*Clearance Corner: A charming bargain lot in Clearance Corner this week. Classics Illustrated Junior, the companion to the famous Classics Illustrated series, commenced in 1953 and ran for 77 issues, featuring many famous (and some not so famous) fairy tales with brightly painted cover illustrations. Included in this lot of 36 different issues are Sleeping Beauty, Jack & the Beanstalk, Puss In Boots, Rumplestiltskin, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Rapunzel, Snow White & Rose Red and many more. The UK version of this was called Pixi Tales and there is one issue of that included in this lot of otherwise US versions, making 37 in total, all in a mix of FA to FN grades. We have to clear something to make room for our Atlas Explosion, so these, with regret, have to go. Here’s your chance for a real bargain — just £25 the lot (UK postage if required would be an extra £7).

For our previously listed spotlight this week, we feature a modern classic. In 1989, Neil Gaiman, not yet the superstar author he would later become, took the venerable DC superhero the Sandman and completely refurbished the concept – revamping the titular hero as an immortal embodiment of the Dreamworld, Gaiman opened the door to a myriad of adventurous possibilities, modernising the concept without invalidating or discarding either previous Sandman series (the 1940s and 1970s strips), but instead enfolding them into a larger meta-narrative. The Neil Gaiman Sandman series ran for 75 issues and a Special, and won an insane array of awards. This is where it all began, in this instance in a beautiful NM/M pence copy, on sale for £135. You know us, we’re very picky graders and believe if submitted to a third party grader, this would qualify as a 9.8.

*DC: In 1985, for the company’s 50th Anniversary, DC released Crisis on Infinite Earths, a 12-part series in which all the multiple parallel Earths of the DCU, long established ever since ‘Flash of Two Worlds’, faced annihilation, in an attempt to reconcile the conflicting alternate realities, and result in a more comprehensible DC Universe. Marv Wolfman and George Perez delivered a truly epic story, sending shockwaves through fandom as veteran characters perished, mostly permanently. (Well, until reality rebooted again, but in fairness that was decades later…) For all its flawed legacy (it was unevenly followed up by other creators, resulting in a ‘streamlined’ DCU that was actually more confusing, and it set the precedent for sprawling cosmic crossovers to become a tedious annual occurrence), COIE was an epochal event in the evolution of comics. Marvel’s Secret Wars may have done it first – but Crisis did it with style, expertise, and a genuine air of consequence. This 12-issue set averages NM- condition (some NM, a few VF/NM), mostly pence copies. Pictured are the two best-remembered issues of the series, #7 (VF/NM) and #8 (NM p), with the demises of the Silver Age Supergirl and Flash, respectively. This is being sold as a complete set of 12 only, at £125. SORRY, THIS SET HAS NOW SOLD

*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 first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #129 is rare in any condition in the UK, where, owing to the presence of Spider-Man Comics Weekly, the US title was embargoed for several years. This is a cents copy (there are no pence copies, of course), bright and glossy, with considerable visual appeal. Firm corners, staples tight at cover and centrefold, this looks at first glance to be a higher grade than its assigned GD+, but there are three flaws: a barely-visible Book Centre Stamp over the logo, a small ‘7p’ handwritten above the Punisher’s head, and minor warping throughout the lower inch of the book owing to water exposure in the past. However, the page distortion is very light and is unaccompanied by any of the staining, discolouration or odour that often goes with watermarking, so it doesn’t interfere with enjoyment of the story. This GD+ copy of a very high demand comic is on sale at £300. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Following his tryouts in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 & #13, Mar-Vell, the Kree warrior sent to conquer Earth from within, got his own series in Marvel’s 1968 expansion year, chock-a-block with intrigue as his superior officers schemed to overcome the planet, and Captain Marvel played a double game. Overtly a good soldier following orders, he secretly strove to thwart their agenda, as he came to sympathise more with Earthlings, particularly one Carol Danvers, the security agent who would, decades down the line, take over the role of Captain Marvel herself. Although the upcoming cinematic Captain Marvel release stars Carol, Mar-Vell is rumoured to be among the supporting cast, and interest in his earlier appearances is consequently rising. This copy of Captain Marvel #1 is a VG p copy, clean and highly presentable with only light cover creasing, not affecting the primary cover image. On sale at £50.

*Marvel: From time to time, as the years advance, we add to our catalogued ranges of stock, and it’s the turn of the Mighty Thor for a ‘boost’, as we increase our range of listed issues to include the run written and (mostly) drawn by Walt Simonson, who revitalised the series commencing with #337. Almost 100 issues new to our listings, including #337 itself, which introduced the horse-faced alien thunder god Beta Ray Bill, a concept which should never have worked, but oddly caught on with readers at large, as well as debuting the Enchantress’ previously-unsuspected younger – and against all odds, wilier – sister, Lorelei. #337 is VF p at £50. For details of the rest, please see our online catalogue. You can’t go too far wrong with a giant frog, now can you? SORRY, #337 NOW SOLD

*Marvel: In the Seventies, Marvel was experimenting with a wide range of genres, and the dystopic near-future science-fiction field showed promise, with ‘Killraven’ over in Amazing Adventures and, here in Astonishing Tales #25, the premier of Deathlok, a cyborg assassin who rebelled against his programming and searched for his purpose – while shooting people a lot. The creation of Rich Buckler and Doug Moench, Deathlok has remained a fixture in the Marvel Universe – including his portrayal by August Richards in the Agents of SHIELD TV series – and this copy of his debut issue is VG p £20, with his second appearance (in AT #26, in case you couldn’t guess), also new to our lists at VF p £9.75. Completist bonus: AT #25 also features a two-pager with George Perez’s first Marvel artwork! SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: In mediaeval times, Sir Percy of Scandia fought the evil Modred in a Hollywood version of King Arthur’s Court, as reinterpreted by Stan Lee and doubtless created in the hope of riding the coattails a range of cinematic successes. However, illustrator Joe Maneely gave the predictable tropes vivid life and vigour with his exquisite linework, which, although reprinted many subsequent times, has sadly been generally badly produced, losing much of the beauty and detail of the original comics. This character’s connection to the mainstream Marvel Universe has been established through his villainous and heroic descendants (one Master of Evil, one Avenger), so there will always be demand for this series, but mostly it’s hotly pursued for the sheer quality of the work. We have three of the five-issue run in stock, all in mid to low grades, making them uncommonly affordable, proportionately speaking. Issue #1 is PR at £35, #3 FA £30 and #5 GD- £45. For more detailed descriptions, please see the online catalogue listing. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Western: Formerly Cowboy Action (#1-11), Quick-Trigger Western featured in its short run rather superior artwork from the Atlas bullpen – which, it has been noted many times elsewhere, was already a cut above the average. Although devoid of ongoing characters, Quick-Trigger made up for it by presenting outstanding artwork by Williamson, Crandall, Torres, Baker, Orlando, Kirby and others behind very striking covers by Heath, Maneely and Severin. While this was no doubt unplanned – the story assignments were almost certainly random, and shuffled into any title that needed filling – Quick-Trigger’s line-up is particularly serendipitous, and a treat for fans of the Atlas artistic stable. We’re missing only the debut issue, #12, from an otherwise complete Q-T run. Pictured are #15 FN £34, and #17 FN+ £41.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Football has always been a popular theme of British comics, but Scorcher, launching in 1970, was one of the earliest weeklies to make it an all-consuming theme. Given its respectable five-year run, the creators did a decent job of it, even if there was a lot of imagination-stretching to introduce variations: ‘Lags Eleven’ (footballing convicts), ‘Lord Rumsey’s Rovers’ (footballing aristocrats), the superbly bonkers ‘Kangaroo Kid’ (footballing feral child raised by marsupials) and ‘Billy’s Boots’, in which a klutzy young lad finds a magically-endowed pair of boots belonging to a legendary player, and gains his skills from them – so, cheating, basically. ‘Billy’s Boots’ was the strip that Would. Not. Die., running for many years after Scorcher’s demise in Tiger, and reappearing in the 1990s in Striker. This is the first appearance of the popular series, and in addition to the #1 (FN £30), we also have the second and third issues new in stock. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Girls’ Comics: A younger sibling to Mirabelle, Melanie grabbed the pop & love stories market with a fresh, upbeat style that compared favourably with its stablemates. The highlight of Melanie was its comic strips – this was before the ‘photo-love’ era – which were often very beautifully drawn, by a range of artists unknown but leaning heavily, we suspect, on the Romero studios. We have a range of Melanie, none previously in stock new in, averaging Fine, from 1973 to 1974, including the first issue in Fine with Free Gift! The Free Gift, also Fine, is a flexi-disc in which David Cassidy talks exclusively to Melanie readers! #1 FN with FG Fine is £20; for the other issues, please see our online catalogue.

We’ve been getting a lot of incidence lately of our emails to customers going into their spam/junk folders, which it seems a lot of you don’t check regularly. If you’re waiting for an email from us, please check your spam/junk folder and if you find it there, mark us as a safe sender on your system for future use. Remember, sometimes email is the only way we have of communicating with you, and we’ll always reply to genuine emails — we don’t want you to think we’re ignoring you!

*DC: Although it seems like only yesterday, John Constantine aka Hellblazer, occult troubleshooter, has ‘haunted’ the DCU for 33 years now, star of multiple ongoing titles of his own and numerous guest appearances. It all started here, in the pages of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing #37 from 1985. This nice VF- pence copy can be yours for a bargainaceous £35. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Well, T’Challa, the Black Panther, has been all the rage since his smash hit movie and his first appearance in Fantastic Four #52 has rocketed up in price accordingly. So here’s a chance to grab a decent lower graded copy while it’s still at a price that’s (hopefully) within reach. This GD/VG cents copy is a little worn along the spine (and to a lesser extent the edges), but the cover image is totally clean and unmarked. There is slight looseness at the staples, but they hold firm and the centrefold is well attached. Page quality is nice (with minor scribble on lower splash margin only). Priced at £250.  

*Marvel: It’s a Ditko mini-extravaganza in this week’s Spider-Mania prime update, with the following 4 consecutive issues from1965. #28 features the debut of the Molten Man, a decent copy of this notorious black cover background issue that has sustained some spine wear and a small patch of moisture discolouration to the bottom right edge of cover and first few pages (mainly visible inside). #29, featuring the Scorpion, is a superior apparent FN+ copy, but the interiors have been printed/collated off centre and are a bit wonky, so we’ve priced it down accordingly. #30, the Steve Ditko plotted ‘Claws Of The Cat’ story is a beautiful high grade cents copy. #31 is another lovely copy featuring the first appearances of Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn and Prof Warren, as well as being the first part of the classic Doc Ock/Master Planner trilogy. #28 GD+ p £80, #29 App FN+ £50, #30 VF+ £240, #31 FN+ £185. SORRY, #28, #29 & #31 NOW SOLD
 

*Marvel: ‘A Special Once-In-A-Lifetime Issue’, the cover of this one-shot boasted, and its unique position is simply a result of a scheduling tangle which arose when Marvel was finally allowed by its distributors to increase its range of titles. The Hulk took over the numbering of Tales to Astonish and Captain America the numbering of Tales of Suspense, but that left ‘orphaned’ chapters of the Iron Man and Sub-Mariner serials languishing, so they were used in this oddball one-off so that both Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner could start off their #1 issues with clear storylines. This new addition is FN+ pence, clean & bright, sound staples, good cover colour and minimal edge & corner wear. One of the easiest Silver Age Marvel titles to complete – buy one and you’ve got the set! FN+ p at £65. This is exactly the same grade and price as a previous copy we had in October, which sold instantly… SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: From 1981 and the days when alternate future storylines were not really as cliched as they’ve since become, one of the most compelling of them all: the classic Days Of Future Past two-parter from X-Men #141/142 by Claremont & Byrne. This was virtually Byrne’s swan song on the title. Featuring an aged X-Men line-up against the Sentinels (and the first appearance of Rachel Summers aka the second Phoenix), this really is the story where, as the cover proclaims “Everybody Dies!” Even a huge DC fans such as us thoroughly enjoyed this classic and if you’ve not read it, you owe it to yourself to do so. Both cents copies; #141 FN/VF £35, #142 FN+ £20. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Horror 1940-1959: One of the greatest of Atlas’s horror series is also one of the shortest to collect. Menace ran a scant 11 issues from 1953-1954, right at the peak of the pre-code extravagance and infamy. Famous perhaps for Bill Everett’s contributions to several issues, ironically, we have the four issues to which he did not contribute: #7, #8, #10 and the last issue #11. But you still get Heath, Katz, Maneely, Powell, Romita, Shores, Sinnott and others, in a festival of fear in lowish grades that are still affordable! #7 FA/GD £55, #8 GD+ £95, #10 GD £75, #11 FA/GD £55. 

