*Marvel: The Claremont & Cockrum New X-Men was already a critical hit when #101 turned up, and in a dramatic turn of events, Jean Grey, former weak sister of the team, was elevated into a powerhouse when a cosmic ray storm seemed to transform her into the entity known as Phoenix – and a major, ultimately tragic, story arc for the X-Men began. The legend was somewhat tarnished in later years by Marvel’s back & forth position on whether Jean actually was the Phoenix, or whether the Phoenix force just manifested itself in her form (with a swingin’ new costume), but nevertheless, this remains a key and highly sought after issue. A lower-graded pence printed copy, with long vertical creases on the back cover and some fading to the red title box in the top left cover corner; there is a bit of a dink in that area which might suggest some historical water damage, but this is not certain. The rest of the cover has strong, vivid colour and gloss. There is a small colour-breaking crease across the extreme corner of the top right cover and a couple of faint creases in the logo area. All in all, a copy which looks much nicer than the grade suggests.
PICTURED: X-MEN #101 GD/VG p £175 SOLD

*Marvel: The saving grace following the loss of Jack Kirby to DC after around Fantastic Four #100 was that one of Marvel’s other heavy hitters, John Buscema, was ready to step in to take his place, and the continued smooth inking of Joe Sinnott made the transition as seamless as possible. All issues from #101 to #125 added this week (except #120), including clashes with the Sub-Mariner, Magneto, Annihilus, the Overmind, Dr. Doom, Galactus and others, and featuring the Black Panther and the Silver Surfer. Of paramount interest is #112, featuring another titanic Hulk Vs Thing clash. Notoriously difficult to find in decent grade due to the rich black background, our new copy is mid-grade, pence printed, with some edge wear comprising fine colour-breaking creases, good staples and page quality and cover colour. In keeping with copies of this issue, the cover shows every little mark, including a line of faint wear between the two protagonists, but nothing too bad.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #112 VG+ £75 SOLD

*Marvel: What’s Old is our feature where we highlight stuff from our catalogue that you may have missed. This week, a high grade copy of Amazing Spider-Man #91, ‘To Smash The Spider’, where, following the death of Gwen Stacy’s father, the insidious and nasty character Bullit turns the world against Spidey. Pence stamped, this outstanding copy is tight, flat and glossy, white pages, great staples, sharp corners, excellent colour; just the tiniest vestige of handling wear at the right cover edge prevents a NM or higher.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #91 VF/NM p £125

*Gold Key/Whitman: I guess you have to be getting on for my age to remember the original TV run of Gerry Anderson’s puppet Series Fireball XL5 from 1962; it was the one that came between Supercar and Stingray and featured the crew of the eponymous spaceship: Commander/Pilot Steve Zodiac, Doctor Venus, Prof Matthew Matic and co-pilot Robby the Robot. Celebrated in UK comic strip form in TV Comic and TV Century 21, there was only one outing in an American comic: Gold Key’s ‘Steve Zodiac and the Fireball XL5’ from 1963. A lovely copy on offer here, with stunning painted cover in superior condition.
PICTURED: STEVE ZODIAC AND THE FIREBALL XL5 FN/VF £45 SOLD

*Modern Reprints: One for EC completists here. The classic EC comics of the 1950s have been reprinted many times in many different formats, but only once in this enormous size. There were a series of six EC Portfolios issued by Russ Cochran in the early 1970s. Measuring 29cm by 42 cm, these reprinted the most famed EC stories in crisp black and white (with colour covers and some colour cover reprints within), these showcased the EC classic artists at a size where their mastery could really be appreciated. We have three of them fresh into stock: #2, #4 & #6, all in really nice condition. Frazetta, Kurtzman, Davis, Krigstein, Wood, Toth, Ingels and Williamson all await you, nearly as large as life!
PICTURED: EC PORTFOLIO
#2 VF £60
#4 VF £40
#6 VF £40

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: Streamline (United Anglo-American) was one of the UK publishers who reprinted American comics in the UK in the 1950s, when they were not imported here. They covered a wide range of genres and were unique in that a lot of their output was in full colour (although some issues were part colour/part black and white and others were all black and white). Frustratingly for collectors, few of their comics bore issue numbers, and mindful of that, we have started to list the lead story names in our catalogue. This update: Abbott & Costello, Blazing West, Charlie Chan, Crime Detective, Heroes & Justice Traps The Guilty. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: CHARLIE CHAN VG/FN £10

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: More than 30 Battle Picture Libraries added this week, from 1970 and #478 through to the end of the pre-decimal era with #520 (many of the later issues are dual priced). Although these stories mostly had one-off protagonists, there were some recurring features including Maddock’s Marauders, Top Sergeant Ironside and Battler Britton. From a newsagent’s uncirculated stock, these are in astonishing condition, averaging FN/VF. As always, please consult our catalogue for full details.

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Post-war there was a boom in British ‘pulp’ publishing and while many publications veered towards what has become known as ‘gangster pulps’ or science fiction, there were other curiosities too, showcasing wonderful cover art. Such examples are these pulp-like booklets of romantic adventure, all from the late 1940s, each 32-64 pages in length, all cover illustrated by Oliver Brabbins, who signed his work ‘Brab’ and is a well-known exponent of cover art in gangster and good/bad girl material from this period. Originally selling at 6-9 old pence, these are all published by Hamilton except the last example from Paget. The authors and their stories may be mainly forgotten now, but these are collected for the stylish art, which lives on.  
PICTURED:
ENCHANTED LOVE by June Bryony 1st UK GD/VG £7
ROMANCE IN ALGIERS by Netta Grey 1st UK VG £8
MOONLIGHT IN VENICE by Ann Morrow 1st UK VG/FN £10
HIS SECRET REVEALED by William Newton 1st UK VG £8
WANDERING GIRL by Blanche Ward 1st UK GD/VG £7
DANGEROUS BACHELOR by Jean Wattson 1st UK VG/FN £10
DANCING WITH DANGER by Peter Webb 1st UK FN £12

*DC: The best-received of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World at the time of its release, Mister Miracle told the story of Scott Free, a child of New Genesis who was raised in the fire-pits of Apokalips, in an exchange of royal hostages between the two warring planets. Escaping from Apokalips to Earth, Scott continued his adventures as the World’s Greatest Escape Artist, aided by his trusty companion Oberon, and continuing in the tradition of the previous Mister Miracle, a travelling escapologist. The combination of super-heroics, showmanship and space-opera made for a compelling read, and Mister Miracle, like the rest of Kirby’s 1970s creations, has continued to have a resounding impact on the DC Universe since his inception. Lots of issues included in this update (see our catalogue), but particularly featured are his debut (#1) and the first appearance of his paramour and wife-to-be, Big Barda in #4.
PICTURED: MISTER MIRACLE
#1 FN p £110 Nice clean and glossy copy, excellent pages and staples, just a small dink at the top of the spine. SOLD
#4 FN- p £50 Nice copy with minor handling wear, excellent pages and staples, small biro pen price on cover. SOLD

*Marvel: Rumour has it that Warlock’s debut in the MCU isn’t far off, so here’s his first appearance as Him from Fantastic Four #67. In the previous issue, we were introduced to a mysterious cocooned figure who emerged in this issue as ‘Him’, a being of almost godlike power. Later, he would be named Warlock and would enjoy a chequered career of critical acclaim, but haphazard commercial success, coming into his own with Jim Starlin’s controversial series of the 1970s. This is a cents copy, marred by small spine splits at top and bottom, with some tanning at the edges of the white cover and what looks like a vestigial subscription crease breaking colour for about 4 cm down the centre of the cover. Nevertheless, it presents fairly well, has good tight staples and nice off-white pages.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR #67 VG- £135 SOLD

*Marvel: A couple of early issues of the Avengers in low grade this week. First up, #7, pence printed, in which the Enchantress turns Thor against his team-mates; secondly, #11, pence stamped, guest-starring the one and only Spider-Man and featuring the menace of Kang, upcoming Big Bad in the MCU. Not much better than reading copies, but nice gap-fillers. 
PICTURED: AVENGERS
#7 FA/GD p £42 Lower spine split almost half way up, off bottom staple, worn cover edges, with creasing to bottom right corner; cover otherwise unmarked. Small chips out back cover; pages not too bad.
#11 FA/GD p £50 Some colour breaking creases to the right edge of the cover and a corner off at the bottom of the spine (see scan). Otherwise not too bad with okay staples and pages. SOLD

*Marvel: What’s Old is our feature where we highlight stuff from our catalogue that you may have missed. We understand that the Wrecking Crew are main villains in the upcoming She-Hulk TV series, so we’re pleased to highlight in this slot this week the second appearance of the Wrecker himself in this lovely copy of Thor #149. Tight, flat and glossy, with great cover colour and sharp corners, white to off-white pages, excellent staples and totally unmarked cover, this cents copy is a joy. Edge wear is restricted to a tiny trace along the top edge only, but that’s us being picky. 
PICTURED: THOR #149 VF/NM £85

*Marvel: A chunky update to many titles in our Marvel inventory this week from the Silver to Bronze Ages, mostly lowish grade but with several gems. Titles are: Amazing Adventures (from #11, with first mutated Beast), Captain Marvel, Daredevil (#13), Doctor Strange (2nd series), Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Inhumans, Iron Man (#7), Marvel Premiere #27 with Satana, Marvel Spotlight (1st series #12 with Son Of Satan series beginning with origin), Nova, Silver Surfer (1st series), Skull the Slayer, Super-Villain Team-Up (inc 1st Shroud in #5), Thor & Warlock. As always, consult our catalogue for full details.

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: The short-lived (9 issues) series Dynamite from Comic Media started out in 1953 as a generic, but tough, crime comic before introducing the titular character Johnny Dynamite in issue #3. Starkly and brilliantly portrayed by the unique Pete Morisi, the one-eyed private eye was billed as: ‘He’s Rough! He’s Tough! He’s Dynamite!” and the comic was filled with such cosy themes as drugs, prostitution and injury to eye incidents. It wasn’t just horror that was Pre-Code! Most issues fresh into stock, mostly in low and very affordable grades. Check out our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: DYNAMITE #8 VG £40 SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Five Boys’ #1 issues this week, all between 1974 and 1978. Okay copies, with grades from GD to GD/VG and priced accordingly. Sadly, there are no free gifts present with these.
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
ACTION #1 GD/VG £20
BATTLE #1 GD £10
BULLET #1 GD/VG £15
SCOOP #1 GD £5
WARLORD #1 GD £15

*Humour Comics: Although starting out in 1939 as mostly a Humour title and rival to Dandy & Beano (which is why we list it in our Humour category), after the second World War more and more adventure strips started appearing, so that by the time of the issues featured in this update, it was really what we would term a Boys’ Adventure & War title. Many stories featured known media characters such as Davy Crockett, Hopalong Cassidy and Sexton Blake, and there were quality originals as well, such as master pilot Johnny Wingco, Battler Britton, science fiction thrills with Space Family Rollinson, Thunderbolt Jaxon, Firebrand the Red Knight and more. Of course, some humour strips remained, most famously Billy Bunter, but by 1956 the adventure stories had taken over the cover and set the tone for the remainder of the series. In this update, a batch from 1960 and 1961. 
PICTURED: KNOCKOUT 21/5/65 VG £5 SOLD

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Violet Paget, who wrote under the name of Vernon Lee, was born in 1856 and died in 1935. She was a noted student and authority on Italian drama, poetry, music and art of the 18th century, and wrote many books on this period. She also wrote horror/ghost stories with an elegance and eloquence of style, with a flowing, almost poetical nature to her prose. Set in the period and place she knew best, these are macabre stories of ghosts, obsessions and revenge. We have two of her collections published by Corgi in paperback in 1962 with striking covers by Fritz Wegner; they’re both uncommon. 
PICTURED: by VERNON LEE
THE VIRGIN OF THE SEVEN DAGGERS 1st UK PB Corgi 1962 VG/FN £10
RAVENNA AND HER GHOSTS 1st UK PB Corgi 1962 VG £10 (back cover scuff)

*DC/Marvel: The late 1990s was a rich time of collaboration between the two giants of the comics field, with the huge DC vs Marvel series, loads of cross company team-ups and, strangest of all, the two series of Amalgam Comics from 1996 and 1997. These feature fascinating hybrid characters such as the Dark Claw, Spider-Boy, Super-Soldier, JLX, Dr. Strangefate etc. Great fun and cheap as chips. Lots of these fresh in this week; consult our catalogue for details. It’s a great shame we haven’t seen such collaborative efforts since.

*Marvel: When Len Wein & Dave Cockrum relaunched the X-Men with Giant-Sized X-Men in 1975, the previously failed franchise rapidly became the hot comic of the 1970s, with Chris Claremont taking over the writing reins for the regular series. Later on, John Byrne took over the art chores when Cockrum couldn’t commit to a monthly schedule and the run, up to the end of his tenure (#143), remains one of the strongest sequences in comics history. We have three consecutive early Cockrum issues new in this week, #104-106, featuring encounters with Magneto, Firelord and the old X-Men (?). #104 additionally features the first cameo appearance of the Starjammers, while the nascent Phoenix stars in #105. All three issues are lovely cents copies, around the VF mark with minimal corner wear; all bright, fresh copies. 
PICTURED: X-MEN
#104 VF £90
#105 VF+ £50
#106 VF- £33

*Marvel: Ms. (later Captain) Marvel, Carol Danvers, had left the Avengers in issue #200, in a controversial and rather offensive departure which raised the hackles of fandom assembled, utterly subverting the character’s independent agenda. In Avengers Annual #10, Chris Claremont ‘fixed’ the storyline, with an amnesiac and powerless Carol being rescued by Spider-Woman, and the discovery of her escape and reawakening commencing. It was a rather skilful job, assisted by the moody, evocative, and too-seldom-seen art of Mike Golden, plus, when the villains of the issue arrived – the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants – they had a spanking-new member, Rogue, who was the reason for Carol’s confused and powerless state. Rogue, of course, swiftly moved to the ‘light side’, joining the X-Men and becoming a key character in the comics and on the silver screen – and this is where she got her start, but the issue has more to offer than only that, including also the first appearance of X-Men favourite Madeline Prior. Ignore the rather messy and bitty cover; the interior’s a gem! A lovely high grade glossy copy, with just a handful of soft, non colour-breaking spine ticks preventing an even higher grade.
PICTURED: AVENGERS ANNUAL #10 VF+ £125

*Marvel: What’s Old is our feature where we highlight stuff from our catalogue that you may have missed. Jazzy Johnny Romita really excelled himself with the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #66, one of my favourites of his tenure on the wall-crawler. Appropriately enough for a special effects artist and illusionist, Mysterio is one of the most visually striking of Spidey’s Rogues’ Gallery, and this great-looking issue does not disappoint. This cents copy is a very respectable mid-grade, with some spine/reading wear, but nice cover colour and gloss, tight firm staples and decent off-white pages.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #66 VG £60

*Gold Key/Whitman: The classic pulp hero Doc Savage first appeared in that medium in the 1930s and went on to feature in radio, film, comics and most famously paperback books. His first post-Golden Age comic appearance came in Gold Key’s Doc Savage #1, a one-shot from 1966 by Leo Dorfman and Jack Sparling, with a fabulous painted wraparound cover by James Bama, illustrator of the paperback book covers. This is a nice copy of this uncommon issue with vivid cover colour, tight staples, nice off-white pages and several small spine ticks. It’s let down a little by a thumbnail-size corner missing from the bottom right of the cover (see scan), but since the back cover is a logo-free version of the front, you get the complete image there. 
PICTURED: DOC SAVAGE #1 VG £50 SOLD

*Alan Class Reprints: It’s the turn of Creepy Worlds in our Alan Class spotlight this week, as we feature both certificated file copies from the Alan Class archives, plus many issues in our regular listing. Mostly this update concentrates on the later part of the long run of this title, with issues from the last 100, including the final issue #249. Plenty of Kirby and Ditko (including Captain Atom) along the way plus Phantom appearances and 100 page issues. Creepy Worlds (along with Secrets Of The Unknown) shares the distinction of being the earliest Alan Class titles and remains just about the best-selling one. 

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: More Lions from 1952 this week, the first year of publication. Issues #6-10 run from 29th March to 26th April, and feature science-fiction with the cover-featured Captain Condor, school adventure with Sandy Dean and the Jungle Robot (later Robot Archie), plus many other strips and features. Nice flat copies from an original owner collection in a uniform VG with the inevitable rusty staples (minimal bleed). See our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: LION 19/4/52 (#9) VG £15 SOLD

*Humour Comics: Two of the nicest large-sized Summer Specials we’ve ever seen in terms of condition this week: Beano from 1970 and 1971. Flat, never folded, with only the tiniest edge wear, these copies retain 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 these giant edition came out and being given them for your summer holiday reading pleasure? (We also have a low grade 1971, with cover tears and dog-eared corners, fresh in GD £15 for those on a budget).
PICTURED: BEANO SUMMER SPECIAL
1970 FN/VF £45
1971 FN/VF £30