*Gold Key/Whitman: Like the earlier publisher Dell, Gold Key published an esoteric mix of TV & Film Related, Cartoon Animals, Science Fiction, their own Super-Heroes and just about anything they thought would sell, I guess. Comics from obscure TV series we never had over here rub shoulders with their more famous cousins and the Gold Key heroes have been revived numerous times in recent decades. This update: Captain Nice (#1 and only), Doctor Solar, Freedom Agent (#1), the Girl From Uncle (inc #1), Hanna Barbera TV Super-Heroes, Jet Dream & Her Stunt Girl Counterspies (#1 and only), Magnus Robot Fighter, the Man From Uncle, Mighty Samson (#1), Star Trek, Turok Son of Stone & Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories.
Category Archives: What’s New
American Update: Quirky Corner/Atomic Sci-Fi: Out Of This World Adventures #2 Pulp Comic
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Is it a pulp? Is it a comic? Well, actually it’s both! In 1950, Avon experimented with a 32 page colour comic insert inside a traditional science fiction pulp magazine (so popular at the time). So here, in Out Of This World Adventures #2, you get what appears to be a pulp mag, with a gorgeously typical painted cover, and interior illustrated text stories by the likes of A. Bertram Chandler and others, plus 32 pages of colour comics, led by Wally Wood’s wonderful Flying Saucers and other horror/comedy shorts. The uniqueness of this item in publication history is assured due to there being only two issues produced in this format. A decent copy, with the squarebound spine almost intact but for a small split and the top and a tape repair at the bottom (about 6 cm). The beautiful cover image is unmarred.
PICTURED: OUT OF THIS WORLD ADVENTURES #2 GD/VG £75 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Moon Knight in Werewolf By Night #32 (low grade)
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: One of the most startling success stories in the back issue world is the ever-spiralling popularity of Moon Knight’s premier appearance. The series Werewolf By Night had been toddling along, chronicling the adventures of young lycanthrope Jack Russell (no, really), when the boat was suddenly rocked in WBN #32 by a vigilante whose only goal seemed to be the annihilation of our hero – and his silver armour and weapons seemed likely to achieve it! The man who would later be revealed as Marc Spector had a deeper back story, of course, and in his multitudinous appearances since, has developed a complex background oscillating between ‘Marvel’s Batman’ and ‘Multiple Personality psychotic possessed by Egyptian Gods’. Be that as it may, he remains hugely popular, and a near-future Moon Knight TV series having been recently confirmed, demand for his debut is intensifying. Our latest copy of Werewolf By Night #32 is a lowish grade pence printed copy, the significant defects being a book shop stamp across the logo (although this is fairly faint) and two colour-breaking creases across the corner of the bottom right cover. There is some minor spine and edge wear, but the cover retains excellent colour and gloss, the staples are tight and the page quality good.
PICTURED: WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #32 GD+ p £290 SOLD
American Update: Quirky Corner: Eerie Tales Magazine #1 (1959)
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: This is a real oddity. From Hastings Associates 1959, a one-off magazine called Eerie Tales (not to be confused with any other publication bearing the name ‘Eerie’ in its title). In moody black and white, it features text-heavy picture strips, but the format and the monochrome enhances the superb art by the likes of Williamson, Torres, Tuska, Powell and Morrow. There must be a reason why it never got to #2, but I’m afraid the crystal is cloudy on that one. A decent copy with some spine ticks and minor creasing; we’ve never seen a copy before, and doubt we ever will again.
PICTURED: EERIE TALES #1 VG+ £45 SOLD
American/British Update: Orphaned Free Gifts: Valiant
*Memorabilia & Esoterica: We present three Free Gifts from Valiant, the popular British Boys’ Weekly, which have all lost their comics. First up, from Valiant #2, 13/10/62, The Giant Book of World War II, an illustrated history of the war in black and white with colour covers and centrefold, 16 comic-sized pages in decent VG condition; secondly, 4th Division Football Club tags from 17/10/64, okay condition but with small corner off top right; finally, ‘My Favourite Soccer Stars’ an album with all 32 colour photos of footballers mounted inside, this package released in weekly instalments between 16/10/71 and 6/11/71, overall in VG condition. Give these orphans a home!
