*DC: In 1958, DC Comics presented a new science fiction hero, the latest in a line that stretched back to John Carter of Mars and Flash Gordon. Like his famous predecessors, Adam Strange was a contemporary Earthman transported through space for adventures on an alien world. Indeed, the banner heading for Adam’s first appearance in Showcase #17 was ‘Adventures On Other Worlds’ (it wasn’t until #19 that it changed to ‘Adam Strange’, the one and only time in the classic Silver Age that his name appeared at the masthead on a comic cover, since all subsequent appearances came in Mystery In Space).

Adam Strange was created by editor Julius Schwartz and (visually) Murphy Anderson. It was Schwartz (himself a veteran of science fiction magazines) who conceived the idea of an Earthman repeatedly traveling to a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system using a ‘Zeta-Beam’.  Since Adam Strange was the first Earthman on another planet, he named his character Adam after the Biblical first man. Schwartz assigned the scripts to Gardner Fox (although the plots were dreamed up between them) and the artistic duties to Mike Sekowsky. Schwartz, being a science major, gave Fox scientific pointers which lent the series a plausibility far greater than other science fiction comics of the time.

In Showcase #17, Adam Strange is presented as an archaeologist, an Indiana Jones-type figure searching for a lost city of the Incas in the Andes. Pursued by natives, he risks a twenty-five foot leap across a chasm, but never lands. Instead he is struck by a mysterious beam from space and transported to the planet Rann of the star system Alpha Centauri 25 trillion miles from Earth. There he meets the lovely Alanna and her scientist father Sardath in the city of Ranagar. They explain that their ‘Zeta-Beam’ was a communication device sent to Earth four years previously in an attempt to establish contact; due to some unnamed ‘space radiation’, they postulated that the beam had somehow been converted into a teleportation beam. No sooner is Adam starting to settle in than Rann is invaded by a race called the Eternals (!) who are after a rare metal for their home world. Using his spacecraft piloting skills (where did he get those from?) and his wits, Adam is able to trap the Eternals permanently in the fourth dimension, as you do. Just as he succeeds, however, the Zeta-Beam charge wears off and he is teleported back to Earth.

Never fear though because Sardath had previously been able to advise where and when all subsequent Zeta-Beams would strike the Earth (they took four years, but he’d already sent loads!), so Adam was able to beam back to Rann in time for his second adventure and the second alien invasion in the second story in Showcase #17, wherein Adam got the spacesuit, rocket jets and ray-gun by which we came to recognise him.

We’re delighted to present, from the Bute Collection, all three of Adam Strange’s adventures in Showcase.

PICTURED: SHOWCASE
#17 GD/VG £500 Cover has excellent colour and gloss and is virtually unmarked. It’s off the lower staple and the spine is cleanly split to slightly above that. Remainder of spine is attached, but a little weak with a few small holes. There is some corner blunting and edge wear, but little of note except for a 3 cm crease top centre which breaks colour. There is a slight puckering along a few cms of the right edge. Both staples are firm at centrefold, and the top firm at cover as well. Supple pages are a very clean white to off-white. High resolution images are available on request.
#18 VG+ £160 Nice unspoilt cover image with just reading wear, corner blunting and a couple of diagonal creases across bottom right, one of which faintly breaks colour. Solid spine with staples firmly attached, and at centrefold. Supple pages are a very clean white to off-white.
#19 VG+ £170 Nice unspoilt cover image with just reading wear, corner blunting and a short 2 cm crease across bottom right, which just breaks colour. Solid spine with staples firmly attached, and at centrefold. Supple pages are a very clean white to off-white.

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, X-Men #64-66 were the last three issues of the original series to feature new material (issues #67-93 were all reprint), but each of these three issues has great significance. #64 featured the debut of short-lived X-Man but recurring character Sunfire; #65 (the last issue drawn by Neal Adams) featured the return of Professor X back from the dead and #66 guest-starred the Hulk, who Marvel always seemed to wheel out for the final issue of a series. 
PICTURED: X-MEN
#64 VF- £175 Nice clean glossy copy with vibrant colours, tight, firm staples and white to off-white pages. Minor wear at spine and very slight handling wear.
#65 FN/VF £65 Nice clean glossy copy with vibrant colours, tight, firm staples and near white pages. A very narrow 4.5 cm crease at top right corner breaks colour.
#66 VF- p £150 Pence-printed. Glossy and vibrant, with tight, firm staples and near white pages. Just minor handling edge wear.

*Marvel: Ms Marvel, spinning out of Captain Marvel, former background character Carol Danvers got her own set of super-powers and a whole new supporting cast (including new boss J. Jonah Jameson) as she attempted to discover the mystery behind her own origins. Although moderately successful, the series was attacked by critics who derided Carol’s derivative costume, which made her look like Captain Marvel’s sidekick, and the fact that Marvel were offering a ‘powerful, confident’ heroine who suffered from blackouts and amnesia. Despite these jibes, Ms Marvel has been a prominent member of the Marvel Universe for nearly fifty years in one guise or another – whether as Ms Marvel, Binary, Warbird, or an incarnation of Captain Marvel, her chequered history has provided many intriguing plotlines. This is a nice cents copy with great cover colour and gloss and just minor handling wear at edges, with a very soft non colour-breaking crease across the edge of the top right corner. Supple off-white pages and tight, firm staples.
PICTURED: MS MARVEL #1 VF- £35

*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: Frank Miller’s Sin City burst on to the comics scene in 1991, firmly establishing the neo-noir mood he had built on in his earlier classic run on Daredevil and the seminal Dark Knight Returns. The original Sin City series (later entitled The Hard Goodbye) originally appeared in serial form in Dark Horse Presents, and The Big Fat Kill (a five part mini-series) was the third instalment of these stories of Basin City and its denizens. It continues the story of photographer Dwight McCarthy from the previous A Dame To Kill For. It’s chock-full of the dark, seedy characters that inhabit the city and the locations that form it. The film noir influence on the series’ artwork is seen in its use of shadow and stark backgrounds. Black and white are the sole colours most of the time, with other colour used sparingly to highlight certain characters. The writing style also draws heavily on detective and crime pulp fiction. We’re delighted to present all five parts of The Big Fat Kill in pristine condition from an original owner collection.
PICTURED: SIN CITY: THE BIG FAT KILL #1; COMPLETE SERIES #1-5 All NM £25

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: This week’s release of Love Story Picture Library, the longest running romance picture library from Fleetway, comprises 10 consecutive issues from 1967, between #622 to #631. The series always maintained a high standard and the very accomplished art reflected the fashions and mood of the times. Virtually no touch of rust on the staples of these nice copies, with just a little creasing or puckering in some cases.
IN THIS UPDATE: LOVE STORY PICTURE LIBRARY
#622 VF £7
#623 FN/VF £6
#624 FN £5
#625 FN £5
#626 FN/VF £6
#627 FN/VF £6
#628 FN/VF £6
#629 FN/VF £6
#630 VF £7
#631 FN/VF £6

*Books About Books: You’ll find a couple of items listed under ‘About H P Lovecraft’ added to this category this week, although these are in fact essays and letters by the man himself, two sturdy and learned volumes.
PICTURED:
ABOUT H P LOVECRAFT
H P LOVECRAFT (Ed by S T JOSHI)
COLLECTED ESSAYS VOLUME 5: PHILOSOPHY, AUTOBIOGRAPHY & MISCELLANY
Hippocampus Press NY 2006 1st US PB, 1st printing VF £18
H P LOVECRAFT (Ed by S T JOSHI & DAVID E SCHULTZ)
LETTERS TO JAMES F MORTON
Hippocampus Press 2011 1st US PB FN £15

*DC: A significant milestone in the history of the Legion of Super-Heroes is a decent copy of Adventure Comics #300, in which Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes replaced Tales of the Bizarro World as the regular back-up feature to Superboy and starred on the cover. Although the Legion had been around as supporting characters for a few years, it was really here and in the 80 issue run that followed that the lore of the Legion, so beloved by its fans (of which I’m one) really started. A nice cents copy with good colour and minor edge wear, okay staples and pages, marred only by a short spine split between the staples.
PICTURED: ADVENTURE #300 VG- £70

