*DC: From the Bute Collection this week, Showcase #1, starring the Fire Fighters featuring Fireman Farrell. Whilst Farrell didn’t go on to bigger things (unless you know something I don’t) he did make occasional subsequent appearances in the DCU, and was right here to launch this legendary series that gave birth to many DC super-stars, including Flash, Green Lantern, the Atom, Challengers of the Unknown and many more. Bearing in mind Farrell’s relative non-stardom in relation to those, completist collectors may be relieved to learn that this is only a Poor copy at the fraction of the price of a decent one. The front cover is taped on to the body of the comic with old tape along most of the spine, which also extends to seal cover tears; there is also tape reinforcement along top and bottom edges. The back cover is missing, but all pages are present and the staples hold the comic together fairly firmly. 
PICTURED: SHOWCASE #1 PR £100 SOLD

*Marvel: Three quality issues of Amazing Spider-Man from the Good Doctor Collection this week, featuring some of Spidey’s less common antagonists.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#80 FN+ p £50 Chameleon. Pence printed. Nice sound copy with good colour and gloss. Just tiny edge wear and a minor amount of wear at the spine in the masthead box.
#81 FN p £40 1st Kangaroo. Pence stamped. Minor spine and handling wear, but decent copy.
#93 VG+ £35 Prowler. Minor spine and handling wear, but decent copy. 

*IW/Super: We continue with our series of updates from that most esoteric publisher IW/Super. IW Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s, named for the company’s owner Israel Waldman. Comics were published under both the IW and Super imprints and were notable for publishing unauthorised Golden Age reprints of other company’s properties. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. Basically, it seemed to be whatever they could get their hands on that determined the esoteric nature of their output. Thus you get super-heroes, war, romance, western, funny animals, crime, horror, science fiction and just about every genre within their pages. Full details of what was reprinted in what are listed in our website catalogue. NB usually with newly-drawn covers. Over the next few months, we’ll be presenting a series of issues from this publisher. This week, two horror issues from the Daring Adventures series. The first, #9, is out and out horror, reprinting pre-code horror; the second, #15, features a KKK type gang from the old west, plus dark crime stories, all with horror undertones.
PICTURED: DARING ADVENTURES BOTH SOLD
#9 FN £40 Reprints Blue Bolt Weird Tales Of Terror #115, Star 1952. Redrawn cover of Avon’s Eerie #6. Art by Disbrow and others. 
#15 FN £45 Reprints The Hooded Menace, Avon 1951. New cover by Joe Simon (?)

*Western: If you’re a fan of ageing Western TV and movie stars gadding about in fancy shirts in a Wild West that never quite was, then these four issues of Hopalong Cassidy from the Midas Collection will be just the thing for you. Hop (William Boyd) started out in comic form from Fawcett in 1943, moving to DC with issue #86 in 1954, lasting until #135 in 1959. Great art by the estimable Gene Colan and Gil Kane. Photo covers on early DC issues.
PICTURED: HOPALONG CASSIDY ALL SOLD
#86 GD £29 1st DC issue
#99 GD £12
#124 VG £10 Fabulous greytone cover
#131 VG £10 

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Three more books by Damon Knight new to our listings this week, showing two sides to this multi-faceted stalwart of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Natural State is a book of three long stories; Turning On  is a book of several of Knight’s short stories; A Pocketful of Stars is an anthology edited by Knight including short stories by Bova, Dickson, Ellison, Leiber, Laumer, and many more.
PICTURED: DAMON KNIGHT
NATURAL STATE AND OTHER STORIES Pan 1975 1st UK PB thus VG £3
TURNING ON Sphere 1969 1st UK PB VG £4
A POCKETFUL OF STARS Gollancz 1972 1st UK HC FN £10 With DJ FN in removeable archival film

