*Marvel: I always thought it a bit odd that after the launch of Dr Strange in Strange Tales #110 and #111, two issues followed that didn’t feature the Master of the Mystic Arts. I don’t know… maybe they were waiting for reader feedback to come in. Nevertheless, there is much to enjoy in Strange Tales #112 & #113. The Eel and the Plantman may not be Marvel’s most evil or cosmic villains, but both went on after their debut appearances here to become regular denizens of the MU. Plenty of the Fantastic Four in #112, and the debut of Doris Evans (remember her?) in #113. Both issues feature superb Steve Ditko fantasy back-ups. 
IN THIS UPDATE: STRANGE TALES
#112 VG- p £35 1st Eel. Solid pence printed copy with only minor wear but a small stain in the bottom left corner of the cover. 
#113 VG p £65 (PICTURED) 1st Plantman & Doris Evans. Solid pence printed copy with good colour and gloss. A few minor colour breaking creases across right corners, and slight chipping to right edge.

*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: Gosh, I still remember the thrill when an issue of Thunder Agents came out in the mid-1960s. Wow – you got 5 stories each issue in an extra-thick comic! Of course, at age 11, I barely knew who Wally Wood was, but I knew I liked the artwork. And the writers for these super-powered secret agents (a unique hybrid of the super-hero and spy genres) kept the words to a minimum, letting the art tell the stories. And it wasn’t just Wood: Crandall, Ditko, Kane, Sekowsky & Whitney were also represented, along with less notable but mainly competent others. We have a new selection in, most issues from #4 to #19, the last new issue (#20, the final), was all reprint. See our catalogue for the full listing. Highly recommended.
PICTURED: THUNDER AGENTS #4 VG+ p £11.75 SOLD

*Horror 1940-1959: Another batch of five post code Mystery Tales from the Bute Collection this week. Whilst it’s fair to say that the introduction of the Comics Code saw the ‘teeth pulled’ from the horror titles that survived, with horrific elements toned down, it’s also true that such titles as Atlas’s Mystery Tales continued showcasing excellent stories of mystery and imagination from the cream of Atlas’s creative talent at the time.
IN THIS UPDATE: MYSTERY TALES
#43 GD+ £49 (PICTURED) Everett cover, Morisi, Andru, Colan, Sale and others. Edge wear, small bottom spine split, creasing at spine, thumbnail chip out back cover. 
#46 GD £40 (PICTURED) Everett cover, Forte, Heck, Giordano, Williamson, Crandall, Brodsky, Sale. Front cover off bottom staple. Moderate/heavy spine and edge wear, small upper spine split with tiny chip out.  
#47 VG £80 (PICTURED) Burgos cover, Sale, Crandall, Shores, Powell, Ditko and others. Nice flat shiny copy with just small split and chip out bottom spine.
#49 VG+ £87 (PICTURED) Everett cover, Roussos, Bailey, Ayears, Morisi, Maneely, Shores, Sale. Solid copy with good cover and gloss and just minor edge wear. Tiny crease at bottom spine.
#50 GD £39 Everett cover, Torres, Sale, Marie Severin, Morrow, Forte and others. Some bad finishing on this copy, with the right edge uneven and jagged throughout, does not impinge on stories.

*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! This classy, slick package is fondly remembered and avidly collected today. Our latest copy of Countdown #1 is a nice above average copy, with some minor edge and handling wear, a couple of back cover creases and a small horizontal back cover tear. Nice pages and great colour. Please note this copy does not come with Free Gift.
PICTURED: COUNTDOWN #1 VG/FN £45 SOLD

It’s been some time now since we started releasing the three prestige collections that we’re currently working on, so we thought it prudent to take the time to explain these again for those that missed the announcements first time round. We have already released and sold many comics from these collections, but further releases are due every week and will last for some time to come.

The Good Doctor Collection: This is a comprehensive collection representing a lifetime’s hobby by one of the UK’s most dedicated collectors. It is a mixture of original owner copies and copies sourced from the UK’s most significant dealers (including ourselves); the Good Doctor was very meticulous and patient in collecting nice copies where available and that is reflected throughout this 1500+ collection of Silver and early Bronze Age Marvel titles. All of the important Marvel titles are included and in virtually complete runs from early numbers upwards. 

The Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection: This is devoted exclusively to Amazing Spider-Man and covers almost every issue of Amazing from as early as #12 right up to around #800. The notable feature of the TASM Collection is that all issues are high grade, averaging VF/VF+. If you’re looking for really nice copies of Amazing Spider-Man for your collection, then look no further than this Collection. No duds here, and nearly all cents copies.

The Bute Collection: Named after a favourite place of the owner (Bute is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland), this is the personal reference collection of a working comics artist and author who wishes to remain anonymous. Derived from a multiplicity of sources over decades, but characterised by an astonishing depth, breadth and diversity of American and British items from the 1930s onwards, including many seldom seen on these shores, in a variety of grades. If you’re a lover of vintage comics, you’ll enjoy the ride, and you’re certain to find many comics you’d love to add to your collection.

*Pulp Fiction: A huge part of the appeal of the Pulps is in their painted covers, and we feature two very distinctive examples this week in their UK versions. Black Mask is considered the greatest American hard-boiled detective magazine of all time and launched the careers of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. This issue features a notorious cover with a criminal injecting drugs into cigars. Mystery Stories was titled 15 Mystery Stories in its US original. Formerly Dime Mystery Magazine; only five issues published under this title. Horror/crime material. Superb painted horror cover by Norman Saunders.
PICTURED: BOTH SOLD
BLACK MASK SEPTEMBER 1946 VOL 5 #8 UK Edition VG/FN £35
MYSTERY STORIES AUGUST 1950 VOL 40 #2 UK Edition (US Version: 15 Mystery Stories) VG/FN £50

*DC: We continue our Legion of Super-Heroes spotlight with more classic early stories from Adventure Comics between #321-330, soon after the Legion started their own feature there and, by this time, had more or less taken over lead feature and cover billing. Full of Legion lore: the debuts of the Time Trapper & Timber (then Lone) Wolf, Proty joins the Super-Pets, the Heroes of Lallor, Lex Luthor, the Girl Legionnaires revolt and much more. All from a mostly high-grade collection, some really nice-looking cents copies of these beloved adventures. Full details as always in our catalogue; highlights below.
PICTURED: ADVENTURE COMICS
#321 VF+ £72 1st Time Trapper
#326 VF £44
#330 VF+ £65

*Marvel: The Claremont & Cockrum New X-Men was already a critical hit when #101 turned up, and in a dramatic turn of events, Jean Grey, former weak sister of the team, was elevated into a powerhouse when a cosmic ray storm seemed to transform her into the entity known as Phoenix – and a major, ultimately tragic, story arc for the X-Men began. The legend was somewhat tarnished in later years by Marvel’s back & forth position on whether Jean actually was the Phoenix, or whether the Phoenix force just manifested itself in her form (with a swingin’ new costume), but nevertheless, this remains a key and highly sought after issue. An outstanding copy of this key issue here in very high grade. Pence printed, flat, tight, glossy, vibrant, supple, and all those other adjectives applicable to the best quality. Square corners, white pages, firm staples. There are just the very slightest stress marks at the spine (just a couple) and a tiny crease mark at the bottom right corner which just stopped us awarding an even higher grade. 
PICTURED: X-MEN #101 VF+ p £450

*Marvel: One of the most famous Avengers storylines from the Good Doctor Collection this week: two alien races in an epic confrontation with the Avengers caught up in the middle. As a bonus, issues #93-96 feature the peerless artwork of Neal Adams. All listed below.
IN THIS UPDATE: AVENGERS
#89 FN+ £22.50 SOLD
#90 VG+ p £10 SOLD
#91 VG- p £7.75 SOLD
#92 VG p £11.75 SOLD
#93 FN- £40 (PICTURED) SOLD
#94 VF- £38
#95 GD p £6
#96 VG+ p £13.25
#97 FN+ £25

*Marvel: From the Bute Collection: Stan Lee’s last scripted issue of the Fantastic Four was #125, and we present the last year of his writing on Marvel’s flagship title from #113 to the end (although he was helped out on the way by Archie Goodwin and Roy Thomas). Memorable storylines include the Overmind Saga (#113-116) and another Galactus and Surfer epic (#120-123). Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR
#120 FN+ p £38
#121 VF p £28
#122 VF p £34
#123 VF+ p £39

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Also from the Bute Collection this week, a rare issue of Golfing/McCombs Crown Comics from 1945, an anthology title of adventure, humour and jungle. Two stories drawn by Matt Baker (the master of Good Girl art) are included with Clue Kelly and Voodah. Overstreet refers to the cover as ‘racist’. A very nice copy, with some cover gloss and relatively minor wear. A previous owner’s name is in two places on the cover (handwritten and printed, but not over the cover figures) and a small piece of tape central on the spine reinforces the one staple, which is tight at centrefold. Short 1.5 cm spine split at top. Great quality off-white pages, and a lovely fresh copy, particularly for its age.
PICTURED: CROWN COMICS #3 VG £250

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints Of US Material: Perhaps often overlooked in the annals of UK horror reprints (probably because these weren’t published until the 1960s), it should not be forgotten that Len Miller’s Spellbound reprinted quite a bit of Atlas Pre-Code horror stories (as well as Post Code and pre-hero Marvel Big Panty Monsters, and work from many other publishers as well). A treasure trove of delights await within these (mostly) 68 page volumes, including plenty of work by Kirby and Ditko. 8 issues new in, in nice grades, between #11 and #58. Full details in our catalogue.
PICTURED: SPELLBOUND #57 VF £35

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: This week, two copies of Thriller Comics #1 from 1951. This digest-sized comics series, most famous under its later title of Thriller Picture Library, ran for 450 issues until 1963, and while it featured a plethora of characters during its lengthy run, the trend for the early years was for historical swashbucklers based on fictional (but serendipitously copyright-free) characters such as Robin Hood, Rob Roy, and so on. One such was the Three Musketeers, who were chosen to lead off the series in this volume. The artists were all accomplished Fleetway professionals, and readers thrived on these beautifully-illustrated pocket adventures. Both copies are low grade, but it’s a delight to have not just one but two copies of this rarity.
PICTURED: THRILLER COMICS
#1 FA/GD £60 Structurally sound but with considerable spine wear, including long splits at top and bottom and the habitual rusty staples, which haven’t bled too badly; interior pages clean and flexible.
#1 FA £50 Taped spine, rusty staples, decent clean pages.

*Comic Strip Books: These paperback editions reprinting vintage famous comic stories are always very popular. Two Batman examples this week: the first features the Joker in five Golden Age stories (small spine splits, small back cover scuff); the second features the Penguin plus a famous Catwoman story (small spine split and cover creases). While not in the best of shape, these vintage paperbacks are perfectly readable and highly collectable. 
PICTURED: BOTH SOLD
BATMAN VS THE JOKER Four Square 1966 1st UK PB GD £10
BATMAN VS THE PENGUIN Four Square 1966 2nd UK PB GD £10

*DC: The classic Silver Age Green Lantern series was always every bit as much a science fiction title as it was a super-hero one, if not more so, as evidenced by these early issues, a run from #5 to #11 (excluding #7), mostly reading copies in very low grade, but including a solid mid-grade copy of the award-winning #8 with its iconic cover. Many character defining concepts are featured here. 
IN THIS UPDATE: GREEN LANTERN
5 GD p £28 1st Hector Hammond.
6 PR p £8.75 1st Tomar-Re; restapled
8 VG p £70 (PICTURED) Iconic greytone cover.
9 FA p £33 2nd Sinestro, 1st cover app. Very worn spine; felt tip pen price on logo.
10 PR p £7.50 Taped spine; bookshop stamps.
11 PR p £4.50 Restapled; no back cover.

*Marvel: The landmark 98th and antepenultimate issue of New Mutants featured the premier of not only everyone’s favourite Merc-With-A-Mouth and blockbuster movie star, Deadpool, but also the very first appearance of the probability-manipulating assassin Domino and, for good measure, Gideon. Since Domino also co-starred in the smash-hit ‘Deadpool 2’ movie, her presence has enhanced the desirability of this already hot collectable issue. Although Deadpool as presented in this issue is very different in tone from his later more popular appearances, this is where it all began, and no modern comic collection is truly complete without this cornerstone. This is a lovely high grade copy, and a rarer newstand variant, flat, tight and glossy with vibrant colour, firm shiny staples and white pages. Being strict graders, we have avoided an even higher grade due to the tiniest suggestions of edge handling wear, but for many people this copy would be NM or even better.
PICTURED: NEW MUTANTS #98 VF/NM £300 Newstand Variant SOLD

*Marvel: Four consecutive Steve Ditko issues of Amazing Spider-Man from the Good Doctor Collection this week. In #21, Spidey and the Human Torch team-up against the Torch’s old foe the Beetle. #22 features a classic cover as Spidey takes on The Clown and His Masters of Menace (formerly the Circus of Crime), including the debut of Princess Python. In #23 there’s a rematch with the Green Goblin and Mysterio lurks in #24. 
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#21 VG- p £100 Pence stamped. Some handling wear and minor creasing, both colour and non-colour breaking. Slight raggedness to some page edges on the right where the fold of the comic is not quite central and the second half slightly overlaps the first. Bright colours, some gloss, good staples and nice pages. 
#22 VG+ p £105 Pence stamped. Nice glossy copy with strong colour, pages and staples. A few spine ticks barely break colour, but there is a firm 13 cm crease across the top right corner which does break colour.
#23 App GD/VG p £45 Pence stamped. Solid copy with faint subscription crease. Apparent grade due to ad page missing; story complete. SOLD
#24 VG p £100 Pence stamped. Nice copy with gloss and strong colour. Supple off-white pages and tight, firm staples. 2-3 colour breaking creases across bottom right cover corner.

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Five issues of Atlas crime from the 1950s this time out, three pre-code dark and gritty issues of Justice, one equally so Men’s Adventures (with sci-fi cover) and a post code Tales Of Justice, continuing the numbering from Justice. Atlas’s high standards throughout.
IN THIS UPDATE:
JUSTICE #25 FN- £34
JUSTICE #44 VG £22.75
JUSTICE #47 VG £22.75
MEN’S ADVENTURES #8 VG+ £45 (PICTURED)
TALES OF JUSTICE #60 GD £11.50

*Horror 1940-1959: Also from the Bute Collection this week, from Ziff-Davis 1952, issue #3 of Weird Thrillers, featuring a gorgeous painted cover by Allen Anderson of mermaid and monster. Interior art is by Dan Barry, George Tuska, Everett Kintsler, Bob Powell and others. Stories involve fantasy, monsters, a lot of supernatural crime happenings, just desserts and death. The cover image is unspoilt, with just an arrival date on the ‘w’ of ‘weird’. The contents are off covers, with the spine being taped. There are small chips out round the edges of the cover and a small corner off the top of the back cover. Cover colours are rich, pages off-white and staples tight at centrefold.
PICTURED: WEIRD THRILLERS #3 GD- £115 Pre-code.

*Alan Class Reprints: From the personal archives of Alan Class, we’re delighted to present another selection of copies certificated by Alan himself. Secrets Of The Unknown was the (joint) first of his publications along with Creepy Worlds. More than a dozen copies between #19 and #184, nearly all in nice shape are available in the certificated section of this category. This selection prominently features many famous characters from different original publishers including plenty of Kirby and Ditko stories. A reminder that you can view some detail of the contents in our Rough Guide to Alan Class Reprints. 

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: This week’s release of Love Story Picture Library, the longest running romance picture library from Fleetway, comprises more than 20 issues from 1969-1972, between #731-983, with some duplicates. The series always maintained a high standard and the very accomplished art reflected the fashions and mood of the times. These new additions are in excellent condition, with little wear or creasing, mostly FN to VF. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: LOVE STORY PICTURE LIBRARY #733 VF £7

*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 Childrens’ Books category and the adventures of Biggles. Written by Captain W E Johns, the wartime (and later) stories of James Bigglesworth gave us an iconic British hero, a highly competent fighter pilot with a characteristic gentlemanly air, who has gone on to represent an archetypal figure. Nearly 100 Biggles books were written and published and reprinted many times over, and we have a small selection available, including hardcovers with dust jackets or pictorial boards, a paperback and one hardcover first edition. I wish Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Smyth were still up there now, looking out for us – we could do with them and their wizard prangs. 
PICTURED: ALL BY W E JOHNS
BIGGLES: AIR DETECTIVE Dean & Son 1970s UK HC with Pictorial Boards FN £6 Short stories
BIGGLES AND THE BLACK PERIL Dean & Son circa 1971 UK HC VG/FN £8 With DJ (VG) SOLD
BIGGLES IN THE CRUISE OF THE CONDOR Dean & Son 1970s UK HC with Pictorial Boards FN £6
BIGGLES FLIES AGAIN Dean & Son 1970s UK HC with Pictorial Boards FN £6 Short stories
NO REST FOR BIGGLES Armada 1963 UK PB GD £3 SOLD
BIGGLES AND THE PLOT THAT FAILED Brockhampton Press 1965 1st UK HC FN £125 With DJ (VG)

*DC: One of the most well-received articles posted here during lockdown was the one I wrote on Adam Strange, the interplanetary adventurer, my favourite DC science-fiction hero. So, we’re delighted to present half a dozen of his earliest adventures in Mystery In Space, starting with #54 (his second appearance in title) and running patchily up to #61. The finest examples of this sort of thing ever produced, IMHO, and with the best creators. These are mostly lower graded reading copies, providing excellent budget entertainment.
IN THIS UPDATE: MYSTERY IN SPACE
#54 App VG- £32 (PICTURED) 2nd Adam Strange in title. Restored. Approx 6 x 3 cm corner off bottom right, reconstructed.
#56 FA p £9.25 Spine heavily taped; cover creases and tears.
#58 GD p £17.50 Bookshop stamps.
#59 FA/GD £14.75 Pieces of tape at spine; cover creases
#60 GD- p £15.25 Two pence stamps
#61 GD p £14 Subscription crease; other cover creases

*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. Two very different females star on the covers of these two issues: #61 features the first cover appearance of Gwen Stacy, as Spidey battles the Kingpin, while #62 features an encounter with the Inhuman Medusa, as snazzily re-designed by John Romita on the cover.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#61 VF+ £175 Brilliant cover colour and high gloss, square corners, firm, tight staples, nice white to off-white pages. Just virtually indiscernible,  and very minor handling wear in bottom right corner prevents a NM.
#62 FN/VF £125 Classic Romita cover. Great colour, square corners, firm, tight staples, nice white to off-white pages. Minor handling wear only.

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, some of the earliest adventures of the ‘New’ X-Men, following their relaunch in Giant-Size #1 and X-Men #94. In this update, a consecutive run from #96-100, involving Havok, the Sentinels, the New X-Men vs the Old X-Men (?) and the stylish art of the much missed Dave Cockrum (plus a stray reprint issue #90).
IN THIS UPDATE: X-MEN
#90 GD- p £5.25
#96 VG+ p £55 (PICTURED)
#97 VG/FN £45 (PICTURED)
#97 VG+ p £45
#98 VG p £37
#99 VG p £26
#100 VG p £60 (PICTURED)