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American Update: The Return of Slab Happy: World’s Best Comics #1 1941

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC27th February 2021

*DC: Our Slab Happy feature, showcasing third party graded and slabbed comics, is back with a bang this week, with something rather special. World’s Best Comics #1, Spring 1941 (retitled World’s Finest Comics from #2 onwards) is the first of the long-running series starring DC’s biggest stars, Superman and Batman with Robin. Other strips in this giant 96 page issue include Crimson Avenger, Johnny Thunder, The King, Young Dr. Davis, Zatara, Lando, Man of Magic and Red, White & Blue. Writers include Siegel, Fox & Finger, artists Fleisel, Lampert, Gustavson, Purcell & Kane, with a classic cover from Fred Ray. This is CGC blue label (unrestored) graded as 0.5 (incomplete). From the CGC label: Page 1 & 48 missing, affects story; cover detached; white pages. Since this is slabbed, probably never to be read, the missing pages aren’t really a problem (although they keep it affordable in relative terms); the front and (illustrated) back covers are totally intact and look great. One of the most iconic and historically important comics we’ve ever had through our hands, now 80 years old. 
PICTURED: WORLD’S BEST COMICS #1 CGC 0.5 INCOMPLETE £880

Posted in What's New

American Update: Batmania: Joker Cover and Story in Detective #341

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*DC: Joker appearances are always highly prized and collected, and here in Detective #341, we have a rare depiction of him by Carmine Infantino, who captures his wildness in a way perhaps few former artists had done in ‘The Joker’s Comedy Capers’. There’s also a lovely Elongated Man back-up, also by Infantino. A lovely superior-graded copy, pence stamped, great cover colour and gloss, white to off-white pages, tight and firmly-attached staples. Edge and handling wear are minor; there are a couple of small stamped numbers above the logo, which do not detract from the cover image.
PICTURED: DETECTIVE COMICS #341 FN/VF p £55 SOLD

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American Update: Spider-Mania/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut and origin of Morbius in Amazing #101-102

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*Marvel: By his 101st issue, Spider-Man had become temporarily encumbered with six arms, leaving him a true eight-limbed arachnoid hero; but more importantly, he met a foe who was destined to become one of the Marvel Universe’s prime anti-heroes. Following the 1971 relaxation of the Comics Code Authority (which had hitherto banned mention of vampires and werewolves in the wake of the 1950s horror comics scare), the floodgates were opened for all manner of supernatural beings; one of the first was Michael Morbius, tragic scientist who, while not a traditional vampire, gained many vampiric attributes after an experiment gone awry. Among said attributes: enhanced strength, speed, senses… and an uncontrollable craving for human blood. A big hit with the Spider-Man audience, Morbius the Living Vampire first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #101 and #102 revealed his tragic origin; he then made a rapid reappearance in Marvel Team-Up #3, graduating to his own series in Fear thereafter. There have been several Morbius series in the intervening decades, and the upcoming Morbius flick is leading to a heightened demand for his premier appearances. Our latest copy of #101 is very decent, pence printed, with a great unmarred cover image, good colour and gloss, tight and firmly-attached staples and nice page quality. There is minor wear/blunting at corners and spine and the odd unobtrusive handling mark; very small crease across the tiniest bit of the bottom right corner. #102 is a squarebound extra-length giant, also featuring the Lizard, pence printed, with great cover colour and gloss, minor corner blunting, totally intact spine and good tight staples; some puckering at the bottom spine, probably from the glue used on squarebounds and a tiny scuff on the back cover; a very nice copy.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#101 FN- p £290
#102 FN+ p £70 SOLD

Posted in What's New

American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: X-Men #129 – The Double Debut of Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*Marvel: X-Men issue #129 introduced not one, but two, characters who were to become major players in the lives of the X-Men. Kitty Pryde, the young immaterial ingenue, made her debut as a pupil at Xavier’s school, and went on to become a central part of the series, eventually becoming the leader of the team, while Emma Frost, White Queen of the Hellfire Club, dedicated her telepathic prowess to the X-Men’s destruction – though that dedication hasn’t prevented her from occasionally joining the group herself, and seducing Cyclops whenever Jean Grey happens to be dead for a while! Our latest #129 is a fabulous cents copy, looks as good as new; extremely minor stress marks to the bottom of the spine (I’m being really picky here) and a small faint crease at the top left back cover are the only signs this has ever been handled and read.
PICTURED: X-MEN #129 VF+ £120 SOLD

Posted in What's New

American Update: The Big Panty Monsters are back in Strange Tales Annual #1, the First Marvel Annual

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*Marvel: In 1962, Marvel published their first annual, Strange Tales Annual #1, an all reprint affair featuring a plethora of those monster and science-fiction stories from the earliest days of Marvel, not all from Strange Tales (a previous owner, as well as writing his name at the top of the splash page, has helpfully annotated the bottom of the splash of each story with the issue it originally appeared in, although we haven’t verified this). By now familiar names such as Grottu, Shagg and Diablo rub shoulders with more conventional sci-fi, all as depicted by Kirby, Ditko and others. A great package, and one we don’t see too often. This copy, sadly, has seen better days; the spine is taped (clear magic tape) and there is tape and tape residue on the cover near the spine as well; many cover creases and a small hole in the back cover, but complete and nice to have in your collection nevertheless. 
PICTURED: STRANGE TALES ANNUAL #1 FA £33 SOLD

Posted in What's New

American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Earliest Appearances of Cable

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC3rd March 2021

*Marvel: Issues #86-88 of New Mutants featured the earliest appearances of Cable, a man from an apocalyptic near-future, son of Scott Summers by a cloned replica of Jean Grey, who came back in time to prevent his own future from coming to pass. Or something like that. His powers include metal bits, a strappy costume, really big guns, and glaring a lot. With a shiny eye, for no very good reason. Anyway, he took over the stewardship of the New Mutants from Magneto, and eventually honed the survivors into X-Force, a dubious achievement for which no-one should thank him. He’s since bobbed back between ‘now’ and the future, interfering with his own and the world’s time stream, and accosting various mutant children to become the Hope of the World. Kind of a perma-grumpy Mary Poppins, he’s a super-powered nanny with metal limbs. Confusing back history and ambiguous abilities or not, his co-starring role in the record-breaking second Deadpool film has caused interest in the character’s early appearances to peak. #86 is a cameo appearance, #87 his first full appearance and #88 his second. All nice copies as you might expect of this vintage, the #87 has minor stress marks at the spine and a little handling wear at the right edge. See our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: NEW MUTANTS #87 VF- £70 SOLD

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American Update: Marvel ‘I’ List: Inhumans, Iron Man

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC27th February 2021

*Marvel: We’ve reached the letter ‘I’ in our alphabetical jaunt through the Marvel Universe, which as far as this update is concerned is represented by Inhumans (from #1) and Iron Man (later issues between #161 & #222). Full details of course in our catalogue.

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American Update: What’s Old: Pre-Code Horror Fest: Eerie #3, #4 & #6

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*Horror 1940-1959: What’s Old is our feature where we highlight stuff from our catalogue that you may have missed. This week, one of the most famous horror titles of the 1950s. Confident of the success of their horror showcase, Avon Publishing followed up their 1951 debut issue with an ongoing series. Always a quality title, showcasing the work of Wally Wood & Joe Kubert, among many others, with evocative preludes in moody black and white on the inner front covers. Issue #3 is structurally sound but with mild ‘rippling’ and very faint cover image erosion from historical moisture exposure. Issue #4 has a chip missing at top of spine and a few chips out upper edge. Issue #6 #6 has quite a worn spine, but okay in other respects. Despite these flaws, the striking quality of the work remains undiminished.
PICTURED: EERIE
#3 FA/GD £150
#4 FA/GD £120 SOLD

#6 GD/VG £200

 

Posted in What's New

American Update: Whoever Knows Fear Burns At The Touch Of The Man-Thing

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC27th February 2021

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Marvel’s entry into the muck monster stakes comprehensively updated this week, with almost every issue of Man-Thing (1st series) now available in a choice of grades and prices, including Giant-Size Man-Thing. (One of our most esteemed customers once remarked that Giant-Size Man-Thing was his favourite comics’ title; think about it.)

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British Update: Miller Horror: Mystic, Spellbound, Voodoo & Zombie inc #1 issues

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: In the years before Alan Class got going, Len Miller was the big name in ‘faux’ American comics in the UK, reprinting much material that would otherwise not have seen the light of day on our shores. Prominent among his offerings were four horror titles, reprinting Atlas and early Marvel horror/mystery tales: Mystic, Spellbound, Voodoo & Zombie, all keenly collected these days. We have two #1 issues in this update: Spellbound & Voodoo, plus a smattering of Mystic (#30), Voodoo (#3) and Zombie (#2) all in decent shape.
PICTURED:
SPELLBOUND #1 VG/FN £80 SOLD
VOODOO #1 VG+ £40

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British Update: A Boys’ Picture Library Miscellany: Pocket Detective, Suspense, Thriller

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: A bit of a round-up this week as we feature Pocket Detective Library, a couple of Suspense Holiday Specials from 1977 and 1979 and a few Thriller Picture Libraries between #87 and #143.
PICTURED:
SUSPENSE PICTURE LIBRARY HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1977 FN £9 SOLD
THRILLER COMICS LIBRARY #105 VG £12

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British Update: Countdown #1 VF

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*TV & Film Related Comics: When the first series of TV Century 21 faltered, competitors Polystyle were quick to generate a successor in ‘Countdown’, featuring many of the most popular Gerry Anderson TV shows in comic strip form. Fireball XL5, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, Stingray all graced its pages, plus a brand-new sci-fi strip ‘Countdown’, illustrated rather spiffily by John M. Burns, and the star power of a Doctor Who comic series imported from TV Comic! This classy, slick package is fondly remembered and avidly collected today. Our latest copy of Countdown #1 is an exceptional VF, a high grade for a British comic only possible because of the superior paper quality, tight staples, flat white pages, vibrant colour, sharp corners; minor stress marks at the spine. Please note this copy does not come with Free Gift.
PICTURED: COUNTDOWN #1 VF £70 SOLD

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British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Princess Tina 1968

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*Girls’ Comics: We’ve had one of these before (quite recently, in fact), but despite that I must stress the rarity of these Free Gift issues. So it’s Princess Tina 2/3/68 complete with ‘This Lovely Necklace’ (real plastic pearls). The comic is VG, as is the gift; the necklace is still sealed in its original plastic bag, but has sustained damage at some point in its history, so that the string of the pearls is broken at one point. The price reflects that.
PICTURED: PRINCESS TINA 2/3/68 VG WITH FREE GIFT VG £30 SOLD

 

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British Update: More True Life Library

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: Aimed at the adult female reader (or older adolescent), these often beautifully drawn romance comics from Amalgamated Press (later Fleetway) dealt with slightly more mature themes such as infidelity, divorce, or marital discord — though always discreetly alluded to, and with the inevitable happy ending! We have nearly 50 new issues this week, from #151 up to #199, almost complete. While these are overall in a remarkable state of preservation for their age, with mostly glossy covers and bright interior pages; staple rust has unfortunately affected most of them to some degree, and we have adjusted the grades accordingly. In general, they’re averaging VG, with several FN and a few dropping to GD, though it must be observed that, staple rust aside, most of them would achieve a full grade higher.
PICTURED: TRUE LIFE LIBRARY #167 VG £7 SOLD

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Books Update: Two wonderful hardcovers with Reginald Heade dust jackets

Posted on 27th February 2021 by 30CC28th February 2021

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: I’ve banged on here before about the quality of work by Reginald Heade, dubbed ‘England’s Greatest Artist’ for his book covers in the 1940s and 1950s, so of course we’re pleased to have two new examples fresh into stock this week, and great examples at that. The first is Harbour Lights by Anne Duffield, a first hardcover edition from 1953 and a fine specimen of Heade’s romance cover work. (Yes, we know romance isn’t exactly crime, spies or sleaze, but whilst we don’t plan on having a romance category, we’re not letting that stop us stocking anything by Heade!). A VG/FN book in a GD/VG dust jacket, with minor creasing at the bottom spine and a slight loss at the top spine and back cover, but the art is totally undamaged. The second selection is more appropriate for this category, and a classic thriller to boot – part of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu sequence, one of the great villains of English literature. This is Daughter Of Fu Manchu, a second UK HC VG/FN from 1955 in a GD/VG dust jacket, sporting a stunning Heade interpretation of the title character. The dust jacket has a small loss to the top of the spine and a couple of tears on the rear, but the front cover image is totally unspoilt. Two very disparate looks at the art of Reginald Heade, both from the same publisher, Cassell.
PICTURED:
HARBOUR LIGHTS by Anne Duffield VG/FN in GD/VG DJ 1953 £15
DAUGHTER OF FU MANCHU by Sax Rohmer VG/FN in GD/VG DJ 1955 £40 SOLD

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American Update: Batmania/DC Debuts: Batman #313 & #323, 1st & 2nd Tim Fox, Future State Batman

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*DC: It’s a funny old game, this hobby. You can have a perfectly good issue of Batman, featuring a tussle with one of his major foes (Two-Face) which has been around for 40 years and only accumulated a modest value, then suddenly, overnight, DC announce that a hitherto minor character incidentally introduced in that very issue is to become the new Batman in their current Future State storyline, and the collectors and speculators go wild. So, we offer a chance to get a decent copy of the first appearance of Tim Fox (#313) in lovely condition, with just a tiny amount of edge wear, plus his second appearance (#323 FN/VF p £28), minor creasing to back cover and minor handling wear, at the current market values. Are they good investments? Well, the last copy we had of #313, just three weeks ago, sold instantly…
PICTURED: BATMAN #313 VF £150

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American Update: If you go down to the swamp today… Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*DC: A chunky update to one of comics’ greatest sequences: Alan Moore’s classic run on Swamp Thing, with nearly 20 high grade issues fresh into stock between #20 and #41 plus Annual #2, including #20 (1st Moore Script) and #21 (his defining new origin for the character). When Moore took over Swampy with issue #20 of his second series, he was just another muck monster (albeit one with great pedigree), but Moore transformed the series into one of dark, gothic ecological thriller, penetrating to the heart of the darker side of the USA as perhaps only an Englishman could. Myriad denizens of DC’s supernatural universe guest. If you’ve never read Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, you’re in for a treat!
PICTURED: SWAMP THING (SAGA OF) #21 NM- £50

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American Update: DC Limited Collectors’ Edition Tabloids

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC22nd February 2021

*DC: The tabloid-sized DC Limited Collectors’ Editions from the 1970s are all uncommon in the UK, but we’re lucky enough to have a find of several new in, including many duplicates in a choice of grades. See our catalogue for full details — a selection of our stock is shown here:
PICTURED: LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION
C21 VG+ £15 SHAZAM SOLD OTHER COPIES AVAILABLE
C37 VF+ £50 BATMAN ALL-VILLAIN SPECIAL SOLD
C38 VF £25 SUPERMAN SOLD OTHER COPIES AVAILABLE
C39 VF/NM £40 SECRET ORIGINS OF SUPER-VILLAINS SOLD
C47 VF £20 SUPERMAN SALUTES THE BICENTENNIAL SOLD OTHER COPIES AVAILABLE

     

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American Update: Batmania Extra! Batman Adventures, the Famous First Series

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*DC: From 1992, the first (and by far the best) series based on the Batman TV Animated series. Delightfully adapting the TV cartoon style, the series matched the intelligence, humour and charm of the TV show, especially when rendered by the superb pencils of the late and much missed Mike Parobeck, who really found his calling with this style. Of course, it was the series that give birth to Harley Quinn, and although her issues are not included in this update, we do have most of the 36 issue series new in, including #3 & #16 with covers and stories featuring the Joker.  
PICTURED: BATMAN ADVENTURES
#3 VF+ £20
#16 VF/NM £20

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American Update: Spider-Mania: Amazing #252 – New Black Costume (later Venom)

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man #252, like many Secret Wars ‘epilogue’ issues, featured a major ‘twist’ only explained retroactively. In Spidey’s case, it was a dramatic black & white costume which would eventually be revealed as an alien symbiote, which in turn would evolve into Venom, who eclipsed most longer-established villains to become Spidey’s crucial nemesis for the modern era. Although the first appearance of the symbiote in internal continuity was Secret Wars #8, its joint debut in real time was this very issue. This is a lovely high grade issue, tight, flat and glossy with good staples and nice pages; only minor edge handling wear and tiny stress marks at spine (non-colour breaking) stop us awarding an even higher grade.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #252 VF+ £100

Posted in What's New

American Update: Sky-Rider of the Spaceways: Silver Surfer 1st series

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC22nd February 2021

*Marvel: It makes a lot of our customers happy when we get in issues of the 1st Silver Surfer series from 1968, such is the popularity of the surfing dude. This week, most of the run newly available, including giant issues #2, #5-7, then complete regular-sized issues from #8-18, the end of the run. Mostly on the lower graded side, and thus very affordable copies. Superb artistry from John Bucema, with Jack Kirby on the final issue, and guest stars galore.
PICTURED: SILVER SURFER #2 VG- £40 SOLD

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American Update: Fantastic Four Annual #5 – A Jam-Packed Spectacular

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC22nd February 2021

*Marvel: Stan and Jack pulled out all the stops when it came to the fifth annual for the Fantastic Four. Not only the debut of a new villain – the Psycho-Man – and his flunkies Live Wire, Ivan & Shellshock, not only guest shots by the Black Panther AND the Inhumans, not only a back-up story with the Silver Surfer’s encounter with Quasimodo, not only a Stan & Jack vignette about them creating the FF, not only a pin-up gallery of the FF’s friends and foes, but also a special announcement about a happy event for Sue and Reed, which would culminate in the advent of Franklin Richards in Annual #6 a year later. Quite a package. This is a lovely cents copy, with great squarebound spine, excellent cover colour and gloss, nice tight staples and decent pages; no specific defects.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #5 VF £90 SOLD

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American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Red Sonja in Conan #23

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*Marvel: Roy Thomas and Barry Smith’s comic book recreation of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian was a breakout hit for Marvel in the early 1970s, but yet another fantasy comics star made her debut in Conan #23 (Feb 1973), when Conan encountered Red Sonja, a female brigand and adventurer who was every bit his equal – even though Marvel missed a step by not cover-featuring her! Sonja rapidly caught the public’s imagination and spun off into her own series (regrettably with a skimpier and more impractical outfit than her earlier look), and more than forty years later – being a licensed character not linked to a specific publisher – continues her comic-book career to this very day. An average graded copy here, pence printed, nice and glossy with good staples, slightly tanned pages, some spine wear, a dink to the bottom spine and a small crease across the bottom right corner.
PICTURED: CONAN #23 VG+ p £37

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American Update: Spider-Mania Extra: Amazing #365 with Hologram cover

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*Marvel: One of a series of Hologram Specials released to celebrate Spidey’s 30th Anniversary, the super-sized Amazing Spider-Man #365 bears a hologram re-creating the cover to Amazing Fantasy #15. Chock full of special features, this is a copy in great shape. 
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #365 NM £30 

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American Update: Six Of The Best: Marvel Bronze & Beyond #1 issues

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC22nd February 2021

*Marvel: Another of those updates you love featuring six #1 issues from Marvel’s Bronze Age and beyond. This time we have Doc Savage, Inhumans, Marvel Premiere (a nice copy let down by a taped tear on the back cover), New Warriors, Nova & Skull the Slayer. Fill yer boots!
PICTURED:
DOC SAVAGE #1 FN £17.50 SOLD
INHUMANS #1 VF £40 SOLD
MARVEL PREMIERE #1 VG+ £55 SOLD
NEW WARRIORS #1 FN/VF £15
NOVA #1 VG+ p £35 SOLD
SKULL THE SLAYER #1 VF+ £17.50 SOLD

 

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American Update: A Superior Pre-Code Horror Fest: Journey Into Fear

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC22nd February 2021

*Horror 1940-1959: Superior was a Canadian publisher active from 1945-1956 who mostly reprinted American comics from the same time period. They also published a number of original series that were distributed in the United States. Among these were three horror titles famous for their hallucinogenic covers and accomplished Fiction House style interior art. When you see a lot of these together, they have an almost hypnotic and uncomfortable effect. This week we feature Journey Into Fear #7-9; the defects on #7 are noted; #8-9 are mid-grade without specific defects other than general wear.
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO FEAR
#7 FA £50 Cover almost detached and separated, barely hanging on SOLD
#8 GD/VG £145 SOLD
#9 VG £195 SOLD

Posted in What's New

American Update: 1970s Marvel Horror

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: A top up for the following titles from the House of Ideas: Chamber of Chills, Chamber of Darkness (from #1, inc. #7 1st Wrightson work at Marvel), Creatures On The Loose (with Man-Wolf), Dead Of Night (#11, 1st Scarecrow), Fear, Adventure Into (with Man-Thing inc. #17, 1st Wundarr & Morbius) & Frankenstein Monster. See our catalogue for details. 

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British Update: Alan Class Astounding inc. early & Marvelous issues

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*Alan Class Reprints: A chunky update to our regular stocks of Astounding between #3 and #153, mostly pre-decimal issues, including a Human Torch reprint in #3 & #59 (the same one), and the Torch and Dr Strange in #6. See our catalogue for full details. 
PICTURED: ASTOUNDING
#3 VG £35
#6 FN £35

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British Update: Near Complete run of Starlord

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: From 1978, the sci-fi weekly Starlord, a quality item which featured a number of innovative strips – Strontium Dog, Ro-Busters, Planet of the Damned, Timequake and more – and with more colour pages and slicker paper, it seemed to be attempting to upgrade the 2000 AD model. Sadly, mass audiences didn’t care whether there were higher production standards or not, and after only 22 issues, Starlord was absorbed into 2000 AD, with Strontium Dog and Ro-Busters being the long-term survivors. A near complete run fresh in, 20 of the 22 issues including the first three and the final, nice copies which would grade higher except for a vertical ‘soft roll’ at centre which gives them a slight wavy effect. 
PICTURED: STARLORD #1 VG £12

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British Update: Your Wish Is Our Commando: The Stapled Collection #3-6

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Following on from #1 a couple of weeks ago (now sold), we’re now releasing issues #3-6 of Commando War Stories In Pictures from the same source. A previous owner at some point decided to place two to four reinforcing staples through the spine, quite skilfully so as to not hamper the opening of the item nor hide any of the content; there is minimal bleed from these staples and the page quality is really rather nice. Nevertheless these are low grade copies anyway with defects as noted. #3 (£25) is coverless but otherwise complete; it’s unusual for us to list a coverless item, but when it’s of this rarity, we figure someone will want it to fill a gap.
PICTURED: COMMANDO
#4 FA+ £65 Back cover detached; thumbnail size chip out right edge front cover centre.
#5 GD- £90 Long cover tear (7 cm); corner off back cover
#6 GD- £50 Back cover stain (5 x 5 cm)

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British Update: TV Century 21

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*TV & Film Related Comics: Our first update for a while to TV Century 21 (1st series). A handful of issues between #70 and #203 in a variety of grades, including several previously missing from our listings.

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British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Topper 1970 x2

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC22nd February 2021

*Humour Comics: From 1970, two consecutive issues of the tabloid format Topper, both with their Free Gifts. Both comics have been folded horizontally (we’ve yet to see a large Topper that hasn’t been), but despite that are in better than usual condition, with virtually no wear at the folds. #923 has the ‘Twin Spin’ toy, still sealed in its original envelope — this gift is quite rare; #924 has the ‘Topper Glow Mask’, still complete with original packet of eyelets for elastic headband still attached — slightly less uncommon, but we’ve never seen these before in 30 years.
PICTURED: TOPPER
#923 VG/FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £60 SOLD
#924 VG/FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £45 SOLD

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British Update: Princess 1961

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*Girls’ Comics: From 1960 to 1967, Princess weekly delighted a generation of proper young ladies, with its pretention to being a ‘magazine’ – photo-covers and lots of educational, historical and how-to features. But the comic strips kept the readers coming back for more! Nine issues fresh in this week from 1961, almost all in lowish Good grade. We had to prise the issues featuring the Kitten Calendar out of the hands of Dr. Evilla in order to list them — she’s always on the look-out for a familiar…

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British Update: Bunty Picture Story Library For Girls…

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: …to give it its full title. A huge update to this popular title, with dozens of issues added between #7 & #300, including very many previously missing from our catalogue. These lovely done-in-one tales are great fun and great value.  
PICTURED: BUNTY PICTURE LIBRARY #7 VG £12

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Books Update: What’s Old: Hammer Horror Omnibus Volumes 1 & 2

Posted on 20th February 2021 by 30CC20th February 2021

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: What’s Old is our feature where we highlight stuff from our catalogue that you may have missed. This week, two mouth-wateringly rare Hammer Horror books, the elusive first UK paperback editions from 1966 and 1967, featuring John Burke’s gruesomely spine-chilling novelisations of classic Hammer films. The Hammer Horror Omnibus features a double double bill: The Curse Of Frankenstein, The Revenge of Frankenstein, The Gorgon and The Curse Of The Mummy’s Tomb. The Second Hammer Horror Film Omnibus is even rarer and also features tales from four films: Dracula – Prince Of Darkness, Rasputin – The Mad Monk, The Reptile and finally The Plague Of The Zombies. Truly horror to make you drool. Prices reflect their rarity.
PICTURED:
THE HAMMER HORROR OMNIBUS by John Burke 1st UK PB VG £60
THE SECOND HAMMER HORROR FILM OMNIBUS by John Burke 1st UK PB GD £50

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American Update: Batmania: A Pair of Penguins: 1st and 2nd Silver Age Appearances

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC15th February 2021

*DC: Personally, I’ve always counted the four main villains from the 1960s Batman TV show (and film) as Batman’s main foes, the Joker, the Penguin, Catwoman and the Riddler, so it came as no surprise when the latter three were revived in the Silver Age to tie in with their on screen appearances (the Joker never really having been away). This update we’re concerned with the first two Silver Age appearances of that fowl fiend the Penguin, which spanned both the old and new look in Batman. The first appearance of the Penguin in the Silver Age came in Batman #155, with its dramatic fire-breathing dragon cover. Our copy is a solid mid-grade pence stamped example, with some spine and edge wear, but good tight staples and decent off-white pages. One or two of the spidery wear marks at the spine break colour, as does a tiny crease across the bottom right cover, but all in all a very presentable copy. Pengy next appeared in #169, a favourite Carmine Infantino cover as I’ve mentioned before with a rich purple sky background. Our latest copy is a superior unmarked copy with just slight edge wear, pence stamped, flat and tight with staples firmly attached and nice off-white pages. What could be better than a pair of Penguins?
PICTURED: BATMAN
#155 VG+ p £200 SOLD
#169 FN/VF p £110

Posted in What's New

American Update: Wonder Woman #159 – Her True Secret Golden Age Origin

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC15th February 2021

*DC: Wonder Woman #159 from 1966 boasted a return to comics’ Golden Age, and indeed the art from regular Ross Andru seemed to be attempting to mimic that of classic WW artist H G Peters. The lead story was a retelling of the ‘true secret origin’ of Wonder Woman for the first time since the Golden Age. The imaginative cover also proclaimed ‘another great collector’s item’ and that wasn’t just hyperbole! An unmarked pence stamped cover with DC’s trademark rich purple background, tight, flat and glossy with good staples and nice pages. Just a little handling wear and corner blunting on this landmark issue.
PICTURED: WONDER WOMAN #159 FN/VF p £70 SOLD

Posted in What's New

American Update: DC ‘F’ List: First Issue Special, Flash, Forever People, Freedom Fighters, From Beyond The Unknown

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC13th February 2021

*DC: We continue our epic trawl through the DCU alphabet as we reach the letter ‘F’. Alongside almost a complete run of First Issue Special (featuring Kirby & Ditko try-outs), almost a complete run of Kirby’s Forever People, and top-ups to both the Bronze Age Freedom Fighters and reprint sci-fi anthology From Beyond the Unknown, there is a mammoth update to the Fastest Man Alive, with dozens of issues of Flash between #125 and #314, including lots of issues previously missing from our listings. See our catalogue for full details. 

Posted in What's New

American Update: Spider-Mania/Mighty Marvel Firsts: Amazing Spider-Man #300 with Debut of Venom

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC13th February 2021

*Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man #300 is just about the most sought after post Bronze Age comic, so we’re delighted to present a copy new to the marketplace this week. There were few more significant debuts, in the latter days of the 20th Century, than everyone’s favourite brain-eating symbiote Venom, who graduated from being a genetically modified costume in a jar to the Alpha Dog of Spidey’s Rogue’s Gallery! Having debuted in Secret Wars #8 as a semi-sentient blob which configured itself into Spider-Man’s new costume, the ‘symbiote’ became a regular feature in Spidey’s own series before being revealed as a malevolent alien parasite! Now more popular than ever, Venom has starred in his own solo film sans Spider-Man (with a sequel in the works) and the value of this comic has continued to rise significantly over the last couple of years. This is a lovely copy with no defects to the front cover which appears as new. The rear cover has a small number of stress marks at the spine; these are all tiny except for a faint one of about 2 cm towards the bottom. There are also some minor handling marks at the top edge. In common with many other copies we’ve seen, this copy has a printing defect to the right front cover edge, so that the finishing cut is a little rough (apparently, this is due to inexperienced staff in the printing plant, although it looks like a blunt guillotine has been used). As usual, the cover design disguises this. This is a known characteristic and we infer from information on the net that CGC, for example, regard this as a printing defect and do not factor it in to their grading below 9.8. Even so, we have tried to allow for it in our grading.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #300 VF+ £460

Posted in What's New

American Update: What’s Old: Steve Ditko’s Hulk #6 Square Mile Copy

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC13th February 2021

*Marvel: What’s Old is our feature where we highlight stuff from our catalogue that you may have missed. Most collectors will be aware that the first six issue run of the Incredible Hulk is tough to come by; harder still is it to get them in decent shape, so we’re particularly pleased that the Square Mile Collection brings us a copy of #6 in FN+ (pence printed) grade. (You can read about the Square Mile Collection here.) Whilst the Hulk was very definitely a Kirby designed creation, you can get a real kick out of seeing how Steve Ditko tackled ol’ green-skin in this full length adventure up against the Metal Master. Great cover colour and gloss, tight, flat and fresh, excellent staples, sharp corners, with just minimal spine creases and a very faint suggestion of slight historic stain in a 5p sized area above the number box; there is also the slightest sign of a very faint small crease across the bottom right corner with just the faintest trace of a colour break across 1 cm of the Hulk’s foot, but I’m being really picky here! A beautiful addition to any Hulkophile’s collection! High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: HULK #6 FN+ p £750

 

Posted in What's New

American Update: Wolverine #1 (ongoing) 1988

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC13th February 2021

*Marvel: Bearing in mind Wolverine’s meteoric rise to popularity following his debut in Hulk and subsequent starring role in the X-Men, it’s perhaps surprising that it took until 1988 for him to get his own ongoing series. By Chris Clarement and John Buscema (with inks by my favourite comics artist Al Williamson), this is a gorgeous copy of #1, tight, flat and glossy with no wear. Some purists may not like the fact that it is slightly miscut, the white spine showing a little wider at the top than the bottom, but this is a printing/finishing effect rather than wear and tear. This comic turns up reasonably frequently, not being that old in relative terms, but not usually as pristine as this. 
PICTURED: WOLVERINE #1 NM- £50

Posted in What's New

American Update: Spider-Mania Extra! Black Cat in Amazing #226-227

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC15th February 2021

*Marvel: Felicia Hardy AKA the Black Cat has become one of the most popular figures in Spider-Man’s corner of the Marvel Universe, and here we have a pair of high grade issues featuring one of her earliest appearances in a two-part storyline from Amazing Spidey #226 & #227. Great additions to your Spider-Man/Black Cat collection.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN BOTH SOLD
#226 NM- £25
#227 VF+ £23.50

 

Posted in What's New

American Update: At last — the spectacular 100th issue of X-Men!

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC15th February 2021

*Marvel: So proclaimed the anniversary issue of Marvel’s Merry Mutants. Back when it was stuck in the reprint doldrums, it seemed unlikely that the title would ever make #100, but Chris Clarement and Dave Cockrum revitalized the X-Men with their Bronze Age relaunch and turned them into Marvel’s most successful franchise. In this 100th issue, the new X-Men come up against the original X-Men… or do they? No spoilers here. A very nice pence printed copy with just minor spine wear, minor handling wear at bottom edge and a soft non-colour breaking crease across a small corner of the bottom right cover. Glossy with tight staples and nice page quality. 
PICTURED: X-MEN #100 FN+  p £80 SOLD

Posted in What's New

American Update: Marvel ‘H’ List: Starter of Duck with main course of Hulk

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC13th February 2021

*Marvel: We’ve reached the letter ‘H’ in our alphabetical run through the Marvel Universe, represented by a soupcon of Howard the Duck and a great big helping of Hulk between #266 and #350, including the runs by John Byrne and Peter David/Todd McFarlane, among many other creators. As always, check out our catalogue for details.

Posted in What's New

American Update: Post Code Horror Fest: Charlton’s Unusual Tales #11 Giant 68 pages with 4 Ditko stories

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC15th February 2021

*Charlton: From 1958, the 11th issues of Unusual Tales is a Giant 68 pages, including four stories of mystery and fantasy by Steve Ditko. Shiny, vibrant colour with nice off-white pages, good firm staples with a tiny bit of rust to upper; intact squarebound spine with just a tiny dink to bottom; small faint watermark to upper back cover does not wrinkle. A lovely copy.
PICTURED: UNUSUAL TALES #11 FN- £75 SOLD

Posted in What's New

American Update: Four #1 issues – the cornerstone of Image Comics

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC13th February 2021

*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: It’s a little hard to believe, but Image Comics is now nearly 30 years old, and their characters and early issues are virtually old enough to be considered vintage. We make no apology for adding a few of their #1 issues from 1992/93 to our catalogue, since there are doubtless fans out there who fondly remember them (even if we don’t count ourselves among them). There’s no denying the influence their creators had on both the DC and Marvel Universes post Image, even if Image today is a very different beast to how it started out back then. So, four #1 issues: Pitt by Dale Keown, Spawn by Todd McFarlane (with poster), Wildcats by Jim Lee (Gold Edition with trading cards) and Youngblood by Rob Liefield (also with trading cards), all in nice shape.
PICTURED:
PITT #1 VF/NM £10
SPAWN #1 VF+ £40
WILDCATS #1 (GOLD) VF/NM £30
YOUNGBLOOD #1 VF £10

Posted in What's New

American Update: The Great Western Round-Up: Marvel’s ‘Big Three’

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC13th February 2021

*Western: Well, owlhoots, we’re reached the end of the trail of our Great Western Round-Up, and what better way to go out than with chunky updates to Marvel’s Silver Age trio of hombres, Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid? All our listings for these titles substantially recharged. Now it’s time to wrangle that last steer and ride off into the sunset. Until we meet again, pardners…

Posted in What's New

American/British Update: X-Men #1 Hologram

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC15th February 2021

*Memorabilia & Esoterica: Issued in 1992 to retailers as a thank you for their part in making the launch of the new X-Men series the ‘Best Selling Comic Of All Time’, this attractive comic-sized hologram (inc. card mount) features the cover scene’s homage to the original X-Men #1.
PICTURED: X-MEN #1 HOLOGRAM NM- £10 SOLD

Posted in What's New

British Update: Rare Australian My Greatest Adventure from #1

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC15th February 2021

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: Published by K G Murray (Aus), the title My Greatest Adventure reprinted early issues of DC’s My Greatest Adventure (aw, you guessed…). From 1955 onwards, we believe that this 37 issue series is particularly rare — we’ve only ever seen a couple of them before in 30 years. We have half a dozen early issues available including #1 (in nice shape, which so many comics with dark covers don’t turn out to be). Just listen to these evocative titles from #1: ‘My Cargo Was Death’, ‘I Was King Of Dagger Island’, ‘I Hunted A Flying Saucer’.  At least a partial reprint of DC’s #1, #1 features art by Leonard Starr and Bill Ely. Details on subsequent issues available, as always, in our catalogue. 
PICTURED: MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #1 FN+ £60 SOLD

Posted in What's New

British Update: Battle Picture Library

Posted on 13th February 2021 by 30CC13th February 2021

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Over a dozen issues of Fleetway’s Battle Picture Library added to our catalogue this week, all between #165 & #345, all filling gaps in our inventory.

Posted in What's New

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