*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: The first issue of the ground-breaking weekly Battle, still with its original free gift! The brainchild of Pat Mills, Battle broke away from the stoic stereotypes of British war comics, presenting a more naturalistic, more pessimistic, and, yes, more violent picture than before, generating substantial sales but considerable outrage. Early popular features such as ‘D-Day Dawson’ and ‘Rat Pack’ were later joined by ‘Johnny Red’ and ‘Charley’s War’ to controversy and acclaim. We have a newly-acquired copy of the first issue, dated 8th March 1975, in Fine, with a Fine graded gift of ‘Combat Stickers of World War II’, at £40. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Humour Comics: Premier and/or Free Gift issues are the theme for this update, as we restock four popular series. Cor #1 from 1970 is sadly only a Fair – generally presentable, but there is a small tear inside where, we assume, the Free Gift was stuck then removed decades ago. This affects two stories slightly – ‘Spoilsport’ and ‘Andy’s Ants’ – so this flaw means it’s graded FA at £20. Cracker, the very strange weekly from D.C. Thomson, debuted in 1975, and despite a respectable run, seems little remembered these days – a pity, as its off-beat (and excruciatingly corny) humour had a certain charm. We have issue #1, sadly without the Free Gift, but a decent VG, at £15 and issue #2 in FN with the Free Gift – the ‘Cracker Bang’ – also FN. These paper noisemakers are a staple of British Comics, having been around since at least the 1930s, but because of the force necessary to get them to make the noise, they didn’t endure and seldom survive. This comic & gift combo (pictured) is on sale at £25. The first issue of the 1971 ‘reboot’ Knockout is also new in, a very respectable Fine copy, sadly without the Arrow Toffee Bars, on sale at £15. And finally – the big one: (No, not the Big One, that was a different comic…) Nutty, the 1980 launch which gave the world the multi-media star power of ‘Bananaman’. We have not one but two copies of Nutty #1, one FN with the Lemon Flavour Space Dust VF (pictured, though we seriously don’t recommend consuming it) at £30 for comic and gift; the second #1 is VG without gift at £15. We also have issue #2 VG £7.50 and issue #3 FN with Free Gift – the ‘Whirlyjig’ – also FN at £20, also pictured.

*Undergrounds: Not named for the Wizard from the films, but rather because its first iteration (1963-1969) originated in the creator’s native Australia, Oz Magazine’s London edition hit the streets in 1967, and became much more notorious than its parent, being the subject of controversy, media hysteria, and a very famous obscenity trial.

An integral part of the UK’s underground press, Oz became synonymous with the psychedelic counterculture, though it always had more fangs than the derisive ‘hippie’ label implied, regularly enraging the British Establishment with a range of left-field stories including heavy critical coverage of the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement, discussions of drugs, sex and alternative lifestyles, and contentious political stories, presented alongside daring and innovative artwork, including contributors from the world of Underground Comix.

Regularly raided by police, the Oz team, weary and disheartened, finally gave up with issue 48 in 1973, but each went on to success in other fields, disproving the disparaging comments made by the judge in their 1971 obscenity trial that they were, among other things, misfits and incompetents.

We have acquired a selection of the rare early issues of the London OZ, including the very first, in a remarkable state of preservation given their vintage. Issue #1 VG/FN is £800, #2 VG £200, #7 FN/VF £125, #10 FN £100 and #13 VG £75. Limited circulation – and frequent seizures and destruction by the loveable lads and lasses of the Metropolitan Police – ensure that these counter-cultural artefacts are vanishingly scarce today.

Images for the first issue are shown right: front and back covers and page 1; other issues shown below. High resolution images for #1 are available on request. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

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:
*Charlton
*Dell
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*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 Rover, the UK comic story paper that ran from 1922 to 1973, for just 50p each! Ignore the individual prices shown in our catalogue. We have hundreds in stock from 1933-1973, all listed in our Boys’ Adventure & War Comics category. One of D C Thomson’s Big Five, Rover thrilled generations of boys through the middle of the 20th Century, and absorbed stablemates Adventure & Wizard along the way (all issues known as Rover & Adventure and Rover & Wizard are included in this offer). 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!

