*DC: From the Midas Collection this week. There are a couple of firsts about Superman #6: it’s the first issue to feature the classic and familiar Superman logo, and also the first to feature a general splash page (as shown in our image below). The cover by Joe Shuster shows an iconic Superman pose and is complete with a printed signature by Clark Kent. Four Superman stories written by Jerry Siegel, with art by Paul Cassidy, ghosting for Joe Shuster. Poor old Lois Lane had a rough time of it this issue, wrongfully arrested for murder, nearly burned to death and seriously injured and taken to hospital where a transfusion is necessary…provided by Clark Kent! (?) This is a low grade but appealing issue; the cover is hanging on, mainly by the back of the upper staple (lower is off), and the ragged spine is split for most of its length, with some roll. The cover image has good colour, although is a bit grubby with wear and (small) tear at the edges. The staples hold the interiors together fairly well and the page quality is a fairly nice off-white to cream. High resolution images are available on request.  
PICTURED: SUPERMAN #6 FA £750

*DC: All-Flash was a quarterly/bi-monthly series from the 1940s that did ‘just what it said on the tin’ – all stories starring Jay Garrick, the first Flash. From the Midas Collection, just one issue from 1944, #17, sadly in quite a poor state. This features stories of gangsters, aliens, magic and an ‘energetic elephant’, all by Gardner Fox and Martin Neydal. This is an unabashed Poor copy, with the cover taped on inside and out, and severe chipping at edges and corners with small pieces missing. Pages are brittle and mostly loose, but the issue is complete and readable (carefully!). But hey – this makes it very affordable for a Golden Age classic!
PICTURED: ALL-FLASH #17 PR £40 SOLD

*Marvel: Three key issues of Daredevil from the Bute Collection this week. 
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL 
#131 VF p £160 1st Bullseye. Pence printed. In the Frank Miller era of Daredevil, Bullseye, the unfailing assassin, became firmly established as DD’s bête noire, causing the Man Without Fear endless grief and misery. But a lot of people, even today, aren’t aware that Bullseye wasn’t a Miller creation; step forward Marv Wolfman and Bob Brown, who presented The Assassin Who Never Misses for the first time in Daredevil #131, two years before the Miller regime kicked in! The Bute copy is clean, flat and glossy, with only a very shallow non-colour breaking crease of about 2.5 cm horizontal from central spine preventing an even higher grade. SOLD
#158 VF p £80 1st Frank Miller art. Pence printed. Frank Miller took over the art on Daredevil this issue, before scripting in months to come, thus starting arguably the greatest run ever for the sightless swashbuckler. Featuring the Black Widow, Death-Stalker and the Unholy Three. A lovely glossy and clean copy with just some stress marks at the spine which only minutely break colour. 
#168 VF+ p £120 1st Elektra. Pence printed. For a visually-impaired gentleman, Matt Murdock saw, as our American cousins would put it, a lot of action with the ladies; for a while in the 1980s and 1990s, every second plotline involved a Woman From His Past, with attendant complications. But by far the most memorable of these was Elektra, the tormented assassin whose conflicted relationship with our hero struck so deep a chord with readers that even after she died, she was brought back (twice) by popular demand. Written and drawn by the acclaimed and controversial Frank Miller, this Bute copy of Elektra’s debut is a high grade example, tight, flat and glossy with only a very tiny amount of handling wear. 
 

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Dead Of Night was a Marvel series (1973-1975) in their Bronze Age horror revival, reprinting horror stories from the 1950s. The final issue (#11) debuts this iteration of the Scarecrow. We’re offering here the complete set of 11 issues in decent mixed grades as a set. Grades listed below:
PICTURED: SOLD
DEAD OF NIGHT #1-11 COMPLETE SET £85
#1 FN- (PICTURED)
#2 VG
#3 VG
#4 FN+
#5 VG+
#6 VG+
#7 VG+
#8 VG+
#9 FN 
#10 VG+
#11 GD/VG (PICTURED)

*Alan Class Reprints: Whilst researching his book with Alan Class, Secrets Of The Unknown… Alan Class, our good friend Nick Neocleous discovered something hitherto unknown among many comic experts (myself included). For a two month period, Alan experimented with a stapled format rather than his usual squarebound binding, at least for some of the copies of 12 issues, two of each from six titles. More information on these can be found in Nick’s book (if you don’t have a copy and would like one, email us and we’ll be in touch). None of these have turned up in Alan Class’s archives, so no file copies exist. We do have available this week one of these stapled issues, Sinister Tales #117, which reprints the cover and contents of Daredevil #5, alongside the usual mix of fantasy, adventure and supernatural stories. In very nice condition; unfortunately, someone has coloured in (quite well and accurately) some of the figures on the first few pages of the Daredevil story. Still a lovely copy of this obscure item. Special thanks to Nick Neocleous.  
PICTURED: SINISTER TALES #117 FN £25

