*Collected Editions: New from Rebellion, the story of Billy Dane, who acquired a pair of magic football boots once belonging to an England striker and thus was endowed with that striker’s skills. There was a forerunner of this strip first appearing in Tiger from 1961 and 1963, before being relaunched in Scorcher in 1970, which is the more famous series reprinted here. Since then it has crossed into a lengthy list of publications in an amazing spell of longevity. Not bad for a chap who got where he did by cheating…
PICTURED: BILLY’S BOOTS HC £20

*Modern Reprints: In addition to their facsimiles, both DC and Marvel are also producing economy editions of classic issues, DC as ‘Dollar Comics’ and Marvel as ‘True Believers’. While the facsimile editions, as noted earlier, are cover-to-cover reproductions of the original comics with minimal legally necessary changes, the ‘Dollar Comics’ and ‘True Believers’ just reproduce the story and the cover, without any of the original text or advertising matter, giving people a very affordable look at significant stories. In the ‘full facsimiles’, DC brings us this week Green Lantern #1, a complete reproduction of the Emerald Gladiator’s premiere edition, while from DC’s Dollar Comics line, we have Batman #386, with the debut of Black Mask, one of the latter day breakout villains of the 1980s. Marvel brings us full-on facsimiles of Fantastic Four Annual #6, which saw the debut of Annihilus and the birth of Franklin Richards, plus Amazing Spider-Man #347, a classic cover featuring everybody’s favourite symbiote, Venom. In Marvel’s ‘True Believers’ line, we have Absorbing Man, with Crusher Creel’s first appearance from Journey Into Mystery #114; Mandarin, with Tales of Suspense #50’s debut of Iron Man’s nemesis; Purple Man, with Killgrave’s premiere from Daredevil #4: and – the big one – Tales of Suspense, reprinting the first Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan from #45! All this, plus the paperback collection of Thomas, Adams and Buscema’s epic Kree-Skrull War!

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*Childrens’ Books: Five PB works, all from fine authors. We start with a double bill of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass, with the classic John Tenniel illustrations (Lewis Carroll), C S Lewis is represented by both The Horse And His Boy and The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, Frank Richards by Billy Bunter The Bold, and finally we have Dodie Smith’s sequel to 101 Dalmations, The Starlight Barking.
PICTURED:
LEWIS CARROLL, ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND & THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS GD £4

*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: We’re always delighted to have an influx of Modesty Blaise material here, and this time it’s the turn of real books with words. Three of Peter O’Donnell’s superbly crafted Modesty thrillers: Dead Man’s Handle HC with DJ, Pieces of Modesty paperback and 2 copies of Modesty Blaise, the first novel, 2nd and 3rd paperback printings with movie covers. Take it from those who know: Modesty is the best policy!
PICTURED: DEAD MAN’S HANDLE VG (DJ  VG) £15

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’ll be adding selections from this collection for sale here each week across the range of titles represented. These will be over a range of prices each week to suit most budgets, so that all interested collectors have an opportunity to purchase something from this special collection. 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:

*Marvel: One of the cleverer menaces fought by Hank Pym/Ant-Man in his early days was the Protector, a super-villain with an unusual twist to his modus operandi. The Protector is one of the handful of Marvel villains never to make a second appearance, for spoilerific reasons, but I’m sure we can expect him to be optioned for a movie franchise any day now, so seize the opportunity to collect your ‘Protector set!’. This engaging Lee/Kirby tale is backed up by Lee & Heck’s ‘Afraid To Dream’, and the Lee/Ditko ‘The Star Pirates’, in the period when the title was transitioning from a ‘Big Panty Monster’ showcase to an integral part of the Marvel Universe. This is a sound copy with light to moderate spine creasing, cover scene unimpaired, but with a small cover edge tear, around the top of the Protector’s – is that a beret? No style, these villains!
PICTURED: TALES TO ASTONISH #37 VG+ p £75

*DC: After more than a decade of anticipation and demand, DC revived All-Star Comics, home of the Justice Society of America, in 1976 with #58 – continuing the numbering from the Golden Age. The veteran heroes were joined by three (relative) youngsters in the ill-named and short-lived ‘Super Squad’. One new addition was Power Girl, cousin of the Earth-2 Superman, who was a very different proposition from Earth-1’s Supergirl, and became the breakout star of the series, not just because of her zaftig appearance (though that didn’t hurt, especially as designed and illustrated by Wally Wood), but also because of her forthright, take-no-prisoners personality. This copy of All-Star #58 is a CGC Blue Label (no restoration) graded 9.0 VF/NM equivalent.
PICTURED: ALL STAR COMICS #58 CGC 9.0 £125 SOLD