PICTURED: 3 VALIANT ORPHANED FREE GIFTS £45
British Update: Captain Britain 2nd Series Near Full Run of Monthly Title
*Marvel UK: Following his popular revival in other Marvel UK anthologies, and rave reviews for the daring and innovative Alan Moore/Alan Davis storylines, the ‘new’ Captain Britain was given his second solo series in 1985, and although Moore had jumped ship, the quality of the scripts continued for the monthly magazine, with Jamie Delano’s scripts and Alan Davis’ artwork presenting an enticing saga of multiversal conflict. The Crazy Gang, Gatecrasher’s TechNet, Slaymaster and Mastermind all returned. This also featured Parkhouse & Lloyd’s 1930s-era vigilante ‘Night Raven’, and occasional new stories spotlighting other characters from the expanded Captain Britain mythos. We have a near complete run of this keenly-collected series (missing #12 & #13), averaging FN/VF, so if you haven’t sampled it before, here’s your chance! This was the final series for the Captain for a couple of years until he reappeared in Marvel US Excalibur title.
PICTURED: CAPTAIN BRITAIN #1 FN £12
British Update: Smash 1969/1970
*Power Comics: When Odham’s ceased publishing Smash in 1969, Fleetway IPC took over, changing both the size and content of the title, but introducing many great and fondly-remembered strips such as Janus Stark, Cursitor Doom and Simon Test. We have a small but perfectly formed update of a few copies from 1969/1970 fresh in, in superior shape.
British Update: Victor 1966
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: There’s no doubt that the long-lived Victor is most famous as the premiere War Boys’ weekly comic, but you’re just as likely to find other subjects within its pages, such as sporting stories, high adventure in the jungle or with pirates etc. This week we have 25 issues new in from 1966, a year previously poorly represented in our inventory.
PICTURED: VICTOR #282 FN £3 SOLD
British Update: Small additions to Commando
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Just a few issues of Commando added this week, all from the low 600 number range.
British Update: A small miscellany of favourite Girls’ titles
*Girls’ Comics: Small updates to many of our best-selling girls’ titles this week, including Bunty (1958 #3, 1968-1970), Judy (1972, 1974), June (1972), Mandy (1969), Romeo (1972), Sally (1970) and Twinkle (1969). Just a handful.
British Update: Love Story Picture Library
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: A tiny update here this week from the long-running Love Story Picture Library: #776-778 from 1970, all in very nice shape.
American Update: DC Debuts: Hawkman #4, the 1st Appearance of Zatanna
*DC: One of my all-time favourite comics, now elevated to a comic prized by many due to the strong rumours of a Zatanna movie. While all early issues of Hawkman are superb, with high-flying sci-fi stories by Gardner Fox and luminous Murphy Anderson artwork (not that we’re prejudiced witnesses or anything…), the most sought-after in recent years is issue #4, featuring the debut of the Princess of Prestidigitation – Zatanna! Zee (as she’s familiarly known), a personal favourite here at 30th Century, is the daughter of DC’s Golden Age magician Zatara, and took her quest for her missing father through the pages of Green Lantern, Atom, Detective Comics and the Justice League of America in one of DC’s earliest ‘story arcs’, but this is where her illustrious career – which has branched out into both animated and live-action TV – began. (And yes, they did miss a bet by not having her featured on the cover – foolish mortals!). This copy is lowish grade, with a loose centrefold with slightly ragged centrefold page edges as a result. There is a small 1 cm split at top of spine, corner blunting and edge wear that isn’t too bad. The pence stamped cover is clean and unmarked, with a colour-breaking crease across the bottom right corner. This comic really wants to be in your collection!
PICTURED: HAWKMAN #4 FA/GD p £90 SOLD
American Update: DC Debuts/Batmania: 1st Black Mask in Batman #386
*DC: One of the most enduring members of Batman’s Rogues’ Gallery, Black Mask debuted in Batman #386, August 1985. He is depicted as a brutal and ruthless crime lord who has a fixation with masks and derives sadistic pleasure from the act of torture. Not the sort of guy to go down the pub with then. This copy of his debut is a nice VF, with very minor edge wear and tiny spine stresses, but retaining cover colour and gloss and has tight and firmly attached staples and great page quality.
PICTURED: BATMAN #386 VF £60
American Update: Pure Silver DC: S-W
*DC: We conclude this round of Silver Age DC updates with selections from the following titles: Superman (between #149 & #197, a classic period, with lots of Curt Swan art, plus the uncommon Annual #1 in low grade), Tales Of The Unexpected with Space Ranger, Teen Titans (a low grade #1 issue), Wonder Woman and World’s Finest (inc 1st Miss Arrowette in #113 and a classic Joker cover on #177). As always, full details in our catalogue.
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Original Spider-Man Art by Ross Andru
*Marvel / Memorabilia & Esoterica: We conclude our Spider-Mania Max long-running feature with something truly unique. Not one but two pieces of original comic art by long-serving Spidey artist Ross Andru. The first is page 11 of Amazing Spider-Man #179 and features the Green Goblin; the second is page 12 of Marvel-Team-Up #3 featuring the Human Torch and Peter Parker changing into Spider-Man. Ross Andru was THE prominent Spider-Man artist of the 1970s, drawing many famous issues including the deaths of Gwen Stacy and the Green Goblin, the debut of the Punisher and the whole clone saga, among many others. This represents a very rare opportunity to grab a piece of original art from the most popular comic character of them all, seldom if ever offered for sale from a UK dealer (and of course, we have the issues which feature those pages in stock too!). High resolution images are available on request. A fitting way to end our huge Spider-Mania Max event, but Spider-Mania will still continue at a less frantic pace!
PICTURED:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #179 PAGE 11 £3,000
MARVEL TEAM-UP #3 PAGE 12 £1,500
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: New Black Widow in Amazing #86 x2
*Marvel: From July 1970, we have not one but two copies of Amazing Spider-Man #86, in which the Black Widow, having previously worn a cute-but-retro fishnets & cape outfit, remade her image into the sleek, leather-clad redhead that we know her as today. Taking on Spidey in a story by noted feminist (ahem ahem) Stan Lee, she delivers immortal lines such as “Don’t think I’m helpless just because I’m soft and cuddly.” Ah, they don’t write them like that any more; aren’t we lucky? We have this first appearance of the Widow as today’s movie-goers would recognise her in highly attractive FN+ and FN- grades, both pence printed. Not much to choose between them; the FN- has some minor creasing at spine where the comic has been read and slightly more corner blunting, the FN+ slightly less wear.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#86 FN+ p £75
#86 FN- p £60
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: X-Men #129 – The Double Debut of Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost
*Marvel: X-Men issue #129 introduced not one, but two, characters who were to become major players in the lives of the X-Men. Kitty Pryde, the young immaterial ingenue, made her debut as a pupil at Xavier’s school, and went on to become a central part of the series, eventually becoming the leader of the team, while Emma Frost, White Queen of the Hellfire Club, dedicated her telepathic prowess to the X-Men’s destruction – though that dedication hasn’t prevented her from occasionally joining the group herself, and seducing Cyclops whenever Jean Grey happens to be dead for a while! This copy of X-Men #129 is a striking VF+, with minor stress marks at spine, and tiny soft creases at top left and bottom right; tight staples, bright colours with excellent gloss. A cents copy, no UK stamp or overprint.
PICTURED: X-MEN #129 VF+ £100 SOLD
American Update: Near complete run of Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD inc. all Steranko issues
*Marvel: Following his exploits in WW2, Nick Fury resurfaced in the 1960s in Strange Tales as secret agent, head of SHIELD, Marvel’s entry into the spy craze of the time. At the hands of Jim Steranko, renaissance man and consummate comics creator, the strip really tapped into the spirit of this 1960s spy phenomenon, rivalling Bond, UNCLE et al. By the time that Strange Tales ended and Nick got his own series in 1968, Steranko was coming to the end of his time on the series, but he contributed four wonderful stories and art jobs and seven iconic covers before he was through. The series lasted just a further eight issues (and three reprints) without him. We have almost all the series new in from #1, including all the Steranko work. One wonders just what he might have achieved had he decided to continue. For full details of our stock, see our catalogue listing.
PICTURED: NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD #1 GD- p £25 SOLD
American Update: Two Marvel Treasury Specials: Giant Super-Hero Holiday Grab-Bag and Savage Fists Of Kung Fu
*Marvel: Two more editions in the popular Treasury-sized experiment of the 1970s this week: Giant Super-Hero Holiday Grab-Bag (Marvel Treasury Special Vol 1) features a wide roster of Marvel’s most famous heroes by virtue of including lots of team-up stories, whilst Savage Fists Of Kung Fu (less commonly seen) reprints adventures of the pick of the crop of Marvel’s then contemporary Kung Fu heroes and, interestingly, the inside covers feature original British artwork from the Marvel UK covers of the Avengers featuring Shang-Chi.
