*DC: We don’t get enough of the Golden Age Superman through our hands, so here’s a nice early issue, albeit in low grade. Superman #38 (Jan/Feb 1946) has an amusing Jack Burnley cover of Superman reading a Batman comic in a barber’s chair whilst the barber works fruitlessly. Interior stories are The Battle of the Atoms (with Luthor), The Bad Old Knights, a Lois Lane solo and The Man of Stone. Not in the best of conditions: cover detached from contents, with very worn and torn spine. Small piece of tape seals tear right logo. Ragged right edge of cover. Small corner off bottom right cover. Centrefold loose and with ragged edges. All complete and readable.
PICTURED: SUPERMAN #38 PR/FA £80 SOLD
Category Archives: What’s New
American Comics Update: Hawkman try-outs in Brave & Bold x 4
*DC: If there are better comics than the six Silver Age Hawkman try-outs in Brave & Bold, I’ve yet to find them (although issues #1-21 of the following Hawkman series are just as great). With ingenious stories by Gardner Fox and superlative moody artwork by Joe Kubert, these are really unsurpassed. Spectacular covers, none better than #44 with its greytone imagery. These lowish graded copies are a very affordable treat.
IN THIS UPDATE: BRAVE & BOLD
#35 FA p £15.50 2nd Hawkman. Cover creases, bottom 2/3 spine split. SOLD
#42 GD- p £13.50 Small spine split top, long split bottom. SOLD
#43 FA/GD p £12.75 Restapled at top staple.SOLD
#44 VG+ p £35 (PICTURED) Greytone cover.
American Comics Update: The Good Doctor Collection/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Juggernaut in X-Men #12 & #13
*Marvel: From The Good Doctor Collection this week: With Jolly Jack Kirby leaving the art chores of the X-Men after issue #11 (although he did provide layouts for Alex Toth’s pencils on #12 and for Jay Gavin’s [Werner Roth] on #13, Stan Lee realised he had to crank up the excitement to keep readers’ attention, and he certainly achieved it with this dynamic two-parter which introduced one of the X-Men’s (and the broader Marvel Universe’s) most powerful opponents, the Juggernaut! Cain Marko, the hitherto unsuspected step-brother of the X-Men’s mentor Professor Xavier, dabbled with arcane forces and was transformed into the embodiment of an irresistible force – giving him the power to crush his hated step-sibling, and his super-powered students! This two-parter reveals the origins of Professor X and the Juggernaut, and reveals some of the reasons why Xavier set about training the new generation of mutants. #12 is a bright cents copy with rich cover colours, staples firm at spine and centrefold and supple white to off-white pages. Minimal edge wear, mostly at the spine around the staples and a tiny crease in the upper right cover corner, just breaking colour. A little corner blunting. Pictured below. #13 is pence printed and also stamped in another currency; it has vibrant colour, firm staples and nice off-white to white pages. There is a reading crease breaking colour along the spine, some spine ticks and minor edge wear. Pictured to the left. High resolution images of #12 are available on request.
PICTURED: X-MEN
#12 FN- £650
#13 VG/FN p £160
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: 1st full Marvel Crossover – Fantastic Four with the Hulk in FF #12
*Marvel: From the Bute Collection this week: Crossovers of one character into another’s series have become such a staple of the Marvel Universe that it’s hard to recall a time when they were a novelty – but there was such a time, and we have a copy of the first example, in Fantastic Four #12, where the Hulk clashed with the FF for the first time! Contemporary with Amazing Spider-Man #1 (in which the FF also made a brief appearance), this is the first full-on Marvel crossover. Fantastic Four #12 is an unusually rare issue; this is a thin, worn pence printed copy; cover colours are okay but a little dulled. There are quite a few creases, particularly near the spine, with some breaking colour, but not generally too heavily. Staples are reasonable, if placed (as printed, we believe) a little in from the true spine. Page quality is cream/light tan, and the pages are tired, with a couple of small tears at page edges without loss. So, not a great copy but complete and not an issue we see turning up very often.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #12 GD- p £400
American Comics Update: Spider-Mania: Adventures In Minor Keys: Amazing #83, #86, #90
*Marvel: Three issues of Amazing Spider-Man from 1970 featuring arrivals and departures. #83 has the debut of the Schemer who (spoiler alert) turns out to be the son of the Kingpin, in #86 ‘Tasha adopts the Black Widow costume that we have come to know her by and #90 features the tragic death of Captain Stacy, father of Gwen. All reasonable mid-grade copies.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#83 VG/FN p £42 Pence stamped. Solid copy with minor edge wear.
#86 VG p £40 Pence printed. A couple of long diagonal creases across Black Widow figure softly break colour.
#90 GD/VG p £28 Pence stamped. A little worn; tiny ‘spotting’ effect across cover.
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: Pre-Code Horror Fest: Vault Of Horror #28
*EC: We’re very pleased to have another original EC from the Bute Collection this week. Vault of Horror #28 features a cover by Johnny Craig, the stories within are drawn by Craig, Jack Davis, George Evans and Graham Ingels, thus maintaining EC’s high standards. A reasonable copy with unmarked cover, firm, tight staples and creamy pages with just a suspicion of margin foxing. Minor edge wear with creasing at bottom right extremity and tiny chips out centre top edge and top spine. Some corner blunting and a long piece of tape attached along the right edge of the back cover. Presents pretty well.
PICTURED: VAULT OF HORROR #28 GD+ £150 SOLD
American Comics Update: Very Quirky Corner: Hansi: The Girl Who Loved The Swastika
*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: Well, they certainly don’t come much quirkier than this one… Written and drawn by Al Hartley for Spire Christian comics, the story was loosely based on the autobiography of a Czechoslavakian girl who grew up adoring the Nazis after they ‘liberated’ her country. After surviving the war, she moved to America where she discovered both God and truth, justice and the American way. Yes, it’s even more cringeworthy than it sounds. Guest-starring Hitler. This is the 1976 printing, a nice (?) copy flat, colourful and glossy with good staples and near white pages. Small tear at top of spine and minor creasing at upper and lower right cover corners.
