*DC: Seven classic Silver Age issues of the Justice League of America, by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, with glorious covers from Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson. Among my personal all-time favourites. IN THIS UPDATE: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ALL SOLD
#17 VG+ p £39 Tornado Tyrant
#19 VG p £30 Super-Exiles
#20 VG- p £30 Spaceman X
#23 VG+ p £25 (PICTURED) 1st Queen Bee
#24 VG+ p £28 Kanjar Ro
#25 VG+ p £22.50 Outcasts Of Infinity
#26 VG p £24 Despero

*Marvel: So, what’s so special about Strange Tales #110 then? Well, it sure as hell ain’t the cover appearance of Paste-Pot Pete! Unheralded on the cover – honestly, is anyone really bothered if Paste-Pot Pete’s Invincible Paste-Gun does finish the Torch off? – Stan Lee & Steve Ditko, already the creators of hugely popular twist-ending tales in a plethora of Big Panty Monster comics, turned their talents to an eldritch hero, and Doctor Strange was born! Steve Ditko’s powerful and gripping artwork, quite unlike anything else in the field, catapulted the good Doctor from an interesting novelty into the Marvel Universe’s Master of the Mystic Arts. This stylish back-up story introduced the Sorcerer Supreme to the Marvel Universe, commencing a lengthy career; here he faces the recurring threat of Nightmare for obviously the first time. This CGC copy, graded at 4.5 (VG+) is a Purple Label Restored copy, but fret not. The restoration is limited to a small amount of colour touch on cover, and for that you get the benefit of a price vastly reduced to about half that of a blue label copy. Case perfect, white to off-white pages. Restoration: Slight C-1. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: STRANGE TALES #110 CGC 4.5 VG+ (R) £800

*Marvel: The ever-popular pairing of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch starred in their first mini-series in 1982. Spoiler alert: this is the one where it was revealed that Magneto was the father of Quicksilver & the Scarlet Witch (at least for that month). Featuring a galaxy of guest stars, all four issues are offered here complete. 
IN THIS UPDATE: VISION & THE SCARLET WITCH COMPLETE MINI-SERIES #1-4 Av VF+ £35; #1 PICTURED

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Punch Comics was an anthology title from Chesler in the 1940s. In this issue we have super-heroics with Rocketman & Rocketgirl (drawn by Reuben Moreira), and with Master Key (with horror undertones), humour, war and aviation with ‘Happy’ Landing, adventure/teen humour with Johnny On The Spot, Crime with Manhunters, Guardians Of The Law, adventure with Scoop Daily and sports/humour with Punch & Cutey. All this plus an illustrated biography of Edgar Allan Poe and other shorts. This is a very nice firm copy with great cover colours (it’s a shame they went for humour rather than adventure as the cover theme), square corners, tight staples and white to off-white pages. Only minimal wear (a few stress marks at spine do not break colour) and the merest suggestion of a dust shadow at the right edge.
PICTURED: PUNCH COMICS #17 FN £130 SOLD

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: A mix of short stories and anthologies this week. Henry Kuttner’s Ahead Of Time features ‘stories that take the reader to the farthest reaches of the human mind.’ Leo Margulies edits 3 From Out There, long stories by Isaac Asimov, Damon Knight and Edmond Hamilton. Three more long stories by Mervyn Peake, J G Ballard and Brian W Aldiss in The Inner Landscape, edited (but uncredited) by Michael Moorcock. The Mervyn Peake story is a disquieting, haunting tale in the vein of Gormenghast. Finally, Charles Platt’s The City Dwellers, a mash-up of stories originally appearing in New Worlds and in my opinion, his finest work, with the city strangling and crushing humanity. Platt somehow never fulfilled the promise shown in his earlier New Worlds work such as this. 
PICTURED:
HENRY KUTTNER: AHEAD OF TIME Four Square 1961 1st UK PB GD £4
LEO MARGULIES (Ed): 3 FROM OUT THERE Panther 1964 2nd UK PB GD/VG £4
MICHAEL MOORCOCK (Uncredited Editor): THE INNER LANDSCAPE Corgi 1970 1st UK PB VG/FN £8
CHARLES PLATT: THE CITY DWELLERS Sphere 1971 1st UK PB VG/FN £5 SOLD

With great reluctance, we have decided to discontinue shipping to countries in the EU. We don’t take this step lightly, since we greatly value our international customers, and for many years we have tried to cope with the red tape that now surrounds exporting to the EU. Unfortunately, with even more changes to the regulations imminent, and more to come after that, we have decided that shipping to the EU is now too complicated and time consuming for a small business like ours to deal with. If you live in the EU, we can only accept an order from you if you have an address outside the EU to which we can post. 

Please note, we can no longer ship to the Republic of Ireland, but are still sending to Northern Ireland. 

We hope that one day, the UK rejoins the Customs Union with the EU, at which time we should be able to resume EU shipping. 

*DC: DC’s Silver Age war comics were peopled by many unique and memorable characters, none more so that Hans Von Hammer, the World War I flying terror known as The Hammer Of Hell, with his adventures carrying the title Enemy Ace. Created by Robert Kanigher and the superb Joe Kubert, Enemy Ace first appeared in our Our Army At War, following with two full length adventures here in Showcase #57 & #58, followed by a series in Star Spangled War Stories and many later revivals. It was a brave and innovative move by DC to produce a strip starring the enemy, and Hammer was portrayed as a dark but honourable warrior. Both Showcase issues from the Bute Collection this update in quite reasonable mid-grade. 
PICTURED: SHOWCASE BOTH SOLD
#57 VG p £40 Pence stamped
#58 VG p £24 Pence stamped
 

*Marvel: We’re always happy to welcome an early Spider-Man issue illustrated by Steve Ditko (the first and greatest Spider-Man artist, excellent later contributors notwithstanding), and this one’s a bit special, featuring as it does the first guest appearance of the then-fledgling Man Without Fear, Daredevil, and, we believe, his only guest-appearance in his original black & gold costume! Teamed with Spider-Man against the menace of the Ringmaster (against whose hypnosis DD’s blindness gives him an unexpected immunity) and his Circus of Crime.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #16 CGC 5.0 VG/FN p £465 Universal Blue label (unrestored), white pages, case perfect, CGC ref: 4607393003. UK pence (printed) variant. 

*Marvel: The Bronze Age re-launch of the X-Men came in two flavours, with Chris Claremont at the writing helm. Firstly with art by Dave Cockrum, innovator and designer, followed by John Byrne, on his finest work, with more than a finger in the writing pie. Here, issue #99 by Cockrum features the Sentinels, with #125, 127 & #128 highlighting the menace of the reality warping Proteus, errant son of Moira MacTaggert. 
IN THIS UPDATE: X-MEN
#99 VF- p £50 (PICTURED) Pence printed
#125 VF+ p £40 (PICTURED) Pence printed. 1st Proteus. 
#127 VF p £33 Pence printed
#128 VF+ p £28 Pence printed 

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Where Creatures Roam was an 8-issue series from Marvel in 1970/71, concentrating on reprints from the pre-hero Big Panty Monster era of the late 50s/early 60s. Kirby work in all, plus 7 out of 8 covers, plus much Ditko and Heck. Relive Thorg, Vandoom, Gorgilla, Zog, the Glop and many more. All 8 issues in this set, mostly all in pretty good shape, with an average of FN. 
IN THIS UPDATE: WHERE CREATURES ROAM COMPLETE SET #1-8 Av FN £80; #1 PICTURED. SOLD

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for this books category, with an image for each book. Frederik Pohl was a writer with a career spanning 75 years, a novelist, short story writer, collaborator, editor and fan. He was heavily involved with the science fiction genre throughout the 20th Century and beyond. He won very many awards, including several Hugos and Nebulas. Our concluding Pohl update concentrates on his collaborative work with C M Kornbluth and Jack Williamson. Condition notes and further information, as always, will be found in our catalogue. 
PICTURED:
FREDERIK POHL & C M KORNBLUTH:
SEARCH THE SKY Bantam 1977 US PB GD/VG £4
WOLFBANE Penguin 1967 1st UK PB VG £4 SOLD
THE WONDER EFFECT Ballantine 1962 1st US PB GD £5 Short stories
FREDERIK POHL & JACK WILLIAMSON: 
FARTHEST STAR Pan 1976 1st UK PB FN £5
ROGUE STAR Ballantine 1969 1st US PB VG £6
STARCHILD Penguin 1970 1st UK PB VG £4

*DC: One of the jewels in the crown of the Midas Collection this week, in the shape of Superman #4 from 1940. This is an important issue in many ways: the second mention of the Daily Planet, the 2nd and 3rd appearances of Lex Luthor (he’s in two stories) and the first issue of the series to fully feature original stories. A brief note on Luthor’s hair: here, as with his first appearance in Action #23, Luthor has red hair; for his 4th (issue #5), it had turned grey; on his 5th appearance he had become the bald baddie we know today, having previously been temporarily bald as a teenager. The bald guy on the cover of #4 (by Joe Shuster) is NOT Luthor. Four Superman stories: two tussles with Luthor, a plot where sinister forces attempt to disrupt national industries and a story involving racketeers and the truck drivers’ union. All stories by Jerry Siegel, art by Joe Shuster and Paul Cassidy.
A very decent copy of this example from the dawn of comics. Good cover colour and no pen, pencil or printed markings. There is a very narrow and minor water stain on the lower part of the spine, plus a lower spine split of about 5-6 cm, with an upper split of about 3 cm. Staples are good, but a little rusty on the exterior spine. The centrefold is detached from the staples. Pages are nice, supple and off-white, with a narrow band of foxing/staining at the centrefold bottom (margins only). High resolution images are available on request. 

PICTURED: SUPERMAN #4 VG £2,750 SOLD

*DC: We don’t see these early issues of Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane (to give it its full title) too often over here, so we’re delighted to present these Bute Collection copies of #6-10 from 1959, before UK distribution. A lovely mix of humour and adventure, this series, along with Jimmy Olsen, has a unique place in comics’ history. Lois certainly gets into some scrapes!
IN THIS UPDATE: LOIS LANE
#6 FA+ £21.50 Lots of cover scuffing; some water damage
#7 GD- £30 Subscription and reading creases; previous owner’s name stamped twice on cover. SOLD
#8 GD £29 Heavy reading creases at spine. SOLD
#9 VG+ £65 (PICTURED) Nice clean copy with great reflectivity and only minor reading crease at spine. 
#10 FA/GD £22 Baby Lois Lane. Cover off staples. 

*DC: Another diverse selection of odds and ends in this week’s Grab Bag, as follows: ALL SOLD
ACTION COMICS #302 VG p £14.75
AQUAMAN #12 FA p £4.25 Water damage
ATOM #18 GD p £5.25 Small label removal scuff over Comics Code Box
BLACKHAWK #191 GD+ p £3.75 Lady Blackhawk; off top staple
STRANGE ADVENTURES #222 VG p £6 New Adam Strange story
TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #89 FA p £2.50 Rusty staples

*Marvel: One of Marvel’s long-running and more beloved villains, Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man, premiered in Journey Into Mystery (with Thor) #114, with his ability to absorb and replicate the properties of any person, object or substance causing quite a headache for our favourite Thunder God! Despite his surly mien, many folks feel that Crusher Creel is, to quote the Shangri-Las, ‘Good-bad, but not evil‘, and he has quite the fan-base, especially in latter decades since he married Titania. This mid-grade copy is pence stamped, has nice colours with some reflectivity. Structurally sound with good staples and spine and nice off-white pages. Minor edge wear, with a 4 cm horizontal crease at the base of the spine which breaks colour. 
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (WITH THOR) #114 VG+ p £65 

*Marvel: Both illustrated by comic book greats, we present two classic issues of Sub-Mariner from Namor’s Silver/Bronze Age run.
PICTURED: SUB-MARINER
#8 VG £45 By Roy Thomas and John Buscema. A classic black background backdrop cover with Namor and the Thing. The story includes a Golden Age flashback featuring Subby’s lost love Betty Dean, and her poignant re-appearance in the present. A reasonable copy with the black cover only disturbed by narrow colour-breaking reading creases along the spin e and a small spot of reds ink on Namor’s knee. Tight, firm staples and supple white to off-white pages. 
#57 FN+ p £25 SOLD Pence printed. By Bill Everett, Sub-Mariner’s creator, who wrote and drew this one great masterpiece before his death, which co-starred another pre-Marvel great he was associated with, Venus the Goddess of Love, whom he had portrayed in the now highly sought after Atlas horror issues of her own title. The joy of seeing them paired up in this Everett written and drawn story provides an apt legacy for this comic book great. A lovely glossy copy with good staples and near white pages; just minor edge and spine wear.  

*EC: This is the 5th printing of the Complete Old Testament Edition of Picture Stories from the Bible, published by EC and DC in the 1940s. 232 colour pages. All the big hitters are here: Adam & Eve, Noah, Moses, Samson, David, Jonah and many more. The entire Old Testament, ‘told chronologically for the first time in full color continuity’. A bit of a wreck, actually, with clumsily taped spine loads of creases, page edge tears and some brittleness. Amazingly, still holding together although one story page (two sides) is missing, and the final page has lots of chips out. To be honest, we wouldn’t be selling this ordinarily, except that it’s rare – and so thick!
PICTURED: PICTURE STORIES FROM THE BIBLE – COMPLETE OLD TESTAMENT EDITION PR/INCOMPLETE £12 SOLD 

*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: In the 1980s and 1990s, new universes were quite commonplace (Valiant, Ultraverse, Defiant etc), but back in 1975 a whole new comic group launch competing with DC & Marvel was quite a bold and innovative move. Sadly, this project helmed by Marvel’s founder Martin Goodman was doomed to failure, and none of the 28 comic and magazine titles lasted more than 4 issues, despite having stellar names involved. So a complete run of Tales Of Evil is just issues #1-3, and we’ll never find out what became of the two star characters, the alliterative Bog Beast and Man-Monster. Issue #1 is VG, #2 FN/VF and #3 VF. 
IN THIS UPDATE: COMPLETE SET OF TALES OF EVIL #1-3 £25; #1 PICTURED SOLD

*Alan Class Reprints: We have just two of these remarkable artefacts remaining in stock, both high end collectables featuring the debuts of Iron Man & Loki as featured in our catalogue. Under instruction from Alan Class, we are now inviting offers for these. This is not a procedure we normally adopt, but as these belong to Alan Class, we are happy to abide with his wishes. Make an offer for either or both to us by email, and we’ll either accept, reject or make a counter offer. Please remember that these are only available for shipping to addresses in England, Scotland or Wales. Full details in our catalogue. 
SINISTER TALES #23 Comic and Plate Set £2,000 Make Us An Offer!
*Comic VG. Vibrant colour, totally unmarked except for tiny monogram above logo. 3 cm spine split to base of front cover. Crisp pages; virtually no creasing or glue puckering. Reprints 1st appearance and origin of Iron Man from Tales Of Suspense #39, plus Atlas, pre-hero Marvel, Charlton (1 Ditko). High resolution images of the comic are available on request.
*Colour cover plates: 3. Among the best of all the plates we’ve seen in terms of definition and still imbued with the colour inks used in the printing process.
*Signed certificate of authenticity
*Presentation case
*Extra: High quality glossy colour photo of Alan Class with the comic and plates.
*Optional bonus: At no extra charge, Alan Class will sign (and dedicate if required) the comic and/or photo for the buyer. 

SUSPENSE #29 Comic and Plate Set £1,000 Make Us An Offer! 
*Comic FN+ Reprints 3rd Thor story and cover (both by Kirby) from Journey Into Mystery #85, 1st Loki, 1st Baldur, 1st Heimdall, 1st Asgard, 1st cameo Odin.    
*Colour cover plates:  4
*Signed certificate of authenticity
*Presentation case
*Optional bonus:  At no extra charge, Alan Class will sign (and dedicate if required) the comic for the buyer.

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for this books category, with an image for each book. Frederik Pohl was a writer with a career spanning 75 years, a novelist, short story writer, collaborator, editor and fan. He was heavily involved with the science fiction genre throughout the 20th Century and beyond. He won very many awards, including several Hugos and Nebulas. Our first Pohl update concentrates on his work on novels, short stories and editing. We’ll take a look at his collaborative work in Part 2, coming soon. Condition notes and further information, as always, will be found in our catalogue. 
PICTURED: ALL BY FREDERIK POHL
THE ABOMINABLE EARTHMAN Ballantine 1963 1st US PB VG £5 Short stories
THE DAY THE MARTIANS CAME Grafton 1990 1st UK PB GD £3
DAY MILLION Pan 1973 1st UK PB GD £4 Short stories
DIGITS AND DASTARDS Corgi 1971 UK PB GD £3 Six short stories and two ‘experiments with digits’
DRUNKARD’S WALK Penguin 1966 1st UK PB VG 4 SOLD
HOMEGOING Gollancz 1991 1st UK PB GD/VG £4
THE MAN WHO ATE THE WORLD Ballantine 1960 1st US PB GD/VG £4 Five mostly long stories
SLAVE SHIP Four Square 1967 UK PB GD £4
SLAVE SHIP Four Square 1963 1st UK PB GD/VG £5 
(Ed) THE EIGHTH GALAXY READER Pan 1968 UK PB GD £4 Anthology

We’re taking a short break next week, after filling orders received up to 4 pm today (30th May) and posting them next Wednesday (3rd June). There will not be a Newsletter nor stock updates next Saturday, but they will be back on 13th June. After this coming Sunday 31st May, we’ll next be filling orders on 14th June. You may of course continue to place orders at any time; we will acknowledge them and reserve items for you wherever possible. 

If you have withdrawal symptoms while we’re on a break, why not take a browse through our catalogue for comics and/or for books? There’s tens of thousands of goodies there just ready and waiting for you!

*DC: Some more Golden Age treasures from the Midas Collection. Three consecutive issues of Batman, all in reasonable or better condition from 1946.
PICTURED: BATMAN
#34 VG/FN £400 A motor racing story, the return of the overly talkative Ally Babble (‘Ally Babble and the Four Tea Leaves’), an Alfred short and a story where Batman tests Robin’s crook-hunting abilities, with cameos by the Joker and the Penguin. Stories by Bill Finger, art by Dick Sprang (inc cover) & Jerry Robinson. A nice copy with bright colours; just one or two small grubby marks on cover. Firm, tight staples (set in slightly from the spine), square corners, supple off-white to cream pages, only very minor edge wear. 
#35 GD/VG £300 Lead Catwoman story where Selina decides on a daring plan: to prove she has the nine lives of a cat and cannot be killed. This is the story where Catwoman adopts the classic purple and green costume with mask instead of Cat’s head. Also, Batman and Robin are challenged to a game of “Touch Hunt” on famed Dinosaur Island (the mechanical dinosaur later ends up in the Bat-Cave’s trophy room) and Dick is invited to write a comic strip. Art by Dick Sprang (inc cover), Bob Kane & Paul Cooper; stories by Bill Finger. Not a bad copy with good cover colours. Wear at all edges with some chipping at right edge. Good tight staples and off-white pages. Horizontal tear around central spine without loss. 
#36 FN- £385 The Penguin opens a restaurant as a new con trick. A famed movie stand-in uses his skills to lead a life of crime. Plus an adventure in King Arthur’s Court and an Alfred short. Art by Paul Cooper and Jerry Robinson, cover by Dick Sprang, stiories by Bill Finger, Al Schwartz & Don C Cameron. A nice copy with bright colours and no markings. Minimal wear, but very slight spine roll. Square corners, firm staples and supple white to off-white pages. 

*Marvel: During the lean years of the late 1950s to early 1960s, the company that would become Marvel ran a moderately successful sci-fi/suspense line built around two tropes: one, the famous ‘Big Panty Monsters’ by Lee & Kirby lauded in many previous updates, and the other, quieter, but even more chilling, twist-ending tales reminiscent of TV shows such as ‘The Outer Limits’ and ‘The Twilight Zone’. The latter proved so popular that the fledgling Marvel devoted an entire series just to them, Amazing Adult Fantasy by Lee & Ditko, taking over the numbering of Amazing Adventures from #7 and rebranding as ‘The Magazine That Respects Your Intelligence!’. Wall-to-wall Ditko in these issues. A brace of them freshly available, preserved in CGC plastic. Both present very well. 
PICTURED: AMAZING ADULT FANTASY BOTH SOLD
#10 CGC 4.0 VG p £90 Unrestored blue label, case perfect, CGC Ref: 4563037002 Pence printed. Cream to off-white pages
#11 CGC 4.0 VG p £90 Unrestored blue label, case perfect, CGC Ref: 4563037001 Pence printed. Off-white pages

*Marvel: The Black Knight has a long and distinguished history at Marvel. Originally, a heroic knight at the court of King Arthur in the Atlas series of the 1950s, the name was revived in the Silver Age, first as the villainous foe of Giant-Man, and later as the new Black Knight (Dane Whitman) in the Avengers and elsewhere in the Marvel Universe (both US & UK). Shortly after Dane Whitman’s debut in Avengers, a Black Knight solo adventure appeared in the pages of Marvel Super-Heroes, which delved more into the origins of the character, written by Roy Thomas with moody and atmospheric pencils by Howard Purcell. Also in this giant volume, golden age reprints of the Human Torch, Sub-Mariner and the All-Winners Squad. This is a lovely clean copy with gloss and vibrant colours, an unmarked cover (albeit pence-stamped), solid firm squarebound spine, great staples and supple off-white pages. Just very minor spine, edge and handling wear, but a beautiful example. 
PICTURED: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #17 FN+ p £50 SOLD

*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: Some really obscure funny girl comics dating from the late 40s/early 50s from the Bute Collection this week. I don’t think we’ve ever had an issue of one of these through our hands before. 
PICTURED: 
BOOTS & HER BUDDIES #5 (#1) FN- £110 Published by Standard, the series starts at #5, as so many of theirs did. Humour and drama with the titular good girl and her chums. A lovely superior copy with just a colour-breaking crease across the bottom right corner lowering the grade.
ELLA CINDERS #5 GD/VG £13 Humour from newspaper syndication, with the title character based on Cinderella. Not a bad copy, but small upper spine split and wear along top edge. 
MAZIE #1 FA/GD £14 ‘Have fun with Mazie Dean, the School Queen.’ Digest-sized Archie-alike from Nationwide. Originally, only 5 cents. Spine splits, front cover off front staples, hanging on at the back. 
TAFFY #7 GD/VG £26 Teenage and juvenile fun with the titular character and assorted hangers-on. Published by Orbit. A solid copy with edge and handling wear; subscription crease.