Taking A Break
We’re taking a short break next week, after filling orders received up to 4 pm today (20th July) and posting them next Wednesday (24th). There will not be a Newsletter nor stock updates next Saturday, but they will be back on 3rd August. After this coming Sunday 21st July, we’ll next be filling orders on 4th August. You may of course continue to place orders at any time; we will acknowledge them and reserve items for you wherever possible.
American Comics Update: Justice League of America #33 with Double Cover
*DC: Just very occasionally, a comic surfaces where, following a production error, two identical covers are placed around it (there can be more than two, but instances of these are even rarer). We have such a double cover scenario here on Justice League of America #33 from 1965. The outer cover often bears the strain of the decades, with the inner remaining pristine. We are particularly blessed here with the outer being an excellent glossy FN/VF (pence stamped), with just minor edge wear and a thin dust shadow across the bottom cover right side. The inner is a vibrant VF+, unstamped of course. Staples are tight and firm, pages a crisp and supple near white. The issue itself is a cracking one of the JLA against alien foes, a classic issue in the midst of a classic run. There are collectors who specialise in these, so here’s a chance to join their ranks!
PICTURED: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #33 Outer FN/VF, Inner VF+ £100
American Comics Update: DC Debuts: ‘Take Cover! Here Come…The Maniaks’
*DC: Britain had the Beatles, America had the Monkees, Archie had, um, the Archies… and DC had the Maniaks. From E Nelson Bridwell and Mike Sekowsky, the team that brought you the best of the wacky antics of the Inferior Five, here getting down with the kids to bring you the misadventures of those four loveable mop-tops: Flip, Silver, Jangle and Pack Rat in their bid for pop stardom. Just three issues of Showcase devoted to the Maniaks (Showcase #68, #69, #71) who never graduated to their own series (shame!). But we’ve got all three for you this update! All together now:
‘Take the last train to Knoxville
They are cutting of the service
‘Cause the line’s been losing money
And it makes them pretty nervous
It’s a mess, yes, yes, yes, yes,
Yes, yes, yes, yes!’
As you may have gathered, I’m pretty fond of these…
IN THIS UPDATE: SHOWCASE ALL SOLD
#68 VF- £24.25 (PICTURED)
#69 VG £7.50
#71 GD £4.25
American Comics Update: Six Of The Best Plus One: Action Comics
*DC: Seven Silver and Bronze Age issues of the longest-running DC title Action Comics, the series where Superman debuted and starred virtually throughout. Here he is backed up by Supergirl, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Aquaman & the Atom.
IN THIS UPDATE: ACTION COMICS ALL SOLD
#346 FA/GD p £3.50
#381 GD/VG p £8
#392 GD+ p £3.25
#395 VG p £6
#398 FA/GD p £2.50
#402 VG+ p £5
#404 VG- p £5.25
American Comics Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts/Spider-Mania: Debut of the Punisher in Amazing #129
*Marvel: One of the later breakout characters of Marvel, Frank Castle, aka bereaved urban vigilante the Punisher, became one of the company’s super-stars in the 1990s, but had spent most of the previous two decades ‘bubbling under’ as a guest-starring anti-hero. His media presence – and commercial appeal – has been heightened by numerous film and TV appearances. The Punisher’s first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #129, February 1974, is particularly rare in the UK, where, owing to the presence of Spider-Man Comics Weekly, the US title was embargoed for distribution for several years. Our latest copy is a nice, bright example, with bright colours, square corners, flat, tight staples and supple, off-white pages (there is some shallow margin creasing along the right edge of some internal pages, not evident on the cover.) As with many copies of this issue which turn up in the UK, we suspect that this is a copy that came over as ship’s ballast, though the evidence for that here is a lot less than we normally see on such, which are often quite ‘wavy’. The cover has three short indentation marks in the region of Spidey’s right hand which do not break colour and a very shallow waviness in the top right corner, only discernable by touch and with no colour breaks. Without these defects, this copy would grade and price much higher. since its overall quality and appearance are far superior to anything to which we normally award this grade. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #129 VG/FN £700
American Update: The Good Doctor Collection: Avengers #87, Black Panther Origin
*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, in Avengers #87, we learned for the first time the detailed origin of the African Avenger, the Black Panther.
PICTURED: AVENGERS #87 VF+ £100 A beautiful slick copy with vibrant yellow background that really pops and great colour everywhere. Square corners, tight, firm staples and near white pages. Just some minor spine handling wear on the back cover only, and a small crease at bottom of back cover are the only defects.
American Comics Update: Fantastic Four Annuals
*Marvel: Four of the ever-popular Fantastic Four Annuals this week, starting with #3, featuring 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!). Annual #5 guest stars the Black Panther, the Inhumans and introduces Psycho-Man, plus a solo Silver Surfer story and Sue announces her pregnancy. In #6 Sue gives birth to Franklin, plus there’s the debut of Annihilus. Annual #7 reprints the long Sub-Mariner story from Annual #1.
IN THIS UPDATE: FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL
#3 VG/FN p £75 (PICTURED) Pence stamped
#5 VG+ £43 (PICTURED) SOLD
#6 PR £22 Covers detached and separated
#7 VG+ £6 SOLD
American Comics Update: Six Of The Best: X-Men #190-195
*Marvel: Six more consecutive issues of the X-Men, as we continue John Romita Jr’s run on Marvel’s Merry Mutants. Includes the double-sized issue #193. Mostly nice grades on these.
