*IW/Super: We’re very pleased to announce the first in a series of releases by that most esoteric publisher IW/Super. IW Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s, named for the company’s owner Israel Waldman. Comics were published under both the IW and Super imprints and were notable for publishing unauthorised Golden Age reprints of other company’s properties. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. Basically, it seemed to be whatever they could get their hands on that determined the esoteric nature of their output. Thus you get super-heroes, war, romance, western, funny animals, crime, horror, science fiction and just about every genre within their pages — just two of them in this update. Full details of what was reprinted in what are listed in our website catalogue. NB usually with newly-drawn covers. Over the next few months, we’ll be presenting a series of issues from this publisher, starting here with Eerie and Eerie Tales. We have one of the three known issues of Eerie and all four of the known issues of Eerie Tales (the IW numbering system was a law unto itself!)
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
EERIE #9 VF £90 Wally Wood cover from Avon’s Eerie #2 (1951) with slight alterations. Reprints Toby’s Tales Of Terror from 1952, pre-code horror. Outstanding copy with glossy cover, tight, firm staples and near white pages. Only very minor edge wear.
EERIE TALES
#10 FN- £15 Ross Andru cover. Reprints Spook #27 from Star (1953). Pre-code horror. L B Cole art.
#11 FN £20 Ross Andru cover. Reprints Purple Claw #3 from Toby (1953). Pre-code horror.
#12 VG- £10 Ross Andru cover. Reprints Avon’s Eerie #1 (1951). Pre-code horror. Fred Kida art.
#15 FN/VF £40 (Just Eerie on cover) Ross Andru cover. Reprints Star’s Blue Bolt #113 (1952). Pre-code horror. Jay Disbrow and Basil Wolverton art.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: 21 issues of Battle Picture Library newly added from 1967-1968 between #301 and #358. All are in nearly uniform nice shape, FN with a couple slightly better, clean, bright and unmarked, with only minimal degrees of staple rust.  Full details as always in our catalogue.

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We return to the thrillers of English author Peter Cheyney, who flourished between 1936 and 1951. Three hardcovers are just in, all in inexpensive editions, but all featuring very attractive dust jacket covers, two by the stylish David Wright. One is a non-series title (Dressed To Kill), the others are from Cheyney’s Dark series, thriller espionage fiction which foreshadowed the 1960s cold war spy fiction which was to follow. All towards the end of his career. More details, including condition notes, may be found in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL BY PETER CHEYNEY ALL SOLD
DRESSED TO KILL Todd 1952 1st UK HC thus GD/VG £10 With DJ (GD)
LADIES WON’T WAIT Book Club 1952 UK HC VG £6 With DJ (GD/VG)
LADY BEHAVE Book Club 1950 UK HC VG £6 With DJ (VG)

We’re taking a short break next week, after filling orders received up to 4 pm today (31st August) and posting them next Wednesday (4th September). There will not be a Newsletter nor stock updates next Saturday, but they will be back on 14th September. After this coming Sunday 1st September, we’ll next be filling orders on 15th September. You may of course continue to place orders at any time; we will acknowledge them and reserve items for you wherever possible.

*DC: Nine Bronze Age adventures of the Man Of Steel fresh in. mostly very affordable low grades.
IN THIS UPDATE: SUPERMAN
#215 FA/GD p £3.50 Centrefold loose
#220 VG p £9 (PICTURED) SOLD
#223 GD+ p £5.75
#235 GD p £4
#240 GD/VG p £5.75
#244 GD p £4 Off upper staple
#248 GD- p £3.50
#249 GD- p £4 1st Terra-Man; spine roll
#250 GD p £4 Off lower staple

*Marvel: The Black Panther’s series in Jungle Action, which attracted a lot of acclaim at the time, was known for being verbose, introspective, reflective and philosophical. When the character’s co-creator, Jack Kirby, took over as writer and artist on T’Challa’s follow-up solo series, the results were… a considerable contrast. Shouting! Explosions! Aliens! Time-Travel! Implausibly-muscled ladies with black lipstick! Cosmic critters! All were here, and all playing at full volume all the time, in the crazed kinetic frenzy that Kirby was renowned for. Since the major movie hit, the King of Wakanda’s star is ever-ascendant, and this issue especially always sells very briskly because of its – frankly – high loopiness quotient. So, if you want this tale of ‘King Solomon’s Frog’, you’d better hop to it (sorry…) This high grade cents copy is in great condition, with excellent cover colour and gloss, no wear and no markings, firm staples. Just a very small degree of corner blunting and pages that are off-white to cream. From an original owner collection, bought new in 1977 in New York, and carefully preserved ever since.
PICTURED: BLACK PANTHER #1 VF £50 SOLD

*Marvel: Nine consecutive issues of Thor’s cosmic and mythological adventure this week, featuring many famous denizens of the MU, all very nice grades.
IN THIS UPDATE: THOR ALL SOLD
#226 VF £15.50 (PICTURED)
#227 VF- p £5.25
#228 VF p £5.75
#229 VF- p £24 Ad for Hulk #181
#230 VF- p £8
#231 VF- p £6.75
#232 VF- p £10
#233 FN p £6.75
#234 VF p £10.50

*Horror 1940-1959: Our normal policy is not to market comics that have missing pages, but occasionally, when the comic in question is special or a rarity, we deem that the demand for it would justify a bargain for someone. This copy of Marvel Tales #98 from the Bute Collection, which should have four stories, is missing 10 pages. 3 stories are complete; 1, I Saw Tomorrow, is missing. The good news is that the three present stories are illustrated by Bernie Krigstein, Mike Sekowsky and Bill Everett. There is an excellent spine, a glossy cover with great colour and no cover markings. Interiors are also good, if you allow for the signs of the 10 pages being removed. Were it not for the missing pages, this copy would be on sale for in excess of £200. 
PICTURED: MARVEL TALES #98 App VG/FN £25 NB Incomplete

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: In 1958, Mick Anglo, the creator of the earlier Marvelman, originated the character of Superhombre for a Spanish publisher, where it had a respectable run of 68 issues. In 1965/66, Anglo repurposed the character as Miracle Man for Thorpe & Porter’s Top Sellers imprint, where the title lasted for 13 issues. (Much later of course, Alan Moore revived the original Marvelman, but for American publication, he had to be re-named Miracleman.) So here we have two issues of this esoteric super-hero (backed up with DC’s Blackhawk reprints). An interesting backwater in the Marvelman/Miracleman mythos.  
PICTURED: MIRACLEMAN
#9 VG £10
#11 VG £10 SOLD

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Category for books from Linda Haldeman and Edmond Hamilton, plus two new additions by Charles L Harness. Haldeman’s Esbae: A Winter’s Tale is a dark and enchanting faerie fantasy. Edmond Hamition contributes three books: Doomstar, a classic golden age style interplanetary romp, The Valley Of Creation, a highly original sword and sorcery alien invasion story with animal themes, plus the third volume of his Starwolf sequence; Hamilton has a fond place in our affections here as the writer behind so many of the earlier adventures of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Finally, two volumes new in from Charles L Harness: The Paradox Men is an ingenious bit of space opera, full of invention and wit; The Rose is  a highly original tale set in the future which addresses the issues between artist and scientist in a clever and moving way; a masterpiece of Science fiction and highly recommended by us 30th Century aficionados.
PICTURED:
LINDA HALDEMAN: ESBAE: A WINTER’S TALE Avon 1981 1st US PB FN £6
EDMOND HAMILTON: DOOMSTAR Belmont 1966 1st US PB  thus FN £5
EDMOND HAMILTON: STARWOLF #3: WORLD OF THE STARWOLVES Ace 1968 US PB GD £3
EDMOND HAMILTON: THE VALLEY OF CREATION Lancer 1967 US PB VG £4
CHARLES L HARNESS: THE PARADOX MEN NEL 1976 1st UK PB thus VG £5
CHARLES L HARNESS: THE ROSE Compact 1966 1st UK PB VG £5 SOLD

*DC: Having quite startlingly revitalised the moribund Jimmy Olsen title with #133, writer/artist Jack Kirby took it up a notch by introducing Darkseid, the fiendish ruler of the hell-world Apokolips, in the very next issue #134. It was only a fleeting cameo – Darkseid’s image flashes up on a monitor screen while Facetiming with Morgan Edge – but it’s nevertheless the first appearance of the villainous fulcrum of the entire Fourth World Saga, and as such is in high demand. A nice copy with some gloss and vivid colour, pence stamped, with tight, firm staples and off-white to white pages. Minor wear at top and bottom edges, minor corner blunting. A few soft reading creases upper spine do not break colour.
PICTURED: JIMMY OLSEN #134 VF- p £115

*Marvel: In 1964, the adventures of Iron Man were enlivened by the appearance of the lovely but lethal Natasha Romanoff, code-named the Black Widow, one of the Kremlin’s deadliest operatives. Originally an appealing but unoriginal femme fatale in civvies, inspired by Caniff’s Dragon Lady and other Mata Hari wannabes, Natasha proved surprisingly adaptable, allying herself first with the second Crimson Dynamo (also premiering in this issue) and later Hawkeye, and trading her cocktail dress and veil for the first of many costumed ‘looks’ as she switch-backed from villainess to heroine. Tales of Suspense #52 is where ‘Tasha’s comic career kicked off. This is a structurally solid copy, pence printed, with good firm staples and minimal wear. 2 cm upper spine split. Pages are off-white, turning creamy at the margin edges. Cover colours are good. There is a suspicion of an imprint or pressure mark of some sort centre cover, but this is so faint, it’s impossible to tell what it is. Inside covers are tanning, but not brittle at the edges and the right side of front cover has a narrow dust or sun shadow line. Nevertheless a presentable lower to mid-graded copy of this key classic.
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE #52 VG- p £275

*Marvel: A round dozen issues of Amazing Spider-Man from the Good Doctor Collection this week, between #131 and #174, all previously missing from our listings.
IN THIS UPDATE: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#131 FN- £13.50
#132 VF+ £42 (PICTURED)
#139 VG/FN £8.25
#141 VG+ £7.50
#142 FN/VF £20.25
#157 FN+ £12.50
#160 FN £10 SOLD
#162 VG £10 SOLD
#163 FN £7.50 SOLD
#172 FN+ £9.50
#173 FN £7.50
#174 FN/VF £15 SOLD

.

*IW/Super: IW Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s, named for the company’s owner Israel Waldman. Comics were published under both the IW and Super imprints and were notable for publishing unauthorised Golden Age reprints of other company’s properties. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. Basically, it seemed to be whatever they could get their hands on that determined the esoteric nature of their output. Thus you get super-heroes, war, romance, western, funny animals, crime, horror, science fiction and just about every genre within their pages — just two of them in this update. Full details of what was reprinted in what are listed in our website catalogue. NB usually with newly-drawn covers.
PICTURED:
LOVE AND MARRIAGE #2 FN £7.50
PLANET COMICS #1 #1 VG- £16.25 Some chipping to upper right edge.

*Alan Class Reprints: From the personal archives of Alan Class, we’re delighted to present another selection of copies certificated by Alan himself. Seven copies of various pre-decimal titles. The file copies were used by Alan Class for reference and are sometimes in variable condition, but usually quite good. A reminder that you can view some detail of the contents in our Rough Guide to Alan Class Reprints. 
IN THIS UPDATE:
CREEPY WORLDS
#59 FA £4 loose page; cover taped on.
#89 VG/FN £7.25 (PICTURED) Phantom cover and story. SOLD
SECRETS OF THE UNKNOWN
#80 GD/VG £3.75 Reprints full issue of Konga by Ditko. SOLD
#87 FA £5 Taped spine
#90 VG £7 Flash Gordon cover and stories by Al Williamson
#117 FN £6.75
SINISTER TALES
#69 FA £4.25 Cover taped on.

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Crime, Spies & Sleaze category for a firm favourite here at 30th Century. Often compared to her contemporary James Bond, we have always found Modesty Blaise to be superior! Starring in Peter O’Donnell’s superbly crafted thrillers, Modesty is the former crime queen turned secret operative (often for the UK Gov), along with her partner Willie Garvin. They first appeared in the Evening Standard newspaper strip, and O’Donnell went on to write 11 novels and 2 short story collections (there were also two films: the first from the 1960s with Monica Vitti, Dirk Bogarde and Terence Stamp, which, while having a high camp quotient, was nothing like the characters; the second, produced by Quentin Tarantino (himself a big fan) told of Modesty’s origins and was much truer to O’Donnell’s vision). Eight Modesty Blaise volumes relisted this week, some hardcover, some paperback, including the first (Modesty Blaise) and the last (Cobra Trap). If you haven’t tried Modesty, she really is the best policy!
PICTURED: MODESTY BLAISE BY PETER O’DONNELL ALL SOLD
COBRA TRAP Souvenir Press 2006 1st UK PB VG/FN £6
DEAD MAN’S HANDLE Souvenir Press 1985 1st UK HC VG/FN £18 with DJ VG/FN
THE IMPOSSIBLE VIRGIN Pan 1973 UK PB GD £5
LAST DAY IN LIMBO Pan 1977 UK PB GD £3
MODESTY BLAISE Pan 1966 2nd UK PB GD £4
PIECES OF MODESTY Pan 1975 4th UK PB GD £3
THE SILVER MISTRESS Archival Press 1981 1st US HC VF £15 with DJ VF
A TASTE FOR DEATH Pan 1976 UK PB FN £6

*Clearance Corner: Very occasionally, a lot comes our way which either does not justify its place in our catalogue (but is too good to discard), or is superfluous to our requirements. These lots are offered here on our What’s New page, but are no longer listed in our catalogue. Lots listed under Clearance Corner will be available for a short time only, and are offered post free to UK buyers only. They are not bagged and boarded as our normal stock, but will be securely packaged for transit. If you order a Clearance Corner lot, it may not be combined with another order in the same package. This tme we’re offering a huge batch of Western Library, 79 issues between #1 and #99. Condition is pretty good – the odd taped spine but mostly decent copies. Published by Amalgamated from 1950-1955, lasting 110 issues, and from the same stable (!) as the more famous Cowboy Picture Library, these seldom seem to come up for sale and not much information seems to have been recorded about them. Please note that these are text stories, not Picture Libraries, although from #71 onweards (about a quarter of this lot), the text is profusely illustrated with quality art, and each issue of course has a gorgeous painted cover. £40 for the batch including free p&p (UK only), which works out at virtually 50p each. SOLD

*DC: For an astounding 163 issues, the escapades of Jimmy Olsen formed perhaps the weirdest and wackiest long-running title to ever trouble the mainstream Silver Age. Here’s a small, lower graded selection – cheaper than chips! The last two in this update are from Jack Kirby’s bombastic run on the title.
IN THIS UPDATE: JIMMY OLSEN ALL SOLD
#71 GD+ p £4.75
#125 GD p £3.25 Loose centrefold
#127 GD p £3.25 Off lower staple
#137 GD p £3.25 Loose centrefold
#148 FA/GD p £2.50

*Marvel: By the time the Blob appeared for his second outing in the nascent X-Men title, Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil You-Know-Who’s (as the cover dubbed them), were becoming ever-present, this issue trying to recruit the Blob to their cause. Lots of lovely moments in this Lee/Kirby classic. This Good Doctor copy is a reasonable mid-grade pence printed example, with good colour cover. There is minimal edge wear and some corner blunting. A teeny weeny crease across the bottom right corner breaks colour, as does a vertical reading crease along the spine between the staples. Supple pages are a nice off-white to white and the staples are firm at spine and centrefold. In the number box, the month has been written in biro below the number.
PICTURED: X-MEN #7 VG+ p £190

*Marvel: Frank Miller, of later Dark Knight Returns and Sin City fame, made his name on the sightless swashbuckler Daredevil, starting in 1979. His stories centred mostly on DD himself of course, plus the menaces of the Kingpin and Bullseye, and the debut and fate of DD’s lost love Elektra, plus other characters such as newbies The Hand and Stick, plus old favourites Power Man & Iron Fist, who all turn up in these issues.
IN THIS UPDATE: DAREDEVIL
#174 VF £18.75 (PICTURED) 1st The Hand
#175 VF+ £20.50
#176 VG £6.75 1st Stick
#177 FN/VF £10.75
#178 VF £14 Power Man & Iron Fist SOLD
#179 VF- £12.25

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Adventures Into The Unknown from ACG was the earliest ongoing horror title, starting in 1947. It’s the Silver Age incarnation that concerns us here, when the horror of pre-code had given way to the more whimsical fantasy/mysteries for which ACG became known in the 1960s. Here, starting with #154, the series was headlined by the super-hero Nemesis, whose adventures were all of a supernatural nature, and he stars in all but the last of these seven issues.
IN THIS UPDATE: ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN ALL SOLD
#154 VF- £24 (PICTURED) 1st Nemesis
#160 FN £10
#161 VG £6.75
#162 VG £6.75
#163 FN £10
#164 VG £6.75
#173 FN £10 Penultimate issue

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: This digest-sized comics series, most famous under its later title of Thriller Picture Library, ran for 450 issues until 1963, and while it featured a plethora of characters during its lengthy run, the trend for the early years was for historical swashbucklers based on fictional (but serendipitously copyright-free) characters, but also featuring crime, war, western and science-fiction adventures and sometimes (almost) real people! The artists were all accomplished Fleetway professionals, and readers thrived on these beautifully-illustrated pocket adventures. Issues #71-78 featured this week, mostly mid-grade.
IN THIS UPDATE: THRILLER COMICS/PICTURE LIBRARY
#71 VG £15 No Dust On My Saddle
#72 GD/VG £12.50 To Arms. Musketeers
#73 GD £10 Secret Operator
#74 GD/VG £12.50 (PICTURED) Bold Robin Hood
#75 GD/VG £12.50 The King’s Captain
#76 GD/VG £12.50 The Covered Wagon
#77 VG £15 Greenwood Outlaw
#78 VG £15 The Red Rapiers

*Children’s Books: This week, we return to the adventures of Biggles. Written by Captain W E Johns, the wartime (and later) stories of James Bigglesworth gave us an iconic British hero, a highly competent fighter pilot with a characteristic gentlemanly air, who has gone on to represent an archetypal figure. Nearly 100 Biggles books were written and published and reprinted many times over, and we have a new selection now available, four Armada paperbacks from the early 1960s. And I wish Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Smyth were still up there now, looking out for us – we could do with them and their wizard prangs.
PICTURED: ALL BY W E JOHNS ALL SOLD
BIGGLES: AIR COMMODORE Armada 1963 UK PB GD/VG £7
BIGGLES LEARNS TO FLY Armada 1963 UK PB GD £4
BIGGLES: THE RESCUE FLIGHT Armada 1965 UK PB VG £4
BIGGLES: SGT BIGGLESWORTH CID Armada 1963 UK PB GD £3

*DC: Seven quality issues of the Atom this week, issues #1-6 plus #9, with highly imaginative stories by Gardner Fox and stylish artwork from Gil Kane and Sid Greene or Murphy Anderson. Covers feature the Atom in action and in dire predicaments (including imprisonment in a light bulb, pictured here) and there are some delightful back-up stories including the first Time Pool feature, where the Atom travels back in time. Villains include Jason Woodrue (debut), Chronos (debut) and Dr Light. These are all pence-stamped copies in a mix of grades. 
IN THIS UPDATE: ATOM
1 PR p £20 1st Jason Woodrue, 1st Maya. No back cover; tape at spine
2 FA p £11.75 Book shop stamps and felt tip pen marks to cover
3 GD+ p £23 1st Chronos. Restapled at upper staple.
4 GD- p £10 Restapled at lower staple
5 VG/FN p £27
6 VG+ p £18.25
9 VG p £15 (PICTURED)

*Marvel: A handful of vintage Tales To Astonish this week, starting with the debut of the villainous Black Knight in #52. The Black Knight has had a variety of incarnations throughout the MU. This version, the super-villain Nathan Garrett was a descendant of the original and uncle to Dane Whitman, the most famous version who debuted later. The villainous Black Knight went on to challenge the Avengers as part of Zemo’s Masters of Evil. Also in this update; the Porcupine returns for another tussle with Giant-Man in #53, the Hulk strip commences in #60, Madam Macabre menaces Hank & Jan in #66 and #69 features the Hulk up against the Leader, while Giant-Man and the Wasp bow out in this issue against the Human Top. 
IN THIS UPDATE: TALES TO ASTONISH
#52 GD/VG p £45 (PICTURED)
#53 GD/VG p £29 (PICTURED)
#60 FA p £15 SOLD
#66 GD p £11 SOLD
#69 VG p £16