*Power Comics: 1967 was the year of expansion for the upstart Power Comics Group; having established Wham and Smash! as more traditional comics weeklies with eventually a smattering of US material, they cashed in on the super-hero craze of the 60s by launching Fantastic #1, reprinting sequential stories of Iron Man, Thor and the X-Men, with a small percentage of UK-originated stories in the back. This was followed in April that year by Terrific in the same format, with Doctor Strange, Sub-Mariner and the Avengers. Our newest early issues of Fantastic and Terrific, however, bear the distinction of the original Free Gifts that accompanied them. Fantastic #1 is in FN with the Fantastic Plastic Pennant – a small banner with a clear pocket into which you could insert one of several cut-outs to demonstrate your affiliation for a particular hero. Issue #2 comes without, alas, the Fantastic Bubblegum advertised, but does have the original envelope said gum came in. Turning to Terrific, #2 Iron Man’s Missile Launcher, a.k.a. a cardboard crossbow, but without the ‘cross’ bar: and Terrific #3 has a complete Astro-Dart Launcher. Fantastic #1 is FN with free gift VG at £100, #3 is FN with partial Free Gift VG at £40. Terrific #2 is FN with Partial Free Gift GD at £40; #3 is FN with Free Gift VG at £75. SORRY, FANTASTICS & TERRIFIC #3 NOW SOLD

*TV & Film Related Comics: This week we have the first two issues of Star Wars Weekly from 1978. Marvel UK lost little time in jumping on the bandwagon, re-packaging reprints of the American material, and, in the best tradition of British Weeklies, enticing the punters with the added incentive of a flimsy and easily-damaged cardboard toy! We have issue #1 of Star Wars Weekly in FN with the Free Gift X-Fighter in FN, (one piece punched out of card but not assembled) and issue #2 in VF with Free Gift Tie-Fighter in GD, with one piece punched out of the supporting card and lightly folded. Issue #1 with Free Gift is £50; issue #2 with Free Gift is £35. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

Our opening time is changing from Monday 7th January (tomorrow) to 11:00 a.m., so our new hours will be 11:00 to 18:00 Monday-Saturday.

Our window designer, Dr. Evilla has chosen to spotlight the rara avis of Classics Illustrated UK versions, those that are originals, not featured in the US series. Often the bane of collectors, our new influx is celebrated in a window display which is replicated in the gallery below, which shows many (though not all) of our incoming rarities.

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*DC: From 1982, DC’s first maxi-series was Mike Barr’s retelling of the Arthurian legend in the far future, where King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table fulfil the ancient prophecy that they would return when England needed them most. In the year 3000, England, and Earth, is under alien attack, but our reincarnated heroes must face three challenges – the invaders, their ancient enemies Mordred and Morgan LeFay, and the, in some cases, confusing new forms they have been reborn into. Intelligent and deftly plotted, the sweeping saga is lushly illustrated by Brian Bolland, whose compositions radiate malice or heroism as the narrative demands. It took a long time to produce all twelve issues – launched in ’82, it finally concluded three years later – but given the quality of Bolland’s art, the protracted schedule was not only unsurprising, but totally worth it. All twelve issues of this controversial but highly acclaimed series are available as a NM set, on sale at £40 for all.