PICTURED:
GIANT SUPER-HERO HOLIDAY GRAB-BAG FN/VF p £15 SOLD
SAVAGE FISTS OF KUNG FU VF £30 SOLD
American Update: Nice Kirby/Sinnott FF update plus Annuals
*Marvel: A good update to a great period for Marvel’s First Family, with issues of Fantastic Four new in between #54 & #68, with the Kirby/Sinnott art team at the height of its powers. The Inhumans, the Black Panther, Klaw, Wyatt Wingfoot, Dr Doom, the Silver Surfer, Sandman & Blastaar all appear in these pages. Plus a handful of FF annuals, including #3 (the wedding of Sue & Reed), #4 (return of Golden Age Torch) and others. See our catalogue for full details.
American Update: Large Silver/Bronze Marvel sweep
*Marvel: A run through lots of titles from Marvel’s Silver & Bronze Ages this week, including the following: Avengers (from #15), Captain America (from #104), Daredevil (from #37), Dr. Strange (1st series and 2nd series from #3), Fantasy Masterpieces (#2, reprinting Fin Fang Foom debut), Hulk (from #113), Iron Man (from #14), Master Of Kung Fu (early issues), Power Man (#17, the first issue to bear that title), Silver Surfer (1st series), Strange Tales (from #117, both Torch/Thing and SHIELD issues, but all with Dr. Strange), Tales To Astonish & X-Men. Check out our catalogue for full details.
American Update: Strange Bedfellows: Femforce & Spawn
*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: Two very disparate #1 issues in this category this week. Bill Black’s Femforce from 1985 has its heart in the Golden Age of Good Girl Art, whereas Todd McFarlane’s Spawn from the dawn of Image Comics in 1992 is from a different end of the spectrum. Just about the only thing they’ve got in common is longevity, both series still continuing to this day.
PICTURED:
FEMFORCE #1 FN £10 SOLD
SPAWN #1 VF+ £40 (includes poster)
American Update: Pre-Code Horror Fest: The Dead Who Walk
*Horror 1940-1959: The latest entry in our Pre-Code Horror Fest is The Dead Who Walk one shot from Realistic Comics 1952 (not sure how realistic it is…). A gruesome tale of love and lust from beyond the grave with an eye-catching cover. This low grade copy has plenty of faults: a torn and worn spine, loose but attached staples, edge wear with lots of little creases, some more significant soft creasing to the upper left corner and a small tear centre right cover which extends to diminishing effect through the first few pages. But it’s all there and the page quality isn’t bad; there’s no tape, glue or restoration that we can see. The only copy we’ve ever had in stock.
PICTURED: THE DEAD WHO WALK FA £250 SOLD
American/British Update: Quirky Corner: Double Duo
*Classics Illustrated: An uncommon spin-off from the Classics Illustrated franchise is Double Duo, a series of 12 digest-sized volumes published by Williams in the UK from the mid-1970s which re-present in black and white two issues of a Classics Illustrated European series translated into English. We’ve never had a single issue in stock before, and we have just one now: #11, Warlord Of Mexico/Wreck of Sao Joo. One of the joys of this business is that you never know what’ll turn up next!
PICTURED: DOUBLE DUO #11 GD/VG £20
British Update: Marvelous Alan Class: 1st Dr. Strange and 1st Loki
*Alan Class Reprints: A couple of special Alan Class listings this week. Astounding Stories #61 (in our Alan Class certificated sub-category) features the Thor story from Journey Into Mystery #85, with the debut of Loki, a nice copy with minor rumpling due to glue shrinkage. Suspense #26 (in our regular listing) reprints the very first Dr. Strange story from Strange Tales #110 (and a whole heap of Ditko mystery stories as well), a lower graded copy with some spine and edge wear and a small biro price centre cover. What a shame Thor and Loki and Dr. Strange didn’t adorn the covers this time!