*Marvel: Key issues don’t come much more key these days than Iron Man #55, wherein the cosmic arch-villain Thanos, nemesis of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, made his first appearance, the brainchild of fan favourite writer/artist Jim Starlin. Thanos has of course gone on to plague Marvel’s heroes in comics and movies ever since, but here is where it all started. This landmark issue also features the debuts of Drax the Destroyer, Mentor, Eros (later Starfox of the Avengers) and Kronos. This is a beautiful pence printed copy, clean and bright with reflective cover colour. Firm, tight staples and supple white to off-white pages. No cover marks except for a faint and tiny soft dink at base of spine and a couple of minor stress marks centrally at spine; none of these break colour. High grade images are available on request.
PICTURED: IRON MAN #55 VF+ p £600

*Marvel: From the Bute Collection this week, three issues of Fantastic Four, linked only by being in the same grade. In #24, the FF come up against an alien child. In #40, guest-starring daredevil, the powerless FF encounter Dr Doom in a battle royale. And in #66, we learn something of the background to the origin of Him, later Warlock.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR
#24 VG+ p £50 Pence printed. Nice solid copy with only minor edge wear and very slight chipping. 
#40 VG+ p £40 Pence stamped. Nice solid copy with some corner blunting and spine ticks. SOLD
#66 VG+ £50 Fresh copy with minor wear at right corners.

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: In the 1950s, Atlas, like most publishers, was scrambling around different genres to find the next ‘big thing’, and one such experiment was 1953’s Speed Carter, Spaceman, Flash Gordonesque space opera as Speed, accompanied by plucky sidekick Johnny and the shapely Stellar Stone, went where no man had gone before. These pulpy adventures were high on action and tinged with horror, as the publisher tried to cover all bases, but Speed Carter Spaceman, (technically, in the indicia, ‘Spaceman’: On the cover, ‘Speed Carter Spaceman and the Space Sentinels’ – no possible confusion there…) didn’t catch on with the public despite some quality work, and had only a short 6-issue run, initially illustrated by the superb Joe Maneely. All six issues of the run fresh in, admittedly mostly in very low grades, but at least that makes them affordable!
PICTURED: SPEED CARTER, SPACEMAN
#1 FA £55 Pieces of tape reinforcing worn spine, chunk off bottom left cover, wear and tear, pages okay.
#2 FA £27 Wrinkled and stained by water damage.
#3 FA/GD £35 Colour touches and edge wear.
#4 GD £47 Small amounts of edge wear. Not a bad copy.
#5 FA/GD £35 Edge wear, chips out top left cover, bottom spine.
#6 PR/FA £13 Heavy colour touches, spine glued, corners off back cover.

*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. Ten issues between #82 and #95 featured this week, mostly towards mid-grade.
IN THIS UPDATE: THRILLER COMICS/PICTURE LIBRARY
#82 GD £10 The Swordsman
#83 GD £10 The Apache Curse
#84 GD £10 The Chronicles Of Captain Blood
#85 GD £10 Dick Turpin – For Justice and the Right
#86 GD £10 (PICTURED) Rob Roy
#87 GD/VG £12.50 D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers
#92 GD/VG £12.50 Dick Turpin and the Lost Heir
#93 GD £10 Forward, the Musketeers
#94 GD £10 The Highway Blade
#95 GD/VG £12.50 Sabre and Tomahawk

