*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

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, 8 issues of Amazing Spider-Man, mostly not previously in our listings.
IN THIS UPDATE: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#180 FN- £7
#181 VF- £11.75
#182 VF £13
#183 FN/VF £10.25
#187 NM- £36 Captain America guest stars
#190 VG £5
#257 NM– £36 Puma cover
#258 VF £22 Spidey learns that the black costume is an alien symbiote

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: One of the most unlikely comics heroes ever, Herbie Popnecker first appeared in ACG’s Forbidden Worlds, later being promoted to his own series in 1964. Created by writer Richard E Hughes and artist Ogden Whitney, Herbie was an atypical hero: a short, obese, unemotional, terse, unstylish boy, deriving some of his powers from genetics and some from magical lollipops. Herbie could carry on detailed conversations with animals and sometimes even inanimate objects (who all knew him by name), quickly reach any location (including other galaxies) by walking through the sky, become invisible, cast spells, summon spirits from other dimensions, quickly dispatch all enemies with ease, and travel through time. Despite his appearance and terse personality, he was irresistible to women. He was nearly omnipotent and later adopted the super-hero identity of the Fat Fury. Here are two of his earliest appearances in Forbidden Worlds, including his first cover in #114; and if you think that Cleopatra on the cover of #116 looks a lot like Elizabeth Taylor, well, it almost is. Herbie stories backed up, of course, by the sort of supernatural material prevalent in Forbidden Worlds of the 1960s.
PICTURED: FORBIDDEN WORLDS BOTH SOLD
#114 VG- £15.75 1st Herbie cover
#116 VG- p £10.25

*Annuals: Our Mega British Half Price Comics Sale is still going strong, and is being taken advantage of every week. We’ve now sold thousands of items at half price; some titles are now sold out and others running low, but we still have an excellent selection left. To freshen the pot, we’ve expanded the scope of the sale to include about 90% of our stock of British Annuals: Boys’, TV & Film, Girls’, Humour, Western & Rupert. Titles include Action, Eagle, Lion, Smash, Tiger, Valiant, Victor, Film Fun, Look In, Radio Fun, Beano, Buster, Dandy, Dennis the Menace, Knockout, Topper, Bunty, Diana, Girl, Jackie, Judy, June, Princess, Buffalo Bill, Kit Carson, Rupert and loads more.

Full details as always in our catalogue. A selection is shown here. Still thousands of items on sale at half price in the following categories:
Power Comics
Collected Editions
Annuals
Boys’ Adventure & War Comics
TV & Film Related Comics
Humour Comics
Girls’ Comics
Magazines/Books About Vintage UK Comics

*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 an intriguing mixture of material. There are a couple of hard-boiled sleazy crime novels by Fred Martin and Clayton Matthews, a lesbian tale from Midwood by Dallas Mayo with a Paul Rader cover, a cosy fun murder mystery at a science fiction convention by Sharyn McCrumb, a classic UK gangster pulp by Spike Morelli with stunning Reginald Heade cover and two short works from Ann Morrow and William Newton, romantic adventures published by Hamilton in the late 1940s, both with sophisticated covers by Oliver Brabbins. More detail, including condition notes, can as always be found in our catalogue.
PICTURED:
FRED MARTIN: VIOLENT DESIRES MB 1960 1st US PB GD £5 SOLD
CLAYTON MATTHEWS: THE CORRUPTER Monarch 1964 1st US PB VG £6 SOLD
DALLAS MAYO: WHEN LIGHTS ARE LOW Midwood 1963 1st US PB GD/VG £45 SOLD
SHARYN McCRUM: BIMBOS OF THE DEATH SUN TSR 1987 1st US/UK PB VG £5 SOLD
SPIKE MORELLI: DEATH FOR A DOLL Leisure Library 1952 1st US PB VG £10 SOLD
ANN MORROW: MOONLIGHT IN VENICE Hamilton late 1940s 1st UK PB VG/FN £10
WILLIAM NEWTON: HIS SECRET REVEALED Hamilton late 1940s 1st UK PB VG £8

*DC: From the Bute Collection this week, three of the four try-outs for Aquaman in Showcase, issues #30-32 (Aquaman also appeared in #33). Unlike most features in Showcase, however, Aquaman was not a new character. He’d been around since More Fun Comics #73 in 1941, and like just a few other super-heroes, did not disappear between the Golden Age and the Silver Age, continually appearing as a back-up feature in Adventure and Detective Comics. Notably, when DC decided to try him out for his own solo series, Showcase #30 was his first ever cover appearance. That issue, written by Jack Miller and drawn by the exquisite Ramona Fradon, told the origin of Aquaman, as a launch for his solo ‘career’, and indeed, after three more try-outs in successive issues, that solo series began, lasting throughout the Silver Age and beyond. Aquaman remains one of the world’s most recognisable super-heroes, with a plethora of media appearances. Issues #31 & #32, also in this update, are by Miller and Nick Cardy, the artist who really captured the undersea atmosphere and arguably produced the best artwork ever to feature the Sea King and his world.
PICTURED: SHOWCASE
#30 VG- p £250 Origin of Aquaman. A decent pence-stamped copy with untarnished cover image, but probable tiny colour touch pinpoints at bottom spine (taken into account in grading and pricing). Tiny crease across bottom right cover corner does not break colour. Staples are firm at spine and centrefold and pages are a tidy and clean white to off-white. Short upper spine split of less than 2 cm; otherwise wear is minimal.
#31 VG p £100 Pence-stamped. A nice copy with unmarred cover and little wear, but probable tiny colour touches around the edges (taken into account in grading and pricing). Staples are firm at spine and centrefold and pages are a tidy and clean white to off-white; minimal wear. SOLD
#32 GD/VG p £50 Pence stamped. A reasonable copy with upper spine split of 2.75 cm. Cover image is untarnished except for a small stain at central bottom edge. Upper half of spine is somewhat worn and a little frayed. Staples are okay but bottom off centrefold. Page quality okay, but edges (including inside covers) a little tanned. Some chipping at bottom and right edge rear cover.

*Marvel: It’s not every day we get the first appearance of a major Marvel hero! Ghost Rider had been the title of a short-lived Western series of the 1960s (derived from a Golden Age original), and in 1972, writer Gary Friedrich and artist Mike Ploog reinterpreted the cowboy trope with the nearest modern equivalent – a motorbike rider! In the wake of ‘Easy Rider’ and adding in lashings of the then-popular Satanic possession movies, they came up with Johnny Blaze, stunt-rider turned emissary of Satan, having sacrificed his soul to save his loved ones. But this being a Code Approved Marvel comic, Johnny’s battle of wills with his demonic master usually led to his actions coming down on the side of good, despite Old Nick’s best efforts. Ghost Rider went on to 80+ issues of his original series after a successful run in Marvel Spotlight and remains a mainstay of the Marvel Universe today. This copy of Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider’s very first appearance in try-out title Marvel Spotlight #5 is a beautiful higher grade copy, with a glossy, reflective cover with strong colour. Tight and flat with staples firm at spine and centrefold and supple off-white pages. Wear is limited to very faint stress marks at lower staple which do not break colour and the merest suggestion of wear at lower and right edges. From an original owner collection, bought new in 1972 on a New York newsstand, and carefully preserved ever since. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #5 VF £1,800

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, every issue of Strange Tales from #141-150, starring Nick Fury, Agent Of SHIELD and Dr Strange. Fury comes up against some wacky foes, including Mentallo and the Fixer, the Druid and AIM. John Buscema makes his Marvel debut in #150 on the Fury strip. Over in Dr Strange, a period of change as with #146, the first full Dr Strange cover on the title, Steve Ditko draws his final Strange story as we conclude the Dormammu saga, to be succeeded by no less than Bill Everett on art duties. There’s the origin of the Ancient One in #148 and the debut of Umar in #150. Pretty nice condition on most of these.
IN THIS UPDATE: STRANGE TALES ALL SOLD
141 FN £17
142 FN/VF £27
143 VF- £32
144 VG+ p £11.75
145 GD- £5.25
146 VG p £10.50
147 VG/FN p £12.75
148 VG+ £16.50 Origin of Ancient One
149 VG+ £13 
150 FN £29 (PICTURED) 1st Umar. Also, on Nick Fury, John Buscema’s first work at Marvel.

*Horror 1940-1959: From the Bute Collection (and from 1950), the third issue of the retitled Marvel Tales (formerly Marvel Mystery Comics) in the horror/suspense genre. Deemed by Overstreet a classic sci-fi cover (more like horror to me) thought to be by Carl Burgos, interior art has been credited to Colan, Shores, Burgos and unnamed others. Although there are science fiction elements to some stories, the emphasis is firmly on horror. This low grade copy, printed with only a lower staple, has the cover detached and a small staple-sized hole on the rear cover. The cover itself presents a strong image with good colours and what little wear there is restricted to the spine and edges only; some corner blunting. Pages are all attached by the one staple, and are a decent off-white to cream with a little wear at the long edges on one or two pages. Very slightly mis-cut  at the spine, with a tiny bit of image diagonally folded on to the back cover (4 mm at widest).
PICTURED: MARVEL TALES #95 FA/GD £225 SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: 18 issues of Battle Picture Library newly added from 1963-1967 between #113 and #284. Nearly all are in pretty nice shape, clean, bright and unmarked, with just degrees of staple rust defining grade. Full details as always in our catalogue.

*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 and authors alphabetically from Matthew Grant to H Rider Haggard. Mainly science fiction from the 1960s and 70s from a variety of UK & US authors (Matthew Grant, Terry Greenhough, Wyman Guin, James Gunn) plus an entry in the famous Pan Ballantine Adult Fantasy series by H Rider Haggard (of Allan Quatermain and She fame) and Andrew Lang (famed folklorist and author of the Rainbow Fairies books and countless other volumes). As always, more information, including condition notes, may be found in our catalogue.
PICTURED:
MATTHEW GRANT:  HYPER-DRIVE Digit 1962 1st UK PB FA £5
TERRY GREENHOUGH: TIME AND TIMOTHY GRENVILLE NEL 1976 1st UK PB VG £4
TERRY GREENHOUGH: THE WANDERING WORLDS NEL 1979 2nd UK PB VG/FN £3
WYMAN GUIN: BEYOND BEDLAM Sphere 1973 1st UK PB GD £3
JAMES GUNN: THE IMMORTALS Bantam 1962 1st US PB GD £3
JAMES GUNN: THE JOY MAKERS Bantam 1961 1st US PB GD £3
H RIDER HAGGARD & ANDREW LANG: THE WORLD’S DESIRE Pan Ballantine 1972 1st UK PB GD £5 SOLD