*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: You’d be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at this header, but it’s okay – they’re old Modern Comics! Launched in 1941 as ‘Military Comics’, this anthology series starred Blackhawk and his international squadron of aviators, as they battled an ever more bizarre array of villains (and slinky and curvaceous villainesses), backed up by an assortment of adventure and comedy strips. Among the latter was Bill Ward’s ‘Torchy’, a statuesque blonde who appeared to be a spiritual sister of the Daily Mirror’s newspaper-strip heroine ‘Jane’, in that there was no situation, no matter how unlikely, in which she wouldn’t end up in lingerie or revealing clothing, causing chaos all around her! After the war, the title changed its name to ‘Modern Comics’, continuing with the adventures of the Blackhawks in the lead, by Reed Crandall, Klaus Nordling, George Evans and other superlative artists, but the other adventurers largely left the building, and Torchy was joined by a whole bunch of comedy cohorts including Gill Fox’s ‘Choo-Choo’, who vied with Torchy for the ‘Good Girl Art’ award in any given issue! We have eight of these delightful anthologies newly listed, commencing with 1947’s #58, to #93 in 1950.
PICTURED: MODERN COMICS # 58 VG+ £58
American Update: A Date With Patsy – and Hedy! Marvel’s ‘Gals on the Go-Go’ from #51 to their final issue, #110
*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: Launched in 1952, the third ongoing series starring Patsy Walker and her ‘frenemy’ Hedy Wolfe began as an Atlas comic, but lasted well into Marvel’s Silver Age, with Patsy & Hedy’s existence in the Marvel Universe ‘proper’ being confirmed by their attendance at the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl in Fantastic Four Annual #3! During this long run, commencing with #51 and ending with the final issue, #110, (plus their first and only Annual) our heroines grew up from high-schoolers, to young career women, to ‘Gals on the Go-Go!’, finally fading out in 1967 – though Patsy would return almost a decade later as the happy-go-lucky Hellcat! This is a run of around 50 issues, with some duplicated numbers, in varying conditions.
PICTURED: PATSY AND HEDY # 51 VG £11
American Update: More Mighty Marvel Mags! – Marvel Preview (Including First Star-Lord), Rampaging Hulk and more
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: A new selection of Marvel Magazines in stock, commencing with Bizarre Adventures, touching on Deadly Hands of Kung Fu and Doc Savage, the one-shot Marvel Super Action starring the Punisher, Huntress (later Mockingbird) and Dominic Fortune, a couple of Marvel Graphic Novels – Cloak & Dagger and the Inhumans – the first issue of Tomb of Dracula magazine from 1979, a selection of the ‘continuity implant’ Rampaging Hulk from #1 up, and a significant range of the showcase magazine Marvel Preview, starring Star-Lord (including issue #4, his debut).
PICTURED: MARVEL PREVIEW #4 FN- £70
British Update: Festival of Britain – Captain Britain Monthly – Complete Run of Cult 1980s Series
*Marvel UK: Following his popular revival in other Marvel UK anthologies, and rave reviews for the daring and innovative Alan Moore/Alan Davis storylines, the ‘new’ Captain Britain was given his second solo series in 1985, and although Moore had jumped ship, the quality of the scripts continued for the monthly magazine, with Jamie Delano’s scripts and Alan Davis’ artwork presenting an enticing saga of multiversal conflict. The Crazy Gang, Gatecrasher’s TechNet, Slaymaster and Mastermind all returned, and briefly, Brian Braddock’s sister, Betsy (later Psylocke of the X-Men) made her costumed debut as the second Captain Britain. This also featured Parkhouse & Lloyd’s 1930s-era vigilante ‘Night Raven’, and occasional new stories spotlighting other characters from the expanded Captain Britain mythos. We have a complete 14-issue run of this keenly-collected series, averaging FN/VF, so if you haven’t sampled it before, here’s your chance! This was the final series for the Captain for a couple of years until he reappeared in Marvel US’s Excalibur title, but stay with us for our final ‘Festival of Britain’ update, when we return to the past to see how it all began!
PICTURED: CAPTAIN BRITAIN (1985) #1 FN/VF £15 SOLD
British Update: Buffalo Bill Annuals by Denis McLoughlin, 1950-1961
*Annuals: Distributed through the Woolworth’s chain stores, the Buffalo Bill series was publisher T. V. Boardman’s most successful annual series. Commencing with the 1950 Annual (released late Autumn 1949), the series began with children from the then-present time-travelling to meet the legendary hero and participate in his adventures – a light-fantasy concept that was subsequently forgotten about in favour of just Western adventures. But writer/artist of the Buffalo Bill strips, Denis McLoughlin, was a knowledgeable man about the Old West, and rather than being simple shoot-’em-ups, his stories were engaging and historically accurate, with additional well-researched text pieces from Arthur Groom, Rex James and McLoughlin’s brother Colin backing up the adventure strips. But the series is best remembered for McLoughlin’s lavish artwork, in strips, text illustrations, and colour inserts. We have nine of the thirteen Buffalo Bill Annuals back in stock, after a very long absence from our shelves, ranging from the first, 1950 (two copies) to 1961’s #12. Condition varies, and some have minor flaws, but all are complete (though without dustjackets in most cases).
PICTURED: BUFFALO BILL ANNUAL #1 (1950) GD/VG £22.50
British Update: Action – Pre-Ban Issues from 1976 including #1 – Hold on for Hookjaw!
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: From 1976, the well-beloved weekly which was the home of cuddly man-eating shark Hookjaw and several other strips of remarkable controversy and violence! Pre-dating its longer-lived stablemate 2000 AD, and serving to ‘incubate’ much of 2000 AD’s talent, Action paved the way for a darker, bloodier and more cynical trend in boys’ adventure weeklies, with even the traditional genres of sport and war strips getting a nihilistic veneer – to the point where it was eventually banned from the newsstands, to re-emerge months later as a soft-serve shadow of its former self. We have the first issue (no free gift, sorry) in FN, plus 6 other 1976 pre-ban issues new in stock.
PICTURED: ACTION 14/02/1976 (1ST ISSUE) FN £45
British Update: Countdown to TV Action – includes rarer, later issues
*TV & Film Related Comics: After the demise of TV Century 21, Polystyle took over with the new series Countdown, inspired by the space race, which starred all of the old Gerry Anderson strips, plus Doctor Who and the eponymous ‘Countdown’, a brand-new space opera stylishly illustrated by John M. Burns. Highly collectible at a confluence of two major fandoms (Fanderson and Whovians), the series’ appeal is enhanced by its high production standards: glossy paper, more interior colour than was customary for the time, and script and art by some of the top talents in the field. The series shifted emphasis mid-path, becoming ‘TV Action’, with the focus switching from sci-fi to crime, and while Doctor Who remained a constant throughout, skipping only a handful of the 132 issues, straight adventure series such as ‘The Protectors’, ‘Hawaii Five-O’, and ‘Mission: Impossible’ dominated the title. After issue #100, the magazine shifted focus to one long cover-featured complete story, and these later issues are significantly less common than their predecessors. We have a range of nine Countdown issues, beginning with #2, and ten TV Action, from #100 to #130, newly added to our stocks.
PICTURED: TV ACTION #123 FN £9 SOLD
British Update: Free Gift Farrago! Bunty From 1964 to 1966
*Girls’ Comics: Launched in 1958, Bunty wasn’t the first weekly comic for girls, but it was the longest-running, not hanging up its ballet shoes until 2001, and is the best-remembered, not only for itself but for spawning a litter of popular siblings – Judy, Diana, Mandy, Debbie and more – from the Dundee offices of publisher D.C. Thomson. Home to ‘The Four Marys’ and ‘The Dancing Life of Moira Kent’, it entertained generations of girls, and perked up its sales figures periodically by Free Gifts of some decorative trinket, three of which have found their way to us this week. Issue #349, from 1964, offers the ‘Ladybird Ring’ – still in its original envelope, though the ring is partly poking through the front. The comic is VG – slight yellowing, a bit of paper ‘bumpiness’ from interior storage of the gift for decades – but the gift is VF. 1965’s issue #403 is GD – slight ink marking on the front cover, where copies have been stacked before properly dried – and the gift of an Autograph Book has rusty staples, so is also GD. Lastly, 1966’s #458 is FN, bright and clean, with the ‘Gay Bunty Bracelet’ VF in original envelope.
PICTURED: BUNTY
#349 VG GIFT VF £40 SOLD
#403 GD GIFT GD £20 SOLD
#458 FN GIFT VF £45 SOLD
American Update: Marvel Epic Collections- Iron Man and the Silver Surfer
*Modern Reprints: Largely superceding Marvel Essentials and Marvel Masterworks, the latest sequential reprints of Marvel’s historic characters are the Epic Collections, presenting the earliest appearances of the classic heroes in full-colour, high-quality paperback collections! Two such items, brand new, grace our shelves this week: The Silver Surfer, which gathers Norrin Radd’s adventures prior to his own solo series, including his debut in Fantastic Four #48 and multiple other FF issues, plus his first solo tale from FF Annual 5 and a crossover with the Hulk; and Iron Man, with a sequential reprinting of Tony Stark’s armoured alter-ego from Tales of Suspense #39 to #72! Both are brand new/Mint at £36 each.
American Update: Fabulous Facsimile Editions – Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85 by O’Neil and Adams
*Modern Reprints: Continuing the releases of facsimile editions of historic issues, DC this week brings us #85 of the acclaimed Green Lantern/Green Arrow series by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, in which the two Emerald Crusaders fought social evils and injustices. This issue featured the shocking revelation that Green Arrow’s sidekick, Speedy, was caught up in the drug abuse epidemic, and, while somewhat heavy-handed by today’s standards, was groundbreaking and important, winning several awards. Like all recent facsimiles, this is, apart from legally-necessary price and indicia changes, an exact replica of the original comic, including all ads and text pages. New/Mint at £4.
Housekeeping Update
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:
*Marvel A – C
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.
Housekeeping Update
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:
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980’s
and in our British section:
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
Announcing… the Square Mile Collection! (High Grade Original Owner)
As dealers (and collectors ourselves) our dream is to be offered a truly sensational set of comics, particularly when it’s a true vintage collection from an original owner. Such is what happened recently with an early Silver Age collection offered to us from an original owner within the City of London. Our collective jaws dropped with astonishment at the quality and condition of the comics on offer. Having sealed the acquisition of this collection, we are now ready to start unveiling it for sale. We’re calling it the ‘Square Mile Collection’ so you can easily identify comics from it as we list them in the coming months.
The original owner of this collection purchased the comics when new, read them at the time and kept them in storage since the 1960s. When we viewed and valued them, we were stunned at the freshness and vibrancy of the cover colours and page quality; even those with minor reading and handling wear are vastly superior to the majority of comics that have been in circulation since the 1960s. The average grade is well above Fine, with many much nicer.
The Square Mile collection consists of Marvel and DC comics (mainly) across many titles, including lots of key and early issues and we’ll be offering them for sale over the months ahead; the listing starts next weekend. To commemorate this auspicious collection, each comic will come branded with a special label and certificate of authenticity verifying it as part of the Square Mile Collection. Look out for them in our Newsletters and on our What’s New Page.
American Update: Batmania continues: Batman’s Big ‘Uns! Limited Collectors’ Edition Tabloids from The 1970s
*DC: DC’s Limited Collectors’ Edition tabloids of the 1970s, most of which were non-distributed in the UK, are highly sought-after now, their extra dimensions not lending themselves to long-term storage, and being more prone to damage than the average comic book. Among the most sought-after are the several issues featuring Batman, of which we have four new to our lists: C-25, with a selection of the Darknight Detective’s stellar artists from all eras, including Robinson, Infantino and Adams; C-37, an ‘All-Villain Special’ featuring vintage tales of the Joker, Catwoman, Two-Face, the Penguin and the Scarecrow; C-44, a spectacular collection of baffling mystery cases and C-59, with an original Adams cover fronting ‘Batman’s Strangest Cases’, including contributions from Giordano, Novick, Wrightson and that Adams boy again.
PICTURED: LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION
C-25 FN- £25 SOLD
C-37 VF- £40 SOLD
C-44 FN+ £30 SOLD
C-59 VF- £35 SOLD
American Update: Put On A Happy Face! Complete first Joker solo series from 1975 & 1976
*DC: Daringly, in 1975, DC awarded the Joker his own title, (in defiance of the Comics Code, which said that villains couldn’t be shown to triumph) and even now, decades later, it remains the Clown Prince Of Crime’s only on-going series. Not that it ‘on-went’ for long, stopping at #9. But what was a Bronze Age curio has now become a much sought-after short series with one of the hottest characters in comics. The first issue pits ‘Mr. J.’ against fellow villain Two-Face, and subsequent issues feature DCU guest heroes and villains such as the Creeper, the Royal Flush Gang, Green Arrow, Lex Luthor, the Scarecrow, Catwoman and Sherlock Holmes! With the Joker recently getting his own solo big-screen movie, his Silver and Bronze Age appearances are spiralling in value. A full run of all 9 issues now back in stock.
PICTURED: JOKER #1 FN p £70 SOLD
American Update: DC Debuts: Y The Last Man #1
*DC: Even though we’re famous for crumbly old comics, we do sometimes admit a deserving modern item to the catalogue, and 2002’s Y The Last Man #1 is such an exception. After a devastating event which eliminates all men – and all male mammals – from planet Earth, society must restructure itself with an all-female paradigm. But not quite all-female. Two males survive: Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand. Some factions of the surviving women want to rescue Yorick, some to study him, some to exploit him, some to eradicate him; but with literally all the women in the world seeking him, Yorick wants only one woman: his girlfriend, who was across the globe when the cataclysm hit. Brian K Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi series was a huge hit for DC/Vertigo, winning shedloads of awards, and media adaptation rumours persist. This copy of #1 is a superior FN.
PICTURED: Y THE LAST MAN #1 FN £60 SOLD
American Update: ‘Follow Me… For I Am… The Phantom Stranger!’ Classic suspense series from 1969 onwards
*DC: Tying in with DC’s late-sixties Horror/Mystery revival, the Phantom Stranger, a short-lived series from the 1950s, was revived in fine style in 1969. The Showcase tryout and the first few issues of the Stranger’s own series followed the pattern established in the ’50s: the nameless Stranger, a white-haired figure dressed in black, showed up at a situation and defused it by apparently magical means, while professional debunker Doctor Terence Thirteen decried the whole supernatural angle. After the first few issues, though, scripter Robert Kanigher got a little bit out there, delivering full-on spooky sagas such as #4, superbly illustrated by Neal Adams, which introduced the Stranger’s beloved nemesis, the enigmatic Tala. Soon after, Jim Aparo took over as regular artist and the Stranger became essentially DC’s Doctor Strange, with stylish layouts, a genuinely disturbing atmosphere, and some of the finest covers of the period. We have the first five of the Stranger’s series back in stock, plus several others from the first twenty, all in high grades, averaging VF.
PICTURED: PHANTOM STRANGER (1969) #1 FN+ £35 SOLD
American Update: DC Silver/Bronze Sweep – ‘C’ to ‘E’ titles
*DC: Continuing our massive sweep through DC, this week we reach titles beginning with the letters ‘C’ to ‘E’, thus topping up our stock for Camelot 3000 (all 12 issues now available singly as well as collectively), Challengers of the Unknown, Champion Sports, Creeper, DC Comics Presents (#27, 1st Mongul), DC 100 Page Super-Spectacular, DC Special Series, DC Super-Stars (inc #17, Huntress origin), Detective Comics (inc #387, 30th Anniversary issue & #470,1st Silver St Cloud and modern Hugo Strange), and 80 Page Giant.
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: the Koming of Kang! Master of Time’s Debut in Avengers #8
*Marvel: Early issues of the Avengers are always in high demand, and issue #8, featuring the premier appearance of Kang, Lord of Time, is a tense drama, with the World’s Mightiest Heroes all but helpless in the face of his futuristic technology. In this Lee/Kirby classic, the powerhouses of the team are effortlessly immobilised, leaving the fate of the Avengers, and the world, in the hands of the Wasp and Rick Jones! Kang, of course, became (and remains) a thorn in the side of multiple Avengers teams, but this is his first appearance in the Marvel Universe. This copy is an attractive VG+, would possibly grade higher but for moderate spine wear which does not impinge upon the cover image.
PICTURED: AVENGERS #8 VG+ p £225 SOLD
American Update: Slab Happy/Spider-Mania: Amazing Spider-Man #252 with Black Costume (Later Venom) – Signed by Stan Lee
*Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man #252, like many Secret Wars ‘epilogue’ issues, featured a major ‘twist’ only explained retroactively. In Spidey’s case, it was a dramatic black & white costume which would eventually be revealed as an alien symbiote, which in turn would evolve into to Venom, who eclipsed most longer-established villains to become Spidey’s crucial nemesis for ensuing decades, and eventually the star of his own hit film franchise – without Spidey! Although the first appearance of the symbiote in internal continuity was Secret Wars #8, its debut in real time was this very issue. This is from the CGC Signature Series, signed on the cover by Stan Lee on 29th March 2007, then graded by CGC as 9.4 NM.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #252 SIGNED BY STAN LEE CGC 9.4 £400 SOLD
American Update: Sentinel of the Spaceways – Silver Surfer (1968) From #1 onward
*Marvel: Following his debut in Fantastic Four #48, Norrin Radd, Herald of Galactus, gained popularity as a recurring guest star, and his status was confirmed when Marvel launched the Silver Surfer’s own series in the double-sized format in 1968. This premier issue featured, for the first time, John Buscema’s illustrations on the Surfer, a body of work generally acknowledged to be among his finest, and presented also for the first time a 38 page account of the Surfer’s origins, plus (in the back) a 13 page tale of the Watcher, detailing the reasons behind the Watcher’s oath of non-interference. The first run of the Surfer’s solo series has achieved cult status, with the first seven double-sized issues in particular being keenly sought out. We have half-a dozen first series Surfers back in stock, beginning with the first in FA (spine split, moderate to notable cover creasing, label ‘scuff’), and including #2 (1st Badoon), #3 (1st Mephisto), and the final Jack Kirby drawn issue of series one (#18).
PICTURED: SILVER SURFER #1 FA £100 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: NYX #3 – Debut X-23/Laura/’Wolverina’
*Marvel: A breakout hit of the early 21st Century, issue #3 of the short-lived series of NYX – short for ‘New York X-Men’ if you’re wondering – featured the first appearance of Wolverine’s ‘cloned daughter’ (it’s comic books, don’t worry about it), a brainwashed psychotic assassin who moonlighted as an underage hooker. And they say the age of heroes is dead. Be that as it may, the character’s popularity mushroomed as she was featured in Avengers Academy, Avengers Arena and New X-Men, and she briefly assumed the title of Wolverine herself during one of her putative cloned dad’s temporary demises. Interest was piqued further by a version of the character making her cinematic debut in the ‘Logan’ movie, causing this low-print run modern comic to acquire what seems to a casual eye a disproportionate ‘heat’. Her first and second appearances, NYX #3 & #4, are now once again available.
PCTURED: NYX #3 (2003) VF- £150 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Moondragon Debuts in Iron Man #54
*Marvel: Despite the fact that she hasn’t been the subject of a Marvel Movie or TV Show yet (but just wait half a tick…) the follicularly-challenged, attitude-enhanced mental marvel Moondragon has been spiking in popularity. We speculate that the rise in interest is owing to her connection with Thanos and his merry crew, who are all over the media right now, and she’s catching some of the, as it were, ‘shared heat’ in anticipation of a future media debut. Her first appearance in comics, however, was under a somewhat less dignified nom de guerre of Madam McEvil! This debut of an up-and-coming character is a FN/VF cents copy, no UK pricing.
PICTURED: IRON MAN #54 FN/VF £110
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Angry Bird! Savage She-Hulk #1 & #2 from 1980
*Marvel: Let’s be honest, on the face of it, the She-Hulk sounded like a really lame idea when we first heard of her — what was to follow? Hulk-Hound, the Hulkmobile, Planet Hulk? But intermittently chartreuse lawyer Jen Walters has gone on to become one of the most enduring and endearing characters in the Marvel Universe, with creators such as John Byrne and Dan Slott providing charm, wit and (mostly) intelligent humour in her own series and during tenures with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. There wasn’t too much trace of that in Jen’s first series, the Savage She-Hulk, when it saw the light of day back in 1980 and she was as angry as her cousin (though didn’t burst out of quite as much of her clothing, thanks to the exigencies of the Comics Code Authority) but Savage She-Hulk #1 – by the legendary creators Stan Lee and John Buscema – is where Jen’s illustrious career got its start. Non-distributed in the UK, so there are no pence copies, this is also accompanied by the savage second issue for your collecting convenience.
PICTURED: SHE-HULK (1980) #1 VF £65 SOLD
American Update: Fantastic Four Annual #2 – a Doom-Laden Spectacular
*Marvel: For the first time, the origin of Doctor Doom and the reason for his pathological hatred of Reed Richards, was revealed in an all-new story in Fantastic Four Annual #2, a Victor Von Doom Solo by Lee and Kirby disclosing the monarch of Latveria’s secrets. This was followed by a full-length reprint of FF#5, the good Doctor’s very first appearance, and then by a second all-new story, in which the FF fall victim to illusions, misdirection and trickery in a classic Dr. Doom gambit. One for the Doomsayers, this epic issue is newly in stock in GD- (upper and lower spine splits, moderate corner wear.)
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #2 GD- p £35 SOLD
American Update: Avengers Assemble – The Thick ‘Uns! Specials and Annuals and Giant-Sizers
*Marvel: A collection of low to mid-grade Special issues of Marvel’s Mightiest Heroes this week, commencing with Annual #2, a superb parallel worlds saga, and including other early Annuals plus two significant debut issues: Annual #7, the epic conclusion of Jim Starlin’s Thanos/Warlock Cosmic Odyssey, and Annual #10, with Spider-Woman, the X-Men, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and the first appearance of Rogue! We then move on to the Giant-Size Avengers quarterly of the 1970s kicking off with its first issue: the All-Winners Squad returns! (well, bits of it) and continuing the Kang/Rama-Tut/Celestial Madonna saga. While a bit tired and worn, these lovelies can still provide hours of reading pleasure; for grades and prices on these soiled doves, kindly consult our captivating Catalogue pages.
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: X-Factor Begins – the Original X-Men Line-up Returns, with Debut of Apocalypse
*Marvel: Following the discovery of the original Jean Grey floating in an abandoned mattress (sorry, ‘cocoon’) in the Hudson river, Marvel were urged to ‘get the band back together’, now that all of the original X-Men were back in play, and they did – but the way they did it was a little odd. Writer Bob Layton and artist Jackson ‘Butch’ Guice presented the founding X-Men as a Ghostbusters-style mutant-hunting team dedicated to ostensibly tracking down and incarcerating mutants while actually rescuing and training them, a self-hating and contradictory premise which disturbed and annoyed readers (‘Next ish – Storm, Black Panther and Luke Cage join the Klan!’). Fortunately, within a few issues Louise and Walter Simonson took over, and things got a lot more sensible. We have a new selection of the X-Factor series from #1 to #25, including #5 and #6, with the first cameo and full appearances of Apocalypse.
PICTURED: X-FACTOR
#5 VF p £30
#6 VF p £40
American Update: ‘Across The Rainbow Bridge of Asgard…’ Massive Thor update, with Hercules, the Eternals and more
*Marvel: A substantial Silver/Bronze Age Sweep through the hallowed halls of Asgard, commencing with issue #127 of Thor’s series and closing with #301. This range includes both the special anniversary issues #200 and #300, and a range from the #290’s featuring an extensive cross-over with the Eternals, suddenly the ‘hot new property’ of the 21st century! As a bonus, there’s a couple of Annuals, including a low-grade very first (technically Journey Into Mystery Annual #1) introducing Marvel’s Hercules! Join Thor and all his wacky chums – Loki, Hela, Odin, Sif, the Absorbing Man, the Destroyer – for celestial shenanigans galore!
American Update: Silver Bronze Age Marvel sweep with many key issues
*Marvel: Another skirmish through the Silver/Bronze Ages of Marvel, this time a spicy romp with many key issues thrown in! Titles include Conan (from #5), Daredevil #168 (1st Elektra), Ghost Rider, Hulk (Annual #1 with classic Steranko cover), Infinity war (#1 & #2), Marvel Premiere, Marvel Super-Heroes (#16 with Phantom Eagle), Moon Knight (#25 1st Black Spectre), Ms. Marvel, Star Wars, X-Men and material from the Age Of Apocalypse: X-Men Omega, X-Universe and Generation Next).
American Update: Pre-Code Horror Fest: Chilling Tales – the Final Phase of a Horror Classic
*Horror 1940-1959: Youthful was a publisher specialising in non-superhero series, one of which began as clean-cut space hero Captain Science, which transmuted into Sci-Fi horror hybrid Fantastic, morphing again into full-on horror with Beware, and finally settling down into Chilling Tales, keeping the same numbering throughout. The reasons for these metamorphoses was twofold: publishers saved money on mail-order subscription licences by changing the name of a series, rather than relaunching and coughing up for a new licence, and the popular belief at the time was that newsvendors wouldn’t stock anything with #1 on the cover, as they’d reason no-one had heard of it, so there’d be no demand for a first issue of an untested series! Be that as it may, this series entered its most notorious phase as Chilling Tales, in which the horror motif hit its stride with lurid and notorious stories. Demand for Chilling Tales is incandescent, even in low-to-mid grades, so we’re lucky to have a complete run of beauties for your perusal, beginning with the first (appropriately numbered #13) and concluding with the final issue #17. Issue #13 is FA/GD, generally decent shape but a small patch of moisture/mould centre logo, which has also slightly ‘blotted’ the splash page. Light but long diagonal creases do not detract from the cover image. Issue #14 is FA/GD, with an upper spine split but otherwise presenting decently. #15 is GD/VG and #16 FA, cover slightly off-centre due to printing mis-cut, light interior staining lower margin throughout, but not affecting story images. Lastly, #17 is GD-, with a lower spine split at cover.
PICTURED: CHILLING TALES
#13 FA/GD £115 SOLD
#14 FA/GD £115 SOLD
#15 GD/VG £215 SOLD
#16 FA £125 SOLD
#17 GD- £125 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Ill Met By Moon Knight – MK’s Debut in Werewolf By Night #32 FN+
*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: One of the most startling success stories in the back issue world is the ever-spiralling popularity of Moon Knight’s premier appearance. The series Werewolf By Night had been toddling along, chronicling the adventures of young lycanthrope Jack Russell (no, really), when the boat was suddenly rocked in WBN #32 by a vigilante whose only goal seemed to be the annihilation of our hero – and his silver armour and weapons seemed likely to achieve it! The man who would later be revealed as Marc Spector had a deeper back story, of course, and in his multitudinous appearances since, has developed a complex background oscillating between ‘Marvel’s Batman’ and ‘Multiple Personality psychotic possessed by Egyptian Gods’. Be that as it may, he remains hugely popular, and a near-future Moon Knight TV series having been recently confirmed, demand for his debut is intensifying. This copy of Werewolf By Night #32 is a cents copy, no pence price or overstamp, FN+, with only very light spine ‘ticks’ and cover corner blunting. High resolution images arre available on request.
PICTURED: WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #32 FN+ £600 SOLD
American Update: Eerie, Nightmare, Famous Monsters and other horror mags galore!
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: A long overdue refresh of our horror magazines brings us a dash of Eerie from Warren and a nod to Nightmare from Skywald, but the main focus is on the early Warren hit, Famous Monsters of Filmland – which featured no comics content, but a plethora of articles and photos from the vintage horror films, which were just ‘trending’ on US TV in the late 50’s/early 60’s – and its numerous imitators. We have a couple more Famous Monsters itself added to our listings, plus the 1965 Yearbook, plus FMOF-wannabes Castle of Frankenstein (from early fandom pioneer Larry Ivie, publisher of Monsters and Heroes), Fantastic Monsters of the Films from Black Shield and a trio of efforts from Charlton; Horror Monsters (including the one-off fumetti Horror Monsters Presents Black Zoo), Mad Monsters, and Werewolves and Vampires.
PICTURED: FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND 1965 YEARBOOK VG+ p £25 SOLD
British Update: Festival of Britain: Mighty World of Marvel Monthly (1983 onwards)
*Marvel UK: Following the cancellation of the Daredevils with issue #11, Alan Moore and Alan Davis’ acclaimed reinvention of Captain Britain moved into the second (monthly) series of Mighty World of Marvel from #7, accompanying, among others, reprints of Claremont and Miller’s Wolverine and Cloak & Dagger, plus new text stories of the vigilante Night Raven. Although this series, with the introduction of Meggan and the final clash with the Fury, is regarded as Moore’s finest work on the strip, it was also his last, as he left following a dispute with Marvel about unpaid invoices, and from #14 the strip fell into different writers’ hands, including Steve Craddock, Mike Collins and artist Alan Davis, before the strip’s moving into Captain Britain Monthly after #16. We have a complete run of the Captain Britain issues of Mighty World of Marvel monthly (#7 to #16) back in stock.
PICTURED: MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL #12 FN/VF £6
British Update: Immaculate Annuals – Beano 1966 to 1970
*Annuals: Continuing our treasure trove of high grade British comic Annuals, we turn our attention now to the ‘Big Daddy’ of the field. The Beano launched in 1938, and is still going strong today, having taken over the title of Britain’s longest-running weekly since its elder sibling, Dandy, ceased publishing in 2012. These ‘Beano Book’ Annual compilations feature original material, not reprints from the weeklies, starring the Bash Street Kids, Little Plum, Lord Snooty, Dennis the Menace, the Three Bears, Billy Whizz, Minnie the Minx, General Jumbo, the Iron Fish and a plethora of other characters beloved by generations of readers. From the same pedigree source as our previous ‘Immaculate’ selections, these are from a newsagent’s inventory, never circulated or read, no prices clipped, no gift dedications, ‘This Book Belongs To’ inscriptions or other interior markings, solid spines, tight corners and bright, vibrant colours. A few have minor edge wear from long-term storage, or occasionally light breaks in the laminate, but all have exceptional eye appeal, and some could almost pass for new! This unbroken run from 1966 to 1970 is a truly beautiful selection of Annuals from an iconic British series.
PICTURED: BEANO ANNUAL
1966 VF £70
1967 VF £70
1968 FN £50
1969 VF £70 SOLD
1970 VF £70
British Update: Score ‘n’ Roar – Fleetway’s Other Soccer Weekly
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Following the success of 1969’s Whizzer & Chips launch, the USP of ‘two comics in one!’ with an inbuilt rivalry proved so popular that publishers IPC/Fleetway went back to the well with Score ‘n’ Roar, two football comics in one – neither of which had existed previously as an independent entity. The rivalry aspect was provided by brothers, ‘Jack of United’ and ‘Jimmy of City’, who played for opposing teams – and in rival halves of the comic! Other strips included young prodigy goalie ‘Peter the Cat’, supernatural striker ‘Phantom of the Forest’ and obligatory comedy team of ne’er-do-wells, ‘The Mudlarks’, and things ran comfortably along until the following year, when Scorcher took a decisive lead in the battle of Fleetway footie rags, and S’n’R (by then just ‘Score’, the conceit of two comics in one having been abandoned) ended with the traditional ‘Great News, Readers!’ We have twenty new issues of Score ‘n’ Roar in stock, from October 1970 to June 1971.
British Update: Air Ace Touches Down! Most of the #500’s, including Final Issue and Holiday Specials
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Launched in 1960, Air Ace taxied onto the runway for the last time in November 1970, after a very respectable run of 545 issues, before being incorporated into its stablemate War Picture Library. This final leg of our mammoth Air Ace flight includes all but a handful of the numbers from #500 to #545, including the final issue (though it gave no interior clues that it was the last – not even the traditional ‘Great News, Readers!’, and an assortment of the Holiday Specials from 1969 to 1975. This selection is from the same source as our ‘Immaculate Annuals’, listed elsewhere, a newsagent’s unsold inventory, never circulated or read previously, and most clocking in at an astonishing VF grade.
British Update: Free Gift Farrago! Look-In 1971/72 inc. #2 with Free Gifts
*TV & Film Related Comics: Look-In, the ‘Junior TV Times’ entertained a generation of readers with its features and photos on popular TV series of the era, plus comic strip adaptations of the hottest series. What’s little known is that, virtually right up until publication, the mag was originally going to be called ‘Magpie’, and the content even in the second issue from 1971 reflects that, not just in the heavy presence throughout of Magpie presenters Susan Stranks and co., but in the Free Gift, which is a part of a cardboard diorama of the Magpie TV studio (the first part having been presented with the premiere issue)! Comics content issue includes ‘Please Sir!’, ‘The Freewheelers’, ‘Crowther In Trouble’ and ‘Wreckers at Dead Eye’, which will be greeted by nostalgia or bafflement depending on the age of the reader, but the comics highlight is a rather lovely ‘Timeslip’ strip by Angus Allan and Mike Noble. We also have an issue from the second year, 1972 (#16 – Look-In started its numbering again every year, a practise which has confused and infuriated generations of collectors), with a Free Gift ‘Apollo Mission’ badge, in cardboard. Hopefully, NASA itself managed something a bit more durable…
PICTURED: LOOK-IN
1971 #2 VG GIFT VF £50
1972 #16 FN GIFT VF £20
British Update: Long Hot Summer: Whizzer and Chips Holiday Specials from the first 1970
*Humour Comics: Among the last of the great and long-running humour launches, Whizzer & Chips began in 1969 with the inexplicable but oddly effective concept of having two rival ‘comics’ in the same magazine, and locked in a deadly rivalry. Whether you were a ‘Whiz-Kid’ or a ‘Chip-Ite’ caused many a playground scuffle back in the day! This friendly rivalry was expanded into extra-length Holiday Specials, and we have the very first, from 1970, in an attractive FN/VF, plus two more, from 1972 and 1974, in VF and FN/VF respectively. ‘Sid’s Snake’, ‘Shiner’, ‘Wear ‘Em Out Wilf’, ‘Odd Ball’, ‘The Toughs and the Toffs’, ‘Fuss Pot’, ‘Sweet Tooth’ and many more are waiting for you to join them for holiday-themed high jinks!
PICTURED: WHIZZER & CHIPS HOLIDAY SPECIAL
1970 FN/VF £40 SOLD
1972 VF £25
1974 FN/VF £22.50
British Update: O Romeo, Romeo… 100+ issues of the D.C. Thomson romance weekly from 1959 to 1974
*Girls’ Comics: The most successful of the plethora of romance weeklies which launched in the 1950s, Romeo successfully adapted with the changing times, moving from nice girls in pearls to babes in beehives and bouffants, to mini-skirted maidens and belles in bell-bottoms as the decades rolled on, but always with the underlying ‘catch and match’ theme front and centre – no spinsters, feminists or committed career women allowed! Often beautifully illustrated by top talents, these are not commonplace – we speculate that the older girls and young women who they were aimed at didn’t tend to hoard things, discarding old copies after reading – and so we’re very pleased to have acquired this stash of just over 100 issues, commencing in January 1959 and running through until August 1974, one month before the series finally succumbed to changing times and was absorbed into Diana.
PICTURED: ROMEO 24/2/1968 FN £8
British Update: Confessions! Lurid and Dramatic Romantic Thrillers from 1959 on
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: Confessions Library, which rebranded itself as Romantic Confessions, was one of the more dramatic in the love picture library range, as it focused not only on emotional drama, but also actual drama, with infidelity, crime, terminal diseases, threat of physical harm and many other soap-opera tropes befalling our embattled heroines in beautifully-illustrated stories like “I Was An Unwedded Wife!”, “No Right To My Wedding Ring!”, “I Vowed Vengeance!”, “A Noose For My Neck!” and “I Knew Too Much!”. We have around 50 issues newly listed, commencing with issue #1 – “Men Could Not Resist Me!” (complaining or boasting, pet?) and continuing till #68. Most of these new additions are in generally very good shape, but long-term exposure to atmospheric moisture has caused the staples in many to ‘go’, resulting in spine and margin damage from rust. Therefore, we’re grading most of them as GD, even though structurally many are nicer. Nevertheless, there are a reasonable amount of VG and several legit FN in our latest batch.
PICTURED: CONFESSIONS/ROMANTIC CONFESSIONS LIBRARY
#1 GD £30
#22 GD £6
#57 FN £12
Housekeeping Update
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:
*Marvel T – Z
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.
American Update: Tomb of Dracula #10 (Debut of Blade, Vampire Slayer) Facsimile Edition
*Modern Reprints: The latest in the line of facsimile editions from Marvel is the first appearance of the star of the first successful Marvel movie franchise (no, Howard the Duck doesn’t count!) Tomb of Dracula #10 saw the premier appearance of Blade, Vampire Slayer, and with the rumours of Blade’s imminent return to the screen, prices on this already-hot issue have been climbing even higher. Now’s your chance to own a copy of this Wolfman/Colan classic for a fraction of the price! Apart from legally necessary pricing changes to the front cover and indicia, this is an exact reproduction of the 1972 original, complete with letters pages and ads – though you’re probably too late to apply to sell ‘Grit’, sorry! This brand-new item is on sale at £4.
PICTURED: TOMB OF DRACULA #10 FACSIMILE £4
Housekeeping Update
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 M – S
and in our British section:
*Girls’ Picture Libraries
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.
American Update: DC Debuts – First Appearances of Kid Flash and the Weather Wizard in Flash #110
*DC: Flash #110, cover-dated December 1959, saw a double debut in two separate stories; firstly of the Weather Wizard, the meteorological menace who would become a recurring and enduring member of the Flash’s Rogues’ Gallery, and secondly of Wally West, who as Kid Flash would become a founding member of the Teen Titans and eventually take over the mantle of the Scarlet Speedster himself! This early issue of the Silver Age Flash (which relaunched with #104, following the numbering of the Golden Age Flash Comics) is a FA/GD p copy, with light cover markings, rusty staples, and moderate spine wear from moisture exposure, but none of the above impinging on the cover image. The splash page of the second story is torn, but complete.
PICTURED: FLASH #110 FA/GD p £175
American Update: DC Debuts – First Teen Titans (as named team) and first Wonder Girl
*DC: Issue #54 of Brave & Bold teamed up three junior partners of DC’s major super-heroes – Kid Flash, Aqualad and Robin – as a kind of junior Justice League. This proved to be such a hit that issue #60 of the same title ‘got the band back together’, with the addition of Wonder Girl, this time with their own name, the Teen Titans! Often overlooked is the fact that B & B #60 is actually a double debut: not only the premier of the Teen Titans title, but the first appearance of Donna Troy as Wonder Girl – previous WG tales had just been stories of Wonder Woman’s younger adventures, a la Superboy, but this was the first WG as an independent entity. Donna and Robin both being mainstays of the Netflix ‘Titans’ series, interest in the ‘classic’ Titans line-up is once again gathering momentum. This copy is a very lovely FN/VF, with the black cover background largely unmarred, only a few light spine ‘ticks’. Firm staples at cover and centrefold, with good interior page quality.
PICTURED: BRAVE AND THE BOLD #60 FN/VF p £275
American Update: Batmania: Watching the Detectives/DC Debuts – Premiere of second Clayface in #298
*DC: Detective Comics #298 saw Batman & Robin face, for the first time, the menace of the sinister shape-shifter, Clayface! This was the second villain to use the moniker, and the two were not connected, the Golden Age version being a demented actor and this new iteration, in true sci-fi style, managing his malevolent metamorphoses courtesy of a radioactive meteor. As you do. Unlike the first Clayface, this one stuck around for decades and became a major player in Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery. This character debut is GD- p, off the top staple and with light diagonal creasing across the cover scene.
PICTURED: DETECTIVE COMICS #298 GD- p £60 SOLD
American Update: Catalogue Expansion – World of Krypton, DC’s (and Comics’) First Mini-Series
*DC: Spinning out of a popular back-up feature in the Superman titles, a three-part World of Krypton saga was supposed to appear in numbers 104 to 106 of Showcase, originally intended to coincide with the release of the Superman movie. When Showcase fell foul of the infamous ‘DC Implosion’, the prepared pages were held in storage for a couple of years, until 1979, when DC decided to release them as a stand-alone mini-series, the first such by DC or any other publisher. Until then, series that were at least intended to be ongoing, even if they didn’t ‘ongo’ very far, had been the industry norm, but this was the first series released, at the dawn of the Direct Market, with an intentionally fixed span. Written by Paul Kupperberg, it explores the last few years of Krypton’s existence, the events immediately prior to the planet’s destruction, illustrated by Howard Chaykin and Murphy Anderson. This complete 3 issue series is averaging NM-, cents copies with no UK stamp or overprint.
PICTURED: WORLD OF KRYPTON #1 NM- (SET OF 3: £25)
American Update: DC Silver/Bronze Sweep – ‘B’ titles
*DC: Continuing our alphabetical top-up for DC titles, this week beginning with ‘B’: Batman, of course, opening with #151, Batman Adventures, Batman Family, Batman ’66 (and Archie Meets Batman ’66), Batman: the Killing Joke (US prints, first and fifth editions), and a substantial selection of Brave & Bold, with Batman team-ups galore, but the occasional change of pace non-Batman issue, such as the superlative Fox and Anderson-created #61 & #62, co-featuring Starman and the Black Canary, among the finest comics ever made in our not-noticeably-humble opinion. Full details as always in our catalogue.
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts! The Mandarin – Iron Man’s Arch-Foe Debuts in Tales Of Suspense #50 VF+
*Marvel: Perhaps the greatest of Iron Man’s many enemies is the Mandarin, a master of science, martial arts, and controller of an international network of operatives, whose ruthlessness is outmatched only by his ingenuity. And he’s got the bling, too! Famously, each of Mandy’s digits carries a ring (“More than Zsa Zsa Gabor”, as Ben Grimm once remarked) with its own unique powers, at their master’s deadly disposal. This is a superlative copy of the Mandarin’s first appearance, VF+ with vivid colour, excellent gloss and only the most minimal spine ticks. A pence copy, labelled rather than the usual stamp or overprint. The definitive Iron Man arch-foe (albeit a bit non-PC nowadays, which is why you’re unlikely to see a ‘straight’ version of him on screen any time soon). High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE #50 VF+ p £750
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Hulk #180 – 1st Wolverine Appearance FN/VF
*Marvel: Among the most sought-after comics of the 1970s, Hulk #180 featured the first appearance of Wolverine, the Canadian super-hero who, outstripping everyone’s expectations, became the most popular Marvel character since the dawn of the Marvel Age. Created by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe (from a John Romita design), Wolvy was revived by Wein when he put together the New X-Men who debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1, and since then, Wolverine became the star of the X-Men, and a media darling in his own right. Having said that, it wasn’t a lengthy first appearance – in the final panel of #180, Wolverine popped up to make dire threats to both Jade-Jaws and guest monster the winsome Wendigo – but it’s still the first on-panel appearance of the decade’s mega-hot star. Never distributed in the UK, this gap in your Hulk history can be filled with a FN/VF copy, tight & bright with minimal edge and corner wear, flexible off-white interiors, and, most crucially, the Marvel Value stamp firmly in place! A cents copy (no pence variants on this puppy!)
PICTURED: HULK #180 FN/VF £420