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for this books category, with an image for each book. This week, we come to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, one of the earliest exponents of gothic horror, and Ursula K Le Guin, the famed award-winning science fiction author. Le Fanu’s Carmilla pre-dates Dracula by twenty-six years, Carmilla is the original vampire story, steeped in sexual tension and gothic romance; here in a rare edition. Le Guin is represented by an early novel, City of Illusions, and a short story collection, The Wind’s Twelve Quarters. 
PICTURED: 
JOSEPH SHERIDAN LE FANU: CARMILLA Scholastic 1971 US PB FN/VF £15
URSULA K LE GUIN: CITY OF ILLUSIONS Ace 1967 1st US PB VG £10
URSULA K LE GUIN: THE WIND’S TWELVE QUARTERS VOLUME 1 Panther 1978 1st UK PB GD £5

*DC: Four consecutive Batman issues from 1955/56 feature from the Midas Collection this week, including Ace, the Bat-Hound, Vicki Vale, the Joker and the Penguin.
PICTURED: BATMAN
#96 GD+ £100 Nice Batmobile as fire truck cover. Stories by Bill Finger, art by Sheldon Moldoff. Strong, colourful and undamaged cover image. Some spine and edge wear. Firm staples and decent off-white to cream pages. There is a thumbnail size chunk out of the back cover bottom edge which extends into the bottom margins of the last few pages.  SOLD
#97 GD £150 Bat-Cave cover, with Ace the Bat-Hound, in his second ever appearance, displaying the common tendency of DC supporting characters by discovering the Dynamic Duo’s secret identities. Ace is also on the loose within, as well as the Joker. Stories by Bill Finger + ?, art by Sheldon Moldoff. Nice colourful cover image with a couple of small tears at edges (bottom one taped, leading to short colour-breaking creases). 5 cm upper spine split. Firm staples and near white pages.
#98 VG £160 Mystery, adventure and science-fiction, the three panel cover promises. Includes a Vicki Vale story centring on the Batmobile. Stories by Arnold Drake, Bill Finger and Edmond Hamilton, art by Dick Sprang and Sheldon Moldoff. Nice copy with vibrant colour cover. Firm staples and supple white to off-white pages. Back cover tear taped on inside. A couple of small margin stains.
#99 GD+ £100 Great Bat-Cave Phantom cover. Last Golden Age Penguin story. Stories by Bill Finger and Edmond Hamilton, art by Sheldon Moldoff. Unmarked cover with good colours. Moderate spine wear. 4 cm tear at right edge sealed by tape on inside. Staples attached and okay with some wear at centrefold. Small stain on back cover top edge and through top margin of last few pages. 5 cm lower spine split. Nice off-white pages. 

*DC: Two #1 issues from the Quirky Corner of the Midas Collection this week.
PICTURED:
FEATURE FILMS #1 FN+ £200 From 1950, adaptation of the film ‘Captain China’, drawn by Jack Sparling. Photo cover from the film, starring John Payne, Gail Russell and Lon Chaney. Lovely condition copy with bright colours and only the most minimal wear; faint trace of a crease across bottom right corner, but virtually non-colour breaking. Tiny chip out top edge back cover. A rare item in a rare grade for its time; only four issues in this series were published. 
GANG BUSTERS #1 VG/FN £200 From 1947, the first issue of a long-running crime series ‘based on the smash radio hit!’ Tough, violent and uncompromising. With atmospheric art by Dan Barry, Howard Sherman, Ed Moore, E E Hibbard and George Roussos. A superior copy with only minor edge wear and tiny chips out front cover top edge and back cover bottom edge. Slightly mis-cut as can be seen in the scan. Strong colour and a clean image; presents very well.

*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. Following a last panel cameo in the previous issue, the Punisher made his second full appearance in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #135, alongside the menace of the Tarantula. This is a lovely fresh copy, glossy with vibrant colour, firm tight staples and supple white to off-white pages. There is a very faint suggestion of vertical pressure lines near the top and bottom of the spine, but no sign of colour breaks. Sharp, square corners.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #135 VF £150

*Marvel: The second great Galactus and the Silver Surfer epic in Fantastic Four sprawled a little between issues #72 & 77, as featured from the Good Doctor Collection this week. Starting out with a prelude of sorts in #72, there was an intermission in #73 for a slam-bang slug-fest with Spider-Man, Thor and Daredevil. Back on track with the world devourer and his former herald with #74, from where the epic reaches a resounding climax with the Psycho-Man up to #77. Stan & Jack at their most cosmic, with several outstanding covers.
IN THIS UPDATE: FANTASTIC FOUR
#72 FN- p £70 (PICTURED) Pence stamped. Nice glossy copy with some handling wear. Centrefold loose. Nice near-white pages. 
#73 FN/VF p £52 (PICTURED) Pence stamped. Clean copy with narrow, faint dust shadow at right edge.
#74 VG/FN £55 (PICTURED) What looks like ballast ink mark at top edge. Nice glossy copy with minimal edge wear. Tiny upper spine split. Good staples and off-white to white pages.
#75 VG/FN p £45 (PICTURED) Pence stamped. Classic cover. Apparent impact damage at lower spine leaves short creases. Good staples and near-white pages. SOLD
#76 FN £25 Some wear marks at top edge.
#77 VF- p £55 (PICTURED) Pence stamped. Glossy and vibrant with very minor corner blunting and edge wear. Good staples and near-white pages.

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Sheena, Queen Of The Jungle starred in Jumbo Comics from its #1 issue in 1938, and spun off into her own title in 1942, thus becoming the first female comic character to star in her own title (just beating Wonder Woman). This was the time of jungle supremacy following the success of Tarzan, and Sheena was the first of a horde of Jungle Queens who were to follow. Jumbo was an anthology title which Sheena had to share, but here in her own series we have wall-to-wall Sheena in #18, the last of the series, with three Sheena stories backed up with King Of The Congo. A superb cover by Maurice Whitman captures Sheena displaying both imperious beauty and savage fury, surrounded by jungle denizens. The Sheena stories within are drawn by the excellent Jay Disbrow. A nice copy from the Arch Collection, with vibrant, reflective colour cover, minor edge wear with tiny chips off top and bottom right corners. There are a few vertical crease lines near the bottom of the spine, but these barely break colour and don’t interfere with the cover image. Nice tight staples and supple off-white pages.
PICTURED: SHEENA #18 VG £80

*Girls’ Comics: Our Long Hot Summer event continues this week with the first Jinty Summer Special from 1974. ‘An exciting mixed bag of stories, fun and features, starring some of your favourite characters from Jinty weekly.’ A nice enough copy with sound pages, undamaged apart from the fact that the cover, printed without an upper staple, is detached from the body of the issue at the lower staple, plus a very small lower spine split.
PICTURED: JINTY SUMMER SPECIAL 1974 GD £35 SOLD

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Another visit this week to the dynamic world of James Bond. This week’s featured books need no introduction from me. Ian Fleming’s iconic creation is known worldwide thanks to the hugely successful movie franchise, but James Bond got his start in novels, so it is in this category that these books belong. And let me tell you, the books are darker and deeper than the films, less gadgety and more visceral. Three Pan editions from the early 1960s, including two Great Pans in the ‘director’s cover’ sequence; beautiful painted covers. More information, including condition notes, can be found in our catalogue.
PICTURED: ALL BY IAN FLEMING ALL SOLD
JAMES BOND: FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE Great Pan 1961 6th UK PB GD/VG £15 Rare ‘Director’s’ Cover
JAMES BOND: GOLDFINGER Great Pan 1961 1st UK PB thus GD £6 ‘Director’s’ Cover
JAMES BOND: MOONRAKER Pan 1963 12th UK PB GD/VG £8

*DC: For almost six years, from 1968 to 1973, Diana Prince lost her powers, gave up her costume and became the ‘New’ Wonder Woman. In the seminal issue #204, that all changed.  Her mentor during her powerless years, I Ching, was killed, and she got her powers and costume back, and there was also the challenge of Nubia in her debut. Our copy of this landmark issue is a very nice grade, with high gloss and vivid colours. Flat and tight with firm staples and white to off-white pages. Just very minor wear at bottom edge and a small amount of handling wear towards the top of the spine. A beautiful example.
PICTURED: WONDER WOMAN #204 VF £170

*Marvel: Not a dream! Not an imaginary tale! (How very DC-like of Marvel to use those blurbs!) How does Spidey get out of this one? Well, we’re not saying… In the 12th issue of Amazing, Spidey comes up again against the dastardly Doc Ock, with the results shown on the cover. This is a superior cents copy, with bright, reflective colours and virtually unmarked. There is just a suggestion of wear at the corners and a couple of miniscule stress marks at the spine, but the copy is tight and flat with good staples and white to off-white pages. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12 FN/VF £700

*Marvel: Six more excerpts from the Silver/Bronze Ages of Marvel this week, as detailed below:
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
AMAZING ADVENTURES #16 VG- p £11.75 Beast vs Juggernaut
CAPTAIN MARVEL #2 GD/VG p £9 vs the Super-Skrull
MARVEL PREMIERE #55 VF p £10 1st Wonder Man solo
MARVEL TALES #5 GD p £4 Giant; reprints early stories of Spider-Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Human Torch
TALES OF SUSPENSE #82 GD- £5 Iron Man vs Titanium Man, Cap vs Adaptoid
TALES TO ASTONISH #79 GD/VG p £8 Sub-Mariner vs Behemoth, Hulk vs Hercules

*Romance: Also from the Midas Collection this week, we feature three issues of Girls’ Romances, one of DC’s longest running romance titles, which started in 1950. Although mostly drawn by unknown artists, DC’s romance comics from this period featured a good standard of appealing art, and often very well composed and executed covers. Seldom seen, particularly over here in the UK, the Midas Collection is quite rich in this genre, with many more to follow.
PICTURED: GIRLS’ ROMANCES
#15 VG/FN £40 SOLD
#18 FA/GD £13 Long spine split
#19 VG- £29

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: We have just four vintage Hotspurs left now in stock, all from 1959, where the former boys’ story paper was re-launched at #1 and re-branded as the ‘New Hotspur’ and featured mainly adventure and humour picture strips (with cover star Hotspur Harry), although text stories were still featured (such as The Boyhood Of Desperate Dan). All four early issues, now with lower prices, as follows:

IN THIS UPDATE:
NEW HOTSPUR 1959
#2 GD/VG £20 (PICTURED)
#3 VG £20 (PICTURED)
#5 FA £5
#10 FN £15 Christmas issue
SPECIAL OFFER! BUY ALL FOUR ISSUES FOR JUST £50!

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: This week, we return to the famous and long-running Sexton Blake Library. Often dubbed ‘the poor man Sherlock Holmes’, there’s still no doubting the popularity of Sexton Blake, who has probably had far more fiction written of him than the world’s greatest detective. Six issues new in this week from the 1950s. These are picture library sized, but mainly text. The series ran from 1915 to 1968, These issues follow the 1956 revamp by W Howard Baker when the covers took on a more gangster/sleazy mode and were drawn by notable artists such as Reginald Heade (#315 here) and David Wright. Written by a ‘harem’ of notable writers including Wilfred McNeilly, W Howard Baker, Michael Moorcock (one of many moonlighting as house name Desmond Reid), Peter Saxon and Jack Trevor Story, the longevity of the series is testament to the quality of the plotting and writing.
PICTURED: SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY: ALL AMALGAMATED 1950s ALL SOLD
#315: THE RIDDLE OF THE INVISIBLE MENACE by REX HARDINGE GD £8 Heade cover
#365: NIGHT BEAT by ARTHUR MACLEAN GD/VG £6
#366: REQUIEM FOR REDHEADS by W HOWARD BAKER VG £7
#367: ASSIGNMENT IN BEIRUT by JAMES STAGG VG £7
#368: DARK FRONTIER by ARTHUR MACLEAN VG £7
#369: WOMAN OF SAIGON by PETER SAXON GD £5

*DC: The Seven Soldiers of Victory were DC’s second super-hero team after the Justice Society of America, and like their more famous predecessors, were drawn from characters in DC’s anthology titles. The Seven were: Green Arrow and Speedy, the Vigilante, the Shining Knight, the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy and the Crimson Avenger (although the latter’s sidekick, Wing, was involved in their adventures, he was for some reason never regarded as a member of the team). Apart from the Shining Knight, none of them had any super-powers. They appeared in Leading Comics #1-14, created by Mort Weisinger and Mort Meskin. Like the JSA, their stories featured separate chapters for each hero (or pair) and they all teamed up for the conclusion. Two rare issues from the Bute Collection this week. I must say these seem remarkable value considering their pedigree.
PICTURED: LEADING COMICS BOTH SOLD
#3 GD £100 A self-proclaimed great scientist, (Dr. Doome!) by use of a time machine, brings five of the greatest conquerors of all time to the present and engages them to seek out the five rarest metals on Earth, all to help him build a machine that will open the gate to the future. The Soldiers come up against Alexander the Great, Nero, Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun & Napoleon. Spine worn but intact. Reinforcing tape along lower half of right front cover inner. Edge wear with significant corner blunting. Spine roll with staples firm at spine; centrefold off lower staple. A couple of minor cover creases. Pages a nice off-white with very slight tanning to some edges.
#4 PR/FA £55 Five criminals, kidnapped by a robot, have their senses heightened by a certain extract created by a Dr. Brett, in order to be used by a paralyzed man known as the 6th Sense, who plans to use them to steal five jewels. Spine worn and taped. Edge wear with nicks and severe corner blunting. Small vertical tear at top margin (only) throughout comic. Staples are in place but spine is mostly brittle with most pages loose, but all complete. 

*Marvel: From the Bute Collection, it’s always a special moment here at 30th Century when we unveil the first appearance of a major Marvel character. After the successes of the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, Stan Lee enlisted his old colleague, Bill Everett, to co-create this acrobatic avenger of the streets. Sporting a yellow and red costume intended to evoke the jester-style livery of the 1940s Daredevil, young Matt Murdock lost his sight but gained phenomenal sensory powers to compensate, using them and his athletic skills to avenge the murder of his father… and the rest was history. This is an attractive mid-grade copy of this major key issue, pence printed. The cover is clean and virtually unmarked with strong colour. Minor edge wear and corner blunting, with a tiny upper spine split and nick of less than 1 cm. There is also minor handling wear on the cover, but nothing significant. Staples are tight and firm and supple pages are white to off-white. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL #1 VG+ p £2,300 SOLD

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, 8 issues of Amazing Spider-Man between the numbers shown above. Doctor Faustus, Nova, the Punisher, the Hitman, The Green Goblin, Flash Thompson, Mary Jane, Aunt May, the Chameleon & tons more.
IN THIS UPDATE:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#170 VF £15.50
#171 FN- £10
#175 VF+ £30
#176 FN/VF £12
#177 VF- £18
#178 VF+ £18
#185 VF £14.75
#186 VF+ £16

*IW/Super: We continue with our series of updates from that most esoteric publisher IW/Super. IW Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s, named for the company’s owner Israel Waldman. Comics were published under both the IW and Super imprints and were notable for publishing unauthorised Golden Age reprints of other company’s properties. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. Basically, it seemed to be whatever they could get their hands on that determined the esoteric nature of their output. Thus you get super-heroes, war, romance, western, funny animals, crime, horror, science fiction and just about every genre within their pages. Full details of what was reprinted in what are listed in our website catalogue. NB usually with newly-drawn covers. Over the next few months, we’ll be presenting a series of issues from this publisher. A mixed bag this week, with adventure, war, horror, science fiction and the Spirit. In all cases, these are the only issues published by IW in these series (we told you their numbering was esoteric!).
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
DYNAMIC ADVENTURES #8 VG+ £5.75 Reprints Fight Comics #53 (Fiction House 1947). New cover by Sol Brodsky.
DYNAMIC ADVENTURES #9 GD p £2.75 Reprints Escape From Devil’s Island #1 (Avon 1952) Re-touched original cover by Everett Kintsler.
PURPLE CLAW #8 GD £3.50 Reprints Purple Claw #1 (Toby 1953) with cover from #1 by Bob Brown
THE SPIRIT #11 VG/FN £10 Reprints The Spirit #19 (Quality Comics 1950) which included reprints from various Spirit sections. New cover by Joe Simon.
THE SPIRIT #12 VG/FN £10 Reprints The Spirit #17 (Quality Comics 1950) which included reprints from various Spirit sections. New cover by Joe Simon. 
STRANGE WORLDS #5 GD- £20 (PICTURED) Reprints Strange Worlds #9 (Avon 1952) New cover by Carl Burgos.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Following strong sales and a big influx of new stock, we’re totally overhauling and relisting our Eagle stock: many additions and deletions and new streamlined pricing. One of the icons of British comics’ history, Eagle started up in 1950; every issue of its twenty year run starred Dan Dare, its most famous son, as well as loads of other strips, featuring the cream of British artists and superior quality printing and paper. Volume 13 is now processed and re-listed, continuing from earlier volumes previously done. Please refer to our catalogue for details. We have no stock from Volumes 14 and 15 at present, so Volumes from 16 upwards will be dealt with over the coming weeks, but for now they remain at half the old prices in our half-price sale.

We’re taking a short break next week, after filling orders received up to 4 pm today (3rd May) and posting them next Wednesday (7th May). There will not be a Newsletter nor stock updates next Saturday, but they will be back on 17th May. After this coming Sunday 4th May, we’ll next be filling orders on 18th May. You may of course continue to place orders at any time; we will acknowledge them and reserve items for you wherever possible.