PICTURED:
ASTOUNDING STORIES #61 FN £30
SUSPENSE #26 GD £50
British Update: Fleetway Super Library: Fantastic/Stupendous Series
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: The Fleetway Super Library series are hugely popular and eminently collectable, none more so than the series which started out as ‘Fantastic’, then changed to ‘Stupendous’ with #3. Original bumper-length stories of two of Fleetway’s most popular characters alternated: The Spider & The Steel Claw. We have four editions new in, three Spider and one Steel Claw. The final three have the previous owner’s name in biro on the cover, but we don’t think that’ll keep them from selling very quickly — urgent orders for these are highly recommended.
PICTURED: FLEETWAY FANTASTIC/STUPENDOUS SERIES ALL SOLD
#2 VG/FN £25
#4 FA £7.50
#8 GD/VG £12.50
#9 GD/VG £12.50
British Update: Giant War Picture Library
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: After the initial let down that Giant War Picture Library doesn’t actually feature Giants at War, what you do get is an intriguing package. Extra-tall (twice the height of a regular Picture Library, meaning they were a bugger to display) comics, which were relatively expensive at 1/6 in old money, but brought three full-length tales of combat per issue to the reader who had a bit more pocket money to spare. Not widely circulated (we suspect many newsagents may have returned them without ever displaying them, due to their problematic proportions) we’re now able to add 7 more issues to our stock, ranging from #41 to #75 from the mid-1960s. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: GIANT WAR PICTURE LIBRARY #51 VG £10 SOLD
British Update: TV Century 21 Is Go!
*TV & Film Related Comics: Our first update for a while to TV Century 21, that most popular of Gerry Anderson comics from the 1960s, starring Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Stingray and Fireball XL5, a comic which set new standards for both artwork and production values. A new selection in from #84 to #231, including many issues from its final year, traditionally harder to find, and also many issues previously missing from our listings. See our catalogue for details.
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Princess Tina 1968
*Girls’ Comics: Free Gift issues of Princess Tina seem vanishingly rare; I suspect the items of plastic jewellery on offer were extracted from their packets and proudly adorned necks, fingers and wrists. Not so here with these two lovely issues from 1968. 2nd March features a ‘pearl’ necklace, pristine in its sealed plastic envelope; 9th March has a bangle still sealed in its paper envelope. Prices here reflect their rarity.
PICTURED: PRINCESS TINA
2/3/68 VG/FN WITH FREE GIFT NM £50 SOLD
9/3/68 VG/FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £45 SOLD
British Update: Picture Romance Library #174-193
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: Another change of livery for Pearson’s Picture Romance Library as we move into the 1960s with issues in the range #174-193. The quite garishly coloured and often unintentionally hilarious photo covers remain though, with dialogue to match. These could well be the sort of things you’d see as humorous greeting cards today! Anyway, lots of issues new in, mostly in lovely condition, with great page quality and only rusty staples bringing down the grades in a few cases, but on average these are even nicer than the ones we’ve listed previously. See our catalogue for details.
PICTURED: PICTURE ROMANCE LIBRARY #184 FN/VF £11.50
Books Update: New Worlds, Science Fantasy & Impulse
*Pulp Fiction: New Worlds, the most famous British science-fiction pulp, has what can only be described as a convoluted history since its first publication in 1939. In 1950, a companion title, Science Fantasy, was launched, but when the publisher of both, Nova, went out of business in 1964, the reins were taken up by Roberts & Vintner, who published both magazines in paperback book format. With Michael Moorcock at the editorial helm, New Worlds championed what became known as the New Wave of science fiction; Science Fantasy retained a more traditional approach to some extent, but both titles were instrumental in developing the careers of Moorcock himself, Brain Aldiss, J G Ballard and Keith Roberts, among many others from both sides of the Atlantic. Science Fantasy later rebranded as Impulse/SF Impulse, with Harry Harrison as the nominal editor, Keith Roberts in actuality. From this period, we have #147 and #162 of New Worlds, #74 and #75 of Science Fantasy and #4 of Impulse; great reading from a seminal time in British SF.
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
SCIENCE FANTASY #74 GD £3
NEW WORLDS #162 GD £3
IMPULSE #4 VG £5
Super-Housekeeping Update
Since we’re now trading by mail order only, it gives us the chance to maintain our catalogue even more accurately. All items sold since lockdown are now being deleted within a few days of sale. We are also working through our entire catalogue to delete those items that sold pre-lockdown since files were last updated. This means that as we finish updating a file, you can rely on the catalogue for that category being (and staying) as close to 100% accurate as it is possible to get, with virtually everything available, apart from items sold in the last few days (and just a tiny amount of human error). We have now completed this exercise for the following category from our British section:
*TV & Film Related Comics
All categories down to this point in our Catalogue Index have now been Super-Housekept! We will continue to post here as we make progress.
American Update: Batmania/DC Debuts: 1st Talia Al Ghul in Detective Comics #411
*DC: Detective Comics #411 brings us the debut of the lady who, after Catwoman, is probably the Batman’s most enduring love – Talia, daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul and doyenne of the League of Assassins. This mid-grade pence printed copy has minor vertical creasing at spine, but is otherwise flat and glossy with tight staples and nice pages.
PICTURED: DETECTIVE COMICS #411 VG/FN p £65
American Update: DC Debuts: 1st Arm-Fall-Off-Boy in Secret Origins #46
*DC: Now it’s time for a bit of speculation fun. There are those who would have you believe that the character played by Nathan Fillion in the upcoming Suicide Squad 2 movie is none other than Arm-Fall-Off Boy, a Legion of Super-Heroes reject who first appeared in Secret Origins #46 in 1989, unlikely as that may seem. Essentially, his power is exactly what his name suggests it would be: he can remove his arms at will with no pain and use them as blunt instruments to beat his enemies into submission. Even in a series fondly remembered for its wacky rejects, AFOB stands out as the dumbest. Personally, I find it hard to believe, but what do I know? Stranger things have happened. Here’s your chance to join the speculators and invest in a copy of Secret Origins #46 in pristine condition. Honestly, you couldn’t make this stuff up…
PICTURED: SECRET ORIGINS #46 NM £25 SOLD
American Update: Pure Silver DC M-S
*DC: Our alphabetical additions to DC’s Silver Age continues with the following titles: Metal Men (from #2 up), My Greatest Adventure (inc #82 & #84 with early Doom Patrol), Rip Hunter Time Master, Sea Devils (inc #7 by Russ Heath), Showcase (inc Tommy Tomorrow and #64 with Spectre by Murphy Anderson) and Strange Adventures (inc 1st Immortal Man in #177 and a couple of early Animal Man appearances such as #201 where he takes on the Mod Gorilla Boss!). More Silver Age DC very soon!
American Update: Slab Happy/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Avengers #4, 1st Silver Age Captain America Golden Record Reprint
*Marvel: A bit of a Quirky Corner entry here. In 1966, Golden Records issued four Record and Comic sets: there were records produced for Thor (Journey into Mystery #83), Fantastic Four #1, Amazing Spider-Man #1 and Avengers #4, all with their own reprint comic. Although the reprint, at first glance, looks like the original, there are differences. There is no cover price on the reprint, and the back cover, as well as the inside covers, promotes the Golden Record LP series. In later years, these early reprints have gone on to be highly collected in their own right, as prices spiral ever higher on the originals. So we have here a CGC 6.0 copy of Avengers #4, the Captain America revival, universal blue label unrestored. (NB just the comic, no record). The real thing in this condition today would set you back getting on for a couple of thousand.
PICTURED: AVENGERS #4 CGC 6.0 FN £200 (Golden Record Reprint) SOLD
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars Complete Set #1-12
*Marvel: Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars, the brainchild of then Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter, was the first of the mega-crossovers in 1984, pre-dating even DC’s more famous Crisis On Infinite Earths, and setting a company-wide precedent for decades to come. The key issue of this series is of course #8, with the first in-timeline appearance of the black alien symbiote Spider-Man costume which would, eventually become Venom. (Its first chronological appearance was in ASM #252, but this flashback explained how Pete got it). However, other events this series included the first appearance of new heroine Spider-Woman II (Julia Carpenter, later Arachne) the premiere of two villainesses, Titania and Volcana, and the death of the Wasp! (It’s okay; she was only gone for a minute.) We have the entire original series fresh into stock, pence copies in attractive NM grades, and being sold as a set of 12.
