*Girls’ Comics: Dozens of issues of Bunty from her second and third years of 1956 and 1960 this week, numbers between #51 and #115. A mixture of grades, some nice, some not so nice. A few, as listed, have small amounts of cover graffiti, but this is not too obtrusive in most cases. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: BUNTY #51 VG £18 New Year issue

*DC: Lois Lane has had many mad moments – wacky bodily transformations, marrying random aliens/robots/villains, and convoluted and extreme schemes to entrap the Man of Steel into matrimony – but one of the maddest was her 106th issue – and the thing is, the creators weren’t even trying for the crazy! By this point, the writers were trying to make Lois more socially relevant, so she started embracing ‘issues’, and the issue here was racial tension. Now, younger readers won’t recall that in 1970, there was a controversial and sexually explicit film on release called ‘I Am Curious (Yellow)’ – writer Bob Kanigher, having apparently heard the title without grasping the context, stole this for the story’s title, ‘I Am Curious (Black)’, thereby bewildering, disappointing and offending multiple factions at once. Lois, having become suddenly aware of racial disparity – (precisely zero black people having appeared in her book until this point) uses Kryptonian ‘Transformoflux-Mold’ technology to turn herself into a black woman, and investigates Metropolis’ ‘Little Africa’ ghetto – from the inside! To be fair, the intentions were benign, and there are actually a couple of good points and good lines buried in there, but the overwhelming ham-fisted and cringe-making patronage of the issue has made it a bit of a cult item among connoisseurs of bad comics. This is an excellent cents copy, with a lustrous black background cover, full gloss and just minor edge and handling wear. Even though it’s (cleanly) off at top staple, the pages are a great white to off-white and in our opinion it makes the grade of Fine. ‘It’s important,’ Lois says on the cover, ‘that I live the next 24 hours as a black woman!’
PICTURED: LOIS LANE #106 FN £170 SOLD

*Marvel: If you’re looking for really nice copies of Amazing Spider-Man for your collection, then look no further than this Collection. All high grade; even the few that fall below VF (and most are above) are really good-looking copies – no duds here, and nearly all cents copies. Issue #41 of the Amazing Spider-Man saw the first new villain of Jazzy Johnny Romita’s artistic tenure, as he and Swingin’ Stan Lee brought us the curiously endearing Rhino, a virtually unstoppable behemoth whose sheer power and tormented soul made him an instant hit, and a popular recurring villain, showing up everywhere from the Defenders to the MCU to the Unstoppable Squirrel Girl! (No, really…) The Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection copy is a beautiful cents example of this issue, tight and flat with good cover colour and gloss, excellent white to off-white supple pages and firm staples. There is virtually no wear, just a very slight blunting of the top left corner, a few narrow wear marks at the very bottom of the left bottom edge and tiny ticks at spine. The inner covers are ever so slightly discoloured at the very extremities, but we’re being ultra-picky on this great-looking copy. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #41 VF £1,150

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection this week, the first appearance of Marvel’s version of Hercules in Journey Into Mystery With Thor Annual #1 from 1965, as Thor’s opposite number, and brawling partner/comrade-in-arms, as the exigencies of the plot demanded. Not the first Hercules in comics, nor the last – but Marvel’s well-intentioned wenching boozer is probably the best-loved iteration since the original legend! This bumper 72 page edition also features reprints of the debuts of some of Thor’s early major foes, including Loki. This is a lower graded pence stamped copy, with the lower spine neatly taped for 10 cm, and a couple of fairly faint arrival dates stamped on the cover above and below the figure of Hercules. Nevertheless, decent colour and gloss, tight, firm staples and nice pages. Minor edge and corner wear, but nothing bad. This update also features Annual #2.
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY WITH THOR ANNUAL #1 GD+ p £175
ALSO IN THIS UPDATE: THOR ANNUAL #2 GD+ p £9.50 SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Have you ever dreamed of owning a Golden Age issue of Captain America, but have been frustrated by their rarity, not to mention the fact that when one does turn up, the price is way out of your budget? Well, this week’s curiosity from the Bute Collection might just be your dream fulfilment, with not just one, but two issues of Captain America for one price… (in a manner of speaking). Let me be clear: this is the covers of Captain America #37 (1944) surrounding the pages of #68 (1948), so you get a classic crazily-busy Alex Schomburg cover and the complete contents of #68, when Bucky had been replaced by Golden Girl as Cap’s sidekick: two Cap stories, a Sub-Mariner story and a crime story from Cap’s files. The pages are in really nice clean condition, amazingly not far off-white. The cover has fared less well, with tape all along the inner cover at spine and a tear sealed by tape, about 7 cm from the central right edge. There is also some raggedness at the bottom edge and what looks like a grease stain over the right side of the logo. Still, one (or possibly two) of a kind!
PICTURED: CAPTAIN AMERICA #37/68 App PR/FA £375 SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Top Spot, starting in 1958, was an unusual and not altogether successful attempt to link something like a traditional boys’ comic (albeit with more adult storylines) with the world of glamour, sport and showbiz (a la Tit-Bits or Reveille). Thus photos and articles on glamour stars would sit alongside quality picture strip stories of crime, sport, western and action. Despite being a publication of some quality, the experiment failed and the comic was merged with Film Fun after a year and a bit. Issues #4-10 freshly listed this week, mostly in decent shape, a bit of foxing, a spot of rust on staple, but decent pages.
IN THIS UPDATE: TOP SPOT ALL SOLD
#4 VG £8
#5 GD/VG £7
#6 VG £8
#7 VG £8
#8 VG £8
#9 VG £8 (PICTURED)
#10 VG £8

*DC: After more than a decade of anticipation and demand, DC revived All-Star Comics, home of the Justice Society of America, in 1976 with #58 – continuing the numbering from the Golden Age. The veteran heroes were joined by three (relative) youngsters in the ill-named and short-lived ‘Super Squad’. One new addition was Power Girl, cousin of the Earth-2 Superman, who was a very different proposition from Earth-1’s Supergirl, and became the breakout star of the series, not just because of her zaftig appearance (though that didn’t hurt, especially as designed and illustrated by Wally Wood), but also because of her forthright, take-no-prisoners personality. This is a nice cents copy, bright with some gloss and great colour, staples tight and firm at spine and centrefold, supple cream pages and just a little corner blunting and handling wear at the top right edge. We sold an almost identical copy instantly just a few months ago.
PICTURED: ALL STAR COMICS #58 FN/VF £100 SOLD

*Marvel: One of our favourite Marvel anti-heroes here at 30th Century is the Sub-Mariner, aka Prince Namor the First, Monarch of Atlantis, whose heroism is outstripped only by his arrogance and the whole ‘The King and I’ vibe he has going on with the ladies! Following the dissolution of the distribution embargo in ’68, Namor, who had been rooming with the Hulk in Tales to Astonish, got his own solo series once more, and the grandeur and pageantry of his undersea adventures were aptly depicted by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, who also threw in a few hitherto unrevealed titbits about Namor’s origin. The Good Doctor copy of Sub-Mariner #1 is a fairly nice above average grade with excellent cover colour and gloss, staples tight and firm at spine and centrefold, lies flat and supple and has nice white to off-white pages. There is some corner blunting top left, and a tiny bit of handling wear top right. Pence stamped, the UK price has been penned over in felt tip in the unobtrusively placed T&P circle stamp below the right end of the logo, to my eye not spoiling the impact of the cover; we have reduced the grade because of this. 
PICTURED: SUB-MARINER #1 FN p £320 SOLD

*Marvel: If you’re looking for really nice copies of Amazing Spider-Man for your collection, then look no further than this Collection. All high grade; even the few that fall below VF (and most are above) are really good-looking copies – no duds here, and nearly all cents copies. One of Spidey’s major foes featured in a fondly-remembered and sprawling storyline that ran from Amazing Spider-Man #53-56, wherein Doc Ock becomes a tenant of Aunt May and Spidey loses his memory and joins up with him and a whole lot more happens too. John Romita, always a great cover designer, pulled out all the stops on these issues to produce some lasting fan favourites. 
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#53 VF+ £215 Tight, flat copy, printed without an upper staple (but the lower is firm). Sharp corners, residual gloss, great colour. Supple off-white pages. Virtually no wear, just a couple of very minor signs at edges.
#54 VF+ £200 Tight, flat and fresh with great colour and gloss. Staples firm at spine and centrefold. Sharp corners, very minor handling wear. Lovely white to off-white pages.  A couple of tiny white marks over story title blurb hardly matter. SOLD
#55 VF- £225 Beautiful unmarked cover on this iconic issue. Flat and glossy with great colour. Staples firm at spine and centrefold. Sharp corners with just a hint of wear at top left. Very faint non-colour-breaking crease at top of logo, but you can only see it in a certain light. Slight tanning to inner covers. Supple off-white pages. 
#56 VF+ £210 Tight, flat copy with great colour cover and gloss. Staples tight and firm. Great white to off-white pages. Only very minor signs of wear at spine.

