*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: From 29th February 1964, the first issue of Hurricane, a short-lived, but well remembered, series (63 issues total) which launched the careers of Sword For Hire, HMS Outcast, Two Fists Against the World, and, most importantly, brawling adventurer Typhoon Tracy and racing driver Skid Solo. Despite being advertised as “A companion paper to Valiant”, it eventually merged into Tiger, where Messrs. Tracy and Solo enjoyed much longer careers than in their parent paper. This is a lovely clean copy of #1, with pages virtually as white as when it was published, no tears, no creases, only a touch of rust at the staples (with virtually no migration) precluding a FN grade. 
PICTURED: HURRICANE #1 VG/FN £60 SOLD

*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, progressing to ‘Cassidy’ and adding two alphabetically earlier editions. This update focuses mainly on the ‘Sleaze’ part of our category title. The Flash Peddlers by Frank Boyd is ‘the intimate story of a New York call girl’ and features a stunning cover by Robert Maguire, one of the true masters of US paperback cover illustration. Below Suspicion is another Gideon Fell Mystery from John Dickson Carr, a mixture of murder and witchcraft. His Best Friend’s Wife by Margaret Carruthers features the perils of adultery and Wanton Bride by George Cassidy is a tale of smuggling, wealth and power.
PICTURED:
THE FLESH PEDDLERS by FRANK BOYD Monarch 1963 2nd US PB VG/FN £20 (new in) SOLD
BELOW SUSPICION by JOHN DICKSON CARR Bantam 1953 1st US PB GD £8 (new in) SOLD
HIS BEST FRIEND’S WIFE by MARGARET CARRUTHERS Beacon 1961 1st US PB FN £9
WANTON BRIDE by GEORGE CASSIDY Bedside 1962 1st US PB GD £7

*DC: A low grade copy of the second issue of the Silver Age Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) series is now available, dating from 1960. This issue features the debut of the Anti-Matter universe of Qward, and also the first appearance of Pieface, Hal’s mechanic chum. A very worn spine, staples hanging on, 4 cm lower split. Heavy edge wear with multiple colour-breaking creases, particularly to bottom right cover. Central image not too bad; pence stamped. Page quality okay, if a little dog-eared.
PICTURED: GREEN LANTERN #2 FA p £55 SOLD

*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. Well, I don’t think anyone saw this coming back in 1973! In Amazing Spider-Man #121, Gwen Stacey died at the hands of the Green Goblin, and that villain perished himself in the very next issue. These landmark stories still resonate to this day, and although perhaps somewhat diluted by the return of both characters (hey kids, this IS comics!), the impact at the time was momentous and both issues still attract much collector interest.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#121 VF £450 A tight, flat and glossy copy with vibrant colours. Excellent white to off-white supple pages, square corners, firm, fresh staples. Three or four miniscule edge creases which barely register and only one ever-so faintly breaks colour for a few mm.
#122 VF £280 A tight, flat and glossy copy with vibrant colours. Excellent white to off-white supple pages, square corners, centrefold neatly off bottom staple only. A couple of short edge creases which barely register and do not break colour. SOLD

*Marvel: I’m a big fan of the short first series of Doctor Strange which commenced in #169 (continuing the numbering from Strange Tales) and ended with #183. Initial artwork by Dan Adkins before Gene Colan took over to produce what I consider to be the best art of his illustrious career. Three high grade Good Doctor Colan examples this update: #173 concludes an encounter with arch-foe Dormammu, #174/175 have the debut of the Sons of Satannish, the latter also featuring the first cover appearance of Clea.
PICTURED: DOCTOR STRANGE
#173 VF £60 Tight, flat and unmarked with beautiful gloss. Almost square corners, almost white pages. Great staples. Just a couple of short horizontal stress marks at the spine which do not break colour. SOLD
#174 VF+ £100 Tight, flat and unmarked with beautiful gloss on a rich black background. White pages, square corners, great staples. Extremely minor wear at top edge and very short, faint stress marks at spine which do not break colour. 
#175 VF p £70 Pence stamped. Tight, flat and unmarked with beautiful gloss. White pages, almost square corners, great staples. Just a couple of short horizontal stress marks at the spine which do not break colour, apart from tiny wear at top and base of spine. SOLD

Back in the days when we used to have a shop, we had a tradition of a January sale for shop visitors, and we want to revive that by mail order throughout January 2023, by offering 20 British titles at half price until 31st January.

The titles are as follows:

Boys’ Adventure & War:
Bullet
Hornet
Hotspur
Roy Of The Rovers
Scorcher
Tiger (1971 onwards)
Victor (1971 onwards)

*Humour Comics: It’s been many years since we last saw a copy of Buster #1, Fleetway’s longest-running title. Perhaps more widely regarded as a humour title, the comic throughout its illustrious history also featured very many fondly remembered adventure strips, and really its remarkable longevity attested to its mixed-format wider tastes. This copy of #1, whilst not in the most pristine of conditions, is a perfectly serviceable copy, complete and unfolded and without significant creasing. There is some foxing along the top and spine, a small 3 cm tear to the right cover edge border with a small chunk missing from the border only, with a couple of chips and small nicks to top and bottom covers. Otherwise clean and unmarked with good colour and a decent spine. The Free Gift is not present.
PICTURED: BUSTER #1 28/5/60 GD £225 SOLD

*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, where the TV show or film pre-dated the book. There’s one helluva lot of fiction written about Dr Who, but we concentrate on the true vintage stuff, the adaptations of the stories of the first seven Doctors, published by Target, lovingly remembered from the days before video, when this was the only way of re-living these classic stories, and still fondly collected today. Our second (of multiple updates) devoted to the Doctor, has stories of the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th Doctors, including fan favourites The Daleks (1st Daleks story), the Daemons and the Caves Of Androzani.
PICTURED:
THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI by TERRANCE DICKS Target 1985 2nd UK PB VG £5
THE CREATURE FROM THE PIT by DAVID FISHER Target 1981 1st UK PB VF £6
THE CURSE OF PELADON by BRIAN HAYLES Target 1974 1st UK PB VG £5
THE DAEMONS by BARRY LETTS Target 1980 2nd UK PB VG £4
THE DALEKS by DAVID WHITAKER Target 1982 6th UK PB GD/VG £4
DEATH TO THE DALEKS by TERRANCE DICKS Target 1980 3rd UK PB VG £8
FULL CIRCLE by ANDREW SMITH Target 1984 3rd UK PB VG £4

Back in the days when we used to have a shop, we had a tradition of a January sale for shop visitors, and we want to revive that by mail order throughout January 2023, by offering 20 British titles at half price until 31st January.

The titles are as follows:

Boys’ Adventure & War:
Bullet
Hornet
Hotspur
Roy Of The Rovers
Scorcher
Tiger (1971 onwards)
Victor (1971 onwards)

*DC: Long time followers of our ramblings will know by now what great affection we have for the Inferior Five – I just wish they’d gone on for longer! You can read Will’s Lockdown article on this famed group at this link: The Short but Brilliant Life of the Inferior Five. We’re blessed this week to have not just their first three try-outs in Showcase, but also several issues of their ongoing series. All together now: ‘We are the Five, the Inferior Five – we are not very hot but we try…’ Full details of all available issues in our catalogue under ‘Showcase’ and ‘Inferior Five’
PICTURED: SHOWCASE #62 FN p £25 1st Inferior Five SOLD

*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. Amazing Spider-Man #15 is a slight exception: it’s a pence printed copy and graded at FN+. Another early Lee/Ditko classic Spidey, with the debut of Kraven the Hunter. Sergei Kravinoff, scion of exiled Russian nobility and the self-determined ‘Greatest Hunter in the World’, set out to entrap Spider-Man to, basically, big up his own reputation, and that slender premise has been parlayed into a surprisingly long career culminating in several major stories, most notoriously 1987’s ‘Kraven’s Last Hunt’. Originally just a highly trained and skilled human, Kraven has been retconned as having enhanced strength and longevity to make him more of a match for the super-set, and his moral ambiguity has led to him crossing the line between hero and villain many times. This is a nice flat copy with vibrant colour cover and almost entirely unmarked. There is one small crease below the upper staple of about 3 cm, which only breaks colour for about 0.5 cm at the spine with  a couple of tiny spine ticks above it and a soft spine crease of about 3 cm in that area which does not break colour. There are a couple of very shallow pressure marks around the logo which are barely discernible. Square corners, supple pages a nice off-white to cream, staples tight and firm. With a Kraven movie in the works for 2023, has there ever been a better time to invest in his first appearance? High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #15 FN+ p £1,300

*Marvel: A further selection of Hulk from the Good Doctor Collection, this time from #131 (1st Jim Wilson) to #140 (1st Jarella) complete. Mostly in quite decent condition, this period seems to be less common for Marvel’s Jolly Green Giant. Please see our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: HULK #131 VF £45

*Charlton: Two 68 page Charlton Giants from the 1950s new in this week. Out Of This World #8 has a wonderful cover by Maurice Whitman and two Ditko stories inside (among many others); Unusual Tales #11 has 4 Ditko stories and one by Gene Colan, as well as several others. Both copies have edge wear but no specific faults. Great science fiction, supernatural and fantasy compendiums. 
PICTURED:
OUT OF THIS WORLD #8 VG £63
UNUSUAL TALES #11 VG £58

*Annuals: Four low grade examples of annuals that are less than common, three in our Boys’ Adventure sub-category, and one from TV & Film. The Express Boys’ super Colour Annual has a mix of picture strip stories (inc Jet Morgan and Wulf the Briton), illustrated text stories, features, colour pages and humour; Marvelman Jr has Marvelman’s sidekick in stories, features and puzzles; Miller’s Mystic Bumper Book reprints pre-hero Marvel monsters, mystery and horror tales; Garrison’s Gorillas reprints the full-colour Dell comics adapting the late 1960s TV series inspired by the Dirty Dozen.
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
EXPRESS BOYS’ SUPER COLOUR ANNUAL 1958 FA/GD £5 Spine missing
MARVELMAN JR 1963 PR £5 Covers detached; some loose pages
MYSTIC BUMPER BOOK GD £15 Wear and cover creases
GARRISON’S GORILLAS 1970 VG £4

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Famous later following a name change to Cowboy Picture Library, this title started out in 1950 as Cowboy Comics, originally published by Amalgamated until Fleetway took over. It lasted a very respectable 468 issues until 1962. We’ve never had a Cowboy Comics #1 through our hands before, so we’re particularly pleased to present even this low grade example, starring Buck Jones, the Fighting Sherriff, ‘On The Trail Of The Ryders’. Only a Fair copy, with cover detached and taped and a heavy rust stain at the staple with heavy to moderate rust migration. Still, I don’t suppose you’ll get too many chances to own a copy…
PICTURED: COWBOY COMICS #1 FA £30

*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, where the TV show or film pre-dated the book. There’s one helluva lot of fiction written about Dr Who, but we concentrate on the true vintage stuff, the adaptations of the stories of the first seven Doctors, published by Target, lovingly remembered from the days before video, when this was the only way of re-living these classic stories, and still fondly collected today. Our first (of multiple updates) devoted to the Doctor, has stories of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Doctors, as detailed here.
PICTURED:
THE ANDROID INVASION by TERRANCE DICKS Target 1981 3rd UK PB GD/VG £5
THE ANDROIDS OF TARA by TERRANCE DICKS Target 1980 1st UK PB GD £4
THE ARK IN SPACE by IAN MARTER Target 1977 1st UK PB VG £4
THE ARMAGEDDON FACTOR by TERRANCE DICKS Target 1980 1st UK PB VF £6
THE CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS by TERRANCE DICKS Target 1977 1st UK PB VG/FN £4
CASTROVALVA by CHRISTPHER H BIDMEAD Target 1983 1st UK PB FN £5
THE CAVE MONSTERS by MALCOLM HULKE Target 1984 6th UK PB VF £4

Well, all our pre-Christmas orders are filled and all packages now posted. We’re now closing down for the Christmas period, so will not be filling orders or buying collections until 1st January.

You may continue to place orders at any time. If the items in your order are available, they will be reserved for you until we next issue bills/invoices on 1st January.

We will continue to answer emails throughout, but you may have to wait a little longer than usual for a reply.

The next stock updates to our catalogue and this page will be on 31st December. This is also when our next Newsletter will be sent.

In the meantime, have a fab and peaceful Christmas!

*DC: A unique series within the pages of Brave & Bold, one of DC’s famous ‘try-out’ titles. Issues #45-49 featured a curious mixture of sports stories combined with science-fiction, beautifully crafted by Gardner Fox and John Broome and exquisitely illustrated by Carmine Infantino. And there’s a trademark Julius Schwartz gorilla on the cover of #49 to boot!
IN THIS UPDATE: BRAVE & BOLD ALL SOLD
#45 VG- p £11.50
#46 GD p £6.75
#47 GD p £6.75
#48 VG/FN p £16.50
#49 VG/FN p £16.50 (PICTURED)

*Marvel: Lee & Romita were at the height of their creative powers on the Amazing Spider-Man when these two issues were produced. #51 features the first Kingpin storyline (and his first cover appearance) and #56 is the finale of the Dr Octopus quartet that ran from #53 onwards. Classic villains, classic covers, classic Spidey!
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#51 GD/VG £100 Solid copy with some ‘crazing’ marks on the masthead box top and top and bottom right edges. Nice colour and pages. Bottom staple a little rusty and off centrefold.
#56 VG+ p £60 Pence stamped, solid copy with good colour, pages and staples. Some wear at spine; a few soft creases, but only breaking colour in the masthead box.

*Marvel: 1976’s Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #1 marked the second ongoing Spider-Man title published by Marvel, in what people feared might dilute the franchise – if only they knew! Intended originally to focus more on Spidey’s civilian alter ego, it rapidly evolved into an adjunct to, and frequent crossover with, Amazing Spider-Man, founding the practise which was to become industry standard in later decades. This copy of PPSM #1 is a superb NM- cents copy, with only a couple of the tiniest pressure marks at spine that do not break colour. What more could you want?  Listed in our catalogue under ‘Spider-Man, Spectacular’.
PICTURED: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1 NM- £50 SOLD

*Horror 1940-1959: From the Bute Collection this week, nine issues of Crestwood/Prize’s Black Magic. Although the vast majority of this title was published in the 1950s, the series lasted until 1962. We’ve decided to feature all issues of Black Magic in this category for consistency, even though some of them are later than 1959. These nine issues run from 1957 to 1961. The stories inside are very competently executed horror/mystery tales typical of the post-code era. Please consult our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: BLACK MAGIC VOL 8 #4 VG+ £20 SOLD

*TV & Film Related Comics: Walt Disney’s Weekly commenced on 26th January 1959, renamed from the former Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse, itself a continuation of Mickey Mouse Weekly. Strips included Mickey himself, Donald Duck, Peter Pan etc as well as excellent adventure strips such as the cover-featured Zorro. High production values and great colours. This copy of the first issue is solid, but a little foxed with a few small tears. 
PICTURED: WALT DISNEY’S WEEKLY 26th January 1959 (#1) GD/VG £20 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 to conclude authors/editors beginning with ‘A’. A few anthologies edited by Isaac Asimov, including: Volume 3 of Before the Golden Age, stories from the 1930s; Tomorrow’s Children, stories of children in science fiction settings by some of the genre’s most famous authors; and the Science Fictional Solar System, an intriguing collection of stories about each planet of the solar system and more. Finally, the first Pan Ghost Book, edited by Lady Cynthia Asquith, stories of ghosts of all types, the first paperback edition of this classic volume. Full details in our catalogue.
PICTURED:
EDITED BY ISAAC ASIMOV:
BEFORE THE GOLDEN AGE VOL 3 GD/VG £5 1975 2nd UK PB
TOMORROW’S CHILDREN VG £10 1974 1st UK PB
THE SCIENCE FICTIONAL SOLAR SYSTEM (with others) GD/VG £5 1982 1st UK PB
EDITED BY LADY CYNTHIA ASQUITH:
THE GHOST BOOK VF £15 1970 1st UK PB

*DC: The latest in our Legion of Super-Heroes event is a superb copy of Adventure Comics #300, in which Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes replaced Tales of the Bizarro World as the regular back-up feature to Superboy and starred on the cover. Although the Legion had been around as supporting characters for a few years, it was really here and in the 80 issue run that followed that the lore of the Legion, so beloved by its fans (of which I’m one) really started. This is a truly fabulous high grade cents copy. Vibrant cover colour and gloss, totally unmarked, fresh and supple near white pages, clean staples tight and firm at spine and centrefold, square corners, looks unread and just off the newsstand. The only blemishes are a very faint 1.5 cm crease diagonally down from the lower staple which does not break colour and a couple of tiny pressure pinpoints just to the left of the 12 cents box. You’ll wait a long time to see a better copy of this conservatively graded milestone issue. As a dealer of 30+ years and a Legion fan of 60 years, I’ve never seen a nicer one. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: ADVENTURE COMICS #300 VF+ £600
 

*Marvel: Our first visit to the Good Doctor Collection this week features the first of several cameo appearances of Mary Jane (her face was not shown until #42), as well as the debuts of Professor Smythe and his Spider Slayer, the first incarnation of which was a marvellously fluid Ditko invention. Virtually every issue of Amazing from these early years was a landmark! This mid-grade cents copy is reasonably appealing, with an intact if somewhat worn spine, but bright colours, firm staples and decent off-white to cream pages. Some corner blunting, a faint dust shadow across the very top edge, a little bit of handling wear and a minor crease or two, with only the shorter one breaking colour at bottom right corner.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25 VG+ £185