PICTURED: SECRET WARS 8 NM; COMPLETE SET #1-12 NM £175
American Update: Spider-Mania Max/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Silver (Sable) & Black (Cat)
*Marvel: Although the proposed movie starring Spidey’s platinum blondes has been shelved (although there are rumours of a TV series) we thought it would be fun to pair them together in this update. Amazing Spider-Man #194 features the debut of the Black Cat, a nice mid-grade copy with just minor wear, good staples and cover colour and gloss, with a tiny nick rear cover near spine, but marred by a soft crease across the top right corner of the book, the lower part of which just breaks colour and can be seen in the scan. #265 has the first appearance of Silver Sable (although she’s not on the cover); a lovely higher grade copy with just minor edge wear.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#194 FN- £100
#265 VF+ £35
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Mandarin in Tales Of Suspense #50
*Marvel: Perhaps the greatest of Iron Man’s many enemies is the Mandarin, a master of science, martial arts, and controller of an international network of operatives, whose ruthlessness is outmatched only by his ingenuity. And he’s got the bling, too! Famously, each of Mandy’s digits carries a ring (“More than Zsa Zsa Gabor”, as Ben Grimm once remarked) with its own unique powers, at their master’s deadly disposal. The definitive Iron Man arch-foe. This copy of the Mandarin’s first appearance is a lowish grade pence printed copy, with much spine and edge wear, but a largely unspoilt cover image, tight staples and decent page quality.
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE #50 GD+ p £100
American Update: 2 Jack Kirby Treasury Specials: Captain America & 2001
*Marvel: New in this week, two Treasury-sized Specials from 1976, both featuring original Jack Kirby stories and art. Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles is a celebration of America’s 200th Anniversary, whilst 2001 is the King’s adaptation of the famous sci-fi film, which, as all true Marvelites will know, spun off into its own series.
PICTURED:
CAPTAIN AMERICA’S BICENTENNIAL BATTLES FN+ p £20 SOLD
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY FN/VF p £20 SOLD
American Update: Spider-Mania Max! Hey Kids, Brain-Sucking Symbiote: Along Came a Spider
*Marvel: From 1996, Venom faces off against the Ben Reilly iteration of Spider-Man in the four issue mini Along Came A Spider. All four issues now in stock in sparkling NM- at £15 each. If you like Venom, then this is what you like!
PICTURED: VENOM: ALONG CAME A SPIDER #1 NM- £15
American Update: A generous helping of IW/Super Reprints
*IW/Super: I.W. Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s, named for the company’s owner Israel Waldman. Comics were published under both the IW and Super imprints and were notable for publishing unauthorized Golden Age reprints of other company’s properties. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. Basically, it seemed to be whatever they could get their hands on that determined the esoteric nature of their output. Thus you get super-heroes, war, romance, western, funny animals, crime, horror, science fiction and just about every genre within their pages — and we’ve got lots of all of ’em this update, with several new issues added to our catalogue for the following titles: Danger Is Our Business, Daring Adventures, Dream Of Love, Fantastic Adventures, Firehair, Frontier Romances, Jungle Adventures, Jungle Comics, Love And Marriage, Romantic Love, Mystery Tales, Plastic Man, U.S. Fighting Air Force & U.S. Fighting Men. A great way to sample Golden Age material at a fraction of the price of the originals.
PICTURED:
DANGER IS OUR BUSINESS #9 FN £19.50 SOLD
DARING ADVENTURES #12 App FN £11 SOLD
DREAM OF LOVE #1 FN+ £8.50
JUNGLE COMICS #9 FN- £7
American Update: Atomic Sci-Fi: Robotmen Of The Lost Planet
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Another of Avon’s 1950s science fiction one shots this week: Robotmen Of The Lost Planet from 1952. A full-length tale of robot revolt against humanity (the lost planet is Earth), this features perhaps the creepiest looking robots I’ve seen, who certainly have an unsettling appearance. You can see what I mean on the cover shown here; nice if undistinguished art by Gene Fawcette, who did a lot of this sort of stuff around this time. This is a sound, flat copy, with great cover colour, nice off-white pages and tight staples; no specific defects, just edge wear.
PICTURED: ROBOTMEN OF THE LOST PLANET #1 VG £285
American Update: 1970s Marvel Horror/Mystery
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: A boost for our Marvel stocks from the 1970s, including additions to the following titles: Beware, Chamber Of Chills, Fear, Frankenstein Monster, Journey Into Mystery, Man-Thing (1st series), Tomb Of Darkness & Werewolf By Night. All additions are issues previously missing from our listings; see our catalogue for full details.
American Update: A Date With Patsy: Miss America 1947-1951
*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: Although Miss America debuted as a comic book starring the eponymous super-heroine in 1944, Madeleine Joyce’s own title was effectively shoplifted from her when Patsy Walker made her debut in its second issue; within a few more issues, Miss America was out, and Patsy Walker and her pals & gals from Centerville High ruled the roost, with occasional other comic strips such as Archie-clone ‘Danny’ and sob-sister ‘Betty Blair’. These were comics-sized magazines, with the comic strips themselves augmented by fashion tips and trends, short fiction, movie features, and a plethora of how-to activities, plus articles allegedly penned by celebrities of the day such as Shirley Temple – or at least by their publicists! 20 issues freshly listed, all from Volume 7 1947-1951.
PICTURED: MISS AMERICA V7 #7 VG £21
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Wizard 1972 x2
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: The D.C. Thomson story paper Wizard, launched in 1922, was laid to rest in 1963 – but after a decent interval the Powers-That-Be tried Wizard again, this time in comic strip format. Two Free Gift issues from 1972 in consecutive numbers: #102 VG with ‘Wiz Whizz’ flying thingie, still sealed in its original envelope, and #103 with All Star Banner featuring, yes, you’ve guessed it, famous footballers and teams.
PICTURED: WIZARD
#102 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £35 SOLD
#103 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £25 SOLD
British Update: 2000 AD – ‘Burger Wars’ and ‘Jolly Green Giant’ Issues
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Newly in, we have the four 2000 AD progs set during Judge Dredd’s ‘Cursed Earth’ which, owing to their use of copyrighted properties, were until 2015 banned from being reprinted; #71 and #72, the ‘Burger Wars’ issues, which caused umbrage with MacDonalds and Burger King and #77 and #78, the ‘Jolly Green Giant’ numbers, in which a certain verdant behemoth (no, not the Hulk) was an antagonist. Despite the reprint embargo having been lifted owing to a change in copyright law allowing parodic usage, we have found demand for the originals to remain high, judging by the speed with which they’ve sold out previously! All issues in really top shape!
PICTURED: 2000 AD ALL SOLD
#71 FN £30
#72 FN £30
#77 FN £30
#78 FN £30
British Update: Long Hot Summer: Secret Agent, Spy 13 & Top Secret Specials
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Espionage and secret agents are the names of the game in this week’s Boys’ Picture Library update. Firstly, the wartime exploits of Spy 13 in his 1966 Summer Special, followed by the same character in the renamed title Secret Agent Summer/Holiday Specials from 1967-1970. More contemporary action and adventure with John Havoc of Department Q in the Top Secret Holiday Specials from 1975 and 1983. See our catalogue for more details.
PICTURED:
SECRET AGENT SUMMER SPECIAL 1967 VG £12 SOLD
TOP SECRET HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1975 VG/FN £11
British Update: Catch that Buzz 1973-1975, the D C Thomson Tabloid
*Humour Comics: A long time after the launch of Beezer and Topper, in 1973 D C Thomson commenced their third tabloid-size title, Buzz. By this time, this large format was becoming unpopular, which might explain why the title lasted just two years and 103 issues. A shame since it featured some quality strips like Hop, Skip & Jock, Calamity Kate, Skookum Skool and the Twitz Of The Ritz, among many others. We have 25+ new issues in, between #4 and the final issue. Great fun and value.
PICTURED: BUZZ #103 (Final Issue) VG £6 SOLD
British Update: Free Gift Farrago – it’s the Big One! Nurse Nancy Outfit in Twinkle #105
*Girls’ Comics: This is it! Forget all your squirty guns, whizzy spinners, footballer photos and model planes etc, there is one Free Gift in British comics that is surely prized more highly than any other. Described by our chum Duncan McAlpine in his Comic Book Price Guide for Great Britain as ‘clearly the greatest comics free gift of all time’, Twinkle #105 (January 24th 1970) proudly presented ‘a super Nurse Nancy Outfit’, consisting of Apron, Cap and Armbands. With our FN condition copy of the comic, we have the Gift Set still sealed in its original brown envelope. I doubt that there can be many (if any) of these in this pristine condition still in existence. Its rarity is attested by what appears to be the complete lack of sales records on all known (to us) internet sources. So, if you’ve worn out your existing Nurse Nancy Outfit from overuse, here’s your chance to get a nice new version.
PICTURED: TWINKLE #105 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £100