*DC: Continuing our systematic restocking of the DC back numbers, this week we lead off with two Kirby Kreations: Mister Miracle, from #3 to #15, and Omac, from the very first issue (with a cover that is still one of the most disturbing published, even decades later) through to issue #8. We also have smaller top-ups for the Phantom Stranger, Rima the Jungle Girl, Rip Hunter Time Master, the Shadow (with superlative Mike Kaluta artwork), and Shazam!, rounding out with the one-off Sherlock Holmes comic from 1976. More coming soon from the classic DCU – better than modern comics, and often cheaper!

*Marvel: When the distribution embargo was lifted on Marvel in 1968, one of the company’s first actions was to launch the stars of its ‘split’ books, such as Tales to Astonish, Strange Tales and Tales of Suspense, into their own series; one such was Captain America. For a few years, since his return to the modern Marvel Age in Avengers #4, the Sentinel of Liberty had been ‘flatsharing’ with iron Man in Tales of Suspense, but with the new system, he got his own star-spangled series – beginning, owing to a peculiarity of the period, with issue #100, continuing the numbering of the now-defunct Suspense. This copy of Captain America #100, featuring the talents of Stan lee, Jack Kirby and Syd Shores, is VG+, a superior copy with only moderate wear and very light cover creasing, cover scene unimpaired, decent white flexible interiors. A pence stamped copy, it is on sale at £75. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Another massive restock of Marvel’s 1960’s and 1970’s output, touching on titles such as the Avengers (with the debuts of the Grim Reaper, Ultron (cameo appearance) Hellcat & Taskmaster (1st full app)), Avengers Annuals and the non-distributed Giant-Size Avengers, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Contest Of Champions, Daredevil (from #6 and including #168, the first Elektra), Defenders, Doc Savage, Hulk, Iron Man Annual, Journey into Mystery (both Thor and Big-Panty-Monsters issues!), Ka-Zar, Marvel Feature, Marvel Premiere (including 1st Scott Lang Ant-Man in #47!), Marvel Presents, Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD (glorious Steranko artwork), Luke Cage, Power Man (including #17, the first issue in which Luke assumes the Power Man name), Red Sonja, Amazing Spider-Man and Giant-Size Spider-Man, Strange Tales (including an early X-Men – well, Iceman – guest-appearance with the Human Torch), Sub-Mariner (from #2 through to #70), and Thor (including #181 with Neal Adams artwork!) Close to 200 new Marvel back issues added in today, for your browsing delight, in a range of grades, so check out our catalogue for details.

*Collected Editions: In our new and very popular Collected Editions section, we’re proud to make three significant additions. From 1989, Hawk Book’s Tales From The Trigan Empire compilation, a large-format hardcover collecting the legendary strip by Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence which ran in Ranger and Look & Learn for decades. With the high production standards Hawk was renowned for, Lawrence’s sumptuous art is shown to great advantage. From 2011, the first volume of Captain Britain in hardcover, subtitled Birth of a Legend, representing the entirety of Cap B’s first series, with the first appearances not only of the good Captain himself but many of his friends and foes, including his sister Betsy, who would later become the X-Men’s psychic psiren Psylocke, and Lance Hunter, who later gained prominence in TV’s Agents of SHELD show. Finally, from this very year of 2017, Night Raven: From the Marvel UK Vaults is a paperback compilation lovingly (some would say obsessively) gathering every single obscure appearance of the nourish pulp anti-hero from dozens of different sources in Marvel UK’s catalogue. Featuring work by Alan Moore, Steve Parkhouse, David Lloyd, Alan Davis and John Bolton, among others, this is a showcase of many of comic’s greatest talents in the early days of their careers. Tales From The Trigan Empire is VF at £50; Captain Britain is VF at £75; and Night Raven is Mint at £32.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Continuing our Long Hot Summer event featuring UK Summer & Holiday Specials! …Though perhaps the denizens of Scream! might prefer a cool, dank summer, all things considered… the nefarious and short-lived horror title was revived for a number of glossy holiday specials that showcased its sinister charms, if anything, even better than the original 15-issue weekly. ‘The Dracula File’, ‘Thirteenth Floor’ and all the other regulars bring you shakes and shivers in this extra-length edition, VG/FN at £25.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: …Well, it’s not long before you become a Buster, as it happens; but Jet, the 1971 adventure weekly launch from !PC/Fleetway, started strongly, with a line-up of well-crafted series along the well-trod path of war, sci-fi and sport, along with Ken Reid’s superb ‘Faceache’. For some reason, however, the series just didn’t ‘take’, despite other stellar contributors such as Solano Lopez and Eric Bradbury, and after a short run of 22 issues, it was inexplicably merged with the humour weekly, Buster, rather than another adventure series. “The Sludgemouth Sloggers”, “Von Hoffman’s Invasion”, “Faceache”, and “The Kids From Stalag 41” made the leap, for a long time Jet languished forgotten. Recent interest in short-run titles has increased, however, and her we have an opportunity for you to sample Jet in very affordable low to mid grades, from the second issue to the final number.

*TV & Film Related Comics: For more seaside summer fun (appropriately, as we type this on a torrential Thursday afternoon), we offer TV Comic Holiday Specials from the 1970’s and 1980’s, featuring Battle of the Planets, Tarzan, Pink Panther, Popeye, Mighty Moth, Tom & Jetty, Laurel & Hardy, and the TV Terrors, as well as Popeye’s own spin-off, the Popeye Holiday Special, with more two-fisted spinach-guzzlin’ action than you can shake the proverbial stick at!

*Humour Comics: Buzz, the 1970’s companion to Topper and Beezer, was in the broadsheet format espoused by its stablemates, and packed a lot into the oversized pages; highlights included “Hop, Skip, and Jock”, wherein our eponymous but impecunious  trio concocted an outlandish money-making scheme each week; ‘Olly and His Occy’, the tale of a boy and his pet octopus romping around having adventures (of course); ‘Big Fat Flo’, a low-concept which probably drove a generation of female readers into the arms of eating disorders; and ‘Jimmy Jinx and What He Thinks’, a tale of a young boy plagued by different interpretations of the same event (aided by his angelic and demonic avatars), which was generally clever and entertaining. Buzz lasted a total of 103 issues, and we have more than 70 in stock, ranging from the second to the penultimate – the latter, #102, with a rather nice festive cover, is our illustration here.

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: For this week’s What’s Old feature, where we highlight items from existing stock, we turn to the lovely Venus. The chameleonic nature of Timely/Atlas’ Venus title has long entertained panelologists worldwide. Beginning as a ‘funny career girl’ title akin to Millie the Model, it fit squarely into Timely’s comedy/romance line for girls. Then it shifted to straight romance with a light touch of fantasy, akin to popular movies of the era such as ‘Turnabout’ or ‘Down To Earth’; and in its third phase, it started featuring science-fiction and horror themes, as our heroine became an adventuress in other realms. This very issue, #10, marks the beginning of this third phase, and has the additional attraction of being in unusually high grade for its vintage, a CGC Blue Label (no restoration) 7.5, equating to VF- in real terms. Less scrupulous dealers would also point out the appearance of a character called ‘Son of Satan’, labelling it as a ‘prototype’ issue and bumping up the costs; we simply draw your attention to it as an amusing historical sidebar. Our Goddess of Love has now been firmly engrained in the Marvel Universe thanks to Agents of Atlas and other modern series. Seldom seen in any grade, the ferociously-sought Venus almost never makes it over to this side of the Atlantic. #10, CGC Blue Label 7.5 (VF-) £375.
 

*Clearance Corner: Another great bargain in the shape of three vintage Marvel Colouring Books from 1979. Actually published by World Distributors, these FN or FN/VF examples are totally unused, with every page ready for your artistic endeavours, and only superficial exterior wear precluding higher grades. Reprinting covers and splash pages in glorious monochrome, many of Marvel’s finest artists are represented within these pages. Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and Thor. These days, colouring books are de rigeur for adults who want to improve their mindfulness — back in 1979, they were just for fun! Previously on sale at £25 each, we’re now offering all three for the price of one: £25 for the lot! These may be collected from our shop, or posted within the UK for an additional £3.50.

*DC: – Wonder Womans? Wonder Women? Be that as it may, three 1940’s issues of the Amazing Amazon’s adventures, all in grades far superior to those generally found in comics of this period. Issue #20, November/December 1946, is a book-length adventure in which the Princess of Paradise Island takes on aviatrix ‘Nifty, her Air Pirates, and the Time Monster, flipping Di, Steve and the Holliday Girls through different periods of history. This is an extraordinarily well-preserved copy, with off-white, flexible interior pages, vibrant unfaded cover colour, and some residual cover gloss. Only a slight weakness around the bottom staple impinges on its high grade, but nevertheless, we have determined this as FN/VF, a condition unprecedented in our experience for a comic of this vintage. Issue #23, May-June 1947, features stories about two baddies and a baby – the belligerent Valkyries and the Vanishing Mummy are the antagonists in question, but the third tale is of Wonder Woman’s childhood (and the origin of the Kangas!) and is generally regarded as a Wonder Tot prototype. This copy is VG+. Finally, we have #29, dated May-June 1948, in which our heroine defeats a twisted treasure hunt, gypsy tigers (no really), and in the cover-featured tale encounters the Sinister Minister Blizzard! Prime Minister Blizzard, to give him his full title, head of a hidden Arctic civilization, finds things uncomfortably heated when he conspires to seize the monarchy. Minister B. had quite a long rest before his next appearances in 1966 and 1977, but since then, he’s become a recurring if infrequent Rogue’s Gallery member. This copy of #29 is an apparent VG/FN; nice covers, aside from small writing in the upper cover’s blank area, but the ‘guts’ of the book appear at one point to have lived in a bound volume, as they have small but multiple thread holes in the margin (not encroaching upon the story area.) Any Golden Age issues of Wonder Woman are vanishingly rare these days, and to get three at once is quite a coup. The covers of all three are reproduced below: #20 is FN/VF £400, #23 VG+ £175, and #29 App. VG/FN £125.

We are greatly saddened to report that Alan Austin, pioneer of UK comics fandom and a long-time friend of 30th Century Comics, passed away yesterday morning after a long struggle with cancer.
      Beginning in the 1970’s, Alan published the long-running fanzine Fantasy Unlimited (later Comics Unlimited), which drew together comics enthusiasts from all over the UK, and indeed, all over the world. He also published Whiz Kids, Golden Age Fanzine, and the Marvel Super-Hero Index, as well as being a co-publisher of the very first Comics Price Guide for Great Britain. For many years, he ran the shop Heroes, in Islington, London, and in later years was a regular feature at UK comic marts.
      30th Century’s Will Morgan remembers:
      “In 1972, when I was a lonely delinquent, stuck in reform school in Yorkshire, writing to comics fanzines was one of the few forms of socialising I had. Alan’s letters in reply to my comments on Fantasy Unlimited were always friendly and welcoming, and he was the first person to publish my reviews and articles, and to encourage me to continue writing. To a large extent, everything I’ve ever written since then is partly his fault!
      “I didn’t meet him in person until moving to London in the 1980’s, but found when I did that his superficially irascible surface demeanour concealed a well-guarded compassionate heart. He became a frequent and welcome visitor to our shop, as well as being a fixture at the Comic Marts, despite his failing health in later years.
      “His influence reached further than he possibly ever realised, and he was thought of with more warmth than he would ever have believed.”

*Marvel: The first, short-run series of Marvel’s Incredible Hulk, hard though it is to believe now, was a flop, lasting a scant six issues, and it took Bruce Banner’s emerald alter-ego some time to claw his way back to fame through intermittent guest-star status. Comparatively few of the Hulk’s first run survive, and by #6, the final, the print run was fairly low – which makes our acquisition of a copy all the more of a treat. Unlike the rest of the run, which were Kirby & Ayers illustrated, issue #6 was illustrated by Steve Ditko, and he gave both the Hulk and that issue’s nemesis, the Metal Master, a truly other-worldly, more supernatural feel, with a genuinely strange and disturbing ambience. This particular #6 is a VG cents copy, in rather beautiful condition, with vivid, unfaded colours, unmarred cover image, and only light spine and corner wear, on sale for £240. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Gambit, the charismatic anti-hero who rescued Storm at a time when she was a powerless teenager (it happens to the X-Men more often than you think), made his very first appearance, an unheralded cameo, in 1990’s X-Men Annual #14, before progressing to a cover-starring role in X-Men #266. An instant hit with the audience – despite the Pepe LePew accent and the unfortunate early costume of boots, panties, stripey tights and flasher-mac – he rapidly became a key member of the X-Men, primarily because of his doomed romance with the untouchable Rogue. His solo movie project has been in, then off, and is now currently on again, so interest in his early appearances is about to spike – get in quick! Our X-Men Annual #14 is NM at £35, and X-Men #266 is VF+ p £75. SORRY, THESE HAVE NOW SOLD

*Western: In keeping with our newly-redressed window display, we’re presenting the first installment of our Mighty Marvel Western event with a late entry to the pack – Carter Slade, the Ghost Rider! Mild-mannered schoolteacher Carter Slade was given a ‘mysterious substance’ by friendly Indians (soz, First Americans), which made his clothing glow when he, as they say, splashed it all over. Obviously, he decided to use this luminescence to fight crime and injustice in the old West as the Frontier Phantom, the Ghost Rider! Heavily derived from a 1950’s character of the same name, which series artist Dick Ayers co-created, the Marvel GR was more super-heroic than the original horror stories, and didn’t quite ‘fly’ with the readership, lasting only seven issues – but he persists (now called the Phantom Rider, owing to the later debut of Marvel’s Satanic stunt-cyclist) in the greater Marvel Universe to this date. We have all seven issues new in stock, in low-mid grade with a handful of duplications.

*Collected Editions: Previously only available in the original two-page instalments in Look & Learn or Ranger – or in just a couple of hardcover collections in the 1970’s which lacked the rich colour reproduction needed for the full appreciation of the strip – these luxury printings of the complete Trigan Empire collected all of Don Lawrence’s sumptuous art in twelve extravagant full-colour oversized hardcovers, bringing every detail of his exotic visions of far-off worlds to the reader’s eye. Produced in extremely limited print runs, these are now very hard to locate, and we are pleased to have acquired Volumes 7 to 11 of the series – each collecting at least one complete story arc –  in VF/NM at between £45 and £50 each, and each with a limited edition print as a bonus.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: As a companion to our recent massive updates of the ‘Comet’ weekly, we’re pleased to bring you a similarly huge run of its brother and stablemate, ‘Sun’ – no relation to the infamous journalistic tabloid. Although it had dubious beginnings as a naturist magazine called ‘Fitness and Sun’, the ‘Sun’ as we know it took over the wartime paper allowances of that publication to re-launch as a comic for kiddies – which must have somewhat frustrated mail-order subscribers! Be that as it may. For the period under discussion, Sun was a small and slim publication, similar in size, if not thickness, to the US comic book, and this massive update, with most of the issues from #167 on upwards, encompasses the premieres (as comic strips – text versions had previously been published in some cases – of ‘Billy the Kid’, ‘Robin Hood’, ‘Happy Hussar’, ‘Wild Bill Hickok’, and ‘Battler Britton’, all popular and long-running features. #369 saw the switch to a larger format – somewhere between the standard US and UK sizes – and shortly thereafter, the title switched to date-only identification, before being assimilated into Tiger following the 15th August 1959. In addition to all the debuts listed above and the final issue, this run also includes Christmas issues galore, and a particular oddity – the Coronation number, featuring Billy the Kid (who as an American, wouldn’t care), cheering ‘Long Live The Queen!’ about a woman who wouldn’t be born for decades, according to his time setting. Ah, well. This selection is in attractive mid-grades, averaging VG or slightly less.

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: We continue our Long Hot Summer spotlight on Summer and Holiday Specials with a tiny title with a lot of content. June Picture Library Holiday Special, released from the 1970’s upward, gave its lucky readers extra-length story value by combining four feature-length stories – previously featured in individual Picture Libraries – in one Omnibus edition! This selection includes issues from 1973, 1977-1980, and 1982, with stars and stories such as “Mam’selle X”, “The Happy Days”, “I Want To Be Expelled”, “The Six-inch Schoolgirl”, “Danger Girl”, and much more; 1982 volume pictured. 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 file in our American section:
*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

Way out here in the Wild West Side of Putney, our latest window display (courtesy Doc Evilla), celebrates the Western comic with a spectacular panorama of desert, mesa, flora and fauna. Best seen up close in person, you can get a flavour of the Old West right here in this picture! Western comics can be found in our catalogue in their own category for American issues, but also in Annuals, Boys’ Adventure & War Comics and Picture Libraries, Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US material and in other categories too. So why not mosey on down, pardners, for some gun-slingin’ action? Loads of Western thrills available for a fistful of sterling!   

*DC: Continuing our sweep through the DC Silver & Bronze Ages, we have added new to our stock issues of Kamandi, Lois Lane & Metal Men. More soon!

*Marvel: A significant latecomer to the Silver Marvel Age was the coming of the enigmatic synthezoid, the Vision, who premiered in Avengers #57 as a villainous pawn of the evil Ultron. Rapidly being discovered to be misguided, he was offered membership the next issue, in one of the most rapid reforms ever, and became a mainstay of the Avengers and the MU in general, particularly through his convoluted relationship with the Scarlet Witch. Based on a Simon & Kirby character from the 1940’s, Roy Thomas’ love affair with all things Golden Age stood him in good stead, as the Vision captured the hearts and minds of readers worldwide… though the exquisite art by John Buscema doubtless didn’t hurt! This copy is GD/VG p at £60, clean and sound, tight staples, good interior pages, unbroken cover colour and gloss, with only the smallest of chips – a ‘micro-chip’ – in the corner cover masthead preventing a higher grade. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Another gallop through the Silver/Bronze Ages of Marvel comics, featuring a chunky batch of new stock for a plethora of titles: Amazing Adventures (2nd series), Daredevil (#5), Dazzler, Dr. Strange (1st series), Fantastic Four (issues between #41 & #112), Journey Into Mystery with Thor (between #97 & #125), Marvel Classics Comics, Star Wars Annuals, Strange Tales (from Human Torch to Nick Fury), Tales Of Suspense (with Iron Man & Cap), Tales To Astonish (with Giant-Man, Subby & Hulk inc 1st Abomination in #90), Thor, What If (1st series) & X-Men.  

*Modern Reprints: Just three additions here this week: A pristine still shrink-wrapped copy of DC’s All Star Comics Archives Vol 1 at £35, another Showcase volume from them, Young Love NM at £10, and a ‘companion’ hardcover, Young Romance, VF at £15, featuring the best of Simon & Kirby’s romance comics form the 1940’s and 50’s.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: The short-lived and notorious title Scream!, intended as a horror-themed companion to 2000 AD in 1984, fell foul to censorious cretins early in its existence. Despite prestigious contributors – including Alan Moore in its early issues – was pressurised off the nation’s newsstands after only fifteen weekly issues, belatedly – and without so much as the traditional “great news, chums!” – merging a couple of its strips into Eagle series 2, albeit in greatly diluted form. We have a virtually complete run, all but the final issue, back in stock, with issues #1 and #2 sporting their original free gifts of Dracula Fangs and Spooky Spider respectively. Issue #1 FN with Free Gift NM is £60; issue #2 VG with Free Gift VF is £30. Climb on board the elevator to shock and suspense – but whatever you do, don’t get off at “The thirteenth Floor!”