*DC: Back in the heady Silver Age days, just about the only way you could get to read the older stories of DC’s premier characters was in the 80 Page Giant Annuals they released for each series once per year. Then, in 1964, buoyed by the success of these annuals, DC turned the 80 Page Giant idea into a regular series of rotating characters, thus enabling us to catch up with a much bigger selection of these early stories than hitherto. After 15 issues, they broadened the concept again to include the Giants in the regular numbering of the series concerned. So this week we present two classic issues from that 15 issue run known as 80 Page Giant, including #1 (which would have been Superman Annual #9) featuring classic stories of the Superman family, and #9, reprinting ‘Flash Of Two Worlds’, and debuts or early appearances of The Pied Piper, Dr Alchemy, Gorilla Grodd and Captain Boomerang.
IN THIS UPDATE: 80 PAGE GIANT
#1 GD+ p £30
#9 VG- p £15.25 SOLD

*Marvel: In 1964, the adventures of Iron Man were enlivened in Tales Of Suspense #52 by the appearance of the lovely but lethal Natasha Romanoff, code-named the Black Widow, one of the Kremlin’s deadliest operatives. Originally an appealing but unoriginal femme fatale in civvies, inspired by Caniff’s Dragon Lady and other Mata Hari wannabes, Natasha proved surprisingly adaptable, allying herself first with the second Crimson Dynamo (also premiering in this issue) and later Hawkeye, and trading her cocktail dress and veil for the first of many costumed ‘looks’ as she switchbacked from villainess to heroine, culminating, of course, in her live-action embodiment by Scarlett Johansson in the Avengers and other Marvel movies – and in a big-screen feature of her very own! This issue is where ‘Tasha’s career kicked off, and is a lower grade pence printed copy with much wear and some colour-breaking creasing at the spine and edges, but with a mostly unspoilt central cover image. Three extra staples have been added (two near the originals), although it is unclear to what extent they are necessary. There is a very small chip out of the top edge and a tiny upper spine split. Page quality is quite decent.
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE #52 GD- p £225

*Marvel: Three of our ongoing features roll into one post with three issues of the Marvel Treasury Edition starring Spider-Man. #1 features some classic Spidey tales: the debut of the Green Goblin, 1st proper Mary Jane, death of Captain Stacy and more, including loads of special features; #14 reprints the six-armed Spidey/Morbius saga from Amazing Spider-Man #100-102; #18 features some of Spidey’s greatest team-ups with the X-Men, Iron Fist, Werewolf By Night, Ghost Rider and more. These over-sized issues are always hugely popular.
PICTURED: MARVEL TREASURY EDITION ALL SOLD
#1 VG/FN £15
#14 NM- p £20
#18 VF- £15 

*Horror 1940-1959: Also from the Bute Collection this week, issue #10 of Stanley Morse’s Mister Mystery, one of the most notorious of all the Pre-Code Horror titles with many infamous covers. The masked and cloaked (and top-hatted!) Mister Mystery himself is our host to a mix of ghost and spooky stories, with body modifications and other gruesome shocks. The cover is by Bernard Bailey, with atmospheric interior art by Ross Andru and many others. This is sadly a very low grade copy, with covers detached and separated. The front and back covers have small chips out at spine and small book shop stamps. Pages are a quite reasonable off-white to tan and also have book shop stamps in some margins.
PICTURED: MISTER MYSTERY #10 PR £50 Pre-Code. SOLD

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: Len Miller was the premier UK publisher of ‘faux’ American-sized British comics in the 1950s and early 1960s. He published a wide range of material, both original and US reprint, perhaps most famously Marvelman and Young Marvelman. Although succeeded by Alan Class, there was a period in the early 1960s where both publishers overlapped and some of Miller’s titles (Mystic, Spellbound, Voodoo and Zombie) closely resembled the type of content also being used by Alan Class, reprinting Atlas, pre-hero Marvel and other early horror, with occasional forays into the Marvel Super-Hero Universe. For some reason (possibly page count?), in reprinting Avengers #8 in Mystic #56, (debut of Kang), Miller chose not to use the original, more dynamic cover and instead substituted the splash page on the cover, giving this version a unique look. Kang, in all his various incarnations, has gone on to be an evil cornerstone of the MU. This is a gorgeous copy of this rarity, clean with vibrant colour cover, sharp, crisp white pages, no marks, squareish corners, with several horror and war back-ups in its 68 pages. These Miller Marvel reprints have become highly collectable in recent years.
PICTURED: MYSTIC #56 VF £350 SOLD

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Like Superman and Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes is a household name, one of the literary iconic characters. Though not the first example of a literary ‘consulting detective’, Holmes is undoubtedly the most famous. These days we know him from countless film, TV and radio versions, and it is perhaps strange to realise that there were just four novels and fifty-six short stories penned by his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, over a hundred years ago. In our inventory we have a mix of editions including two novels (A Study in Scarlet, the first, and The Hound Of The Baskervilles, the most famous), two paperback story collections (The Case-Book Of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes), one handsome dust-jacketed hardcover collection (His Last Bow) and, new in, The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes: short plays, jottings, ‘sensational strategems’, parodies and self-parodies gathered in one volume as the perfect companion to the stories. If you’ve never read these ask yourself ‘should you?’ The answer is, of course, rather elementary… 
PICTURED: ALL BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE ALL SOLD
A STUDY IN SCARLET John Murray 1969 UK PB VG £3
THE CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES Penguin 1987 23rd UK PB VG £2.50
HIS LAST BOW Murray/Cape UK HC VG £10
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES John Murray 1961 UK PB GD £3
THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES Penguin 1981 UK PB FN £4
THE UNCOLLECTED SHERLOCK HOLMES Penguin 1983 1st UK PB VF £6

Our Half Price Sale of selected British Comics continues, featuring many of the larger, tabloid ‘Giant’ issues. Throughout July, the following titles are now available at HALF the listed prices. 

Boys’ Adventure & War:
Boys’ World
Eagle (1st series)
Express
Ranger
Swift
Treasure

TV & Film Related:
TV Fun

Humour:
Beano Summer Special (from 1986 onwards)
Beezer (inc Summer Specials)*
Buzz*
Dandy Summer Specials (from 1981 onwards)
Topper*
*These titles may, at our discretion, be sold unbagged and unboarded, but will be well packaged

Girls’:
Diana
Girl
Jackie

All these titles are now marked as Giant Summer Sizzling Sale items in our catalogue in red and bold italic. You pay half the prices listed for these titles.

*DC: When Flash was relaunched in 1959, with Barry Allen now in the lead role, the artistic duties fell to Carmine Infantino, who pencilled every issue from #105 to #174. If ever an artist was made for a tire, it was here. His speeding hero, fabulous cityscapes, gorgeous women, dynamic and colourful villains characterised the Silver Age Flash. We have six issues new in from towards the end of his run.
IN THIS UPDATE: FLASH ALL SOLD
#155 VG p £14.75
#163 VG+ p £13.25
#165 GD+ p £8.50 Wedding of Barry & Iris
#166 GD/VG p £9
#172 GD p £5.25
#174 GD p £5.25 Final Infantino issue

*Marvel: Spidey’s second encounter with the Lizard had to wait until Amazing Spider-Man #44 & 45 with Jazzy John Romita at the artistic helm. Superb covers on this two-parter, with taut story-telling by Stan the Man. We present these nice grade extracts from the Good Doctor Collection, in memory of the recently departed John Romita Sr, a legend at Marvel, as a master of design and layout. 
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#44 FN/VF £185 Great cover with strong colour and dark background. Firm staples and supple off-white pages; nice and flat. Just very minor corner blunting and minor edge wear.
#45 FN/VF £120 Great cover with strong colour and bright background. Firm staples and supple off-white pages; nice and flat. Minor corner blunting and a few stress marks at spine just break colour.

 

*Marvel: Greer Grant Nelson was originally the costumed vigilante known as the Cat. In her final adventure in that identity, she was mortally wounded but the mysterious cat people saved her life by transforming her into one of them (Giant-Size Creatures #1). After that, she went on to star in her own brief five issue series in Marvel Chillers #3-7, all now in stock. Despite a hotch-potch of artists of varying merit (NB John Byrne art in #6), Tigra has gone on to be a regular in the MU. 
IN THIS UPDATE: MARVEL CHILLERS ALL SOLD
3 VG p £10 Start of Tigra series
4 VF+ p £10 Tigra vs Kraven the Hunter
5 FN/VF p £6.50 With Red Wolf & Lobo
6 VF £11.50 John Byrne art
7 FN+ £6 Tigra vs the Super Skrull

*Alan Class Reprints: For many years now, we’ve been scouring the personal archives of legendary publisher Alan Class and with his full co-operation, releasing for sale sets of the original printing plates that were used to print the covers of his comics from 1959-1989. We’ve now reached the very end of these sets, and this is the final set in our possession (but see our note further below), comprising the lead printing plates used in the original comic’s colour printing, a copy of the comic printed with these plates and a signed certificate of authenticity signed by Alan Class himself. These are packaged in a special protective presentation case. (Please be aware that these weigh a lot and postage will be expensive. Also note that due to the onerous paperwork required for customs declarations following Brexit, we can no longer post these Plate Sets outside the UK.) But we’ve saved the best for last! Marvel’s Journey Into Mystery #85, reprinted here in Alan Class’s Suspense #29, featured not just the third appearance of Thor, but also the first appearance of Balder, Heimdall, Asgard, 1st cameo of Odin, and, most significantly, the first appearance of Thor’s arch nemesis Loki, God of Mischief, who has gone on to play huge roles in both the MU and the MCU. So a chance here to own the first British reprint of this huge key issue, together with the plates used to print its cover. A totally unique opportunity! 
PICTURED: SUSPENSE #29 Cover, Splash, Certificate and all four Colour Plates £1,000
Suspense #29 reprints the cover and content of the Thor story from Journey Into Mystery #85, the debut of Loki.
Comic FN+ with brilliant colour, square corners, unmarked, slight spine glue puckering, a lovely copy. The Plates are among the best, in excellent clear condition.
Remember: there’s only one of these in the world!

*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 & Sleaze category for authors from Clarke to Della. Donald Henderson Clarke features with a very vintage paperback from 1940, a rare edition of Impatient Virgin, which would have bene very risque in its day; great good girl cover art on this by Merlin. There are three Solar Pons collections by Basil Copper, the second author to tackle this excellent Sherlock Holmes homage after August Derleth. Just one Gervase Fen Mystery from Edmund Crispin, but a good one: The Case Of The Gilded Fly; Fen is a great eccentric and one of the greatest creations of 20th Century British detective fiction (wish we had more!). Finally, Lew Della contributes an American edition of a British gangster pulp: Ladies Sleep Alone. 
PICTURED:
IMPATIENT VIRGIN by DONALD HENDERSON CLARKE John Long 1940 1st UK PB VG £30
SOLAR PONS #9: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SOLAR PONS by BASIL COPPER Pinnacle 1979 1st US PB FN/VF £11
SOLAR PONS #10: THE SECRET FILES OF SOLAR PONS by BASIL COPPER Pinnacle 1979 1st US PB FN/VF £11 SOLD
SOLAR PONS #11: THE UNCOLLECTED CASES OF SOLAR PONS by BASIL COPPER Pinnacle 1980 1st US PB VG £8
THE CASE OF THE GILDED FLY by EDMUND CRISPIN Penguin UK PB VG £3 SOLD
LADIES SLEEP ALONE by LEW DELLA Archer 1951 1st US PB VG/FN £20

*DC: We continue our feature spotlighting the tabloid-sized Treasury etc editions from DC & Marvel this week with two Superman goodies. Famous First Edition C61 reprints Superman #1 including inner covers which are a faithful reproduction. The whole thing is so faithful in fact (apart from the size!) that I have heard of the outer covers being removed and the remainder marketed as an original. Limited Collectors’ Edition C31 reprints several classic Superman stories from the Golden, Silver & Bronze Ages, together with a whole host of special features.
PICTURED: BOTH SOLD
FAMOUS FIRST EDITION C61 FN £15
LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION C31 VG+ £10

*Marvel: One of the more tragic entries in Spider-Man’s Rogue’s Gallery is the Lizard, a.k.a. Dr. Curt Connors, a dedicated scientist and devoted husband and father whose research into a regenerative serum, to help himself and other amputees, went horribly wrong when the lizard-like properties of tissue regeneration ran rampant, turning him into a humanoid reptile. The Lizard debuted in the sixth issue of Spider-Man, and we are delighted to have in stock an outstanding copy, pence printed, in a superior grade. Glossy, virtually flat, sharp corners, tight staples and a vivid, unmarked cover scene; the page quality is superb, very close to white pages. There are only the smallest flaws: a small dink at the top corner of the masthead (does not break colour), a very tiny scuff at the base of the Lizard’s lower claw (which you really have to look hard to see) and a couple of very soft, short creases towards the bottom of the spine, which do not break colour and again can barely be seen. We hardly ever see such an early issue of Amazing Spider-Man is such fantastic condition. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #6 FN/VF p £1,500

*Marvel: In the fourth issue of Marvel’s Avengers series, the already formidable team of Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man and the Wasp was augmented by one of the legendary heroes from the past. Captain America returned to action after years in Post-WWII suspended animation, and rapidly became the acknowledged heart and soul of the Avengers, who have never flourished for long without him! This copy from the Good Doctor Collection is pence printed and very low grade. It has additional staples near the top and bottom of the spine; the spine itself is very worn, with many small tears. Two interiors pages are loose and separated. Significant wear to all edges, with chipping at top and right, colour-breaking creases at bottom, but the central cover image is unmarked. Page quality is a little cream, but not too bad. It does look as if those extra staples are holding the comic together though. At least it’s complete and readable, and at a price you seldom see this major key issue for!
PICTURED: AVENGERS #4 PR/FA p £400 SOLD

*Marvel: In this week’s Marvel #1 slot, we have not just #1, but also #2-7 of the TV spin-off series Man From Atlantis, the complete series. The Man From Atlantis was a mildly successful TV series in the 1970s starring Patrick Duffy in the titular role as an amnesiac believed to be the last survivor of Atlantis and possessed of undersea powers. The comic series from 1978 was also mildly successful, but, like the TV show, was cancelled before it really got going. We got the TV show over here, but not the comic, so this series doesn’t turn up too often. Alas that although Patrick Duffy had an underwater resurrection scene as Bobby Ewing in the infamous shower scene in Dallas, there was no second life for him as Mark Harris, the Man From Atlantis.
PICTURED: THE MAN FROM ATLANTIS #1; COMPLETE SET #1-7 AV. VF £50 SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: The Fighting Yank (Nedor) and Spy Smasher (Fawcett) were two costumed heroes originating during WWII and created to help the war effort; two of many such characters from that time. Fighting Yank, his costume inspired by the Spirit of ’76, had superhuman powers and devices. Spy Smasher was more of a Batman clone-type detective. They both took on the Japs (and others), both home and around the world. The Bute Collection affords us one comic of each.
PICTURED: BOTH SOLD
FIGHTING YANK #9 GD- £150 Alex Schomburg cover. Solid cover with decent spine and single central staple as published. 4 cm x 3 cm corner torn off bottom right cover. Back cover edge and corner ragged. Small pieces of tape on inner covers. Nice pages, although some have bottom right corners missing in margin only.
SPY SMASHER #6 VG+ £200 Mac Raboy cover. No significant flaws, just light edge, spine and handling wear. Firm staples, good pages. A nice example.

*Marvel UK: Two #1 issues here this week, both with their original bound-in posters. Dracula Lives #1 reprints Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf By Night and Monster of Frankenstein. Titans reprints Captains America & Marvel, Sub-Mariner and Inhumans.
PICTURED: BOTH SOLD
DRACULA LIVES #1 VG/FN £13.50 With bound in poster (VF). A little cover creasing to right edge.
TITANS #1 FN £15 With bound-in poster (VF) Landscape printed.

*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 first 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, starting here with his Mars adventures (my personal favourite), plus a quick visit to the land of Pellucidar, at the Earth’s core. We have five Mars hardcovers, published by Methuen in the 1950s with dust jackets depicting the first edition classic illustrations (these are really beautiful books), plus another UK 1950s paperback, plus a US Pellucidar novel which is new in stock. The Mars series ran to eleven volumes, Pellucidar to seven. Watch for the next ERB update coming soon.
PICTURED: ALL BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS (All DJs in removable archival film)
MARS #1: A PRINCESS OF MARS Methuen 1952 13th UK HC VG/FN £30 With DJ (GD) SOLD
MARS #2: THE GODS OF MARS Methuen 1952 7th UK HC GD/VG £20 With DJ (GD)
MARS #4: THUVIA, MAID OF MARS Methuen 1951 7th UK HC VG £15 With DJ (VG)
MARS #4: THUVIA, MAID OF MARS Pinnacle 1950s UK PB VG £8
MARS #5: THE CHESSMEN OF MARS Methuen 1951 5th UK HC VG £20 With DJ (GD)
MARS #6: THE MASTER MIND OF MARS Methuen 1952 2nd UK HC VG £25 With DJ (GD/VG)
PELLUCIDAR #3: TANAR OF PELLUCIDAR Ace 1st US PB VG/FN £5

*DC: We unusually turn to DC for a Pre-Code Horror update, with the premiere DC horror title House Of Mystery: Issue #9 from 1952. With art by Ruben Moreira (inc cover), Leonard Starr, Win Mortimer, Jerry Grandenetti and more, these clever horror/mystery stories are of a standard you expect from such a noted publisher. We don’t see these early issues too often. 
PICTURED: HOUSE OF MYSTERY #9 GD/VG £69 Bright colours, some fading to spine and bottom edge. Faint subscription crease. Small chip loose top centre. Firm staples, nice off-white pages. 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. Many folks say – with justification – that Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, was a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for DC’s Catwoman, created to give Spider-Man a ‘beloved enemy’ vibe and increase the romantic tension in the series. Probably true; but nevertheless, the Black Cat rapidly stepped away from her derivative roots, primarily owing to her low level probability manipulation – subconsciously causing ‘bad luck’ for people who opposed her – and the fact that although she’s frequently done heroic and noble things, she’s never completely shed her criminal ways. This copy of the Black Cat’s debut in Amazing Spider-Man #194 comes from the non-distributed ‘wilderness years’, so there are no pence variants of this issue; it is however, a rarer newsstand variant. A lovely copy, typical of this collection, with great colour and gloss and just the tiniest signs of handling wear at spine and edges. Sharp corners, no colour breaks. Tight, firm staples and supple white to off-white pages.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #194 VF+ £275

*Marvel: In our Marvel #1 slot this week, an old favourite that remains a classic. Having made his mark on the SHIELD strip in Strange Tales, Jaunty Jim Steranko took the brakes off and went all-out when Nick Fury’s Pals n’ Gals got their own full-length series, with cinematic storytelling and psychedelic designs, particularly on the cover and splash pages, that utilised the full potential of the medium with an imagination seldom seen since the heyday of Eisner. Nick Fury #1, ‘Who Is Scorpio?’, is the definitive example, with the popular espionage tropes of the day cranked up to 11, and a striking cover image which still resonates in the fandom psyche half a century plus later. Our newest Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1 is a lower graded copy, pence stamped, with quite a bit of edge wear, spine ticks and diagonal colour-breaking creases across the bottom right corner. But great value for such an iconic item.
PICTURED: NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD #1 VG- p £35

*Horror 1940-1959: From the Bute Collection this week, two early copies of one of Atlas’s premier horror titles, Journey Into Mystery #7 & #9 from 1953 in superior shape and with great covers by Bill Everett.
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY
#7 FN £600 (below) Pre-Code. Cover by Everett, art by Harry Anderson, Jack Abel and others. Clean, fresh and glossy cover with great colour. Only minor edge wear and corner blunting. Supple off-white pages and firm staples at spine and centrefold. Some chipping to the back cover edge prevents a higher grade. High resolution images are available on request. SOLD
#9 VG/FN £400 (left) Pre-code. Cover by Everett, art by Robinson, Forte and others. Clean, fresh and glossy cover with great colour. Some spine wear but only moderate, also at top edge with minor handling wear. Staples tight at centrefold and reasonably tight at spine; nice supple off-white pages. 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: It was common practise in UK comics for decades to create intentionally short-run ‘Feeder’ titles, with the express purpose of providing ‘new blood’ to refresh longer-running titles. One such was Thunder, which launched in 1970. Thunder developed several popular features, including time-stopping musician ‘Phil the Fluter’ (don’t ask), WWII robot ‘The Steel Commando’, junior Doctor Doolittle ‘Fury’s Family’, crime-fighting whiz-kids ‘The Jet Skaters’, and lovable mad scientist ‘Black Max’. Star of the show, however, was ‘Adam Eterno’, cursed to wander the Earth forever until killed by a weapon of gold – unfortunately for our hero, whenever he looked like being able to end his interminable existence, Circumstances Intervened. Despite a strong line-up, Thunder folded after 22 issues, and all of the above strips leapt into Lion, with, appropriately, Adam Eterno dodging death again when Lion was absorbed by Valiant! A lowish grade #1 new in this week, plus 13 subsequent issues, including one duplicate (20/2/71), all in reasonable condition. See our catalogue for details.
PICTURED: THUNDER #1 GD £15

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’re delighted this week to add nine novels by the prolific Carter Brown, all new to our listings. Alan Geoffrey Yates was a British born Australian who wrote under that pseudonym between 1954 and 1984. He was extremely prolific in this and other genres, turning out over 300 novels in his career. His work was hard-boiled in the style of Raymond Chandler, without the plot complexity, but with an entertaining sense of humour and laconic noir feel. The novels were written in the first person in the guise of one of several detective protagonists he used, examples being Lt Al Wheeler, tough cop, Rick Holman, Hollywood trouble-shooter to the stars and Mavis Seidlitz, whose IQ was lower than her bust size (allegedly). (We have detailed which detective features in which novel in our listings). Originally published in Australia (but all set in America, because “his readers preferred it”), Brown became internationally famous when they were published in first the USA and then the UK. The earlier American Signets were cover-illustrated by Barye Phillips and the later ones by Robert McGinnis, two highly talented artists who captured the spirit of the books beautifully. Most scenes featured sexy women, but inside the sex was always suggested rather than explicit. Our new intake features several American versions, a couple of Australian and one British. All the regular detective protagonists are represented, and we’re particularly pleased that there are four Mavis Seidlitz novels this time. Some are shown here; full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: All by Carter Brown
THE LOVING AND THE DEAD Signet 1959 1st US PB GD £6 SOLD
MURDER PARIS FASHION Horwitz 1960 3rd Aus PB GD £7
NUDE – WITH A VIEW Four Square 1966 1at UK PB GD £4
TERROR COMES CREEPING Signet 1959 1st US PB VG/FN £9
TOMORROW IS MURDER Signet 1960 1st US PB VG £8
THE WAYWARD WAHINE Signet 1960 1st US PB GD/VG £6