We’re taking a short break next week, after filling orders received up to 4 pm today (25th October) and posting them next Wednesday (29th October). There will not be a Newsletter nor stock updates next Saturday, but they will be back on 8th November. After this coming Sunday 26th October, we’ll next be filling orders on 9th November. You may of course continue to place orders at any time; we will acknowledge them and reserve items for you wherever possible. This is our last scheduled break until Christmas. 

*DC: To be honest, the Flash probably had a Rogues Gallery where the villains all had the best costumes and the Trickster, debuting in #113 was one of the most colourful ones, resplendent on the cover of his debut issue. He would go on to have a long and infamous career in the DCU, but this is where he got his start. Wonderful stories by John Broome, illustrated by the magnificent Carmine Infantino at his very best. This is a solid mid-grade copy enriched by DC’s wonderful colour palette. Pence-stamped but otherwise unmarked cover save for a few tiny white specks. A small amount of wear to the top edge and a few short horizontal spine creases which narrowly break colour at their inception. Tight, firm staples and supple good quality off-white pages. 
PICTURED: FLASH #113 VG+ p £120

*Marvel: Another high grade early Daredevil from the Bute Collection. After a little artistic inconsistency in his early issues, the Sightless Swashbuckler lucked out when the superlative Wally Wood took over illustrating his adventures. This is probably the finest Wood issue, marked not only by the premiere of the red Daredevil costume, (replacing his original outfit, which actually looked like it was designed by a blind man…) but also by a genuinely gripping battle in which Daredevil, overpowered by the vastly superior might of the Sub-Mariner, shows such courage and determination that even Namor’s scaly heart is moved to compassion. This is a really nice copy with great cover colour and gloss, tight, firm staples and white to off-white pages. There are a few very narrow stress marks at the spine, with extremely tiny colour breaking at the points of stress. A little handling wear at top edge. There are two very thin white lines at the right edge level with Namor’s hands, which are printing wrinkles from the production process and do not reflect wear. In common with very many copies of this issue, there is a mis-cut along the right edge to the effect that it is very slightly angled in; this is not trimming, but an aspect of the production process. MMMS Wants You box featured on cover.
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL #7 FN/VF £400

*Marvel: Also from the Good Doctor Collection this week, two significant events in the lives of Reed & Sue in Fantastic Four Annuals #3 & #6. #3 features the wedding of Sue & Reed and just about everyone in the Marvel Universe, including Patsy & Hedy and Stan & Jack (even Kid Colt makes a cover appearance!). In #6 Sue gives birth to Franklin, plus there’s the debut of Annihilus.
IN THIS UPDATE: FANTASTIC FOUR BOTH SOLD
ANNUAL #3 GD- p £20 Pence stamped, small lower spine split, blunted corners, much edge wear.
ANNUAL #6 GD p £45 (PICTURED) Pence stamped, spine splits, edge wear and creases. 

*Horror 1940-1959: Two pre-code ACG horror issues from the Bute Collection this week. PICTURED:
THE CLUTCHING HAND NN (#1) FA+ £80 From 1954, the one-shot Clutching Hand, with several stories ranging from 1 page each to several pages each. Cover by Ken Bald, art on stories by Paul Gustavson, Harry Lazarus, John Rosenberger, Sheldon Moldoff, Edmond Good & Ken Landau. Body parts, vampires a doll man, shrunken heads, flowery death, zombies, a killer dog – it’s all here! Spine taped and covers detached from body of comic. Reasonable pages with good staples at centre. Edge wear but good cover image.
SKELETON HAND #6 FA £25 SOLD From 1953, the sixth and final issue of this series, with several stories of varying length. Cover by Sheldon Moldoff, with accomplished interior art (no famous names). A medium, the Devil, imps, a graveyard, a witch, living myths, a demonic monster and a body – that’s all here too! Covers detached and separated; edge wear and back cover staining. Staples okay at centre, if a little rust migration. Reasonable page quality. 
 
 

*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. We have a copy of #1 new in this week, in reasonable condition, but with a heavy horizontal fold and some edge wear. 
PICTURED: JOE 90 #1 GD £70

*Pulp Fiction: New Worlds, the most famous British science-fiction pulp, has what can only be described as a convoluted history since its first publication in 1939. In 1950, a companion title, Science Fantasy, was launched, but when the publisher of both, Nova, went out of business in 1964, the reins were taken up by Roberts & Vintner (later under the Compact imprint), who published both magazines in paperback book format. With Michael Moorcock at the editorial helm, New Worlds championed what became known as the New Wave of science fiction; Science Fantasy retained a more traditional approach to some extent, but both titles were instrumental in developing the careers of Moorcock himself, Brain Aldiss, J G Ballard and Keith Roberts, among many others from both sides of the Atlantic. Science Fantasy later rebranded as Impulse/SF Impulse, with Harry Harrison as the nominal editor, Keith Roberts in actuality. From this period, we have #142 and #163 of New Worlds, #2 and #11 of Impulse; great reading from a seminal time in British SF. New Worlds #142 was the first issue published by Roberts and Vintner and thus the first edited by Michael Moorcock. New Worlds #163 was the first issue I ever read and was thus my personal introduction to the SF New Wave in the shape of the surreal short story You: Coma: Marilyn Monroe by J G Ballard. Both issues of Impulse feature great covers by Keith Roberts; #2 illustrated the ‘Lady Anne’ sequence of his masterwork Pavane. Please see our catalogue for notes on condition. 
PICTURED: 
IMPULSE (UK) 2 Compact APRIL 1966 GD £4 SOLD
(SF) IMPULSE (UK) 11 Compact 1967 GD/VG £5
NEW WORLDS (UK) 142 Roberts & Vintner MAY-JUNE 1964 FA £10 SOLD
NEW WORLDS (UK) 163 Compact JUNE 1966 GD/VG £5

*DC: Also from the Midas Collection this week, five issues of Adventure Comics from 1957/58. In this period, the line-up featured cover and lead story Superboy, with back-ups of Green Arrow and Aquaman (drawn in delightful consistent style by George Papp and Ramona Fradon respectively). UK Silver Age collectors are always keen to get their hands on these issues that lead up to the regular distribution of DC comics in this country starting in 1959, since they have the same feel and flavour as the earliest distributed issues.
PICTURED: ADVENTURE COMICS
#241 GD £32 (PICTURED) Features the female archer Queen Arrow
#242 FA £16.25
#243 FA/GD £23.75 Glued spine
#244 FA/GD £23.75
#248 FA £15.50

*DC: A gang of misfits endowed with strange powers and led by a guy in a wheelchair… sound familiar? Yes, you knew it was the Doom Patrol, didn’t you? Debuting in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963, a few months before the X-Men), the Doom Patrol took over that title, as eventually it morphed with #86 into their own title. Five earlyish issues in lower grade this week.
IN THIS UPDATE: DOOM PATROL ALL SOLD
#92 FA/GD p £5.75
#93 GD £8.25
#94 GD+ p £9.50
#96 PR/FA p £3 Water damaged
#97 GD £8.25 Previous owner’s name in biro above logo 

*Marvel: In the wake of other Marvel hits starring occult characters, and with the Exorcist movie taking big box-office, Stan Lee had originally proposed a series starring Satan himself, but Roy Thomas commuted it to Satan’s offspring, a demon/human hybrid who used his evil-spawned power for good, in rebellion against his father. Daimon Hellstrom duly appeared in Ghost Rider #2 (following a cameo in #1) as an antagonist before moving into his own solo series in Marvel Spotlight, and then progressing to his own book. Daimon remains a prominent character today in the Marvel Universe, though he doesn’t use the Son of Satan soubriquet any more, and in these more sensitive times his origins are usually politely glossed over. We have a nice glossy copy on offer here, pence printed, with great colour, tight and flat with good staples, supple white to off-white pages. Just tiny corner blunting, the odd small mark of wear at the spine and a faint soft crease across the very bottom right cover corner preclude a higher grade. 
PICTURED: GHOST RIDER #2 FN/VF p £60

*Romance: ‘Why, oh why did I ever have to fall in love with a doctor?’ (Hmm…) Thus bemoans Linda Carter on the cover of issue #3 of her 1961 series from Merry Marvel. The life, laughs and loves of a student nurse rendered by Stan Lee & Al Hartley in a nine issue series, of which we have four in this update from the Bute Collection, sadly all in fairly low grade, but with prices to match. We don’t see these on these shores very often, so a rare chance to pick up some issues of this elusive Marvel. Nothing to do with a later Wonder Woman actor… 
IN THIS UPDATE: LINDA CARTER, STUDENT NURSE
#2 FA/GD £19.50 (PICTURED) Long upper spine split
#3 FA £10 2 pin-up pages missing; stories okay. 
#7 FA £13.25 Long spine splits
#9 GD- £22.50 Final issue 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries. Four of the earliest issues of the most famous and longest running Picture Library of them all this week, still going strong after nearly 65 years! This week, we’re pleased to present issues #6-9 from that very first year of publication in 1961. These are all from the same source, where a previous owner had added two extra staples near the spine, which have rusted to varying degrees over the years. They make the copies a little tight to open, but don’t impair the reading of them. The spines were also taped, and some tape remains on some issues, with a residue on others. Nevertheless, the cover colours remain vibrant, with little other wear or creasing and well-preserved pages. Previous owner’s name in biro and small lettering top of back covers. Highly collectable.
PICTURED: COMMANDO
#6 GD £60 SOLD Extra staples, tape residue at spine. Vivid colour cover; clean, crisp pages. 
#7 FA/GD £50 SOLD Extra staples, tape and residue at spine, with a little puckering. Vivid colour cover; clean, crisp pages. 
#8 GD £60 Extra staples, tape residue at spine. Vivid colour cover; clean, crisp pages. 
#9 FA £40 SOLD Extra staples, tape and residue at spine, with moderate puckering. Vivid colour cover; clean, crisp pages. Four staples, so tighter than others. 

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: This week, we return to the famous and long-running Sexton Blake Library. Often dubbed ‘the poor man’s Sherlock Holmes’, there’s still no doubting the popularity of Sexton Blake, who has probably had far more fiction written of him than the world’s greatest detective. Six issues new in this week from the 1950s. These are picture library sized, but mainly text. The series ran from 1915 to 1968. These issues follow the 1956 revamp by W Howard Baker when the covers took on a more gangster/sleazy mode and were drawn by famous book cover artists such as Reginald Heade and David Wright (here on #392). Written by a ‘harem’ of notable writers including Wilfred McNeilly, W Howard Baker, Michael Moorcock (one of many moonlighting as house name Desmond Reid), Peter Saxon and Jack Trevor Story, the longevity of the series is testament to the quality of the plotting and writing.
PICTURED: SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY: ALL AMALGAMATED 1950s ALL SOLD
#377: PANIC IN THE NIGHT by JAMES STAGG GD/VG £6
#378: HOMICIDE BLUES by DESMOND REID GD/VG £6
#379: FLASHPOINT FOR TREASON by DESMOND REID GD/VG £6
#380: DEADLINE FOR DANGER by ARTHUR MACLEAN GD/VG £6
#391: PASSPORT TO DANGER by JAMES STAGG GD £5
#392: THE COPY-CAT KILLINGS by MARTIN THOMAS GD/VG £6

*DC: Unlike its sibling title House Of Mystery, House of Secrets started in 1956 after the Comics Code Authority came in, and thus has no pre-code issues. What it does boast is clever horror/mystery/science fiction stories by some top artists and often classic covers. These early issues are not often seen on these shores and we have half a dozen issues in mixed grades newly available.
IN THIS UPDATE: HOUSE OF SECRETS
#12 GD £21 SOLD Cover by Kirby. Interior art by Baily, Ely, Cameron, Kirby. Edge and corner wear with some creasing. Solid copy with nice pages. 
#14 GD £14.50 SOLD Cover by Brown. Interior art by Purcell, Ely, Meskin, Cardy. Cover loose, off staples. 
#15 VG/FN £36 (PICTURED) SOLD Cover by Brown. Interior art by Moldoff, Roussos, Cameron, Ely. Nice solid, clean copy.  
#16 GD/VG £21 Gorilla Genius cover by Brown. Interior art by Cardy, Ely, Brown. Solid, clean copy with small chip out top edge. 
#19 VG- £24 (PICTURED) Cover by Baily. Interior art by Cardy, Meskin, Baily. Nice copy but colour-breaking creasing across right top corner.
#22 GD+ £15.50 SOLD Cover by Dillin. Interior art by Ely, Elias, Meskin. Minor creasing; some wear spine, top and bottom edges.  

*Marvel: X-Men #17 and #18 was a two-part story, among my favourites that I remember reading when they came out. The red and black cover to #17 was the first I ever remember seeing in that duo-tone effect, and the last full page spread of the story, where it is revealed that the Big Bad is Magneto, despite hardly being a surprise, was very memorable as he confronts Jean Grey’s parents at the school: (‘I? I am power! Men call me — Magneto!), with Prof X and all the X-Men already subdued. All that is except Iceman, who is left to take on Magneto alone in the following issue. I can remember being very impatient for #18 to come out. Two nice mid-grade copies available this week. 
PICTURED: X-MEN
#17 VG- p £50 Pence printed. Some spine and edge wear with a little creasing; good colours with faint mug ring below logo. Tight, firm staples, excellent white to off-white pages. 
#18 VG/FN p £60 Pence printed. Nice unmarked copy with minor spine wear and a faint crease across bottom right corner. Tight, firm staples, excellent white to off-white pages. 

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Beware was one of a multitude of Marvel’s horror reprint series from the Bronze Age, reprinting Pre (mainly) and Post Code horror tales from their 1950s Atlas output. Art featured by Everett, Kirby, Sinnott, Forte, Cola, Tuska, Torres, Infantino, Kane, Wildey and many others. All 8 issues included in this set (after #8, the title changed to Tomb of Darkness from #9), nearly all in pretty nice shape. 
BEWARE #1-8 Complete Set Av. FN/FN+ £100 (#1 PICTURED) SOLD
 

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: A more than welcome restock for one of my favourite book series based on and contemporary with the original TV series as we add six books of the Man From UNCLE fresh in this week. I wrote an appreciation of the Man (and Girl) from UNCLE novels during lockdown, which says (I think) everything you need to know about them. You can read that here. This update, we feature six of the original American paperbacks (which ran in a different sequence to the UK ones). There were 23 of these all together, including all 16 also published in the UK, and 7 that weren’t. I was in UNCLE back in the sixties, had my ID card and everything. Appropriately enough, I was in section IV: Intelligence and Communications (ahem) …
PICTURED: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. ALL SOLD
#1 (US) (AKA THE THOUSAND COFFINS AFFAIR): MICHAEL AVALLONE Ace 1965 1st US PB GD/VG £5
#2 (US) THE DOOMSDAY AFFAIR: HARRY WHITTINGTON Ace 1965 1st US PB GD/VG £5
#3 (US) THE COPENHAGEN AFFAIR: JOHN ORAM Ace 1965 1st US PB GD £4
#4 (US) THE DAGGER AFFAIR: DAVID MCDANIEL Ace 1965 1st US PB GD/VG £5
#5 (US) THE MAD SCIENTIST AFFAIR: JOHN T PHILLIFENT Ace 1966 1st US PB GD/VG £5
#7 (US) THE RADIOACTIVE CAMEL AFFAIR: PETER LESLIE Ace 1966 1st US PB VG £6

*DC: A rare treat this week with a classic from DC from 1945 extracted from the Midas Collection: an early squarebound issue of the omnibus title Comic Cavalcade (which ran from 1942 to 1954). The cover stars, Wonder Woman, Flash & Green Lantern are the big names in solo stories, but there are many other strips as well, including Johnny Everyman, Mutt & Jeff, and an adaptation of a play about Nazi-ism, ‘Tomorrow The World’. Solid squarebound copy with intact spine, although covers are detached from the body of the comic. Staples hold the contents together firmly. Cover creases but nice image. Pages are a really nice white to off-white. 
PICTURED: COMIC CAVALCADE #10 GD £130 SOLD
 

*DC: From our fabulous Arch Collection, 9 issues of the 1982 revival of Blackhawk and his band of fellow international aviators, the fighting team that didn’t let the absence of a war keep them down! Here in fact, at the hands of Mark Evanier and Dan Spiegle, the setting is WWII in this superbly crafted sequence of stories. Hitler was a prominent figure in these tales, and appeared on two of the covers here. The exquisite Domino was the femme fatale. 
IN THIS UPDATE: BLACKHAWK ALL SOLD
#251 FN £2.75 1st issue of revival
#252 VF £3.50
#253 VF £3.50
#254 VF £3.50
#255 FN £5 Hitler cover
#256 FN £2.75
#259 VF £3.50
#260 VF £3.50
#262 VF £6 (PICTURED) Hitler cover

*Marvel: A fan favourite run by Stan and Jack soon after the launch of Captain America’s own series with #100. Cap encounters the Sleeper, the Red Skull and his cronies, Batroc, Power Man and the Swordsman, Dr Faustus, the Trapster and, in #109 Cap’s origin is retold.  
IN THIS UPDATE: CAPTAIN AMERICA
#102 VG+ £22
#103 VG+ p £19.50
#104 GD p £11.75
#105 GD p £11.75
#106 GD p £11.75
#107 FN p £19.75
#108 VG+ £22
#109 VG+ £45 SOLD (PICTURED)

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Wonderworld Comics was an anthology comic from Fox that ran from 1939-1942. Issue #10 features (and cover features) super-hero the Flame, super-hero Yarko the Great, humour with Shorty Shortcake, Adventure/Spy with reporter Patty O’Day, Detective/Mystery with Dr Fung, Western with Tex Maxon, War with Spark Stevens and K51 Spies At War and more. Something for everyone. A stellar line-up of creators includes Lou Fine (cover and Flame story), Will Eisner, Bob Powell, S M Iger, Klaus Nordling and others. This copy presents well, with good cover colours and reflectivity. No cover markings, but a few light creases that don’t break colour. Corners are square and supple pages a surprising white to off-white. There are two distinct defects: the spine is split from the bottom halfway up and is thus off bottom staple, which is also loose at the centrefold (the top staple is tight and firm through to the centre). There is also a (little) finger sized chip out at the top of the spine. A nice-looking copy. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: WONDERWORLD COMICS #10 GD- £500 SOLD

  

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Around 1966/67, John Spencer published four series of limited lifespan, containing black and white stories of the supernatural under colour covers, several stories each issue. All material was original, with Mick Anglo at the artistic helm; some covers were repurposed from Badger Books, by the same publisher. Here is a complete set of one of those series, Macabre Stories #1-6. Hey, we know it was scary ‘cos they used the words ‘unknown’, ‘supernatural’, ‘weird’ and ‘eerie’ on the covers just in case you were in any doubt. These turn up occasionally, but are not  common.
PICTURED: MACABRE STORIES Complete Set #1-6 £65 SOLD
#1 VG
#2 VG
#3 GD/VG
#4 GD/VG
#5 VG
#6 GD

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: The Golden Age Of Detective Fiction was surely between the 1920s and the 1950s, and in this period several women dominated the genre. Agatha Christie remains the most famous, but several of her contemporaries produced equally absorbing work. Like all her fellow ‘Queens’, Dorothy L Sayers moved detective fiction away from pure puzzles and towards works of characterisation and depth. Between 1923 and 1939, Sayers wrote 11 novels featuring the upper-class amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. In 1930, she introduced a leading female character, Harriet Vane, the object of Wimsey’s love. We have three Wimsey novels and one book of short stories featuring Wimsey and others in this update; two are in classic Green Penguin, while two are in the less commonly seen Four Square edition; all date from the early 1960s. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL BY DOROTHY L SAYERS ALL SOLD
BUSMAN’S HONEYMOON Penguin 1963 2nd UK PB thus GD/VG £6
HANGMAN’S HOLIDAY Penguin 1964 3rd UK PB thus VG £6
THE UNPLESANTNESS AT THE BELLONA CLUB Four Square 1963 1st UK PB thus GD £6
WHOSE BODY? Four Square 1963 1st UK PB thus FA/GD £4

*DC: One of Jack Kirby’s last projects at DC before absconding to Marvel in the early 1960s was to co-create the Challengers of the Unknown, the tale of four daring adventurers who, having survived a disaster in common, were ‘Living on Borrowed Time’, and decided to devote that time to the betterment of others. After four try-out appearances in Showcase, Prof, Ace, Red and Rocky graduated to their own series, the first eight of which were drawn by Kirby, with inks by Wally Wood on the last four of those. Three of those issues new in this week. Tales of space, monsters, super-villains, magic, robots and the like, featuring June, the ‘honorary’ fifth Challenger.  
PICTURED: CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN
#3 GD/VG £85 SOLD A reasonable copy with intact spine and good staples (upper loose at centrefold). Spine and edge wear with quite a few spidery creases that break colour, but nice central image with good colours. A couple of small tears right edge. Decent cream-coloured pages. 
#7 VG £70 Nice intact copy with just one small mark in pen within logo. Edge wear is very moderate. Staples are tight and firm, pages a very decent off-white. 
#8 VG+ £80 Bright copy with good gloss, intact spine and firm tight staples. Minor stress marks break colour at spine. Tiny amounts of other edge wear. Nice pages are off-white to cream. Small spine split at bottom. 
Special Bonus: We have a copy of #5 which is incomplete – centrefold out and story pages missing. This will be sent free of charge to the buyer of #3.
 

*Marvel: Following the cancellation of his original series, Dr Strange was revived for a further run in Marvel Premiere #3-14. From his reintroduction in issue #3 – presented rather splendidly by Stan Lee and Barry Smith – through a miasma of Lovecraftian themed stories by a (hoary?) host of creators to #14, the conclusion of Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner’s epic and controversial Sise-Neg storyline, as this writer and artist pairing formed a definitive vision for the Doctor in the 1970s. After this Dr Strange regained his own title. Other people who worked on this short but beautifully-crafted run include noted artists P. Craig Russell and Jim Starlin – but being old Silver Age DC fans ourselves, we’re more enthused by the fact that this strip also marked one of the last writing gigs of the late, great Gardner Fox! 
IN THIS UPDATE: MARVEL PREMIERE ALL SOLD
#3 VG+ £20 (PICTURED)
#4 VG/FN £12
#5 VG £5
#6 GD £2.75
#7 VG/FN £6.25
#8 FN- £6.75
#9 FN+ £9.50
#10 FN £35 1st Shuma-Gorath; death of Ancient One
#11 FN/VF £10.25
#12 VF- £11.75
#13 FN £7.50
#14 FN £7.50