*Horror 1940-1959: Two Pre-code horrors from Fawcett in the Bute Collection this week, with similar titles. To add to the confusion, they’re both #3. Also, they have in common that they’re both misprinted/mis-cut to some degree. 
PICTURED:
STRANGE STORIES FROM ANOTHER WORLD #3 GD £145 Pre-code from 1952. Stunning skeleton painted cover by Norman Saunders. Accomplished gruesome fare on the interior. The cover is mis-cut and fitted on to the interiors at an angle (we’re pretty sure this is an original printing defect). See scan. Cover image unaffected. Apart from a few chips out of the splash margin and one interior page margin, plus a small bottom spine split, everything else is pretty good, with firm staples, great colour, decent off-white pages just tanning at the edges.
STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES #3 VG £150 Pre-code from 1952. Great headless figure cover from George Evans. Accomplished interiors by Evans, Bernard Baily and others, a gruesome fest. Cover may be mis-cut at a slight angle; certainly the interiors are misprinted at that angle, but are unspolit with all margins in place. Unmarked cover, firm staples, nice supple off-white pages.

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: This week’s release of Love Story Picture Library, the longest running romance picture library from Fleetway, comprises 27 issues from 196970, between #771 & #800. The series always maintained a high standard and the very accomplished art reflected the fashions and mood of the times. These new additions are mostly in excellent condition, with little wear or creasing, all FN to VF. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: LOVE STORY PICTURE LIBRARY
#788 VF £7
#792 FN/VF £6

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Crime, Spies and Sleaze category for five more thrillers. Two from the American publisher, Graphic Mystery 1956, This Kill Is Mine by Dean Evans and The Corpse Next Door by John Farris, both cop/gangster/chick tough thrillers with attractive and stylish cover art by the British artist Oliver Brabbins. Then two by the celebrated American novelist William Faulkner, Sanctuary and Wild Palms, both cited as great entry points for his body of work. Finally, a tense crime drama set in France, The Killers by William H Fear, a rare UK 1st PB.
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
DEAN EVANS:  THIS KILL IS MINE Graphic Mystery 1956 1st US PB VG £4
JOHN FARRIS: THE CORPSE NEXT DOOR Graphic Mystery1956 1st US PB VG £7
WILLIAM FAULKNER: SANCTUARY Signet 1950 12th US PB FA £4
WILLIAM FAULKNER: THE WILD PALMS Signet 1950 5th US PB GD £5
WILLIAM H FEAR: THE KILLERS Digit 1964 1st UK PB VG £7

*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. We have the first issue newly in stock: #1, pitting ‘Mr. J.’ against fellow villain Two-Face. It’s a slightly above mid-grade copy, pence stamped, nice colour and reasonable gloss, tight, firm staples and decent off-white to cream pages. There is very minor edge wear, notably a tiny nick out of right edge near the top and a faint colour-breaking crease up from the bottom edge across the Penguin, but very presentable.
PICTURED: JOKER #1 VG/FN p £50 SOLD

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, a very nice copy of Amazing Spider-Man #301, popularly known as the  ‘negative’ version of #300 due to Spidey being back to his original costume plus the white background. This high grade copy is near pristine, with glossy pure white cover, vibrant colour, near white pages, tight and flat; only the very most minor signs of having been handled, but really, virtually as good as new.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #301 VF+ £60 SOLD

*Marvel: This week’s featured items in our Tabloid Headlines extravaganza have more Marvel characters than you can shake a stick at! They did two Giant Super-Hero Holiday Grab-Bags to celebrate Christmas: the first, Marvel Treasury Edition #8 from 1975 has seasonal (and not so seasonal) stories for Spider-Man, the Hulk, Dr Strange, Nick Fury and Luke Cage; the second, #13 from 1976, has stories of Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Thing, the Hulk, Silver Surfer and Daredevil with original framing sequences starring just about the whole Marvel Universe. In between there was #9, Giant Super-Hero Team-Up, reprinting (more clashes than team-ups) classics of Sub-Mariner and the Thing, Thor and the Hulk, Daredevil and Captain America, Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer. Great super-size holiday reading for the upcoming festive season, and all in tip-top shape!   
PICTURED: MARVEL TREASURY EDITION ALL SOLD
#8 VF £20 Giant Super-Hero Holiday Grab-Bag
#9 VF/NM £20 Giant Super-Hero Team-Up
#13 VF+ £20 Giant Super-Hero Holiday Grab-Bag

