*Girls’ Comics: A timely update to our stocks of the long-lived (1957-1974) Valentine comic this week, with a handful of issues from 1958/59 and many from 1962, including the Christmas issue. A delightful mix of romance strips and pop music content, typified nowhere better than the cover stories which portrayed a comic strip based on a hit song from the pop charts of the time. Mixed condition on these; inevitable rusty staples abound, except on the earliest issues, where a number have had their staples removed, leaving rusty paper stains! Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: VALENTINE 29/12/62 VG £16 Christmas issue

*DC: We continue our Legion of Super-Heroes event with Adventure Comics #267 from 1959. Twenty issues after their first appearance in Adventure #247, the Legion returned in ‘Prisoner Of The Super-Heroes!’ At this stage, Lightning Boy had become Lightning Lad in the costume he became famous for, and Saturn Girl had adopted her familiar red outfit (although I note she was a mousey-haired individual inside, whereas she was her proper blonde colour on the cover. Cosmic Boy’s outfit was more purple than the ‘pale scarlet’ it would evolve into. The story seems like one of those that was dreamed up to fit the cover scene which I assume came first. Superbly crafted stories of Aquaman and Green Arrow as back-ups. A decent copy, with a strong unspoilt cover image and rich colour. There is some chipping along the right edge (but nothing too bad) and wear along the spine, although the staples are firm there (the centrefold is off at the top staple only). Below the bottom staple inside the cover two small pieces of tape reinforce the spine. Pages are an okay off-white to cream. All in all, a fairly presentable copy.
PICTURED: ADVENTURE COMICS #267 VG- £100 SOLD

*Marvel: Flush with success at the dawn of the Marvel Universe, Stan Lee had an epiphany: if Iron Man, Thor and company were successful on their own – how much better would they be together? Thus was born the Avengers, in which Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp were brought together by the fiendish machinations of Loki and an heroic dynasty began which continues to this day! The Avengers has lasted myriad issues, with a plethora of spin-offs, and a veritable regiment of members (not to mention an extremely lucrative movie franchise), but this is the comic in which it all began! This is a comic which normally turns up for us in low grade, but this issue is an exception: a beautiful mid-grade copy, pence printed, with superb eye appeal. Rich cover colour and good gloss, with no blemishes. There are some minor creases (short horizontal and longer vertical) along the spine, a few of which faintly break colour, and tiny bits of wear at the corners, which remain reasonably sharp. Staples are firmly attached at spine and centrefold; pages are a very supple white to off-white. High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: AVENGERS #1 VG/FN p £4,000 SOLD

*Marvel: A two-part slabbed extravaganza this week, as Spidey is menaced by reptiles! Both Stegron the Dinosaur Man and the ever-popular Lizard are spoiling Spidey’s Christmas in these high-grade copies. 
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#165 CGC 9.6 NM+ £100 Unrestored blue label universal grade, white pages, case perfect.
#166 CGC 9.6 NM+ £80 Unrestored blue label universal grade, off-white to white pages, case perfect. SOLD

*Marvel: From the Good Doctor Collection: As all good Marvelites know, the Mighty Thor debuted in Journey Into Mystery #83, and soon took over the title, adding his name to the logo before long. However, it wasn’t until issue #126 that Journey Into Mystery was dropped and the title became simply Thor. Thus #126 is a first issue of sorts. It’s joined here by the next seven issues as well. Thor encounters the Greek Pantheon, in particular Hercules, Zeus and Pluto (I think that’s a bit of Graeco-Roman wrestling going on with the names there!), plus an adventure with Tana Nile and the Colonizers in outer space, culminating in an epic encounter with Ego, the Living Planet. Cosmic adventure on a grand scale as only Stan & Jack could deliver!
IN THIS UPDATE: THOR
#126 VG+ p £62 (PICTURED) SOLD
#127 GD/VG £12 SOLD
#128 VG/FN p £18 SOLD
#129 GD/VG p £11 SOLD
#130 GD/VG p £12 SOLD
#131 VG+ p £15 SOLD
#132 VG/FN p £25 1st cameo Ego, the Living Planet
#133 FN- p £80 (PICTURED) Scarce; 1st full Ego, the Living Planet SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: After selling a Commando #1 a few weeks ago, we’re particularly pleased to have a nice copy of #2 fresh in. ‘They Called Him Coward!’ is a lovely copy, with vivid cover colour and a spine intact but for narrow splits of about 1 cm at top and bottom. Binding is tight and pages near white. A little spine wear and edge creasing, but a solid and good-looking copy.
PICTURED: COMMANDO #2 VG £300 SOLD

*DC: Although DC missed a trick by not including him on the cover, let me assure you that Green Lantern’s arch nemesis, Sinestro, does indeed make his first appearance within Green Lantern #7 (1961). Steeped in Green Lantern lore, the lead story introduced the renegade Green Lantern who would go on the plague the Emerald Gladiator throughout his career. This is a reasonable flat cents copy, with a totally unmarked cover image with rich colour. Light-moderate spine wear and minimal edge wear with good, firmly attached staples. Tiny nicks at top and bottom of spine. Pages are off-white with a light tanning at edges; inside covers are also a little tanned. A supple and attractive copy. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: GREEN LANTERN #7 VG- £500 SOLD

*DC: Over two dozen issues of Silver Age Flash fresh in this week. Mostly these are lower to mid-graded copies and very affordable. New issues comprise: #124 (Captain Boomerang and Elongated Man), #134 (Captain Cold & Elongated Man), #136 (Mirror Master), #140 (1st Heatwave plus Captain Cold), #146 (Mirror Master), #147 (2nd Professor Zoom plus Mr Element), #155 (Rogues’ Gallery), #159 (Kid Flash), #161 (Mirror Master), #163, #165 (Wedding of Barry & Iris), #166 (Captain Cold & Heatwave), #168 (Green Lantern), #171, #172 (Gorilla Grodd), #174 (Rogues’ Gallery), #176, #177, #178 (80 Page Giant), #179, #180, #181, #182, #185 and the 80 Page Giant Annual #1. Full grading and pricing details in our catalogue. Proof, were it needed, that the Silver Age Flash had the coolest gang of friends and foes around! 

*Marvel: The implacable robotic Sentinels, nemeses of the X-Men, have loomed large in the history of Marvel’s Mutant Heroes, making multiple appearances, each more fearsome than the last. The creations of a man determined to expunge the mutant genome from humanity, they emphasise the X-Men’s ‘otherness’, which is why they resonate so strongly with the readership. Here, we are pleased to present, kicking off the X-Men from the Good Doctor Collection, the trilogy of issues in which the Sentinels debuted: X-Men #14-16, all decent cents copies. 
PICTURED: X-MEN
#14 VG+ £470 Nice cover with rich colour, staples firmly attached. Reading wear at spine; moderate-light edge wear includes small tears at bottom and right edges; no other creasing. Pages are off-white. Some corner blunting. SOLD
#15 FN+ £225 Superior copy with rich glossy cover colour; staples are firmly attached. Minor edge wear only; white to off-white pages. Minor corner blunting and a small crease across bottom left cover corner does not break colour. SOLD
#16 FN £180 Lovely copy with rich cover colour; staples are firmly attached. Minor edge wear only, including a couple of small creases at spine which do not break colour. Minor corner blunting; off white pages.  

*Marvel: Joining the Avengers during the ‘Cap’s Kookie Quartet’ phase, the Swordsman was a swashbuckling crusader introduced to the team by departed Avenger Iron Man – or so our heroes thought! Actually, his whole backstory was a ruse, and the Swordsman was an agent of the Mandarin, sent to destroy the team from within. His deception exposed, the Swordsman spent the next several years as a member of various villainous teams, before redeeming himself, dying heroically, and marrying Mantis. (Yes, in that order. The Seventies were a strange time in comics.) Since then, of course, he’s returned from the dead, and developed an elaborate retcon involving his being either Hawkeye’s mentor or long-lost brother, depending on who’s in charge of continuity in any given week. Investors should note his apparent appearances in the recent Hawkeye TV show. Here is his first two-part story, from the Good Doctor Collection copies of Avengers #19 & #20, both bearing the Marvel Pop Art logo. More from the Good Doctor Collection next week!
PICTURED: AVENGERS
#19 VG- p £48 Pence printed, with corner blunting and small colour-breaking creases across the top and bottom right edge s of the cover and along the spine. Firmly attached staples and reasonable off-white pages.
#20 VG+ p £40 Pence printed, corner blunting with small colour-breaking creases at spine and a longer one across the logo, but rich cover colour, firm staples and nice page quality. A solid, clean copy.

*Marvel: A Frankenstein copy of a comic is where pieces from two or more copies have been combined to make a complete issue. Not a particularly pleasing process, but the results can be remarkable, and, if priced correctly, can result in real bargains. This copy of Journey Into Mystery #87, Thor’s fifth outing, is a good example. The beautiful cover has rich and vivid glossy orange and other colours, and virtually no wear except for a faint reading crease in from the spine which does not break colour. The edges are sharp, and the white pages are immaculate. Ordinarily, VF would be a conservative grade for this copy, which, unmolested, would price at £600-700. But then we come to the Frankenstein part. The right edge looks like it’s had a micro-trim and is very sharp, while the pages hang down a couple of mm below the bottom cover edge, correspondingly short of the top cover edge by the same amount. It’s almost certain therefore that the inside pages have been lined up with the staple holes to match the staple holes on the cover, and the centrefold is just coming loose at the bottom staple, tell-tale signs that the interiors have been remounted on to a cover from another copy that does not exactly match up staple hole wise. Nevertheless, a chance to acquire a beautiful looking copy at a bargain price. 
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #87 App VF £200 SOLD

*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. Star took over the venerable title Blue Bolt in 1949 (previously it had been a classic anthology title starring the titular character, with much work by Simon & Kirby, Everett etc, lasting throughout the war years and beyond). By the time we got to the penultimate issue, #118, Blue Bolt himself was long gone and the emphasis of the series had changed to horror, according to the zeitgeist of the time. Indeed, the title was rebranded as Ghostly Weird Stories from #120 onwards. Contents include two stylish horror shorts by Jay Disbrow plus reprints of Fox science-fiction and jungle stories with horror overtones. But it’s the wonderful L B Cole cover for which this issue is prized. This is a very nice copy with excellent cover colour and gloss, tight and flat with staples firm at spine and centrefold and beautiful white to off-white supple pages. There is minimal wear around the lower staple and a tiny colour-breaking crease across the extreme of the right cover bottom corner. A soft crease of 5 cm length is at lower cover centre, but this only threatens to break colour for half its length with the light at a specific angle; this is a tough one to call. There is one further very faint soft crease up a couple of cms from the bottom edge, which does not break colour. Older than me, and has worn considerably better! High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: BLUE BOLT WEIRD TALES #118 VG/FN £540 SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: A round-up of various titles in this category this week, including the coolly stylish Lone Rider, Pearson’s Picture Stories of World War II and Secret Agent, a single issue of the rare and keenly pursued Pocket Chiller Library, three late Super Detective with Buck Ryan and the Shadow (not that one), two footballing issues of Tiger Sports, TV Picture Stories with the Buccaneers, Valiant (#5) and a couple of War At Sea. Something for most tastes; full details in our catalogue.
PICTURED:
LONE RIDER PICTURE LIBRARY #3 FN £12
POCKET CHILLER LIBRARY #122 GD £6
TV PICTURE STORIES: THE BUCCANEERS #1 GD/VG £10

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: More than 10 issues of Picture Romance Library added this week between #393 and #406, still in the mid 1960s and nearing the end of the publication run by Pearson’s (soon to be taken over by Newnes). Very mixed condition on these, but all okay. The cover artist was still experimenting with likenesses of pop and film stars on the covers until the bitter end.
PICTURED: PICTURE ROMANCE LIBRARY #404 VF £8

*DC: We don’t often turn to DC for our Horror Fest updates, but this week is an exception. It was only three weeks ago that I was writing here that we seldom see issues of Sensation Mystery through our hands, and like buses, a second one has now turned up in quick succession. Continuing the numbering from Sensation Comics, this issue, #113 from 1953, features a tale of the supernatural adventurer  Johnny Peril (a sort of John Constantine prototype), as shown on the striking cover, as well as several beautifully crafted tales of horror and mystery by some of DC’s finest creators of the time. Sadly, a low grade copy due to the covers being detached and separated, but not in bad nick apart from that.
PICTURED: SENSATION MYSTERY #113 FA £45 SOLD

*Marvel: Our second visit to the Good Doctor Collection this week features the second and third issues of the first Iron Man series from 1968. In #2, Shell-Head comes up against the Demolisher, while in #3 there is a re-match with the Freak, a transformed Happy Hogan. Stories by Archie Goodwin with art by EC alumnus Johnny Craig. Two very presentable copies.
PICTURED: IRON MAN
#2 FN/VF £90 Tight, flat and glossy with firm staples, off-white pages and very minor edge wear. SOLD
#3 VF- £90 Tight, flat and glossy with firm staples, white to off-white pages and very little wear.

*Marvel:  Rounding up some loose ends from recently-acquired Marvel Silver Age collections, we have six excellent issues which show that not everything costs hundreds of pounds these days.
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
CAPTAIN AMERICA #112 GD- £4.50 Last Kirby Silver Age issue
DAREDEVIL #10 FA £6.50 by Wally Wood
DAREDEVIL #15 FN+ £40 (PICTURED) Re-Match with the Ox; Romita warming up for Spider-Man
HULK #109 FN/VF p £25 With Ka-Zar in the Savage Land
NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD #12 VG+ p £8.50 Barry Smith art
X-MEN #66 GD/VG p £23.25 Vs the Hulk; final new story of Silver Age series

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: This week, we commence our 1954 listing of Lion, the ‘King Of Picture Story Papers’ with the first quarter, all 13 issues from January to March. From an original owner collection, these are all VG to VG/FN at £4 to £4.50 each. The inevitable rusty staples are not too much in evidence with only minimal bleed. As Lion succinctly put it in one of their straplines: ‘School, War, Detective & Adventure Picture Stories.’ See our catalogue for full details.

*DC: The latest in our Legion of Super-Heroes event is Adventure Comics #300, in which Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes replaced Tales of the Bizarro World as the regular back-up feature to Superboy and starred on the cover. Although the Legion had been around as supporting characters for a few years, it was really here and in the 80 issue run that followed that the lore of the Legion, so beloved by its fans (of which I’m one) really started. This low grade copy has a loose centrefold, small label removal scuff over Comics Code Box, and is a little worn and dog-eared, but the classic cover image is strong. Also available in this update is Superboy #147 from several years later, which told the full origin of the Legion for the first time.
PICTURED: ADVENTURE COMICS #300 GD- p £30 SOLD
ALSO IN THIS UPDATE: SUPERBOY #147 GD P £5

*Marvel: This week, we’re celebrating Spidey’s arch-foe, the Green Goblin, with a series of updates spotlighting Goblins Green, Hob & Red, kicking off with the big one from the Totally Amazing Spider-Man Collection  (as launched last week). ‘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 beautiful FN- pence printed copy of a comic which is continually rising in value, clean, flat and glossy, with tight and firmly-attached staples and deep, rich colours. There is a little corner blunting and very minor edge wear and the tiniest corner off the bottom right corner edge (you can see this best in the splash image below); creasing is restricted to a couple of short marks in the masthead area which do not break colour. Nice off-white page quality and a copy that presents very well. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #14 FN- p £2,475 SOLD

*Marvel: In Amazing Spider-Man #179, Spidey comes up against not only the Green Goblin, but also Silvermane in this lovely copy from the prestigious US Edenwald Collection (including certificate of verification and authenticity, which gives the history of this collection). CGC 9.6 (NM+), unrestored blue label with white pages and a totally undamaged case.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #179 CGC 9.6 NM+ £80 SOLD

*Marvel: This week, a ‘look back in wonder’ to Avengers #9 and the introduction of Wonder Man. One of the things that ‘everyone knows’ – which means it’s only 50% likely to be true at best – is that when Marvel introduced Wonder Man as a misunderstood reluctant villain, DC, who of course publish Wonder Woman, said ‘Oi! No!’, and forced Marvel to kill off Wonder Man for fear of reprisals from DC (whose distributors were also handling Marvel at the time). Later, when Marvel were free from DC’s yoke, they reintroduced Wonder Man, giving Simon Williams a convoluted history of being related to both the villainous Grim Reaper and the android Vision (family dinners are a right larf in the Marvel Universe…), and establishing him as a long-running Avenger and star of his own series. This is where Wonder Man’s strange history began, and this is a very decent cents copy, with minor spine wear and a tiny chip out at the bottom of the spine. Nice cover colour and gloss and an unmarked cover image. There are soft creases at the edge of the top and bottom right corners, which do not break colour. Very nice white to off-white pages with firm staples at spine and centre. A good-looking copy that presents well.
PICTURED: AVENGERS #9 FN- £320 SOLD

*Marvel: Following on from last week’s update featuring the first half of the Silver Surfer issues that were normal-sized after the earlier giant issues, we now present the rest of the run from #13 to #18, the end of the series. In #13, the Surfer comes up against the Doomsday Man, #14 has a battle with Spider-Man, #15 with the Human Torch, #16 a return engagement with Mephisto, in #17 the Surfer is beset by SHIELD and in #18, the only issue drawn by his co-creator Jack Kirby, he fights the Inhumans. Will he ever find peace? Will he ever regain his lost love? Will he ever stop whinging? Some of the answers may await you in these pages. 
IN THIS UPDATE: SILVER SURFER
#13 VG+ £37 SOLD
#14 VG+ p £75 (PICTURED)
#15 VF+ £160  (PICTURED)
#16 VG+ £55 (PICTURED)
#17 VG £37
#18 VG+ p £45 (PICTURED)

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby famously produced a wealth of material in the 1940s and 1950s in a wide variety of genres. Headline Comics from Prize started out in 1943 as a boy super-hero/adventure series, but was reinvented by Simon & Kirby in 1947 as a crime series, in keeping with a popular trend of the time. We have five consecutive examples in this week, all with varying amounts of Simon & Kirby work present, and all with sleazy gun-moll covers, most of them wearing red dresses…
PICTURED: HEADLINE COMICS
#27 VG £55 Minor chipping top corner, partly-erased owner’s name above logo, but nice off-white pages, bright cover colour & gloss. SOLD
#28 GD £30 Staples weak, but attached. Lower back & front cover have diagonal creases, other fine front cover creases do not break cover colour; clean off-white interiors. Small ink mark upper cover edge, 1 cm tear mid-right cover edge. SOLD
#29 VG £55 Not glossy, but cover colours unfaded. 2 cm tear right front cover edge. Generally sound and attractive.
#30 VG+ £65 Clean sound copy, firm staples, no significant defects other than general age-related wear.
#31 GD- £25 Presentable, decent interiors, but some front cover chipping upper right and lower left. SOLD

*Marvel UK: There’s quite a lot to say about these copies of Mighty World Of Marvel #1 & #2 from 1972. They are, of course, the very first comics published by Marvel UK and reprint the first appearances of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk. These copies are in VF and FN/VF condition respectively, high grades we are very seldom able to apply to Marvel UK comics, due to the quality of the paper they were printed on. Both issues contain cut-out coupons for a special offer, and we’re delighted to say that these are perfectly intact in these examples. Best of all, the Free Gifts (T-Shirt Transfers of the Hulk in #1, Spider-Man in #2) are included, Hulk in VF with just  a little bit of creasing at the edges, Spider-Man in NM); these, when they do turn up, are usually more worn and crinkled than these copies. I doubt these will be with us long, so your early attention is advised.
PICTURED: MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL BOTH SOLD
#1 VF WITH FREE GIFT VF £150
#2 FN/VF WITH FREE GIFT NM £100