*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+ cents 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+ £75 SOLD
Category Archives: What’s New
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts – X-Men #1 (1963) – Debuts of X-Men, Professor X and Magneto
*Marvel: Well, they don’t come much more ‘firsty’ than this one! One of the most sought-after issues of the Marvel Universe, this is not only the first appearance of the original X-Men themselves, but also their arch-nemesis Magneto. This is the comic which sparked Marvel’s most popular franchise (arguably tying with Spider-Man), and a Lee & Kirby classic which established the X-Men as Marvel’s ‘outsiders’ from the very beginning. This copy is UK pence priced, and while complete and intact, with no staining, scribbling or missing parts, is extremely worn, graded as PR/FA. There is moderate spine roll, the cover is detached at lower staple, and there is extensive spine, edge and corner creasing, though these constitute light multiple creases rather than heavy single ones. The white front cover image, though not specifically soiled, is discoloured through age, and there is a general feeling of ‘dinginess’ to the cover. Interior pages are clean and presentable. Nonetheless, a complete copy of an issue with multiple debuts of significant characters, and the launch pad for Marvel’s most lucrative franchise. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: X-MEN #1 PR/FA p £1100 SOLD
American Update: Spider-Mania Max/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Rhino debut in Amazing Spider-Man #41
*Marvel: Issue #41 of the Amazing Spider-Man saw the first new villain of Jazzy Johnny Romita’s artistic tenure, as he and Swingin’ Stan Lee brought us the curiously endearing Rhino, a virtually unstoppable behemoth whose sheer power and tormented soul made him an instant hit, and a popular recurring villain, showing up everywhere from the Defenders to the Unstoppable Squirrel Girl! (No, really…). Only briefly glimpsed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far – but that was the old version, so he’s ready to ‘reboot’ – this debut of a key player is an attractive and affordable mid to high grade copy, strong staples, tight corners, light spine and edge wear, two very small interior edge tears, unmarred cover and decent interiors.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #41 FN p £180
American Update: Spider-Mania Max! Spidey #134-136 – First Tarantula, Second Punisher and First Second Green Goblin! (Pardon?)
*Marvel: This trinity of connected tales hails from the ‘wilderness years’ of Spidey’s non-distribution in the UK, and features three sequential events; in #134, we are introduced for the first time to the Tarantula, the leaping menace who was to become a bane of Spidey’s existence, and also featured a last-minute cameo by the Punisher; #135 of course, presented the second ‘Full Punisher’, as Frank Castle squared off against both the Tarantula and Spidey himself; and #136 brought us the first appearance of Harry Osborn as the second Green Goblin, having literally stepped into his dead daddy’s pixie boots. #134 and #136 are high grade ND keys, bright and shiny with flat covers, tight staples and sharp corners, and we don’t anticipate they’ll be with us for long.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#134 VF+ £50
#136 VF £50
American Update: Spider-Mania Max! Catalogue Expansion – Amazing Spider-Man Series II, including 9/11 #36
*Marvel: An all-new listing for the Amazing Spider-Man this week! As discerning readers know, we already carry the entire first series of Spidey’s book in our catalogue listings, but having acquired a consecutive run of early issues of the 1999 ASM relaunch, we’re taking the opportunity to push it one step further with the first 58 of Amazing Spider-Man Series II newly added to our inventory! This of course includes the post September 11th 2001 issue, #36, focusing on the aftermath of the World Trade Centre disaster – otherwise known around these parts as ‘Dr.Doom has a good cry, bless’. Averaging shiny NM condition, all you web-heads can now swing ever onward!
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (VOL 2) #36 VF/NM £40
American Update: Big Panty Monsters! – Pre-Hero Journey Into Mystery, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish: Rro, Monstrollo, Thorr and More
*Marvel: We do love those Big Panty Monsters here at 30th C., and we’re not alone, as our valued customers eagerly snap up these (mostly) Lee & Kirby tales of giant monsters bestriding a (nearly) defeated Earth, sensibly attired in sturdy M&S knickers from the ‘Ample Matron’ range. We’re chuffed to welcome several new entries in this sub-genre into stock. Journey Into Mystery #58 brings us ‘Rro!’, a superb VG, vivid red cover, only a bit of ‘flakiness’ around lower right corner belying a higher grade. We have not one, but two copies of Tales of Suspense #25, with ‘The Death of Monstrollo’, one in VG- (moderate spine and slight lower right cover creasing), and one in GD+, with a bit more creasing (including a light vertical crease bisecting Monstrollo’s head – as if he didn’t have enough problems!), but both clean and sound copies. Tales of Suspense #35 brings us the ‘Challenge of Zarkorr’, a spiffy VG+ with light lower cover wear, featuring an alleged Watcher prototype, while #38 steps away from the BPM tropes to give us the Genie-empowered ‘Teenager Who Ruled the World!’. Last but far from least, Tales to Astonish #16 brings us ‘Thorr!’ a menace who is not only one letter away from Marvel’s later God of Thunder, but is actually the model for his first opponents, the Stone Men. This, again, is a lovely VG with lustrous cover colour and only very faint discolouration at staple area. In addition to the cover-featured BPMs, of course, most of these lovelies also feature a Lee & Ditko twist-ending thriller, and other mystery tales from Don Heck, Gene Colan and other classic Bullpen artists.
PICTURED:
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #58 VG P £75
TALES OF SUSPENSE
#25 VG- p £65
#35 VG+ p £50
TALES TO ASTONISH #16 VG p £90
American Update: A mostly superior Marvel Silver Age sweep
*Marvel: Some high grade Silver Age into our boxes this week for the following titles: Avengers (from #20), Captain America, Captain Marvel (from #8), Daredevil (from #32), Iron Man (from #7), Journey Into Mystery with Thor (inc #107 1st Grey Gargoyle), Tales of Suspense (#59, 1st of Cap series but only FA/GD), Thor (inc #150 1st Hela) and a couple of post Silvers: What If #7 and Wolverine (inc #10 vs Sabretooth).
American Update: Pre-Code Horror Fest: It’s… Witchcraft! Classic Avon Shocker With Iconic Covers
*Horror 1940-1959: Two stunners this week from Avon’s short-lived, but long-remembered, series Witchcraft, a horror anthology featuring the talents of Hollingsworth, Meskin, Roussos, Kinstler, Lazarus, Fawcette and more. In stories such as ‘Diary of a Monster!’ ‘The Man Who Bribed Death!’ and ‘Mystery of the Venus Flyer’, our beleaguered protagonists face beheadings, hangings and the good old threat of being cooked alive – and these being Pre-Code terror tales, there’s no guarantee that anyone makes it to story’s end alive! Both these issues have eye-catching and imaginative cover scenes, though if pushed, we’d have to give the nod to #4’s ‘Cannibal Death’ cover. Neither has any flaws other than the general age-related wear indicated by the grade – perhaps a bit more corner and edge wear on the #6 than the #4, but both are sound and strong copies for their years.
PICTURED: WITCHCRAFT
#4 VG £350
#6 GD/VG £80
American Update: A Date With Patsy! Patsy Walker’s Solo Title Restocked, from 1954 to 1965’s Final Issue
*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: Continuing our mammoth restock of Timely/Atlas/Marvel’s premier teen humour title, we move from 1954’s #54 all the way through to the series’ final issue, #124 in 1965, a period which saw great changes for our heroine, as she grew up, graduated and became a career girl as her series’ emphasis shifted from funny stuff to soap opera romance – though, of course, the biggest change for Patsy was when she became the super-heroic Hellcat, but that was a decade later in the Avengers! These 50 issues of Patsy’s solo series also include guest appearances by Millie the Model and Linda Carter, Student Nurse – who said the super-hero books invented crossover stories? (Shame Sue Storm or Janet Van Dyne never visited Centerville, mind…)
PICTURED: PATSY WALKER #58 FN £18
American Update: We Heard It Through The Apevine!! – Planet of the Apes Magazine, from #1 to #27
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: In 1974, Marvel’s burgeoning black & white magazine line tapped into a lucrative franchise, the Planet of the Apes movies, which, at that time, were still being produced on a regular basis. While obviously leading with a comic strip adaptation of the first Apes movie, the Bullpen filled in the history of the series with ‘continuity implants’ taking place off-screen in the world of the movies. Although many talented people – Moench, Ploog, Simonson, Alcala – contributed to the interior stories, what sticks in many readers’ minds are the stunning painted covers by Bob Larkin, Earl Norem and others, each of which would readily serve as a movie poster on its own. We have 23 of the 29 issues in the series, including the very first issue signed (on the splash page) by Stan Lee! Averaging FN, with several VF in the mix, this is a rare significant selection of a highly sought after series which appeals to Marvel and movie collectors alike.
PICTURED: PLANET OF THE APES #1 FN+ £40 (SIGNED BY STAN LEE) SOLD
American/British Update: Slab Happy! Tarzan #225 9.6 (NM+) from the Suscha News Pedigree Collection
*Tarzan/ERB: A distinctive and unusual addition to our CGC stock this week, an issue of DC’s Tarzan from 1973, written and drawn by legendary comic creator Joe Kubert, from the pedigree ‘Suscha News’ Collection. Acknowledged as one of the higher grade pedigree collections on sale in the US, the ‘Suscha News’ is from one original owner, acquired between 1970 and 1978, and named for the source from which the collector got to cherry pick the ‘mintiest mint’ copies available, by special arrangement, before they went on sale to the public. This copy is CGC Blue Label (no restoration) 9.6, a NM+ equivalent, and comes in its own special display stand! PICTURED: TARZAN #225 CGC 9.6 £60
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Vulcan #2 – Spider, Steel Claw, Trigan Empire and a ‘Magical Numbers Card Game’
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: One of the earliest attempts to coherently re-present the Fleetway/IPC classic adventure series was 1975’s Vulcan, an experimental weekly which was smaller than usual – closer to American comic-book size – contained many colour pages, and reprinted in sequence several much-loved series from the past: The Spider, Kelly’s Eye, Trigan Empire, Robot Archie, Sabre, Mytek the Mighty and the Steel Claw. Launched successfully as a trial in Scotland, a national edition was rolled out in late ’75, and ironically lasted fewer issues than the trial run! The slick paper was a bit fragile, and copies of the short-lived series don’t survive damage well, so we’re delighted to have a FN copy of issue #2 of the National edition in this week, with the free gift – Magical Numbers Card Game – in VF! The game was originally presented in a punch-out card, and this copy is completely unpunched, all pieces firmly in situ.
PICTURED: VULCAN 4/10/75 (#2) FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £45 SOLD
British Update: Battle Picture Library #51-100
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: One of the stalwarts of Fleetway’s war-themed Picture Libraries is recharged this week as we unleash Battle #51-100 loose into our boxes. Almost all issues present, nearly all GD with a few VG.
British Update: Long Hot Summer: TV Comic Holiday Specials 1968 & 1969, with Doctor Who and TV’s Avengers
*TV & Film Related Comics: For more seaside summer fun (appropriately, as we type this on a torrential March afternoon), we offer TV Comic Holiday Specials from 1968 and 1969. While these are not the earliest Holiday Specials of the long-running Polystyle publication, they are among the most in-demand, as in addition to the regular funny features – Diddymen, Mighty Moth, Basil Brush, TV Terrors, Popeye – both featured TV’s ‘Doctor Who’, (the Patrick Troughton iteration, in comic strip form) and the 1969 edition also has a text story of TV’s ‘Avengers’, John Steed and Tara King! These uncommon items are in exceptionally nice nick – the 1968 is FN/VF, marred only by slight weakness at the upper staple area, and the 1969 is an unchallenged VF.
PICTURED TV COMIC HOLIDAY SPECIAL
1968 FN/VF £80 SOLD
1969 VF £65 SOLD
British Update: Free Gift Farrago! What’s The Buzz? Issues #1 & #3 of D.C. Thomson Humour Broadsheet with Free Gifts
*Humour Comics: In 1973, D.C. Thomson decided to introduce a stablemate to its broadsheet-sized Beezer and Topper weeklies, and Buzz joined the lineup for a respectable 100+ issue run, packing a lot into the oversized pages, fronted by ‘Hop, Skip and Jock’, wherein our inventive but impecunious trio coined an outlandish money-making scheme each week. Other features included ‘The Twitz of the Ritz’, ‘Fred the Flop’, ‘Jimmy Jinx’, ‘Calamity Kate’, and token racist caricatures ‘Wig and Wam’! Issue #1 is VG, a bit ‘bumpy’ on the pages owing to the free gift ‘Pop Pistol’ having been stuck inside for decades. The Pistol itself, however, is VF in original packaging. Issue #3 is FN with the ‘Whoopee Whistle’, again in original packaging, in VF. NB: Like most comics of this unusual size, Buzz was often displayed and sold folded horizontally, and although we send out flat copies, both of these issues do have a crease from said previous folding. This has been taken into account in grading these copies.
PICTURED: BUZZ
#1 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £80 SOLD
#3 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £60 SOLD
British Update: Free Gift Farrago – Jackie from 1968 and 1969, with ‘Starscope Guide’ and ‘Jackie Perfume’
*Girls’ Comics: A glossy big sister to Romeo aimed at a slightly trendier demographic, Jackie helped delight and inform (or brainwash, depending on your viewpoint) a generation of teenage girls and young women, with pop features and pin-ups, fashion and makeup tips, the ever-popular Problem Page, and scores of often beautifully illustrated romance comics stories. Free Gift issues of Jackie are uncommon, as the gifts were usually eagerly ripped away and consulted or applied in the hopes of snagging the Dream Boy, but these two are from a Newsagent’s uncirculated stock, and remain ‘gifted’. Issue #244, September 7th 1968, is GD/VG, light edge foxing, but the ‘Starscope’ booklet of astrological advice is pristine VF. Issue #296, September 6th 1969, is in nicer shape, though with a bit of a ‘bump’ on the covers caused by the phial of ‘Gorgeous Jackie Perfume’ having been stuck inside for a long time. (We also can’t promise how ‘Gorgeous’ it’ll be after more than half a century in storage, so really don’t try it out!)
PICTURED: JACKIE
#244 GD/VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £25
#296 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £30 SOLD
British Update: Princess Tina – 44 issues from 1967 to 1968, including first ‘combo’ edition
*Girls’ Comics: Following on from our recent ‘Tina’ update, we move now into late 1967 and 1968, where the upstart Pan-European ‘Tina’ had merged with the venerable ‘Princess’ to become Princess Tina, a title the series retained for most of the rest of its existence. We have 44 newly listed issues from this period, beginning with 23rd September 1967, the first ‘merger’ issue, where Princess alumnae Alona and Sue Day and the Happy Days joined Glory Gold, the Space Girls, My Chum Yum Yum, Jackie and the Wild Boys, slave girl Moira and model girl Barbie in an anthology fronted, appropriately, by voluptuous super-spy Jane Bond. This selection closes with the 1968 Christmas issue – by which time ‘Chairman Cherry’ had replaced the ‘Space Girls’, alas – but look forward to more Princess Tina updates in the near future!
PICTURED: PRINCESS TINA 22/9/67 VG £9
Books Update: Doc Savage – The Man Of Bronze Restocked
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Doc Savage and his amazing co-adventurers have had more escapades than most people have hot dinners. Here are five more tales of derring-do to entertain and mystify you: Pirate Of The Pacific, The Awful Egg, The Magic Island, The Purple Dragon and Tunnel Terror. All are in the 1970s Bantam edition, with cover art by James Bama (Pirate Of The Pacific) or Bob Larkin (all the rest).
PICTURED:
THE PURPLE DRAGON VG/FN £3 SOLD
30th Century Comics & The Media: Time Out
Nice to see us appearing once again in Time Out this week as one of only five comic shops listed in London. I think those of you who have visited our shop or our website would agree that we are the place to go to for rare, vintage US and UK back issue comics. As always, a big thank you to all our many customers!
Clearance Corner: 32 issues of Schoolgirls’ Own Library (text stories, second series) for £25
*Clearance Corner: Our second clearance lot of the venerable Schoolgirls’ Own Library of text stories featuring plucky young misses. 32 issues from the second series which ran from 1946 to 1963, featuring tales of daring and justice in boarding schools at home and abroad. Numbers range from #246 to #291 and average VG, generally sound and clean with occasional rusty staples. Just to spell it out once again: these are text stories with illustrations, not comics. This cornucopia of prototypical Girl Power is yours for a mere £25 – UK postage, if required, a further £5.
Clearance Corner: Another Barrel Load of Buntys 40 issues for only £20!
*Clearance Corner: Our second and final clearance lot from the later years of the doyenne of girls’ weekly comics; a selection of 40 issues of Bunty dating between 1994 and 1997, numbers ranging from #1915 to #2081, with no duplicates. Condition averages Fine. Home of the ‘Four Marys’, Nikki-alumna ‘The Comp’, photo-strip ‘Luv, Lisa’, and many other picture strip stories – not counting our eponymous heroine, whose half-page adventures also adorn the inside – plus hobbies, craft pages, and swoonsome pop & TV pin-ups of years gone by, including Take That, East 17, Joey Lawrence, David Charvet and loads more, some well remembered today, some… not so much! This panoply of pastel-pink nostalgia can be yours for a mere £20, plus UK postage of £8 if required.
Housekeeping Update
On a regular cycle, we sweep through our entire stock to delete sold items and keep our listing as up to date as possible. We’ve just finished deleting sold items from the following file in our American section:
*Marvel T – Z
As of the time of writing, this file is bang up to date, with every item listed available.
THE SQUARE MILE COLLECTION
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.
We’ll be adding selections from this collection for sale here each week across the range of titles represented. These will be over a range of prices each week to suit most budgets, so that all interested collectors have an opportunity to purchase something from this special collection. Each comic will come branded with a special label and certificate of authenticity verifying it as part of the Square Mile Collection. Here’s this week’s:
American Update: Journey Into Mystery #88, with the second appearance of Loki
*Marvel: Thor having handed his brother a sound defeat in #85, Loki’s first appearance, Marvel’s God of Mischief returned for another bout in #88, a Lee/Kirby classic clash taking sibling rivalry to the megaton level! Backed up by a Lee/Ditko twist-ending tale, ‘Behind Locked Doors’, and the Don Heck-illustrated ‘Long Live The Queen’, this early appearance of one of Marvel’s most enduring, and perversely endearing, villains is FN+, with great page quality and only a slight Marvel ‘chipping’ at the cover’s edge preventing a higher condition, typical of the superior standard of the Square Mile Collection.
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #88 FN+ p £225
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Strange Tales #104 and the Palpitating Premiere of Paste-Pot Pete
*Marvel: Let’s face it, Johnny Storm’s solo series in Strange Tales was mainly a home for naff super-villains… but a couple of them, eventually, did achieve some sort of rehabilitation in the greater Marvel Universe. One such was Paste-Pot Pete, whose super-sticky stuff was delivered by a squirt gun and hose which led into… an open bucket. I know, you’re all asking, ‘Why didn’t someone just kick his bucket?’ – and apparently Marvel execs thought the same, as a few years later he was ‘rebooted’ as the Trapster, master of multiple methods of entrapment and restraint, and has been a major component of the Frightful Four, as well as occasionally teaming with other villains. This Lee/Kirby story is the first appearance of a character who became a major villainous player, its FN/VF grade reflecting its lustrous cover colour and general excellent condition, with only a couple of tiny breaks in the spine colour at extreme edge.
PICTURED: STRANGE TALES #104 FN/VF p £150
American Update: Justice League of America #7, ‘The Cosmic Fun-House!’
*DC: Early Justice League of America issues are dear to our hearts here at 30th Century, and few more so than #7, ‘The Cosmic Fun-House’, wherein several JLA’ers are transformed into distorted mirror images of themselves. How does this come about? You’ll have to read it to find out, but we suspect this is one of those cases where, as legend has it, editor Julius Schwarz would come up with a cover idea and present it to writer Gardner Fox as a challenge: ‘Write a story to fit that!’ And he certainly did! This rather lovely VG+ copy has a few tiny flecks at the spine, and a minute corner ‘chip’ at the lower right corner, but is bright and vivid and generally much better presenting than the unadorned grade would suggest.
PICTURED: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7 VG+ p £75
More from the Square Mile Collection next week!
American Update: Slab Happy/Batmania: Detective Comics #50, April 1941
*DC: Golden Age DCs are a rare treat in this country, so we’re delighted to be able to offer this CGC Blue Label (no restoration) issue of Detective Comics #50, dated April 1941. Behind a striking Kane & Robinson cover, the Dynamic Duo face the acrobatic menace of ‘The Three Devils’, by Kane, Finger & Robinson. Other features include Spy by Siegel & Moore, The Crimson Avenger by Lehti, and sundry non-costumed gumshoes Speed Saunders, Steve Malone, Cliff Crosby, Larry Steele and Slam Bradley. This is a CGC graded 3.0 (GD/VG equivalent). With the Darknight Detective’s Golden Age appearances becoming ever more scarce and sought after, we urge rapid response to secure this distinctive and unusual item.
PICTURED: DETECTIVE COMICS #50 CGC 3.0 £580 SOLD
American Update: DC Debuts: 1st Kid Flash, Elongated Man and Weather Wizard, plus other Flash Classics
*DC: Four early issues of Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, from near the beginning of his career! Having relaunched with #105, continuing the numbering of the 1940s Flash Comics, issue #110 saw the double debut of Wally West, Kid Flash, the super-fast youth who would one day take over the mantle of the Flash himself, and of the Weather Wizard, the climate-changing crook who would be an integral part of Flash’s Rogue’s Gallery! A couple of issues later, the Vizier of Velocity encountered the Stretchable Sleuth – Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man! Ralph became a character who broke all the super-hero rules of the day; he rapidly abandoned any pretence at a secret identity, he married early during an age of bachelor heroes, and he and his wife Sue became the Nick and Nora Charles of the super-set, solving crimes with charm and wit. All that was in the future, of course – but it started here! Both our #110 and #112 are graded FA+: the #110 has an approx. 2″ lower spine split, and moderate corner and spine wear, but is clean and sound with an unimpaired cover image. The #112 has vivid cover colour, excellent page quality, with only a tiny strip of colour fading (less than 1mm) at the top cover edge, and rusty staples. In addition, we have two other issues from the early days of UK distribution: #111, ‘Invasion of the Cloud Creatures!’, and #115, another in DC’s seemingly endless parade of ‘fat heroes are funny’ covers, ‘The Day Flash Weighed 1,000 Pounds!’ All magnificent work from John Broome, Carmine Infantino, Murphy Anderson and Joe Giella.
PICTURED: FLASH
#110 FA+ p £150 SOLD
#112 FA+ p £70 SOLD
American Update: DC Debuts – All-Star Comics #69, first appearance of the Huntress
*DC: The 1970s revival of All-Star Comics, starring the legendary Justice Society (at first the ‘Super Squad’, but they dispensed with that nonsense quickly) had many creative highlights, and is a much-loved run. Two breakout characters, however, were what came to be called ‘legacy’ heroes. Power Girl was the first, cousin of Earth-2’s Superman, followed in #69 by the Huntress, daughter of Earth-2’s Batman and Catwoman, combining the best traits of both her parents into a distaff Darknight Detective for a new generation. Her debut appearance was made much mystery about inside the issue’s pages, but somebody forgot to tell the cover artist that, as she’s ‘teased’ heavily on the cover! Huntress has helmed several solo series, and a version of the character can be seen in the Birds of Prey film currently on release. Her many-layered career kicked off right here!
PICTURED: ALL-STAR COMICS #69 VF+ p £60
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Spidey #100 – Landmark Issue
*Marvel: The 100th Anniversary issue of Marvel’s solo super-star, the Amazing Spider-Man! Dated September 1971, this Stan Lee/Gil Kane epic features – behind an iconic John Romita cover – our tortured hero debating his roles in life, and endeavouring to choose, as the title suggests, between ‘The Spider… Or The Man?’ Ironically, the issue ends with him becoming an eerie amalgam of both! This copy of an early Marvel centenary is VG+ pence, with light creasing in lower right cover corner, slight spine roll but firm staples and good cover colour with unmarred image.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #100 VG+ p £60
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: A Captivating Quartet of Ditko Dramas, including the first Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn
*Marvel: As we’ve often averred, sterling work by other artists notwithstanding, Steve Ditko is the one true Spider-Man illustrator, and we’re chuffed to welcome four Lee/Ditko issues from Spidey’s early years. We open with #16, Daredevil’s first guest-appearance outside his own title, as he and Spidey team-up against the Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime; issue #25 brings us the first iteration of the Spider-Slayer, masterminded by the ever-jolly J. Jonah Jameson; #31 sees the double debut of two characters destined to become instrumental in Spidey’s life – for very different reasons – Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn and #36 is an action-packed epic as Ol’ Web-Head faces off against the debut of the malevolent Meteor Man (later the Looter).
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#31 GD £60
#36 FN- £80
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars – Complete 1984 series including 1st Symbiote costume (Venom)
*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 high grades, and being sold as a set of 12.
PICTURED: SECRET WARS #8 VF+ p; COMPLETE SET #1-12 AV. VF/NM £140
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Amazing #196 to #251, with Debuts of Hobgoblin, Hydro-Man, Madame Web & More
*Marvel: Our massive Spider event continues, with a virtually unbroken run (one issue missing, but I’m sure you can figure it out using your skill and judgement) from #196 through to #251, beginning in the latter days of the ‘Non-Distributed’ years. Highlights include the death of Aunt May (well, the first one. It didn’t stick), the double-sized #200, and the first appearances of several characters who were destined to become pivotal in Spidey’s life; Hydro-Man, Madame Web, the captivating Calypso, and of course the Hobgoblin, the sinister successor to the Green Goblin’s lethal legacy. Mostly in high grades, and a full two-thirds of this run previously unrepresented in our inventory.
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: ‘Behold… The Living Tribunal!’ Strange Tales #157 & #158
*Marvel: Strange Tales from the 1960s is sought after for myriad reasons, most often because of the dynamic, cinematic artwork of Jim Steranko, who brought a freshness to spy saga Nick Fury and The Agents of SHIELD which tapped perfectly into the zeitgeist of the era. But that doesn’t apply in this instance. No, the hoo and the hah this time is for the Marie Severin illustrated Doctor Strange co-feature, and more specifically for the Living Tribunal, a cosmic entity whose power outstrips the Watcher and may even match that of Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet! For years a relatively small part of Marvel’s cosmic tapestry, the Tribunal’s prominence has increased with his (its?) greater involvement in sundry cosmic sagas, to the point where interest in his early appearances is at its keenest. Strange Tales #157, with a last page Living Tribunal cameo, is FN, with light to moderate vertical creasing at spine area. #158, with the first full Tribunal and his first cover appearance, is FN-, still very presentable, with vivid red unfaded cover colour, but a few spine ‘ticks’ and one small (less than 1mm) nick at the lower cover edge.
PICTURED: STRANGE TALES
#157 FN p £75 SOLD
#158 FN- p £90 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts! Four key issues of Avengers – 1st ‘Full Ultron’, Panther origin, 1st cameo Mantis and 1st Hellcat
*Marvel: Spanning a decade, these four issues of the Avengers feature highlights in the lengthy career of Marvel’s Mightiest Team. Issue #55 gave us the first full appearance of Ultron, the mechanical menace who would become a nemesis of the team; #87 explored, for the first time at any length, the origin of the African Avenger known as the Black Panther; #112 featured the first, albeit fleeting, glimpse of the mysterious Mantis and #144 bought us the reinvention of former ‘funny girl’ Patsy Walker as the happy-go-lucky Hellcat! These are all presentable mid-grade copies, with no individual flaws not covered by the general grading.
PICTURED: AVENGERS
#55 FN p £40
#87 FN p £50
#112 VG p £25
#144 VG+ £20
American Update: Kirby’s Black Panther
*Marvel: We welcome the King of Wakanda back to our listings at the hands of Jack ‘King’ Kirby’s 1977 series, the first 14 of this 15 issue run. Full of Kirby’s pyrotechnics and brainstorming ideas, which seemed, to be frank, a little barmy at the time, but which hold up surprisingly well by today’s standards.
American Update: Let’s Yap With Cap! A Captain America Bonanza!
*Marvel: Nearly 100 issues of Captain America added to our Silver/Bronze stock between #100 (the first issue of series) and #200 (Bicentennial issue). There’s an awful lot of Cap history playing out over these many years, from the start of the series with Kirby at the helm, through the classic Steranko issues and the coming of the Falcon, with Gene Colan taking on the art, later with Steve Englehart writing Cap as he questioned modern America and his place in it, with Steve Rogers giving up the Cap identity to become Nomad, and then resuming as Cap as Kirby returned to see out the first hundred issues in style. Full grading and pricing details in our catalogue as always.
American Update: Sock It To Shell-Head! Issues of Iron Man from #12 to #53
*Marvel: Marvel’s Armoured Avenger takes the spotlight this update, with issues from the first 50 (and okay, just a bit over) newly listed! We open with #12, debut of the ever-captivatin’ Controller, and this selection also includes #33’s premier appearance of the Spymaster, and a guest-villain shot by Princess Python in #50, as well as some less frequent visitors to Tony Stark’s Rogue’s Gallery – Demon-Queen, White Dragon or Raga Son of Fire, anyone? The first couple of issues in this new wave are low grade, but things rapidly improve to VG/FN average, with a couple of FN/VF grades to tickle your tastebuds. 15 new numbers of vintage Iron Man action for your delectation!
American Update: Let’s Level With Daredevil! Marvel’s Sightless Swashbuckler restocked from #72 to #100
*Marvel: 25 newly-listed issues in this update, with the dynamic and kinetic art work of Gene Colan giving life to the Man Without Fear’s acrobatic feats! We open with #72, the debut of Tagak the Leopard Lord, followed up by guest-appearances from Iron Man, Madame Masque and Nick Fury – back when he was Caucasian! We have a nice selection from #81 upwards, when our hero was joined by the Black Widow as his partner in love and crimefighting (‘Tasha even getting co-billing from #92!) and wrap it up for now with issue #100, featuring the debut of Angar the Screamer! Along the way, we encounter all Matt’s major villains – Purple Man, Gladiator, the Ox, Mr. Fear and more – with Hawkeye, the Black Widow’s jealous ex, also popping up to ensure hilarity and consternation! These very affordable mid-grade copies are sure to fly out, so snatch up your Billy Club and swing into action!
American Update: X-Men by Claremont & Byrne
*Marvel: A selection from the classic X-Men run by Claremont & Byrne; this update, issues between #120 & #142, with famous stories such as the debut of Alpha Flight, the White Queen & the Black Queen from the Hellfire Club, and the Days Of Future Passed two-parter. The ‘new’ X-Men were never better!
American Update: Atomic Sci-Fi: Yesterday’s Tomorrows! Retro Futures from Standard, ME, ACG and Fawcett
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: A sextet of science fiction shockers, with new issues of Standard’s Fantastic Worlds #5 and Lost Worlds #5 & #6, all with Alex Toth art, Magazine Enterprises’ Jet powers #3, with our intrepid space hero superbly illustrated by Bob Powell, backed up by Williamson’s ‘Space Ace, Operation Peril #5 from ACG, an adventure anthology including the intrepid ‘Time Travelers’, with art by Ogden Whitney and Leonard Starr, and Fawcett’s Motion Picture Comics #110, a book-length adaptation of the iconic movie ‘When Worlds Collide’ (found under ‘W’ in our catalogue), illustrated by George Evans. These range in grades from FA to VG-, a selection of how our recent ancestors viewed the far-flung future of the 21st century and beyond!
PICTURED:
JET POWERS #3 GD+ £45
LOST WORLDS #6 VG- £75
American Update: A Mighty Marvel Western Round-Up inc. #1 issues
*Western: A chunky update to our Marvel 1960s/70s Western stock from the following titles: Ghost Rider (inc #1), Kid Colt, Mighty Marvel Western (#1), Rawhide Kid, Red Wolf (from #1, the series that spanned the Old West to the then-modern day), Two-Gun Kid and Western Gunfighters.
American Update: Spider-Mania Max: Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1 & #2 from 1968
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: In 1968, Marvel made its first stab at distributing to the wider magazine market, rather than the comics readers, in what was a brave but premature attempt to broaden their readership. Spectacular Spider-Man was launched in July 1968, with a 52 page black & white Lee & Romita story, ‘Lo…This Monster!’, plus a further 10 pager by Lee, Lieber & Everett recapping Spidey’s origins. The second issue was released in November that year, with a 58 page tale, ‘The Goblin Lives!’ by Lee & Romita, but despite a spectacular painted cover, the addition of full colour to the interiors, and the star power of Spidey’s greatest foe, it still didn’t ‘take’, and Marvel withdrew from the magazine market for several years. These lovely items are genuinely uncommon in the UK – the first was only spottily distributed, and the second not at all, as far as we know.
PICTURED: SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN
#1 VG+ £20 SOLD
#2 FN/VF £40 SOLD
American Update: Classic Vintage UK Zines on US Comics – Chain Reaction, Fantasy Advertiser, Panelhouse, Worlds Collide and more
*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: From the 1970s through to the 1990s, a selection of the ‘zines which defined a generation of UK fandom, including Chain Reaction, Comics Forum, Comics Unlimited, Direct Currents, Fantasy Advertiser, the Panelhouse, and Worlds Collide! These are from the archive (well, disorganized storage boxes!) of 30th Century’s own Will Morgan, who under his ‘maiden name’ of Howard Stangroom, was a prominent contributor to all of these ‘zines and scores more. Subjects of the articles and interviews in these issues include Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons, Sergio Aragones, Moebius, Alex Toth, Hugo Pratt, the Brothers Hernandez, Alex Ross, Gil Kane, Colleeen Doran, and Bryan Talbot. With extremely limited print runs (seldom exceeding 500, and sometimes fewer than 100), these are increasingly rare items, featuring art and text by many people who went on to professional careers.
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Hotspur #729 (1973) with ‘All-Star Banner’
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: From 1973, Hotspur #729 enticed readers with the cover-featured ‘Iron Teacher’ (a robot educator who spent more time adventuring than teaching), the return of subterranean superhero ‘The Black Sapper’, ‘Cracker Jackson’ (plucky footballing cripple) and more – but as if that excitement wasn’t enough, it also offered a full-colour ‘All-Star Banner’ (tall n’skinny poster, basically) featuring sports players and other media stars of the era. Thrill to Jimmy Savile, the New Seekers, Vince Hill, and – I’m not really helping to sell it here, am I? The comic is VG, and the gift/poster in VF, never having been pinned up.
PICTURED: HOTSPUR #729 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £25 SOLD
British Update: High Grade Commando
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: A new selection of high grade Commando Picture Libraries fresh into stock in the number range from #479 to #529. Almost every issue present and nearly all VF, with just a handful falling lower. There’s no doubt that Commando is the most famous and longest lasting Picture Library of them all (still going strong today, nearly 60 years after issue #1!)
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Sparky #261 and #404, with ‘Rub a Dub Dub’ and ‘Punchy Pete’
*Humour Comics: Two issues of the D.C. Thomson humour weekly, each still bearing the original Free Gift. 1970’s #261 – also the first issue with the long running strip, ‘Ali’s Baba’ – bears the strangely titled ‘RubaDubDub’ which seems to be, from the cover, a balloon on a string that you… hit people in the face with? Since this one’s still sealed in its original envelope, we can’t know for sure! Continuing the inflatable theme, 1972’s #404 offered readers ‘Punchy Pete – He Stays on His Feet’ – a balloon with a face on it attached to cardboard ‘feet’ which allegedly stopped him falling over when you punched him. Can’t see how, but there we are. From appearances, we suspect the balloon part of this one might not stand attempts at inflation, having possibly lost its elasticity over the years.
PICTURED: SPARKY
#261 VG WITH FREE GIFT FN £30 SOLD
#404 FN WITH FREE GIFT GD £30 SOLD
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Bunty #615 & #616 (1969) with ‘Book of Me and My Friends’ and ‘Jolly Dolly’
*Girls’ Comics: Two consecutive 1969 issues of Bunty with Free Gifts, in one of the perennial attempts to revitalise the readership. Issue #615 is in Fine condition, clean and flat, with the ‘Book of Me and My Friends’ gift in generally excellent shape but with sadly rusty staples, so we’ve compromised on FN. Issue #616 is VG – there’s a bit of cover distortion from the Free Gift – the frankly creepy ‘Jolly Dolly’ – having been stored inside its pages for decades – but the gift itself is VF, still in original polythene envelope.
PICTURED: BUNTY
#615 FN WITH FREE GIFT FN £40 SOLD
#616 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £40 SOLD
British Update: Tina from #1 – Pan-European Girl Power Unleashed
*Girls’ Comics: From 1967, Tina, launched in multiple language editions across Europe, was so heavily pre-sold prior to its launch that it could legitimately claim, even on the front of its debut issue, ‘More copies sold than any other girl’s paper in the world!’ With a strong adventure-oriented line-up, curvaceous secret agent ‘Jane Bond’ illustrated by Michael Hubbard, was the lead, and the ‘Space Girls’ (in colour, by Dan Dare illustrator Keith Watson) added a sci-fi touch. Other features which debuted here were ‘Moira – Slave Girl of Rome’, exotic island drama with Brenda Burn and ‘My Chum Yum-Yum’, peripatetic pop group ‘Jackie and the Wild Boys’, western adventuress ‘Glory Gold’ and ‘Barbie’. Yep, that Barbie. After thirty issues, Tina merged with Princess and lived a long and happy life as Princess Tina, but the issues prior to Tina’s ‘coronation’ remain scarce. Our newest copy of the premier issue is an attractive VG, tight staples, unfaded colour, and is backed up by four more pre-Princess numbers – #6, #16, #22 and #23.
PICTURED: TINA #1 VG £30
Books Update: Excelsior! – Stan Lee Presents Comic Strip Books
*Comic Strip Books: We’re very pleased to offer three books collecting classic Stan Lee Marvel stories. Doctor Strange has a Frank Brunner cover and Steve Ditko interior art, reprinting the first 18 original Doctor Strange stories from Strange Tales. The Amazing Spider-Man has Ditko art throughout and reprints the Web-slinger’s debut from Amazing Fantasy #15 and stories from Amazing Spider-Man #1 – 6. Finally, The Fantastic Four has Jack Kirby interior art and reprints Fantastic Four #1 – 6. All three have introductions from Stan Lee and are in VG/FN condition; full colour throughout.
PICTURED:
DOCTOR STRANGE VG/FN £18 SOLD
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VG/FN £10 SOLD
THE FANTASTIC FOUR VG/FN £10 SOLD