*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 for Part 2 of the works of Harry Harrison. A very prolific writer, Harrison was an American long resident in both Ireland and the UK. His most famous works are probably the Stainless Steel Rat novels (a series of 11 books), the novel of overpopulation Make Room, Make Room (the basis of the film Soylent Green) and Deathworld (which started out being serialised in the UK Eagle comic and ended up with later volumes co-written with Eastern European authors and only published there; Harrison was apparently something of a cultural icon in Russia). Although known for his satire and humour, Harrison was equally adept at serious stuff. Before his writing career, Harrison was a comics illustrator for EC comics, where he worked on their science fiction titles with Wally Wood. Later he became a close friend of Brian Aldiss, and they jointly produced a series of SF anthologies under the title The Year’s Best Science Fiction. We’ve split our Harrison inventory into two parts for up to date presentation. Part 2 follows: 
PICTURED: BY HARRY HARRISON
PRIME NUMBER Sphere 1987 7th UK PB GD £3
SKYFALL Corgi 1977 1st UK PB VG £3
THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT Sphere 1974 2nd UK PB thus VG £3
STAR SMASHERS OF THE GALAXY RANGERS Orbit 1976 1st UK PB VG £3
WAR WITH THE ROBOTS Pyramid 1962 1st US PB VG £3
(As Editor) :
SF: AUTHOR’S CHOICE Berkley 1968 1st US PB VG £5
(As Editor with BRIAN ALDISS) :
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION NO 7 Sphere 1975 1st UK PB GD £5
(With Gordon R Dickson):
LIFEBOAT Orbit 1985 UK PB VG/FN £3

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: The Professionals was a TV crime-action series from the late 1970s/early 1980s, created by Brian Clemens who had been a driving force behind the Avengers. Unlike the latter’s unique and surreal quirky eccentricities, the Professionals was an all-action hard-hitting crime series, with a trio of memorable male leads. 15 books were published from the series, each one adapting one to four of the scripts for the TV show. We have the first six of these new in as follows:
PICTURED: THE PROFESSIONALS by KEN BLAKE ALL SOLD
#1: WHERE THE JUNGLE ENDS Sphere 1981 UK PB VG £4
#2: LONG SHOT Sphere 1981 UK PB VG/FN £5
#3: STAKE OUT Sphere 1978 1st UK PB FN £6
#4: HUNTER HUNTED Sphere 1981 UK PB VG/FN £5
#5: BLIND RUN Sphere 1981 UK PB VG/FN £5
#6: FALL GIRL Sphere 1981 UK PB VG £4

We’re taking a short break next week, after filling orders received up to 4 pm today (21st September) and posting them next Wednesday (25th September). There will not be a Newsletter nor stock updates next Saturday, but they will be back on 5th October. After this coming Sunday 22nd September, we’ll next be filling orders on 6th October. You may of course continue to place orders at any time; we will acknowledge them and reserve items for you wherever possible.

It’s unfortunate that unforeseen personal matters came up for us so near our upcoming holiday that this will be the second break for us in a short space of time. After this, you’ll be pleased to know that we have no more scheduled breaks until Christmas.

*DC: As a long-time LSH fan, (and I go back to Adventure Comics #293, which I read as it came out), I will always consider that the issues in Adventure Comics #300-380 are the greatest stories of these wonderful characters ever told. But if I had to pick a second favourite, it would be this run in their own title from #287 to #300, where Levitz and  Giffen (with earlier issues in the run by other artists) were able to capture and convey both the epic scale that the futuristic universe demanded and also the detail of the very personal relationships between the Legionnaires, making this a standout series for DC in the early 1980s. This sequence includes both the Great Darkness Saga (vs Darkseid) in #290 to #294 and the giant-sized anniversary issue #300. I remember waiting anxiously for each issue to come out every month, feeling just like a kid again and relishing the excitement. Highly recommended; full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES
#294 VF+ £4.50
#300 VF+ £4 SOLD