PICTURED: HANSI, THE GIRL WHO LOVED THE SWASTIKA VG £115 SOLD
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: Pre-Code Horror Fest: Adventures Into Terror
*Horror 1940-1959: Also from the Bute Collection this week, another helping of Atlas pre-code horror in the shape of Adventures Into Terror. From 1954, two of the last few issues of this uncommon title. #27 has art by Gene Colan, Ben Benulis, Jim Mooney, Paul Reinman and others. #29 has a great vampire cover by Joe Maneely, with art inside by Gene Colan, Werner Roth, Myron Fass and others.
PICTURED: ADVENTURES INTO TERROR
#27 FA £45 Pre-code. 5 cm tear from spine horizontal across cover below logo with small area of loss at tear start. Spine split from top to below top staple; cover off top staple. Small chips out lower spine. Cover image okay; good pages. Wear along top edge. SOLD
#29 GD+ £125 Pre-code. Edge and spine wear with small creases that break colour. Front cover off top staple. Cover image okay. Small chips out edge back cover with what looks like rodent or insect damage (small).
British Comics Update: This Week’s #1: Pluck 1956
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Something of a rarity in this week’s #1 slot. Courage and Pluck were two monthly story papers launched by the publisher L Miller in 1956. Both lasted just three issues, their lack of popularity due to their infrequency and/or their 6d price tag. Rarely seen and virtually forgotten today, we have a Pluck #1 for sale this week in very respectable condition, with just some minor age marking to the spine and cover margin, and a short horizontal tear to the right cover edge margin only. Sporting a great war full colour cover believed to be by Mick Anglo, this contains illustrated text stories with western, sports, school and historical adventure themes with one short war picture strip. There can’t be many of these around — we’ve never seen one before!
PICTURED: PLUCK #1 VG £30 SOLD
British Comics Update: Cowboy Comics (later Picture Library) #51-100 plus
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: This title started out in 1950 as Cowboy Comics, originally published by Amalgamated until Fleetway took over and the name changed to Cowboy Picture Library. It lasted a very respectable 468 issues until 1962. We have almost all issues between #51-100 freshly available this week plus a few post #100, when the feature was still mostly alternating between Buck Jones & Kit Carson (although the Cisco Kid also snuck in). Low to mid-grade but rarely seen, one or two have taped or torn spines with varying degrees of rust stain at the staple and migration to match, but are all complete. Grades are FA to GD/VG.
PICTURED: COWBOY COMICS #65 GD £8
British Comics Update: True Life Library: 16 issues in the 200’s
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: From 1959/60, a further selection of Fleetway’s long-running True Life Library between #204 & #243. Superficially in lovely condition with few marks and great cover colour and page quality, these are marred only by varying degrees of staple rust, and range in grade from GD/VG (quite a bit of rust) up to FN/VF (only very minimal rust).
PICTURED: TRUE LIFE LIBRARY #231 FN/VF £8
Books Update: Re-Working our Crime, Spies & Sleaze Category: James Hadley Chase
*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 & Sleaze category and the thrillers of English author James Hadley Chase. Chase was one of several pen names used by René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, a highly successful author, writing more than 90 novels as Chase, and with more than 50 made into films, it’s no wonder he was dubbed the king of thriller writers in Europe. He started out in 1939 with No Orchids For Miss Blandish, an American gangster thriller of the type so popular in the UK during the 40s and 50s. After a lot of success in the sub-genre, Chase became a more mainstream crime/thriller writer. In our selections this week, we have half a dozen of his novels, five paperbacks and one hardcover, with cover illustrations by John Pollack, a name frequently seen on 1940s/1950s British gangster pulp fiction digests, although most of these are particularly hard to come by these days; he was a local artist (like the more (in)famous Reginald Heade) and lived in Clapham, South West London. Pollack’s women were gorgeous and glamorous and his men were chiselled tough guys. A nice uniform look therefore to these Robert Hale/Thriller Book Club editions, which make a very appealing selection.
PICTURED: All by JAMES HADLEY CHASE
HIT & RUN Robert Hale 1959 1st UK PB VG £8 (also available in GD £6)
NOT SAFE TO BE FREE Robert Hale 1959 1st UK PB VG £8
SAFER DEAD Robert Hale 1956 UK PB GD/VG £6
YOU FIND HIM – I’LL FIX HIM Robert Hale 1959 UK PB GD £5
YOU’VE GOT IT COMING Thriller Book Club 1955? UK HC VG £10 With DJ (VG)
Books Update: Re-Working our Children’s Books Category: E-H
*Children’s Books: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Children’s Books category with three very different volumes: Kemlo and the Martian Ghosts is a juvenile science fiction adventure from 1959 by E C Eliott; The Player’s Boy is a rare first edition hardcover with DJ by Antonia Forest, celebrated children’s author for her stories of the contemporary Marlow family, this volume being about their ancestors set in the age of Elizabethan theatre; the Pomegranate Seeds by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a rare, slender volume featuring two of his stories from The Wonder Book for Girls & Boys and Tanglewood Tales.
PICTURED:
KEMLO AND THE MARTIAN GHOSTS by E C ELLIOTT Nelson Juniors 1959 1st UK PB GD/VG £15
THE PLAYER’S BOY by ANTONIA FOREST Faber & Faber 1970 1st UK HC VG £80 With DJ (VG) in removable archival film. More details in our catalogue.
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Mellifont Press Undated – 1950s/60s? UK PB VG £10
Clearance Corner: 5 Golden Age American comics with covers missing or torn
*Clearance Corner: Very occasionally, a lot comes our way which does not justify its place in our catalogue but is too good to discard. These lots are offered here on our What’s New page, but are no longer listed in our catalogue. Lots listed under Clearance Corner will be available for a short time only. Clearance Corner lots are offered post free to UK buyers only. They are not bagged or boarded.
This lot consists of five Golden Age American comics, either missing their covers or ‘returned’ copies where the top part of the cover has been removed. In all cases, story pages are complete. They are:
Thrilling Comics #51 1945
My Intimate Affair #2 1950
My Story (unidentified issue) circa 1949
Ha-Ha #71 1950
Gabby Hayes Western #17 1950
PRICE: £30 SOLD
American Comics Update: DC Debuts: Brave & Bold #28: 1st Justice League Of America
*DC: From 1960, one of the most important and significant comics of the Silver Age this week. The Justice League Of America, teaming up all of DC’s then current key heroes, debuted in The Brave & The Bold #28, and thus a legend was born. In these early stories, the roles of Superman & Batman were kept pretty much to cameos (presumably because DC felt they had enough exposure elsewhere), but the JLA kept up the tradition of reviving Golden Age concepts for this new Silver Age (in this case the Justice Society). The baddie in this inaugural outing was Starro the Conqueror. In a manner of speaking, this comic was also responsible for launching the Marvel Age of Comics, since Stan Lee’s response to the success of the JLA was to create the Fantastic Four.
This latest copy is only a Poor. Most noticeably, it has a heavily taped spine and is missing the back cover. The staples are good at the centrefold, but it is difficult to think they have any effect on the cover. The colours on the front cover are a bit muted, but not too bad. Lots of wear beneath the spine tape and lots of edge ‘nibbles’, with the cover quite worn and thin. Pence stamped. Page quality is okay, a little grubby here and there with small horizontal tear centre right edge of last two pages. All pages are present. The cheapest copy I can see around at the time of listing. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: BRAVE & BOLD #28 PR p £750
American Comics Update: Six Of The Best: A DC Miscellany: Blackhawk, Challengers, Sea Devils, Secret Six
*DC: An assortment of popular DC Silver Age titles this week as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
BLACKHAWK #136 VG £16.25
BLACKHAWK #138 FA £4.50
CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #18 FA p £4.75
SEA DEVILS #7 VG- p £12.75
SEA DEVILS #23 FN p £13.25
SECRET SIX #3 VG/FN P £7.50
American Comics Update: Spider-Mania:/The Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection: Amazing #43, swift return of the Rhino
*Marvel: If you’re looking for really nice copies of Amazing Spider-Man for your collection, then look no further than the Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection. All high grade; even the few that fall below VF (and most are above) are really good-looking copies – no duds here, and nearly all cents copies. Following his explosive debut in #41, the rampaging Rhino returned to face up to Spidey again two issues later in #43. I can remember that this issue is one of the two of each Marvel title that weren’t regularly distributed in the UK in 1967 due to a dock strike and thus were very difficult to obtain here at the time, and have remained so to some extent since. A beautiful issue, flat and tight with excellent staples, supple off-white pages; miniscule corner off bottom back cover. No marks or creases, virtually no wear.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #43 VF+ £465 SOLD
American Comics Update: The Good Doctor Collection: Fantastic Four #50: Finale of Galactus/Surfer trilogy, 1st major Surfer cover, debut Wyatt Wingfoot
*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week: As the premier series of the Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four did seem to spend a lot of time incubating the stars of tomorrow, as their guests frequently spun off into their own titles. One of the most popular ‘break-out’ stars was the Silver Surfer, and in issue #50 the former Norrin Radd, having been introduced two issues previously as the minion of the planet-devouring Galactus, breaks away from his master and defends the threatened planet Earth. Cosmic menace, epic grandeur and college hi-jinks, as the Human Torch commences his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it struggle with higher education. The latter subplot introduces Johnny’s fellow student, Wyatt Wingfoot, soon a staunch ally of the FF. (As well as She-Hulk’s favourite squeeze-toy, but that was a couple of decades later…). This defining issue for the Surfer is a reasonable lower grade cents copy, with a reading crease that breaks colour towards the spine and several spidery creases at the spine itself. There is some edge wear, with a couple of small nicks along the right side. Staples are secure and page quality is a nice off-white. In the lower half of the right cover, between the Surfer’s knee and the Johnny Storm inset panel, there are a number of faint impressions that look like someone was drawing pencil lines on paper and using the comic to rest on, but these are quite difficult to spot.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #50 GD/VG £175
American Comics Update: Femme Fatales for Iron Man in Tales Of Suspense #43 & #44
*Marvel: Tony Stark always had a bit of a reputation as a ladies’ man. As far back as Iron Man’s 5th and 6th appearances in Tales Of Suspense #43 & #44, when he was still in the original golden armour, he was flirting with first Kala, Queen of the Netherworld, (must be mighty crowded down there) and then Cleopatra, Siren of the Nile. Two nice mid-grade copies from the dawn of the Marvel Age.
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE
#43 VG+ p £165 Iron Man by Kirby. Back-ups by Leiber & Ditko. Great black background. Flat with nice staples and only very minor edge wear. Off-white to light tan pages. Some tanning to edges of inside covers; no brittleness.
#44 VG p £180 Iron Man by Heck. Back-ups by Leiber & Ditko. Decent deep blue background. Great staples. Minor edge wear, mainly at spine and top and bottom right corners; colour breaks at a minimum. Off-white to light tan pages. Some tanning to edges of inside covers; no brittleness. SOLD
American Comics Update: Spider-Mania/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Cloak & Dagger in Spectacular Spider-Man #64
*Marvel: Sometimes classed as Mutants, sometimes not, there’s no doubting that Cloak and Dagger have left their mark on the Marvel Universe, both as guest stars and in a variety of series of their own title, as well as their own TV series and frequent guest appearances in the MCU. The dark/light duo first appeared here in Spectacular Spider-Man, and their mantra was a war on drugs. This is a nice high grade copy, tight, flat and glossy, good staples, supple white to off-white pages. A few short spine ticks do not break colour. There is a faint vestige of a soft crease across 3 cm of the bottom right cover corner, but this does not break colour and can barely be seen.
PICTURED: SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #64 VF £50
American Comics Update: The Good Doctor Collection: Sub-Mariner #18-33
*Marvel: Also from the Good Doctor Collection this week, 16 consecutive issues of Sub-Mariner from #18-33. A good period for Namor this, with plenty of familiar friends and foes featured: Triton, Sting-Ray, Dr. Doom, Dr Strange, Orka, Tiger Shark, Red Raven, Hercules, Captain Marvel, Attuma, Llyra and lots more. A mix of pence and cents copies, these are all in pretty nice grades. Please see our catalogue for details.
American Comics Update: Quirky Corner: Slam-Bang Comics #7 1940
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: CORRECTION! An obscure bunch of characters in this anthology title from Bell in this Canadian original from 1946. This was the first issue, not to be confused with the Slam-Bang published by Fawcett in 1940 with a different cover and content. Blue Raven, the Brain, Polka-Dot Pirate, Nitro and many others. Covers detached from contents, with tears and splits at spine. Small amounts of margin foxing/mottling on some pages. Staples firm at centrefold. Back cover torn and stained.
PICTURED: SLAM-BANG COMICS #7 FA+ £100 SOLD
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: Pre-Code Horror Fest: L B Cole Miasma: Shocking Mystery Cases #53
*Horror 1940-1959: L B Cole was one of the most famous of Golden/Atomic Age cover artists. He drew in a variety of genres, and was artistic director at Star, illustrating 95% of the company’s covers; his lurid, feverish style, almost hallucinogenic, graced horror, science-fiction, jungle and romance alike. Shocking Mystery Cases (1952) lasted 11 issues from #50 to #60, and whilst ostensibly a crime title, all the content has strong horror overtones. Issue #53 (from the Bute Collection) contains Fox reprints from the 1940s, a couple with horse-racing themes. However, as with all the comics in this Miasma feature, it is the L B Cole cover for which this is highly prized, here a garish combination of grinning skeleton jockeys, hooded ghouls and demonic horses. A decent copy, lower staple coming loose at front cover, both staples a little rusty with minimal migration. Unmarked strong cover image with black background; nice off-white pages.
PICTURED: SHOCKING MYSTERY CASES #53 GD/VG £225 SOLD
British Comics Update: Pre-Code Horror Fest UK: Spellbound Magazine
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: In the early 1950s, a small number of horror comics (around 40) were produced by a variety of UK publishers reprinting US pre-code horror stories in black and white. Just as in the USA, these became notorious and subject to censorship which led to their discontinuation. There’s a lot of information online about the banning of UK horror comics if you want to know more, and I particularly recommend a youtube video by Canadian Dave Dustin on the subject. These UK horror comics have become both extremely rare and much sought after in recent years, and we’re delighted to have one new in this week. This is from the obscure Scottish publisher Cartoon Art Productions, titled Spellbound Magazine, although it’s a thick normal comic-sized issue. There’s no issue number, although recently the existence of a #2 has come to light, so this can truly be called #1. Beneath what is believed to be an original British painted cover, the contents comprise stories from Ghost Rider #11, Nightmare #12, Monster #1 and Ghost #8. Not in the best of shape, the cover is held on by tape, with the spine split and shredded, although the cover image is intact, marred by a ‘9d’ pen price on the ghost figure, multiple long creases which break colour and heavy edge wear. Some of the pages have ink bleed through, but all remain perfectly readable. You’ll probably wait a long time before you see another.
PICTURED: SPELLBOUND MAGAZINE NN (#1) FA £75 SOLD
British Comics Update: This week’s #1 (and #2) Buster Adventure Library
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Although primarily thought of as a humour title, the Buster comic also featured many adventure strips, and in 1966/67 lent its name to a series that, rather than present stories from Buster, reprinted adventure strips from both Thriller Picture Library and Super Detective Picture Library. The series ran for 36 issues, and we have #1 and #2 fresh in this week’
PICTURED: BUSTER ADVENTURE LIBRARY BOTH SOLD
#1 GD/VG £10 John Steel: Dateline For Danger; sound copy with some glue puckering at spine.
#2 GD/VG £5 Robin Hood’s Challenge. Sound copy with minor glue puckering and slight rust at spine.
British Comics Update: Knockout 1944/45
*Humour Comics: The first series of Knockout comics started in 1939 and ran until 1963. In different stages it focused on humour and/or adventure, and we have listed the title in our Humour category for consistency. Three war-time issues freshly added to our inventory, featuring Billy Bunter, Treasure Island and Sexton Blake, among loads of other strips and text stories.
IN THIS UPDATE:
KNOCKOUT 1944
276 FA £6
1945
335 FA/GD £7
338 GD £8
Books Update: Re-Working our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Category: Bloch-Brackett with new additions
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror category with authors from Bloch to Brackett, including some books new in. Robert Bloch is famed as the author of Psycho and here he contributes a true gothic horror in American Gothic. There are two excellent anthologies edited by Tom Boardman Jr, with a spread of classic SF authors. New in, two editions of Monkey Planet by Pierre Boulle, both with movie covers, one bearing the original title and one republished as Planet Of The Apes, the book that inspired the film. We also have three versions of Sydney J Bounds’ The Robot Brains (one new in) from the Golden Age of science fiction, plus novels by Ernest J Blow, Ben Bova and Leigh Brackett. See our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED:
AMERICAN GOTHIC by ROBERT BLOCH Star 1975 1st UK PB GD £6
CONNOISSEUR’S SF by TOM BOARDMAN JR (Ed) Penguin 1966 1st UK PB VG £8
MONKEY PLANET by PIERRE BOULLE Penguin 1975 3rd UK PB GD £4
PLANET OF THE APES by PIERRE BOULLE Signet 1964 1st US PB VG £6
THE ROBOT BRAINS by SYDNEY J BOUNDS Digit 1957 1st UK PB GD/VG £10
Books Update: Batmania: Batman 1966 movie adaptation plus 1
*TV/Film Tie-Ins: Normally, we only place books in this category where they spin-off from a film or TV show rather than the other way round, but these two Batman gems are obviously so heavily derived from the iconic Batman TV show and film from 1966-1968 that we felt they belonged here. Batman Vs The Fearsome Foursome from 1967 is the novelization of the Batman ’66 film (yes, you know, the one with the shark repellant Bat-Spray), and Batman Vs The 3 Villains of Doom (Joker, Penguin and Catwoman), came a year earlier in the same format by the same author, Winston Lyon. Both have wonderful photo covers and both are UK 1sts.
PICTURED: by WINSTON LYON BOTH SOLD
BATMAN VS THE FEARSOME FOURSOME Four Square 1967 1st UK PB VG £35
Lovely glossy copy with vibrant colour cover. small tear top of spine and a couple of minor cover creases
BATMAN VS 3 VILLAINS OF DOOM Four Square 1966 1st UK PB VG £12
Inspired by the classic 1960s TV series. Nice copy with small creases and small spine tear.
American Comics Update: Batmania: Batman #58 (1950) with classic Penguin cover and story; ‘Returned’ copy
*DC: Batman #58 features a Penguin cover and lead story, classic ‘State-Bird Crimes’. ‘Returned’ copy, where the logo was cut off an unsold copy and returned by the newsvendor for credit. The rest of the cover has bright colours and a solid image, but the covers are detached from the comic. Small split at base of spine. Staples tight at centrefold. Page quality quite decent although top of splash page is a little mottled where it has been exposed. Benefits from logo on splash page being in a similar position to the missing cover logo. All pages complete and present.
PICTURED: BATMAN #58 INCOMPLETE £100
American Comics Update: Six Of The Best: Strange Adventures; Everyone loves a giant frog, right?
*DC: Six excellent issues of Strange Adventures, DC’s longest running science fiction series of the Golden, Silver & Bronze Ages. Between #120 & #134; three recurring features alternate in the spotlight each issue: Star Hawkins, Interplanetary Detective and his robot secretary Ilda, Space Museum, with tales of exhibits and Atomic Knights, post-apocalyptic adventures of Earth’s last armoured defenders. Take it from me, all wonderful stuff backed up by lovely little stories from DC’s best creators. All three features will be found in these low grade issues, plus the 1st Faceless Creature, who occasionally recurred too.
IN THIS UPDATE: STRANGE ADVENTURES ALL SOLD
#120 PR p £4.50 2nd Atomic Knights. Taped spine, cover scuffs, book shop stamps, small corner off top left cover, creases and graffiti.
#121 PR p £2.50 Taped spine, heavy roll, book shop stamps.
#123 FA p £5.50 3rd Atomic Knights. Covers detached.
#124 GD- p £10.25 1st Faceless Creature. Book shop stamp.
#130 GD/VG p £12.25 (PICTURED)
#134 GD p £8.25
American Comics Update: The Good Doctor Collection: Spider-Mania: Amazing #17, 2nd appearance Green Goblin
*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection! Marvel must have known they were on to a winner when they brought back the Green Goblin just three issues after his debut. This week we have one of the less common issues of Amazing Spider-Man: #17, the second-ever appearance of perhaps Spidey’s greatest enemy, the Green Goblin – with a decidedly stoned-looking (judging by the cover image) Human Torch thrown into the mix! This classic tale is a less frequent visitor to our stock than its contemporaries, a nice, fresh pence-printed copy, with rich, bright colours, tight, firm staples and supple white to off-white pages. There’s minor wear along the top edge, a soft, faint 4 cm vertical crease down the centre of the logo which barely breaks colour and some tiny creasing in the bottom corner extremities. A couple of spine ticks just break colour. Conservatively graded.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #17 FN- p £400
American Comic s Update: The Bute Collection: Mighty Marvel Firsts: The Inhumans in Fantastic Four #44-47
*Marvel: From the Bute Collection this week, we’re delighted to bring you the first complete Inhumans saga from Fantastic Four #44-47. Hitherto, only Medusa had appeared (as part of the Frightful Four), but in #44 we learned that she was one of a hidden race, and the second member of the Inhuman Royal Family, Gorgon, turned up to play the heavy. He was swiftly followed by the rest of the family in #45: Crystal, Karnak, Triton, Lockjaw and in a last page cameo Black Bolt, who got his full debut in #46. #47 featured the debut of Black Bolt’s nasty brother Maximus. The Inhumans have intrigued and enchanted us for decades as a very established part of the Marvel Universe, and their debut story in these four issues is something rather special. (As a sidebar, the cover of #45, with its deep purple background, close-ups of our heroes and the lurking threat of the mysterious Inhumans above is a strong contender for my favourite FF cover).
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR
#44 VG p £50 A Marvel Pop Art Production. Pence printed, solid, clean copy with nice off-white to white pages and tight firm staples. A couple of minor spine ticks and some edge wear, particularly due to abrasion along the right side of bottom cover edge.
#45 VG+ p £155 A Marvel Pop Art Production. Pence printed, solid, clean copy with nice off-white to white pages and tight firm staples. Minor edge wear, with a couple of very small colour-breaking creases across the bottom right corner
#46 VG £140 Solid copy with nice off-white pages and tight firm staples. Soft diagonal crease extends from Black Bolt’s left bicep to cover edge, faintly breaking colour. Minor edge wear with slight grubbiness to bottom edge.
#47 FN- £65 Solid clean copy with nice off-white pages and tight firm staples. Square corners, only minor edge wear.
American Comics Update: The Good Doctor Collection: Thor #160-162: Galactus A’Borning
*Marvel: Also from the Good Doctor Collection this week, Marvel is as cosmic as it gets (and that’s cosmic!) with the Galactus trilogy from Thor #160-162, featuring the origin of the planet devourer, and guest-starring Ego, the Living Planet, the Colonizers, the Recorder and, of course, the Gods of Asgard. Stan and Jack at their most far-out with lots of those wonderful Kirby photo montage pages. All copies in nice shape.
PICTURED: THOR
#160 VF- £100 Fresh and glossy with vivid colours, white pages and firm, tight staples. Just minor wear/pressure marks in the spine area and a tiny bit at the top right corner. SOLD
#161 FN p £50 Pence stamped, with additional pence sticker over the stamp. White pages and tight, firm staples. Minor edge and spine wear.
#162 FN+ p £65 Pence stamped, glossy and rich. White pages and tight, firm staples. Minor edge and spine wear; no colour breaks.
American Comics Update: Hulkinued! Hulk #182 – 3rd appearance Wolverine
*Marvel: No matter that Hulk #182 features the debut of the villainous duo Hammer & Anvil and the debut (and death!) of Crackerjack Jackson, it’s the first page for which this issue is prized, with the exit of Wolverine following his cameo and full debut in #180 and #181. ND in the UK, this is of course a cents copy, with a nice glossy cover with rich colours, firm, tight staples and supple off-white pages. Tiny bits of edge wear, one or two pressure marks at the spine and a miniscule scuff mark below the comics code box. A nice-looking copy.
PICTURED: HULK #182 FN £130 SOLD
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: Quirky Corner: Xmas Comics 1941
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: This is a strange one from the Bute Collection. Back in 1941, 50 cents would have bought this mammoth tome. Its 324 pages contained various Fawcett comics published in their entirety minus covers. It was in fact the first of 7 such seasonal giants published up until 1947. The contents comprise New Captain Marvel Adventures #3, Bulletman #2, Whiz Comics #21, Wow Comics #3 and Master Comics #18, all from 1941, so you get Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, Mr Scarlet, Minuteman, Bulletman & Bulletgirl and loads of other heroes and villains including Sivana and Hitler. Originally thought to be unsold rebound copies, the current thinking is that they were extra copies from the original print runs set aside specifically for these festive treats. This is a decent copy with strong binding and an intact spine. Surplus glue can be seen along the inside spines front and back, but all of the few copies we have seen online appear to be the same. The cover has bright, vivid colours and the back cover has a great ad for Whiz Comics in full colour featuring Captain Nazi. Page quality is pretty good; one or two taped tears and/or missing corner margins, but nothing horrible. You probably won’t get many chances to pick up this ‘Giant Xmas Gift For Every Boy And Girl’! High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: XMAS COMICS #1 VG £800
American Comics Update: A small miscellany of Magazines: Planet of the Apes, Castle of Frankenstein, Web of Horror
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: A small update to this popular category. Two low grade issues of Planet of the Apes (#19 & #20) from Marvel, four issues of Castle of Frankenstein, the famous monster mag from the early 1960s (starting with #2), and Major’s Web Of Horror #3 with the first published cover by Berni Wrightson. The last two will be found in the ‘Other Publishers’ sub-category of this file, where full details of all may be found.
British Comics Update: Quirky Corner: Rare Jack Bradley Comics 1946 (in reality a reprint of Red Circle #1)
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: A real curiosity; at first glance, a coverless US Comic, but in reality a reprint of the US Red Circle Comics #1 from Rural Home 1944. Printed in Canada by Century Pub. Co in full colour, intended for export to the UK, where it was distributed by Streamlined (sic) Books. One in a series of such ventures. It was printed and published without an outer cover; the first page bears the 6d cover price. Features adventurers, detectives, masked heroes, funny animals (inc Stenchy the Skunk in Hitler parody!) etc. Very rare and virtually unknown.
PICTURED: JACK BRADLEY COMICS VG £50 SOLD
Alan Class Reprints: Alan Class Plate Sets Final Phase: Avengers, Nick Fury and more
*Alan Class Reprints: For many years now, we’ve been scouring the personal archives of legendary publisher Alan Class and with his full co-operation, releasing for sale sets of the original printing plates that were used to print the covers of his comics from 1959-1989. These sets are time-consuming to prepare, so our release schedule will be staggered. But the good news is that all the sets we have left are among the best, either featuring a classic Marvel comic reprint, or else a very early fantasy/mystery issue. So, this final phase represents your last opportunity to add one or more of these unique pieces to your collection. Each set comprises the lead printing plates used in the original comic’s colour printing, a copy of the comic printed with these plates and a signed certificate of authenticity signed by Alan Class himself. These are packaged in a special protective presentation case. Several sets (as noted) have additional historical artefacts such as colour proofs, interior page plates, printers’ photostats etc. (Please be aware that these weigh a lot and postage will be expensive. Also note that due to the onerous paperwork required for customs declarations following Brexit, we can no longer post these Plate Sets outside the UK.) We’re approaching the very end of these sets now, with just a few more to be listed. Three new sets this week as follows:
CREEPY WORLDS #3 £100 Comic FA/GD (Spine and first few pages split 2/3 down; otherwise decent condition); Reprints Atlas. A very early Alan Class comic. SOLD
CREEPY WORLDS #123 £150
Comic GD Reprints Avengers #71 plus cover (1st Invaders), Charlton, ACG
SUSPENSE #103 £90 Comic FN; Reprints Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #12 inc cover (Barry Smith art), Charlton, inc 1 Ditko. Extra: Colour cover proof, taped and stained. SOLD
British Comics Update: Put A Tiger In Your Tank 1958
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: 12 issues of the long-lived Boys’ weekly Tiger, all tabloid-sized from the less common year of 1958, fresh in this week. Throughout its history, Tiger (original home to Roy of the Rovers) always had strong sporting associations and indeed in later decades, virtually became a comic of sport-related strips, but here in 1958, Roy and other sporting stars rubbed shoulders with war and adventure strips. This selection that runs between #174 and #196 (January to June). A mix of grades between Poor and Very Good; see our catalogue for details, including specific faults on some issues. ALL SOLD
Books Update: Re-Working our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Category: James Blish
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror category and the works of James Blish. Blish was an American author best known for his Cities in Flight novels and his series of Star Trek novelizations written with his wife, J. A. Lawrence. His novel A Case of Conscience won the Hugo Award. We have eight books by Blish in stock, four of them new in. Full details in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL BY JAMES BLISH
AND ALL THE STARS A STAGE Corgi 1975 1st UK PB VG £3 (NEW IN)
CITIES IN FLIGHT Avon 1970s 5th US PB GD/VG £4 Four novels in one volume
THE DAY AFTER JUDGEMENT Penguin 1974 FN 1st UK PB FN £25 Uncommon (NEW IN)
TITAN’S DAUGHTER Four Square 1963 1st UK PB VG £4
WELCOME TO MARS Sphere 1979 2nd UK PB VG £3 (NEW IN)
Books Update: Re-Working Our Crime, Spies & Sleaze Category: Cherry Delight, the Sexecutioner
*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 & Sleaze category. Cherry Delight: The Sexecuitioner was a series from the 1970s that managed to combine all three of our sub-sets in this category. Riding on the pop art coat-tails of the spy organisation phenomenon started by James Bond, Cherry worked for the New York Mafia Prosecution and Harassment Organization (try the acronym), and I really don’t need to tell you much else. Written under the house name of Glen Chase, the vast majority of this 29 book series was written by Gardner F Fox, a consummate professional famous for his work at DC Comics, but who could turn his hand to anything. At least with him there is some skill with words and story-telling in this otherwise formulaic series. Best summed up as ‘meet bad guy – have sex with bad guy – kill bad guy’. We have three books from the series:
PICTURED: ALL BY GLEN CHASE: CHERRY DELIGHT, THE SEXECUTIONER ALL SOLD
#2 TONG IN CHEEK Leisure Books 1972 1st US PB VG £15
#4 UP YOUR ANTE Leisure Books 1973 1st US PB VG £15
#28 THE MOORLAND MONSTER Leisure Books 1977 1st US PB GD/VG £15
American Comics Update: Comic Cavalcade #14 1946
*DC: From 1946, #14 of Comic Cavalcade, the giant DC anthology starring Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern & others. We see DC titles from the period all too rarely, and it’s always a joy to welcome one to our catalogue. Great roller-skating heroes cover. Not a great condition copy, but relatively affordable. Cover and first page detached, but all complete. Finger-sized tear off lower right cover edge, does not impinge on cover characters. Ragged right edge, worn spine with heavy roll towards top. Okay page quality.
PICTURED: COMIC CAVALCADE #14 FA £150 SOLD
American Comics Update: Hawkman #1 1964
*DC: The Silver Age Hawkman stories (six try-outs in Brave & Bold and the first 21 issues of his own series that followed) are, in my opinion, perfect comics. Reimagined for the Silver Age as interplanetary police officers, Hawkman and Hawkgirl were exquisitely illustrated in Brave & Bold by Joe Kubert, and equally so (albeit in a different style) by Murphy Anderson in the Hawkman title. All penned of course by Gardner Fox, my favourite comics writer. Highly imaginative super-villains, space and fantasy settings and one of the best married relationships in comics between the leads. Two stores in this fabulous first issue, including the cover feature where the Winged Wonders come up against an ancient Mayan with super-weapons. A very nice copy, pence-stamped, with vibrant, rich colour glossy covers (including the deep blue sky background that DC did so well), white to (just) off-white pages, tiny split at bottom of spine, some corner rounding and minor edge wear. It’s such a shame that the cover is off lower staple, and that the previous owner has (skilfully) restapled it; otherwise it would grade significantly higher. From an original owner collection and new to the marketplace.
PICTURED: HAWKMAN #1 GD/VG p £80 SOLD
American Comics Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Daredevil #1 1964
*Marvel: After the successes of the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, Stan Lee enlisted his old colleague, Bill Everett, to co-create this acrobatic avenger of the streets. Sporting a yellow and red costume intended to evoke the jester-style livery of the 1940s Daredevil, young Matt Murdock lost his sight but gained phenomenal sensory powers to compensate, using them and his athletic skills to avenge the murder of his father… and the rest was history. This is a low grade copy of Daredevil’s first appearance. The cover suffers from a small scuff mark at the bottom edge centre and a fairly faint narrow dust shadow along the right edge. The rest of the cover, pence printed, is relatively unmarked with good colour. Minor creasing only, just one or two marks breaking colour faintly, with a tiny nick centre right edge. The spine is weak, although well attached at staples (as is centrefold). Small splits of less than 1 cm each at top and bottom. There are a few holes in the spine, mostly between staples, all very small except one central which is about 1 cm long vertically. Pages are clean, a decent off-white to cream. The inside covers are a little browned at the edges, but not brittle. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL #1 GD- p £1,250 SOLD
American Comics Update: Spider-Mania: Amazing #44 & #45 with the Lizard
*Marvel: Spidey’s second encounter with the Lizard had to wait until Amazing Spider-Man #44 & 45 with Jazzy John Romita at the artistic helm. Superb covers on this two-parter, with taut story-telling by Stan the Man.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#44 VG+ p £75 Pence printed, clean fresh cover with some short colour-breaking creasing at the spine area. Flat with firm, tight staples and supple off-white pages.
#45 GD/VG p £50 Pence printed, bright colours, but some cover creasing which occasionally breaks colour, Edge wear is minor, except for a 1 cm chip out at right cover edge. Staples are tight and firm, pages supple off-white. Moderate to heavy tanning to inside covers, but not brittle.
American Comics Update: The Good Doctor Collection: Six Of The Best: X-Men #102-107 inc. Mighty Marvel Firsts
*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, the last six issues of Dave Cockrum’s defining run on the X-Men, #102-107 (guest artist on #106). Featuring the Juggernaut, Magneto, Phoenix, Firelord and culminating in #107 with the debuts of both the Starjammers and the Imperial Guard, two science-fiction based super-teams long associated with the X-Men both, oddly, were the result of artist Dave Cockrum’s impatience. Cockrum had illustrated a critically acclaimed and successful run of DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes, but following altercations with editor Murray Boltinoff, Cockrum quit the Legion and DC to co-create the ‘New’ X-Men. By way of cocking a snook at DC, Dave came up with a suspiciously similar team of alien super-heroes, the Imperial Guard, each one of which was a (just barely) non-litigious clone of a Legionnaire. Similarly, the Starjammers had been created by Cockrum for a solo tryout in Marvel Premiere or Marvel Spotlight, but on being told those books’ schedules were filled years in advance, Cockrum offered the band of space pirates to X-Men scripter Chris Claremont, who bolted on a retconned relationship to an X-Man and threw them into the mix. #107saw the first full appearance of both teams (the Starjammers having done the ‘enigmatic cameo’ bit since #104), taking the cast list – never forgetting our mutant heroes – to around 50, for a full-on free-for-all!
IN THIS UPDATE: X-MEN
#102 GD £11.75 Subscription crease
#103 FN £36
#104 VG- £17
#105 FN £40 (Pictured)
#106 FN/VF £29
#107 FN/VF £120 (Pictured) 1st Imperial Guard, 1st Starjammers. Nice clean cents copy with great colour and gloss, square corners, nice pages and staples, just some spine ticks that just break colour bringing the grade down a bit.
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: Six Of The Best: My Favourite Martian
*Gold Key/Whitman: From the Bute Collection, six of the eight issues of My Favourite Martian from 1964. A big hit at the time, the TV series on which this comic was based is probably not well remembered now, but at the time, the adventures of Tim O’Hara and his ‘uncle’ from Mars was one of those whimsical sitcoms the Americans made so well. The spin-off comic is a fond reminder of that series.
IN THIS UPDATE: MY FAVOURITE MARTIAN
#1 VG £20 (Pictured) Russ Manning art SOLD
#2 VG £10
#3 FA/GD £3.25 SOLD
#5 GD/VG £6.25 SOLD
#6 VG- £7.25 SOLD
#8 GD/VG £6.25 SOLD
American Comics Update: Sharp Comics #2 from 1946 – a great rarity
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: We’re really proud to present one of the rarest and most obscure American comics we’ve ever come across, from publisher H C Blackerby. Overstreet Price Guide lists two issues: #1 & #2, but there is no evidence online that #1 actually exists. GCD lists only this issue, #2, and there don’t appear to be any records or photos of #1 online. The Gerber Photo-Journal Guide Guide has #2 listed as a scarcity value of 8 (11-20 copies exist). Features super-hero, detective, science fiction, comedy/horror: Pioneer, Planetarian, Dick Royce, Michael Morgan & others. A solid, attractive copy with bright colours. Some wear at staples, but firmly attached. Small 1 cm spine split at bottom. Clean, off-white pages. A very rare opportunity to own this obscure item.
PICTURED: SHARP COMICS #2 VG+ £400 SOLD
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: Pre and Post Code Horror Fest: Six Of The Best: Uncanny Tales inc Spidey Prototype & Double Cover Issue
*Horror 1940-1959: Also from the Bute Collection this week, another dip of the toe in the water of the high quality Atlas 1950s horror line, with four Pre-Code and two Post-Code issues of Uncanny Tales, all in fairly nice shape, and featuring both a Spider-Man prototype story and one issue with a prized double cover.
PICTURED: UNCANNY TALES
#15 VG/FN £135 Pre-Code. Brodsky, Sinnott, Andru, Fass and others. Nice black background unmarked cover, tight, firm staples and off-white pages. Faint reading crease at spine, very minor edge wear and a couple of short spine ticks and that’s it. SOLD
#18 VG+ £125 Pre-Code. Heath, Forte, Colletta, Powell and others. Solid and intact copy with tight, firm staples and off-white pages. Unmarked cover, minor edge wear and corner rounding; some colour bleed through on to inside covers. SOLD
#25 VG- £80 Pre-Code. Benulis, Colletta, Tartaglione, Sekowsky and others. Nice dark background cover, tight, firm staples and off-white pages. Faint horizontal crease across middle of cover just breaks colour; also several colour-breaking creases in bottom eight corner, but a solid copy.
#26 GD £110 Pre-Code. Spider-Man prototype story. Maneely, Benulis, Ayers, Greene and others. Cover off bottom staple, staples rusty. Water damage has caused a ripple effect to the bottom half, but intact and colourful enough.
#37 Double cover. Outer VG/FN Inner: FN/VF £195 Burgos, Forgione, Ayers, Drucker, Sinnott and others. Beautifully preserved due to double cover. Both covers have rich colour with a few soft creases which don’t break colour (less on inner), some minor spine wear on outer, fresh gloss on inner. Tight, firm staples and supple off-white pages. SOLD
#41 VG+ £70 Burgos, Ayers, Andru, John Severin, Forte, Wildey and others. Solid copy with tight, firm staples and off-white pages. Minor spine and edge wear; slight foxing towards bottom edge.
British Comics Update: Spellbound #41 from L Miller, reprinting 1st Ant-Man by name and in costume
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: A great package here from L Miller from 1963. Spellbound #41 reprints the first Ant-Man story by name and in costume from Tales To Astonish #35, following Hank Pym’s debut in TTA #27. Reproduced in great quality crisp black and white, showcasing the classic Kirby art. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a whole load of mostly pre-code Atlas horror stories from (mostly) Adventures Into Weird Worlds. A beautiful flat copy with only minimal wear and an excellent unmarked cover; just slight rust to staples.
PICTURED: SPELLBOUND #41 FN/VF £150 SOLD