*War: Lovers of War comics have hit the jackpot this week, as our Atlas Explosion event gets down and dirty with Battle, the leading and long-lived War title, starting in 1951 and concluding in 1960. We have all but 2 or 3 of the complete run fresh into stock in a variety of grades from PR to FN/VF. The first 37 issues are Pre-Code. The roster of artists on show reads like a Who’s Who of comic art from the 1950s: Check. Krigstein, Everett, Kubert, Colan, Ayers, Williamson, Torres, Berg, Heath, Maneely, Orlando, Powell, Robinson, Romita, Severin, Tuska, Moskowitz, Sinnott, Whitney, Woodbriage and, during issues #63-70, a certain Mr Kirby and Mr Ditko also appear. One of the jewels in the crown of our Atlas event.
Selected issues illustrated here as follows: 
#1  VG+ £100, #2 FN+ £95, #3 FN+ £78, #6 FN+ £78, #11 FN+ £62, #20 FN+ £62, #24 FN+ £56, #25 FN+ £56, #34 FN/VF £66, #61 FN+ £50, #63 FN £56, #64 VG/FN £52, #67 FN+ £83.   

*Alan Class Reprints: We are delighted to present both an update to our stocks of these unique and popular items, and an enhanced format for them. We are now, wherever possible, as well as the original comic, including as many of the later comics that used the same printing plates in each set, thus presenting a more complete history of the plates’ use. In addition, each set also now comes with a colour information sheet on Alan Class and his comics, with a picture of the man himself. New this update are 13 plate sets, 1 Amazing Stories and 12 Astounding, including many early issues. Extras galore, including interior plates, printer’s instructions, cover proofs and sheets and even flongs! (Flongs are impressions of the original plate used for reprinting as an alternative to the plate itself). Particularly worthy of note are the sets for Amazing #1 (shown here), Astounding #17 which reprints a story from Amazing Spider-Man #8 and Astounding #29 (also shown here) which reprints the Giant-Man story from Tales To Astonish #50 (inc. cover).

*Annuals: Ten 1950s Boys’ Annuals new in this week, including Eagle Vol 6, a couple of Okay Adventure Annuals, an Ajax Adventure Annual, an Adventure Annual and a Spaceways  Annual (the latter two featuring Swift Morgan by Dennis McLoughlin) and four Robin Hood Annuals from 1957-1960 reprinting stories from Thriller Picture Library.   

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A nice run of the controversial Action from 1976 fresh into stock this week —  pre-ban issues up to 9th October 1976 (plus the first post-ban issue 4/12/76. Gruesome adventures of the cuddly man-eating shark Hookjaw, plus Hellman, Dredger and lots of other strips that got this title banned from distribution. The second issue (21/2/76) is in FN grade and comes with the Free Gift (Hookjaw transfer) in unused VF; comic and gift £50. The issue for 29th May is VG and also comes with Free Gift (Invasion Game) in pristine NM; comic and gift £25. Both these are pictured here; for details of other issues (while they’re still available!), check out our catalogue listings.

*Girls’ Comics: Two #1 issues this week from different decades. June #1 (1961) is a tired and somewhat browned off copy with a 2.5″ tear centre lower edge and rusty staples, but complete and the first issue of a long-running series, FA at £25. Lucky Charm #1 (1979) is the first issue of this classic reprint ‘done-in-one’ series featuring Valda, champion diver and girl of mystery; a slightly grubby copy with the first few pages loose at the bottom few inches only; GD at £20.

The festive season approaches again and it falls to us to advise you when you can buy vintage comics and books from us over the holiday period. Our last day open before Christmas will be Saturday 22nd December, when we shall trade for our normal hours from 10:30 till 18:00. We re-open again on Thursday 27th December. We will be closing early on New Year’s Eve (4 pm on 31st December) and closed New Year’s Day. In summary:

Monday 17th-Saturday 22nd December. Open as usual 10:30 to 18:00
Sunday 23rd-Wednesday 26th December. Closed
Thursday 27th-Saturday 29th December. Open as usual 10:30 to 18:00
Sunday 30th December. Closed as usual.
Monday 31st December. Open 10:30 to 16:00
Tuesday 1st January. Closed
Wednesday 2nd January onwards. Open as usual

Orders requiring posting paid for by 4 pm on Saturday 15th December will be posted on Monday 17th and should arrive in time for Christmas (if in the UK). After that, we will continue to post out before Christmas, but cannot guarantee pre-Christmas delivery. 

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 files in our American section:
*Marvel
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.