*Marvel: A long run of Fantastic Four from the Bute Collection this week, with every issue from #95 to #111 (excluding #110). A transitional period, with the final issues drawn by Jack Kirby before the artistic torch was passed, first to John Romita and then John Buscema. Stan the Man stayed at the typewriter. Full details as always in our catalogue.

*Spirit: All our ‘Characters’ categories are listed in our American/British section, since nearly all of them are published in US & UK editions. The Spirit, being all US, is an exception. Three new entries this week. From Fiction House, #5 (and final) of their series from 1954, an all-Eisner issue including cover; and from 1966/67, both of the Harvey giant issues, where a small amount of new material augmented re-coloured reprints of classic strips from the Spirit sections of yesteryear – and given that the original Spirit stories ran an average of 6-8 pages, that’s a lot of reading! 
IN THIS UPDATE:
SPIRIT (Fiction House) #5 FA/GD £40 (PICTURED) Covers detached, but otherwise decent copy.
SPIRIT (Harvey)
#1 GD/VG £10 SOLD
#2 VG £11.50 SOLD

*Girls’ Comics: in 1978, when the spooky title Spellbound folded after 69 issues, it was merged into the long-running Debbie with issue #258, and the title for a while was known as Debbie and Spellbound. Something of the atmosphere and features of Spellbound were carried across with supernatural stories, but most notably the stars of Spellbound, the Supercats, moved across for more space-faring super-heroine adventures (and chances to join the Supercats club!). Our heroines stayed put until issue #272, where they finally bowed out. We have the complete Supercats in Debbie & Spellbound new in this week; please see our catalogue for details.
PICTURED: DEBBIE (& SPELLBOUND) #258 GD £2.50 1st Debbie and Spellbound; 1st Supercats in title. Small central spine split.

*Children’s Books:  We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Children’s Books category and the adventures of Billy Bunter. First appearing in the Magnet #1 (1908), Billy Bunter was originally a minor character in the stories of Greyfriars School, but as time went on and the stories grew in popularity, author Frank Richards (Charles Hamilton) realised the comic potential of his most famous creation, so much so that after the Magnet ceased publication in 1940, Bunter was the starring figure in his own series of novels from 1947 to 1967. Our stock comprises mainly Hardback novels, a mix of originals, all with dust jackets, including some first editions, and the 1990s faithful facsimiles produced by Hawk Books. A second relisting update will follow soon. The ‘Fat Owl Of The Remove’ has now passed into legendary status as an icon of English literature, so here’s your chance to get acquainted with his antics. Yarooh!
PICTURED: ALL BY FRANK RICHARDS (More complete information in our catalogue)
BILLY BUNTER #1: BILLY BUNTER OF GREYFRIARS SCHOOL Hawk 1991 UK HC VF £12
BILLY BUNTER #4: BILLY BUNTER IN BRAZIL Hawk 1992 UK HC FN £8
BILLY BUNTER #6: BILLY BUNTER’S BENEFIT Cassell 1960 3rd UK HC GD/VG £20
BILLY BUNTER #13: BILLY BUNTER’S FIRST CASE Cassell 1957 2nd UK HC FN £20
BILLY BUNTER #15: BUNTER DOES HIS BEST Hawk 1991 UK HC NM £10
BILLY BUNTER #16: BILLY BUNTER’S DOUBLE Cassell 1956 3rd UK HC FN £25

*DC: A real gem from the Bute Collection this week. Dick Sprang is my favourite Batman artiist; his angular style epitomises the Batman of the 40s and 50s, and he is omnipresent in Batman #23 from 1944, where he contributes the cover and all Batman stories (the Alfred story is by Jerry Robinson). The classic chess cover shows the Caped Crusaders cornering the Joker’s chess piece in an icomic scene. In the lead story, Batman and Robim encounter the Joker in The Upside Down Crimes; the middle story is Damsel In Distress and the end story is Pelt Plunderers (a Police Division story where Batman & Robin team up with the Mounties). This is a copy with amateur restoration and is priced as such, with an Apparent grade assigned. The spine is securely taped with clear magic tape, which is partially off at the centre with a small scuff mark. Small pieces of tape internally reiniforce the staples and seal a small tear at the right edge. Beneath the spine tape, there are tears which look as if they may have been colour touched (minor). There is a central vertical subscription crease which only breaks colour above the logo and a very thin white line (which looks more like a printing defect than a crease) extending from Robin’s head to the right edge. Corners are blunted and the back cover has small grubby patches. Tape repairs make it difficult to ascertain the status of the staples at spine, but they are firm at centrefold and the pages are a flexible cream with minor edge tanning. For all that, the copy presents well and represents an opportunity to acquire an iconic Joker cover Batman at a very reasonable price. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: BATMAN #23 App GD £500 SOLD

*DC: Tommy Tomorrow was a colonel in the 21st Century Interplanetary police force the Planeteers. He first appeared in Real Fact Comics #6 (1647) and after several appearances there, became a regular back-up feature in first Action Comics and then World’s Finest comics from the late 1940s until the early 1960s. He then graduated to his own try-out series in Showcase 1962-63, the series that DC used to audition characters for their own titles. Despite a respectable five issue (non-consecutive) sojourn there, he didn’t catch on enough to get his own title. He continues to pop up in the DCU, but those Showcase issues probably represent the best of Tommy, scripted by Arnold Drake and drawn by Lee Elias, with an inventive array of aliens and outer space adventure. All here in very decent mid-grades.
IN THIS UPDATE: SHOWCASE
#41 FN £30 (PICTURED) Origin story.
#42 VG/FN £25
#44 FN- £25
#46 VG/FN £18.25 SOLD
#47 FN- £20

*Marvel: A Special Once-In-A-Lifetime Issue’, the cover of this one-shot boasted, and its unique position is simply a result of a scheduling tangle which arose when Marvel was finally allowed by its distributors to increase its range of titles. The Hulk took over the numbering of Tales to Astonish and Captain America the numbering of Tales of Suspense, but that left ‘orphaned’ chapters of the Iron Man and Sub-Mariner serials languishing, so they were used in this oddball one-off so that both Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner could start off their #1 issues with clear storylines. Nevertheless is has found ‘fame’ in recent years as a Marvel #1! Joyfully, both strips were pencilled by the superb Gene Colan. This is an above average cents copy, clean & bright, sound firmly-attached staples, good cover colour and minimal edge & corner wear, apart from some creasing across a small bottom right corner of the cover. One of the easiest Silver Age Marvel titles to complete – buy one and you’ve got the set!
PICTURED: IRON MAN & THE SUB-MARINER #1 VG/FN £90 SOLD

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week: following the debut of Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD in #135, Strange Tales was a brilliant title, with the super-spy scientific secret agent trope of SHIELD contrasting with the mystic arts of Dr Strange for a real go-go psychedelic extravaganza. Issues #136-140 concluded the first encounter with Hydra begun in #135, while Dr Strange faced the threat of Dormammu in Ditko’s last great epic for his co-creation. And in #138, Marvel’s own Good Doctor encountered Eternity for the first time, possibly Ditko’s most visually wondrous character.
IN THIS UPDATE: STRANGE TALES
#136 VG+ £25
#137 VG- £11.50 SOLD
#138 FN £70 (PICTURED) 1st Eternity
#139 FN- £20.25
#140 FN+ £28

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Adventures Into The Unknown from ACG was the earliest ongoing horror title, starting in 1947. It’s the Silver Age incarnation that concerns us here, when the horror of pre-code had given way to the more whimsical fantasy/mysteries for which ACG became known in the 1960s. As the run drew to a close, recurring super-hero characters started to appear, such as Nemesis in the last two examples featured here.
IN THIS UPDATE: ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN ALL SOLD
131 VG+ p £6.75
139 VG/FN p £7.50
140 VG p £6
141 VG p £6
155 VG/FN p £7.50 (PICTURED)
166 FN/VF p £12.50

*Mad: The original American Mad magazines turn up far less frequently over here than the British versions which followed, so we’re particularly pleased this week to have 20 of them new in from 1957-1962, between #36 and #70. Groove along with Alfred E Neuman for this brand of humour, sarcasm, parody and irony in the premier publication for this sort of lunacy. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: MAD
#36 GD/VG £22
#37 VG £29

*Power Comics: Appetite for UK reprints of Marvel Silver Age key issues has grown enormously over the last few years, driving the prices upwards. In this instance, if you add the factor of the hugely successful WandaVision TV series, these first UK reprints of X-Men #4, featuring the debut of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (inc Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch) are now highly sought after. Now, take care here — there are sellers on eBay (and elsewhere) who will try to convince you that Fantastic #6 features the debut of the Scarlet Witch — that’s not true. Odhams reprinted X-Men #4 over two issues in Fantastic #5 & #6. Although the cover of X-Men #4 featured on Fantastic #6 (complete with Wanda’s miscoloured outfit), she actually debuted in the first part of the story in Fantastic #5. We’re offering both issues in one lot for one price. The #5 is a solid mid-grade VG; the #6 is similar, but with a small upper spine split.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC #5 VG and #6 GD/VG £30 SOLD

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror category and the first part of our listing for the works of Arthur C Clarke. Clarke was a scientist as well as a writer and is known as a prophet of science fact, in particular due to his predictions of communication satellites. Most famous of course for 2001: A Space Odyssey, you would expect to find a fair amount of hard science in his works – what you might not expect is the engaging and entertaining style in which he wrote. His novels are real page turners that you don’t want to put down.
PICTURED:
CHILDHOOD’S END Pan 1961 2nd UK PB VG £10
(2 later editions also available – see our catalogue)
THE CITY AND THE STARS Corgi 1970 4th UK PB VG £3
EARTHLIGHT Pan 1963 2nd UK PB VG/FN £4
(later edition also available – see our catalogue)
A FALL OF MOONDUST Pan 1964 1st UK PB VG £4
IMPERIAL EARTH Pan 1977 7th UK PB VG £4

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our TV/Film Tie-Ins Category. There was only one novelisation of the cult Sapphire & Steel TV series, but it was written by the show’s creator (who also wrote all the stories bar one) P J Hammond. S&S is a bit Marmitey — you either love it or hate it. Some call it slow, ploddy and repetitive. I think of it as eerie, moody and atmospheric, totally unique and wonderful and it left me wanting more. The novel is uncommon. 
In Memoriam: David McCullum 1933-2023.
PICTURED:
SAPPHIRE AND STEEL by PETER J HAMMOND Star 1979 1st UK PB VG £25
Lovely condition copy with small dink at base of spine.

*DC: It will come as no surprise to regular followers that I really rate the 1960s Hawkman comics as among the best ever. Science fiction super-hero adventures with the loving relationship of Katar (Hawkman) and Shayera (Hawkgirl) at its heart. Clever stories by the superb Gardner Fox and beautiful art by the unexcelled Murphy Anderson, both masters of their craft. Issues #15-18 and #20-21 (the last issue by this creative team) new in this week as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE: HAWKMAN ALL SOLD
#15 GD+ p £5.75
#16 VG/FN p £9.25
#17 VG/FN p £9.25
#18 VG p £7.50 (PICTURED)
#20 FA p £2.25 Book shop stamps
#21 VG+ p £8.50

*Marvel: From the Bute Collection, Fantastic Four #16 features the villainy of Doctor Doom and guest-stars Ant-Man in one of the earliest Marvel crossovers, back when such things were still a special event. Ant-Man aids Marvel’s First Family in their adventures in the mysterious micro-world of Doctor Doom. Lee & Kirby are at the height of their powers on this early issue. This is a presentable lower-graded pence printed copy with a good cover image. Edge wear, small tears and a small 2 cm spine split at base. Tiny chips out at some edges, with a few spidery colour-breaking creases at right edge and bottom right corner. Staples are a little loose at spine, but are firmly attached there and at centre. Page quality is a pretty decent off-white to cream.  
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #16 GD p £130

*Marvel: Lots of Avengers from the Good Doctor Collection this week, 17 issues between #58 and #88. Includes the origin of the Vision in #58, the first Lethal Legion in #78 and the first Red Wolf in #80. Please see our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: AVENGERS #58 GD/VG £40 5 cm upper spine split, otherwise nice copy. SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: From 1951, Lars of Mars’ unique selling point was positively postmodern: the greatest hero of Mars, he came to Earth to prevent nuclear war, and while fighting crime as ‘Lars of Mars’, he operated under the secret identity of… an Earth actor who played ‘Lars of Mars’ on a popular TV series! My, how very metatextual! With art by the superlative Murphy Anderson, these stories are huge fun, as Lars tries to disabuse his co-worker at the TV station, Lois – er, June – from her conviction that the TV Lars and the heroic Lars are one and the same. Similarities between this and the Silver Age Superman are doubtless not coincidental, as Supes’ co-creator Jerry Siegel is believed to have scripted the series. Backed up by tales of ‘Ken Brady, Rocket Pilot’ drawn by a fledgling Gene Colan, and featuring gorgeous painted covers by Allen Anderson, these are a delight. For all their charm, however, Lars’ adventures didn’t catch a wider audience, and these two issues (inexplicably numbered #10 and #11) are all that there was. Issue #10, first in the series, is structurally sound, with great colour, good staples and nice pages; there is some light vertical cover creasing, breaking colour. #11, has great colour, good staples and nice pages, with some possible spine repair in the staple area, but still very nice. Very much in the vein of Captain Comet and Adam Strange from DC.
PICTURED: LARS OF MARS BOTH SOLD
#10 GD+ £100
#11 GD+ £100

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: By the time we get to the number range covered in this update (#21-49), Super- Detective Library had begun to feature science fiction mysteries alongside more conventional detectives. Most famous sci-fi recurring character was Rick Random, who debuted in #37 and went on to appear in dozens more issues, most famously portrayed by writer Harry Harrison and artist Ron Turner. But there was still room for the more traditional fare in this title for such as the Saint, Lesley Shane and many others. 14 new issues added this update; please refer to our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: SUPER-DETECTIVE LIBRARY
23 FA £10 Kidnapped by Martians.
29 GD £10 The Planet Of Peril
44 GD/VG £15 Rick Random: Kidnappers From Space

*Girls’ Comics: Once more, the twilight curtain parts… to reveal the first three issues of the cult girls’ weekly Misty, the horror/mystery anthology which redefined the expectations of girls’ comics during its brief span. Our sloe-eyed hostess was created by artist Shirley Bellwood, who illustrated many ethereal covers and frontispieces and based Misty’s appearance on herself. Sadly, no free gifts present with these copies.
PICTURED: MISTY
#1 GD £40 Structurally decent but with scribble in top cover margin and a blob of ink above the logo. Usual scuff marks where Free Gift removed.
#2 FN £40 Really nice clean copy with just the usual scuff marks where Free Gift removed. 
#3 FN £40 Really nice clean copy with no scuff marks.