*DC: Probably the most famous cover in all the run on this week’s Superman release from the Midas Collection. From 1942, Superman #14 features the Man of Steel on the cover with an American eagle and a backdrop of the American flag in the form of a shield. The black background features weapons of war and indeed the USA was just on the brink of entering the war when this issue went on sale in November 1941; Pearl Harbour was just a month away. Cover by Frank Ray. Four stories here, all by Jerry Siegel with art by Leo Nowak (signed as by Joe Shuster). Clark Kent uncovers robbery by hypnotism over the radio; Superman investigates the schemes of an invention thief; he then encounters a mermaid whose father’s evil adviser is planning to invade the surface world; Superman responds to a lightning storm over Metropolis and the menace of the super-villain Lightning Master.
There are two main defects with this copy: the cover is detached (cleanly) at both staples and there is a slight mark over the ‘U’ and the ‘P’ (and the eagle’s wing) in the logo where a label had previously been attached – see scan. The spine is solid (tiny nick at base) apart from the staple holes. The cover’s black background would show every flaw, but fortunately there aren’t too many – just a couple of stress marks at spine, tiny nicks at edges and corners and a couple of chips out of the right edge. The year ‘1942’ has been written in pencil above the issue number in its circle. The centrefold is loose and a date and name have been written/printed in upper and lower margins on the splash page. Pages are a supple off-white to cream with some foxing at the very edges. Overall the copy presents very well for a lower-graded example. High resolution images are available on request. 
PICTURED: SUPERMAN #14 GD £2,000

*Marvel: There must have been something in the stars for Dr Doom and the number 5; after debuting in Fantastic Four #5, he turns up in Amazing Spider-Man #5 to take on everyone’s favourite friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler. How can Spidey beat the monarch of Latveria? Well… he can’t actually, but I don’t want to spoil the ending for you. This CGC copy is graded at 3.0 (GD/VG), a blue label unrestored copy with cream to off-white pages. Case perfect. Good colour cover. CGC Serial number: 3954525005. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #5 CGC 3.0 (GD/VG) £700

*Marvel: Two classic chapters in the X-Men’s confrontation with the Hellfire Club from the Good Doctor Collection this week. In #132, the X-Men fall one by one as Jean Grey becomes the Hellfire Club’s Black Queen, leaving Wolverine to fight alone in #133. Okay, so it might owe a lot to Emma Peel, but still two of the finest comics of the era.
PICTURED: X-MEN
#132 VF+ p £55 Jean Grey becomes Black Queen. Pence printed, superb copy with great colour and gloss, just very minor corner wear.
#133 VF+ p £65 Wolverine alone. Pence printed, superb copy with great colour and gloss, just very minor corner wear. SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: It’s quite rare that we stray into the 21st Century (here late 20th) for our stock, but for Alan Moore, we’ll make an exception. Moore created, in conjunction with artist Kevin O’Neill, a Victorian era combination of characters from famous literary works: Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man and so forth. This unlikely and reluctant alliance faced down foes in two mini-series, then resurfaced periodically from various publishers in a number of one-offs, original graphic novels and spin-offs. The subject of a controversial film (which Moore publicly disavowed and condemned, and which is rumoured to have caused star Sean Connery to retire from acting!), the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics and graphic novels are of a much higher quality. Even if, over the intervening years, Moore’s narrative techniques have become ever more esoteric and oblique, there is much entertainment to be had in his shameless plundering of popular culture. This week we feature the debut of the characters in the very first volume in the series, wherein the disparate group is assembled to stop a gang war between Fu Manchu and Professor Moriarty.
PICTURED: LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN VOL 1 #1 NM; Complete Set #1-6 all NM £50 SOLD

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: This week’s release of Love Story Picture Library, the longest running romance picture library from Fleetway, comprises 10 issues from 1968, between #666 to #684. The series always maintained a high standard and the very accomplished art reflected the fashions and mood of the times. Virtually no touch of rust on the staples of these nice copies, but some creasing or puckering on a few copies.
IN THIS UPDATE: LOVE STORY PICTURE LIBRARY ALL SOLD
#666 VF £7
#667 VF £7 (PICTURED)
#668 VG/FN £4.50
#669 FN £5
#670 FN/VF £6
#680 FN/VF £6
#681 VF £7
#682 FN £5
#683 VG/FN £4.50
#684 VG £4

*DC: An historic issue of Detective Comics from 1942 from the Midas Collection this week. As well as the long Batman & Robin lead story The Three Racketeers, by Bill Finger and Bob Kane (Batman’s creator who also did the cover), there’s a whole variety of other sleuths at work, some perhaps names well-remembered and other lost to time: Spy, Cliff Crosby, the Crimson Avenger, Larry Steele, Air Wave & Slam Bradley. Nice Batplane cover. This copy comes originally from the Jerome Wenker Collection, as marketed by American dealer Terry O’Neill and comes with a certificate to that effect. It has a clean and sharp cover image with very few tiny marks. The spine is a bit worn but intact, except that the front cover is off at the lower staple. There are small tear marks in that area and similar at the upper staple, although this is still attached. The centrefold is also detached, but other than that the staples are fine. Pages are towards off-white and in good order. High resolution images are available on request.  
PICTURED: DETECTIVE COMICS #61 GD/VG £600

*DC: Unlike its sibling title House Of Mystery, House of Secrets started in 1956 after the Comics Code Authority came in, and thus has no pre-code issues. What it does boast is clever horror/mystery/science fiction stories by some top artists and often classic covers. These early issues from the Midas Collection are not often seen on these shores and we have a quintet of consecutive issues in mixed grade issues available. Among these issues are the earliest appearances of Mark Merlin, later Prince Ra-Man.
PICTURED: HOUSE OF SECRETS
#22 VG+ £28 Cover by Dick Dillin. Interior art by Bill Ely, Lee Elias, Martin Naydel & Mort Meskin. Nice quality copy with a reading crease breaking colour at spine and a little wear at top of spine. SOLD
#23 GD- £15 Cover by Bernard Baily. Interior art by Mort Meskin, George Roussos, Bernard Baily. Debut of Mark Merlin, occult detective. large corner off back cover; small chunk off top spine. Some colour breaking cover creases.
#24 FA/GD £10 Cover by Dick Dillin. Interior art by Mort Meskin, Bill Ely, Nick Cardy. Spine split 2/3rd of the way down. SOLD
#25 VG+ £28 Cover by Dick Dillin. Interior art by Bernard Baily, Bill Ely, Mort Meskin. Nice quality copy with just very moderate edge wear. 
#26 FN £37 Cover by Dick Dillin. Interior art by Mort Meskin, Bob Brown, Nick Cardy. Nice clean, sharp copy with a couple of tiny stress marks at spine.

*Marvel: From the period before Captain America joined Tales Of Suspense, where Iron Man was virtually the solo star, we present four early issues featuring debuts and early appearances of famous villains. The long Iron Man stories were backed up by fantasy/science fiction shorts, including the Tales Of The Watcher series.
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE ALL SOLD
#51 VG- p £60 1st Scarecrow. Pence printed. Nice unmarked cover image with good colour. Corner blunting, minor to moderate edge wear with some chipping to right edge. Faint dust shadow to upper right edge. Cream coloured pages with some edge tanning, as is the case with inside covers. Decent tight staples. 
#53 GD/VG p £60 2nd Black Widow, following Natasha’s debut in the previous issue. Also features the Origin of the Watcher. Pence printed. Nice unmarked cover image with good colour. Corner blunting with fairly minor edge wear, except that there are two small chunks off back cover, one in bottom right corner, and one at the top of the spine, resulting in an upper spine split of about 3 cm. Cream coloured pages with some minor edge tanning, as is the case with inside covers. Decent tight staples at centrefold; lower a little loose at spine. A couple of faint creases across top right cover which do not break colour.
#54 VG p £50 2nd Mandarin. Pence printed. Nice unmarked cover image with good colour. Very narrow dust shadow along right edge. Only very minor edge wear. Cover and centrefold off lower staple. Upper spine split of less than 2 cm. Cream coloured pages. Slight tanning at edges of inside covers. 
#55 VG+ p £60 3rd Mandarin. Contains extra 5 page feature ‘Inside Info About Iron Man’. Pence printed. Nice unmarked cover image with good colour. Very narrow dust shadow along right edge. Only very minor edge wear. Decent tight staples. Off-white to cream pages, minor to moderate tanning to inside covers.

*Marvel: In the wake of other Marvel hits starring occult characters, and with the Exorcist movie taking big box-office, Stan Lee had originally proposed a series starring Satan himself, but Roy Thomas commuted it to Satan’s offspring, a demon/human hybrid who used his evil-spawned power for good, in rebellion against his father. Daimon Hellstrom duly appeared in Ghost Rider #2 as an antagonist before moving into his own solo series in Marvel Spotlight, and then progressing to his own book. Daimon remains a prominent character today in the Marvel Universe, though he doesn’t use the Son of Satan soubriquet any more, and in these more sensitive times his origins are usually politely glossed over. We have a superb copy of Ghost Rider #2 new in from an original owner collection, pence printed, with bright colours and high gloss. No wear or marks, except for the tiniest dink at top of spine. Staples are tight and firm at spine and centrefold, and supple pages are white to off-white.
PICTURED: GHOST RIDER #2 VF/NM p £120 SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: Frank Miller’s Sin City burst on to the comics scene in 1991, firmly establishing the neo-noir mood he had built on in his earlier classic run on Daredevil and the seminal Dark Knight Returns. The original Sin City series (later entitled The Hard Goodbye) originally appeared in serial form in Dark Horse Presents, and in-between the series of mini-series that followed, there were a number of one-shots and specials, chock-full of the dark, seedy characters that inhabit the city and the locations that form it. The film noir influence on the series’ artwork is seen in its use of shadow and stark backgrounds. Black and white are the sole colours most of the time, with other colour used sparingly to highlight certain characters. The writing style also draws heavily on detective and crime pulp fiction. We’re delighted to present all six one-shots and specials, of varying length, in pristine condition from an original owner collection.
PICTURED: SIN CITY:  ALL SIX SPECIALS NM £35 THE SET SOLD
THE BABE WORE RED
A DECADE OF DARK HORSE #1 (contains Sin City, plus Predator & Grendel)
JUST ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT
LOST, LONELY AND LETHAL
SEX AND VIOLENCE
SILENT NIGHT

*Alan Class Reprints: 10 issues of Alan Class’s premier title Creepy Worlds fresh in this week, both pre and post decimal. These will be found in the regular stock section of this category.
IN THIS UPDATE: CREEPY WORLDS
#44 GD/VG £4.75 1st Captain Atom by Ditko
#78 VG £5.25
#92 FN £7.25 (PICTURED) Fly Special by Simon & Kirby
#135 VG £1.75
#137 VG £2
#138 VG £2
#147 GD/VG £1.75
#151 GD £1.75
#153 VG/FN £2
#155 FN £3

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for this books category, with an image for each book. This week, we reach authors from Kornbluth to Lafferty. C M Kornbluth is represented by a book of short stories and a collaboration with Frederik Pohl, with whom he wrote many books. Henry Kuttner, a cornerstone of the Golden Age of science fiction, died tragically young, and was another frequent collaborator, with his wife C L Moore; we have here four of his solo works, including three books of short stories and his famous novel Fury. Lastly, two novels of good reputation by R A Lafferty. More details, including condition notes, in our catalogue.
PICTURED:
C M KORNBLUTH: THE EXPLORERS Ballantine 1963 US PB GD £3 Short stories
C M KORNBLUTH & FREDERIK POHL: SEARCH THE SKY Digit 1959 1st UK PB VG £8 SOLD
HENRY KUTTNER: AHEAD OF TIME Four Square 1967 3rd UK PB GD/VG £4 Short stories
HENRY KUTTNER: FURY Mayflower Dell 1966 2nd UK PB GD £4 SOLD
HENRY KUTTNER: THE PROUD ROBOT Hamlyn 1983 1st UK PB GD/VG £5 The complete Galloway Gallagher short stories
HENRY KUTTNER: RETURN TO OTHERNESS Mayflower Dell 1965 1st UK PB GD £3 Short stories
R A LAFFERTY: FOURTH MANSIONS Ace 1969 1st US PB VG/FN £15
R A LAFFERTY: PAST MASTER Ace 1977 US PB 1st thus VG £12

*DC: Leading our Midas Collection updates this week, two encapsulated issues of Batman from 1955.
PICTURED: BATMAN
#89 CGC 3.5 VG- £175 Cream to off-white pages. Universal blue label (unrestored). CGC Serial Code 1018102025 Strong colour cover. NB this case has the Newton’s Rings aspect, where an apparent rainbow oily visual effect is caused between the outer and inner holder due to the refractive processes of two pieces of plastic coming together. The comic itself is, of course, unaffected. This is not considered to be a holder defect by CGC; more information is available on the internet. Nevertheless, for some people, this effect is unappealing and we have priced this issue to reflect that. Cover by Win Mortimer, interiors by Dick Sprang and Sheldon Moloff. Stories by Bill Finger. River Rogues – a Prof Nichols time travel story; The Seven Wonders Of The Underworld – criminal inventions; Bruce Wayne’s Aunt Agatha – Bruce’s aunt unmasks Batman. 
#93 CGC 5.0 VG/FN £200 Off-white pages, case perfect. Universal blue label (unrestored). CGC Serial Code 0792847002 Cover by Win Mortimer, all interiors by Dick Sprang. Stories by Bill Finger and Edmond Hamilton. Journey To The Top Of The World – Batman & Robin must recover a valuable microfilm from a mountain top; Batman, Baby-Sitter – Bruce’s cousin Jane drops off her child for Bruce to care for, whilst fighting crime; The Caveman Batman – Prof Nichols (again) sends Batman and Robin back in time to investigate evidence of man co-existing with dinosaurs (!).  
 

*DC: Some loose ends of favourite titles this week in very affordable, lowish grades.
IN THIS UPDATE: ALL SOLD
ADVENTURE COMICS #354 GD £6 The Adult Legion; small cover scuff
GREEN LANTERN #31 GD- p £7.25 Power Rings For Sale
INFERIOR FIVE #5 GD p £2.50 The French Revolution
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #40 GD- p £6.50 Indestructible Creatures Of Nightmare Island
TEEN TITANS #10 FA/GD p £4 Scramble! The Scorcher Is Making The Scene

*Marvel: This week from the Bute Collection, we feature two excellent issues of the Fantastic Four from their heyday. #27 features another clash with the Sub-Mariner, which also features the first Dr Strange crossover. #35 has the dynamic debut of Dragon Man, as manipulated by the dastardly Diablo. Lee and Kirby at their best, in the opinion of this commentator.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR
#27 VG+ £110 Bright cover with good colour. Some crease marks over Sue’s legs don’t break colour. Edge wear at top and bottom. Staples firm at spine, lower off at centrefold. Off-white to cream pages.
#35 FN- P £75 Pence stamped. Strong colours with minimal edge wear. Tiny chipping at right edge of a couple of pages. Firm staples and white to off-white pages.

*IW/Super: We continue with our series of updates from that most esoteric publisher IW/Super. IW Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s, named for the company’s owner Israel Waldman. Comics were published under both the IW and Super imprints and were notable for publishing unauthorised Golden Age reprints of other company’s properties. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. Basically, it seemed to be whatever they could get their hands on that determined the esoteric nature of their output. Thus you get super-heroes, war, romance, western, funny animals, crime, horror, science fiction and just about every genre within their pages. Full details of what was reprinted in what are listed in our website catalogue. NB usually with newly-drawn covers. Over the next few months, we’ll be presenting a series of issues from this publisher. This week, quite a package in Eerie #1 from 1958. The cover is by Wally Wood, and although originally from Avon’s Strange World’s #6, the cover monster and some backgrounds were redrawn. Inside, the content is from Baily’s Spook Comics #1 (1945), often regarded as the first horror comic. Of the four stories, two are horror/suspense (inc. a Mr Lucifer story), two are horror/humour. 
PICTURED: EERIE #1 VG+ £80 Nice clean copy with striking cover image. Solid spine with minor wear. A little creasing, just breaking colour at corners and edges. Firm staples and supple white to off-white pages. SOLD

*Romance: Finally from the Midas Collection this week, six 1950s issues of DC’s Falling In Love. Although mostly drawn by unknown artists, DC’s romance comics from this period featured a good standard of appealing art, and often very well composed and executed covers. Having said that, you’ll find the work of Forte, Sekowsky, Colletta and even Matt Baker in these pages (Baker in #21). Seldom seen, particularly over here in the UK, the Midas Collection is quite rich in this genre, with many more to follow.
PICTURED: FALLING IN LOVE
#11 GD £13
#12 GD+ £16
#14 VG £26
#21 GD/VG £17
#23 GD+ £14
#30 GD- £10

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: After the conclusion of the Marvelman series (himself a copy of the American Captain Marvel), British artist Mick Anglo moved on to give us just nine issues of Captain Miracle from 1960, who was really just Marvelman with a costume symbol change). There was even a Miracle Junior too. (Of course, we know of a later context where the words Marvel & Miracle were interchangeable, don’t we, kiddies?) Anyway, in the same format as Marvelman, accompanied to varying degrees by American back-up strips, we present three of the nine issues, including #1. We haven’t seen issues of these before, and believe them to be uncommon.
PICTURED: CAPTAIN MIRACLE
#1 FN £40 Bright, fresh copy.
#5 GD £10 Worn spine; book shop stamps SOLD
#7 GD/VG £15 Small tear at right edge (no loss); sealed by tape inside cover.

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’ve been fortunate enough to acquire a selection of British Library Crime Classics, a contemporary series which reprints classic novels from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, bound in attractive uniform editions which feature period paintings as their covers. A celebration of famous and forgotten authors and a milestone in publishing for the British Library. All books are in like new, unread condition at a uniform price of £5 each. Further information is shown in our catalogue. Here’s four more of them:
BRITISH LIBRARY CRIME CLASSICS ALL SOLD
FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS: THE HOG’S BACK MYSTERY British Library Crime Classics 2015 UK PB Originally published 1933 Like New £5
MARTIN EDWARDS (Ed): SERPENTS IN EDEN British Library Crime Classics 2016 1st UK PB Like New £5 Countryside Crimes: Conan Doyle, Chesteron, Allingham, Gladys Mitchell, many more.
ALAN MELVILLE: DEATH OF ANTON British Library Crime Classics 2015 UK PB
Originally published 1936 Like New £5
RAYMOND POSTGATE: VERDICT OF TWELVE British Library Crime Classics 2017 UK PB Originally published 1940 Like New £5

*DC: The Midas Collection: Batman #8 from 1941/42 leads off this week’s updates. This is an issue with strong, quality content, four excellent Batman stories, all by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. In the first, Batman has to infiltrate a prison and ends up facing the gas chamber. In the second, The Strange Case Of Professor Radium, a scientist finds a way to use radium to bring the dead back to life, and he uses himself as a guinea pig; it doesn’t end well. The third story involves a murder mystery set at a stage production where superstitious practices are carried out. The Joker stars in the fourth story, as Batman and Robin pursue him cross country. All this within an outstanding infinity cover by Fred Ray and Jerry Robinson.
This copy, sadly, is a wreck. HANDLE WITH CARE! The front cover is completely, and raggedly, detached, with a strip 1-2 cm wide by 10 cm deep missing in from the spine on the lower half. The upper half of that side of the cover has several tears with some loss, including a long diagonal tear right across the top of Robin’s head (small piece of tape partially covering that inside cover). Top and bottom edges have wear, nicks and creases and the right edge of the whole comic is ragged, uneven and torn. There is a long crease down the right side of the cover about 4 cm in from the edge which deepens to a tear at its most severe. The back cover is also detached and in a similar state, with losses at spine and ragged corners off at top and bottom left. The staples hold everything firm except the centrefold which is loose. The pages are not too bad (apart from the ragged right edge) and are a creamy colour with some tanning at edges. Apart from the missing parts of cover, the comic is complete and perfectly readable, but I don’t think you’d want to handle it too much. Still, the condition does bring the price down! High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: BATMAN #8 PR £500 SOLD