp and the Rocket Racer (perhaps not the most fearsome of Spidey’s Rogues’ Gallery). We also have a range of annuals new to our listings and Giant-Size #4 with the Punisher. Lots more Spidey coming up in the weeks ahead, so keep your webs on the alert!
Comic & Book Storage Supplies
By popular demand, we’ve expanded our range of bags, boards and boxes for storing comics and books to cover a wider selection of sizes. In addition to our existing range of American and British standard size comic bags and boards, we now carry bags for paperback books, picture libraries, Golden Age American comics and larger British comics, with boards to match, and picture library sized boxes are also new. Check out our full range of standard and archival storage supplies at our revamped Comic & Book Storage page.
Books Update: Old Masters III – Michael Moorcock
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Michael Moorcock is certainly one of the most productive and versatile Science Fiction and Fantasy authors around. We have added new titles to his already substantial section. Titles include A Cure For Cancer and The English Assassin (Books 2 and 3 of the Jerry Cornelius series: Book 4, The Condition Of Muzak is already available), The Bull And The Spear (Book 4 of the Corum series), The Land Leviathan and The Steel Tsar (Books 2 and 3 of the Oswald Bastable series, to go with The Warlord Of The Air already present), The Bane Of The Black Sword (Book 5 in the Elric series), The Ice Schooner and The Eternal Champion.
American Update: Vampire Tales
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: We return to Marvel horror for this week’s magazine update and Vampire Tales, with eight issues new in from #2 upwards.
British Update: A Flight of Eagles
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A small update to our stocks of Eagle, the classic Boys’ weekly with Dan Dare, for the following volumes: 9, 12, 14-18.
American Update: The Mother of Pre-Code Horror Fests begins! Thing #17 VF
*Horror 1940-1959: Our Autumn extravaganzas begin right here with the first instalment of our latest Pre-Code Horror Fest – The Mother of them all and our biggest ever! We start with one of the nicest graded examples of this genre we’ve ever come across — Charlton’s Thing #17 in a sparkling VF grade at £450. This copy of the final issue of this acclaimed infamous series has white inner and back covers, a glossy black background front cover, virtually unmarked, tight staples, presents flat with only slightly off-white pages — for 61 years old, it’s looking a lot better than I do! Beneath a moody and atmospheric classic Ditko cover, we get, amongst other stories, a classic Alice Through The Looking Glass parody and a classy piece of work by Bob Powell. Somewhere in an attic there must be a mouldering copy which is ageing instead of this one! There’ll be many more spine-tinglers along very soon in a variety of grades and prices, so keep your eyes peeled and avoid injuries to them!
American Update: Captain Action & Stalker – 2 complete short series from DC with classic artists
*DC: Spotlight on two complete series from DC this time with classic art. First up, all five issues of Captain Action (the toy franchise hero) from the Silver Age with art by Wally Wood & Gil Kane. Then, all four issues of the sword and sorcery hero Stalker from the Bronze Age, with art by Steve Ditko and Wally Wood. A chance to grab some inexpensive work by major comic artists!
American Update: Silver/Bronze Captain America
*Marvel: We start and end this Captain America update with the King! Commencing with Kirby’s #108, we proceed by way of Steranko’s #111 through the Gene Colan years and the Falcon on to Frank Robbins and Nomad before finishing off with Kirby’s second coming in the mid 1970’s. Plenty to enjoy here in the Star Spangled Sentinel of Liberty’s classic adventures!
British Update: Mandy 1970-1981
*Girls’ Comics: More from Mandy, with lots from 1970 and 1971, filling many previous gaps with nice condition copies, then a handful from 1971, 1974, 1979 & 1980, finishing with a large chunk from 1981, mostly issues not previously listed.
Housekeeping Update
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:
*EC
*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards
*War
*Western
*Religious
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
British Update: Bunty 1969/1970
*Girls’ Comics: A further update to our stocks of Bunty, the most venerable Girls’ title of all, this time from the years 1969 and 1970, filling many gaps in our lists.
Coming Attractions!
We’ve got such a wealth of wonderful stuff lined-up in the weeks ahead, that we just wanted to take this opportunity to preview some of it and whet your appetites. Our American side will be headlined by the return of our Pre-Code Horror Fest, featuring possibly our biggest selection yet of spine-tingling and shocking tales from the days before censorship, plus another returning goodie ‘Spider-Mania’, with several big updates to your friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler from his early days onwards, including many key issues. On the British side, our Free Gift Farrago will be back on a wide range of titles, plus we’ll have not one but two complete runs of probably the rarest British comic of them all, including Free Gifts. Our book department will be showcasing what are possibly the two most collected pulp titles and have a number of star items. That’s all we can say for now, but we can assure you of an autumn full of material to cheer (or terrify) you through the darker, colder nights. Of course, we’ll have tons of other stuff too! Stick with us, pilgrims!
