*Clearance Corner: We’re clearing out a batch of Gerry Anderson memorabilia this week. From 1987, a Fanderson (fan club) introductory membership pack, consisting of newsletter, 2 slick multi-image posters, 1 large poster of 4 scenes, 4 photos (Space 1999, Terrahawks, Supercar, Gerry Anderson), associated merchandise lists and member announcements. Also included is an unused Letts TV 21 Diary from 1970, chock-full of colour and black and white photos from the shows. Finally, there’s three issues of Action 21, the comic from 1988 that reprinted the best colour strips from TV 21 on slick paper. All this, previously on sale at £55, can be yours for just £25, including free (UK only) postage. SOLD
Category Archives: What’s New
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:
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics A-D
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: Flash! Ah-ah! Saviour of the Universe!
*DC: …or central City, anyway… Following strong sales, we’re pleased to be able to top up our stocks of Silver/Bronze Age Flash. This update runs from issues between #129 and #271 and highlights include #129 (2nd Golden Age Flash team-up and 1st Silver Age JSA flashback cameo), #130 (classic whodunnit cover with gauntlet of super-villains), #137 (with Golden Age Flash and 1st proper JSA cameo), a couple of giants (#187 & #213), tussles with Captain Cold, the Trickster, Heatwave, Grodd and lots more. Consult our catalogue listing for full details.
PICTURED: FLASH #130 VG/FN p £46
American Update: A Batmania miscellany
*DC: Plenty of Batman issues in our regular Batmania fix this week: starting with a low grade #130, we move to a near complete run between #216 & #233, highlights of which include Giant issues #218, #223, #228 & #223, Neal Adams art in #219 and the debut of the Ten-Eyed Man in #226. Full details in our catalogue.
American Update: Spider-Mania Max/Mighty Marvel Firsts: 1st & 2nd Green Goblin appearances in Amazing #14 & #17
*Marvel: ‘Does the Green Goblin Look Cute To You?…’ The rather twee opening line of the blurb on Amazing Spider-Man #14’s cover heralded the first appearance of Spider-Man’s most dastardly and persistent enemy – his ‘Joker’, so to speak. The sinister and malevolent Green Goblin has plagued Spider-Man ever since, causing chaos, destruction and the deaths of some of Spidey’s most beloved friends, and this masterwork by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko is where his villainous career kicked off. And guest-starring the Hulk to boot! This is a beautiful FN- pence printed copy of a comic which is continually rising in value, clean, flat and glossy, with tight and firmly-attached staples and deep, rich colours. There is a little corner blunting and very minor edge wear and the tiniest corner off the bottom right corner edge (you can see this best in the splash image below); nice page quality and a copy that presents very well. High resolution images are available on request. We also have a very decent #17 (the Goblin’s second appearance) VG+ pence printed; guest-starring the Human Torch. Glossy with deep, rich colours, tight, firmly-attached staples and minor edge wear and corner blunting, nice page quality, but with a couple of small colour-breaking creases across the edge of the bottom right corner and a 0.5 cm tear in that area.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#14 FN- p £1,300 (COVER, BACK AND SPLASH)
#17 VG+ p £150 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Mad Thinker and his Awesome Android in Fantastic Four #15
*Marvel: This early Lee & Kirby classic saw the introduction of one of the Fantastic Four’s nemeses, the malevolent Mad Thinker! A strategic genius, criminal mastermind and brilliant scientist in multiple fields, the Thinker’s intellect is believed to be the equal of Reed Richards himself. Despite being a thorn in the collective sides of the FF and multiple other Marvel heroes, the Thinker’s background and origin remained entirely unexplored for more than half a century. Also premiering here, the Thinker’s Awesome Android, initially just a near-mindless artificial henchperson, who over the years blossomed into an endearing supporting character as a co-worker of the She-Hulk in her later series. No, really. This is apparently a beautiful copy, minor wear at cover corners, but a lovely bright yellow cover background colour completely unmarred (NB pence stamped), firm staples, some trace of Marvel chipping at upper right cover edge not harming the main cover image at all. The problem with it is the interior; on three pages, there is a vertical tear of about 12 cm (about half a page) up from the centre of the lower edge, although nothing is missing. Overall we have graded it as VG- to take account of that, whereas superficially it’s around FN.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #15 VG- p £100
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Phoenix in X-Men #101
*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 elavated 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. This pence priced copy is nice, with minor edge wear and a small soft ‘dink’ at bottom spine; there is also a very soft crease down the back cover, but it remains glossy and shiny with tight staples and lovely off-white pages.