*Marvel: One very successful latter-day addition to the Web-Head’s Rogue’s Gallery was the Hobgoblin, who made his debut in 1983’s Amazing Spider-Man #238. The path of carnage and mysterious identity of this suspiciously familiar evil-doer kept readers entertained for more than a year before the Big Reveal, with several red herrings and false ‘revelations’ along the way. This copy of ASM #238 is VF/NM, cents with no UK price or overstamp at £135, proudly retaining the Free Gift – Lakeside ‘Tattooz’ – which baffle and frustrate so many completists. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: After a long run as the co-star of Tales of Suspense, Iron Man was given his own title in 1968, when the ‘Berlin Wall’ of Marvel’s distribution came down, and they were allowed to expand their range of titles. New in this week, a copy of Iron Man’s first solo issue, with Gene Colan’s hyperkinetic art driving the drama onward! A key item for collectors and investors alike, this is a pence copy, with unfaded deep purple cover background, moderate wear at spine and edges, and a few diagonal creases towards the lower right cover corner, well away from the ‘manspreading’ central figure! Iron Man’s pivotal status in the Marvel Universe, both Comic and Cinematic, means that demand for this issue is only going to increase as the years go by. #1 GD/VG p £120. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Never distributed in the UK (and causing a calamitous and expensive gap in many collections), X-Men #121 featured the debut of Wolverine’s old battling buddies Alpha Flight, Canada’s own super-hero team. Snowbird, Sasquatch, Northstar and company were all destined for longer lives and greater notoriety in the Marvel Universe at large, including several series of their own mag, ‘rebooted’ unto the present day) but here’s where it all kicked off, as artist and co-plotter John Byrne brought his own characters into the franchise! Not only do we have X-Men #121, the first ‘Full Flight’, as it were, but also #120, in which readers were ‘teased’ with captivating cameos before the unveiling in #121! Issue #120 is FN/VF pence at £35; #121 is VF/NM cents (obviously, there were no pence editions of that issue) at £60.

*Marvel: Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme reigns, er, supreme given his recent high-profile media appearances in Avengers: Infinity War and his own eponymous movie, so we’re delighted to welcome back his first series from #170 (second issue of the series) and including the Black Knight guesting #178, and the 1970s series between #4 and #36, plus the superb P. Craig Russell illustrated Annual #1!

*Marvel: Following significant Hulk sales, we’re giving you more of what you want by increasing the range of Hulk back numbers listed in our online catalogue. Previously we’d cut off at #200, but we’ve now expanded our catalogue listing with issues up to #350. Although sadly we don’t have all the issues in that range, we do have over 90 new items in our catalogue, including the debuts of the second Moonstone (later a key player as Meteorite in Thunderbolts) and Sabra, the rebranding of Marvel’s first super-hero Dr. Droom as Dr. Druid, the four-colour first appearances of Jack of Hearts and Bereet, who’d only previously been in the black & white magazines, the John Byrne run including Bruce & Betty’s long-deferred wedding, the Peter David & Todd McFarlane ‘Grey Hulk’ era, and the parallel thread with Rick Jones as Green Hulk. No, honestly. A plethora of our Not-So-Jolly Green Giant and his Pals n’ Gals, all newly installed for you!

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Martin Goodman, publisher of Timely (later Atlas), reportedly never met a bandwagon he didn’t like, and as soon as publishers like Lev Gleason started hitting it big with crime comics, lo and behold, crime titles proliferated at the company that would eventually become Marvel. One of the earliest, and one of the hardiest, was Justice, which debuted in 1947 with issue #7 (taking over the number of the defunct Wacky Duck, doubtless causing raised eyebrows amongst subscribers’ parents) and lasting until 1955. Espousing the traditional American values of greed, murder and casual violence towards women (but always with a last-panel save by the authorities), Justice featured outstanding work by Colan, Heath, Maneely, Robinson, Shores and Wildey. We can now mete out Justice to you – virtually all of it, from the debut issue, #7, to the final #52. Illustrated are #8 (actually #2 in the series) GD- £16, #22 FN+ £28, #41 GD £25 (notorious electric chair cover), and #43 VG £20; for details of all the others, see our online catalogue.

*War: The War comics genre has been consistently popular for decades, kicking off just a few years after World War II concluded, and one of the major contributors to the field has always been DC, whose long-running series are fondly remembered by a generation of readers. One such was Our Fighting Forces, cover-dated October-November 1954 on its first issue, an anthology helmed by writer-editor Bob Kanigher, and featuring the talents of Irv Novick, Arthur Peddy, George Papp and Jerry Grandenetti, who also provided this issue’s striking cover. Lasting 181 issues until 1978, Our Fighting Forces is best remembered for its ongoing series characters, most notably the Losers, but they were still in the title’s future, and this premier edition features unconnected anthology tales of combat. This is a CBCS 2.5 graded copy (GD+ equivalent) and is on sale at £125.

*Modern Reprints: EC, as we’ve noted many times, brought new levels of quality to the realm of comics – and new levels of controversy, as censorious cretins objected to the more mature storylines. The originals are highly sought-after, and quite expensive, but for those of you who are curious to see what the fuss was about – but not wanting to lash out so much money – Gemstone published full-colour sequential facsimiles of the classic EC titles in the 1990s, and new stocks of those are available now, including substantial runs of Crime SuspenStories and Shock SuspenStories, shorter runs of Weird Science-Fantasy and Incredible Science-Fiction, and a light dash of Weird Fantasy and Haunt of Fear!

*Undergrounds: Around 75 new listings to our collection of counter-culture classics. There’s a deluge of US original undergounds which flourished in the Seventies – Anarchy, Anomaly, Barefootz Funnies, Class War, Dr. Wirtham’s Comix & Stories, Greaser, Harold Hedd: Hitler’s Cocaine, Human Drama, Man, Middle Class Fantasies, Phoebe & the Pigeon People, Quack!, Rip Off, Slow Death, Snoid, Spaced, Spasm, Tales from the Leather Nun, Trina’s Women and The Best of Wimmen’s Comix & Other Comix by Women. There’s a selection of British Undergrounds, which started by reprinting the American material, often under the ‘Cozmic Comics’ imprint – Bijou Funnies, Half-Assed, Serious Comics, Tales From the Fridge – but grew into a thriving array of original talent, with the Knockabout Comics anthology and the occasional one-off like Lion & Lamb and Blackhill Bullshit. Then there are selected independent titles which arose in the 80s and 90s owing their roots to a fusion of the Underground and mainstream movements – Omaha the Cat Dancer, Steve Ditko’s Avenging Tales and Weirdo. A cornucopia of class and crass – frequently in the pages of the same comic!

*Alan Class Reprints: Some lower profile Alan Class reprints this update, as we add dozens of issues for the following titles: Creepy Worlds, Out Of This World (2nd series), Secrets Of The Unknown, Sinister Tales, Suspense & Uncanny Tales. These are mostly post decimal and towards lower grades, so coming in at around £1.75 each!

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Following the demise of the original Captain Marvel & Family in the 1950s, UK Publisher Len Miller, who had been lucratively reprinting the adventures of the hero now known as Shazam!, decided to produce his own look-alike version, with the aid of Mick Anglo studios. Marvelman was born – and in his turn begat Young Marvelman and Marvelman Family, other all-new spin-offs ‘homaging’ the Marvel Family. 14 of these 1950s gentle fantasies, a far cry from the gritty 80s reinterpretation by Alan Moore and company, are now back in our boxes, in grades between FA and VG.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: The pocket-sized Picture Libraries remain enduringly popular, and we’re very pleased to have refreshed popular titles this update: a selection of Super-Detective Library, from #36 to #174, starring Blackshirt, Tod Claymore, Vic Terry, Buck Ryan and more; Thriller, ranging from #26 to #145, featuring variously the Three Musketeers, Battler Britton, John Steel, and Spy 13 and TV Picture Stories, numbers between #15 to #29, predominantly presenting Highway Patrol, but veering into O.S.S. in the latter issue. Rounding it off, a dash of War – War Picture Library, issues from #55 to #119. These are low-to-mid-grade, complete and affordable reading copies.

*Clearance Corner: Long before the days of Snapchat and Instagram, celebrities’ public profiles were kept up by, among other media, comic books, in which licenced versions of the film & tv performers went through carefully-screened panelological hijinks. Two such were famous film comedians Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis, each of whom racked up more than 100 issues of their respective series at DC from the 1950s through to the 1960s. Their star power, however, not having crossed the Atlantic, we’re now offering eight issues of Bob & Jerry – six Bobs, two Jerrys – at a significantly reduced price. From 1953 & 1954, we have Adventures of Bob Hope #19-24, a nice sequence, and from 1968 & 1971, Adventures of Jerry Lewis #107 and #122. All are graced by the comedic art of Bob Oksner, written (at least largely) by Arnold Drake, and in decent mid-grades ranging from Good to Fine. Originally on sale at a retail of just under £150 combined, these can now be yours for just £50. UK postage, if required, is £5.

*Clearance Corner: Our bargain basement offerings are back with a difference this week! Rather than bundling up a lot for your consideration, we’re offering you a chance to pick any issues you want from our listing of Wizard, the UK comic story paper that ran from 1922 to 1978 (in two series), for just 50p each! Ignore the individual prices shown in our catalogue. We have hundreds in stock from 1931-1977, all listed in our Boys’ Adventure & War Comics category. One of D C Thomson’s Big Five, Wizard thrilled generations of boys through the middle of the 20th Century, particularly  with the adventures of Wilson, the Wonder Athlete. Shop visitors can of course pick up any quantity; mail order is for a minimum of 20 issues (£10) plus p&p. As with all Clearance Corner lots, this is only available by mail order to UK addresses, since the cost of shipping elsewhere is unviable. This offer will remain available while stocks last but once they’re gone, they’re gone!

On a regular cycle, we sweep through our entire stock to delete sold items and keep our listing as up to date as possible. We’ve just finished deleting sold items from the following file in our British section:
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics (A – S)
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*DC: In the Swinging Sixties, two dynamic dames debuted who were to be major players in the Bat-Legend in ensuing decades. Batman #181, dated June 1966, brought us Poison Ivy, a floral femme fatale brainstormed with the intent of joining the TV show as a younger recurring villain. Ivy never made it to the small screen in the 60s, but she did catch on with comics readers, her status in recent years being considerably enhanced by her position as Harley Quinn’s BFF. Half a year later, in Detective Comics #359 (Jan. 1967), a character appeared who did make it onto the Batman TV show: Barbara Gordon, the second Batgirl, has been a librarian, crimefighter, congresswoman, paramour of Robin, paraplegic, hacker and leader of the Birds of Prey – and it all began here! Our copy of Batman #181 is Apparent FA/GD – the ‘Apparent’ being primarily because the centrefold double-page pin-up, as is so often the case, is missing, leaving the ‘Mystery Analysts’ adventure without its splash page. But the Poison Ivy debut is complete, and, with only moderate cover creasing, this serves well as a ‘reader’ until you can get something better. The Detective Comics #359 is an unabashed Poor, the defects mostly centred around the cover, which is detached from the main body of the book, separated front from back, and crumbling all over. The interior pages are lightly tanned but clean, and would themselves grade as GD-/GD, if judged independently. Neither of these ladies is going to hang around our premises for long, so move swiftly! Batman #181 App. FA/GD is £100; Detective Comics #359 is PR at £60. Both are cents copies, with no pence price or overstamp. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*DC: In 1973, the town of Metropolis, Illinois, petitioned to be affiliated with the Superman character, becoming the official ‘hometown’ of the Man of Steel for public relations purposes. Among the media tie-ins for this event was the release of this one-off tabloid comic – in the format later popularised by DC’s Limited Collectors’ Edition series and its spin-offs – featuring new and reprint Superman and Superboy comics stories, plus multiple features and a stapled-in poster, a Map of Krypton. Sadly, the proposed Superman theme park never materialised, the attractions in the real-life Metropolis being limited to a Superman Museum – but this is a fascinating read nonetheless. Of extremely limited distribution even in the US – and almost never seen in the UK – this rarity is a must for Superman completists. This copy is FN+ at £50. Light creases break the cover colour slightly at spine, but the original giant poster Map of Krypton is still firmly in place. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Issue #41 of the Amazing Spider-Man, which saw the debut of a curiously endearing member of Spidey’s Rogue’s Gallery – the Rhino, a virtually unstoppable behemoth whose sheer power and tormented soul made him an instant hit, and one of the most popular recurring villains, popping up everywhere from the Defenders to the Unstoppable Squirrel Girl! (No, really!). Only briefly glimpsed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far – but that was the old version, so he’s ready to ‘reboot’ – this debut of a key player is an attractive grade: FN pence copy, on sale at £50. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD