*TV & Film Related Comics: Our first update for a while to TV Century 21 (1st series). A handful of issues between #70 and #203 in a variety of grades, including several previously missing from our listings.

*Girls’ Comics: From 1960 to 1967, Princess weekly delighted a generation of proper young ladies, with its pretention to being a ‘magazine’ – photo-covers and lots of educational, historical and how-to features. But the comic strips kept the readers coming back for more! Nine issues fresh in this week from 1961, almost all in lowish Good grade. We had to prise the issues featuring the Kitten Calendar out of the hands of Dr. Evilla in order to list them — she’s always on the look-out for a familiar…

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: What’s Old is our feature where we highlight stuff from our catalogue that you may have missed. This week, two mouth-wateringly rare Hammer Horror books, the elusive first UK paperback editions from 1966 and 1967, featuring John Burke’s gruesomely spine-chilling novelisations of classic Hammer films. The Hammer Horror Omnibus features a double double bill: The Curse Of Frankenstein, The Revenge of Frankenstein, The Gorgon and The Curse Of The Mummy’s Tomb. The Second Hammer Horror Film Omnibus is even rarer and also features tales from four films: Dracula – Prince Of Darkness, Rasputin – The Mad Monk, The Reptile and finally The Plague Of The Zombies. Truly horror to make you drool. Prices reflect their rarity.
PICTURED:
THE HAMMER HORROR OMNIBUS by John Burke 1st UK PB VG £60
THE SECOND HAMMER HORROR FILM OMNIBUS by John Burke 1st UK PB GD £50

*DC: Wonder Woman #159 from 1966 boasted a return to comics’ Golden Age, and indeed the art from regular Ross Andru seemed to be attempting to mimic that of classic WW artist H G Peters. The lead story was a retelling of the ‘true secret origin’ of Wonder Woman for the first time since the Golden Age. The imaginative cover also proclaimed ‘another great collector’s item’ and that wasn’t just hyperbole! An unmarked pence stamped cover with DC’s trademark rich purple background, tight, flat and glossy with good staples and nice pages. Just a little handling wear and corner blunting on this landmark issue.
PICTURED: WONDER WOMAN #159 FN/VF p £70 SOLD

*Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man #300 is just about the most sought after post Bronze Age comic, so we’re delighted to present a copy new to the marketplace this week. There were few more significant debuts, in the latter days of the 20th Century, than everyone’s favourite brain-eating symbiote Venom, who graduated from being a genetically modified costume in a jar to the Alpha Dog of Spidey’s Rogue’s Gallery! Having debuted in Secret Wars #8 as a semi-sentient blob which configured itself into Spider-Man’s new costume, the ‘symbiote’ became a regular feature in Spidey’s own series before being revealed as a malevolent alien parasite! Now more popular than ever, Venom has starred in his own solo film sans Spider-Man (with a sequel in the works) and the value of this comic has continued to rise significantly over the last couple of years. This is a lovely copy with no defects to the front cover which appears as new. The rear cover has a small number of stress marks at the spine; these are all tiny except for a faint one of about 2 cm towards the bottom. There are also some minor handling marks at the top edge. In common with many other copies we’ve seen, this copy has a printing defect to the right front cover edge, so that the finishing cut is a little rough (apparently, this is due to inexperienced staff in the printing plant, although it looks like a blunt guillotine has been used). As usual, the cover design disguises this. This is a known characteristic and we infer from information on the net that CGC, for example, regard this as a printing defect and do not factor it in to their grading below 9.8. Even so, we have tried to allow for it in our grading.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #300 VF+ £460

*Marvel: Bearing in mind Wolverine’s meteoric rise to popularity following his debut in Hulk and subsequent starring role in the X-Men, it’s perhaps surprising that it took until 1988 for him to get his own ongoing series. By Chris Clarement and John Buscema (with inks by my favourite comics artist Al Williamson), this is a gorgeous copy of #1, tight, flat and glossy with no wear. Some purists may not like the fact that it is slightly miscut, the white spine showing a little wider at the top than the bottom, but this is a printing/finishing effect rather than wear and tear. This comic turns up reasonably frequently, not being that old in relative terms, but not usually as pristine as this. 
PICTURED: WOLVERINE #1 NM- £50

*Marvel: So proclaimed the anniversary issue of Marvel’s Merry Mutants. Back when it was stuck in the reprint doldrums, it seemed unlikely that the title would ever make #100, but Chris Clarement and Dave Cockrum revitalized the X-Men with their Bronze Age relaunch and turned them into Marvel’s most successful franchise. In this 100th issue, the new X-Men come up against the original X-Men… or do they? No spoilers here. A very nice pence printed copy with just minor spine wear, minor handling wear at bottom edge and a soft non-colour breaking crease across a small corner of the bottom right cover. Glossy with tight staples and nice page quality. 
PICTURED: X-MEN #100 FN+  p £80 SOLD

*Charlton: From 1958, the 11th issues of Unusual Tales is a Giant 68 pages, including four stories of mystery and fantasy by Steve Ditko. Shiny, vibrant colour with nice off-white pages, good firm staples with a tiny bit of rust to upper; intact squarebound spine with just a tiny dink to bottom; small faint watermark to upper back cover does not wrinkle. A lovely copy.
PICTURED: UNUSUAL TALES #11 FN- £75 SOLD

*Western: Well, owlhoots, we’re reached the end of the trail of our Great Western Round-Up, and what better way to go out than with chunky updates to Marvel’s Silver Age trio of hombres, Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid? All our listings for these titles substantially recharged. Now it’s time to wrangle that last steer and ride off into the sunset. Until we meet again, pardners…

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: Published by K G Murray (Aus), the title My Greatest Adventure reprinted early issues of DC’s My Greatest Adventure (aw, you guessed…). From 1955 onwards, we believe that this 37 issue series is particularly rare — we’ve only ever seen a couple of them before in 30 years. We have half a dozen early issues available including #1 (in nice shape, which so many comics with dark covers don’t turn out to be). Just listen to these evocative titles from #1: ‘My Cargo Was Death’, ‘I Was King Of Dagger Island’, ‘I Hunted A Flying Saucer’.  At least a partial reprint of DC’s #1, #1 features art by Leonard Starr and Bill Ely. Details on subsequent issues available, as always, in our catalogue. 
PICTURED: MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #1 FN+ £60 SOLD

*TV & Film Related Comics: We thought we’d warm up these chilly winter days (and nights!) for you with a couple of favourite Holiday Specials. The (one and only) Countdown Holiday Special from 1971 features UFO, Stingray, Fireball XL5, and the eponymous Countdown in extra-length stories as well as Dr Who (illustrated text story) and many features. TV Action Holiday Special (1972, first of two) features UFO, Hawaii Five-O and Captain Scarlet, as well as another Dr Who illustrated text story and lots of features and pin-ups (inc. the Persuaders). Both specials are in reasonable VG shape with some spine and handling wear.
PICTURED: BOTH SOLD
COUNTDOWN HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1971 VG £40
TV ACTION HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1972 VG £40

*Girls’ Comics: Four issues of Twinkle, ‘the picture paper specially for little girls’, all complete with their original Free Gifts, which are all items of jewellery. From 1968, a VG copy of #29 with VF Free Gift, a ‘dainty twinkle ring’, still sealed in its original envelope. From 1971, a VG copy of #196 with VF Free Gift, a ‘rainbow bracelet’, again still sealed in its original envelope. From 1972, a FN copy of #224 with VF Free Gift, a ‘pretty pearl-drop bracelet’, mounted on original card. And from 1973, a FN copy of #265 with VF Free Gift, a ‘bobbity bead bracelet’, still in its original envelope. These gifted issues of a publication intended for younger girls are even rarer than those aimed at their older sisters and your early attention is suggested.
PICTURED: TWINKLE
#29 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £40 SOLD
#196 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £40 SOLD
#224 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £40
#265 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £40 SOLD
 

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Just one book this week – a handsome hardcover edition of the penultimate Sherlock Holmes collection: His Last Bow, published in 1974 by John Murray/Jonathan Cape. It includes an introduction by Julian Symonds and features eight Holmes stories, including The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans and the title story. An ex-libris copy presented with illustrated dust jacket and in archival film which has been taped to the inner covers. This version is my chosen version for my personal Holmes hardcover collection.
PICTURED: HIS LAST BOW by SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE VG in VG DJ £10

*DC: The already critically-acclaimed New Teen Titans series by Wolfman and Perez took a surprising and significant turn right in the middle of the ‘Judas Contract’ storyline, when Dick Grayson, having decided to put away childish things, stepped out of Batman’s shadow and abandoned the Robin identity, taking on the mantle of Nightwing, an identity which – setting aside a couple of ‘wobbles’ – he’s maintained ever since! Tales of the Teen Titans (a minor title change from its original New Teen Titans designation) #44 saw the first appearance of Dick as Nightwing, and we have this important issue new in, in high grade, tight, flat and glossy, with just very minor stress marks at the spine. 
PICTURED: TALES OF THE TEEN TITANS #44 VF/NM £50

*Marvel: While this issue is a frequent visitor to our shelves, it never languishes for long. In August 1990’s X-Men #266, while temporarily de-aged to childhood (don’t you hate it when that happens?), Storm met a charismatic thief named Gambit, who aided her in escaping from the Shadow King. Unlike many one-off guest-stars, however, Gambit caught on with the reading public, and stuck around to become a mainstay of the team – fortunately ditching his original costume of pervy knickers, stripy tights and flasher-mac in favour of a more conservative ensemble! Despite persistent rumours of a Gambit solo film having finally, it seems, fizzled, he remains a hugely popular figure in the lucrative X-Men franchise, and his full debut is always a hot choice with buyers. We’ve had many copies of this debut through our hands, but never one as nice as this; virtually as good as new, with just the merest suggestion of stress marks at the spine and the tiniest ‘blunting mark’ at the spine bottom. We’re very picky about using grades above NM, but this one came close.
PICTURED: X-MEN #266 NM £160 SOLD

*Marvel: Following Kirby’s tabloid-sized Special, Marvel green-lit an ongoing series exploring the milieu of 2001: A Space Odyssey, giving artist/writer Kirby a free hand – perhaps too free a hand, as while time-transcending spectacle there was in abundance, the lack of a central cast left the readership feeling ‘unanchored’ to the series. This was remedied to an extent with issue #8, and Kirby’s introduction of X-51 (later known as Mister Machine and his final (so far) identity of Machine Man), a humanoid robot in search of his soul, who became the protagonist for the rest of the series, spinning off into his own title and becoming a prominent part of the main Marvel Universe. This copy of 2001 #8 is a high grade cents example. 
PICTURED: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY #8 VF/NM £60 

*Marvel: It’s another of those Venom mini-series that (some of) you love. In this one, apparently, Eddie Brock is Anti-Venom! Eddie is cautiously walking the line between the darkness and light while trying to find his place in a world marked only by grey. The absolute last person he needs to run into is the Punisher… All three issues of this mini now available – enjoy!
PICTURED: ANTI-VENOM #1 VF £17.50

*Horror 1940/1959: Tales of the Mysterious Traveler was a series from Charlton that ran from 1956-1959 (with a short 1980s revival) that is best remembered as a showcase for Steve Ditko’s little weird mysteries, the like of which were soon to festoon the pages of the nascent Marvel. We have three new issues in this week: #5, with Ditko cover and three stories (lowish grade with spine wear, particularly around the lower staple area); #6, all Ditko issue with cover and 4 stories (a lovely copy with good colour and gloss, just a spine stress mark or two and an unobtrusive book shop stamp lower right cover); and #12 (no Ditko, but a nice copy FN at £44).
PICTURED: TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER BOTH SOLD
#5 GD+ £60 
#6 FN £145

*Western: Well, do we have a passel of oddities in this week’s instalment of our Western extravaganza. From a variety of publishers and decades: Magazine Enterprises’ Best Of The West & Bobby Benson’s B-Bar-B Riders (#13 of the latter with Frazetta cover and interiors by Bob Powell and Dick Ayers on Ghost Rider), Skywald’s Butch Cassidy, and from Charlton: Billy The Kid, Cheyenne Kid, the curmudgeonly Gabby Hayes, Six-Gun Heroes and Wyatt Earp. The Cheyenne Kid issues (7 between #66 and #73) feature the bizarre Wander ‘The Great Western Hero From Outer Space’, with art by Jim Aparo, including the first appearance of this genre-busting character in #66 (I can remember an episode of the bonkers US series of Robin Hood where an alien landed in Sherwood Forest, but I digress…). Both issues of Six-Gun Heroes have an added bonus with black and white printer’s proofs enclosed; these come from the vaults of Alan Class and were part of the process in getting these stories reprinted in his publications. So there you have it, more side-winding bang for your buck in this week’s (frankly) weird Western goings-on…   
PICTURED: BOBBY BENSON’S B-BAR-B RIDERS #13 VG £55

*Alan Class Reprints: We’ve unearthed a few more Alan Class Printing Plate Sets for your collection. Each of these unique items from the personal archive of Alan Class comprises the lead printing plates used in the original comics’ 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 case. Several sets (as noted) have additional historical artefacts such as colour proofs, interior page plates, printers’ photostats, additional comics reprinted later in the series, original American comic featured etc. Some sets also feature handwritten anecdotes on separate cards with Alan Class’s reminiscences about a particular comic. As Class collectors will be aware, the same plates and covers were used for several issues in the series, and we include wherever possible as many examples of this in each set to present the publishing history of the use of the printing plates. (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.)
This update, 2 sets each featuring early issues of Creepy Worlds and Uncanny Tales. Fans of Kirby & Ditko will find much to delight them in the Creepy Worlds sets. Full details as always in our catalogue.  For more guidance on the content of each comic, please refer to our Alan Class Rough Guide.
PICTURED: 
CREEPY WORLDS #30 SET £20
CREEPY WORLDS #31 SET £26 SOLD
UNCANNY TALES #10 SET £37 SOLD
UNCANNY TALES #11 SET £29 SOLD
   

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Probably the most valuable and prized of all Picture Libraries, we’re pleased as punch to present a copy of Commando War Stories In Pictures #1 from 1961: ‘Walk Or Die!’. We don’t see many copies of this coveted collectable — perhaps this is the third to come through us and the last one (six years ago) had 8 pages missing. The good news is that this one is complete, although the front cover is detached, with a couple of small tears at left and right edges. However, the cover image is only marred by two small stains around the foot and knee regions of the commando and Nazi respectively. At some point, four reinforcing staples have been placed 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. So, a low grade and far from perfect copy, but far from the price of one as well!
PICTURED: COMMANDO #1 FA £250 SOLD

*Girls’ Comics: We’re always delighted to get a Girl’s Holiday or Summer Special in, since not too many of these seem to have survived. Tammy had an amazing run of Specials from 1971 right through to 1986, and this example from 1984 is third from last, in nice shape. Loads of varied content in its 64 very full pages. 
PICTURED: TAMMY HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1984 VG/FN £30

*Science Fiction Fantasy & Horror: A satisfyingly large addition to our range of the Badger Science Fiction series of novels, mainly turned out at a furious pace by R L Fanthorpe (with some assistance from his wife Patricia). With their distinctive style of cover art, mainly created by Henry Fox, and over-the-top plotlines these are eminently collectable, especially as some very early examples are present. In addition to the novels pictured we have added The Alien Ones (Leo Brett, SF94), Hyperspace (R L Fanthorpe, SF17), No Dawn And No Horizon (A J Merak, SF16), Crimson Planet, Day Of The Beasts and The Man From Beyond (John E Muller, SF60, SF51, SF111), Time-Echo (Lionel Roberts, SF23), Force 97X (Pel Torro, SF110) and Zero Minus X (Karl Zeigfreid, SF81).
PICTURED:
JAMES ELTON (W H FEAR): THE QUEST OF THE SEEKER (SF10) GD £15      
A J MERAK: HYDROSPHERE (SF36) GD £15
JOHN E MULLER: BEYOND TIME (SF71) VG £15
LIONEL ROBERTS: CYCLOPS IN THE SKY (SF26) GD £15
PEL TORRO: FROZEN PLANET (SF42) VG £10

*DC: It’s a funny old game, this hobby. You can have a perfectly good issue of Batman, featuring a tussle with one of his major foes (Two-Face) which has been around for 40 years and only accumulated a modest value, then suddenly, overnight, DC announce that a hitherto minor character incidentally introduced in that very issue is to become the new Batman in their current Future State storyline, and the collectors and speculators go wild. So, we offer a chance to get a decent copy of the first appearance of Tim Fox in above average grade (just minor edge and handling wear) at the current market value. Is it a good investment? This jury’s out on that one… 
PICTURED: BATMAN #313 FN/VF p £100 SOLD

*Marvel: Following Todd McFarlane’s highly successful tenure on Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel decided to launch a new Spider-Man title with the Toddster at the artistic helm. Spider-Man #1 (1990), was at that time the most successful comic in history. To celebrate its success, Marvel issued a Platinum Variant retailer reward issue at one copy per retailer, and we have a copy of this foil cover rarity available in our Spider-Mania slot this week. If you’re considering adding this beauty to your collection, make no mistake — this is not a pristine Mint copy. There is about 0.75 cm of wear at the top of the spine, a half-fingernail size dink to the left edge of the back cover and a shallow non-colour breaking crease along the top of the back cover, where a previous owner had stored it in one of those stiff plastic holders where the flap will mark the comic if stored under pressure. Difficult to spot at first is a further crease, also non-colour breaking and quite slight which extends from the masthead box to the UPC box on the front cover and is a little to the right of that area. Having said that, the comic still presents very well and is a chance to get this highly sought after collectable at a relatively bargain price. It comes complete with Marvel’s thank you letter to retailers.
PICTURED: SPIDER-MAN #1 PLATINUM EDITION FN/VF £135