*Marvel: From The Good Doctor Collection, Fantastic Four #16 features the villainy of Doctor Doom and guest-stars Ant-Man in one of the earliest Marvel crossovers, back when such things were still a special event. Ant-Man aids Marvel’s First Family in their adventures in the mysterious micro-world of Doctor Doom. Lee & Kirby are at the height of their powers on this early issue. This is a reasonable pence printed copy; there are a few small colour-breaking creases on the cover (nothing horrible) and a few pressure marks. The spine has wear but is intact and there is some corner blunting. Staples are secure at spine and centrefold. Pages are a decent off-white to cream with a small tear on the splash with no loss. Always a very popular issue.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #16 VG- p £165 SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: Frank Miller’s Sin City burst on to the comics scene in 1991, firmly establishing the neo-noir mood he had built on in his earlier classic run on Daredevil and the seminal Dark Knight Returns. The original Sin City series (later entitled The Hard Goodbye) originally appeared in serial form in Dark Horse Presents, and A Dame To Kill For (six part mini-series) was the second instalment of these stories of Basin City and its denizens. It tells the story of photographer Dwight McCarthy and his fatal attraction to the title character. It’s chock-full of the dark, seedy characters that inhabit the city and the locations that form it. The film noir influence on the series’ artwork is seen in its use of shadow and stark backgrounds. Black and white are the sole colours most of the time, with other colour used sparingly to highlight certain characters. The writing style also draws heavily on detective and crime pulp fiction. We’re delighted to present all six parts of A Dame To Kill For in pristine condition from an original owner collection.
PICTURED: SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR #1; COMPLETE SERIES #1-6 All NM £30 SOLD

*Romance: From our new Arch Collection this week, four early issues of the cross-genre title Cowgirl Romances, including #1. Published by Fiction House from 1950-1953, and with the usual high standard of art from this publisher, these tales of cowgirls on the range and the loves they won and lost are full of action, adventure and, um, romance. With story titles such as Beneath the Outlaw Moon, The Bride Wore Buckskin, Senorita Six-Gun and Rose Of Mustang Mesa, these offer a unique perspective on two classic genres. 
PICTURED: COWGIRL ROMANCES ALL SOLD
#1 FA+ £100 Cover detached, with small chunks out of rear cover. A fair amount of edge wear, with many colour-breaking creases, although the central image is undamaged apart from a faint subscription-like crease down the centre. Okay page quality, with staples firm at centrefold; great colours on the cover. 
#2 GD/VG £55 Decent copy with a couple of long diagonal creases across the cover which only just break colour. Small nick off top right cover corner. Tight, firm staples and nice pages.
#4 FA £20 Taped spine. Cover quite thin with wrinkly wear. Some edge chipping.
#6 FA £18 Cover detached, with spine quite fragile and torn in many places. Some colour-breaking creasing, but central image unspoilt.

*Power Comics: Sadly, length and heat haven’t had very much to do with the Great British Summer of ’24. However, at least with can go out in a blaze of nostalgia with the one and only Fantastic Summer Special from 1968. This bumper-sized package contains (in black and white, of course, but with colour pin-ups) the origin of Daredevil from Daredevil #1, Thor vs Hercules from Journey Into Mystery King Size Annual #1, Spider-Man meets Dr. Strange from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2, Torch meets Iceman from Strange Tales #120 plus features and a few UK shorts. This is really tough to find in any grade and this is only a low grade example, with heavy rust to the staples leading to cover detachment and a loose centrefold. Plus a bit of spine roll and some minor tears to a few interior margins. There’s also some bottom spine wear and a few foxing-like stains. But it’s complete and you’ll probably wait a long time to find a high grade copy. 
PICTURED: FANTASTIC SUMMER SPECIAL 1968 FA/GD £30 SOLD

*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 & Sleaze Category for the works of Paul Renin (pen-name of Richard Goyne). His novels are pretty much sleazy romance rather than gangster tales, but their luridly attractive covers put them squarely in the same collector market. Seven books, including four with sumptuous covers by Reginald Heade, and two new to our catalogue. Full details, including condition notes, may as always be found in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL BY PAUL RENIN
A DOUBLE LIFE Harborough 1940s/50s UK PB FA £15 Heade cover
FLAME Archer 1951 US PB VG £12 Heade cover
LONELY WIVES Trident 1960s UK PB GD/VG £10
MAN MAD Phoenix 1950s UK PB GD £20 (New)
SHE WHO HESITATES Leisure Library 1953 US PB FA £10 Heade cover
UNWARNED Phoenix 1950s UK PB GD/VG £25 (New) SOLD
VIRTUE R & L Locker 1949 UK PB PR £7 Heade cover

We’re delighted to announce the acquisition of a new prestige collection of vintage American comics from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. This collection contains a wide variety of material from different publishers and will include plenty of comics that we don’t have in stock (or in some cases, never have had), with an emphasis on the esoteric. At the owner’s request, we’re calling it the Arch Collection, and you’ll find comics from it marked with a distinctive branding on our labels, on our What’s New page and referenced in our listings. We’re starting off this week with the debut of one of the most famous DC Silver Age super-heroes…

*DC: A selection of DC Giant Batman issues from the Silver Age, five from the numbered Batman series, one annual and one from the 80 Page Giant series. I used to love these as a kid, with all those Golden Age reprints, a chance to experience earlier Batman stories which were otherwise totally out of reach here in the UK.
IN THIS UPDATE:
BATMAN
#193 VG- £14 Bizarre Action Roles
#208 FN £20 (PICTURED) Women in Batman’s Life.
#213 VG p £16.25 30th Anniversary Special
#218 GD/VG £11 Batman’s Crime File SOLD
#233 VG+ p £13.25 Bruce Wayne
BATMAN ANNUAL #5 VG- £20 (PICTURED) Strange Lives of Batman & Robin.
EIGHTY PAGE GIANT #5 GD £12.25 (PICTURED) 25th Anniversary Special. Lower third of spine taped. SOLD

*Marvel: Three significant issues of the try-out title Marvel Premiere from the 1970s: #5 is an early issue of the Dr Strange revival following his original series; it features the first appearance of Sligguth and the first mention of Shuma-Gorath. #49 is the first solo Falcon story; #55 is the first solo Wonder Man story. 
IN THIS UPDATE: MARVEL PREMIERE ALL SOLD
#5 FN+ £35 (PICTURED)
#49 VG p £10
#55 VF p £15

*Marvel: A complete set of the mini-series Venom: Funeral Pyre, from 1993, co-starring the Punisher. #1 has a fancy holo-grafix foil cover. All three issues available in pristine NM condition. If you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you’ll like…
PICTURED: VENOM: FUNERAL PYRE #1; Complete Set #1-3 All NM £25 SOLD

*IW/Super: We’re very pleased to announce the first in a series of releases by that most esoteric publisher IW/Super. IW Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s, named for the company’s owner Israel Waldman. Comics were published under both the IW and Super imprints and were notable for publishing unauthorised Golden Age reprints of other company’s properties. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. Basically, it seemed to be whatever they could get their hands on that determined the esoteric nature of their output. Thus you get super-heroes, war, romance, western, funny animals, crime, horror, science fiction and just about every genre within their pages — just two of them in this update. Full details of what was reprinted in what are listed in our website catalogue. NB usually with newly-drawn covers. Over the next few months, we’ll be presenting a series of issues from this publisher, starting here with Eerie and Eerie Tales. We have one of the three known issues of Eerie and all four of the known issues of Eerie Tales (the IW numbering system was a law unto itself!)
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
EERIE #9 VF £90 Wally Wood cover from Avon’s Eerie #2 (1951) with slight alterations. Reprints Toby’s Tales Of Terror from 1952, pre-code horror. Outstanding copy with glossy cover, tight, firm staples and near white pages. Only very minor edge wear.
EERIE TALES
#10 FN- £15 Ross Andru cover. Reprints Spook #27 from Star (1953). Pre-code horror. L B Cole art.
#11 FN £20 Ross Andru cover. Reprints Purple Claw #3 from Toby (1953). Pre-code horror.
#12 VG- £10 Ross Andru cover. Reprints Avon’s Eerie #1 (1951). Pre-code horror. Fred Kida art.
#15 FN/VF £40 (Just Eerie on cover) Ross Andru cover. Reprints Star’s Blue Bolt #113 (1952). Pre-code horror. Jay Disbrow and Basil Wolverton art.