*DC: Lots of issues of both series of Swamp Thing & Saga of, with a comprehensive listing for the first run of the muck monster (commenced by Bernie Wrightson) and a smattering of Alan Moore’s stories from the second series, including the classic cover on #34, and Moore’s final issue, #64. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: SWAMP THING #7 FN p £43 SOLD

*Marvel: A landmark from the Good Doctor Collection. Strange Tales #110, already the showcase title for the Fantastic Four’s junior member, the Human Torch, presented a mystery back-up strip starring a supernatural champion named Doctor Strange. Stan Lee and 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! Essentially a retread of Marvel’s previous Dr. Droom character, where this Doctor had the advantage was in Steve Ditko’s powerful and gripping artwork, quite unlike anything else in the field, which catapulted the good Doctor from an interesting novelty into the Marvel Universe’s Master of the Mystic Arts. Unheralded on the cover – honestly, is anyone really bothered if Paste-Pot Pete’s Invincible Paste-Gun does finish the Torch off? – the stylish back-up story introduced the Sorceror Supreme to the Marvel Universe, commencing a lengthy career which has crossed over very successfully into the MCU. Here he faces the recurring threat of Nightmare for obviously the first time. Although possessing decent off-white to cream page quality, this is a low grade cents copy, with the front and back covers, mostly held together by tape on the inside, separated from the contents. The inside tape also extends slightly to seal some small tears near the spine. There’s heavy wear with colour breaking creases round all the edges, although the central image remains unmarked. The copy is a bit limp and tired, although the staples, which hold the contents well (if not the covers) are strong. First appearances of Marvel’s main characters have spiralled out of reach of most collectors’ budgets in recent years, but at least here’s a copy that’s cheaper than a mortgage (particularly at the moment!). High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: STRANGE TALES #110 PR/FA £1,200

 

*Marvel: The Black Panther’s series in Jungle Action, which attracted a lot of acclaim at the time, was known for being verbose, introspective, reflective and philosophical. When the character’s co-creator, Jack Kirby, took over as writer and artist on T’Challa’s follow-up solo series, the results were… a considerable contrast. Shouting! Explosions! Aliens! Time-Travel! Implausibly-muscled ladies with black lipstick! Cosmic critters! All were here, and all playing at full volume all the time, in the crazed kinetic frenzy that Kirby was renowned for. Since the major movie hit, the King of Wakanda’s star is ever-ascendant, and this issue especially always sells very briskly because of its – frankly – high loopiness quotient. So, if you want this tale of ‘King Solomon’s Frog’, you’d better hop to it (sorry…) This is a decent mid-grade pence printed copy, with some spine wear  (small white ticks), corner blunting and half a dozen tiny pressure marks in the bottom right cover corner. But with excellent colour and gloss, white pages and firm, tight staples. 
PICTURED: BLACK PANTHER #1 VG+ p £50 SOLD

*EC: A splendid quartet of Weird Science from the Bute Collection this week. Of all of EC’s high quality output, their science fiction tales have always been my favourites. These issues feature the very best of EC’s artists at the height of their powers.
PICTURED: WEIRD SCIENCE
#7 VG- £180 Pre-code. Feldstein, Kamen, Kurtzmann, Wood. Nice solid glossy copy, small amount of chipping at right edge, three long cover creases which are not too invasive and don’t break colour. Good firm staples and nice off-white to cream pages. SOLD
#11 VG- £145 Pre-code. Feldstein, Wood, Kamen, Orlando. Glossy cover, unmarked cover image, off-white to cream pages with minor foxing in margins, off bottom staple, tiny corners off bottom cover edges, some spine and edge wear with small lower spine split, 3 cm piece of tape up from bottom central cover. SOLD
#20 GD+ £150 Pre-code. Wood, Kamen, Orlando, Williamson. Classic ’50 Girls 50′ cover and story, drawn by Al Williamson with inks by Frazetta and Krenkel. Unmarked cover image. Lower spine split (4 cm), spine quite worn, staples attached but a little loose and rusty with just small rust migration. Tiny chips out and minor tears at cover edges. Nice off-white pages.
#21 FA/GD £65 Pre-code. Wood, Kamen, Williamson, Frazetta, Orlando. Taped spine, two small chips out of cover edges, tears at logo, long colour-breaking cover creases; a tired copy.

*Modern Reprints: All 7 issues of the Deluxe format reprinting of the complete Neal Adams Deadman from Strange Adventures and Brave & Bold. One of Neal Adams’ earliest outings, the story of the death of Boston Brand and what happened to him next has gifted the DCU with one of its most charismatic characters. The complete set is available in an average grade of FN/VF at a bargain price.
PICTURED: DEADMAN #1 FN; COMPLETE SET #1-7 AV. FN/VF £15 SOLD

*Annuals: Two favourites this week: Beano from 1968 (at the height of its powers with all the classic characters) in nice condition, and Smash 1970 (the usurper) in even nicer condition. NB Smash is a mixture of humour and adventure strips and is located in our Boys’ Annuals sub-category.
PICTURED:
BEANO 1968 VG £30
SMASH 1970 FN/VF £22.50

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: We move into the early 1970s with this week’s release of Love Story Picture Library, the longest running romance picture library from Fleetway, comprising 20 issues between #1100 and #1196. The same high standards and look of the series are maintained as we move out of the swinging sixties, with 70s fashion looks beginning to creep in. These new additions average very nice condition, nearly all better than FN, with many VF. Small degree of staple rust only on some, but most rust-free. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: LOVE STORY PICTURE LIBRARY #1100 FN/VF £6

*DC: The unique tabloid-sized editions from the 1970s are always popular and many of the DC ones are uncommon, such as the two here this week. The House Of Mystery Limited Collectors’ Edition C23 is a wonderful package; not only do you get seven superb stories by the very best of 1970s horror artists: Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, Gil Kane, Alex Toth, Jack Sparling and Segio Aragones (!), with their art on wonderful display in this tabloid size, but it’s also chock-full of games, cartoons, a 3D mystery cut-out, features and pin-ups. Christmas With The Super-Heroes, C43, features Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the House of Mystery and the Golden Age Sandman in reprints of their seasonal (mostly Golden Age) adventures, plus a host of festive features.
PICTURED: LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION BOTH SOLD
C23 VG/FN £30 House Of Mystery Nice copy with some spine creasing, but nothing too bad.
C43 VG+ £20 Christmas With The Super-Heroes Edge wear, small spine ticks, small back cover crease

*Marvel: 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. These copies of the Black Cat’s debut in Amazing Spider-Man #194 & #195 come from the non-distributed ‘wilderness years’, so there are no pence variants of these issues.  
IN THIS UPDATE: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#194 VG+ £150 (PICTURED) A nice copy, with tight, firm staples, spine ticks and some handling wear, decent off-white pages; it is marred by a colour-breaking crease of 11 cm across the bottom right corner.
#195 VG- £20 Spine creasing and minor impact damage at the base of the spine, plus more wear than is normally seen on this issue, although the staples and pages are good. 

*Marvel: Leading the Good Doctor releases this week are four issues of Tales Of Suspense, #60-63, which feature the earliest solo adventures of Captain America, after he joined Iron Man in sharing the title in the previous issue. Lots of landmarks in these: #60 features the second appearance of Hawkeye, with the Black Widow in tow for good measure; #61 has Cap in Viet Nam; #62 unveils the origin of the Mandarin; and #63 re-tells the origin of Captain America, in a tale set in WWII.
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE
#60 GD £40 A bit limp and tired, with staples a little rusty, small amounts of water damage to bottom and lower right edges, but not too bad.
#61 FN+ £70 A clean, superior white copy with little wear and good reflectivity, nice pages and firm, tight staples.
#62 FN/VF £80 Great copy with good cover colour and gloss, nice off-white pages and firm tight staples, square corners with just very minor edge and spine wear.
#63 VG/FN £90 Good cover colour and gloss, staples are tight and firm (if a little wear around the top one), pages a nice off-white, some shallow creasing at top right corner which does not break colour; minor edge wear.

*Marvel: In 1972, Marvel came up with the brainwave of the team-up title (that DC had been doing in Brave & Bold for many years by then); ostensibly this was starring Spidey or the Human Torch with the guest star of the month, but it soon transformed to just Spidey with Johnny Storm making fewer and fewer appearances. We have a complete run of issues #21-40 fresh in, mostly in decent grades and all cents copies. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: MARVEL TEAM-UP #22 VF £19 SOLD

*Horror 1940-1959: Also from the Bute Collection this week, two issues of ACG’s short run series (17 issues) from the early 1950s. ACG was at the vanguard of horror publishing earlier with Adventures Into The Unknown and maintained a good standard of production and art, as evidenced by the eye-catching covers to these issues. Lower-graded but seldom seen.
PICTURED: OUT OF THE NIGHT
#14 FA/GD £30 Pre-Code. Water rippling damage to right side, but not too bad, has dried reasonably well. SOLD
#16 GD- £35 Pre-code. Foxing/staining to cover and some interiors. Structurally okay.

*Alan Class Reprints: A chunky update to our stocks of Astounding this week, all Alan Class file copies and certificated with his signature. This selection is all pre-decimal and starts at #1. Also featuring the one-shot Astonishing, also a file copy. Don’t forget that our Rough Guide to Alan Class Reprints give information on the content of individual issues, where you can check for super-hero stories and popular artists etc.
PICTURED: ASTONISHING STORIES NN (#1) FN £30
ASTOUNDING
#1 FA 24 Lots of spine damage
#2 GD- £28

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: This digest-sized comics series, most famous under its later title of Thriller Picture Library, ran for 450 issues until 1963, and while it featured a plethora of characters during its lengthy run, the trend for the early years was for historical swashbucklers based on fictional (but serendipitously copyright-free) characters, but also featuring crime, war, western and science-fiction adventures. The artists were all accomplished Fleetway professionals, and readers thrived on these beautifully-illustrated pocket adventures. In addition to the featured items listed below, we also have three later issues new in, #238 (Dick Daring of the Mounties) and #245 & #253 (Battler Britton).
IN THIS UPDATE: THRILLER:
#36 FA/GD £13.50 Castle Dangerous
#37 GD £15 (PICTURED) Windsor Castle
#38 VG £20 The Children Of The New Forest
#39 GD/VG £17.50 (PICTURED) The Gay Corinthian.
#40 PR £8 Westward Ho!

*Childrens’ Books: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we turn to our Childrens’ Books category, covering the classic Jennings school novels by Anthony Buckeridge, and adding a vintage and wonderful 1930s edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, beautifully illustrated by Margaret W Tarrant.
PICTURED:
ACCORDING TO JENNINGS by Anthony Buckeridge Collins 1961 UK HC GD/VG £7
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll Ward Lock HC 1930s GD/VG £35
Pictorial Boards; Illustrated by Margaret W Tarrant; 24 Colour Plates all present, 2 shown
25 x 19 cm Beautiful, sound, lovely condition SOLD

*DC: In the days before the Legion of Super-Heroes joined Superboy in Adventure Comics (and eventually took over the title), Superboy’s back-up features included Aquaman, Green Arrow, Congorilla, and Tales of the Bizarro World in a continuous run. Eleven issues from that whimsical time this update, including #266, which features the debut of Aqua-Girl (the first Aqua-Girl that is, not the second one who appeared much later. Clear?)
IN THIS UPDATE: ADVENTURE COMICS:
#266 VG p £53 (PICTURED) 1st Aqua-Girl. Pence-stamped, some edge wear but bright and clean copy. Good staples and pages.
#268 GD p £16.25 Lower spine split
#277 VG p £30
#279 GD/VG p £23
#280 VG p £30
#286 VG p £28 1st Bizarro Mxyzptlk
#287 GD/VG p £16.50 1st Dev-Em
#288 VG p £29
#291 VG p £12.50
#292 VG p £12.50
#295 VG p £12.25

*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. Amazing Spider-Man #252, like many Secret Wars ‘epilogue’ issues, featured a major ‘twist’ only explained retroactively. In Spidey’s case, it was a dramatic black & white costume which would eventually be revealed as an alien symbiote, which in turn would evolve into Venom, who eclipsed most longer-established villains to become Spidey’s crucial nemesis for the modern era. Although the first appearance of the symbiote in internal continuity was Secret Wars #8, its joint debut in real time was this very issue. This is a high investment grade copy, glossy, shiny with no spine ticks and only the barest possible handling wear. Deep, rich colour, tight and flat, square corners, white to off-white pages.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #252 NM- £200 SOLD

*Marvel: From 1975, the first four issues of Son Of Satan, all attractive grades and pence printed. Daimon Hellstrom first appeared in the Marvel supernatural/occult boom of the mid 1970s and was soon granted his own series. Although the series only lasted 8 issues, the Son Of Satan has been a recurring character in the MU (and MCU) ever since.
IN THIS UPDATE: SON OF SATAN ALL SOLD
#1 FN p £20 (PICTURED)
#2 FN+ p £8.50
#3 FN+ p £8.50
#4 VG/FN p £5.75

*Horror 1940-1959: L B Cole was one of the most famous of Golden/Atomic Age cover artists. He drew in a variety of genres, and was artistic director at Star, illustrating 95% of the company’s covers; his lurid, feverish style, almost hallucinogenic, graced horror, science-fiction, jungle and romance alike. The title Startling Terror Tales has a confusing history: starting at #10 in 1952, issues were published up to #14 in 1953, after which it started again at #4 and lasted until #11 in 1954. Thus there are two different #10 and #11 issues. Up for grabs this week is the second #10 from 1954. Inside, Jay Disbrow illustrates the cover story ‘The Horrible Entity’, plus reprints of Fox crime tales with a horror edge. But, as with virtually all Star’s output, it’s the wonderful L B Cole cover for which this issue is prized, with a scientist being set upon by a, well, horrible entity. A nice copy, with great cover colour and gloss, a solid spine, firm staples and off-white to cream pages. There are a few small cover creases at edges only, with very short colour breaks on a few. The top corners show a small area of historic staining, but lie flat; this is not visible on the front cover. 
PICTURED: STARTLING TERROR TALES #10 (1954) VG+ £475 SOLD
 

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints Of US Material: A mixed bag of UK and Australian vintage reprints of US war comics this week, mainly featuring Atlas and Fawcett material, plus some other stuff where we don’t recognise the source. UK titles are all from Miller: Battle Stories (from #1), Don Winslow and Soldier Comics (from #1). Australian titles are: Atomic Attack (from Calvert) and Battleground and War heroes (#1) from Blue Diamond. Please consult our catalogue for full details. 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Zip, from Odhams, started in 1958 and lasted for 85 issues. It was launched as a venue for the original strips from Mickey Mouse Weekly after Odhams lost the rights to Disney characters. Its most famous strips were Wells Fargo by Don Lawrence and Strongbow the Mighty by Ron Embelton, but there were a myriad of other characters including Robin Alone (Boy of the Forest) and Skippy, the Boy Who Lives in a Barrel (you wouldn’t get away with that these days – where were social services?). A reasonable tabloid-sized copy of Zip #1, with a couple of small edge tears, but good colours and staples.
PICTURED: ZIP #1 GD/VG £35

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we turn to our Crime, Spies and Sleaze category, which now has the new layout down to ‘Brock’. The emphasis on this ‘B’ list is firmly on the sleazier side of crime, with most featured entries portraying attractive ‘pulp style’ covers. We recognise that a lot of these are collected for their cover art, and wherever possible, we shall be including the name of the cover artist in the listing. A couple of new entries: Murder Off The Record by John Bingham (Robert Maguire cover art) and Doing What Comes Naturally by Walker E Blake (Rafael DeSoto cover art). These are pictured below, alongside some other highlights. As always, see our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED:
BIGTIME PAYOFF by BART BANARTO Edwin Self 1950s 1st UK PB GD/VG £40
CAMPUS SEX CLUB by LOREN BEAUCHAMP Midwood 1962 1st US PB VG £20
MURDER OFF THE RECORD by JOHN BINGHAM Dell 1960 1st US PB VG £8 SOLD
DOING WHAT COMES NATURALLY by WALKER E BLAKE Monarch 1965 1st US PB VG/FN £12
KILLER’S CHOICE by STUART BROCK Graphic Mystery 1956 1st US PB GD £4

We’ve felt for some time that the first come, first served basis on which we allocate items from the newsletter can be unfair to people who may be busy at the time that the newsletter is released, and to our customers outside the UK. Starting today we will be using a different system, aiming to address these issues.

What we shall be doing now is drawing lots for those relatively few items that get clashing orders following new stock releases in our newsletter. We think this will give everyone a fairer chance of getting what they want, at the same time removing the pressure for customers to order in a hurry and thus make mistakes or change their minds. This will apply to orders received following the Saturday newsletter (issued around 10 am) up to 4 pm on the same day, after which we revert to first come, first served. Wherever possible, we shall be advising you after 4 pm of the results of your newsletter order. 

The vast majority of items we sell don’t get clashing orders, so most orders will be successful. But please remember that in nearly all cases, we will only have one copy of any given item and inevitably, when it’s one in high demand, someone is going to be disappointed at missing out.

*DC: From 1960, one of the most important and significant comics of the Silver Age this week. The Justice League Of America, teaming up all of DC’s then current key heroes, debuted in The Brave & The Bold #28, and thus a legend was born. In these early stories, the roles of Superman & Batman were kept pretty much to cameos (presumably because DC felt they had enough exposure elsewhere), but the JLA kept up the tradition of reviving Golden Age concepts for this new Silver Age (in this case the Justice Society). The baddie in this inaugural outing was Starro the Conqueror. In a manner of speaking, this comic was also responsible for launching the Marvel Age of Comics, since Stan Lee’s response to the success of the JLA was to create the Fantastic Four.
This is a decent (unobtrusively) stamped pence copy, pretty solid with some Marvel chipping (how ironic!) along the right edge, but very minor. A short diagonal crease across the right bottom cover corner breaks colour for a few cms. The cover colours are strong and the staples are tight and firm at the spine (the lower only being off at centrefold). Page quality is a nice off-white to cream; some corner blunting, but nothing too bad. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: BRAVE & BOLD #28 VG- p £2,350

*Marvel: ‘Does the Green Goblin Look Cute To You?…’ The rather twee opening line of the blurb on the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #14 heralded the first appearance of Spider-Man’s most dastardly and persistent enemy – his ‘Joker’, so to speak. The sinister and malevolent Green Goblin has plagued Spider-Man ever since, causing chaos, destruction and the deaths of some of Spidey’s most beloved friends, and this masterwork by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko is where his villainous career kicked off. And guest-starring the Hulk to boot! This is a solid pence printed copy, with good cover colour, just minor spine and edge wear (with virtually no creasing), staples tight and firm at spine and centrefold and supple pages that are off-white with hints of tan at the edges. There is some corner blunting (but nothing serious) and a not too significant narrow dust shadow down the right edge of the cover. The inside covers are tanning at the edges, but there is no sign of brittleness. Overall a decent copy that presents well. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #14 VG/FN p £1,850