*Pulp Fiction: New Worlds was the longest-running and most famous (some would say infamous) of all British science-fiction magazines. It had pretty much trodden the paths of quality mainstream science fiction from its inception as a fanzine in 1936, through the first issue called New Worlds in 1946 and up to 1964, when publication was taken over by Roberts & Vintner under their Compact imprint and Michael Moorcock replaced Ted Carnell as editor. At this time, still dubbed a magazine, the format became traditional-sized paperback book and the content began to reflect the new wave of British and American science-fiction that revolutionised the genre. Alongside the work of Moorcock himself (and his aliases), you’d find big names such as Brian Aldiss, J G Ballard, Harry Harrison, Bob Shaw, John Brunner, Roger Zelazny, Thomas M Disch and many others, alongside less well-known (but often equally good) authors such as Arthur Sellings, David Masson, Langdon Jones & Charles Platt. I grew up reading these and they hold a fond place in my memory — I expect I’m not alone. Just two examples here from 1965:
PICTURED: NEW WORLDS
147 GD/VG £5
155 GD £4

*Books About Books: We’ve expanded and re-branded our Book Art Books section to now include not just books on book art, but also books about books and the authors and subjects of the genres we cover. We’re kicking off this new look with a corker from the famous Arkham House publisher. L Sprague de Camp writes essays on the major creators of heroic fantasy and sword and sorcery: Tolkein, Morris, Dunsany, Lovecraft, Eddison, Howard, Pratt, Smith, White and more, in a lovely condition dust-jacketed hardcover. Fascinating stuff.
PICTURED: L SPRAGUE de CAMP
LITERARY SWORDSMEN AND SORCERORS: THE MAKERS OF HEROIC FANTASY
Arkham House 1976 1st US HC VF £15
With DJ (VG) in removable archival film SOLD

*DC: Your chance to grab a copy of a very early Jimmy Olsen at a bargain price. We’ve assigned this copy an Apparent grade due to trimming. Bright colour cover, reasonable pages, staples appear firm at spine and centrefold, but are a little rusty. Trimmed right edge; glued spine. Small losses at top of spine and just below. 
PICTURED: JIMMY OLSEN #2 App GD £50 SOLD

*Marvel: If you’re looking for really nice copies of Amazing Spider-Man for your collection, then look no further than the Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection. All high grade; even the few that fall below VF (and most are above) are really good-looking copies – no duds here, and nearly all cents copies. We present the second part of this classic clash in Amazing #40 as the struggle between Spidey & the Goblin reaches its climax, including the origin of the Goblin for the first time. This copy is CGC 9.2 (NM-), a cents copy, blue label universal unrestored grade with a perfect case and off-white to white pages. 
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #40 CGC 9.2 NM- £1,650

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, a consecutive run of five X-Men issues from #36-40, featuring the menace of Mekano (was he a villain or a construction set?), the prolonged showdown with Factor Three (were they a villain group or a sun block?) and a clash with Frankenstein (I expect you know all about him).
IN THIS UPDATE: X-MEN
#36 FN+ p £80 (PICTURED) Pence printed, solid unmarked copy with nice pages and staples, just minor edge wear and very minor corner blunting.
#37 VG/FN p £55 (PICTURED) Pence printed, nice copy with minor edge and handling wear. Good pages and staples; long reading crease that breaks colour for about 4 cm. 
#38 FA p £8.50 Pence stamped, ragged corner off bottom right cover, cover markings and creases.
#39 FA/GD p £10.25 New costumes. Pence stamped, heavy edge wear with small chips out, creases breaking colour.
#40 FN+ p £100 (PICTURED) Pence stamped, lovely presentable copy with great colour and gloss, great pages and staples, only very minor edge wear.

*EC: Two fairly ropey condition copies of the seldom seen Frontline Combat this week from the Bute Collection. The grades may be low, but the quality is high! War stories that packed a punch.
PICTURED: FRONTLINE COMBAT BOTH SOLD
#14 FA £12 Pre-code. Art by Wood, Kubert, Kurtzmann, Evans, Davis. Covers detached, spine almost totally split.
#15 PR £9 Final issue. Pre-code. Art by Wood, Evans, Kurtzmann, Davis, Severin. Covers detached and separated.

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: ACG had been one of the earliest publishers of Pre-Code Horror; after the code was imposed, their output took on a more whimsical quality; ghosts, witches and the like still abounded, but with a more understated horror (but no less quality). Such was the atmosphere in the two short-lived series offered this week: Gasp was four issues and Midnight Mystery seven. Selections from both new in as follows:
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
GASP
#1 VG £8.25 (PICTURED)
#3 FN+ £10
MIDNIGHT MYSTERY
#4 VG- p £6.50 Off lower staple
#5 GD p £4 (PICTURED)
#6 GD £4

*Girls’ Comics: Although ‘strange stories’, with a genteel supernatural element, had been a staple of girls’ weeklies since the mid-1960s, Spellbound was the first girls’ weekly to devote itself to the theme. While many of its series, including its best-remembered serial ‘Supercats’, with four young super-heroines dispensing justice throughout the galaxy, were science-fiction, the majority featured ghosts, witches, curses and mysterious creatures and apparitions to terrify its young audience. Launched by D.C. Thomson in 1976 – and lasting a mere 66 issues before yielding the field to its IPC-published successor and imitator, Misty – Spellbound is fondly remembered and keenly sought these days because of the quality of its scripts and artwork. We have the first three issues available this week, including the Free Gift with #2.
PICTURED: SPELLBOUND ALL SOLD
#1 VG £40
#2 VG £50 WITH FREE GIFT VF SUPERCATS SECRETS DIARY
#3 VG/FN £20

*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 for the singular works of the American fantasist James Branch Cabell. Cabell, active from 1904 until his death in 1958 wrote aristocratic, whimsical, profane fantasies perfectly suited to the mood of the 1920s; his most famous book Jurgen was the subject of a famous obscenity trial. Cabell’s inventive witticisms, sardonic irreverence and habit of the gently bawdy are delivered with panache. A very prolific author, most of his works are devoted to the saga of the mythic land of Poictesme and its lineage; each volume is complete in itself, yet has common characters and themes down the ages. His work fell out of fashion and out of print with the second World War, but was revived by Pan Ballantine in their Adult Fantasy series in the 1970s and other publishers, and it is these volumes that form the basis of our stock. 
PICTURED: ALL BY JAMES BRANCH CABELL
THE CREAM OF THE JEST Pan Ballantine 1972 1st UK PB GD £3
FIGURES OF EARTH Tandem 1971 UK PB VG £6
THE HIGH PLACE Del Rey 1979 2nd US PB VG £5
JURGEN Tandem 1971 UK PB VG £6 SOLD
THE SILVER STALLION Tandem 1971 UK PB VG £6

*DC: One of the earliest appearances of the Spectre in his Silver Age revival came in Brave & Bold #75, in which he teamed up with Batman to take on a mystical menace in a tale set in Chinatown against the backdrop of the Chinese New Year. Beneath a spectacular Neal Adams cover, the story by Bob Haney, illustrated by Andru and Esposito, unfolds. A sharp copy with great colour and gloss, tight, firm staples, supple white to off-white pages. Virtually no wear except a tiny amount top right corner and a little bit of handling along the right edge.
PICTURED: BRAVE AND BOLD #75 VF £45 SOLD

*Marvel: From the Bute Collection this week: Unusually, Fantastic Four #11 featured two stories rather than a book-lengther. In ‘A Visit With The Fantastic Four’, a change-of-pace ‘day in the life’ story, we hear more about how the FF are seen by the regular citizens of the Marvel Universe at large, courtesy of their fan mail – brought to them by mailman Willie Lumpkin, later portrayed on the big screen by Smilin’ Stan Lee himself! The second story was the premiere of the perplexing person from Poppup, as the Impossible Man, shape-shifting mischief-maker from outer space, plagued Marvel’s First Family for the first of what were to be many, many occasions. This is one of the more off-beat and charming issues of the FF’s early run, demonstrating that Stan & Jack were as at home with warmth and whimsy as they were with cosmic drama. Not a bad pence-priced copy, with good colour cover; most wear and colour-breaking marks are restricted to the edges or near the spine; there are a few insignificant cover grubby marks and the very slight suggestion of a subscription crease which does not break colour. Staples are firm and reasonably tight. Pages are a nice supple off-white.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #11 GD/VG p £195

*Marvel: This week’s Marvel #1 slot is dedicated to the four on-going series published in 1977 based on animated properties from Hanna-Barbera cartoons. These eternal characters have stayed with us since their inception, and I’m sure we’ve all grown up with them. All four #1 issues are featured here, almost all in near-pristine condition.
PICTURED:
DYNO-MUTT #1 VF/NM £60 Glossy and colourful, great staples and white to off-white pages. Only the tiniest amounts of handling wear.
THE FLINSTONES #1 VF £55 Glossy and colourful, great staples and white to off-white pages. Just tiny amounts of handling wear with very minor waviness at spine.
SCOOBY-DOO #1 FN/VF £95 Glossy and colourful, great staples and white to off-white pages. Tiny amounts of handling wear and a very tiny corner off at top right, which brings it down to this grade.
YOGI BEAR #1 NM £65 Pristine. Glossy and colourful, great staples and white to off-white pages.

*Horror 1940-1959: The Bute Collection delivers more thrills and chills this week. Harvey’s Black Cat started out in 1946 as a super-heroine comic, before later becoming Black Cat Western, then Black Cat Mystery, ending its life in the early 60s with Giant reprints of the original titular character. Here we are concerned with the pre-code horror phase, with two well-executed horror anthologies with lurid covers. This series featured some of the most infamous covers of the genre and the content was full of gore, graphic violence and supernatural themes. (Sidebar: We share our home with three black cats (among others), so are well acquainted with black cat mysteries such as ‘Who was sick on the carpet?’, ‘Who brought in that mouse?’, ‘Who scoffed all the nobbles?’ etc, but I guess that’s a whole different show…)
PICTURED: BLACK CAT MYSTERY BOTH SOLD
#37 PR £35 Pre-Code. Classic Warren Kremer cover: six ghouls crawl and rise up out of their graves as a sleep walking blonde stumbles through their graveyard. Interior art by Kramer, Perlin, Certa and Palais. Cover sadly faded, covers detached and separated. Small chips out at cover edges; pages are okay.
#44 VG- £600 Pre-Code. Classic cover by Lee Elias: a madman laughs at the conflagration that engulfs him. Interior art by Powell, Sparling, Certa and Nostrand. Calendar for 1953 bound-in. Solid copy with rich, lurid colour cover scene, unmarked. Staples firm at spine and centrefold. Some corner blunting and wear at edges and spine only; page quality is an excellent, supple off-white to cream. Minor colour bleed through to inside front cover. High resolution images are available on request. 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: More a magazine than a comic, this 31 x 28 cm curiosity from 1959 features a full colour cover and black and white photo interiors and illustrations enhancing what purport to be true stories of the American west in text form. 32 pages plus covers on this #1 issue (was there ever a #2?). Solid enough condition and page quality with some foxing; 3 cm lower spine split and some spine wear, but unmarked apart from handwritten date on first page. Published by the famous British publisher Len Miller.
PICTURED: TRUE WEST #1 GD £12.50 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 for the final of several updates spotlighting the Master of Adventure, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Burroughs was very prolific, and wrote in several series, in addition to his most famous creation Tarzan of the Apes. His style and settings set the tone for a whole library full of imitators/homagists in jungle, interplanetary and exotic locales. We have covered our ERB stock in a number of updates over the past weeks, concluding this week with a handful of his novels that don’t fit into extended series. The Eternal Savage (which features Tarzan) is a tale of love between a modern girl and a Stone Age warrior; The Monster Men (new in) is a tale reminiscent of Frankenstein and the Island Of Dr Moreau and features Frank Frazetta cover and interior art; The Moon Men is one of two tales of lunar adventure and a sequel to The Moon Maid. I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip through the worlds of ERB and I’m sure we’ll have more to add in the near future. 
PICTURED: ALL BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
THE ETERNAL SAVAGE Ace US PB VF £3
THE MONSTER MEN Ace 1st US PB VG £6
THE MOON MEN Horwitz 1970 Aus PB GD £4

*DC: After #123 (‘Flash of Two Worlds’, as if you need telling), and the premier issue (#105), probably the most in-demand issue of the Silver Age Flash is #139, which featured the first appearance of Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash, Barry Allen’s super-swift nemesis from the far-flung future, whose appearances in the popular Flash television series caused his early appearances to zoom (sorry) upwards in value. We are delighted to welcome a nice mid-grade pence printed copy to our inventory this week. It has the rich colours that DC did so well, an unmarred cover scene, tight, firm staples and supple white to off-white pages. There are three very small colour-breaking creases across the bottom right cover corner, and some handling wear at spine and around bottom staple, but overall a sound copy that would be a joy to own.
PICTURED: FLASH #139 VG+ p £300

*DC: A sextet of the best of the Man Of Steel from the Silver Age this week, between #186 & #196. Krypton, new enemies and an 80 Page Giant issue featuring the Fortess of Solitude. Art by Swan, Boring and Plastino. Plenty to enjoy.
IN THIS UPDATE: SUPERMAN
#186 VG p £13.25
#187 FA p £4 Eighty Page Giant, Fortress of Solitude; long spine split
#189 VG+ p £12.25 Book-length Krypton’s Second Doom
#190 VG/FN p £14
#191 VG+ p £15
#196 GD p £6.75 Large red felt tip ‘6d’ centre cover

*Marvel: If you’re looking for really nice copies of Amazing Spider-Man for your collection, then look no further than this Collection. All high grade; even the few that fall below VF (and most are above) are really good-looking copies – no duds here, and nearly all cents copies. Smack in the middle of Todd McFarlane’s run on Amazing Spider-Man comes issue #316, featuring the first cover appearance of Venom, the character that defined this period. The cover image portrays what the character is all about. There’s little doubt that Venom is one of the Marvel characters originating later than the Bronze Age who has gone on to become a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe. This is a beautiful high grade copy, great colour and gloss, tight and firm staples, white to off-white pages, square corners. Tiny handling marks at the right edge and the merest suggestion of a tiny dink at base of spine are the only defects. 
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #316 VF+ £90 SOLD

*Marvel: Not only is this week’s Marvel #1 (Skull the Slayer) accompanied by issues #2-8 to round out the complete set, but we’ve also added Marvel Two-In-One #35 & #36, in which the Thing comes on board to complete Skull’s story. Action! Dinosaurs!| Lost Lands! Cavemen! Aliens! This One’s Got It All! – as this series proudly proclaimed. Thus went the story of Skull the Slayer, a fugitive from a concrete jungle thrust into a world of prehistoric fury.
PICTURED: SKULL THE SLAYER #1 VG/FN; Complete Set #1-8 plus Marvel Two-In-One #35 & #36 Av. VF £50 SOLD

*Spirit: Something rather special from the Bute Collection this week, some of the earliest Sprit comics ever published, following his debut as a newspaper strip character. The original series from 1944 was published by Vital/Quality and the second issue (unnumbered but entitled Crime Does Not Pay) was the second Spirit comic. We also have four other issues from this series. The second series from Fiction House in 1952 is represented by #1. Your chance to acquire a good sample of Will Eisner’s classic crime-fighter from his earliest comic appearances.
ALL SOLD
IN THIS UPDATE: SPIRIT 1944
NN (#2) VG/FN £115 (PICTURED) Solid unmarked copy with good staples and pages, just minor edge and handling wear. Art by Lou Fine. Unverified Eisner signature on splash. 
#8 GD £30 Grubby copy with water-stains throughout, but flat. Staples solid but a little rusty with short horizontal tear at bottom staple. Art by Lou Fine and others. 
#9 VG £60 (PICTURED) Decent copy with minor edge wear, good colour and a couple of soft vertical creases not breaking colour. Unverified Eisner signature on splash. Art by Lou Fine, Jack Cole, Robin King and others.
#17 FA+ £25 A bit grubby with some creasing at edges and along spine, breaking colour. Large corner off back cover. Art by Eisner, Lou Fine and others.
SPIRIT 1952  #1 VG £95 (PICTURED) Decent solid copy with minor edge wear breaking colour at spine. Art by Jim Dixon.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: A chunky update to this most long-lived of Picture Libraries as we add around 50 issues between #530 and #1078 to our stock this week. These are from a newsagent’s uncirculated stock and have never been read; they are mostly in a FN/VF grade. Full listings in our catalogue.

*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 for the fifth of several updates spotlighting the Master of Adventure, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Burroughs was very prolific, and wrote in several series, in addition to his most famous creation Tarzan of the Apes. His style and settings set the tone for a whole library full of imitators/homagists in jungle, interplanetary and exotic locales. We shall be covering our ERB stock in a number of updates over the coming weeks, continuing this week with his tales of Venus. Like his more famous predecessor, John Carter, Carson Napier was an Earthman transported to an alien world for adventure and romance among fearsome beasts and weird peoples. ERB’s Amtor was every bit as well realised as his Barsoom had been. We have all five of the Venus volumes in stock in a variety of editions. Full details of all our stock in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
VENUS #1: PIRATES OF VENUS Four Square 1963 UK PB VG/FN £5
VENUS #2: LOST ON VENUS Pinnacle 1950s UK PB VG £7
VENUS #3: CARSON OF VENUS NEL 1971 UK PB VG £4
VENUS #4: ESCAPE ON VENUS Four Square 1966 GD £3
VENUS #5: THE WIZARD OF VENUS Ace 1970 1st US PB FN £5

*DC: Another Golden Age Batman from the Bute Collection this week. This time, it’s #36, with three excellent stories pencilled by Paul Cooper and inked by Ray Burnley. Jerry Robinson also contributes an Alfred short story. The opening story is a clash with the Penguin, the second a tale of danger set in the world of movies, focusing on a stunt man, and the third, cover-featured, has Batman and Robin travel back to the time of King Arthur’s court, where they encounter all the famous denizens of those fables. This is a very nice copy, featuring an unmarked cover with rich colour and a vivid yellow background against which the figures of our heroes and the mounted knight really stand out. Staples are tight and firm, page quality a supple off-white. Wear is restricted to a very minor amount at top right edge, a tiny nick at base of spie and a small tear of 1.5 cm at top of spine. The staples are positioned slightly behind the left cover line, which appears to give the comic a very slight spine roll, but this is not really the case. An excellent edition for the vintage Batman collector.
PICTURED: BATMAN #36 VG £350 SOLD

*DC: In our recurring feature for tabloid-sized editions, we have three Superman titles. Limited Collectors’ Edition C-38 reprints 5 classic Superman stories from all periods and is chock full of special features to boot. LCE C-47, with a classic Superman cover, reprints six classic Tomahawk stories, with Superman framing sequences to salute the Bicentennial, and lots of celebratory features. The Amazing World Of Superman (slightly larger than a regular tabloid), is absolutely crammed full of Superman stories and loads of features, all in crisp black and white except for a giant colour map of Krypton at the centrefold. 
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION
C-38 FN £15 Superman
C-47 FN £15 Superman Salutes the Bicentennial
SUPERMAN, AMAZING WORLD OF GD £15 Chip out base spine, cover creasing, edge wear, centrefold poster present but detached with some mottling to edges.

*Marvel: Also from the Bute Collection this week, a tough one to get in any sort of reasonable condition due to the surrounding black background which highlights any flaw. Evoking the classic two-parter of issues #25 and #26, Fantastic Four #112 pits the FF’s Ben Grimm against Bruce Banner, the Incredible Hulk, for a no-holds-barred battle by Stan Lee and John Buscema. Highly sought-after these days, primarily for the dynamic Buscema cover starkly spotlighting the two contenders. This is a decent pence printed copy, with minor wear at edges and corners (tiny colour breaking crease top right), corner blunting and small non-colour breaking creasing at centre spine. There is also a very soft crease across bottom left corner which does not break colour. Staples are tight and firm; supple pages are an excellent off-white.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #112 VG+ p £70 SOLD