*Marvel: Four early John Romita issues of Amazing Spider-Man this week from the Good Doctor, featuring some of Spidey’s most famous foes in mid-grade examples.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#46 VG p £120 1st Shocker. Some edge wear with small amounts of creasing at right top and bottom covers, just breaking colour. Small tear top back cover. Pages are off-white to cream; staples are tight and firm.
#47 VG p £75 Great Kraven the Hunter cover. Some edge wear with short colour-breaking creasing across lower right cover corner. Nice off-white pages, with tight, firm staples.
#51 VG+ p £95 1st Kingpin cover. Nice clear image with some spidery creasing at edges and spine, breaking colour. Black background holds up pretty well. Pages are white to off-white, with tight, firm staples.
#52 VG £50 Finale of 1st Kingpin story. Minor edge wear only, except for some heavy creasing along right edge near top half, breaking colour. Pages are off-white to cream, with tight, firm staples.

*Marvel: We continue our feature showcasing tabloid-sized comics with two Marvel Treasury editions containing the best adventures of the ever Incredible Hulk, one in nice shape and one in exceptional condition.
PICTURED: MARVEL TREASURY EDITION BOTH SOLD
#5 FN/VF p £15
#17 VF/NM £25

*Horror 1940-1959: In 1956, probably as a reaction to the demise of so many of their titles that didn’t survive long after the imposition of the Comics Code, Atlas, who before too much longer would morph into Marvel, launched three ‘sister’ titles called World Of Fantasy, World Of Mystery and World Of Suspense. These contained mystery stories with a dark edge of similar quality to Atlas’s pre-code material in this vein, but obviously without the excesses. The art was by many of the finest craftsman available to them at the time. Selections from all three titles are available as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE:
WORLD OF FANTASY
#10 GD/VG £50 (PICTURED) Cover by Burgos. Interior art by Reinman, Winarski, Colan, Sale and more.
#11 VG- £58 (PICTURED) Cover by Everett/Maneely. Interior art by Torres, Mooney, Winarski and more.
#12 FA £18 Cover by Everett. Interior art by Forte, Mooney, Stallman & more. Covers almost detached; long spine split.
WORLD OF MYSTERY
#1 GD £50 (PICTURED) Cover by Everett. Interior art by Torres, Sale, Powell, Baily, Orlando and more. Glued spine and colour touch. SOLD
#4 GD- £28 Cover by Burgos. Interior art by Roth, Reinman, Powell, Stallman, Romita & Ayers
#5 FA/GD £22 Cover by Burgos. Interior art by Orlando, Ayers, Winarski, Heck, Brodsky, Forte and more. A couple of small cover scuffs in logo and code box.
WORLD OF SUSPENSE
#4 PR £8 Cover by Burgos. Interior art by Reinman, Stallman, Sale, Roussos, Forgione and more. Covers detached, separated and brittle. Some loss at edges.
#5 VG £52 (PICTURED) Cover by Burgos. Interior art by Everett, Giunta, Romita, Heck, Roussos and more.
#5 App FN £36 Cover by Burgos. Interior art by Everett, Giunta, Romita, Heck, Roussos and more. Right edge trimmed; stories not affected.
#7 GD- £22 Cover by Burgos. Interior art by Maneely, Williamson & Mayo, Baily, Crandall, Morisi and more.
#8 GD- £22 Cover by Doxsee. Interior art by Doxsee, Winarski, Brodsky, Forte and more. Small corner off bottom right cover.

*Western: Also from the Bute Collection this week: 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. And Western, as here. White Rider (& Super-Horse) sports a typically dynamic and lurid scene full of contrasting colours, a must for collectors of his work. In case you’re wondering, White Rider doesn’t actually appear in this issue, but Cloud the Super-Horse does and he’s super due to a superior intellect (sorry to all those of you who thought he’d be flying). The interiors are reprints from various sources, and the art rather lacklustre by comparison to the cover, which is almost certainly what anyone would buy this for. A low grade copy, with cover detached and a chip out at top spine (see scan). There are a couple of quite faint book shop stamps on the cover, but these are over logo and text box and don’t spoil the image. Probably one of the more elusive L B Cole covers to come across. This is the version from Accepted dated circa 1958, reprinting the Star version from 1950.
PICTURED: WHITE RIDER (& SUPER-HORSE) #6 FA £50 SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: If you’re looking to fill gaps in your Battle Picture Library collection, this update’s for you, with 25 issues newly added from 1963/64 between #101 and #143. Nearly all these issues were missing from our listings, and all are in pretty nice shape, clean, bright and unmarked, with just degrees of staple rust defining grade. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: BATTLE PICTURE LIBRARY #117 VG/FN £3.50

*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 finish off our Lin Carter inventory (for now) with a few odds and ends, including two new additions. Beyond The Gates Of Dream is a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories, including one collaboration with Randall Garrett, and one Conan story with Robert E. Howard; The Black Star is a one-off sword and sorcery novel with a Frank Frazetta cover; The Young Magicians, from the Pan Ballantine Adult Fantasy series and edited by Carter, is an anthology featuring stories by Dunsany, Eddison, Morris, Lovecraft, Smith, Tolkein and many more; lastly, The Thief of Thoth by Carter and Doomsman by Harlan Ellison is a two-novels-in-one-book jobbie.   
PICTURED:
LIN CARTER: BEYOND THE GATES OF DREAM FIve Star 1973 1st UK PB VG £3 (NEW)
LIN CARTER: THE BLACK STAR Dell 1973 1st US PB VG/FN £7 (NEW)
LIN CARTER (Ed): THE YOUNG MAGICIANS Pan Ballantine Adult Fantasy 1971 1st UK PB GD £9
LIN CARTER – THE THIEF OF THOTH / HARLAN ELLISON – DOOMSMAN Belmont/Tower 1972 1st US PB GD £5

*TV/Film Tie-Ins. The classic TV series the Avengers spun off into a variety of original novels. Nine of these, five with Steed & Emma Peel, and four with him and Tara King, were published in the US by Berkley in a numbered sequence. We have the first six of these new in this week, all in fabulous condition, and all featuring wonderful photo covers. 
PICTURED: THE AVENGERS
#1: THE FLOATING GAME by JOHN GARFORTH Berkley 1967 1st US PB FN £12 SOLD
#2: THE LAUGH WAS ON LAZARUS by JOHN GARFORTH Berkley 1967 1st US PB VG/FN £10 SOLD
#3: THE PASSING OF GLORIA MUNDAY by JOHN GARFORTH Berkley 1967 1st US PB VG/FN £10 SOLD
#4: HEIL HARRIS by JOHN GARFORTH Berkley 1967 1st US PB FN £12 SOLD
#5: THE AFRIT AFFAIR by KEITH LAUMER Berkley 1968 1st US PB VG/FN £10 SOLD
#6: THE DROWNED QUEEN by KEITH LAUMER Berkley 1968 1st US PB FN £12

*DC: DC’s ground-breaking and controversial run of Green Lantern (cover-titled ‘Green Lantern co-starring Green Arrow’) was renowned for its tackling of issues which had been seldom raised in comics before – albeit, in retrospect, perhaps heavy-handedly, it nevertheless raised many questions the medium had previously failed to address. One such was racism, and when, after Hal Jordan got injured, the Power Ring selected African-American John Stewart as a temporary replacement Green Lantern, the heroes were forced to confront certain unspoken truths in their society. Originally intended as a one-off character, John was brought back frequently, often replacing Hal for long stretches, both in the Justice League and as the Green Lantern of Earth – mercifully having abandoned his cliched ‘angry black dude’ persona early on. This copy of Green Lantern #87 is a very reasonable mid-grade pence stamped copy; some short horizontal reading creases at the spine do not break colour, slightly dingy along the bottom edge with a tiny crease across the bottom right corner extremity. Nice colour and gloss; very small nick at centre right edge. Staples tight and firm at spine and centrefold. Pages are supple, off-white to cream.
PICTURED: GREEN LANTERN #87 VG p £200

*DC: DC revived the classic Golden Age comedy/crime super-hero character Plastic Man in the Silver Age (#1-10) and then again in the Bronze Age (#11-20). We have one of the former and five of the latter new in this week, with engaging Bronze Age art by Ramona Fradon in her cartoonish style, totally suited to the character.
IN THIS UPDATE: PLASTIC MAN ALL SOLD
#9 VG p £6
#12 FN £4.25
#15 FN £4.25
#17 VF £5.75
#19 VF £5.75
#20 VF p £5

*Marvel: Issue #13 of the Fantastic Four brought us to the mysterious Blue Area of the Moon, and introduced the enigmatic Watcher, cosmic custodian of devices of unimaginable power. Despite his vast power and omniscient knowledge, the Watcher was solemnly sworn never to intervene in the affairs of Earth… unless, you know, he really wanted to, which fortunately for Marvel Earth he did numerous times before his untimely death in 2014! (It’s okay, he got better. We think. Modern comics are a bit hazy for us, but we’re sure we’ve seen him around…) Moreover, it featured a Russian scientist re-creating the flight which gave the FF their powers to gain super-abilities of his own – and by staffing his ship with trained primates, making sure his ‘teammates’ were subservient to him! The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes (Mikhlo, Igor and Piotr – we knew you were dying to know!) also became a recurring feature in the Marvel Universe, even after the Cold War thawed. This double-shot debut from the Bute Collection, heroic and villainous, is a mid-grade pence printed copy. The cover has some reading and handling wear, with a small number of creases, only one or two of which break colour at all, and not in a big way. A couple of small drop stains near the bottom of the logo, but these look like stars or planets in the sky. Staples are tight and firm throughout. Decent colour with creamy, supple pages.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #13 VG+ p £350

*Marvel: Six consecutive issues of the X-Men from #150-155, all in nice shape, with art by Dave Cockrum and others. Includes a showdown with Magneto in the double-sized #150, the White Queen in #152, a charming fairy tale in #153 and the debut of the menacing Brood in #155. A fine run of stuff!
IN THIS UPDATE: X-MEN ALL SOLD
#150 VF+ £11
#151 VF £7.50
#152 VF- £7
#153 VF+ £9
#154 NM £13
#155 VF £22 1st Brood

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints Of US Material: Three #1 issues in this diverse category this week. Fantastic Tales #1 (68 pages) from Thorpe & Porter reprints DC science-fiction stories from Mystery In Space and probably elsewhere under an original (and not very good) cover. Perfect Crime #1 from Pembertons (1951) reprints stories from #10 of the same title (US original from Cross). Sky Sheriff #1 (1950), also from Pembertons, reprints the one-off US original from DS, featuring Edmund Goode’s airborne lawman.
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
FANTASTIC TALES #1 VG £15
THE PERFECT CRIME #1 FN £12
SKY SHERIFF #1 VG £7

*Girls’ Comics: Although ‘strange stories’, with a genteel supernatural element, had been a staple of girls’ weeklies since the mid-1960s, Spellbound was the first girls’ weekly to devote itself to the theme. While many of its series, including its best-remembered serial ‘Supercats’, with four young super-heroines dispensing justice throughout the galaxy, were science-fiction, the majority featured ghosts, witches, curses and mysterious creatures and apparitions to terrify its young audience. Launched by DC Thomson in 1976 – and lasting a mere 69 issues before yielding the field to its IPC-published successor and imitator, Misty – Spellbound is fondly remembered and keenly sought these days because of the quality of its scripts and artwork. This week, we have every issue from #4 to the last, including Halloween, Christmas and New Year issues, fresh into stock, mostly in lovely condition, an average of VG/FN. Please see our catalogue for full details of this highly recommended series.
PICTURED: SPELLBOUND
#21 VG £5
#58 VG/FN £8.50 Halloween issue

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Four titles new to our listings this week by the undisputed Queen Of Crime, Agatha Christie. Unusually, these unique works do not feature any of Christie’s major recurring detectives, but are all excellent examples of her diversity. Death Comes As The End is a superbly told murder mystery set in ancient Egypt (with a great cover illustration). The Man In The Brown Suit is a robust and thrilling Secret Service adventure with a plucky young heroine. Parker Pyne Investigates is a series of stories about Christie’s most unusual investigator and Towards Zero is a classic murder tale involving the indomitable Inspector Battle, who pops up in supporting roles in quite a few of Christie’s works. Guaranteed page-turners that are difficult to put down, all in handsome vintage Pan editions.
PICTURED: ALL BY AGATHA CHRISTIE ALL SOLD
DEATH COMES AS THE END Pan 1964 2nd UK PB GD/VG £5
THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT Pan 1960 8th UK PB GD £3
PARKER PYNE INVESTIGATES Pan 1968 UK PB GD/VG £3
TOWARDS ZERO Pan 1952 3rd UK PB FA/GD £4

*DC: Six excellent issues of Strange Adventures, DC’s longest running science fiction series of the Golden, Silver & Bronze Ages between #155 & #163, the last issue edited by Julius Schwartz. Two of the recurring features are still here: Star Hawkins, Interplanetary Detective and his robot secretary Ilda, and Atomic Knights, post-apocalyptic adventures of Earth’s last armoured defenders. Space Rovers transfer over from Mystery In Space to replace the Space Museum. 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 mixed grade issues.
IN THIS UPDATE: STRANGE ADVENTURES ALL SOLD
#155 FN p £19.75
#158 FA/GD p £5.25 Book shop stamps
#159 VG+ £16.50
#160 VG p £16
#162 VG p £11.75
#163 VG p £11.75

*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 their first encounter with Spidey in Amazing #16, the Circus of Crime appeared for a return engagement in #22, this time without the Ringmaster, but with new addition Princess Python in her first appearance. A great cover with the Spider symbol and Spidey’s elongated shadow. This is a CGC 8.5 VF+ cents copy, unrestored universal blue label with case in perfect condition and cream to off-white pages.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #22 CGC 8.5 VF+ £475

*Marvel: The Black Panther’s series in Jungle Action, which attracted a lot of acclaim at the time, was known for being verbose, introspective, reflective and philosophical. When the character’s co-creator, Jack Kirby, took over as writer and artist on T’Challa’s follow-up solo series, the results were… a considerable contrast. Shouting! Explosions! Aliens! Time-Travel! Implausibly-muscled ladies with black lipstick! Cosmic critters! All were here, and all playing at full volume all the time, in the crazed kinetic frenzy that Kirby was renowned for. Since the major movie franchise, the King of Wakanda’s star is ever-ascendant, and this series is represented here in its entirety from the Bute Collection, 12 issues of high loopiness quotient, followed by 3 more conventional post-Kirby issues. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: BLACK PANTHER #1 VG+ p £30 Pence printed. Nice glossy copy, but handling wear at edges and corners.

*Alan Class Reprints: From the personal archives of Alan Class, we’re delighted to present another selection of copies certificated by Alan himself. More than a dozen pre-decimal copies of Uncanny Tales, all in decent grade. The file copies were used by Alan Class for reference and are sometimes in variable condition, but usually quite good as here. As well as those lovely little mystery stories from Atlas/Marvel, ACG, Charlton and others, this selection also contains some heroic fare: Dr Strange, the Watcher and the Wasp, early THUNDER Agents, Archie’s Fly and Shadow etc. Full details in the certificated section of this category. A reminder that you can view some detail of the contents in our Rough Guide to Alan Class Reprints. 

*TV & Film Related Comics: When the first series of TV Century 21 faltered, competitors Polystyle were quick to generate a successor in ‘Countdown’, featuring many of the most popular Gerry Anderson TV shows in comic strip form. Fireball XL5, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, Stingray all graced its pages, plus a brand-new sci-fi strip ‘Countdown’, illustrated rather spiffily by John M. Burns, and the star power of a Doctor Who comic series imported from TV Comic! Later issues added the Persuaders in a prelude to the change into TV Action that was to follow. Our latest Countdown update features around 40 issues new in between #2 and #43, filling many gaps in our listings. From an original owner collection and new to the marketplace, these have been carefully stored for over 50 years and are among the nicest copies we’ve ever seen, with many VF graded. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: COUNTDOWN #3 VG/FN £20

*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 for a John W Campbell quickie and the first part of our Lin Carter stock (with new additions). John W Campbell was a colossus of the Golden Age of science fiction, most famous for his editorship of the pulp mag Astounding, he brought into the field such all-time greats as Asimov, Heinlein, Sturgeon and many others. But his own writing should not be discarded. He wrote The Thing From Another World (later filmed twice), and his novel here is a vision of the first men on the moon. Lin Carter was a major figure of fantasy and sword and sorcery in the 1960s-1980s. Not only the editor of the famous Pan Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, for which he brought back into print many forgotten masterpieces of fantasy, he also wrote many scholarly works (eg on Tolkein, Lovecraft and the genre in general). As if that wasn’t enough, he wrote dozens of novels of fantasy and sword and sorcery, most often in series, including Thongor, his Conan clone and most famous creation. And of course, he also collaborated with others on new Conan novels. A renaissance man of the genre!
PICTURED:
JOHN W CAMPBELL: THE MOON IS HELL NEL 1975 1st UK PB GD/VG £4
BY LIN CARTER:
GREAT IMPERIUM #3: OUTWORLDER Lancer 1971 1st US PB VG/FN £5
MARS #1: THE MAN WHO LOVED MARS Fawcett 1973 1st US PB GD £3 (NEW)
THONGOR #2: THONGOR OF LEMURIA Tandem 1973 2nd UK PB GD/VG £3
THONGOR #3: THONGOR AGAINST THE GODS Tandem 1973 2nd UK PB VG £4
THONGOR #4: THONGOR IN THE CITY OF MAGICIANS Tandem 1973 2nd UK PB GD/VG £3
THONGOR #5: THONGOR AT THE END OF TIME Tandem 1973 2nd UK PB VG £4
THONGOR #6: THONGOR FIGHTS THE PIRATES OF TARAKUS Tandem 1971 1st 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/Films Tie-Ins Category for some books of shows of varying fame. I don’t remember the American cop series (trendy young cops) the Mod Squad ever being shown here, but the book spin-offs ran to two series. The Persuaders is more familiar, a late entry into the ATV adventure shows, but not a favourite of mine despite the high profile stars. Our Planet Of The Apes entry is based on the TV series; I think with the Apes you can either love them or leave them. Apart from the original film, I’d rather leave them. On the other hand, the Prisoner was a totally unique series of stylish genius; nothing like it has ever been made. 
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
THE MOD SQUAD #3 (1st series) THE SOCK-IT-TO-EM-MURDERS Pyramid 1968 1st US PB VG/FN £4
THE MOD SQUAD #1 (2nd series) HOME IS WHERE THE QUICK IS Pinnacle 1971 1st US PB GD £4
THE PERSUADERS BOOK TWO Pan 1972 1st UK PB VG/FN £15
PLANET OF THE APES #2 ESCAPE TO TOMORROW Award 1975 1st US PB VG £5
THE PRISONER WHO IS NO. 2? Boxtree 1981 UK PB VF £10

*DC: Although, a decade later, Alan Moore became for most readers the definitive writer on DC’s muck monster, back in 1972, the first series of Swamp Thing launched at the hands of Berni Wrightson, who is undoubtedly the definitive artist for the character. After debuting in House Of Secrets #92, Swampy appeared in his own series and this first issue is a nice pence stamped glossy copy, with just minor handling and edge wear. Staples are firm and pages a supple off-white, with just traces of tiny dog-earring to the very extremities of upper right corners. A narrow strip of white spine where the comic has been finished in the publication process with the line of the front cover slightly off centre to the right (see scan)
PICTURED: SWAMP THING #1 FN- p £100 SOLD
 

*DC: In 1973, it was DC’s turn to have a go at the classic pulp hero the Shadow, whose exploits have passed through many publishers over the decades. This 12 issue series was moody and atmospheric, enhanced greatly by the art of Mike Kaluta on several issues inc #1. Many issues fresh in this week as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE: THE SHADOW ALL SOLD
#1 VG- £8.25 (PICTURED)
#2 VG- p £4
#3 FN- p £9
#4 VF- p £11.75
#6 FN+ £9.25
#9 FN/VF p £7.25
#12 VG- £3

*Marvel: A batch of Amazing Spider-Man this week running from #65-78 (most issues). These are generally lower to mid-grade copies and are thus very affordable. Mysterio, Quicksilver, the Shocker, the Human Torch and the Lizard plus the debut of Silvermane in #73, the classic cover to #75 and the first Prowler in #78.
IN THIS UPDATE: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
65 GD/VG £36
67 VG £40 Classic Mysterio cover. ‘$1’ marked in biro near masthead box. Pictured.
70 VG p £26
71 GD p £9
72 FA/GD p £6.75
73 GD p £9 1st Silvermane
75 GD+ p £24.75 Classic cover
77 GD/VG £13.25
78 GD/VG p £49 1st Prowler. Long vertical crease near spine partially breaks colour. Pictured.

*Marvel: For the budget conscious, a chance to get Hulk #180 and #181, the debut of Wolverine, in a high quality reprint at a fraction of the price of the originals. From 1986, this extra-thick volume also features a Wolverine/Hercules back up plus a long feature of the evolution of Wolverine as a character. Just a bit of handling wear on cover and at spine on this one, but nice and glossy, tight with white to off-white pages.
PICTURED: INCREDIBLE HULK AND WOLVERINE #1 FN+ £35 SOLD