American Update: 1st Medusa & 1st Inhumans in Fantastic Four #36 & #45 in low-ish grade
*Marvel: Interest in Fantastic Four #36 and #45 has rocketed in the last year or two, so much so that prices have eclipsed even the first appearance of the Silver Surfer in #48. #36 features the debut of the Frightful Four, including the first appearance of Madam Medusa, the first Inhuman to be unveiled in the Marvel Universe. #45 reveals the whole group, including Black Bolt, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Crystal and Lockjaw. Both our new copies are only graded as Good; #36 has a diagonal cover crease, edge wear and a two-fingernail size piece out of the lower right cover (£40); #45 has a worn spine and cover edge creases (£75); both are cents copies. Low grades, but affordable prices mean that these key issues won’t be with us very long.
American Update: The Unexpected!
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980’s: By 1968, DC’s Tales Of The Unexpected had evolved into just ‘The Unexpected’ from issue #105 and was an out-and-out horror title, joining many others into the 1970’s. We have a big update to this title, with about three dozen issues new in between #114 and #222, the ‘last mind-tingling issue’.
American Update: A real mixed bag in Mags!
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: We have a very diverse lot for you in this week’s magazine update, featuring a galaxy of artistic stars. We kick off with the early Punisher appearance in Marvel Super Action #1, then Adventure & Fantasy Illustrated, both from NMP featuring Sienkiewicz, Sutton, Heck, Boyette, Russell, Ditko & Sekowsky. Argosy V3#2 from 1990 sports a Steranko cover and includes the Kirby pencil only story ‘Street Code’. Basically Strange (1982 from JC Prods.) has a Corben cover, with Toth, Wood, Thorne and Jones inside, while the Comic Crusader Storybook from 1977 has work by Steranko, Adams, Byrne & Ditko. We also have Jim Starlin’s graphic novel for Eclipse: ‘The Price’, and Howard Chaykin’s adaptation of Michael Moorcock’s ‘The Swords Of Heaven, The Flowers Of Hell’. Both Copies of Thrilling Adventure Stories from Atlas Seaboard are included in high grade, with Heath, Thorne, Toth, Severin, Simonson and more, and we round off with JCP Features Thunder Agents from 1981, featuring new Thunder Agents stories and reprints by Adams and Kirby. Something there for everyone!
British Update: Mandy 1967-1970
*Girls’ Comics: Some early Mandys for your consideration, the earliest new in being #8, and then dozens more from 1968-1970, mostly in nicer grades than those of our previously existing stock. A good time to top up your collection with one of our most popular and best-selling girls’ titles.
American Update: Iron Fist — High grade cents copies
*Marvel: A superior product of the Kung Fu craze of the 1970’s, in the hands of John Byrne, Iron Fist was a quality comic, transcending its genre and giving the world a new Marvel hero with a legacy that still lasts today. We have new in issues #1-13, mostly in high grade (VF or better) and all cents copies. Martial arts mayhem mixed with solid story-telling and Byrne’s exquisite art.
American Update: DC Silver Age Sweep
*DC: A few dozen classic Silver Age titles added to our DC stocks including: Adventure Comics #282 (1st Star Boy), Aquaman, Atom, Brave & Bold #44 (Hawkman by Kubert), Doom Patrol #100 (Origin Beast Boy), Hawk & Dove, House Of Mystery, House Of Secrets, Justice League Of America, Sherlock Holmes, Strange Adventures, Superman & Tales Of The Unexpected (#91, 1st Automan).
British Update: Mandy & Judy 1991-1995
*Girls’ Comics: Our range of the combo title Mandy & Judy is greatly expanded with dozens of issues added from 1991 (the first year) up to 1995.
American Update: Catalogue Expansion: Rocket Raccoon
*Marvel: We continue our foray into the selective listing of certain post-Bronze Age titles with everyone’s favourite procyonid Rocket Raccoon, in the shape of his 1985 four issue mini-series. Written by the Raccoon’s creator Bill Mantlo with classy and stylistic art by Mike Mignola (no less) we have issues #2, 3 & 4 in stock in lovely VF condition at £20 each. The star of the screen and several series of recent and upcoming times, the Raccoon’s fortunes have never been greater!
British Update: Bunty 1968
*Girls’ Comics: A nice range of Bunty new in from 1968, in VG to FN condition, including the Christmas issue for that year.