PICTURED: X-MEN #101 FN/VF p £180
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Amazing #252 with Debut of Black Costume (later Venom)
*Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man #252, like many Secret Wars ‘epilogue’ issues, featured a major ‘twist’ only explained retroactively. In Spidey’s case, it was a dramatic black & white costume which would eventually be revealed as an alien symbiote, which in turn would evolve into Venom, who eclipsed most longer-established villains to become Spidey’s crucial nemesis for the modern era. Although the first appearance of the symbiote in internal continuity was Secret Wars #8, its debut in real time was this very issue. This is ostensibly a very nice copy with minor handling wear and a nice glossy cover; its drawback is the residue of a price sticker (above Spidey’s left arm), clearly visible on the scan, that keeps the grade down on what would be an easy VF or better; if you can live with that, it’s a chance to get a copy of this key issue at a very favourable price.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #252 FN £40 SOLD
American Update: Complete set Infinity War #1-6 NM
*Marvel: In the wake of the spectacular success of Infinity Gauntlet, writer Jim Starlin returned to the well with a sequence of sequels, the first of which was Infinity War, in which Thanos ‘got the band back together’ – himself, Warlock, Drax, Gamora, Pip the Troll – and unleashed a scheme that forced most heroes to confront their own dark doppelgangers, both in the main series, and in many, many – oh, so very many – crossovers in other titles. This cosmic odyssey is now available as a complete 6 issue set, each a nigh-flawless NM.
PICTURED: INFINITY WAR #1 NM; COMPLETE SET #1-6 NM £50
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: High Grade Amazing #128 with the Vulture
*Marvel: Those issues of Spidey in the #120’s can be notoriously difficult to get hold of, especially here in the UK and in high grade, so here’s a really nice #128 for you to consider, in which Spidey tackles the Vulture once again. A high grade cents copy (not distributed in the UK, of course), glossy with deep colour and sharp corners, tight and flat with great staples and only the merest suggestion of edge wear preventing a NM grade.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #128 VF/NM £50
American Update: Avengers Assemble for a Silver Age Shakedown
*Marvel: A chunky update for our Silver Age Avengers stocks this week, with issues between #21 and #100. Highlights include: #21 (1st Power Man – villain), #23 & #24 (Cap’s Kooky Quartet at their finest against Kang), #28 (1st Collector and return of Giant-Man), #62 (1st Man-Ape), #80 (1st Red Wolf & Lobo), #93 (Neal Adams Giant), #100 (Anniversary issue by Barry Smith) and lots more. Check out our catalogue for grades and prices.
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Amazing #201-225
*Marvel: A near complete run of Amazing Spider-Man from #201-225 fresh in this week, with several notable issues: Punisher guest-stars in #201 & #202, 2nd Dazzler in #203, Black Cat in #204 & #205, 1st Calypso in #209, 1st Hydro-Man in #212, Madame Web in #216 & Moon Knight in #220. Full details, as always, in our catalogue.
American Update: Atomic Sci-Fi: Space Patrol #1 1952
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: This week’s entry in our retro science fiction event is Ziff-Davis’s Space Patrol #1 from 1952, featuring the outer space adventures of Commander Buzz Corry and his friends and foes. Despite being blessed with a lovely Norman Saunders painted cover and accomplished interior art by Bernie Krigstein, the series, like so many of this genre from this period, only existed for a short run, in this case two issues. This is a lowish graded copy, quite sound apart from small corners off at top left and bottom right of front cover, a tiny chip out centre top cover and some back cover scribble. Very evocative of its time.
PICTURED: SPACE PATROL #1 GD- £85
American Update: DC Debuts/Slab Happy: 1st Swamp Thing in House of Secrets #92 7.0
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Not long after House of Secrets’ ‘rebranding’ as a horror title (following its decades as a genteel sci-fi series), issue #92 saw a story that transcended the traditional one-off horror genre, and launched a character who became a major star for DC, culminating in his recent TV series. (We won’t talk about the movies. Ever.) In ‘Swamp Thing’, we were introduced to Alex Olsen and Damien Ridge, 19th-century best friends whose love for the same woman led Damien to murder Alex after Alex had married the beautiful Linda. Later, however, when Linda began to suspect the truth, Damien planned to murder her too: but her life was saved by Alex, returned from the swamp as a subhuman plant-creature. Linda fled from the creature in horror, never realizing that the beast who saved her was her beloved Alex. This classic tale of love, betrayal and revenge, masterfully told by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson, struck a powerful chord with the readership, and a 20th-century version of the character was launched in his own series, and has starred in some of the most critically-acclaimed stories in the comics medium. This copy of Swamp Thing’s first appearance CGC 7.0 (FN/VF); the distinctive greytone cover skilfully evokes a feeling of imminent menace, and is one of the most consistently ‘homaged’ images in comics.
