*DC: Issue #28 of Shazam from 1977 featured the return of one of Captain Marvel’s most powerful nemeses, Black Adam, who gained his mighty powers from the same source as the Captain himself. Having only appeared previously in the Golden Age Marvel Family #1 (1945), this modern-day debut was the second-ever appearance of Teth-Adam and his super-powered alter ego, and interest has continued in this issue ever since the casting of grappling thespian Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Teth-Adam/Black Adam in Captain Marvel’s movie debut. This is a decent pence-stamped copy getting towards mid-grade, flat and unmarked, with tight and firmly attached staples. Some corner blunting and a little edge wear, but nothing serious. Nice pages; perhaps just a little bit tired, keeping the grade down.
PICTURED: SHAZAM #28 VG+ p £225

*DC: Our latest catalogue expansion features Batman #431-449. Lots of landmark stories in this range: The Many Deaths of the Batman, Year 3, featuring the debut of Tim Drake, who would go on to adopt the Robin costume in the conclusion of A Lonely Place Of Dying (#442), Batman in Russia and The Penguin Affair. Full details as always in our catalogue.

*Marvel: A real treat from the Good Doctor this week, from a fellow practitioner! Following the relaxation of distribution regulations in 1968, Marvel expanded by cancelling its double-featured books Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense, giving each hero space to breathe in his own comic. Three, however, continued the numbering of their parent titles, and one such was Doctor Strange, former star of Strange Tales, whose first solo issue was numbered #169. This opening issue of Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme was a book-length retelling of his origins, scripted by Roy Thomas and lavishly illustrated by Dan Adkins, normally regarded only as an inker but here supplying full artwork. A bright cents copy, tight and flat with firmly attached staples, vibrant colour, good cover gloss and nice white to off-white pages (more white than off-white). Very minor edge and spine wear, a couple of small stress marks at spine, and a little bit of creasing just breaking colour at the very top of the right corner of the cover. A good-looking copy that presents very well. The Doctor is in right now, dominating the big screen.
PICTURED: DOCTOR STRANGE #169 FN+ £450

*Marvel: If you’re looking for really nice copies of Amazing Spider-Man for your collection, then look no further than the Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection. All high grade; even the few that fall below VF (and most are above) are really good-looking copies – no duds here, and nearly all cents copies. Three consecutive issues this week: Spidey’s second encounter with the Lizard in #44 & #45 and a Mighty Marvel Firsts moment with the Shocker in #46.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#44 VF £250 Beautifully lustrous colour cover with great purple and black background. A minimum of edge and spine wear. Tight and flat with firmly attached staples. Almost white, supple pages. SOLD
#45 VF+ £195 Gorgeous reflective unmarked cover with bright colours. Virtually no wear at all except for two or three tiny stress marks (not breaking colour) at the spine below the bottom staple. Sharp corners, supple white pages, staples firmly attached.
#46 FN/VF £350 1st Shocker. Bright and glossy colour cover. Very minor wear at top edge and top of right edge. Supple white to off-white pages. Staples firmly attached. There is a very faint discolouration mark (smaller than a little fingernail) on the Spidey head in the masthead box.

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: A curiosity from the prestigious Bute Collection this week: The Green Lama was a quirky super-hero published by Spark/Pize commencing in 1944 and lasting for 8 issues. He starred in an anthology title that featured him on cover and lead, backed up by such diverse series such as Boy Champions, Rick Masters, Lieut. Hercules, Angus Mac Erc and others. The Green Lama himself however is the star of the show, with the superb artwork of Mac Raboy gracing both the covers and the stories. For those that need to know, the Lama derived his powers from the Tibetan mystics rather than from being bitten by a radioactive camelid ungulate. Low grades on these issues make them very affordable sidebars in comics’ history.
PICTURED: THE GREEN LAMA ALL SOLD
#1 FA £60 Top half of back cover missing; remainder detached off both staples. Some corner creasing but strong cover image.
#2 FA/GD £50 Great WWII cover. Long spine splits. mostly detached from staples. Strong cover image.
#3 FA/GD £35 Front cover held on (just to top staple); back cover detached. Strong cover image.
#5 FA/GD £35 Great WWII cover. Fully taped spine; interior margin staining. Strong cover image.

*Horror 1940-1959: L B Cole was one of the most famous of Golden/Atomic Age cover artists. He drew in a variety of genres, and was artistic director at Star, illustrating 95% of the company’s covers; his lurid, feverish style, almost hallucinogenic, graced horror, science-fiction, jungle and romance alike. Shocking Mystery Cases (1952) lasted 11 issues from #50 to #60, and whilst ostensibly a crime title, all the content has strong horror overtones. Issue #51 follows a familiar Star pattern: a new lead story by the stylish Jay Disbrow, backed up with Fox reprints from the 1940s. However, as with all the comics in this Miasma feature, it is the L B Cole cover for which this is highly prized, and he is nowhere more psychedelic than here with a swirling two colour pattern emanating from a solitary, disembodied eye, a murderer, a corpse and two bloody heads. This copy is vibrant, fresh and colourful, with a beautifully intact spine (just very minor non-colour breaking creases), tight and firmly attached staples and gorgeous high quality white to off-white pages. Fairly minor defects include a tiny chip off the top right cover corner (see scan), and a tiny piece of tape inside cover sealing a 2 cm tear at the bottom right cover corner. High resolution images are available on request.   
PICTURED: SHOCKING MYSTERY CASES #51 VG+ £525

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: We conclude our run of original owner copies of Super-Detective Library this week with seven final additions. Detectives such as Inspector Chafik, Lesley Shane, Paul & Rita Darrow and the Toff go about their adventures in a mixture of traditional and exotic locales. The condition on these is very consistent.
IN THIS UPDATE: SUPER-DETECTIVE LIBRARY
#47 VG/FN £17.50 Inspector Chafik: Baghdad Manhunt
#50 VG/FN £17.50 Paul Darrow: Lost In The Underworld
#51 GD/VG £11 Lesley Shane: The Mystery Of Table 13
#52 VG £12 Inspector Chafik: Who Kiled The Ghost?
#54 VG £12 (PICTURED) Paul Darrow: The Riddle Of The Blue Men
#60 VG £12 The House Of The Seven Flies
#61 VG £12 The Toff At Butlin’s

*Girls’ Comics: A further update to our stocks of the long-lived (1957-1974) Valentine comic this week, with many of the issues from 1964 added, including the Easter issue for that year. A delightful mix of romance strips and pop music content, typified nowhere better than the cover stories which portrayed a comic strip based on a hit song from the pop charts of the time. Mixed condition on these; inevitable rusty staples abound, but generally decent. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: VALENTINE 4/4/64 GD/VG £10.50 Easter issue

Following our short hiatus from listings, we’re back tomorrow with another exciting batch of updates, featuring selections from the Good Doctor, Totally Amazing Spider-Man and Bute Collections, as well as this week’s British #1 issue plus a whole lot more. All here as usual and in our latest newsletter in its regular Saturday morning 10 a.m. (ish) slot – stay tuned!

*DC: This issue has a double-feature of debuts, of one of Barry Allen’s closest allies and one of his most relentless nemeses. The cover devotes itself to the meteorological shenanigans of the Weather Wizard, making the first of many appearances, but lurking unheralded within is the debut and origin of Wally West, aka Kid Flash, who shared Barry’s adventures (and became an integral part of the Teen Titans) for decades before assuming the mantle of the Flash himself. This early issue of the Silver Age Flash (which relaunched with #105, following the numbering of the Golden Age Flash Comics) is a nice mid-grade  pence stamped copy, with a great colour cover, firm staples at spine and centrefold, very nice off-white pages and a minimum of wear (slight corner blunting). Its worst fault is a small 2.5 cm colour-breaking crease across the bottom cover right edge, with a tiny chip out at its higher end. Beautifully supple and a joy to possess.
PICTURED: FLASH #110 VG £450 SOLD

*Marvel: There must have been something in the stars for Dr Doom and the number 5; after debuting in Fantastic Four #5, he turns up in Amazing Spider-Man #5 to take on everyone’s favourite friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler. How can Spidey beat the monarch of Latveria? Well… he can’t actually, but I don’t want to spoil the ending for you. This pence printed copy is a beauty, with a clean and colourful vibrant, glossy cover, hardly any corner blunting and an absolute minimum of edge wear. Staples are firmly attached at spine and centrefold. No creasing apart from a small dink at the base of the spine which barely breaks colour and a soft narrow crease on the bottom edge of the back cover only. Pages are supple, flexible and on the white side of off-white. Conservatively graded at FN+. High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #5 FN+ p £1,900

*Marvel: Also from the Good Doctor this week, ten consecutive issues of Iron Man from #11-20, festooned with a stellar collection of friends and foes, including the 1st Controller in #12, and the 1st Madame Masque in #17. Mostly really nice higher graded copies.
IN THIS UPDATE: IRON MAN
#11 VF £75 (PICTURED)
#12 VG/FN p £30 1st Controller SOLD
#13 FN- £33 SOLD
#14 FN- £33 SOLD
#15 VF+ £65 (PICTURED)
#16 VF- £50 (PICTURED) SOLD
#17 FN £50 (PICTURED) 1st Madame Masque SOLD
#18 FN+ £38
#19 FN+ £38
#20 FN/VF p £30

*Marvel: Another selection from the comprehensive high grade Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection this week, featuring a consecutive run from #364-375. This run features many of Spidey’s most famous foes, plus the Black Cat, the Red Skull, the Invasion of the Spider-Slayers storyline and two anniversary issues: #365 (hologram cover 30th Anniversary), and #375 (30th Anniversary of Amazing #1).
IN THIS UPDATE: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#364 VF/NM £16.25
#365 VF+ £30 Hologram cover
#366 VF+ £19
#367 VF £14.75
#368 NM £19
#369 VF+ £20.50
#370 VF £15
#371 VF £10
#372 VF £15
#373 VF+ £17.50
#374 NM- £33 Venom cover
#375 (PICTURED) NM- £50 Venom foil cover

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Another rare opportunity to acquire a Timely gem from the Bute Collection this week. Marvel Mystery Comics was Timely’s anthology title and issue #24 (October 1941) in this update features Sub-Mariner by Everett, the Vision by Kirby, Human Torch & Toro by Carl Burgos, Angel, Ka-Zar, Patriot & Terry Vance. A typically distinctive Human Torch cover by Alex Schomburg. Unfortunately, this copy is a poor specimen, missing its back cover and with the front cover fully detached. Notable edge wear on front cover, previous owner’s name written on leading ‘M’ of logo, considerable edge and corner wear on page margins, but all present and stories untouched. 
PICTURED: MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #24 PR £400 SOLD

*Alan Class Reprints: For many years now, we’ve been scouring the personal archives of legendary publisher Alan Class (who is still very much with us) and with his full co-operation, releasing for sale sets of the original printing plates that were used to print the covers of his comics from 1959-1989. We have now reached the final phase of these plate set releases, which will last us throughout 2022. These sets are time-consuming to prepare, so our release schedule will be staggered. But the good news is that all the sets we have left are among the best, either featuring a classic Marvel comic reprint, or else a very early fantasy/mystery issue. So, this final phase represents your last opportunity to add one or more of these unique pieces to your collection. Each set comprises the lead printing plates used in the original comic’s colour printing, a copy of the comic printed with these plates and a signed certificate of authenticity signed by Alan Class himself. These are packaged in a special protective presentation case. Several sets (as noted) have additional historical artefacts such as colour proofs, interior page plates, printers’ photostats etc. (Please be aware that these weigh a lot and postage will be expensive. Also note that due to the onerous paperwork required for customs declarations following Brexit, we can no longer post these Plate Sets outside the UK.) A pair of early fantasy/mystery issues with Kirby & Ditko this week, as follows: BOTH SOLD
ASTOUNDING #10  £50 Comic FN;  Reprints ACG, Charlton, 1 Ditko plus cover, 1 Captain Midnight
SINISTER TALES #10 £65 Comic FA/GD; Reprints Atlas, pre-hero Marvel, 2 Everett, 1 Ditko, 2 Kirby. Extras: Post decimal copy of #191 with same content; 2 cover colour proofs for that issue,  2 interior black and white proofs.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: In the 1960s, IPC/Fleetway launched not one, but two weekly adventure comics that were heavily promoted as “Companion papers to Valiant”, neither of which, peculiarly, ended up merging with Valiant; one such was Hurricane, which merged with Tiger and the other was Champion. 1966’s Champion #1 looked a bit odd to contemporary audiences, because more than half its content (though the readers had no way of knowing it at the time) was reprinted from European sources. Among the new material, though, was some imaginative stuff, including ‘Return of the Stormtroopers’, ‘School for Spacemen’, and a bona-fide superhero, ‘The Phantom Viking’. Readers didn’t take to the imports, though and after only fifteen issues, the title folded into Lion, with ‘Phantom Viking’, ‘Stormtroopers’ and a couple of humour strips making the leap across. This debut issue of a now-collectable short run, sadly lacking its Free Gift, is a very respectable VG, slightly misfolded at spine (as from new), but with clean, attractive pages and no markings.
PICTURED: CHAMPION #1 VG £40 SOLD

*DC: After more than a decade of anticipation and demand, DC revived All-Star Comics, home of the Justice Society of America, in 1976 with #58 – continuing the numbering from the Golden Age. The veteran heroes were joined by three (relative) youngsters in the ill-named and short-lived ‘Super Squad’. One new addition was Power Girl, cousin of the Earth-2 Superman, who was a very different proposition from Earth-1’s Supergirl, and became the breakout star of the series, not just because of her zaftig appearance (though that didn’t hurt, especially as designed and illustrated by Wally Wood), but also because of her forthright, take-no-prisoners personality. This is a nice cents copy, bright with some gloss and great colour, staples tight and firm at spine and centrefold, supple off-white to cream pages and just a little corner blunting and handling wear at the spine and right edge.
PICTURED: ALL STAR COMICS #58 FN/VF £100 SOLD

*DC: Almost every issue of Superboy added to our stock this week from #101 all the way up to #196 (the series changing its name to Superboy & The Legion Of Super-Heroes from #197). Lots of memorable moments in this long run, including the first appearances of Swifty, Insect Queen, Kid Psycho, the Space Canine Patrol Agents and Wildfire, as well as 80 Page Giants celebrating the best of Superboy stories from even further back. Lots of Legion appearances, both in reprint and in brand new stories which were to eventually take over the title. See our catalogue for the most comprehensive selection of Superboy we’ve ever offered.

*Marvel: Also from the Good Doctor this week, five issues of Tales To Astonish before the Hulk joined the title, so starring first Ant-Man, later joined by the Wasp, and later evolving into Giant-Man. Debuting several denizens of Hank Pym’s rogues’ gallery, some who would achieve infamy, others who didn’t quite make it…
IN THIS UPDATE: TALES TO ASTONISH
#42 VG+ p £75 (PICTURED) 1st Jason Cragg (who?). Pence printed, strong colour, good staples, a few small chips out at edges, but otherwise solid. SOLD
#48 GD/VG p £35 1st Porcupine. Pence printed, reading wear at spine, small corner off back cover. SOLD
#50 FA p £7.25 1st Human Top. Pence printed, spine roll, heavily taped spine.
#57 GD- p £39 Guest-starring Spider-Man, featuring Egghead. Wasp solo story. Pence printed, cover tears at spine, spine frail at staples, tiny scuff mark, crayon mark above logo.
#58 VF p £95 (PICTURED) 1st Colossus (no, not the X-Man!). Wasp solo story. Pence printed; beautiful high grade copy with great cover colour and gloss, tight staples, off-white to white pages, just minor handling wear and narrow wear along top edge.

*Marvel: We conclude our Steranko A Go-Go feature this week, which has showcased the Silver Age Marvel super-hero work of Jim Steranko, one of our favourite artists and one of the most innovative. His storytelling, both words and pictures, sums up the spirit of the late 1960s, and his all too brief body of work has always left his fans clamouring for more. Steranko depicted the Hulk on two covers (here and Captain America #110) and, in my opinion, defined the character with those two illustrations. 1968 saw first-ever Hulk Annual, a 50 page extravaganza by Gary Friedrich and the talented Marie Severin in which our favourite not-so-jolly green giant travelled to Attilan and fell out with Black Bolt, leader of the reclusive race of super-beings known as the Inhumans. Needless to say – spoiler alert – wannabe usurper Maximus is behind the hostilities, and has assembled his own band of rebel Inhumans to further bedevil our hero. This superior cents copy has vibrant colour and gloss, totally unmarked, a solid squarebound spine, firm staples and nice off-white pages. Wear is minimal at edges, with minor corner blunting and virtually no creasing. The back cover has a tiny nick centre right edge.
PICTURED: HULK ANNUAL #1 FN+ £285 SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: We turn our attention to this week’s selections from the Bute Collection. The super-hero revival by Atlas of their Timely characters in the 1950s attracts great demand and the issues are not at all common, particularly here in the UK. Men’s Adventures was an Atlas title that went through lots of changes, starting out as sci-fi mystery, switching to war and then full-bodied horror. It ended its life as a home for the super-hero revival, and all in 28 issues. Just the final two issues were super-hero issues, and it is the last one, #28 that concerns us here. Beneath a Human Torch cover, three stories await, all drawn by artists who would become cornerstones of the later Marvel universe: Human Torch & Toro by Dick Ayers, Captain America & Bucky by John Romita and Sub-Mariner by Bill Everett. This is a reasonable copy from 1954, with a good cover scene, and although there is some erosion to the upper and lower right edges throughout, this doesn’t impinge on the stories. Good solid staples and a shiny cover. 
PICTURED: MEN’S ADVENTURES #28 GD- £180 SOLD

*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: Vampirella is a fictional vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and designed by comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing’s black and white horror comics magazine of the same name, which began publication in 1969 as a sister publication of Creepy and Eerie. Originally a horror story hostess, albeit with a lead story each issue, she evolved into a horror/drama leading character and the Warren magazine was published continuously until 1983, when Warren ceased publishing and Vampi passed to other hands – she’s pretty much been in print ever since and has starred in her own movie and other media. Her debut issue sports a memorable Frank Frazetta cover and a veritable Who’s Who of 1970s horror artists adorn her pages. We have nice copies of the first two issues from the Bute Collection this week to tempt you…
PICTURED: VAMPIRELLA
#1 FN £1,175 (Below) Lovely glossy, vibrant copy, tight and flat with good staples and page quality and very minimal edge wear, marred only by a series of small colour-breaking spine stress marks. High resolution images are available on request.
#2 FN+ £200 (Above) Glossy and vibrant, tight and flat with good staples and page quality and very minimal edge wear. Minor stress marks at spine and a couple of vertical colour-breaking creases near the right edge of the cover.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: One of the icons of British comics’ history, Eagle started up in 1950; every issue of its twenty year run starred Dan Dare, its most famous son. We’re always selling lots of Eagles, and we’re delighted to have added a fair few issues from Volumes 6, 7 and 9 this week, nearly all in FN grade, and the majority of them filling gaps in the listings. Consult our catalogue to fill your gaps!

*Girls’ Comics: More issues of Bunty from her first year of 1958 this week, issues between #21 and #49. A mixture of grades, some nice, some not so nice. A few, as listed, have small amounts of cover graffiti, but this is not too obtrusive in most cases. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: BUNTY #24 VG £20

This week, we commence releases from the Bute Collection, the prestige vintage collection we trailed last week.

Named after a favourite place of the owner (Bute is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland), this is the personal reference collection of a working comics artist and author who wishes to remain anonymous. Derived from a multiplicity of sources over decades, but characterised by an astonishing depth, breadth and diversity of American and British items from the 1930s onwards, including many seldom seen on these shores, in a variety of grades.

Most categories in our catalogue will be covered, and we will be branding comics from the Bute Collection with special labels and a logo on our What’s New page. If you’re a lover of vintage comics, you’ll enjoy the ride, and you’re certain to find many comics you’d love to add to your collection.