*DC: Originally co-created by Jack Kirby in Showcase #6, the Challengers of the Unknown were four adventurers who were brought together by a plane crash that ought, by all reason, to have killed them. Since they were ‘living on borrowed time’, the quartet decided to use their special skills to fight all threats, terrestrial and otherwise, to the betterment of humankind. Later joined by two honorary lady members (it was the Sixties…), the Challengers mainly ended up fighting monsters, aliens, robots, and at least one monster alien robot woman! Fondly recalled by many as sporting some of the goofier nemeses of the Silver Age, we have added 16 new issues to our listings of the Challengers’ own series, from #21 through to #74. Highlights include their crossover with the other Champions of the Bizarre, the Doom Patrol, in #48, and a Deadman guest-appearance illustrated by Neal Adams in #74, but each and every issue has a distinctive quality you won’t find anywhere else.

*Marvel: Of the post-Ditko run of Amazing Spider-Man, one of the most in-demand issues is #50, wherein artist John Romita hit his stride and started doing some of the finest work of his career. The cover to #50, with Peter’s temporary abandoning his Spider-Man identity, has become etched in the minds of a generation, endlessly imitated and ‘homaged’, and as if that wasn’t enough, this epic issue featured the first appearance of the Kingpin, one of Spider-Man’s most significant villains! (Later shoplifted by Daredevil, but that was a decade or two in the future…) Our newest copy of ASM #50 is GD, a pence copy with light spine and corner wear. Centrefold is loose, cover firmly attached. Largely unimpaired cover scene, with only a few tiny flecks of broken colour on Spidey’s torso. Interiors clean, off-white, flexible, a mid-grade copy with considerable eye appeal. GD p £65. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: ‘This Female Fights Back!’ was the tagline of Ms Marvel, Marvel Comics’ attempt to publish a solo heroine with a bit more longevity than 1972’s Claws of the Cat. 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 forty years in one guise or another – whether as Ms Marvel, Binary, Warbird, or most recently the latest Captain Marvel, her chequered history has provided many intriguing plotlines. With the Captain Marvel movie, starring the Carol Danvers iteration of the character, launching in 2019, early appearances of the character are hotting up, and in view of extensive recent sales, we’ve taken the opportunity to completely refresh our listing for ‘Captain Carol’, deleting sold items and adding in 18 new listings for numbers between #2 to #23, the final issue of her original series, mostly in respectable and affordable mid-grades. Buy ’em while you can!

*Horror 1940-1959: Following its modestly successful run as a super-hero title, Harvey Comics’ Black Cat jumped on board the horror trend, and rapidly became known for some of the most gory and lurid stories of the Pre-Code Era. While generally acknowledged as one of the most consistent in terms of quality, with artists such as Powell, Fujitani, Elias and Nostrand, Harvey was never afraid to go for the gross-out shocker, and none of their covers had more notoriety than this issue’s featuring an unfortunate gentleman who has apparently mistaken a tube of radium for a tube of Polos. As you can imagine, it doesn’t end well. Widely vilified at the time by Doctor Wertham and his censorious associates (and many copies consequently destroyed), this is one of the rarest and most sought-after Harvey Pre-Code horror issues. This copy is in reasonable shape, with a loose but present centrefold, moderate edge and corner wear, and one horizontal tear mid-cover (approx 3″), which nevertheless does not detract from the cover scene. Images of this item’s front and back covers and splash page are reproduced below. High resolution images are available on request. Graded at GD- and priced at £700. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Western: Heading up the Western branch of our Atlas Explosion event comes one of Timely/Atlas’ earliest Western series, Wild Western (Wild West for its first two issues), an anthology title which ran from 1948 to 1957. Occasionally spotlighting one character in several stories, more often it presented a variety of features, with many of Atlas’ established Western heroes – Apache Kid, Black Rider, Gunhawk, Two-Gun Kid, Ringo Kid, Kid Colt Outlaw and more we’ve forgotten – stopping by for a spell! We have 39 of the series’ 57 issues new in stock, commencing with issue #13 and concluding with that final issue, #57. Artists involved include Colan, Berg, Maneely, Heath, Severin, Powell, Romita and Shores, to name but a few. Pictured are #14 (VG+ £34) and #21 (FN £32); for grades and prices on the others, see our online catalogue, and check in again in the near future for more from our Atlas Western Round-Up!

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: After too long an absence we’re delighted to welcome a few issues of the Fleetway Super Library Stupendous Series! Entitled Fantastic Series for the first two issues (rebranded, we believe, to avoid confusion with Power Comics’ Fantastic weekly, which was in publication at the time) this ran from 1967 to 1968. Originally published fortnightly, these extra-long digests provided 100+ pages of (as far as we know) all-new adventures, not reprinted from the weekly comics. Like its companion Libraries (Front Line and Secret Agent), Fantastic/Stupendous alternated its cover stars, and here we have alternating tales of Valiant’s Steel Claw – intermittently invisible super-agent Louis Crandell – and from Lion, the Spider, megalomaniac anti-hero and scientific genius! Seven new issues in, from #5 to #19. ‘The Man Who Stole New York’, ‘March of the Gorillas’, ‘City Beneath the Sand’ and other extra-length epics can be yours – if you’re quick! Pictured are #10 and #14, both FN/VF £22.50 each. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: A nice substantial update to our stocks of the D.C. Thomson Girls’ Picture Libraries: Bunty and Judy, the ‘Big Sisters’, are represented by 22 of each from their respective first 50 numbers, Bunty commencing with #8 (VG £12) and Judy from #2 (GD £10). There’s also a scattering of their younger sisters, Debbie and Mandy Picture Libraries, added in this week. Join ‘Ballerina Behind Bars’, ‘Becky’s Buffalo’, ‘Bess of the Black Arrows’ and the ‘Slaves of the Staring Eye’ for fun and adventure!

*Clearance Corner: Not strictly a comic, so a little outside our normal bill of fare, Blighty magazine from the 1950s presented a slice of British life and was quite highly regarded in its day. A precursor of later magazines such as Tit-Bits and Parade (which is what Blighty migrated into), Blighty pervaded humour, sports, cartoons, glamour, show-biz etc in its 32 pages and the issues featured in this bargain lot all sport very attractive painted good-girl covers by Tomkins. All 12 on offer date from 1958 and are in reasonable condition. Yours for just £15 (UK postage if required will be an extra £3.50). SORRY, THIS LOT HAS NOW SOLD

*Collected Editions: The renaissance of classic British comics continues, with this week’s release of two new collections: Ballad of Halo Jones Volume 3, with Alan Moore and Ian Gibson’s futuristic everywoman ending up on a decaying ghostworld, with no hope for a future, and no way out except by joining the military! Meanwhile, in Misty Volume 3, the archive from the popular girls’ mystery weekly collects ‘Wolf Girl'”, by Eduardo Feito and Jordi Badia Romero, together with a selection of shorter subjects from the anthology, many of which themselves have a lycanthropic theme. Both of these are brand-new retrospective paperback collections, Halo Jones at £10 and Misty at £14.

*DC: A nice top-up to our stocks of Action Comics from the classic SIlver Age (mainly), with Superman at his best, running from #279-439, with the emphasis on the earlier part of that range and mostly featuring issues previously missing from our listing. All the earlier issues co-star Supergirl, with a few later Legion of Super-Heroes and other back-ups.

*Marvel: In Spider-Man’s tenth issue, the mysterious ‘Big Man’ sought aid in his goal to become the king of the underworld, and enlisted the assistance of a trio of career criminals known as the Enforcers. One of them, the Ox, went on to become a nemesis of Daredevil, and enjoy a villainous career in his own right, but still ‘got the band together’ from time to time with his cohorts, Dapper Dan and Montana to battle the Human Torch, Dazzler and multiple clashes with Spider-Man and Daredevil. This vintage issue is a highly attractive VG pence copy, the only immediately visible flaw being a patch of spine wear around the ‘Big Man’s right side. However, full disclosure, there is a light colour touch (not immediately apparent) on Spidey’s thighs, which does not bleed through to the inside front cover. Because of this very minor restore, we have graded this copy, which in every other respect would be a Fine or better, at VG p at £130.

*Marvel: The 87th issue of the ‘junior X-Men’ series, New Mutants, featured the first full appearance (he had made a fleeting walk-on in the previous) of the man named Cable, the man from an apocalyptic near-future, son of Scott Summers by a cloned replica of Jean Grey, who came back in time to prevent his own future from coming to pass. Or something like that. His powers include metal bits, a strappy costume, really big guns, and glaring a lot. With a shiny eye, for no very good reason. Anyway, he took over the stewardship of the New Mutants from Magneto, and eventually honed the survivors into X-Force, a dubious achievement for which no-one should thank him. He’s since bobbed back between ‘now’ and the future, interfering with his own and the world’s time stream, and accosting various mutant children to become the Hope of the World. Kind of like Mary Poppins, he’s a super-powered nanny with metal limbs. Confusing back history and ambiguous abilities or not, his co-starring role in the record-breaking second Deadpool film has caused interest in the character’s early appearances to peak. This copy of the mulleted marvel’s debut is FN p £55, but – because we’re too good to you – we also have the sold-out second printing available in NM at £17.

*Archie: We’ve always been keen supporters of Archie here at 30th Century, and with the Archie series’ recent relaunch in a teen-soap style emulating the popular ‘Riverdale’ TV series, we’ve decided to upgrade our catalogue listing for Archie’s own title up to the final issue of the traditional, original series. This includes such attention-getting stories as the ‘Archie Marries Betty/Marries Veronica’ seven parter and its follow-up ‘Archie Marries Valerie’: ‘Obama Vs. Palin’: ‘Occupy Riverdale’: the charming gender-flip comedy ‘Reversedale’: and many more experimental issues, including crossovers with Glee, Kiss, Thor (well kind of) and Dilton Doiley’s epic battle with… Mark Zuckerberg? This catalogue expansion goes all the way up to the final issue #666, including, at the time of writing, all the #666 variants, plus other sought-after later Archie issues such as the scarce Adam Hughes variant cover on Betty & Veronica, and the debut of Riverdale’s first gay character, Kevin Keller, in Veronica’s solo title. But not content with that, we also have additional vintage Archie issues from Archie Annual, Betty & Veronica, Jughead as Captain hero, Laugh, Life With Archie, and Reggie and Me. See you at the Chok’lit Shop!

*Horror 1940-1959: Suspense (1949-1953), not to be confused with the later Tales of Suspense, was one of Atlas’ most popular horror series – though, oddly, it began not as horror but as crime, adapted very loosely from a popular radio series (later television) of the era. After the first two crime issues, it switched to supernatural mysteries rather than criminal mysteries, but for the first nine issues still proudly proclaimed its media tie-in status on the front cover. The publishers also seemed unafraid to experiment with the format, fluctuating between 48 and 32 interior pages, so most of the early issues are good value for money in terms of page count. As one of Atlas’ earliest horror titles, and the first to go monthly, it’s fascinating to watch the evolution of the series, aided, as always, by the top-notch stable of artists – Maneely, Heath, Everett and more, who produced some splendidly lurid and imaginative work, particularly on the covers! we have 25 of the 29-issue run now in stock, commencing with #4 and ending with the final issue #29. Most of these are in very affordable low to mid grades, respectable reading copies, complete, clean and with varying degrees of wear. A handful, however, do achieve higher grades and are illustrated below – #12 VG+ £82, #13 VG+ £82, #16 VG £73, #18 GD/VG £56. All of Suspense was Pre-Code, not subject to the later censorship that trammelled the genre, so here’s a rare opportunity to grab most of a renowned series – if you’re quick!

*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: In the latter days of the 20th Century, Roy Thomas parlayed his long career as writer and editor to revive his former fanzine Alter Ego, now as a slick semi-pro ‘zine in which he could exploit his network of contacts to gather data from all aspects of the Golden and Silver Age of comics, including conducting interviews with all the surviving veterans he could reach. This labour of love proved successful, and is still running today – but we have acquired the first sixty issues of AE (2nd series), with a plethora of interviews, retrospectives, commentaries and seldom-seen or never-published artwork, covering not only Marvel and DC, but all of the companies of the Golden and Silver Ages. Issue #1, pictured, is NM £25; prices on the others, as always, to be found in our online catalogue.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A captivating quintet of first issues from various eras of the UK comics industry: from 1988, in the wake of the ‘Comics Aren’t Just For Kids’ hullaballoo, Crisis #1, looking at the planet’s nihilistic future VG £4; from 1970, the first issue of the footie-themed Scorcher, PR at a mere £7.50 – a corner off the back cover impedes the ‘Big Match Review’, but all other features intact; also from 1970, the first ‘reboot’ issue of the Wizard FA/GD £12.50 with a small corner off the lower front cover not affecting the story content and from 1974, Warlord #1 VG £15. Finally, Bullet #1 from 1976, home of the mulleted and moustachioed ‘Medallion Man’ Fireball and his chums, GD £20, plus issues 2 and 3 for those of you who just can’t get enough!

*Girls’ Comics: From 1967, the trans-European Tina, launched in multiple language editions, was so heavily pre-sold prior to its launch that it could legitimately claim, even on the front of its debut issue, ‘More copies sold than any other girl’s paper in the world!’ With a strong adventure-oriented line-up, curvaceous secret agent ‘Jane Bond’ illustrated by Michael Hubbard, was the lead, and the ‘Space Girls’ (in colour, by Dan Dare illustrator Keith Watson) added a sci-fi touch. Other features which debuted here were ‘Moira – Slave Girl of Rome’, exotic island drama with Brenda Burn and ‘My Chum Yum-Yum’, pop musicians ‘Jackie and the Wild Boys’, western adventuress ‘Glory Gold’ and ‘Barbie’. Yep, that Barbie. After thirty issues, Tina merged with Princess and lived a long and happy life as Princess Tina, but the pre-Princess issues remain scarce. This copy of #1 comes with its original free gift, ‘Gold Plated’ Troll Brooch! (bear in mind that in 1967, phrases like that were understood not to imply that there was any actual gold involved…) The ‘gold’ of the brooch has partially flaked off over the intervening decades, giving the badge a slightly grubby aspect, but the comic itself is Fine; the troll brooch, structurally sound, we have graded as GD/VG. Our price for the two together: £50.

*Magazines/Books About Vintage UK Comics: We’re pleased to announce a significant update to this small category, comprising the Eagle/Dan Dare fan magazines Spaceship Away! (Nearly complete run of #1-#43 fresh in — a title still being published today!) and, from an earlier era, an extensive run not only of Eagle Times, the Quarterly Journal of the Eagle Society, but also its precursor, Eagle Days. Started in 1986, when many of the original Eagle contributors were still around, these magazines contain a plethora of information about the classic weekly and its companion papers, and, being a club journal rather than a general-audience publication, have never been widely circulated. We have several issues of Eagle Days, from the very first, and most, though not all, Eagle Times from Volume Four onwards, with a scattering of earlier issues.  Due to the expansion, this category has now been relocated to our basement, where you’ll find it between Younger Readers’ Comics and Boys’ Adventure & War Comics.

*Clearance Corner: This week’s bargain in Clearance Corner is another of our irresistible Marvel reprint job lots from the 1960s — those (mostly) giant issues featuring classic tales from the dawn of the Marvel Age (or even earlier, in some cases). 13 issues included in this £20 selection: Fantasy Masterpieces #1-4, #6, #7, #9 & #10, Marvel Collectors’ Item Classics #1 & #4 and Marvel Tales #6, #8 & #10. Mostly in decent shape, one a bit ragged, one missing a back cover. These always sell very fast indeed, so get your order in early! (UK postage, if required, will be an extra £3.50). SORRY, THIS LOT HAS NOW SOLD

*DC: After his abandoning Marvel, Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, moved over to DC, where one of his earliest assignments was the Creeper, a bizarre anti-hero created when TV reporter and commentator Jack Ryder, fired for his outspoken views, falls in with scientist Dr. Yatz, whose knowledge gives Ryder greatly enhanced strength, agility and damage resistance, which he uses to terrify monsters and enforce his own kind of justice. Although ostensibly scripted by Denny O’Neil, the plot and opinions carry strong flavours of Ditko’s own libertarian views, and present a considerably more politically-motivated hero than was commonplace at the time. The art, though, is what sells the book, a newly refreshed and remotivated Ditko turning out moody, vertiginous artwork fully exploiting the character’s agility. The Creeper remains a recurring figure in the DCU, and this copy of his premier appearance is a stunning VF, bright and lustrous with only minimal spine wear. VF p £50. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD