*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 and the adventures of Billy Bunter. First appearing in the Magnet #1 (1908), Billy Bunter was originally a minor character in the stories of Greyfriars School, but as time went on and the stories grew in popularity, author Frank Richards (Charles Hamilton) realised the comic potential of his most famous creation, so much so that after the Magnet ceased publication in 1940, Bunter was the starring figure in his own series of novels from 1947 to 1967. Our stock comprises mainly Hardback novels, a mix of originals, all with dust jackets, including some first editions, and the 1990s faithful facsimiles produced by Hawk Books. A second relisting update will follow soon. The ‘Fat Owl Of The Remove’ has now passed into legendary status as an icon of English literature, so here’s your chance to get acquainted with his antics. Yarooh!
PICTURED: ALL BY FRANK RICHARDS (More complete information in our catalogue)
BILLY BUNTER #1: BILLY BUNTER OF GREYFRIARS SCHOOL Hawk 1991 UK HC VF £12
BILLY BUNTER #4: BILLY BUNTER IN BRAZIL Hawk 1992 UK HC FN £8
BILLY BUNTER #6: BILLY BUNTER’S BENEFIT Cassell 1960 3rd UK HC GD/VG £20
BILLY BUNTER #13: BILLY BUNTER’S FIRST CASE Cassell 1957 2nd UK HC FN £20
BILLY BUNTER #15: BUNTER DOES HIS BEST Hawk 1991 UK HC NM £10
BILLY BUNTER #16: BILLY BUNTER’S DOUBLE Cassell 1956 3rd UK HC FN £25

*DC: A real gem from the Bute Collection this week. Dick Sprang is my favourite Batman artiist; his angular style epitomises the Batman of the 40s and 50s, and he is omnipresent in Batman #23 from 1944, where he contributes the cover and all Batman stories (the Alfred story is by Jerry Robinson). The classic chess cover shows the Caped Crusaders cornering the Joker’s chess piece in an icomic scene. In the lead story, Batman and Robim encounter the Joker in The Upside Down Crimes; the middle story is Damsel In Distress and the end story is Pelt Plunderers (a Police Division story where Batman & Robin team up with the Mounties). This is a copy with amateur restoration and is priced as such, with an Apparent grade assigned. The spine is securely taped with clear magic tape, which is partially off at the centre with a small scuff mark. Small pieces of tape internally reiniforce the staples and seal a small tear at the right edge. Beneath the spine tape, there are tears which look as if they may have been colour touched (minor). There is a central vertical subscription crease which only breaks colour above the logo and a very thin white line (which looks more like a printing defect than a crease) extending from Robin’s head to the right edge. Corners are blunted and the back cover has small grubby patches. Tape repairs make it difficult to ascertain the status of the staples at spine, but they are firm at centrefold and the pages are a flexible cream with minor edge tanning. For all that, the copy presents well and represents an opportunity to acquire an iconic Joker cover Batman at a very reasonable price. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: BATMAN #23 App GD £500 SOLD

*DC: Tommy Tomorrow was a colonel in the 21st Century Interplanetary police force the Planeteers. He first appeared in Real Fact Comics #6 (1647) and after several appearances there, became a regular back-up feature in first Action Comics and then World’s Finest comics from the late 1940s until the early 1960s. He then graduated to his own try-out series in Showcase 1962-63, the series that DC used to audition characters for their own titles. Despite a respectable five issue (non-consecutive) sojourn there, he didn’t catch on enough to get his own title. He continues to pop up in the DCU, but those Showcase issues probably represent the best of Tommy, scripted by Arnold Drake and drawn by Lee Elias, with an inventive array of aliens and outer space adventure. All here in very decent mid-grades.
IN THIS UPDATE: SHOWCASE
#41 FN £30 (PICTURED) Origin story.
#42 VG/FN £25
#44 FN- £25
#46 VG/FN £18.25 SOLD
#47 FN- £20

*Marvel: A Special Once-In-A-Lifetime Issue’, the cover of this one-shot boasted, and its unique position is simply a result of a scheduling tangle which arose when Marvel was finally allowed by its distributors to increase its range of titles. The Hulk took over the numbering of Tales to Astonish and Captain America the numbering of Tales of Suspense, but that left ‘orphaned’ chapters of the Iron Man and Sub-Mariner serials languishing, so they were used in this oddball one-off so that both Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner could start off their #1 issues with clear storylines. Nevertheless is has found ‘fame’ in recent years as a Marvel #1! Joyfully, both strips were pencilled by the superb Gene Colan. This is an above average cents copy, clean & bright, sound firmly-attached staples, good cover colour and minimal edge & corner wear, apart from some creasing across a small bottom right corner of the cover. One of the easiest Silver Age Marvel titles to complete – buy one and you’ve got the set!
PICTURED: IRON MAN & THE SUB-MARINER #1 VG/FN £90 SOLD

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week: following the debut of Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD in #135, Strange Tales was a brilliant title, with the super-spy scientific secret agent trope of SHIELD contrasting with the mystic arts of Dr Strange for a real go-go psychedelic extravaganza. Issues #136-140 concluded the first encounter with Hydra begun in #135, while Dr Strange faced the threat of Dormammu in Ditko’s last great epic for his co-creation. And in #138, Marvel’s own Good Doctor encountered Eternity for the first time, possibly Ditko’s most visually wondrous character.
IN THIS UPDATE: STRANGE TALES
#136 VG+ £25
#137 VG- £11.50 SOLD
#138 FN £70 (PICTURED) 1st Eternity
#139 FN- £20.25
#140 FN+ £28

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Adventures Into The Unknown from ACG was the earliest ongoing horror title, starting in 1947. It’s the Silver Age incarnation that concerns us here, when the horror of pre-code had given way to the more whimsical fantasy/mysteries for which ACG became known in the 1960s. As the run drew to a close, recurring super-hero characters started to appear, such as Nemesis in the last two examples featured here.
IN THIS UPDATE: ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN ALL SOLD
131 VG+ p £6.75
139 VG/FN p £7.50
140 VG p £6
141 VG p £6
155 VG/FN p £7.50 (PICTURED)
166 FN/VF p £12.50

*Mad: The original American Mad magazines turn up far less frequently over here than the British versions which followed, so we’re particularly pleased this week to have 20 of them new in from 1957-1962, between #36 and #70. Groove along with Alfred E Neuman for this brand of humour, sarcasm, parody and irony in the premier publication for this sort of lunacy. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: MAD
#36 GD/VG £22
#37 VG £29

*Power Comics: Appetite for UK reprints of Marvel Silver Age key issues has grown enormously over the last few years, driving the prices upwards. In this instance, if you add the factor of the hugely successful WandaVision TV series, these first UK reprints of X-Men #4, featuring the debut of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (inc Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch) are now highly sought after. Now, take care here — there are sellers on eBay (and elsewhere) who will try to convince you that Fantastic #6 features the debut of the Scarlet Witch — that’s not true. Odhams reprinted X-Men #4 over two issues in Fantastic #5 & #6. Although the cover of X-Men #4 featured on Fantastic #6 (complete with Wanda’s miscoloured outfit), she actually debuted in the first part of the story in Fantastic #5. We’re offering both issues in one lot for one price. The #5 is a solid mid-grade VG; the #6 is similar, but with a small upper spine split.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC #5 VG and #6 GD/VG £30 SOLD

*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 first part of our listing for the works of Arthur C Clarke. Clarke was a scientist as well as a writer and is known as a prophet of science fact, in particular due to his predictions of communication satellites. Most famous of course for 2001: A Space Odyssey, you would expect to find a fair amount of hard science in his works – what you might not expect is the engaging and entertaining style in which he wrote. His novels are real page turners that you don’t want to put down.
PICTURED:
CHILDHOOD’S END Pan 1961 2nd UK PB VG £10
(2 later editions also available – see our catalogue)
THE CITY AND THE STARS Corgi 1970 4th UK PB VG £3
EARTHLIGHT Pan 1963 2nd UK PB VG/FN £4
(later edition also available – see our catalogue)
A FALL OF MOONDUST Pan 1964 1st UK PB VG £4
IMPERIAL EARTH Pan 1977 7th UK PB VG £4

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our TV/Film Tie-Ins Category. There was only one novelisation of the cult Sapphire & Steel TV series, but it was written by the show’s creator (who also wrote all the stories bar one) P J Hammond. S&S is a bit Marmitey — you either love it or hate it. Some call it slow, ploddy and repetitive. I think of it as eerie, moody and atmospheric, totally unique and wonderful and it left me wanting more. The novel is uncommon. 
In Memoriam: David McCullum 1933-2023.
PICTURED:
SAPPHIRE AND STEEL by PETER J HAMMOND Star 1979 1st UK PB VG £25
Lovely condition copy with small dink at base of spine.

*DC: It will come as no surprise to regular followers that I really rate the 1960s Hawkman comics as among the best ever. Science fiction super-hero adventures with the loving relationship of Katar (Hawkman) and Shayera (Hawkgirl) at its heart. Clever stories by the superb Gardner Fox and beautiful art by the unexcelled Murphy Anderson, both masters of their craft. Issues #15-18 and #20-21 (the last issue by this creative team) new in this week as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE: HAWKMAN ALL SOLD
#15 GD+ p £5.75
#16 VG/FN p £9.25
#17 VG/FN p £9.25
#18 VG p £7.50 (PICTURED)
#20 FA p £2.25 Book shop stamps
#21 VG+ p £8.50

*Marvel: From the Bute Collection, Fantastic Four #16 features the villainy of Doctor Doom and guest-stars Ant-Man in one of the earliest Marvel crossovers, back when such things were still a special event. Ant-Man aids Marvel’s First Family in their adventures in the mysterious micro-world of Doctor Doom. Lee & Kirby are at the height of their powers on this early issue. This is a presentable lower-graded pence printed copy with a good cover image. Edge wear, small tears and a small 2 cm spine split at base. Tiny chips out at some edges, with a few spidery colour-breaking creases at right edge and bottom right corner. Staples are a little loose at spine, but are firmly attached there and at centre. Page quality is a pretty decent off-white to cream.  
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #16 GD p £130

*Marvel: Lots of Avengers from the Good Doctor Collection this week, 17 issues between #58 and #88. Includes the origin of the Vision in #58, the first Lethal Legion in #78 and the first Red Wolf in #80. Please see our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: AVENGERS #58 GD/VG £40 5 cm upper spine split, otherwise nice copy. SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: From 1951, Lars of Mars’ unique selling point was positively postmodern: the greatest hero of Mars, he came to Earth to prevent nuclear war, and while fighting crime as ‘Lars of Mars’, he operated under the secret identity of… an Earth actor who played ‘Lars of Mars’ on a popular TV series! My, how very metatextual! With art by the superlative Murphy Anderson, these stories are huge fun, as Lars tries to disabuse his co-worker at the TV station, Lois – er, June – from her conviction that the TV Lars and the heroic Lars are one and the same. Similarities between this and the Silver Age Superman are doubtless not coincidental, as Supes’ co-creator Jerry Siegel is believed to have scripted the series. Backed up by tales of ‘Ken Brady, Rocket Pilot’ drawn by a fledgling Gene Colan, and featuring gorgeous painted covers by Allen Anderson, these are a delight. For all their charm, however, Lars’ adventures didn’t catch a wider audience, and these two issues (inexplicably numbered #10 and #11) are all that there was. Issue #10, first in the series, is structurally sound, with great colour, good staples and nice pages; there is some light vertical cover creasing, breaking colour. #11, has great colour, good staples and nice pages, with some possible spine repair in the staple area, but still very nice. Very much in the vein of Captain Comet and Adam Strange from DC.
PICTURED: LARS OF MARS BOTH SOLD
#10 GD+ £100
#11 GD+ £100

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: By the time we get to the number range covered in this update (#21-49), Super- Detective Library had begun to feature science fiction mysteries alongside more conventional detectives. Most famous sci-fi recurring character was Rick Random, who debuted in #37 and went on to appear in dozens more issues, most famously portrayed by writer Harry Harrison and artist Ron Turner. But there was still room for the more traditional fare in this title for such as the Saint, Lesley Shane and many others. 14 new issues added this update; please refer to our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: SUPER-DETECTIVE LIBRARY
23 FA £10 Kidnapped by Martians.
29 GD £10 The Planet Of Peril
44 GD/VG £15 Rick Random: Kidnappers From Space

*Girls’ Comics: Once more, the twilight curtain parts… to reveal the first three issues of the cult girls’ weekly Misty, the horror/mystery anthology which redefined the expectations of girls’ comics during its brief span. Our sloe-eyed hostess was created by artist Shirley Bellwood, who illustrated many ethereal covers and frontispieces and based Misty’s appearance on herself. Sadly, no free gifts present with these copies.
PICTURED: MISTY
#1 GD £40 Structurally decent but with scribble in top cover margin and a blob of ink above the logo. Usual scuff marks where Free Gift removed.
#2 FN £40 Really nice clean copy with just the usual scuff marks where Free Gift removed. 
#3 FN £40 Really nice clean copy with no scuff marks.

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our TV/Films Tie-Ins Category. The Professionals was a TV crime-action series from the late 1970s/early 1980s, created by Brian Clemens who had been a driving force behind the Avengers. Unlike the latter’s unique and surreal quirky eccentricities, the Professionals was an all-action hard-hitting crime series, with a trio of memorable male leads. 15 books were published from the series, each one adapting one to four of the scripts for the TV show. We have 7 of those in stock as follows:
PICTURED: THE PROFESSIONALS, ALL BY KEN BLAKE ALL SOLD
#2 LONG SHOT Sphere 1984 6th UK PB FN £3
#7 HIDING TO NOTHING Sphere 1982 3rd UK PB VF £5
#9 NO STONE Sphere 1981 1st UK PB FN £6
#11 SPY PROBE Sphere 1981 1st UK PB VG/FN £5
#12 FOXHOLE Sphere 1982 1st UK PB FN £6
#14 OPERATION SUSIE Sphere 1982 1st UK PB FN £6
#15 YOU’LL BE ALL RIGHT Sphere 1982 1st UK PB FN £6

*DC: While it’s not strictly accurate to say that this game-changing issue was solely responsible for the transition to the ‘Dark Knight’ iteration of Batman – he had been becoming more serious in the preceding few years – this definitely distilled all the elements which would become the template for the Batman as we now know him. By Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, this tense murder mystery draws the reader in from the stunning cover, and keeps the tension mounted high as the Joker, stripped of the lingering miasma of the TV series, transformed from a buffoon into once again a top-ranking menace. One of the best comics of the 1970s, by almost everyone’s assessment – even folks who think both the Joker and the Batman are horrendously overrated (writer raises hand) think this one’s a cracker! This mid-grade pence-stamped copy has nice colour and gloss. The pence stamp is placed, as it always inevitably is, over the playing card. Staples are tight and firm, pages are off-white to cream. There is a touch of white spine where the cover is printed slightly to the right of centre (a printing effect rather than wear), and a 7 cm colour-breaking vertical crease right by the spine, probably from reading.
PICTURED: BATMAN #251 VG+ p £215

*Marvel: New in this week is the fourth issue of Amazing Spider-Man, a Lee & Ditko classic which introduced Spidey to the gentleman who would become one of his most vehement enemies – and occasionally, a reluctant hero – the shape-shifting Sandman, whose molecular mastery came close to baffling our hero. In addition, this issue features the debut of Betty Brant, a lady who was to become very important in the Wall-Crawler’s life. This lowish graded pence printed copy has good structural integrity, with decent staples tight at centrefold and only slightly loose at cover. The spine is intact. There is some fairly unattractive chipping all along the right edge, with minor edge wear at spine, top and bottom and minor colour-breaking creases mostly confined to edges, except for one longer but not prominent crease that rises from the bottom edge into the lower right quarter of this panelled cover.  Cover colours are nice except for a stain patch of about 6 cm circumference centering on the issue number box, top right. This fades a section of the red heading to orange (see scan) and marks the pale blue background of the upper right panel. Inside covers are tanned at the edges but not brittle. Page quality overall is a reasonably supple cream.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #4 GD- p £450

*Marvel: Also from the Good Doctor this week, three rather nifty consecutive issues of the X-Men, all worthy of note. #52 features the conclusion of the Lorna Dane (Polaris) debut story commenced so ably by Steranko with his work in #49-51. #53 is a fill-in featuring Blastaar with very early art from Barry Smith, whose style back then was quite crude and Kirbyesque, but fascinating to see the roots of what was to follow. #54 features the debut of the Living Pharoah and, more significantly, the brother of Cyclops, Alex Summers, who would soon become Havok.
PICTURED: X-MEN ALL SOLD
#52 FN p £48 Nice flat copy, good pages and staples, just minor edge and spine wear.
#53 VF £85 Flat, tight and glossy, good pages and staples, just minor handling wear at top edge.
#54 FN/VF £120 Great colour, unmarked, good pages and staples, just very minor handling wear at spine.

*EC: It’s a double-header of features from the Bute Collection in our EC category this week. First up, two low-grade classic horror anthologies, one Crime Suspenstories and one Haunt Of Fear. Secondly, a quirky oddity with #3 of Land Of The Lost, based on a 1940s radio fantasy about the adventures of two children who travelled underwater with the fatherly fish Red Lantern.
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #9 PR £25  Pre-Code. Cover by Craig. Interior art by Craig, Kamen, Davis & Ingels. A really bad copy, taped spine, corner erosion, brittle pages, crumbly, small strip off back cover, but all there as far as the stories are concerned.
HAUNT OF FEAR #11 PR/FA £40 Pre-code. Cover by Ingels. Interior art by Ingels, Kamen, Roussos & Davis. A low grade copy. The spine is split down to upper staple and the cover is off at lower staple. Spine mostly torn but is hanging on. Chips out at spine and right edge and some colour-breaking creasing. Pages are okay.
LAND OF THE LOST #3 VG £40 Reasonable mid-grade copy with no specific defects apart from a small tear bottom edge with no loss.

*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 (see the Links page in our Extras section for more information). These UK horror comics have become both extremely rare and much sought after in recent years, and we’re delighted to have two #1 (and only) issues fresh in this week.
PICTURED: BOTH SOLD
ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS #1 FA £60 Published by Heritage Productions and distributed by Thorpe & Porter; it’s undated but believed to be 1952. (There’s rumoured to be a #2, but we have no proof of this). It features the content and cover of the US Adventures Into Weird Worlds #8 from Atlas, as well as content from #6, Spellbound #5 and Astonishing #15. Artists include Dick Ayers, Jim Mooney and Jack Keller, with a Bill Everett cover. This is a low grade copy missing the back cover, but all story pages are complete. The front cover has edge wear, small creases and nicks, but isn’t at all bad. Firmly held together by strong staples, the page quality is quite decent.
COMICS TO HOLD YOU SPELLBOUND #1 PR/FA £60 From Thorpe & Porter 1953, reprinting the cover and contents of Atlas’s Spellbound #3. Plus, since this comic is double the size of a standard US comic, there are also stories from Astonishing #13 and Adventures Into Weird Worlds #6, also from Atlas. Cover by Russ Heath, art by Ogden Whitney, Fred Kida, Sol Brodsky, Manny Stallman, Mike Sekowsky, Bernie Krigstein, Joe Sinnott, Ross Andru and others. This low grade copy is missing the rear cover, but all story pages are complete. The front cover has chips out and wear at all edges, including colour-breaking creases and is off at the bottom staple with a spine split from there to the base of the spine. Pages are okay, but a little dingy with some edge tears and dog-earring, but are completely readable. 

*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 books by authors alphabetically from Casewit to Chetwynd-Hayes. These include two solid Science-Fiction novels published by Digit in the early 1960s, an early novel by fan favourite C J Cherryh and two macabre volumes of supernatural horror: The King In Yellow by Robert W Chambers, published originally in 1895 and a significant influence on Lovecraft, features a series of connected short stories by this prolific author and is his most famous work. The Unbidden by R Chetwynd-Hayes is an uncommon title but its distinctively eerie short stories have led to the book’s cult favourite status. More details, of course, in our catalogue.
PICTURED:
CURTIS W CASEWIT: THE PEACEMAKERS Digit 1960 1st UK PB GD £4
ROBERT W CHAMBERS: THE KING IN YELLOW Ace 1960s US PB GD £20
LOUIS CHARBONNEAU: CORPUS EARTHLING Digit 1963 1st UK PB FA/GD £3
C J CHERRYH: HUNTER OF WORLDS DAW 1977 1st US PB VG £5
R CHETWYND-HAYES: THE UNBIDDEN Tandem 1971 1st UK PB GD £17.50

*Children’s Books: Two mid-century paperback editions of Alice new in this week. The first, from Pan 1952, features all the 92 original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel from both Alice books; condition is a bit low on this one, with some tears, corner creasing and rubbing. The second is from Everyman in 1961, featuring just Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, but unusually has illustrations by the author himself.
PICTURED: BY LEWIS CARROLL BOTH SOLD
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND / THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Pan 1952 UK PB FA £3
ALICE ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND Everyman 1961 UK PB GD/VG £3

*DC: Two bondage cover issues of Wonder Woman new in this week. Always popular! The first, #196, is from Diana’s ‘Emma Peel’ years where she lost her powers and costume, the second slightly later with these regained. The covers speak for themselves.
PICTURED: WONDER WOMAN BOTH SOLD
#196 VG p £25 Pence stamped. Edge wear, particularly along the right edge, with a long crease right up against the edge breaking colour, but not affecting the cover image. Decent staples and pages.
#205 GD p £20 Pence stamped. A scuff mark (looks like label removal) in the logo area and colour-breaking crease across the bottom right corner; cover image not affected. Good staples and pages.