PICTURED: HOUSE OF SECRETS #92 CGC 7.0 FN/VF £1,075 SOLD
American Update: A Date With Patsy: Miss America 1945-47
*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’. At an average of 80+ pages per issue, 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! 7 more issues new in from Vol 3 to Vol 6.
PICTURED: MISS AMERICA V5 #2 VG £23
American Update: Conan the Barbarian Epic Collection
*Modern Reprints: Our latest addition to the Marvel Epic Collection range is Conan the Barbarian, reprinting the classic early issues of Conan from #1-13 by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. Not only do you get 13 gorgeous issues with covers, but there’s a wealth of extras, including the Conan try-out from Chamber of Darkness #4, lots of original art reproductions, text features and a gallery of cover repros of the various times these stories have been reprinted. A huge amount of reading and a treat for the eyes — the best sword and sorcery comics ever produced, in our opinion.
PICTURED: CONAN THE BARBARIAN EPIC COLLECTION NEW/MINT £32 SOLD
British Update: Alan Class Sinister Tales
*Alan Class Reprints: A huge update to our Alan Class stocks of Sinister Tales, both certificated copies from the Alan Class Private Collection, plus regular issues. The usual smorgasbord of super-hero and mystery tales. We’ve also updated our Rough Guide to Alan Class (where we give content details) to incorporate many issues that we’ve not seen before.
British Update: 2000 AD #1 & #2, with 1st Judge Dredd
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: At the beginning of 1977, around the onset of punk music, a comic was launched that captured the zeitgeist of the times, more anarchic and anti-establishment than anything that had come before it in British comics, no more so than in the persona of Judge Dredd, the iconic anti-hero who has gone on to become legendary after debuting in issue #2. This update we’re featuring the first two issues of 2000 AD. #1 (1st Flesh, Mach-1, Invasion, Harlem’s Heroes, new Dan Dare) is a VG/FN copy, one of the nicest we’ve seen for a while with cream pages, little wear and the smallest amount of marks where the free gift was taped that we’ve ever seen; there is a small and faint water mark at the very bottom corner of the spine; excellent staples. #2 (1st Judge Dredd) also has nice cream pages, minimal wear with a few what look like foxing spots on the front and back cover margins; excellent staples. Please note there are no Free Gifts with these copies.
PICTURED: 2000 AD
#1 VG/FN £90 SOLD
#2 VG £150 SOLD
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: A triumvirate of consecutive Victors from 1972 with Free Gifts
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Well, football certainly was a popular subject for the Free Gift designers! Victor #575-577 promised ‘Smashing Free Gifts’, and here they are: #575 (VG) has ‘Super-Stars of 72’ plastic wallet and eight full colour footballer cards to put in it (VF); #576 (FN) has a full uncut sheet of somewhat smaller footballer colour photos (VF) and #577 (VG) has an uncut sheet of 14 football challenge cards (VF). We doubt that there are too many copies of these around with the Free Gifts still intact and unused.
PICTURED: VICTOR ALL SOLD
#575 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £30
#576 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £30
#577 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £30
British Update: War Picture Library #1
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: It’s always nice to get a #1 issue of one of the longest running picture library titles, and this week we’re able to present War Picture Library #1. From 1958, this was one of the first comics in this format and gave rise to a lot of other similar titles from its publisher (Fleetway), rivals D C Thomson, Micron, Pearsons and lots of others. ‘Fight Back To Dunkirk’ presents well, with an unmarked cover image, decent pages and a little edge and spine wear and a small amount of staple rust.
PICTURED: WAR PICTURE LIBRARY #1 GD/VG £60
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Whoopee! 1976
*Humour Comics: A couple of Free Gift issues from the popular humour title Whoopee this week and the year 1976. 3/4 (FN) has the Gift Horror Gripper (FN, appropriately stuck to the cover) and 14/8 (FN) has a Scarey Sticker — ooohhh… (VF).
