*Horror 1940-1959: A manky quartet for your consideration this week — 3 low-grade pre-codes: Out Of The Night #2 FA+, Uncanny Tales #1 PR & Weird Tales Of The Future #6 PR; see our catalogue for defect descriptions and prices. Plus one post code, a bit better Tense Suspense #2 from Fago in GD/VG.
PICTURED: OUT OF THE NIGHT #2 FA+ £30

*Alan Class Reprints: A smattering of Alan Class issues reprinting classic Marvel stories in Astounding and Creepy Worlds, both certificated by Alan Class himself and regular editions. Characters include: Giant-Man, Thor, Torch & Thing, Dr. Strange, Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD, Spider-Man and Daredevil. See our catalogue for more details.
PICTURED: CREEPY WORLDS #64 VG £22.50

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: 2 nice consecutive copies of Hotspur from 1970 this week with splendid Free Gifts: Cardboard sheets of 12 full-colour footballers plus stands in each that can all be pressed out to make them stand up. Of course, the sheets have not been pressed out and the gifts are just as they were issued. #568 has ‘strikers’, including such famous names as Geoff Hurst and George Best (slight crease on sheet); #569 has ‘stoppers’, including Emlyn Hughes and Pat Jennings. Gosh, you could enact your very own historical football match!
PICTURED: HOTSPUR
#568 VG/FN WITH FREE GIFT FN £30 SOLD
#569 FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £30 SOLD

*Girls’ Comics: Sally, the ‘comic for the adventurous girl’, has developed a bit of a cult following over the last decade or so; the line-up of strong adventure strips with touches of sci-fi and the supernatural made it stand out from the crowd, and whenever we get a batch of Sally here at 30th Century, it’s always hotly contested. Rarer still, however, is the single Sally Summer Special from 1970, which we’ve only had in stock once before in our quarter century plus in business; pre-dating the Sally Annuals, the line-up includes Cat Girl, the Ghost Hunters, Twangy Pearl the Elastic Girl, the Silent Shadows, and Maisie’s Magic Eye. This is a sound copy with soft creasing at bottom right edge and some spine roll, a couple of tiny nicks, but no marks.
PICTURED: SALLY SUMMER SPECIAL 1970 GD/VG £60

We’re very pleased, as promised, to be able to continue our series of articles and features that we filled the lockdown months with, since so many of you seemed to enjoy them so much. Those written by Will can be found in the ‘Where There’s A Will’ section on our ‘Extras’ page. Here’s his new article on Marney the Fox from Buster:

“Marney the Fox” – Cute fluffy tale of a cuddly animal roaming the countryside? Or Kafaesque reflection on the inhumanity of humans, spiralling into nihilism? Bit of both, really.

…But definitely leaning towards the latter.

“Marney the Fox” launched in Buster weekly in the issue dated 22nd June 1974, and ran weekly until 11th September 1976. The saga of a wandering orphaned fox cub, who grows to maturity while being constantly hunted and taunted by ‘hated man’, was, let’s get it right in the shop window, an emotional roller-coaster, yanking relentlessly at the heartstrings of its young readership.

Unlike most series in boys’ weeklies, which tended to be strictly oriented for either action or laughs, Marney turned up the anguish to a degree more often seen in the girls’ weeklies such as Mandy or Tammy. One poll of Tammy readers famously indicated that one of their favourite things about the comic was ‘stories that make me cry’, and, in an early blow for gender equality, Marney the Fox had readers sobbing in the proverbial aisles.

Marney was created by the team of writer Scott Goodall and artist John Stokes, the same folks who created Fishboy, of which I have spoken previously – in fact, for several months, Marney and Fishboy overlapped in Buster weekly.

I’ve given high praise to Stokes’ art on Fishboy, justifiably, but his work on Marney is even more beautiful. Often set in nighttime, or reflecting the changing seasons in the countryside, the images are detailed, haunting and evocative, with Stokes’ characteristic painstaking research bringing our vulpine hero and the other wildlife he encounters to vivid life. Many critics, including Stokes himself, have said that Marney is the best work of his long career, and it is often breathtaking.

But despite the beautiful illustrations, this is not a cosy story.  From Marney’s first appearance, where his mother is shot and his siblings face an even worse fate at the hands of hunters, his existence is one of suffering, mental and physical, of loneliness, a struggle for survival, and a relentless parade of cruelty. The few friends and allies he finds either die or are left behind as he is driven from one lair to another, endlessly seeking respite.

The reader is made privy to Marney’s inner thoughts, narrated with a surprisingly developed vocabulary (better developed than the aforementioned Fishboy, who never quite got the hang of proper nouns during his eight year run!). Goodall’s narrative gives the young orphaned fox a surprisingly rich and detailed internal life, communicated to the reader in a declamatory nihilistic style. Although not a passive fatalist, Marney frequently resigns himself to his fate when the odds seem overwhelming, his melancholy ponderings providing a mordant underscoring of events. A typical Marney soliloquy in a desperate situation:

“The rope bites deep and my limbs grow numb! Here in the chilly darkness, it will be a slow and painful end!”

Or

“This indeed, is the end! First, there will be pain… followed swiftly by eternal darkness!”

Fortunately for the readers’ overwrought sensibilities, Marney was a better narrator than prophet, escaping from multiple life-threatening situations by the merest chance, or by a last-minute act of desperation.

Goodall admitted to taking his inspiration from Tarka the Otter, a 1920s novel by Henry Williamson with an animal protagonist, which had been made into a hugely popular film in 1974.  Watership Down, the famous Richard Adams novel of 1972, was also an influence, and the  synthesis of these two narratives, combined with the cliffhanger nature of British comic traditions – each two-page installment, apart from a couple of ‘breather’ episodes, concluded with Marney in fresh torment or peril – made for a heady ride of anxiety and sorrow. And that was just for the readers!

Over the course of the strip’s nine month run, Marney was variously shot, hunted, burned, drowned, frozen, blinded, poisoned and endlessly attacked by humans and by other animals. I was reading this series in my teens, already ‘too old for comics’ at the time of its release, and while I was fascinated, I was also appalled. Goodness knows what effect it had on the feelings of the 8 to 13 age group it was actually intended for!

But the series didn’t shy away from the harsh realities of life for wild creatures. In one particularly horrifying sequence, Marney has become temporary mentor to a litter of orphaned fox cubs. The boldest of the litter has gotten himself into trouble, and been caught by a farmer;

But it’s a children’s comic, and it’s a cuddly fluffy baby fox, so everything’s got to turn out all right, right? Right?

… Bloody hell.

Although most of Marney’s adventures were reality-based, Goodall’s imagination did add a couple of baroque flourishes, just to mix it up a bit, as some of Marney’s encounters with humans were a bit bizarre. At one point, he’s captured by a band of travellers and forced by the tribe’s matriarch to perform in a circus; in another, what appears to be a kindly benefactor to injured animals reveals a very dark side indeed. ‘Hated man’ is seldom seen in a good light in Marney’s world, but these particular examples are very twisted individuals indeed.

Eventually, Marney ran its course; presumably, after nine months of unrelenting suffering, the readership collectively decided it needed a rest – or therapy! Marney was allowed to find some surcease from his wanderings, in an ending, well, as happy as one could hope for, given the general tone of the story.

It’s a peculiar sidebar in Buster’s history, not a traditional action strip, and certainly nowhere near the comedy for which the title is generally known, but it is of superb quality, and for many years languished in back issue bins, barely remembered and sought after by only the most dedicated readers.

A revised version appeared in the short-lived Sunny, which ran for just nine issues from 1986 to 1987. Sunny being a pre-school/younger readers’ title, the new version, illustrated by Bernard Long, had Marney merely become separated from his family, rather than their being brutally killed, and the savage elements which characterized the Buster run were necessarily curtailed. Sunny was swiftly absorbed by the more established Funtime, but it is not known at this point whether the ‘junior Marney’ continued.

But in 2017, those lovely people at Rebellion Publishing did the right thing. Since, tragically, almost none of the original artwork survives, they computer-enhanced scans from the weekly comics to obtain the best possible images, and collected the Whole. Damn. Series. in one hardcover volume, with a new and sumptuous cover illustration by John Stokes.

It’s a thing of beauty, one of the finest Rebellion re-issues to date, and an engrossing read – though, a word of caution; make sure you’re not out in public when reading it. I  settled down to read my new copy on a long bus-ride home – trust me, you haven’t seen humiliation until you’ve seen a grown man weeping  like a baby on public transport!

Wait till you’ve got it home, settle down with a cup of tea, and have a hanky or two to hand. Accept the word of one who knows.

Will Morgan, July 2020

*Clearance Corner: As you may realise, the purpose of our Clearance Corner lots is to clear space in our shop by discontinuing titles we’re no longer carrying to make way for new and incoming stuff. As such, they will only be offered for a short time. This Clearance Corner lot, listed on 13th June, has not been snapped up and is nearing the end of its time with us. If not purchased within the next few days, we will have to dispose of it. Here are the details from our original listing:
‘We have four issues in the Rupert Adventure series, which ran for 50 issues from 1948-1963. The later issues, which these all are, are all harder to find, presumably due to lower print runs. All were pictorial cardwrap booklets, mostly featuring two Rupert stories with differing puzzles. On offer here: #30, #35, #41 (illustrated) & #43, all in nice condition ranging from VG/FN – FN/VF. These normally sell for £20-£40 each. Yours for just £25 for all four, with free UK (only) postage.’

This is an early Silver Age Collection from an original owner notable for the freshness and vibrancy of the cover colours and page quality; even those with minor reading and handling wear are vastly superior to the majority of comics that have been in circulation since the 1960s. The average grade is well above Fine, with many much nicer.

We’ve been releasing comics from this amazing collection since last November and we’re down to the last few comics now, but stick around for the grand finale — it’s a doozy! Each comic will come branded with a special label and certificate of authenticity verifying it as part of the Square Mile Collection. Here’s this week’s:

*DC: Detective Comics celebrated its ground-breaking 400th issue with a lead tale drawn by the superlative Neal Adams – treat enough – but it also introduced a new arch-nemesis for the Caped Crusader in the shape of Kirk Langstrom, tormented scientist who became a half-human, half-bat hybrid in his quest for knowledge. Langstrom’s Jekyll & Hyde persona made him a sympathetic antagonist, and brought him back for many subsequent appearances in multiple media, making him, ironically, the best-known creation of veteran scripter Frank Robbins. This pence stamped copy is FN+, tight and flat with excellent, firmly-attached staples and good colour cover; just minor edge wear and corner blunting and a faint trace of a non-colour breaking crease at bottom right edge cover. 
PICTURED: DETECTIVE COMICS #400 FN+ p £160

*DC: A run of Batman from #401 upwards added to our stock this week. This update includes famous storylines such as Year 1 in #404 to #407, the new origin of Jason Todd in #408 to #410 and the 1st Tim Drake in Robin costume in #442. Consult our catalogue for full details.

*Marvel: Norman Osborn had in effect been in Amazing Spider-Man before #37 in his Green Goblin guise, but when he first appeared as Norman Osborn in Amazing Spider-Man #37, none of us knew that. This lovely 8.5 CGC UK Price Variant copy also features the menace of the Robot-Master and, for those of you who prize such things, rather unsurprisingly a robot cover on this penultimate Ditko issue. A key issue for someone who would go on to figure even more significantly in the Marvel Universe.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #37 CGC 8.5 VF+ p £340

*Marvel: It’s Osborn week in our Spider-Man event! Amazing Spider-Man #136 features the debut of Harry Osborn as the Green Goblin following in his father’s footsteps after Norman’s apparent death in #122. This is a high grade copy with virtually no flaws, bright glossy yellow background cover, tight firmly-attached staples, white pages, Marvel Value stamp intact; just a tiny pressure mark in the central lower cover area precludes an even higher grade.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #136 VF/NM £110

*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, stripey 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. This is a sparkling VF, with only the faintest wear barely perceptible under close inspection.
PICTURED: X-MEN 266 VF £75

*Marvel: A complete consecutive run of Amazing Spider-Man from #176-200, excluding #194 with the 1st Black Cat, but including her second appearance in #195. Lots of high grade collector copies available here. The Green Goblin, the Chameleon, the Kingpin, Mysterio and loads of other Spidey foes (and friends) in this sequence; see our catalogue for full details.

*Horror 1940-1959: Perhaps most famously renowned for his Phantom Lady art and the gorgeous work for the St John Romance line, Matt Baker also contributed to that company’s horror comics, and this week we have two beautiful examples of his cover art from 1954. The St John title Nightmare was rebranded after #13 as Amazing Ghost Stories, and we have both the last issue of Nightmare and the first issue of Amazing Ghost Stories.
Amazing Ghost Stories #14 has a cover very reminiscent of the Creature From the Black Lagoon movie, with superior interior art by Goldfarb, Kintsler and others. The comic is clean, tight and flat with firmly-attached staples and white pages. There is minor corner blunting, a little spine wear and a 4 cm colour-breaking crease across the top right cover corner; there are also a couple of tiny creases across the bottom right cover, but none of these detract from the rich, unspoilt cover image.
Nightmare #13 has a mermaid-like cover in rich shades of green, with high quality interior art by Dan Barry, Bob Powell and George Tuska. The comic is clean and flat with the bottom staple off at the front only and a light crease in the corner of the back cover; no other defects, an absolute minimum of wear and off-white to white pages. Both issues are vastly superior in condition to most pre-code horror comics we come across, and the condition shows off the work of Matt Baker, whom we consider the finest 1950s artist (outside the EC stable) to work in comics. A rare opportunity. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED:
AMAZING GHOST STORIES #14 VG £800 SOLD
NIGHTMARE #13 FN- £500 SOLD

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: Len Miller was the premier UK publisher of ‘faux’ American-sized British comics in the 1950s and early 1960s. He published a wide range of material, both original and US reprint, perhaps most famously Marvelman and Young Marvelman. Although succeeded by Alan Class, there was a period in the early 1960s where both publishers overlapped and some of Miller’s titles (Mystic, Spellbound, Voodoo and Zombie) closely resembled the type of content also being used by Alan Class, reprinting Atlas, pre-hero Marvel and other early horror, with occasional forays into the Marvel Super-Hero Universe. Such things are to be found in the pages of Zombie, three issues of which are featured in this update, including #9, which reprints the 3rd Dr Strange story from Strange Tales #114. 
PICTURED: ZOMBIE #9 VG £25

*Collected Editions: We’re really glad to see this one in print. Bryan Talbot’s tour de force of a traveller/adventurer between multiple realities, Luther Arkwright, an agent of psychic powers. Shot through with a strong flavour of British history and empire, these stories evoke a strong atmosphere of steampunk before that term was coined. Originally published in comic form as the Adventures of Luther Arkwright (black and white) and Heart Of Empire (colour), this collected edition reprints both, complete with cover galleries, loads of extras, a foreword by Michael Moorcock and an afterword by Warren Ellis. Highly recommended.   
PICTURED: LUTHER ARKWRIGHT NEW/MINT £36

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: A further update to our stocks of the premier war-themed Picture Library, D C Thomson’s Commando, all in the 700’s and all in a universal VF sharp grade. Consult our catalogue for full details.

*Girls’ Comics: A glossy big sister to Romeo aimed at a slightly trendier demographic, Jackie helped delight and inform (or brainwash, depending on your viewpoint) a generation of teenage girls and young women, with pop features and pin-ups, fashion and makeup tips, the ever-popular Problem Page, and scores of often beautifully illustrated romance comics stories. Free Gift issues of Jackie are uncommon, as the gifts were usually eagerly ripped away and consulted or applied in the hopes of snagging the Dream Boy, but these three are from a Newsagent’s uncirculated stock, and remain ‘gifted’. Both are from 1971. #374 is only GD (heavy horizontal crease across front cover), but the gift (a sheet of ‘Slapstickers’) is in FN, unused condition; two of the interior pages are a little sticky where the gift had been previously enclosed. #401 is in a nice VG/FN, with the gift (‘Purple Pop Ring’ VF), still sealed in its original envelope.
PICTURED: JACKIE
#374 GD WITH FREE GIFT FN £25
#401 VG/FN WITH FREE GIFT VF £30 SOLD

This is an early Silver Age Collection from an original owner notable for the freshness and vibrancy of the cover colours and page quality; even those with minor reading and handling wear are vastly superior to the majority of comics that have been in circulation since the 1960s. The average grade is well above Fine, with many much nicer.

We’ve been releasing comics from this amazing collection since last November and we’re down to the last few comics now, but stick around for the grand finale — it’s a doozy! Each comic will come branded with a special label and certificate of authenticity verifying it as part of the Square Mile Collection. Here’s this week’s:

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: One of the most startling success stories in the back issue world is the ever-spiralling popularity of Moon Knight’s premier appearance. The series Werewolf By Night had been toddling along, chronicling the adventures of young lycanthrope Jack Russell (no, really), when the boat was suddenly rocked in WBN #32 by a vigilante whose only goal seemed to be the annihilation of our hero – and his silver armour and weapons seemed likely to achieve it! The man who would later be revealed as Marc Spector had a deeper back story, of course, and in his multitudinous appearances since, has developed a complex background oscillating between ‘Marvel’s Batman’ and ‘Multiple Personality psychotic possessed by Egyptian Gods’. Be that as it may, he remains hugely popular, and a near-future Moon Knight TV series having been recently confirmed, demand for his debut is intensifying. Our latest WBN #32 is a lovely high grade pence copy; trying to be picky, it has a couple of very, very slight spine ticks and a tiny ‘nick’ at the bottom right cover corner; tight, flat, glossy and vibrant with firmly attached staples and white pages — virtually as good as it was when first published in 1975 (gosh, 45 years ago!). The #33 (2nd Moon Knight) is in virtually identical shape, with just a minor extra dink at the top of the spine. High resolution images of #32 are available on request.
PICTURED: WEREWOLF BY NIGHT
#32 VF+ p £1,075 (plus back and splash)
#33 VF p £100

*DC: The groundbreaking run of Green Lantern, in which he and Green Arrow set out to confront the failing American Dream, resonates with audiences even today, as, sadly, corruption, pollution, overpopulation and the other issues raised seem even more topical now. Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams ushered in a new age of comic relevance with these historic issues. Two high grade examples in this week’s update: #80, an exploration of pollution and interplanetary justice and #86, the second part of the controversial Speedy drug storyline.
PICTURED: GREEN LANTERN
#80 VF/NM £75
#86 VF p £85

*Marvel: It’s a triple treat in this week’s Spider-Mania main event. In issue #3 of his title, Spider-Man faced Dr. Otto Octavius, a.k.a. Doctor Octopus, for the first time; the eight-limbed nemesis returned to plague our hero in the epic two-parter a few months on in issues of Amazing Spider-Man #11 & #12, and we’ve got ’em! All pence printed copies. #3 is a beautiful copy with very minor edge and spine wear, very slight blunting at top and bottom of spine, a clean and vibrant cover image, tight and flat with excellent, firmly attached staples at spine and centrefold and lovely white to off-white pages; a tiny 0.5 cm crease across the very edge of the bottom right cover corner. Probably the nicest copy of this we’ve seen. #11 is bright and lustrous, again with minor edge and spine wear and minor corner blunting; tight staples white to off-white pages. One very faint minor crease across the bottom right cover corner, only breaks colour for about 1 cm. There is a possibility of a small colour touch near the bottom staple, but our dark light equipment and the eyes of three experts have not been able to confirm this; nevertheless, we have priced it down to reflect the possibility. #12 is another beauty, with glossy cover, bright colours, extremely minor wear and corner blunting, tight and flat with excellent staples and white to off-white pages. High resolution images for #3 are available on request.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#3 FN- p £1,700 (plus back and splash) SOLD
#11 VG/FN p £200 SOLD
#12 FN+ p £300 SOLD

*Marvel: In the wake of the Kung Fu craze which swept the mass media in the 1970s, Marvel, having already scored big with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, tried to repeat the success with Iron Fist, an orphaned Caucasian boy who learned mystical martial arts in the hidden land of K’Un Lun. Danny Rand had a successful run in Marvel Premiere, then graduated into his own title, co-starred with Power Man for years, and remains an active part of the Marvel Universe to this date, both in comics and in both his own Netflix show and the companion Defenders series. New in, we have Marvel Premiere #15, his first appearance, in which Roy Thomas and Gil Kane kicked off the career of the fisting fury (no, that sounded wrong). This FN+ copy shows minor edge wear and would grade higher but for the imprint of a few letters below the ‘R’ in ‘Iron’ in the logo; this imprint is very faint and barely discernable in most light. A remarkably attractive copy for the grade.
PICTURED: MARVEL PREMIERE #15 FN+ £150

*Marvel: A John Romita gem this update, a superior copy of Amazing Spider-Man #45, the second part of Spidey’s second clash with the Lizard. This is a bright, glossy copy with just minimal wear including a couple of small faint creases at bottom corners. A brilliant cover image which the quality of this copy brings to life.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #45 VF- p £95

*Marvel: One of our absolute best-selling titles is restocked this week, with issues between #10 and #59, plus Annuals #1 & #2. Highlights include 1st Immortus (#10), 1st Count Nefaria and the Maggia (#13), 1st Grim Reaper (#52), X-Men clash (#53), 1st Ultron cameo and full app (#54 & #55), Vision origin (#58) and 1st Yellowjacket (#59). Check out our catalogue for the full details on these.