*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

*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

*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

*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.

*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.)

*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

*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

*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

*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

*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

*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

*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

*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

*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. 

*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

*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.

*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…

*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

*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

*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

*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

*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

*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

*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…

*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