*Marvel: X-Men issue #129 introduced not one, but two, characters who were to become major players in the lives of the X-Men. Kitty Pryde, the young immaterial ingenue, made her debut as a pupil at Xavier’s school, and went on to become a central part of the series, eventually becoming the leader of the team, while Emma Frost, White Queen of the Hellfire Club, dedicated her telepathic prowess to the X-Men’s destruction – though that dedication hasn’t prevented her from occasionally joining the group herself, and seducing Cyclops whenever Jean Grey happens to be dead for a while! This copy of X-Men #129 is a striking VF+, with minor stress marks at spine, and tiny soft creases at top left and bottom right; tight staples, bright colours with excellent gloss. A cents copy, no UK stamp or overprint.
PICTURED: X-MEN #129 VF+ £100 SOLD

*Marvel: Two more editions in the popular Treasury-sized experiment of the 1970s this week: Giant Super-Hero Holiday Grab-Bag (Marvel Treasury Special Vol 1) features a wide roster of Marvel’s most famous heroes by virtue of including lots of team-up stories, whilst Savage Fists Of Kung Fu (less commonly seen) reprints adventures of the pick of the crop of Marvel’s then contemporary Kung Fu heroes and, interestingly, the inside covers feature original British artwork from the Marvel UK covers of the Avengers featuring Shang-Chi.
PICTURED:
GIANT SUPER-HERO HOLIDAY GRAB-BAG FN/VF p £15 SOLD
SAVAGE FISTS OF KUNG FU VF £30 SOLD

*Marvel: A run through lots of titles from Marvel’s Silver & Bronze Ages this week, including the following: Avengers (from #15), Captain America (from #104), Daredevil (from #37), Dr. Strange (1st series and 2nd series from #3), Fantasy Masterpieces (#2, reprinting Fin Fang Foom debut), Hulk (from #113), Iron Man (from #14), Master Of Kung Fu (early issues), Power Man (#17, the first issue to bear that title), Silver Surfer (1st series), Strange Tales (from #117, both Torch/Thing and SHIELD issues, but all with Dr. Strange), Tales To Astonish & X-Men. Check out our catalogue for full details. 

*Horror 1940-1959: The latest entry in our Pre-Code Horror Fest is The Dead Who Walk one shot from Realistic Comics 1952 (not sure how realistic it is…). A gruesome tale of love and lust from beyond the grave with an eye-catching cover. This low grade copy has plenty of faults: a torn and worn spine, loose but attached staples, edge wear with lots of little creases, some more significant soft creasing to the upper left corner and a small tear centre right cover which extends to diminishing effect through the first few pages. But it’s all there and the page quality isn’t bad; there’s no tape, glue or restoration that we can see. The only copy we’ve ever had in stock.
PICTURED: THE DEAD WHO WALK FA £250 SOLD

*Alan Class Reprints: A couple of special Alan Class listings this week. Astounding Stories #61 (in our Alan Class certificated sub-category) features the Thor story from Journey Into Mystery #85, with the debut of Loki, a nice copy with minor rumpling due to glue shrinkage. Suspense #26 (in our regular listing) reprints the very first Dr. Strange story from Strange Tales #110 (and a whole heap of Ditko mystery stories as well), a lower graded copy with some spine and edge wear and a small biro price centre cover. What a shame Thor and Loki and Dr. Strange didn’t adorn the covers this time!
PICTURED:
ASTOUNDING STORIES #61 FN £30
SUSPENSE #26 GD £50

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: After the initial let down that Giant War Picture Library doesn’t actually feature Giants at War, what you do get is an intriguing package. Extra-tall (twice the height of a regular Picture Library, meaning they were a bugger to display) comics, which were relatively expensive at 1/6 in old money, but brought three full-length tales of combat per issue to the reader who had a bit more pocket money to spare. Not widely circulated (we suspect many newsagents may have returned them without ever displaying them, due to their problematic proportions) we’re now able to add 7 more issues to our stock, ranging from #41 to #75 from the mid-1960s. Full details as always in our catalogue.
PICTURED: GIANT WAR PICTURE LIBRARY #51 VG £10 SOLD

*Girls’ Comics: Free Gift issues of Princess Tina seem vanishingly rare; I suspect the items of plastic jewellery on offer were extracted from their packets and proudly adorned necks, fingers and wrists. Not so here with these two lovely issues from 1968. 2nd March features a ‘pearl’ necklace, pristine in its sealed plastic envelope; 9th March has a bangle still sealed in its paper envelope. Prices here reflect their rarity.
PICTURED: PRINCESS TINA
2/3/68 VG/FN WITH FREE GIFT NM £50 SOLD
9/3/68 VG/FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £45 SOLD

*Pulp Fiction: New Worlds, the most famous British science-fiction pulp, has what can only be described as a convoluted history since its first publication in 1939. In 1950, a companion title, Science Fantasy, was launched, but when the publisher of both, Nova, went out of business in 1964, the reins were taken up by Roberts & Vintner, who published both magazines in paperback book format. With Michael Moorcock at the editorial helm, New Worlds championed what became known as the New Wave of science fiction; Science Fantasy retained a more traditional approach to some extent, but both titles were instrumental in developing the careers of Moorcock himself, Brain Aldiss, J G Ballard and Keith Roberts, among many others from both sides of the Atlantic. Science Fantasy later rebranded as Impulse/SF Impulse, with Harry Harrison as the nominal editor, Keith Roberts in actuality. From this period, we have #147 and #162 of New Worlds, #74 and #75 of Science Fantasy and #4 of Impulse; great reading from a seminal time in British SF.
PICTURED: ALL SOLD
SCIENCE FANTASY #74 GD £3
NEW WORLDS #162 GD £3
IMPULSE #4 VG £5

*DC: Detective Comics #411 brings us the debut of the lady who, after Catwoman, is probably the Batman’s most enduring love – Talia, daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul and doyenne of the League of Assassins. This mid-grade pence printed copy has minor vertical creasing at spine, but is otherwise flat and glossy with tight staples and nice pages.
PICTURED: DETECTIVE COMICS #411 VG/FN p £65

*DC: Our alphabetical additions to DC’s Silver Age continues with the following titles: Metal Men (from #2 up), My Greatest Adventure (inc #82 & #84 with early Doom Patrol), Rip Hunter Time Master, Sea Devils (inc #7 by Russ Heath), Showcase (inc Tommy Tomorrow and #64 with Spectre by Murphy Anderson) and Strange Adventures (inc 1st Immortal Man in #177 and a couple of early Animal Man appearances such as #201 where he takes on the Mod Gorilla Boss!). More Silver Age DC very soon!

*Marvel: Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars, the brainchild of then Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter, was the first of the mega-crossovers in 1984, pre-dating even DC’s more famous Crisis On Infinite Earths, and setting a company-wide precedent for decades to come. The key issue of this series is of course #8, with the first in-timeline appearance of the black alien symbiote Spider-Man costume which would, eventually become Venom. (Its first chronological appearance was in ASM #252, but this flashback explained how Pete got it). However, other events this series included the first appearance of new heroine Spider-Woman II (Julia Carpenter, later Arachne) the premiere of two villainesses, Titania and Volcana, and the death of the Wasp! (It’s okay; she was only gone for a minute.) We have the entire original series fresh into stock, pence copies in attractive NM grades, and being sold as a set of 12.
PICTURED: SECRET WARS 8 NM; COMPLETE SET #1-12 NM £175

*Marvel: Perhaps the greatest of Iron Man’s many enemies is the Mandarin, a master of science, martial arts, and controller of an international network of operatives, whose ruthlessness is outmatched only by his ingenuity. And he’s got the bling, too! Famously, each of Mandy’s digits carries a ring (“More than Zsa Zsa Gabor”, as Ben Grimm once remarked) with its own unique powers, at their master’s deadly disposal. The definitive Iron Man arch-foe. This copy of the Mandarin’s first appearance is a lowish grade pence printed copy, with much spine and edge wear, but a largely unspoilt cover image, tight staples and decent page quality. 
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE #50 GD+ p £100

*Marvel: From 1996, Venom faces off against the Ben Reilly iteration of Spider-Man in the four issue mini Along Came A Spider. All four issues now in stock in sparkling NM- at £15 each. If you like Venom, then this is what you like!
PICTURED: VENOM: ALONG CAME A SPIDER #1 NM- £15

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Another of Avon’s 1950s science fiction one shots this week: Robotmen Of The Lost Planet from 1952. A full-length tale of robot revolt against humanity (the lost planet is Earth), this features perhaps the creepiest looking robots I’ve seen, who certainly have an unsettling appearance. You can see what I mean on the cover shown here; nice if undistinguished art by Gene Fawcette, who did a lot of this sort of stuff around this time. This is a sound, flat copy, with great cover colour, nice off-white pages and tight staples; no specific defects, just edge wear. 
PICTURED: ROBOTMEN OF THE LOST PLANET #1 VG £285

*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: Although Miss America debuted as a comic book starring the eponymous super-heroine in 1944, Madeleine Joyce’s own title was effectively shoplifted from her when Patsy Walker made her debut in its second issue; within a few more issues, Miss America was out, and Patsy Walker and her pals & gals from Centerville High ruled the roost, with occasional other comic strips such as Archie-clone ‘Danny’ and sob-sister ‘Betty Blair’. These were comics-sized magazines, with the comic strips themselves augmented by fashion tips and trends, short fiction, movie features, and a plethora of how-to activities, plus articles allegedly penned by celebrities of the day such as Shirley Temple – or at least by their publicists! 20 issues freshly listed, all from Volume 7 1947-1951.
PICTURED: MISS AMERICA V7 #7 VG £21

*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! All issues in really top shape!
PICTURED: 2000 AD ALL SOLD
#71 FN £30
#72 FN £30
#77 FN £30
#78 FN £30

*Humour Comics: A long time after the launch of Beezer and Topper, in 1973 D C Thomson commenced their third tabloid-size title, Buzz. By this time, this large format was becoming unpopular, which might explain why the title lasted just two years and 103 issues. A shame since it featured some quality strips like Hop, Skip & Jock, Calamity Kate, Skookum Skool and the Twitz Of The Ritz, among many others. We have 25+ new issues in, between #4 and the final issue. Great fun and value.
PICTURED: BUZZ #103 (Final Issue) VG £6 SOLD

*Girls’ Comics: After the success of Eagle – which research showed to have quite a few ‘stealth’ readers of the distaff persuasion – a sister weekly was launched to tap into this market. Rather unimaginatively called ‘Girl’, the new weekly featured the same high-quality production standards as its elder brother, and the same stable of accomplished creators. These issues, mostly from Volumes 1 & 2, are fronted by cover stars, plucky schoolgirls ‘Wendy and Jinx’ and include the Christmas issue for 1952 and both Coronation issues from 1953. There are also two Free Gift issues from 1963, #6 & #8, although both gifts (Girl Star Dance Book and colour pictures of pop stars) are unfortunately stuck together and stuck to an interior page of #8. We daren’t try to prise them apart — we’ll leave that to the lucky buyer!
PICTURED: GIRL VOL 2 #9 VG £9.50 (Christmas issue)

Comic book artist and cartoon storyboarder Jim Janes, known for his work on Legion of Super-Heroes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, has died. Janes’ death was confirmed on Twitter on Friday 4th September by his former collaborator Paul Kupperberg. “I just learned of the death of artist Jim Janes, my long ago collaborator on the Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes miniseries,” Kupperberg wrote. “Jim was a complete pro who didn’t blink at these overstuffed scripts. ‘It’s the Legion,’ he said. ‘Bring them on!'”

Details on Janes’ life are scarce. According to his Facebook page, he was from Staten Island, and attended New York’s High School of Art & Design, as well as the city’s School of Visual Arts in the 1960s. His first comics artwork appeared in 1972, in the second issue of George DiCaprio’s underground Greaser Comics, and was followed by a story for Charlton’s The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves in 1973, with further assignments following for Warren’s 1984/1994, Rook and Eerie.

In 1981 he illustrated the mini-series Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes and went on to become the regular illustrator of the Legion’s ongoing title for more than two years, in addition to work on House of Mystery, Superman Family and occasional assignments for Marvel. By 1983, however, he had grown dissatisfied with comics, partly due to the response to his work. While his deadline-busting pencils were appreciated by editors, they were not well received by the notoriously vocal Legion of Super-Heroes fandom. Turning to the then burgeoning field of TV animation, he worked as a successful storyboard artist on many shows including RoboCop: Alpha Commando, Extreme Ghostbusters, Exosquad, The Karate Kid and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as many cartoons based on comics properties such as Swamp Thing, The Incredible Hulk, Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series.

In more recent years, he had begun interacting with the comics world again, selling recreations and new drawings which demonstrated a much more sophisticated style than his earlier works. The exact date of his demise, as well as cause of death, exact age and any surviving family, is unreported at time of writing.

*DC: A big chunk of Batman in this week’s Batmania update, with nearly every issue freshly listed from #351-399. Central to this period is the emergence of Jason Todd as the second Robin, and highlights include #366 (classic Joker cover plus 1st Jason in Robin costume) & #368 (1st Jason as Robin). Plus, there’s a lot of Batman’s classic foes: Killer Croc, Man-Bat, the Riddler, Cat Man, Scarecrow, Penguin, Mad Hatter, Calendar Man, Two-Face and guest Flash villains Mirror Master & Captain Boomerang all appear; and Catwoman becomes virtually a regular member of the cast throughout much of this period, which also features the saga of the deadly Nocturna. Much to enjoy in this superior run. 
PICTURED: BATMAN
#366 VF+ £45
#368 VF/NM £35

*DC: Our alphabetical additions to DC’s Silver Age continues with the following titles: Flash (#119), Green Lantern (inc #20 with Flash crossover), Hawkman (inc low grade #1), Inferior Five, Jimmy Olsen, classic Justice League of America between #28 & #59 and Lois Lane (inc Giant issues plus low grade #70 & #71, the first Silver Age appearances of Catwoman). More Silver Age DC very soon!

*Marvel: As befits its status as the premier series of the Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four has launched many secondary careers of the FF’s foes and friends who first appeared as guest-stars, then graduated to their own series. The Silver Surfer, the Inhumans, the Black Panther and many others have debuted this way, and in Fantastic Four #66, we were introduced to a mysterious cocooned figure who emerged the following 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. These two issues see the first appearance of the character, though he was not fully revealed until the second half of the two-part story. Issue #66 is a very sound copy, with great cover colour and gloss, tight staples and only minor edge wear; a couple of short vertical creases at the right edge. Issue #67 is okay, with good staples and nice page quality; there is a faint vestige of a subscription crease and colour-breaking creases across the top and bottom right corners.
PICTURED: FANTASTIC FOUR
#66 FN+ £75
#67 VG £80 

*Marvel: Smack in the middle of Todd McFarlane’s run on Amazing Spider-Man comes issue #316, featuring the first cover appearance of Venom, the character that defined this period. There’s little doubt that Venom is one of the few Marvel characters originating later than the Bronze Age who has gone on to become a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe. This classic cover issue is a lovely VF+, with just minimal stress marks at spine (and mostly to the back cover); fresh, glossy and vibrant.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #316  VF+ £65 SOLD

*Marvel: Although Bill Foster first appeared in Avengers #32 (1966), it wasn’t until 9 years later that he became Black Goliath, following in the footsteps of his boss Hank Pym. After a trial in Luke Cage, Power Man, he graduated into his own series in 1976. Although short-lived (only five issues), it has the advantages of being inexpensive and an easy run to complete. In fact, you can do that right here right now as all five issues are fresh into stock. See our catalogue for full details.
PICTURED: BLACK GOLIATH #1 FN p £20 SOLD

*Marvel: A chunky update to our stocks for Marvel’s Merry Mutants this week, all from their original run, starting with #11 (1st Stranger), the last Jack Kirby issue, all the way through to #66 (final issue before reprints began). Along the way, among many others, we take in #15 & #16 (2nd and 3rd Sentinels), #19 (1st Mimic), #28 (1st Banshee), and #39 (new costumes). All issues newly listed were previously missing from our catalogue.