*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: A top up for the following titles from the House of Ideas: Monsters On The Prowl, Supernatural Thrillers, Tomb Of Darkness, Tomb Of Dracula (#9), Tower Of Shadows (inc #1 with classic Steranko story), Vault Of Evil, Weird Wonder Tales, Where Monsters Dwell and Worlds Unknown. See our catalogue for details.

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: With publishers such as Miller, Strato and Top Sellers, the 1950s were rich here in the UK with reprints of earlier American science fiction and horror and we have a swell bunch of them fresh into stock this week, including Fantastic Tales, Forbidden Worlds, Miller’s digest-sized Marvel Tales (reprinting Atlas horror/mystery), Mystery In Space (with DC reprints from that title) and Out Of This World (Charlton reprints featuring lots of Ditko). A sample is shown here, but check out our catalogue for the full run-down. 
PICTURED:
MARVEL TALES #3 FN+ £20 SOLD
MYSTERY IN SPACE #2 GD/VG £12
OUT OF THIS WORLD #3 GD+ £10 SOLD

*TV & Film Related Comics: From 1969, the much-publicised Joe 90 Weekly, released to tie-in with the latest Gerry Anderson ‘Supermarionation’ TV series, in which bespectacled nine-year-old Joe McClaine acquired phenomenal skills by having computerised knowledge downloaded into his brain, and set out as the unlikeliest secret agent of all, for the World Intelligence Network (W.I.N.) Sadly, for all its pre-publicity, Joe 90 turned out to be a rare Anderson flop – apparently young viewers related to adult heroes, not kids their own age – and the show foundered after 30 episodes, with the comic’s run lasting only a few weeks longer before being incorporated into TV 21 Mk. II! Now, however, the short achievable run of Joe 90 is much sought-after, having the usual quality artwork of the Anderson adaptations, and co-featuring comic strip versions of such popular TV shows as Star Trek, the Champions and Land of the Giants. Just a small update here, but including #1, #3 & #27. #1 is a nice VG, but has a coupon out affecting the ‘Ninepence & Tenpence of Sport’ story. 
PICTURED: JOE 90 #1 App VG (and page with coupon missing)

*Girls’ Comics: A round up of loose but distinctive ends this week, including an early Bunty (#127 from 1960), a few issues of Jinty from her first year of 1974 (inc #3), and the final issue of Tammy from 23rd June 1984. Tammy, after a long run, ended rather ignominiously when a printer’s strike caused several issues not to be printed and the title was then cancelled without either the end of the serials or an announcement of merger with another title.
PICTURED: TAMMY 23/6/84 VG £9

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Some classics from some of science fiction’s biggest names this week. In addition to the three pictured, we also have Isaac Asimov’s Second Foundation (an early UK paperback edition) and Arthur C Clarke’s Earthlight (2nd UK PB). Full details of all these plus thousands of other quality vintage books may be browsed in our catalogue.
PICTURED:
I, ROBOT by ISAAC ASIMOV 2nd UK PB 1968 VG £10
VERMILLION SANDS by J G BALLARD 1st UK PB 1975 FA £8
THE CITY AND THE STARS by ARTHUR C CLARKE 4th UK PB 1970 VG £3

*DC: Following on from the Elongated Man’s stint as Batman’s back-up in Detective Comics, Batgirl took cover billing from #384 and shared the title in her own adventures up to #424. Moreover, this was a time of change for the Caped Crusader himself and the darker and grittier mood took centre stage, as exemplified by Denny O’Neill and Neal Adams, among others. Man-Bat, She-Bat and the League of Assassins all debuted at this time. We have new stock of almost all issues from this period, mostly in superior high grade; check out our catalogue for full details. Many examples are shown here:
PICTURED: DETECTIVE COMICS
#397 FN £40
#404 VF £47 SOLD
#407 FN/VF £40
#410 VF- £40
#412 VF/NM £43
#416 VF+ £40

*Marvel: From Journey into Mystery #103, when the Asgardian landscape was still ‘settling down’ in the relatively new Thor strip, two figures debuted who were to make a lasting impact in the life of the God of Thunder: The Executioner, a menacing figure whose might almost equalled that of the God of Thunder himself; and the Enchantress, mightiest of sorceresses, who was to become Thor’s most beloved enemy, occasionally doing good deeds because of her unrequited feelings for Thor – but never for long! Two of the most powerful characters in the Marvel mythos, the diabolical duo have bestrode the four-colour cosmos for decades, and this is where their infamous careers began! This pence printed copy has a fair bit of edge wear and colour-breaking creasing, but the cover colours are good and the pages sound, apart from one small margin tear with margin-only loss. Small spine splits at top and bottom cover; staples reasonably tight at cover and centre. A good, honest issue from Stan & Jack. 
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #103 GD p £100 SOLD

*Marvel: Continuing our ‘WandaVision’ event, in tribute to the Disney+ smash hit TV series, we spotlight the second series of Vision and the Scarlet Witch, a twelve-issue maxi launched in 1985. Wanda and Vizh leave the Avengers for suburban domestic bliss, but although they’ve quit the life, the life hasn’t quit them – as we witness a battle with Salem’s Seven, the breakup of Crystal and Quicksilver, a tussle between Wanda and the Enchantress for the Vision’s synthetic heart, and the greatest challenge of all – Thanksgiving dinner with the Avengers and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants! Written by Steve Englehart and drawn by Richard Howell, we have six of the twelve issues in stock of this underrated gem, from which much of the inspiration for the TV show was taken. All in VF grade, a little wear here and there, but nothing horrible, all bright and shiny.
PICTURED: VISION & SCARLET WITCH 1985 ALL SOLD
#3 VF £10
#5 VF £10
#6 VF £10
#7 VF £10
#9 VF £10
#10 VF £10

*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. This week we feature Journey Into Fear #10-12; specific defects are listed below, otherwise general wear.
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO FEAR ALL SOLD
#10 GD/VG £145 Off top staple at front cover only
#11 VG £190
#12 VG £190 Small upper spine split

*Alan Class Reprints: An update this week to two Alan Class titles: just a tickle to Creepy Worlds, but a chunk of Weird Planets from #1 onwards. This short run title was known for Ditko mystery reprints, and many abound in all the issues added this week, particularly #1. You can check our Alan Class Rough Guide for content detail. This update is for our regular, non-certificated stock.
PICTURED: WEIRD PLANETS #1 VG £33

*TV & Film Related Comics: When the first series of TV Century 21 faltered, competitors Polystyle were quick to generate a successor in ‘Countdown’, featuring many of the most popular Gerry Anderson TV shows in comic strip form. Fireball XL5, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, Stingray all graced its pages, plus a brand-new sci-fi strip ‘Countdown’, illustrated rather spiffily by John M. Burns, and the star power of a Doctor Who comic series imported from TV Comic! Later issues added the Persuaders in a prelude to the change into TV Action that was to follow. Our latest Countdown update features around 20 issues new in, all previously missing from our listings, in a range of grades, but nearly all pretty good condition.
PICTURED: COUNTDOWN
#15 FN/VF £9 SOLD
#53 VG/FN £7 SOLD

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: This popular series, published by Amalgamated Press (later IPC/Fleetway), ran from 1952-1976, clocking in over 1600 issues. We have 50+ issues from the first 100 numbers (1952 to, our best guess, 1955 – like many publications of the time they’re not dated), ranging between issue #2 to issue #99.  The title was later changed to Love Story Picture Library, to avoid confusion with the similarly formatted text fiction series which abounded at the time. These are of course all comics stories. These average Good condition, but it should be emphasised that this is purely because of the staple rust which unfortunately plagues many comics of the period. They’re otherwise sound, with bright covers and clean interior pages, and would, if not for the rusty staples and rust migration, average at least a grade higher than stated, but, as ever, we try to err on the side of caution. The earliest four numbers are shown here; please consult our catalogue for the full listing. 
PICTURED: LOVE STORY LIBRARY ALL SOLD
#2 GD £15
#7 GD £9
#9 GD £0
#23 GD £6

*DC: The Riddler made just two appearances in Detective Comics in 1948, before returning to plague the Dynamic Duo in the Silver Age in Batman #171 in 1965 and staying pretty much a constant thorn in Batman’s side ever since. Interest has now built to a frenzy since the announcement of the Riddler’s appearance in the upcoming Batman movie, so what better time to invest in this lovely copy of his Silver Age debut? A pence stamped copy, with vivid rich cover colour, and a superb Carmine Infantino cover illustration. Tight and flat with excellent staples and off white pages. Some edge wear at spine and minor corner blunting, but nothing too bad. There is a tiny non-colour breaking crease across the diagonal right cover bottom edge (the size of the black band across the cover bottom), but overall a superior copy. Personally, I don’t think Batman’s classic foes have ever looked better than on covers from this classic period. 
PICTURED: BATMAN #171 VG/FN p £400

*Marvel: Jazzy Johnny Romita really excelled himself with the covers of Amazing Spider-Man #66 & #67, two of my favourites of his tenure on the wall-crawler. Appropriately enough for a special effects artist and illusionist, Mysterio is one of the most visually striking of Spidey’s Rogues’ Gallery, and these great-looking issues are not comics you want in low grade! #66 is FN- pence stamped, some edge wear and corner blunting, but excellent tight staples, a clean cover image with vibrant colour and white to off-white pages. #67 is VF, cents, great clean vibrant colour cover, white to off-white pages and tight staples; a beauty with only minimal wear. 
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#66 FN- p £70 SOLD
#67 VF £75 SOLD

*Marvel: The Disney+ WandaVision TV show, with its affectionate pastiches of classic TV sitcoms underlain by a growing sense of unease and dread, has captured the imagination of viewers worldwide, and demand for the early appearances of the couple has never been higher! Allow us to jump on the bandwagon with a series of updates devoted to TV’s hit couple. The 1982 Vision and Scarlet Witch four issue miniseries was the first headline title for either character, telling a charming tale of a mystic mutant and a sentient synthezoid in love, adapting to suburban life in Leonia, New Jersey. Of course, when you’re Avengers, domestic challenges tend toward the dramatic, and along the way the couple face demonically animated trick-or-treaters, the attack of Vizh’s ‘brother’ the Grim Reaper, revelations about Wanda’s parentage, and a visit from Magneto, all admirably presented by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Rick Leonardi. All 4 issues now available in one complete VF+ set. More WandaVision soon.
PICTURED: VISION AND SCARLET WITCH 1982 #1 VF+; COMPLETE SET 1-4 VF+ £50 SOLD
 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries:  A couple of dozen of one of Fleetway’s Big Three War-themed Picture Libraries added this week, War Picture Library between #200-300, all in cheap and cheerful grades (if such a title can ever appropriately be termed ‘cheerful’!).

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: Launched in 1961 and lasting until 1966’s #120, Princess Picture Library started out by alternating between two fixed ‘players’ – Sue Day of the ‘Happy Days’, and Sally Doyle, one of those ballerinas who was always performing her pirouettes in unlikely locales – jungle, castle, Tesco’s, you name it. In later issues, however, the scope broadened to encompass other features, such as the Freedom Fighters for France (it’s a wonder the German Army got anything done in World War II, with all these plucky schoolgirls hurtling at them) and well-meaning plus-size duffer Bessie Bunter – sorry, Tilly Tuffin. Our potpourri of Princesses is delicately refreshed this week with dozens of issues, many previously unrepresented in our inventory, running between #31 and the final issue #120. It’s a shame that the last 30 issues or so featured covers with a reduced colour palette, as in the example shown here; despite that, they look like even more fun!
PICTURED: PRINCESS PICTURE LIBRARY #97 FN £9

*DC: An uncommon treat joins us this week in the shape of Flash #112. We don’t see early issues of the Flash too often, and this one is particularly prized for the debut of Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man. The Ductile Detective went on to become a close ally of the Flash, and lots more adventures in the DCU, alongside his wife Sue (who didn’t debut until Flash #119). Their loving relationship was a cornerstone of the Elongated Man’s adventures (but don’t get us started on what happened to them in the 21st century!). Artistically, Ralph was never better portrayed than here by Carmine Infantino, who also drew most of his solo strips in the back of Detective Comics. As if that wasn’t enough, Flash #112 also has a very early Kid Flash back-up. This is a decent cents copy, marred by a dust shadow along the top half of the spine and (narrowly) the top left cover edge; there is also a 3 cm upper spine split with a tiny chip out and evidence on the inside cover of an historic moisture stain at the top of the spine; a small blob of something shows relatively imperceptibly at the Flash’s hip. Nevertheless, nice bright colours, no creases, only minor edge wear, tight staples and good off-white pages.  
PICTURED: FLASH #112 GD/VG £130 SOLD

*Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man issues #298 and #299 are significant for a variety of reasons. New artist Todd McFarlane debuted and fast became a fan favourite, whilst #298 saw the debut of Eddie Brock (later to become Venom) and #299 featured the last page cameo debut of Venom himself. Our latest copies are both the sort of nice grades you’d hope for on things of this tender vintage; both are bright and tight with vivid colour; #298 has slightly more reading stress marks at the spine than #299, but very minor in both cases.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN BOTH SOLD
#298 VF £60
#299 VF+ £70

*Horror 1940-1959: The Atlas series Suspense (which started in 1949) began as a crime comic based on ‘gripping CBS Radio – Television series’, but after two photo-covers with #1 & #2, it changed tack to full blown pre-code horror with #3 and lasted 29 issues. This week we have the first horror issue #3, plus #11, both full of the distinctive and superior horror tales for which this publisher was famed. #3 is a bright copy with only minimal edge wear, a couple of creases to the back cover only, a slight spine roll and a rusty lower staple with minimal migration; pages are off-white and the staples are tight with centrefold firmly attached. #11 only ever had one central staple, but it is tight and firm, off white pages, minor edge and spine wear and an upper spine split of under 2 cm. 
PICTURED: SUSPENSE
#3 VG+ £130
#11 GD/VG £75

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: We mosey on down to Quirky Corner this week for a super-rare oddity. Buster Comics (a one-shot as far as we know) from 1947 was published by the small Scottish publisher Cartoon Art Productions (there is no connection to the more famous Buster comic that started in the 1960s). We can find no recorded sales of this, nor virtually any information about it on the net. What we do know is that it is written and drawn by Dennis M Reader, a famous British creator of the 1940s and 50s. It stars the super-heroines Electro Girl (revived by 2000 AD in its Zenith phase and used by Alan Moore in the League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Phantom Maid (this appears to be her first appearance from the context of the story, although an internet source states this was in Super Duper #5 from the same publisher, a more famous and longer-lived title). There is also western adventure with Dusty Trale, a western text story with Dakota Dan and one page funny Daffy Notion; Reader sure packed a lot into 16 pages. Published in black and white and red and blue (with shading), Reader’s creations were inspired by his love of American comics, as evidenced by the settings of all the stories, particularly Electro Girl in Hollywood. Here we’re showing front cover, back cover (with the Electro Girl story which continues inside) and an interior page of the Phantom Maid story. The condition is okay, centrefold loose of its single staple, the odd edge tear, but unmarked and all perfectly legible. We expect this to be snapped up very quickly — you’ll look a long time before you find another!
PICTURED: BUSTER COMICS 1947 GD/VG £100 SOLD

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: Just a pair of items in this popular category this week, two consecutive issues of the less common and relatively short-lived School Friend Picture Library from Fleetway 1962. Nice copies of issues #7 & #8.
PICTURED: SCHOOL FRIEND PICTURE LIBRARY
#7 VG/FN £12.50
#8 VG/FN £12.50

*DC: Our Slab Happy feature, showcasing third party graded and slabbed comics, is back with a bang this week, with something rather special. World’s Best Comics #1, Spring 1941 (retitled World’s Finest Comics from #2 onwards) is the first of the long-running series starring DC’s biggest stars, Superman and Batman with Robin. Other strips in this giant 96 page issue include Crimson Avenger, Johnny Thunder, The King, Young Dr. Davis, Zatara, Lando, Man of Magic and Red, White & Blue. Writers include Siegel, Fox & Finger, artists Fleisel, Lampert, Gustavson, Purcell & Kane, with a classic cover from Fred Ray. This is CGC blue label (unrestored) graded as 0.5 (incomplete). From the CGC label: Page 1 & 48 missing, affects story; cover detached; white pages. Since this is slabbed, probably never to be read, the missing pages aren’t really a problem (although they keep it affordable in relative terms); the front and (illustrated) back covers are totally intact and look great. One of the most iconic and historically important comics we’ve ever had through our hands, now 80 years old. 
PICTURED: WORLD’S BEST COMICS #1 CGC 0.5 INCOMPLETE £880

*Marvel: By his 101st issue, Spider-Man had become temporarily encumbered with six arms, leaving him a true eight-limbed arachnoid hero; but more importantly, he met a foe who was destined to become one of the Marvel Universe’s prime anti-heroes. Following the 1971 relaxation of the Comics Code Authority (which had hitherto banned mention of vampires and werewolves in the wake of the 1950s horror comics scare), the floodgates were opened for all manner of supernatural beings; one of the first was Michael Morbius, tragic scientist who, while not a traditional vampire, gained many vampiric attributes after an experiment gone awry. Among said attributes: enhanced strength, speed, senses… and an uncontrollable craving for human blood. A big hit with the Spider-Man audience, Morbius the Living Vampire first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #101 and #102 revealed his tragic origin; he then made a rapid reappearance in Marvel Team-Up #3, graduating to his own series in Fear thereafter. There have been several Morbius series in the intervening decades, and the upcoming Morbius flick is leading to a heightened demand for his premier appearances. Our latest copy of #101 is very decent, pence printed, with a great unmarred cover image, good colour and gloss, tight and firmly-attached staples and nice page quality. There is minor wear/blunting at corners and spine and the odd unobtrusive handling mark; very small crease across the tiniest bit of the bottom right corner. #102 is a squarebound extra-length giant, also featuring the Lizard, pence printed, with great cover colour and gloss, minor corner blunting, totally intact spine and good tight staples; some puckering at the bottom spine, probably from the glue used on squarebounds and a tiny scuff on the back cover; a very nice copy.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#101 FN- p £290
#102 FN+ p £70 SOLD

*Marvel: In 1962, Marvel published their first annual, Strange Tales Annual #1, an all reprint affair featuring a plethora of those monster and science-fiction stories from the earliest days of Marvel, not all from Strange Tales (a previous owner, as well as writing his name at the top of the splash page, has helpfully annotated the bottom of the splash of each story with the issue it originally appeared in, although we haven’t verified this). By now familiar names such as Grottu, Shagg and Diablo rub shoulders with more conventional sci-fi, all as depicted by Kirby, Ditko and others. A great package, and one we don’t see too often. This copy, sadly, has seen better days; the spine is taped (clear magic tape) and there is tape and tape residue on the cover near the spine as well; many cover creases and a small hole in the back cover, but complete and nice to have in your collection nevertheless. 
PICTURED: STRANGE TALES ANNUAL #1 FA £33 SOLD