IN THIS UPDATE: X-MEN ALL SOLD
#190 VF/NM £8.25
#191 VG £3.50
#192 VF £6.75
#193 FN/VF £6 Double-sized
#194 VF £6.75
#195 VF+ £7.50
American Comics Update: Six Of The Best: Frank Miller Daredevils
*Marvel: Frank Miller, of later Dark Knight Returns and Sin City fame, made his name on the sightless swashbuckler Daredevil, starting in 1979. His stories centred mostly on DD himself of course, plus the menaces of the Kingpin and Bullseye, and the debut and fate of DD’s lost love Elektra, all of whom feature in the six issues here.
IN THIS UPDATE: DAREDEVIL ALL SOLD
#167 VG/FN p £5.75
#169 VG £8.25 2nd Elektra
#170 VG £6.25
#171 FN+ £9.25
#172 FN- p £6.25 (PICTURED)
#173 FN- p £6.25
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: Plastic Man #3 & #6 (1946/47)
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: A nice offering from the Bute Collection this week, with two early issues of the classic character Plastic Man: #3 & #6 from 1946 and 1947 respectively. Plastic Man debuted of course in Police Comics #1 (1941) and was granted his own series in 1943. These issues are wall to wall Jack Cole, Plastic Man’s creator, writer and artist, and feature four main stories of adventure, comedy and super-heroics. His adventures were known for their quirky, offbeat structure and surreal slapstick humour.
PICTURED: PLASTIC MAN BOTH SOLD
#3 FA £50 Cover detached with spine split up to bottom staple, small upper spine split and torn at upper staple area with small chip loss. Tears and chips at edges, but main cover image intact. Staples firm apart from spine and nice page quality, but for one long tear with no loss.
#6 VG- £85 Nice solid copy with minimal wear. Spine intact, staples tight and secure, nice page quality. There is one hard crease of about 8 cm across the bottom right cover corner which does not break colour; neither does a much smaller and slighter crease at that corner’s extremity. There is a small light brown stain at the bottom of the spine of the comic, slightly discolouring very small parts of front and back covers, but nothing horrible.
British Comics Update: Six Of the Best: Early Alan Class Astounding Stories
*Alan Class Reprints: A nice update to our regular stock of Alan Class this week with six early pre decimal issues of Astounding, between #8 and #17. Please note these are not file copies and are uncertificated, and can be found in the regular stock part of our catalogue listing. Plenty of Ditko work awaits you within, where the main story from Amazing Spider-Man #8, The Living Brain, can be found in issue #17. Full details as always in our catalogue., and content guidance can be found in our Rough Guide to Alan Class feature.
IN THIS UPDATE: ASTOUNDING
#8 VG £14.25
#10 VG £16.50
#11 GD £3.75
#13 GD £3.75
#16 VG/FN £5.25
#17 FN £15 (PICTURED) Reprints main story from Amazing Spider-Man #8
British Comics Update: Captain Britain 1st series Full Run #1-39, High Grade
*Marvel UK: In 1976, Marvel UK’s unprecedented and experimental attempt to broaden their readership by generating a new British hero, Captain Britain, was the subject of much controversy, not least because he was created by two Americans (Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe) who, from the evidence presented here, had never met an English person, and whose interpretation of the UK’s manners and mores made the Austin Powers films look like documentaries. Be that as it may, the character endured to become a respected icon of the medium, and these issues are now attracting keen collector attention. This week, we present a full run of the jolly good Captain’s first series #1-39 (every issue). This is an exceptional run (the finest we have ever seen), with sharp corners, bright colours and white pages., with none of the Fun Pages filled in. You’ll find these copies in our catalogue graded from FN/VF (just a couple), with most VF or VF/NM, grades we seldom award to UK comics. #1 and #2 (including Free Gifts) plus #8 (1st Betsy Braddock) are included and have recently been previously listed, but are still available and included here for completeness; full details of those may be found in our catalogue. In addition, we have completely overhauled our stock of our already existing issues of this series and now every copy shows details of the Fun Page status.
PICTURED: CAPTAIN BRITAIN
#1 VF WITH FREE GIFT VF/NM £300
#2 VF WITH FREE GIFT NM £75
#8 VF+ £250
Books Update: Re-Working Our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Category: Garth – Glut
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Category and authors alphabetically from Will Garth to Donald F Glut. A nice mixed bag of stuff from classic Golden Age sci-fi (Dr Cyclops, Ralph 124C41+, The Liquid Man), and a volume of Jane Gaskell’s epic Atlan fantasy, to two opuses from William Gibson, the modern architect of cyberpunk and an uncommon book in Donald F Glut’s novel take on Frankenstein. More details, as always, in our catalogue including condition notes.
PICTURED:
WILL GARTH: DR CYCLOPS Centaur 1976 1st US PB FN £10
JANE GASKELL: THE CITY Paperback Library 1970 2nd US PB GD/VG £3
HUGO GERNSBACK: RALPH 124C41+ Crest 1958 1st US PB GD/VG £8
WILLIAM GIBSON: BURNING CHROME Grafton 1988 1st UK PB VG £8
WILLIAM GIBSON: COUNT ZERO Grafton 1989 UK PB VG £7
C B GILFORD: THE LIQUID MAN Lancer 1969 1st US PB VG £5
DONALD F GLUT: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN #2: TERROR OF FRANKENSTEIN Mews 1977 1st UK PB GD £12
Books Update: Re-Working Our Crime, Spies & Sleaze Category: Kane – MacInnes.
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Crime, Spies and Sleaze Category for authors alphabetically from Henry Kane to Helen MacInnes. A real mixed bag here, from hard-boiled US detectives (Murdered Madame and Ben Gates Is Hot), a thriller set in post-war Berlin (My Name Is Celia), a sleazy mystery (Gin Wedding), to psychological thrillers (Hold Back the Night and Above Suspicion) and an exposure of the white slave traffic (The Road To Buenos Ayres). Wholesome stuff for everyone!
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
HENRY KANE: THE CASE OF THE MURDERED MADAME Signet 1965 1st US PB thus VG £7
RAYNE KRUGER: MY NAME IS CELIA Ace 1960 UK PB GD £5
ROBERT KYLE: BEN GATES IS HOT Mayflower Dell 1966 1st UK PB FN £10
ANN LAWRENCE: GIN WEDDING Intimate Novels 1951 1st US PB VG/FN £15
DESMOND LESLIE: HOLD BACK THE NIGHT Digit 1958 1st UK PB GD £7
ALBERT LONDRES: THE ROAD TO BUENOS AYRES Digit 1960s? 1st UK PB VG £6
HELEN MACINNES: ABOVE SUSPICION Fontana 1967 UK PB GD £5
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: All Star Comics #14 (1942/43)
*DC: A rare opportunity to collect a nice copy of All Star Comics this week, the home of the Justice Society of America, the Golden Age forerunners of the Justice League of America. The JSA in this December 1942/January 1943 issue comprises Hawkman, Dr Fate, Atom, Sandman, Spectre, Johnny Thunder, Dr Midnite and Wonder Woman. The story follows the usual pattern of the team together at the beginning and the end, with several chapters by different artists where our heroes embark on solo or team missions. The plot for this issue involves the JSA providing food for Europe as they battled the Nazis (plenty of Hitler panels within).
This copy from the Bute Collection is superficially a superb copy, with a totally intact spine (tiny nick at top), minimal wear, tight and flat with excellent staples and a vibrant colour cover with great reflectivity. There is a very, very slight mis-cut so that the cover is just off square. The top edge finish looks tight but we can see no evidence of trimming and the comic compares favourably with other contemporary issues in respect of its dimensions. We have awarded it an Apparent grade due to internal page damage. There are margin tears to several pages, resulting in many cases of thumbnail size chunks out, restricted to margins only. More seriously, there are slightly bigger chunks out of three pages and one small corner off. Two of these (only) eat into the text and we have shown the worst of that in extra images below. Priced much lower than a copy in such nice condition without these flaws would be. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: ALL STAR COMICS #14 Apparent FN £525 SOLD
American Comics Update: Four Of A Kind: Classic Silver Age Adventures of the JLA
*DC: Four superb issues of the Justice League of America this week. #27 features a strange alien being/force. #28 has the JLA banned from using their powers by the machinations of Head Mastermind. In #31, Hawkman joins the team to help solve a mystery centering on the team’s Sanctuary. #32 features the menace of Brain Storm. Beautifully crafted tales of compelling excellence.
IN THIS UPDATE: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
#27 GD/VG p £16 Restapled at upper staple.
#28 VG p £24 (PICTURED) Restapled at upper staple.
#31 FN p £27
#32 VG p £14.75 Restapled at upper staple. SOLD
American Comics Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu in Special Marvel Edition #15
*Marvel: One of Marvel’s most successful attempts at diversifying their line in the 1970s was their cash-in on the Martial Arts craze, with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu! His inauspicious debut in Special Marvel Edition, a series previously devoted to reprints, indicated that there wasn’t much faith in Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin’s co-creation, but readers took him to their collective hearts, and more than 100 issues ensued, with a star roster of creators including Doug Moench, Gene Day and Paul Gulacy. Here, however, was where it all started, in Special Marvel Edition #15, December 1973, with the Son of Fu Manchu discovering his villainous heritage, and setting out to oppose his father. Never distributed in the UK, and therefore doubly sought after on these shores. This is an outstanding copy from an original owner collection, bought new in 1973 on a New York newsstand, and carefully preserved ever since. Flat, tight, glossy, square corners, perfect staples, no marks or creases; solid black cover background. There is just the slightest suggestion of handling wear centre right cover edge. The pages are off-white, with edges a very light shade of tan.
PICTURED: SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION #15 VF/NM £300
American Comics Update: The Good Doctor Collection: X-Men #41 & #42
*Marvel: Two more very nice issues of the X-Men from the Good Doctor Collection this week. #41 features the menace of Grotesk the Sub-Human (I fondly remember Grotesk picking his name after Hank McCoy had called him that); and #42 features the Death of Professor X (or so we thought at the time).
PICTURED: X-MEN
#41 FN £55 Nice bright copy with a little wear breaking colour narrowly along spine and right bottom edge.
#42 VF- £90 Solid black background copy with great colour and gloss; just a tiny colour breaking crease in very extremity of top right corner.
American Comics Update: Spider-Mania: 2 Key McFarlane Issues: Amazing #298 & #301
*Marvel: Two historic issues of Amazing Spider-Man by fan favourite artist Todd McFarlane this week. #298 is the first brief appearance of Eddie Brock (the man who would become Venom) and the beginning of Todd McFarlane’s run as artist; #301 is popularly known as the ‘negative’ version of #300 due to Spidey being back to his original costume plus the white background.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#298 FN/VF £45 Brilliant white background cover, sharp corners, tight staples, white pages. There is a slight but unnoticeable unevenness in the pseudo barcode box that suggests some historical indentation on this copy, but a dazzling example nonetheless.
#301 VF+ £60 Beautiful copy with vivid white background cover, sharp corners, tight staples, white pages. Only very minimal wear, which is hard to spot, along the bottom right edge presents an even higher grade. SOLD
American Comics Update: Six Of The Best: Marvel #1 issues from 1966-1988
*Marvel: Six Marvel #1 issues for your consideration this week, always colleactable, from the Silver Age to the Modern Age, as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
CHAMPIONS #1 FA/GD p £5
ETERNALS #1 VG+ p £10
FANTASY MASTERPIECES #1 VG+ p £15 Reprints pre-hero Marvel stories by Lee, kirby, Ditko etc with Stan Lee photo.
HUMAN TORCH #1 VF £30 (PICTURED) Reprints 1st Johnny Storm solo story from Strange Tales #101 and original Golden Age Torch story from Human Torch #33
INHUMANS #1 FN/VF £25 (PICTURED)
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #1 VF+ £18 (PICTURED)
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: It’s A Jungle Out There: Ka’a’nga and Wambi
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Ka’a’nga the Jungle King and Wambi the Jungle Boy were the two most successful characters to emerge from Fiction House’s long-running Jungle Comics, popular enough in fact to get their own titles in the 1940s. One of each from the Bute Collection this week, both graced with the wonderful cover art of Maurice Whitman. Ka’a’nga #12 from 1952 cover features our titular hero crashing to the aid of his shapely mate Ann, who is chained, bound and gagged in the foreground (always thought Ann should have had a more exotic jungle name.) In Wambi #18, the final issue of the series (1952/53), the emphasis is on our jungle chum and his friends the jungle animals.
PICTURED:
KA’A’NGA #12 VG+ £35 SOLD
WAMBI #18 GD+ £17
American Comics Update: Six Of The Best: ACG’s Unknown Worlds
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Following Adventures Into The Unknown and Forbidden Worlds, which both started earlier, Unknown Worlds was ACG’s third venture into the horror/mystery/whimsy field of the 1960s, offering much the same fare by the same creators as its two elder siblings. Six more examples featured this week.
IN THIS UPDATE: UNKNOWN WORLDS ALL SOLD
#35 FN p £10.75
#38 VG £6.75
#45 VG £6.75
#47 FN p £11 (PICTURED)
#51 VG p £5
#52 GD/VG p £4.75
British Comics Update: Superboy from Oz
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: 4 issues of the Australian Superboy series from the 1950s/early 1960s published by K G Murray. These reprint 1950s US originals.
IN THIS UPDATE: SUPERBOY
#114 FA £8 Cover detached; Space Cabbie back-up
#119 VG £15 Sci-fi back-up
#120 GD £10 (PICTURED)
#126 FA/GD £9
British Comics Update: Love Story Library – 10 issues from 1966/67
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: This week’s release of Love Story Picture Library, the longest running romance picture library from Fleetway, comprises 10 issues from 1966/67, consecutive from #601 to #610. The series always maintained a high standard and the very accomplished art reflected the fashions and mood of the times. These new additions are mostly in excellent condition, with little wear or creasing in most cases, and virtually no staple rust.
IN THIS UPDATE: LOVE STORY PICTURE LIBRARY ALL SOLD
#601 VF £7
#602 VF £7
#603 VF £7
#604 VF £7
#605 VF £7
#606 FN/VF £6
#607 FN £5
#608 VF £7
#609 FN/VF £6
#610 FN £5
Books Update: Three Vintage Saints from 1957
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: New in this week, three editions of the Saint by Leslie Charteris, all in Hodder & Stoughton paperback editions from 1957 with matching livery and attractive painted covers. Two volumes feature longer stories and the third is a novel. The classic adventurer made famous on TV by Roger Moore. More details, of course, in our catalogue, including condition notes, lowish grades on these.
PICTURED: ALL BY LESLIE CHARTERIS ALL SOLD
ALIAS THE SAINT Hodder & Stoughton 1957 UK PB FA £3
THE SAINT ON GUARD Hodder & Stoughton 1957 UK PB FA/GD £4
THE SAINT SEES IT THROUGH Hodder & Stoughton 1957 UK PB GD £5
Books Update: More From Mad
*Mad Books: This week, reinforcements for our Mad Books category, celebrating those fondly remembered paperback books featuring the best of Mad. Wit, sarcasm, parody and irony never go out of style. Eight volumes new in (including some devoted to specific creators) as follows (NB condition notes in our catalogue):
PICTURED:
SERGIO ARAGONES: VIVA MAD Signet 1968 1st US PB GD £5 SOLD
HOWLING MAD Warner 1990 US PB VG £4
AL JAFFEE: GOOD LORD! NOT ANOTHER BOOK OF SNAPPY ANSWERS TO STUPID QUESTIONS Warner 1980 1st US PB GD £5
THE MAD MORALITY Signet 1970s 2nd US PB GD £3
THE MAD READER Ballantine 1961 14th US PB GD £3
MAD’S TALKING STAMPS Warner 1974 1st US PB GD £3
MAD VARIATIONS Warner 1984 1st US PB VG £4
THREE RING MAD Warner 1977 US PB VG £4 SOLD
Books Update: H P Lovecraft: An Autobiography In Letters
*Books About Books: I imagine there must be more books about H P Lovecraft than any other horror writer, but this one is somewhat unique. Editors S T Joshi and David E Schult have taken many, many letters by H P Lovecraft and arranged them into the story of his life, which gives fascinating insights into this prolific writer. This large tome runs to 385 pages. Reading creases at spine; slight wear bottom right edge and corner, but overall a lovely clean copy.
PICTURED:
ABOUT H P LOVECRAFT
H P LOVECRAFT (Ed by S T JOSHI & DAVID E SCHULTZ)
LORD OF A VISIBLE WORLD: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN LETTERS
Ohio University Press 2000 1st US PB VG/FN £25
American Comics Update: Atomic Sci-Fi: The Bute Collection: Strange Adventures #6
*DC: We don’t see early issues of Strange Adventures very often, so we’re delighted to feature from the Bute Collection this week, issue #6 of DC’s co-premier science fiction title (along with Mystery In Space), from 1951. With art by Curt Swan, Bob Oksner, science fiction master Virgil Finlay, Win Mortimer and others plus a fantastic cover. Sadly, only a Poor copy, with almost detached covers, a brittle spine with many pages coming loose and a missing ad page. But all story pages complete and the cover image virtually intact.
PICTURED: STRANGE ADVENTURES #6 PR £15 SOLD
American Comics Update: Adventures In Minor Keys: Atom, Flash & Green Lantern
*DC: Three Silver Age classic key issues this week. Atom #7 featured the first team-up between the Atom and Hawkman, a partnership that flourished throughout both their titles. Flash #140 added a new member of our hero’s Rogues Gallery in the form of Heatwave (also featuring Captain Cold). Green Lantern #30 saw the debut of Katma Tui, the popular female alien Green Lantern and prominent member of the Green Lantern Corps.
PICTURED:
ATOM #7 GD p £7
FLASH #140 FN p £50
GREEN LANTERN #30 FN p £35
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection/Mighty Marvel Firsts: The Galactus Trilogy! Fantastic Four issues #48-50 with Galactus and Silver Surfer Debuts
*Marvel: One of the most sought-after story arcs of the 1960s is the trinity of Fantastic Four issues which introduced the Silver Surfer, a cosmic-powered being the equal of the combined FF… and the Surfer’s master, Galactus, an entity of even more monstrous might! Both became major figures in the Marvel Universe, with the Surfer repenting his role as Galactus’ herald and choosing the side of justice, while Galactus’ insatiable hunger drives him ever onwards to heinous acts. We have all three parts of this epochal story newly in stock from the Bute Collection.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR
#48 FN- p £1,100 1st Galactus & Silver Surfer. Nice clean pence printed copy with unmarked cover and strong colours. Edge wear is minimal, very slight along top edge only, and a tiny bit of chipping at right of bottom edge. There is also a tiny crease at bottom right corner that breaks colour. To the right of the number box there is an incipient crease of less than 1 cm that also breaks colour. Strong spine; small amount of corner blunting. Staples are tight and firm, pages are a lovely, supple white to off-white. High resolution images are available on request.
#49 VF- £1,100 1st Galactus and Silver Surfer cover. Very nice clean copy with unmarked cover and strong colours. Very minimal edge wear (just very slight at top edge) and very minor corner blunting. Strong spine; no creases apart from miniscule crease across bottom right corner which just breaks colour but is hard to see. Staples are tight and firm, pages are a lovely, supple off-white. High resolution images are available on request.
#50 FN- £235 Final part of Galactus/Silver Surfer trilogy. Nice clean copy with unmarked cover and strong colours. Minimal edge wear at top and bottom only, with a tiny chip out bottom right corner and minimal corner blunting. There is a small impact dink at bottom spine; colour is only very faintly broken. Strong spine; staples are tight and firm, pages are a lovely, supple white to off-white.
American Comics Update: The Good Doctor Collection/Spider-Mania: Amazing #74-77
*Marvel: More Amazing Spider-Man from the Good Doctor Collection this week: Issues #74/75 feature the conclusion to the Silvermane saga and the secret of the Petrified Tablet (and look out for the classic cover on #75); issues #76/77 feature a further tussle with the Lizard, guest-starring the Human Torch.
IN THIS UPDATE: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#74 FN p £45 (PICTURED) Pence printed. Nice clean copy with minor edge wear, good pages and staples.
#75 FN p £70 (PICTURED) Pence printed. Nice clean copy with minor edge wear, good pages and staples.
#76 GD/VG p £20
#77 GD p £14.50 Pence printed.
American Comics Update: Star Wars consecutive #27-34
*Marvel: I don’t need to tell you much about Star Wars, do I? Suffice it to say that after adapting the first film in Star Wars #1-6, Marvel went on to tell new stories of Han, Luke, Leia and the gang. Issues #27-34 featured here. Lovely high grade cents copies.
IN THIS UPDATE: STAR WARS ALL SOLD
#27 VF+ £11
#28 VF £9
#29 VF+ £11 (PICTURED)
#30 VF+ £11
#31 VF+ £11
#32 VF+ £11
#33 VF £9
#34 VF+ £11
American Comics Update: Thor x 10 inc 2 Annuals
*Marvel: Ten rollicking adventures with the God of Thunder and his chums this week, with an array of villains and monsters in issues between #237 & #257, plus Annuals #2 & #3. the former with a new adventure featuring the Destroyer plus classic reprints, the latter all reprint.
IN THIS UPDATE: THOR ALL SOLD
#237 VF- p £6
#238 VF+ p £10
#239 FN/VF p £6
#244 FN/VF p £6.50 Time-Twisters
#245 VF+ p £10
#255 FN/VF p £3.75
#256 VF- p £4
#257 VF- p £4
Ann #2 GD/VG p £11 (PICTURED)
Ann #3 FA/GD p £3 Pen marks on logo, felt tip pen price, book shop stamp.
American Comics Update: Pre-Code Horror Fest: Adventures Into Weird Worlds #10
*Horror 1940-1959: Adventures Into Weird Worlds is one of the most popular of Atlas’s Pre-Code Horror titles, not the least because of the pencils of comics maestro Bill Everett. Here he does the darkly amusing cover and an interior story. Other artists include Bernie Krigstein and Vic Carrabotta. This is not an awful copy. The cover image is strong. There are small amounts of edge wear and chipping and three small pieces of tape around the spine (top, bottom and lower staple). A couple of short horizontal tears at staples appear to have been sealed, and there are long but unobtrusive spine splits. Cover is off bottom staple but secure at top and centrefold. Page quality is very decent. There may have been one or two very small colour touches at spine. There is also some ink bleed from the cover through to the inside cover.
PICTURED: ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS #10 FA £40 SOLD
American Comics Update: 2 Charlton Horror #1 issues of long-running titles
*Horror Mystery 1960-1980s: Charlton produced a great body of work in the horror genre from the late 1960s all through the 70s and this week we feature two #1 issues for two of their longest-running and most famous titles. Ghost Manor ran for two series (1968 and 1971) and #1 of the 1968 series (shown here) featured the debut of host The Old Witch. The Many Ghosts Of Dr Graves #1, with its eponymous host, from 1967 (later just Dr Graves) won the Alley Award for that year as best supernatural title and featured the work of Steve Ditko and Pat Boyette, among others. Both issues in nice grade.
PICTURED:
GHOST MANOR (1968) #1 FN/VF £40 SALE PENDING
THE MANY GHOSTS OF DR GRAVES #1 FN/VF £35 SOLD
British Comics Update: Alan Class Suspense #31, reprinting Tales of Suspense #41, with 3rd Iron Man app, Doctor Strange ‘Prototype’
*Alan Class Reprints: In issue #31 of his Suspense series, Alan Class reprinted the third appearance of Iron Man (inc cover) from Tales Of Suspense #41, wherein our hero battled the uncanny powers of Doctor Strange! No, not the Master of the Mystic Arts, but a super-scientist whose nefarious schemes nearly ended Shell-Head’s career before it took off. Smilin’ Stan Lee, however, clearly liked the name, and mentally filed it away for early re-use, inspiring the much more successful and enduring second Doctor Strange, who debuted shortly thereafter. This is a relatively low grade copy, with an upper spine split of about 3 cm which extends through the first few pages and a loose first page. Nevertheless, a Jack Kirby Iron Man classic at a bargain price! Listed in the regular part of this category in our catalogue.
PICTURED: SUSPENSE #31 GD £30
British Comics Update: Thriller Comics/Picture Library #61-70
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: This digest-sized comics series, most famous under its later title of Thriller Picture Library, ran for 450 issues until 1963, and while it featured a plethora of characters during its lengthy run, the trend for the early years was for historical swashbucklers based on fictional (but serendipitously copyright-free) characters, but also featuring crime, war, western and science-fiction adventures and sometimes (almost) real people! The artists were all accomplished Fleetway professionals, and readers thrived on these beautifully-illustrated pocket adventures. Issues #61-70 (excluding #62) featured this week, mostly mid-grade.
IN THIS UPDATE: THRILLER COMICS/PICTURE LIBRARY
#61 FA £8 The Black Swan
#63 GD/VG £12.50 St George For England
#64 VG £15 (PICTURED) The Prisoner Of Zenda SOLD
#65 VG £15 Bugles In The Afternoon
#66 GD £10 Rogue’s Moon
#67 GD/VG £12.50 The Four Feathers
#68 GD/VG £12.50 Hopalong Cassidy
#69 VG £15 The Last Of The Bandits
#70 GD £10 The Three Musketeers
Books Update: Queens Of Crime: Margery Allingham
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Who are the Queens Of Crime? By my count, six authors who rose to fame in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction between the wars, and leave behind a legacy in crime writing that will never be matched. The most famous of course is Agatha Christie, also Dorothy L Sayers, Gladys Mitchell, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey and Margery Allingham, the latter of whom concerns us here. They all had their recurring detectives of course, and Margery Allingham’s was Albert Campion, a suave sleuth of noble blood, perfectly portrayed on TV by Peter Davison. Six Allingham Penguins in classic green and white stripe livery from the 1950s fresh in this week featuring Campion in typically clever murder mysteries, including his very first outing in The Crime At Black Dudley. Full details, including condition notes, await you in our catalogue.
PICTURED: All by MARGERY ALLINGHAM ALL SOLD
THE CASE OF THE LATE PIG Penguin 1959 4th UK PB VG £4
CORONER’S PIDGIN Penguin 1950 1st UK PB FA/GD £5
THE CRIME AT BLACK DUDLEY Penguin 1953 2nd UK PB FA/GD £4
LOOK TO THE LADY Penguin 1953 2nd UK PB VG £9
MORE WORK FOR THE UNDERTAKER Penguin 1959 3rd UK PB VG £7
MYSTERY MILE Penguin 1952 2nd UK PB GD/VG £6
Books Update: Re-Working Our Crime, Spies & Sleaze Category: Hank Janson including Heade covers Part 5
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Crime, Spies and Sleaze Category for the fifth and final part of our Hank Janson re-listing. This also features the famous cover artwork of Reginald Heade. The most famous name in the post-war boom in British gangster ‘pulps’ (curiously, mostly set in the both seedy and glamorous USA) was Hank Janson. Written by ‘Hank’ and telling his adventures as a journalist and later general adventurer, these were in reality written by Stephen D Frances. These racy, tough and often violent detective novels of the 40s and 50s, generally published on a monthly basis, filled the gap formed when American pulp fiction was banned from the UK, and were immensely popular. (In fact they were so racy that author, publishers and distributors were prosecuted for obscenity in 1954). The earliest Jansons were generally published by New Fiction, and were almost exclusively blessed with Heade covers. The 1950s Alexander Moring imprint, with red and yellow stripes across the top of the cover either featured art by Heade, or produced in his style. Interestingly, many Alexander Moring publications have Heade covers that have been modified, usually by the addition of just enough clothing on the young ladies to avoid another prosecution for obscenity. This update, two further New Fiction Heades, with one of them reproduced on one of the five Morings also on offer. Full details, as always,with condition notes in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL BY HANK JANSON
TOO SOON TO DIE Alexander Moring 1958 1st UK PB thus VG £6
TORMENT New Fiction 1953 1st UK PB GD £25 Cover art by Reginald Heade
TORMENT New Fiction 1953 1st UK PB PR £10 Cover art by Reginald Heade
TORRID TEMPTRESS George Turton c late 1950s 1st UK PB GD £12
UNTAMED Alexander Moring 1957 1st UK PB VG/FN £10
WHIPLASH New Fiction 1940s/50s 1st UK PB PR £10 Cover art by Reginald Heade
WHIPLASH Alexander Moring 1950s 2nd UK PB FN £15 Cover art by Reginald Heade
WILD GIRL George Turton 1959 1st UK PB GD £8
American Comics Update: Atomic Sci-Fi: Mystery In Space #2 & #3 (1951)
*DC: Along with Strange Adventures, Mystery In Space was DC’s premier science-fiction title founded in the Atomic Age. Issues #2 and #3 date from 1951. Whitney Ellsworth was credited as editor, but, apparently, Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger were actual co-editors. The quality line-up of writers (Robert Kanigher, Edmond Hamilton, Manly Wade Wellman, Jerry Coleman) and artists (Carmine Infantino, John Giunta, Murphy Anderson, Irwin Hansen, Bob Oksner, Gil Kane, Frank Giacoia) carries over from the debut issue. The recurring cover feature Knights Of The Galaxy appears for the second and third outings.
PICTURED: MYSTERY IN SPACE
#2 FA/GD £85 Wonderful Infantino cover. Spine is heavily taped with clear tape all along its length. Small number of colour-breaking creases at edges and corners. Cover detached at staples, but they hold the rest of the comic together well. Reasonable off-white/slightly cream pages. Small chunk out of back cover edge (slightly large than thumbnail size). 1/- stamp on back cover (don’t know where that came from!)
#3 VG+ £150 Another great Infantino cover with nice black background. Cover paper is a little worn around the staples, but they hold the cover in place very well. Slight corner blunting and minimal creasing at edges, with a long crease at upper right edge breaking colour. Slight chipping at front cover edge; one narrow chip hanging on with no loss; more chipping at back cover edge. Reasonable off-white/slightly cream pages. Pink colours from front cover bleed through slightly to inside front cover.
American Comics Update: Six Of The Best: Silver Age Flash
*DC: When Flash was relaunched in 1959, with Barry Allen now in the lead role, the artistic duties fell to Carmine Infantino, who pencilled every issue from #105 to #174. If ever an artist was made for a title, it was here. His speeding hero, fabulous cityscapes, gorgeous women, and dynamic and colourful villains characterised the Silver Age Flash. We have six issues new in from Infantino’s mid-period, spotlighting some classic villains from Flash’s Rogues Gallery: the Top, the Trickster, the Weather Wizard and Captain Cold. There is also a Kid Flash appearance, a Green Lantern team up in #143 and the debut of one of my favourite Flash supporting characters in #145: Doralla Kon, The Girl From The Super-Fast Dimension.
IN THIS UPDATE: FLASH ALL SOLD
#141 GD/VG p £13.75 Restapled
#142 VG+ p £21.25
#143 VG+ p £17
#144 VG p £13.25
#145 VG p £19 Loose centrefold
#151 GD/VG p £14.25
American Comics Update: DC Debuts: Jack Kirby’s New Gods Complete
*DC: You either love ’em or hate ’em, but there’s no denying that Jack Kirby’s Fourth World sequence for DC is hard to ignore, with its eccentric ideas and writing style. And there’s also no denying that the characters he created (Darkseid, Orion, Mister Miracle etc) have been a significant legacy for the DC Universe right up to today. His New Gods series was at the vanguard of the Fourth World stuff, and featured the first appearances of Orion, the Black Racer, Steppenwolf & the Forager. We have Jolly Jack’s complete 11 issue run of New Gods fresh in; a variety of grades, all pence copies. (There were a few non-Kirby issues beyond #11, but we won’t talk about those here…) Carry On, Apokolips!
IN THIS UPDATE: NEW GODS
#1 GD/VG p £25 (PICTURED) 1st Orion SOLD
#2 VG+ p £11.75 2nd full Darkseid
#3 VG p £9 1st Black Racer
#4 FN p £9
#5 VG+ p £6.75
#6 FN p £9
#7 VG+ p £15 1st Steppenwolf
#8 FN p £9
#9 FN+ p £11.75 1st Forager
#10 FN+ p £8.50
#11 FN p £6.75
American Comics Update: Spider-Mania/Slab Happy: Amazing #33 with iconic cover CBCS 7.0
*Marvel: This week’s entry in our on-going Spider-Mania event features one of the most popular Amazing Spider-Man covers. Issue #33 of the Amazing Spider-Man is a lot of people’s favourite issue, and a Lee & Ditko classic. A great cover, with Spidey trapped under impossibly heavy machinery as water splashes down all around. And that full page Ditko illustration inside, where, beset by worries about his aunt’s health, he exerts himself as never before to throw off the machinery — possibly my favourite Spidey moment! Not that you’ll see that with this CBCS issue unless you crack it open, but at least you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you have a true gem in your collection! Graded at 7.0 (FN/VF) by CBCS, this cents copy is unrestored with white pages and a perfect case.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #33 CBCS 7.0 FN/VF £375
American Comics Update: The Good Doctor Collection: Tales Of Suspense #70-74
*Marvel: Five consecutive issues of Tales Of Suspense from the Good Doctor Collection this week, from #70 to #74 (1965/66). These have a special resonance for me since they are among the earliest issues of this title I picked off the spinner racks when they first came out. After a couple of WW2 adventures with Bucky, Cap faces the menace of a Nazi legacy in the modern day in the Sleeper trilogy in #72-74. Iron Man concludes his initial encounter with the Titanium Man, has quick forays with the Mad Thinker (and his Awesome Android) and the villainous Black Knight, before the set-up to his adventure with the Freak in the following issue.
IN THIS UPDATE: TALES OF SUSPENSE ALL SOLD
#70 VF p £48 (PICTURED)
#71 VG/FN £14.25
#72 FN p £15.50
#73 FN/VF £27
#74 FN- £15.75
American Comics Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Rogue in Avengers Annual #10
*Marvel: Ms. (later Captain) Marvel, Carol Danvers, had left the Avengers in issue #200, in a controversial and rather offensive departure which raised the hackles of fandom assembled, utterly subverting the character’s independent agenda. In Avengers Annual #10, Chris Claremont ‘fixed’ the storyline, with an amnesiac and powerless Carol being rescued by Spider-Woman, and the discovery of her escape and reawakening commencing. It was a rather skilful job, assisted by the moody, evocative, and too-seldom-seen art of Mike Golden, plus, when the villains of the issue arrived – the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants – they had a spanking-new member, Rogue, who was the reason for Carol’s confused and powerless state. Rogue, of course, swiftly moved to the ‘light side’, joining the X-Men and becoming a key character – and this is where she got her start, but the issue has more to offer than only that! Ignore the rather messy and bitty cover; the interior’s a gem! This is a great high grade copy with bright colours and gloss, square corners, tight, firm staples and lovely white to off-white pages. What signs of wear there are are limited to a couple of short creases on the back cover at the bottom edge.
PICTURED: AVENGERS ANNUAL #10 VF+ £70 SOLD
American Comics Update: Six Of The Best: Low Grade Fantastic Fours
*Marvel: For the budget conscious, six issues of classic Fantastic Four this week, all in varying states of disrepair, but great as reading copies. 1st four by Kirby, last two by Romita.
IN THIS UPDATE: FANTASTIC FOUR ALL SOLD
#51 FA p £15 Classic This Man, This Monster
#71 GD p £6.75
#73 GD p £10.25 With Spider-Man, Thor & Daredevil
#82 FA/GD p £5.25 With the Inhumans
#105 GD+ p £5.75
#106 FA/GD p £3.50 Upper spine split
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: America’s Greatest Comics #7 1943
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: From the Bute Collection this week, a Fawcett 100 pager from 1943, featuring Captain Marvel, Commando Yank, Mr Scarlet & Pinky, Minute Man, Balbo the Boy Magician, Bulletman & Bulletgirl, some comedy shorts and, as you would expect from a war-time issue, quite a few Nazis. Great cover with Captain Marvel showing a youngster ‘the world of your tomorrow.’ Nice condition cover with bright colours; a few white spots and wear marks and one or two minor colour-breaking creases with a lower spine split of about 2.5 cm; the rest of the squarebound spine is solid. Staple and original glue bind the comic very well. Pages are an excellent and supple off-white quality. Four pencilled letters above Captain Marvel’s head on cover. A solid and appealing copy.
PICTURED: AMERICA’S GREATEST COMICS #7 VG+ £125 SOLD
American Comics Update: The Bute Collection: It’s A Jungle Out There! Atlas Jungle Action #1 1954
*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: From the Bute Collection this week, a decent copy of the short-lived Jungle Action #1 from 1954, a pre-code issue.. Featuring the slinky Leopard Girl by Al Hartley, Jungle Boy by John Forte and Lo-Zar, Lord of the Jungle by Joe Maneely, plus more. Nice clean copy with strong colour, tight staples, supple off-white pages. Short colour-breaking creases across bottom corners, slight mark at top centre above logo. We have awarded this an ‘Apparent’ grade (and priced accordingly) as it is missing the first page of the text story/ad page. All picture strip stories are complete.
PICTURED: JUNGLE ACTION #1 App VG+ £50
British Comics Update: UK Horror Fest
*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints Of US Material: A handful of horror reprints from a variety of publishers this week as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE:
ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN (Arnold/Thorpe & Porter)
#14 FA £4
#15 GD £7
#18 GD £7
FANTASTIC TALES (Thorpe & Porter) #4 VG £6
FRANKENSTEIN (Top Sellers) NN VG £12 (PICTURED)
TWILGHT ZONE (World Distributors) COMIC ALBUM #1 GD £15 (PICTURED)
VOODOO (Miller) #1 VG £35 (PICTURED)
British Comics Update: Dandy 1952 – New & Improved
*Humour Comics: Continuing our policy of providing more information for Beano and Dandy, we have ten new issues of Dandy in this week from 1952, but sadly none of them are first appearances or special dates or with flyers, most in jolly nice condition though.