*Marvel: Writer/Artist Jim Starlin, together with scripter Mike Friedrich, took the Captain Marvel character, largely moribund by the early 1970s, and placed him on a galactic canvas, in the process opening up a much broader horizon for the Marvel Universe. Opinion remains divided, but the balance of judgement falls on this having been A Good Thing, allowing for such cosmic crossovers as the decades-later Infinity Gauntlet and its offspring. Having introduced most of the major players in Iron Man #55, Starlin developed Thanos and his fellow Titans into significant figures, and these issues laid the groundwork. This run comprises #25-33 complete, with the second, third and other early appearances of Thanos, as well as guests Mentor, Eros, the Destroyer, Moondragon, the Thing and the Avengers. 
IN THIS UPDATE: CAPTAIN MARVEL
#25 VF p £70 (PICTURED)
#26 VG+ p £38
#27 VG- p £33
#28 FN/VF p £90 (PICTURED)
#29 VF+ p £65 (PICTURED)
#30 VG/FN p £30 SOLD
#31 VG+ £22.50 SOLD
#32 VG/FN £35
#33 FN £43 (PICTURED)

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Leading this week’s selections from the Bute Collection is an issue of Crimes By Women. Originally by Fox, this is a contemporary reprint from the Canadian publisher Superior from 1949. Fox was known for cheap and sleazy productions, and this Canadian edition reproduces the stories from the Fox original. Just in case you were in any doubt about the type of women depicted here, let me give you the story titles: ‘Kitty Sarlo, the Female Leech’, ‘Nitro Nellie’ and ‘Man Trap’. A very respectable copy with bright colours, minor cover wear, a small lower spine split (about 1 cm) and slight foxing to inner covers. 
PICTURED: CRIMES BY WOMEN #4 VG £225 SOLD

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Greer Nelson started her super-heroine life as The Cat, in her own short-lived series in 1972 and resurfaced here, in the one-off Giant-Size Creatures in 1974, as we learn how she was transformed into Tigra, the Were-Woman, who has since gone on to be a fan favourite in the MU. The double-length origin story also featured Werewolf By Night. A nice cents copy, squarebound spine intact except for a tiny chip off the bottom and a small bit of glue puckering at the centre. Handling wear at top right edge, small scuff mark by Tigra’s forearm, but firm staples, good supple off-white pages and strong cover colour. 
PICTURED: GIANT-SIZE CREATURES #1 FN- £95

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Something rather special in this week’s #1 slot: the very first issue of Tiger from 11th September 1954. We’ve seen copies of this once or twice before, but quite rarely. And demand seems to be on the rise – a copy sold recently at auction for a staggering 2.5k plus (and without the free gift!). Our latest copy doesn’t have the gift either, and is only a GD copy, but is a fraction of the price. It includes, of course, the very first appearance of Roy of the Rovers (he’s right there on the cover!) amongst its 20 pages of strip and text adventures and features. Not a bad copy, with foxing spots at cover margins, rust marks at staples (but little migration), and small page edge tears, but nothing awful. A couple of internal pages have diagonal creasing, which does not spoil the reading pleasure. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: TIGER #1 (11/9/54) GD £750

*Humour Comics: Buster is a classic British title, a fine mixture of famous comedy and adventure strips, and we have new in this week a small selection of more than a dozen issues from the years 1966-1968. Laugh with and thrill to Buster himelf, the Skid Kids, the Cave Kids, Nutty Slack, Thunderbolt the Avenger, Galaxus, Patch-Eye Hooker, Micky Marvel’s Multi-Gun, the Tin Teacher and oodles more! Full details as always in our catalogue.

*DC: We continue our Legion of Super-Heroes feature with four early appearances. They team up with Supergirl in Action Comics #287, whereas Adventure Comics #282 features the first appearance of Star Boy. Plus two classic issues of Adventure Comics early in the Legion run which helped to define the series.
IN THIS UPDATE:
ACTION COMICS #287 GD/VG p £12.25
ADVENTURE COMICS
#282 VG- p £53 (PICTURED) 1st Star Boy; decent bright copy with some spine wear and a colour breaking crease across the right edge of the logo.
#316 VG p £14.75
#318 VG+ p £16.50

*Marvel: Following his return to active service in Avengers #4, Captain America became a companion feature of Iron Man in Tales of Suspense. After the division of the Marvel double-feature books in 1968, when distribution embargoes were slackened, Cap gained his own series again, though it retained the numbering of Tales of Suspense, premiering with #100. Featuring the talents of Lee, Kirby and Shores, this re-introduced the Sentinel of Liberty in solo action to the modern age. This is a reasonable copy, with some wear at spine and edges, leading to minor, short colour-breaking creases. Colours are strong, staples firm at spine and centrefold, and pages a supple off-white. There is a slightly sticky patch over the 12 cent price where a label has been removed without damage.
PICTURED: CAPTAIN AMERICA #100 VG £200

*Marvel: Sandwiched between the Silver Surfer/Galactus epic and the introduction of the Black Panther is the wonderful story that is Fantastic Four #51, fresh from the Good Doctor Collection this week. Not a ‘key’ issue; not a fabulous first appearance; not a universe-rending battle for reality. Just a simple, poignant and masterful example of done-in-one storytelling without the bloated ‘epics’ of today, as a man with a scheme for revenge against Reed Richards steals the identity of one of Reed’s closest friends, and discovers the truth. It’s a tale of revenge, loss and redemption, and proves that while Lee & Kirby’s output is often emulated, at their peak it is truly inimitable. A nice enough cents copy with a cover unmarked but for a couple of soft vertical creases (one of which faintly breaks colour over the Thing’s figure) and some corner blunting. Minor edge wear, firm staples, off-white pages.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #51 VG+ £50 SOLD

*Marvel: In the middle of John Byrne’s acclaimed run on West Coast Avengers/Avengers West Coast, a brand new team of ‘Avengers’ came out of left field. In a medium crowded with costumed characters, Byrne was very often able to create a new team that were original, innovative and distinctive (cf Alpha Flight, Next Men). The Great Lakes Avengers had a comedic edge to them but also a great charm, and have gone on to many further appearances in the Marvel Universe. Let’s hear it for Mr Immortal, Flatman, Big Bertha, Doorman and Dinah Soar! A lovely high grade copy, tight and flat with great colour and gloss and only minor handling wear.
PICTURED: WEST COAST AVENGERS #46 VF+ £40

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: The Blackhawks, those magnificent seven aviators and adventurers had a long and distinguished career in comics, starting out with Quality in 1941 before being taken over by DC in 1957. From the Bute Collection this week, we join them in 1954 for issues #80 and #81. With WWII long over, the Blackhawks concerned themselves with the cold war, commie threats, diabolical machines and super-villains.
IN THIS UPDATE: BLACKHAWK BOTH SOLD
#80 GD+ £32 (PICTURED)
#81 GD £22

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: At the beginning of 1977, around the onset of punk music, a comic was launched that captured the zeitgeist of the times, more anarchic and anti-establishment than anything that had come before it in British comics. This update sees some of the earliest issues of this iconic title, every issue between #3 and #10, back into stock.
IN THIS UPDATE: 2000 AD
#3 FN £40 (PICTURED) (NB no Free Gift)
#4  FN £15
#5 VG £12 SOLD
#6 VG £12
#7 FN/VF £18
#8 FN £15
#9 VG £12
#10 VG/FN £13.50 SOLD

*Humour Comics: Surely it’s time for a Long Hot Summer update? And what better than our old friend the Beano, with the third ever purely Beano Summer Special from 1966. All the regulars are here: Lord Snooty, Dennis the Menace, Roger the Dodger, Q-Bikes, Billy Whizz, Biffo the Bear, General Jumbo, Little Plum, Bash Street Kids, Minnie the Minx, the Three Bears and many more, including games and puzzle pages (not completed). A lovely clean copy with bright colours, good staples and a minimum of reading wear along the right cover edge.
PICTURED: BEANO SUMMER SPECIAL 1966 VG/FN £60

*DC: In the May 1959 issue of their flagship title, Action Comics #252, DC introduced another survivor from Krypton, Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El, who called herself Supergirl. She would go on to become a prominent member of the DCU, until killed off in Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985. Since then, she has appeared in a number of iterations too numerous to go into here. Suffice it to say that Kara remains a firm fan favourite character and one of DC’s mainstays. This is the first copy of her origin story we have had in stock for a very long time. This is the beginning of Supergirl’s regular strip in Action Comics, and there’s also a Congorilla story and a Superman story featuring the first appearance of Metallo; what a landmark issue! It’s a lower to mid-grade copy, pre-distribution so cents of course. The cover image is bright and colourful and the comic presents reasonably well, with firm staples and decent cream coloured pages. Although the central cover image is unmarked, there are signs of reading wear at central right edge in the form of (probably) finger marks leading to smudgy creases which break colour over the tail fins of Supergirl’s rocket (see scan). The other significant flaw is a lower spine split of about 4 cm which extends throughout the pages to lesser degrees. Nevertheless, a good-looking copy of a major key issue which would be beyond a lot of collectors’ budgets if in much higher grade. High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: ACTION COMICS #252 GD/VG £1,275

*Marvel: We lead off this week’s selections from the Good Doctor Collection with Avengers #23 and #24, wherein ‘Cap’s Kooky Quartet’ face up to Kang and his entire army from the future. Lacking the raw power of the original line-up, things looked pretty bleak for the Assemblers. These issues also feature the debut of Princess Ravonna, a long standing character in the MU and love interest for Kang, with the type of convoluted history shared by many of her peers, and who has recently debuted in the MCU. A classic two-parter in beautiful condition for your collection. 
PICTURED: AVENGERS
#23 VF £500 (below) 1st Ravonna. A superb cents copy, with clear cover and bright colours. Virtually no wear (just a tiny bit at edges), staples tight and firm at spine and centrefold, supple and beautiful off-white pages; sharp corners. There are a couple of small crease marks at the base of the spine, one of which very faintly breaks colour for about 1 cm. High resolution images are available on request.
#24 VF £120 (above) A superb cents copy, with great cover colour (white background). Staples tight and firm at spine and centrefold, supple and beautiful off-white pages; sharp corners. Wear is restricted to a miniscule crease at bottom right corner, breaking colour but less than 0.5 cm, and a short soft crease not breaking colour at base of spine.

*Marvel: There are two great lines in Spider-Man history. The first – ‘with great power there must also come — great responsibility!’ was not original to Stan Lee, but as far as we know the second – ‘Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot!’ is entirely Stan’s own work. Well, we’re not offering you the first this update (fresh out of Amazing Fantasy #15 for now), but we do have the second in the shape of Amazing Spider-man #42, from the Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection. If you’re looking for really nice copies of Amazing Spider-Man for your collection, then look no further than this Collection. All high grade; even the few that fall below VF (and most are above) are really good-looking copies – no duds here, and nearly all cents copies. In this issue, the astronaut offspring of J Jonah Jameson gained super-powers and posed a threat to Spider-Man… but let’s be honest, who really cares? Because the Big Deal this time was the revelation, finally, of Mary Jane Watson, the mysterious lady who’d been hovering in the odd panel, her face always obscured, for several previous issues! When Stan Lee and John Romita finally showed us the ‘Full MJ’, it proved to be well worth the wait, with one of the most famous intro lines in the history of comics! This first full appearance of Mary Jane is a gorgeous copy with deep colour covers and a rich purple background. Virtually unblemished, tight and flat with no creasing and great, firmly attached staples. Beautiful white pages and sharp corners. Just the merest signs of wear at top and bottom edges stop this grading higher.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #42 VF £475

*Marvel: A small update to Bronze Age (and beyond) Marvel stocks this week, with the following:
IN THIS UPDATE:
AVNEGERS #246 VF+ £15 1st Maria Rambeau
GHOST RIDER #2 GD- p £20 1st Son Of Satan; off top staple, graffiti top inner cover SOLD
INHUMANS #3 & #4 VF p £10.50 each SOLD
INVADERS #3 & #4 FN p £6.75 each SOLD
STRANGE TALES #177 VF+ p £12.50 Golem SOLD
THOR #279 VG/FN p £10 Jane Foster spotlight flashback SOLD