PICTURED: WHOOPEE
3/4/76 FN WITH FREE GIFT FN £20 SOLD
14/8/76 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £20 SOLD
British Update: Princess Tina 1970/71
*Girls’ Comics: Filling many gaps in our inventory, we’ve restocked Princess Tina with 20+ issues from the transitional period of 1970 and 1971, when the title was shifting from a more traditional younger girls’ weekly to a more teen-friendly format. Many of the regular features – ‘Ross, Student Nurse’, ‘Jackie and the Wild Boys’, ‘Barbie’, ‘Super-Girl Sandra’ and so on – were still in place, but the covers were starting to feature carefully-sanitised party and dating scenes rather than the more activity-based images of yore.
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 categories from our British section:
*Annuals
*Collected Editions
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: Brave & Bold #85, with 1st Neal Adams Green Arrow
*DC: Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen was dusted off by Neal Adams and given a new look and a new lease of life in 1969; he came to prominence in the famous Green Lantern/Green Arrow series by Adams, but it was here, in the Brave & the Bold #85 that Adams first revealed GA’s new look and hard-edged attitude. This pence stamped copy is tight with good staples, unspoilt cover image and decent page quality, with just minor edge wear and corner blunting.
PICTURED: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #85 FN+ p £50 SOLD
American Update: Harley Quinn invades Batmania! Early appearances in Catwoman and Gotham City Sirens
*DC: The original and best (we think) iteration of Harley Quinn this week in her original costume in some tough to find appearances: 3 issues of Catwoman from 2000/01 and 5 issues of Gotham City Sirens, where she co-starred with Catwoman and Poison Ivy. See our catalogue for details. Harl says: ‘What’s this about me being the fourth pillow of the DCU? I need all six pillows!’
PICTURED: CATWOMAN #83 FN+ £5.50
GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #20 FN- £6
American Update: Pre-Alan Moore Swamp Thing
*DC: Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that Swamp Thing was around a long time before Alan Moore got his teeth into him. The series that commenced in 1982 and started out as Saga Of The Swamp Thing and was the one in which Moore raised Swampy to the height of his fame (even more than the earlier Bernie Wrightson series) existed for some 19 issues before Moore, and we have most of those fresh into stock from #1, all in high grade; see our catalogue listing for full details.
PICTURED: SWAMP THING (SAGA OF THE) #1 VF/NM £15
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: High Grade Amazing #121 & #122: Deaths Of Gwen and the Goblin
*Marvel: 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. Our latest #121 is VF+, glossy with good tight staples and vivid cover colour; there are a couple of very minor pressure points near upper and lower staples that stop us grading it higher. Our new #122 is VF/NM with great cover gloss, tight staples and presents flat; just miniscule wear marks to the upper and lower right cover corners are really the only defects. Both are cents copies of course, since these issues were not distributed in the UK.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#121 VF+ £325
#122 VF/NM £300
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52
*Marvel: Lee & Kirby’s Fantastic Four added to its many innovations in 1966’s FF #52, when they introduced the first black super-hero in comics. Previously, the vanishingly rare heroic black characters in comics had been either embarrassing sidekicks or ‘noble savages’, but the Black Panther was the monarch of a highly sophisticated and technologically advanced African nation, Wakanda, and was to become not only one of the FF’s greatest allies, but a mainstay of their fellow heroes, the Avengers. Following his spectacular big-screen success, T’Challa’s earliest appearances have never been in higher demand. This is a low grade and thus relatively affordable pence printed copy, with a loose centrefold and moderate-heavy spine wear, with weakness at staples and some spine roll at the top half; the top of the back cover is slightly frayed and there are a couple of small cover tears (front and back) and quite a lot of edge wear and minor creasing at edges, plus one long diagonal colour-breaking crease across the top right half of the comic, although this is not too pronounced. Page quality is okay, if a little tired and dog-eared in places. Not a copy to be too proud of, but a nice budget-conscious gap-filler on what has become a very expensive item.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #52 GD- p £185
American Update: Slab Happy/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Daredevil #5, Debut of Matador, 1st Wally Wood art on title
*Marvel: The cover of Daredevil #5 is vibrant with colour, from the costumes of DD himself and new villain the Matador, plus the party guests in the background and the background graduated orange. A truly fitting scene for the debut of fan favourite artist Wally Wood, and the start of his short but defining stint on the series. This CGC 4.5 (VG+) unrestored blue label copy is beautiful to behold and is pence stamped.
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL #5 CGC 4.5 VG+ p £90
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Giant-Size issues
*Marvel: In the mid-1970s, Marvel supplemented the output on its most popular titles with its Giant-Size range. These were comics of normal dimensions apart from being extra-thick with loads of pages. Usually a mix of new material and reprint, such was the case with your friendly neighbourhood web-slinger. We have issues #1-5 new into stock, often more than one copy of each with a choice of grades; as a bonus, there’s also a copy of the one-off Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1 Featuring Spider-Man, listed with the rest under Spider-Man, Amazing in our catalogue.
PICTURED: GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #1 VF/NM £60 SOLD
American Update: Strange Tales with the Torch and Dr Strange: Team-Ups/Battles, Debuts and more
*Marvel: Johhny Storm, aka the Human Torch, matches his fire to both ice and water this week, also featuring two of the earliest Dr Strange stories. In Strange tales #107, the Torch battles the Sub-Mariner in Namor’s 4th Silver Age Appearance. In #113 he meets the menace of the Plantman for the first time and also his new girlfriend Dorrie Evans. In #117 he’s up against the Eel, with Dr Strange facing ‘The Terrble Traps of Baron Mordo’. In #120, the Torch fights alongside the X-Men’s Iceman, while Doc Strange enters ‘The House Of Shadows’. Great stuff all the way!
PICTURED: STRANGE TALES
#107 GD- p £45
#120 GD- p £9.75 SOLD
American Update: A Superior Pre-Code Horror Fest: Mysteries Weird & Strange
*Horror 1940-1959: Superior was a Canadian publisher active from 1945-1956 who mostly reprinted American comics from the same time period. They also published a number of original series that were distributed in the United States. Among these were three horror titles famous for their hallucinogenic covers and accomplished Fiction House style interior art. When you see a lot of these together, they have an almost hypnotic and uncomfortable effect. Our focus this week is on issues #5-8 of one of those titles: Mysteries Weird & Strange; mid-grade fairly nice copies this time, with specific defects listed below.
PICTURED: MYSTERIES WEIRD & STRANGE ALL SOLD
#5 VG+ £175 Small upper spine split
#6 VG £150 Upper spine split
#7 VG/FN £190
#8 VG+ £175
American Update: Adventure Into Fear with Morbius
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: New in this week, a consecutive run of Adventure Into Fear (listed in our catalogue as Fear, later Adventure into) from #23 to #31, the final issue, all starring Morbius the Living Vampire. Included is #24, the crossover with Blade, the Vampire Slayer.
American Update: Young Romance by Simon & Kirby
*Romance: A classic of the romance genre this week from Simon & Kirby; from 1949, Vol 2 #5 of Prize Comics’ Young Romance (also numbered as #11 in the series). A title later famously taken over by DC, ’52 pages of real life comics’, started out with a packed 15 pager by Simon & Kirby, and although there’s a lot of captions and word balloons, the King’s art style really shines through, particularly on the glorious splash page and the ironic cover. Subsequent stories by accomplished artists of the time such as Leonard Starr, Lee Elias and Bill Draut. This is a nice mid-grade copy with deep cover colour, very slight spine roll and minor corner blunting but hey, great for a 71 year old!
PICTURED: YOUNG ROMANCE V2 #5 VG/FN £52
American Update: Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: Tapping into the Martial Arts zeitgeist of the 1970s, Marvel’s Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu magazine starred Shang-Chi and Iron Fist, as you might expect, but also other Kung Fu stars such as the Sons of the Tiger, Daughters of the Dragon and, um, Bruce Lee (who I don’t think was copyrighted by Marvel). Lots of issues new in, including the Special Album Edition, mostly in low and affordable grades. Consult our catalogue for details.
British Update: Flash by Thorpe & Porter
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: Confusingly, there were two series of UK Flash in the early 1960s, the first lasting just five issues and the second just four. The first, from Strato/Thorpe & Porter, featured two early Silver Age Flash stories and a host of DC science-fiction shorts each issue. The second, from Thorpe & Porter/Top Sellers, also each featured two early Silver Age Flash stories and several Golden Age Wonder Woman stories. We have issues from both series new in; check out our catalogue listing.
PICTURED: FLASH #3 (2ND SERIES) VG+ £20
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Wizard 1960
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Just one Free Gift issue here this week, a Wizard from 1960, #1785. It comes complete with its Free Gift: ‘My Own Log Book Of Locomotives’. The comic is in FN shape, the gift has a very rusty staple, but otherwise okay; it should be noted that the sheet of glossy photos (the first set of six to stick in the booklet) are present and not cut from their sheet, although the sheet itself has become stuck to the inside rear page of the booklet.
PICTURED: WIZARD #1785 FN WITH FREE GIFT GD £25 SOLD
British Update: Starblazer: Science Fiction Adventure In Pictures
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: We’ve seen a great rise in interest and collectability in recent years for DC Thomson’s Starblazer from 1979. So we’re delighted to have five of the first ten issues back in stock, including the first two. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: STARBLAZER #1 FN £20 SOLD
British Update: Joe 90/Lady Penelope
*TV & Film Related Comics: Small additions to our stocks of two fan favourite Gerry Anderson titles, Joe 90 and Lady Penelope, as listed in our catalogue.
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Bunty 1968 x2
*Girls’ Comics: Another brace of Free Gift issues from the UK’s longest running girls’ title this week. From 1968, #561 comes with ‘Pearly Tiara’, #562 with ‘Your Very Own Badge’, complete with your initials. Both comics are VG, having suffered some creasing in storage with their gifts over the years; in addition #562 has a small cover puncture from the plastic pin of the badge. Both gifts are VF, the tiara still sealed in its plastic wallet, the badge complete with its unused sheet of initial options.
PICTURED: BUNTY
#561 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £40
#562 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £40
THE SQUARE MILE COLLECTION ARCHIVE
Well, now that we’ve finished listing and marketing the Square Mile Collection, we’ve archived a feature about it and listed all the comics it contained. You can read our thoughts and see images of all the comics on our Extras page here.
Some Square Mile copies are still available, but we recommend you move fast!
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 categories from our British section:
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material
*Alan Class Reprints
*Marvel UK
*Power 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.
THE SQUARE MILE COLLECTION: GRAND FINALE
The world has changed since we acquired the Square Mile Collection towards the end of 2019. Although we’ve been listing comics from it virtually every week since November (apart from our two months of lockdown) it has of course taken us much longer than we expected to get to this momentous day when we unveil the final item. So, one final time…
This is an early Silver Age Collection from an original owner notable for the freshness and vibrancy of the cover colours and page quality; even those with minor reading and handling wear are vastly superior to the majority of comics that have been in circulation since the 1960s. The average grade is well above Fine, with many much nicer. Each comic will come branded with a special label and certificate of authenticity verifying it as part of the Square Mile Collection.
I doubt we’ll ever see a collection of this quality and vintage again, with so many key issues. In the near future, we’ll be adding a feature on this special collection to our Extras page. In the meantime, there are still a few comics available from this collection in our DC & Marvel listings which haven’t yet been snapped up, if you want to buy a piece of history. Then, of course, there’s this very last comic…
American Update: Spider-Mania Max/Slab Happy/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Amazing Spider-Man #1 CGC 6.5
*Marvel: Well, here it is, the final item from the Square Mile Collection, slabbed by CGC. Amazing Spider-Man #1 features the origin of Spidey re-told, and the first appearances of J. Jonah Jameson and the Chameleon, as well as the first ever Fantastic Four crossover. This cornerstone of the Marvel Age of Comics is a 6.5 (FN+) copy that presents beautifully. It’s a UK pence printed variant with off-white to white pages; CGC Universal grade, blue label, no restoration. The crowning glory of the Square Mile Collection and great to own for investment potential as well as for bragging about it in your collection…
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 CGC 6.5 FN+ p £16,750 SOLD
American Update: Batmania: P-p-p-pick Up A Penguin! Batman #169
*DC: One of the definitive Batman covers of the new look this week, with Batman #169 and the Penguin in his second Silver Age appearance. Beautifully rendered by Carmine Infantino, the Dynamic Duo watch on as the Master of Fowl Play jets off from a rooftop on his jet-propelled umbrella, against a backdrop sky of the richest, most lush shade of purple that only DC’s colourists could produce. A classic for fans of the contemporary TV series. This is a cover that really needs to be unspoilt, as it is here on this lovely copy, glossy, tight and flat with excellent staples and page quality, the most minor edge wear (except for some very narrow creasing at the right edge) and a tiny chip out of the bottom right corner. For perfectionists, we also have an even nicer copy listed in our catalogue.
PICTURED: BATMAN #169 FN p £95 SOLD
American Update: DC Debuts – 1st Lobo in Omega Men #3
*DC: I make no secret of the fact that Lobo isn’t my personal cup of tea; if I was writing the DCU, he most assuredly wouldn’t be in it. However, there’s no denying that the Main Man has a certain notoriety and popularity with a certain audience, and if you’re one of them, you’re sure to want his first appearance in your collection, which came a staggering 37 years ago in Omega Men #3. A nice (!) copy, with a couple of non-colour breaking creases in the spine area and some handling wear along the top.
PICTURED: OMEGA MEN #3 VF- £30 SOLD
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Superman Vs Spider-Man – Ground-Breaking Tabloid Crossover from 1976
*DC/Marvel: In 1976, after some delicate negotiations, the two major publishers decided to pool their talents and create a team-up between their two iconic characters which proved too big for a regular-sized comic – so the tabloid-sized format, as seen in Marvel’s Treasury Editions and DC’s Limited Collectors’ Editions, was co-opted for this epic event! While Wizard of Oz is technically the first Marvel/DC co-production, that’s really just DC piggybacking onto a project Marvel had already produced, to avoid litigation (long story, Google it if you’re bothered). This was the first true collaboration between the titans of the comics industry, and it’s a tribute to the organisation involved that Superman and Spider-Man (as well as guest villains Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus) are note perfect in this mega-sized saga. This is a FN pence copy of this ground-breaking item, light to moderate edge and corner wear, but clean and unimpaired cover, nice interior pages, and the squarebound spine, though slightly stressed in places, strong and intact.
PICTURED: SUPERMAN VS THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FN p £60 SOLD
American Update: Fantastic Four #16 with Ant-Man & Dr. Doom
*Marvel: Issues of Fantastic Four below #20 are turning up much more rarely these days, and being snapped up when they do. This beautiful copy of #16 features the villainy of Doctor Doom and guest-stars Ant-Man in one of the earliest Marvel crossovers, back when such things were still a special event. Lee & Kirby are at the height of their powers on this early issue. A tight, flat and glossy pence-printed copy with white pages and excellent staples; only minimal corner blunting and the tiniest of creases at right edge top and bottom, only visible on close inspection; there is a very faint line along about 6 cm of the right cover edge, barely visible; wonderfully fresh and unspoilt cover image.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #16 VF- p £375 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Juggernaut in X-Men #12 & #13
*Marvel: With Jolly Jack Kirby leaving the art chores of the X-Men after issue #11, Stan Lee realised he had to crank up the excitement to keep readers’ attention, and he certainly achieved it with this dynamic two-parter which introduced one of the X-Men’s (and the broader Marvel Universe’s) most powerful opponents, the Juggernaut! Cain Marko, the hitherto unsuspected step-brother of the X-Men’s mentor Professor Xavier, dabbled with arcane forces and was transformed into the embodiment of an irresistible force – giving him the power to crush his hated step-sibling, and his super-powered students! This two-parter reveals the origins of Professor X and the Juggernaut, and reveals some of the reasons why Xavier set about training the new generation of mutants. #12 is a decent lower graded pence stamped copy, slightly mis-cut so that more of the white spine shows towards the bottom, but apart from fine lines of edge wear and corner blunting isn’t too bad. The back cover is actually much worse, with creasing, staining and a small chip out of the edge. Staples are firmly attached and page quality is okay. #13 is a little better, pence printed, edge wear and corner blunting with a long colour-breaking crease across bottom front cover, good staples and page quality and overall a cleaner and fresher copy.
PICTURED: X-MEN
#12 GD p £140 SOLD
#13 VG- p £65
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Amazing Annual #5, the story of Peter Parker’s parents
*Marvel: In the fifth Annual (or King-Size Special as they called it back then) of Amazing Spider-Man, Stan Lee and Larry Leiber brought us the previously untold story of Peter Parker’s deceased parents. Were they really spies and traitors? Spidey goes on an international mission of discovery and a trail that leads him to the Red Skull. We have a beautiful copy new in this week, with brilliant cover colour and gloss, no markings, tightly bound with an intact squarebound spine, sharp corners, white pages and only the most minimal wear at top and bottom spine precluding a NM grade. A gem.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #5 VF/NM £130 SOLD