*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: This week, four issues of reprints of Fiction House’s long-running adventure series, Rangers, from the publishing house of H John Edwards in Australia. These are in a remarkable state of preservation for their age, with very little wear and vivid, glossy and beautiful covers (the work of Maurice Whitman, we suspect) that pop out at you in an almost three dimensional way. Three out of the four (#20, #26 & #27) are VF; the fourth (#20 is FN). These are from the later years of the Rangers title, with war themed covers; inside the usual Fiction House mix of war, western, detective and adventure, including repeat features such as Rip Carson, Suicide Smith, Commando Rangers and the Eye, as well as many a sexy chick or sultry oriental siren. Full details in our catalogue.
PICTURED: RANGERS #26 VF £15
British Update: Alan Class Plate Sets Final Phase
*Alan Class Reprints: For many years now, we’ve been scouring the personal archives of legendary publisher Alan Class (who is still very much with us) 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 have now reached the final phase of these plate set releases, which will last us through 2021 and probably into 2022. These sets are time-consuming to prepare, so our release schedule will be staggered. But the good news is that all the sets we have left are among the best, either featuring a classic Marvel comic reprint, or else a very early fantasy/mystery issue. So, this final phase represents your last opportunity to add one or more of these unique pieces to your collection. Each set comprises 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. Several sets (as noted) have additional historical artefacts such as colour proofs, interior page plates, printers’ photostats etc. (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.) We continue this week with three more sets, details as follows:
PICTURED:
CREEPY WORLDS #107 £60 Comic GD+ Reprints Nick Fury, Agent Of SHIELD #7 (classic Steranko Dali-esque cover) plus1 Fly Man, 1 Charlton Ditko. Extra: 1 cover colour proof. SOLD
OUTER SPACE #4 £50 Comic VG Reprints Charlton, 1 Ditko plus Ditko cover. Extra: 2 cover colour proofs, with handwritten note from Alan Class. SOLD
SUSPENSE #31 £50 Comic FN- Reprints 3rd Iron Man story from Tales Of Suspense #41 by Kirby inc Kirby cover plus pre-hero Marvel. SOLD
British Update: Swan’s Dynamic Thrills #1 (1951)
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: From that most distinguished vintage publisher of British comics Gerald G Swan, a nice copy of Dynamic Thrills #1 from 1951. Swan published all genres of comics, but issue #1 of Dynamic Thrills concerns itself with detectives and adventurers such as Chester Kean, Ah Wong, the Bat, Gentleman Jim, Krakos the Egyptian and many others. Strips are in red and grey and black and white. The series lasted 10 issues and is quite scarce. This copy is in nice nick, with some cover creasing but little wear, no tears and good staples; the cover stock is similar to that of an American comic.
PICTURED: DYNAMIC THRILLS #1 VG/FN £40 SOLD
British Update: Sherlock Holmes in Super-Detective Library #65
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Just one item in this category this week, but it’s a good ‘un. If like me you’re a big Sherlock Holmes fan, you’re always interested by his comic appearances. Two of his classic tales are presented in Super-Detective Library #65: The Mystery Of The Red-Headed League and The Case Of The Greek Interpreter. A great copy, which would grade as VF if not for a touch of the habitual staple rust, which isn’t too bad in this case.
PICTURED: SUPER-DETECTIVE LIBRARY #65 VG/FN £30 SOLD
British Update: Long Hot Summer: Beano Summer Special 1968 in High Grade
*Humour Comics: One of the nicest Summer Specials we’ve ever seen in terms of condition is this Beano from 1968. Flat, never folded, with only the tiniest soft creasing to the bottom right corner extremity, this copy retains great colour, page quality and remarkable freshness. All your favourite characters are here, of course, many of them in glorious full colour. Can you imagine the thrill of being a kid when this giant edition came out and being given it for your summer holiday reading pleasure?
PICTURED: BEANO SUMMER SPECIAL 1968 VF £60 SOLD
British Update: True Life Library x 10
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: From 1966, ten consecutive issues of True Life Library (All In Pictures), from #501-510. Released right in the middle of ‘Swingin’ London’, the usual nurses, models and actresses are bolstered by somewhat more liberated heroines, including aviatrixes, monarchs and spies – oh my! With very accomplished art from mainly European illustrators, these are lovely items, their appeal enhanced by the fact that they are from a newsagent’s reserve stock, never sold or circulated, with white pages, bright covers and minimal or no discolouration in the staple areas, averaging Fine. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: TRUE LIFE LIBRARY #503 FN £6
Books Update: More 1950s British Gangster Pulps (well, almost…)
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Post-war faux American gangster novels (often termed pulps due to their paper quality) written and published in the UK have become something of a collector thing over the last decade or so. Written mostly by house names and featuring sleazy dame covers, the most famous of these are by the Hank Janson/Reginald Heade combo, but there are plenty of other fish in the sea too, for all the rarity of editions that have survived the decades. This week we have four works by Paul Renin (pen name of Richard Goyne), whose novels are pretty much sleazy romance rather than gangster tales, but their luridly attractive covers put them squarely in the same collector market.
PICTURED: All by PAUL RENIN
A DOUBLE LIFE UK PB 1950s Harborough FA £15
(Cover art by Reginald Heade; water damaged, edge discolouration, some loss to bottom right cover, image okay)
LONELY WIVES UK PB 1950s Archer VG £35 SOLD
SEX UK PB 1950s Archer VG £35 SOLD
UNEASY VIRTUE UK PB 1950s Archer VG £35 SOLD
(Small spine split at base)
Relocation, Relocation, Relocation: We’re Moving
After 27 years in Putney, we’re relocating this summer. As we are now a mail order only business, there’s no need for us to maintain a shop premises which we’ve outgrown, so we’re moving to a warehouse unit elsewhere in London, which gives us more space. We have so much stock that we can’t move it all in one go, and we want to keep disruption to our service to a minimum, so we expect it to take a number of weeks. During this time, there will be a few occasions when we don’t add new stock to the website, don’t issue a newsletter, and take a little longer than usual to fill orders, but we will try to spread these out as much as possible to avoid any prolonged periods when we’re out of action. We’ll keep you updated. Contact details remain the same as now (email or snail mail as shown on the site).
American Update: What’s Old: Batmania/Slab Happy: Batman #94 1955 CGC 7.5
*DC: What’s Old is our feature where we highlight stuff from our catalogue that you may have missed. A high grade for such a vintage Batman this week, a great-looking CGC 7.5 (VF-) copy of Batman #94 from 1955, Universal grade, blue label unrestored. With a dynamic Win Mortimer cover and three mystery stories (including one where Alfred plays Batman), this lovely item also has the distinction of being the earliest issue of Batman we have in stock at time of writing.
PICTURED: BATMAN #94 CGC 7.5 £350
American Update: DC Debuts: 1st Katma Tui in Green Lantern #30
*DC: Issue #30 of the Silver Age Green Lantern was a bit of a landmark issue. Not only a great dinosaur cover and lead story featuring talking pterodactyls, but also a back-up featuring the Guardians, a giant amoeba, and introducing the fan favourite Green Lantern of the planet Korugar, Katma Tui, who succeeded the renegade Sinestro in that role. Hal Jordan is startled (to use his own word) to find that this Green Lantern is a female! All that as depicted by the superior artwork of Gil Kane — a great Silver Age package. A nice copy here, pence stamped, with great cover colour and gloss, tight staples, fairly sharp corners and nice white pages. There is one fairly short crease near the top of the spine which barely breaks colour.
PICTURED: GREEN LANTERN #30 FN+ p £55
American Update: DC ‘J’ List Part 2
*DC: Our DC alphabetical romp concludes the letter ‘J’, which, in this second part, is all about DC’s premier super-hero team, the Justice League of America. Over 100 issues added, starting from #8 and going right up to the last issue #261, adding many not previously represented in our listings for possibly the most comprehensive selection of this series on sale anywhere. And, as a bonus, all four issues of the mini-series, America Vs the Justice Society.
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52
*Marvel: Lee & Kirby’s Fantastic Four added to its many innovations in 1966’s FF #52, when they introduced the first black super-hero in comics. Previously, the vanishingly rare heroic black characters in comics had been either embarrassing sidekicks or ‘noble savages’, but the Black Panther was the monarch of a highly sophisticated and technologically advanced African nation, Wakanda, and was to become not only one of the FF’s greatest allies, but a mainstay of their fellow heroes, the Avengers. Following his spectacular big-screen success, T’Challa’s earliest appearances have never been in higher demand, and every time I check out the current Fair Market Value of this issue, it’s zoomed up in price. Our latest pence printed copy is graded on the low side, with moderate spine wear, a 1 cm upper spine split with tiny chip out, edge wear all round including small colour-breaking creases, with a longer crease across the bottom right cover corner. There is a small residue of something white around the Torch’s knee, but this is tiny and barely shows; an otherwise unmarked cover image. Staples are okay, but the bottom one is off at centrefold. Page quality also okay, if a little dingy. The first few pages have small tears near the top left edge, which do not significantly impact on the enjoyment of the issue.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #52 GD/VG p £400 SOLD
American Update: Captain America #109 — Cap’s Origin
*Marvel: Soon after the inception of Cap’s debut Silver Age series (#100), Stan and Jack chose to retell his origin in #109. With its distinctive cover of Cap bursting through a newspaper front page dated 1941, this issue has steadily risen in collectability. A decent pence printed copy fresh in with great cover colour and gloss, minor corner blunting but very little wear. Good tight staples and nice off-white pages; just a suggestion of browning at the very top and bottom of the cover, but overall clean and presenting very well.
PICTURED: CAPTAIN AMERICA #109 FN p £80 SOLD
American Update: Spider-Mania: John Romita issues in the 60’s
*Marvel: This week’s Spider-Mania feature is 7 issues of Amazing between #61 and #69, with John Romita at the height of his powers at the artistic helm. Medusa, two (count ’em) Vultures and the Kingpin have encounters with the web-head, as well as a whole heap of problems with the rest of Peter Parker’s gang.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #65 FN+ £50 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Ms Marvel #18 with full debut of Mystique
*Marvel: After a couple of cameo appearances in issues #16 & #17, the mutant shape-shifter Mystique made her first full appearance in #18 of the Ms Marvel title. Mystique went on of course to be a central character in the X-Men movie franchise. This pence printed issue is a nice glossy example, with vivid colour, tight staples and creamy pages. No specific defects, a few spine ticks and slight handling wear keep the grade to what it is.
PICTURED: MS MARVEL #18 FN+ p £80 SOLD
American Update: WandaVision Epilogue: Shiny Avengers
*Marvel: Well, we thought we’d finished our Wandavision event, then we found these two 30th Anniversary issues of the Avengers from 1993, the first of which features a pair of Visions. Both these bumper special issues are chock full of pin-ups and features, as well as compelling stories by Bob Harras and excellent, classic Avengers-style art by Steve Epting, but let’s face it, you want them for their shiny embossed covers, don’t you?
PICTURED: AVENGERS
#360 VF/NM £18
#363 VF/NM £18
American Update: Venom The Hunted: all 3 issues
*Marvel: Yes, it’s another one of those multitudinous Venom mini-series that (some of) you love. This one is Venom: the Hunted from 1996, with more fun and games from the alien symbiotes and their chums. All 3 issues of this mini available in beautiful NM, all listed in our catalogue.
PICTURED: VENOM: THE HUNTED #1 NM £20
American Update: A Superior Pre-Code Horror Fest: Journey Into Fear
*Horror 1940-1959: Superior was a Canadian publisher active from 1945-1956 who mostly reprinted American comics from the same time period. They also published a number of original series that were distributed in the United States. Among these were three horror titles famous for their hallucinogenic covers and accomplished Fiction House style interior art. When you see a lot of these together, they have an almost hypnotic and uncomfortable effect. We’ve been releasing a lot of these three titles over the last few months, and this week we reach the end of them (for the time being) with our final issues of Journey Into Fear. All four issues in this update are pictured below, together with any specific defects. #21 is the final issue of the series.
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO FEAR
#13 FA+ £65 Off top staple and almost off bottom. Cover tears and water staining in several page margins. Top corner back cover missing. SOLD
#17 GD+ £120 No specific defects; worn spine.
#20 App VG+ £100 Right edge trimmed
#21 GD £95 Very worn spine; many long cover creases; arrival date in felt-tip below logo.
American/British Update: 10 x UK Classics Illustrated
*Classics Illustrated: 10 UK issues of Classics Illustrated fresh in this week from #1 onwards, nearly all in glossy, nice grades. Issues are #1 Huckleberry Finn, #2 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, #3 Mysterious Island, #5 Moby Dick, #6 A Tale Of Two Cities, #7 Robin Hood, #9 Caesar’s Conquests, #11 The Time Machine, #15 Uncle Tom’s Cabin & #19 The Covered Wagon. As with all our Classics Illustrated issues, full edition information will be found in our catalogue.
British Update: Alan Class Out Of This World (1st series)
*Alan Class Reprints: Most of the short run of the Alan Class title Out Of This World restocked this week in our regular Alan Class section. This title concentrated (although not exclusively) on outer space and science fiction stories, including Marvel’s Tales Of The Watcher in #16, reprinted from Tales Of Suspense #50. Plenty of Kirby and Ditko, and details of that in our Alan Class Rough Guide. (This 23 issue series was all pre-decimal; there was a shorter, post decimal run of 10 later on).
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Lion #1 & #2 from 1952
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: We’re delighted this week to present the first two issues of the long running and famous weekly Boy’s title, Lion, the ‘King of Picture Story Papers’, both complete with their Free Gifts, dating from February and March 1952. Lion covers featured space adventurer Captain Condor, and interior strips included schoolboy Sandy Dean, the Lone Commandos, Brett Marlow – Detective, the Jungle Robot (later Robot Archie) and many more text and picture features. The comics are in decent shape with staple rust at a minimum, although issue #1 has a small hole through the top margin in the second half of the comic. The Free Gift for #1 is the ‘Sports Stars in Action’ booklet in lovely condition apart from staple rust; for #2 it’s the ‘Speed Marvels of 1952’ booklet in similar condition.
PICTURED: LION BOTH SOLD
#1 GD/VG WITH FREE GIFT VG/FN £150
#2 VG WITH FREE GIFT VG/FN £75
British Update: Swift now down in price
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Ever mindful of the changing marketplace, we’ve reduced many of our prices on Swift, the junior Eagle, particularly on Volume 1, which are now less than half their previous prices in most cases. Swift, you’ll remember, is the home of such famous strips as King Arthur & Robin Hood by Bellamy and Cliff McCoy & Red Rider by Holdaway, to name but a few. Much of our stock, as marked, comprises publisher’s file copy syndication proofs which are stamped to signify this on the margins of covers and most pages.
British Update: Your Wish Is Our Commando: More Early Issues From The Stapled Collection
*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Following on from previous releases of earlier numbers, we now have most issues between #76 & #100 of Commando War Stories In Pictures from the same source. A previous owner at some point decided to place two to four reinforcing staples through the spine, quite skilfully so as to not hamper the opening of the item nor hide any of the content; there is minimal bleed from these staples and the page quality is really rather nice. As we move up the numbers, the overall condition quality improves, so in most cases, the grade is assigned through wear rather than specific defects. Please consult our catalogue for full details.
PICTURE: COMMANDO #100 VG £20
British Update: Picture Romance Library – Too Dangerous For A Girl!
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: A further late 1950s/early 1960s selection of Pearson’s Picture Romance Library, with numbers ranging from #118 to #229. These start out with quite garishly coloured and often unintentionally hilarious photo covers with dialogue to match. These could well be the sort of things you’d see as humorous greeting cards today! Later issues feature attractive painted covers. We have an example of both below. In the first one, one of the lines of dialogue uses the phrase ‘Too Dangerous For A Girl’, which I couldn’t resist using as it’s a famous Legion of Super-Heroes quote. I tried it on Dr Evilla, and when I got out of hospital, she advised me of the error of my ways.
PICTURED: PICTURE ROMANCE LIBRARY
#120 VF £12
#225 FN/VF £9
Books Update: The Game’s Afoot! Solar Pons – the Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street
*Crime, Spies and Sleaze: August Derleth, the famous American author and Lovecraftian, was just 19 when he wrote to Arthur Conan Doyle asking for more Sherlock Holmes adventures; Doyle replied that there wouldn’t be any and furthermore, he wouldn’t give permission for Derleth to write his own. So the Holmes enthusiast came up with his own invention: the peculiarly named Solar Pons of 7B Praed Street, London and his assistant Dr Lyndon Parker. The similarities between Pons and Holmes are many (the main difference being the time setting of the former being between the wars), but in case you feel that Pons is just a rip-off, I’ve read many attempts by others to do Sherlock Holmes, and only in Pons have I found the same well crafted mysteries and the same atmosphere as Doyle himself created. We present here the full set of all eleven Solar Pons books published in uniform paperback editions by Pinnacle in the USA in the 1970s, which first made these wonderful stories available to a mass audience (having been previously published in hard-to-obtain hardbacks). The first seven are by Derleth, and the final four by his successor, the British author Basil Copper. Although in later years previously unpublished stories were discovered by both authors, supplementing the cannon, at the time these were everything of Pons, more in fact than there had ever been of Sherlock Holmes. Full details of all eleven volumes in our catalogue; all in remarkably good condition, many almost as new; highly recommended.
PICTURED: BOTH SOLD
#1 THE ADVENTURES OF SOLAR PONS by AUGUST DERLETH 1st US PB Pinnacle 1974 FN £10
#8 THE DOSSIER OF SOLAR PONS by BASIL COPPER 1st US PB Pinnacle 1979 FN/VF £11
American Update: DC Debuts: 1st Big Barda in Mister Miracle #4
*DC: Of Kirby’s ‘Fourth World’ series at DC, Mister Miracle was the best received by the readership at large, due to its relatable protagonist, who, despite his extraterrestrial origins, was an amiable if highly-skilled Everyman. But the pace really picked up with issue #4, when we were introduced to Scott’s old flame, Big Barda, former leader of the Female Furies of the hellworld Apokalips. The tough, no-nonsense Barda contrasted with Scott’s gentler affable persona, and the dynamic brought the characters lasting popularity, the occasional ‘dramatic’ attempt to separate them being met with universal disdain. This tight glossy copy of #4 is one of those thicker issues where the annotated spine has been printed at the front edge, as is not uncommon (see scan). Pence stamped, it has minimal edge wear, no creases and no cover marks, with great white to off-white pages.
PICTURED: MISTER MIRACLE #4 FN+ p £80 SOLD
American Update: Batmania: A Pair of Joker Detectives
*DC: Two issues of Silver Age Detective comics this week with Joker covers and stories. #365 is VG, off top staple. #388 was produced without the front copy being stapled to the rest of the book, so extra staples have subsequently been added very skilfully.
PICTURED: DETECTIVE COMICS
#365 VG £27 SOLD
#388 VG £23.25
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: ‘Hither He Came…’ Conan the Barbarian #1
*Marvel: In 1970, Marvel tried something risky and different, quite aside from their familiar super-hero stable; at the urging of writer Roy Thomas, they put out a sword & sorcery title adapting the Robert E. Howard stories of Conan the Barbarian, and, bucking the trend, it was smash hit – thanks in no small part to the illustration of Barry (not-yet-Windsor) Smith, a talented young British artist who gave the most famous Cimmerian of all grace and feral power, filling Conan’s world with mystery, menace, and beauty as monsters and maidens competed for our hero’s attentions. Conan’s first series at Marvel ran to 275 issues and multitudinous specials and spin-offs, and it all started here in Conan the Barbarian #1. This nice copy is flat and glossy, with the cover unmarked except for a printed number ’28’ in the ‘O’ of the logo (see scan), presumably an arrival date. Great off white pages and tight staples; minimal wear with a little corner blunting, it presents very well.
PICTURED: CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1 FN+ £275 SOLD
American Update: Many issues of the Silver Surfer back in stock
*Marvel: Eight issues of the seminal first Silver Surfer run fresh into stock, from #2 up to #16. Many of these are in low grade, but your attention is particularly drawn to a very nice #15, which is a tight, fresh and glossy copy. This run of the surfin’ dude sells itself, so no further need of verbiage from me! As always, full details in our catalogue.
PICTURED: SILVER SURFER
#14 VG- p £45
#15 FN/VF £100
#16 FN p £42
American Update: Spider-Mania: Amazing #301 NM-
*Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man #301, with its ‘negative’ version of #300 and white background, has greatly increased in value and collectability in recent years, as nostalgia for the Todd McFarlane run pushes interest in this and other key issues higher. This week’s copy is pristine, the cover glossy, the white background pure, great staples, great pages; just the faintest suggestion of a couple of spine ticks and a bottom right microscopic crease prevent a true NM grade or even higher.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #301 NM- £85 SOLD
American Update: Almost complete run of Jack Kirby’s Eternals #1-17
*Marvel: Following his 1976 return to Marvel, the legendary Jack Kirby was anxious not to get trapped in the cycle of just illustrating super-heroes again, and one of his conditions was that he would be allowed to write and draw his own concepts. How much of the Eternals concept was his is, politely, open to debate; heavily ‘influenced’ (ahem, ahem) by the popular Erich Von Daniken paperbacks, which postulated that mankind’s ancient ‘Gods’ were alien visitors, Kirby’s Eternals portrayed the return of ancient immortal extraterrestrials, and the cataclysmic repercussions for humanity. Originally intended to stand apart from the Marvel Universe, it was shoehorned in at editorial insistence, which resulted in Kirby eventually abandoning the strip mid-narrative. Because of this dissonance, the Eternals have been comparatively overlooked by all but the most diehard Kirby Kollectors, but with the confirmation of an Eternals movie at the core of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe Phase Four, interest is now higher than ever. We have an almost complete series (missing just the last two) with the first appearances of all the colourful cast who will appear on the big screen later this year.
PICTURED: ETERNALS
#1 FN+ p £95 SOLD
#2 VF+ p £55 SOLD
#3 VF p £65 SOLD
#5 VF/NM p £60
American Update: Let’s Visit The (Old) X-Men!
*Marvel: A dozen issues of the original X-Men run new in this week in a variety of grades. After a few earlier issues (#24, #33 & #55), the bulk of this update centres on the Neal Adams issues, from #56 to #63, including a couple of low grade examples of the 1st Havok (in costume) in #58. In addition, there’s a low grade #64 (1st Sunfire).
American Update: The Doctor Is In! Doctor Strange 1st Series
*Marvel: Most of the 1st series of Doctor Strange, starting in 1968 following the split from and carrying on the numbering of Strange Tales, fresh into stock in a variety of grades from #171 to #183, the final issue. A few high quality artists worked on this title, but most notably, the wonderful work of Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. A superb short run series.
American Update: Sgt Fury & His Howling Commandos
*War: A small update to Marvel’s premier war title, Sgt Fury & His Howling Commandos. Starting with #44, the first issue to feature art by John Severin, this sporadic run extends through to the reprint era, when reprinted issues ran intermingled with new material, and includes Annual #6. Issues featuring reprints are indicated in our catalogue.
American Update: Savage Tales & Unknown Worlds Of Science Fiction
*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: Updates to two classic Marvel titles from their 1970s magazine line this week: Savage Tales, featuring Conan & Ka-Zar, and Unknown Worlds Of Science Fiction, with adaptations of classic SF stories, all by Marvel’s finest creators. Mostly high grade copies, some with pence stickers; consult our catalogue for full details.
British Update: WandaVision Finale/Alan Class Plate Sets Final Phase
*Alan Class Reprints: We conclude our WandaVision feature (for now) in this most unexpected of places, with Uncanny Tales #65, reprinting the origin of the Vision from Avengers #58, ‘Even An Android Can Cry’, a classic tale by Roy Thomas and John Buscema. For many years now, we’ve been scouring the personal archives of legendary publisher Alan Class (who is still very much with us) 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 have now reached the final phase of these plate set releases, which will last us through 2021 and probably into 2022. These sets are time-consuming to prepare, so our release schedule will be staggered. But the good news is that all the sets we have left are among the best, either featuring a classic Marvel comic reprint, or else a very early fantasy/mystery issue. So, this final phase represents your last opportunity to add one or more of these unique pieces to your collection. Each set comprises 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. Several sets (as noted) have additional historical artefacts such as colour proofs, interior page plates, printers’ photostats etc. (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.)
PICTURED: UNCANNY TALES #65 £125 Comic VG- Reprints Avengers #58 plus pre-Hero Marvel, 1 Ditko, Atlas & Charlton.
British Update: 2000 AD – ‘Burger Wars’ and ‘Jolly Green Giant’ Issues
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Newly in, we have the four 2000 AD progs set during Judge Dredd’s ‘Cursed Earth’ which, owing to their use of copyrighted properties, were until 2015 banned from being reprinted; #71 and #72, the ‘Burger Wars’ issues, which caused umbrage with MacDonalds and Burger King and #77 and #78, the ‘Jolly Green Giant’ numbers, in which a certain verdant behemoth (no, not the Hulk) was an antagonist. Despite the reprint embargo having been lifted owing to a change in copyright law allowing parodic usage, we have found demand for the originals to remain high, judging by the speed with which they’ve sold out previously!
PICTURED: 2000 AD
#71 VG/FN £27.50
#72 VG £25
#77 VG/FN £27.50
#78 VG/FN £27.50 SOLD
British Update: Combat Picture Library
*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Micron’s Combat Picture Library turns up less often than its more famous cousins from D C Thomson & Fleetway, and we suspect much lower print runs on the Micron titles. So it’s particularly pleasing to have a new batch of high grade examples in: 55 issues between #400 and #762, bridging the 1960s to the 1970s and pre to post decimal, though more than half the new additions are from the 400’s. These are from a newsagent’s unsold inventory and are superior copies, with firm, square spines, sharp corners and bright vivid cover colours. Fewer than six issues newly added fall below a VF grade. Consult our catalogue for details.
British Update: TV Comic 1970-1975 with Dr Who
*TV & Film Related Comics: TV Comic was always known primarily as the home of strips from TV comedy series; in the period represented by this update, you’ll find the Road Runner, Basil Brush, Dad’s Army, Bugs Bunny, the Pink Panther, Laurel & Hardy, the cover-featured Tom & Jerry and many more. But there were also adventure strips such as Tarzan, Cannon, the Avengers (featured in the couple of issues from 1970 and 1971 here) and others; most famously, TV Comic was the original home of the Dr Who comic strip, starting out in the 1960s with the first and second Doctor iterations, before the third Doctor moved over to Countdown and TV Action, only to return when TV Action folded. The period in this update (after the aforementioned 1970 & 1971 issues) from 1973-1975 features a Doctor Who strip in every one of several dozen issues, and bridges the transition from Jon Pertwee to Tom Baker. See our catalogue for details.
British Update: Free Gift Farrago: Judy 1972
*Girls Comics: Judy, home to Wee Slavey, Nannette of the North, Bobby Dazzler and a host of others, launched in 1960 following the success of its slightly older sister Bunty, and the pair dominated the UK comics scene for several years. We’re lucky to have two consecutive issues from 1972 bearing their original Free Gifts: #631 has the ‘Pretty Pearly Necklace’, still mounted on its original card; please note that although complete, the string is actually broken. #632 has the ‘Trendy Rainbow Ring’, still inside the original sealed envelope. The defects in the comics are caused by the stress on the paper of having the sometimes bulky gifts inside for decades, so they are only due to pressure, although both comics are browning at the edges.
PICTURED: JUDY
#631 VG WITH FREE GIFT GD/VG £25
#632 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £40
British Update: Schoolgirls’ Picture Library
*Girls’ Picture Libraries: Two dozen more issues of the keenly collected Schoolgirls’ Picture Library now listed between #100 and #150, mostly in very decent condition and featuring many issues previously missing from our catalogue. Take a look there to check them out.
PICTURED: SCHOOLGIRLS’ PICTURE LIBRARY
#117 VG/FN £12.50
#123 VG/FN £12.50
#126 VG/FN £12.50
Books Update: What’s Old: Books by and about H P Lovecraft
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: What’s Old is our feature where we highlight stuff from our catalogue that you may have missed. The famous master of the American gothic, H P Lovecraft, needs no introduction from me here. Suffice it to say that our catalogue is particularly blessed with a wide range of his fiction, poetry, essays, letters and books that many have written about this most widely studied of authors. We’re showing just a small range of covers here; check out the catalogue for all things Lovecraft in a mix of editions, grades and prices. (Books about Lovecraft are listed under Lovecraft, after books by him).
American Update: Slab Happy: Action Comics #14 (1939) CGC 0.5
*DC: It’s not very often that Action Comics this early ever get offered for sale in the UK. They’re not exactly common in the USA either. This copy of Action #14 is the earliest we’ve ever had through our hands in 30 years, so early in fact that Superman doesn’t even make the cover, apart from a small ident. Instead, it’s the magician Zatara (these days most famous as Zatanna’s Dad) who takes the cover scene, and what a great image conjured by Fred Guardineer! Zatara features inside in the story ‘The Fountain Of Youth’, but of course the lead story is the 13 page Superman feature where he clashes with the Ultra-Humanite. Other strips feature a whole host of adventure characters, including the debut of Clip Carson. Writers and artists read like a Who’s Who of comics in 1939: Jerry Siegel, Gardner Fox, Paul Cassidy, Bernard Bailey, Bob Kane and Fred Guardineer. This is a CGC blue label unrestored copy, graded at 0.5 (Incomplete); the CGC label has the following information: ‘Last page missing, affects story. Spine of cover completely split and detached. Incomplete. Brittle pages.’ You can see a few chips out at the edges of front and (mainly) back covers, but these do not detract from the vivid cover scene. A great artefact from the dawn of the Golden Age of Comics.
PICTURED: ACTION COMICS #14 CGC 0.5 INCOMPLETE £455 SOLD
American Update: Batmania: Batman #423 with McFarlane cover
*DC: Fan favourite Todd McFarlane drew just one cover for Batman, but it’s a very distinctive and stylish one that has gone on to have much collector appeal. Our latest copy of Batman #423 isn’t a great one. It has excellent colour cover and gloss and nice tight staples. There is some minor edge wear and a bit of corner blunting, but it is marred by three creases across the bottom right corner, varying in intensity. One is soft and not colour-breaking, one just visibly breaks colour and the third is quite severe, emphatically breaking colour. These don’t impinge much though on the visual appeal of the cover image.
PICTURED: BATMAN #423 VG £40 SOLD
American Update: Fantastic Four Meet the X-Men in FF #28 — High Grade Copy
*Marvel: In issue #28 of the FF, the X-Men guest-starred in a packed issue with the menaces of the Mad Thinker & his Awesome Android and the Puppet Master. As is usually the case in these early crossovers, the two teams are pitted against each other as a result of the villains’ machinations. Kirby managed to fit all members of both teams plus the Awesome Android on to the cover without it looking overcrowded. This is a superb pence printed copy, the nicest we’ve ever seen of this issue. The cover is fresh and totally unmarked with a white background and vivid colour, the spine is completely intact, the staples are tight and firmly attached, the corners square with just the faintest hint of blunting. Pages are superb, off-white to white. No creases, no chipping, virtually no discernable wear. This copy would be a joy to own! High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #28 VF+ p £500 (Front, back and splash)
American Update: Captain America #100 – 1st issue of series
*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 decent, if slightly dingy cents copy, with some minor cover grubbiness and fine creasing, 1 cm lower spine split, corner blunting, good tight staples and unspoilt cover image.
PICTURED: CAPTAIN AMERICA #100 VG+ £165 SOLD
American Update: Silver Surfer #1 1968 (low grade)
*Marvel: Following his debut in Fantastic Four #48, Norrin Radd, Herald of Galactus, gained popularity as a recurring guest star, and his status was confirmed when Marvel launched the Silver Surfer’s own series in the double-sized format in 1968. This premier issue featured, for the first time, John Buscema’s illustrations on the Surfer, a body of work generally acknowledged to be among his finest, and presented also for the first time a 38 page account of the Surfer’s origins, plus (in the back) a 13 page tale of the Watcher, detailing the reasons behind the Watcher’s oath of non-interference. The first run of the Surfer’s solo series has achieved cult status, with the first seven double-sized issues in particular being keenly sought out. Make no mistake here — our latest pence stamped copy of #1 is NOT a beauty; in fact, it comes in three parts — the front cover, the body of the comic and the back cover. What’s left of the spine is in tatters. The good news is that, despite wear and (small) tears, the cover image is relatively intact and unmarked, the staples hold the pages firmly bound and the page quality is actually quite good. But be sure you know what you’re buying here!
PICTURED: SILVER SURFER #1 PR/FA p £150 SOLD
American Update: Mighty Marvel Firsts: Debut of Bullseye in Daredevil #131
*Marvel: 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. And can we ever forget Colin Farrell’s epic scenery-chewing as Bullseye in the Daredevil movie? Well, maybe if we’re lucky and get hit on the head with a blunt object. 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! Our latest pence printed copy is very nice, great cover colour and gloss, tight and flat with firmly attached staples; there are tiny stress marks at the spine and very faint, barely visible creasing around the area of the UPC box; no colour is broken.
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL #131 VF p £130
American Update: A Spider-Mania Miscellany
*Marvel: Some tasty odds and ends added to our Amazing Spider-Man stocks this week as follows: #126 (Kangaroo), #146 (Scorpion), #161 (Punisher, Nightcrawler plus 1st Jigsaw cameo), #228-230 (latter two with Juggernaut), #289 (Hobgoblin revealed), #317 (Venom), #364 (Shocker) & #-1 (Flashback issue). Plus Giant-Size #1 with Dracula and #2 with Master Of Kung Fu (the man of the moment). Full details in our catalogue.
American Update: WandaVision: Catalogue Expansion: West Coast Avengers by John Byrne
*Marvel: In our ongoing series focusing on key events in the ‘Wandavision’ TV hit, we look again at the underestimated run by John Byrne as writer/artist on West Coast Avengers. Our previous WCA ‘VisionQuest’ set detailed the origin of the pallid Vision ‘2.0’ which was borrowed by the TV show, but Byrne threw more drama at comics’ favourite mutant/synthezoid couple, as the strain of her newly emotionless husband, plus shocking revelations about the true origin of her children, drove Wanda to a breaking point, leading to the eventual dissolution of her marriage – and the virtual destruction of the team at her hands, as her powers became more corrupt! All this plus the USAgent, the original Human Torch, and the Great Lakes Avengers! This complete run of Byrne’s WCA is from #42 to #57, but missing the ‘White Vision’ issue, #45. Great comics, highly recommended and cheap as chips; take a look in our catalogue (listed under ‘A’, after Avengers).