*DC: Inspired by the 2000-released flash animation web TV show, the Gotham Girls mini-series was released in 2003 by DC Comics, featuring a falling-out between the three felonious femmes, Harley Quinn, Catwoman and Poison Ivy, as they all fight over the same objective, while trying to avoid capture by Batgirl and Detective Renee Montoya. Written by Paul Storrie, art by Jennifer Graves, this series, with a low initial print-run, has become increasingly hard to obtain, as all three villainous vixens continue to rise in popularity. This complete set of all five issues is NM.
PICTURED: GOTHAM GIRLS #3; COMPLETE SET #1-5 NM £125 SOLD

*DC/Marvel: In 1976, after some delicate negotiations, the two major publishers decided to pool their talents and create a team-up between their two iconic characters which proved too big for a regular-sized comic – so the tabloid-sized format, as seen in Marvel’s Treasury Editions and DC’s Limited Collectors’ Editions, was co-opted for this epic event! While Wizard of Oz is technically the first Marvel/DC co-production, that’s really just DC piggybacking onto a project Marvel had already produced, to avoid litigation (long story, Wiki it if you’re bothered). This was the first true collaboration between the titans of the comics industry, and it’s a tribute to the organisation involved that Superman and Spider-Man (as well as guest-villains Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus) are note-perfect in this mega-sized saga. This is a gleaming and glossy VF/NM, with tight corners and squarebound spine in excellent condition.
PICTURED: SUPEREMAN VS THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VF/NM £125 SOLD

Regular 30th Century visitors will know that every week we feature one or more Spider-Man updates, such is the popularity of your friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler. Well, for the next few weeks we’re upping the ante, and each week will feature several updates for Spidey, with slabbed and raw copies, pence and cents copies, high and low grade and everything in between, from Ditko to the end of the first series and beyond, plus lots of extras. Hang loose with us as we showcase Spider-Mania Max, and enjoy the ride!

*Marvel: Well, I don’t think anyone saw this coming back in 1973! In Amazing Spider-Man #121, Gwen Stacey died at the hands of the Green Goblin, and that villain perished himself in the very next issue. These landmark stories still resonate to this day, and although perhaps somewhat diluted by the return of both characters (hey kids, this IS comics!), the impact at the time was momentous and both issues still attract much collector interest. Our newest issue #121 is VG, with light to moderate spine wear and slight breaking of cover colour around the lower left corner, with a shallow tear at lower cover edge. #122 is VG/FN, without any cover wear as such, but a shallow tear at mid top cover. Both are cents copies of course, since these issues were not distributed in the UK.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#121 VG £120 SOLD
#122 VG/FN £90 SOLD

*Marvel: By the time of Spider-Man’s 50th issue, ‘new’ artist John Romita had made the series his own, and this milestone number was marked with the debut of a new villain, the Kingpin – so long associated with Daredevil, in the post-Miller years, that younger readers are unaware that he originated in Spider-Man’s Rogues’ Gallery! The cover of #50, with Peter temporarily abandoning his Spider-Man identity, has become etched in the minds of a generation, endlessly imitated and ‘homaged’, in comics and other media. This is an attractive FA+, much more appealing than the bare grade would indicate. The cover is virtually detached, but the cover scene itself is unmarred, with only minor creasing at the lower right corner, and bright, vivid colour throughout.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #50 FA+ p £100

*Marvel: A chunky top-up to the Iron Man and Captain America split book phase of Tales Of Suspense between #62 and #98, including the 1st Silver Age Red Skull in #65, the first Titanium Man in #69 and the 1st New Zemo in #98, along with many others. Consult our catalogue for full details.

*Marvel: Created by Lee & Kirby as Him in Fantastic Four and Thor, the cosmic-powered entity was revamped as the messianic Warlock by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in the first two issues of Marvel Premiere, before being launched in his own series based on Counter-Earth, a twin world of ours orbiting forever unobserved on the other side of the Sun, in which Warlock met the tragic iteration of the Fantastic Four, the noble and heroic Victor Von Doom, and other ‘dark mirrors’ of the known Marvel characters. Thomas’ Christian allegories, which culminated in Warlock’s ‘crucifixion’ in Hulk #176-178, meant that the character was retired in the wake of controversy and objections from religious groups – but appropriately, he rose from the dead a few years later, at the hands of Jim Starlin! This complete first series, eight issues (mostly not distributed in the UK) is now back in stock in grades averaging Fine. Full details in our catalogue as always.

*Horror 1940-1959: Confident of the success of their horror showcase, Avon Publishing followed up their 1951 debut issue with this pair of chiller classics, showcasing the works of, among others, Henry Kiefer, Joe Orlando, Manny Stallman, Louis Ravielli, the legendary Joe Kubert and most of all the superlative Wally Wood, who even at this early stage in his career was turning out stunning work, not only on the covers of both these issues, but also with interior illustrations! Among the shockers presented: ‘Honeymoon of Horror’ (aren’t they all?), ‘The Stranger In Studio X’, ‘The Case of the Painted Beasts!’, and ‘The Mirror of Isis!’. These are low to mid-grade copies. Issue #2 is FA, with the covers detached from the body of the book and virtually separated from each other; issue #3, FA/GD is structurally sound but with mild ‘rippling’ and very faint cover image erosion from historical moisture exposure. Despite these flaws, the striking quality of the work remains undiminished.
PICTURED: EERIE
#2 FA £150 SOLD
#3 FA/GD £150

*Magazines/Books About Vintage US Comics: The focus is very much on the ‘Books’ part of this category, with many weighty tomes about various panelological matters, including out of print or early editions. ‘Berni Wrightson: A Look Back’ is the 1991 retrospective of one of the greatest modern horror comics artists, while other creators in the spotlight this time are Steve Ditko and Golden Age cult figure Fletcher Hanks. Trina Robbins highlights some often overlooked female comics artists of WWII in ‘Babes In Arms’, and ‘Comic Book Implosion’ details one of the nadirs of DC’s long history, when the company nearly dropped its comics line altogether. Several seminal works on the history of comics in general are newly added to our lists – Les Daniels’ ‘Comix: A History of Comic Books In America’, and Aldridge & Perry’s ‘Penguin Book of Comics’. Plus Scott McCloud’s ‘Understanding Comics’, ‘Teen-Age Dope Slaves & Reform School Girls’, and a comprehensive history of the ‘Skywald Horror-Mood’ – all four-colour life is here!
PICTURED:
BERNI WRIGHTSON: A LOOK BACK SC VF £35 SOLD
SKYWALD HORROR-MOOD SC NM £40 SOLD

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: A brace of one-off sci-fi specials from two short-lived 2000 AD companion titles! Starlord was a quality sci-fi weekly, featuring innovative strips such as ‘Strontium Dog’, ‘Ro-Busters’, ‘Planet of the Damned’ and ‘Timequake’, and with more colour pages and slicker paper, seemed to be attempting to upgrade the 2000 AD model. Tornado debuted on the then-traditional pulp paper, starring psychic teen delinquent ‘The Mind of Wolfie Smith’, rebellious slave ‘Black Hawk’, and superheroic parody ‘Captain Klep’. Oddly, both Starlord and Tornado lasted precisely 22 issues before being amalgamated back into 2000 AD, but each produced a single Summer Special on high quality stock, both of which are rare and highly sought after. Our Starlord Summer Special is FN, while our Tornado Summer Special, having very small upper and lower spine splits, is GD/VG.
PICTURED:
STARLORD SUMMER SPECIAL 1979 FN £30 SOLD
TORNADO SUMMER SPECIAL 1979 GD/VG £22.50 SOLD

*Humour Comics: Given the length of time it ran (1937-2015), it’s surprising we don’t see more Dandy issues with free gifts, but three are newly listed here for your enjoyment: 1971’s #1529 and #1530 each feature noise-making devices calculated to delight parents. #1529 is VG (small back cover corner tear) with the Free Gift – the Dandy Thunder-Bang – in VF. The next issue, #1530, is GD, but with the Free Gift – the Red Racketty – still in VF. Moving on to the year 1975, and away from the noise-making theme, issue #1772 brings us two free gifts – or one more complex one, depending how you look at it. The comic itself is FN, but the Free Gifts – ‘Funny Face-Maker’ and a sheet of accompanying cards – are VF, with the ‘Face-Maker’ itself still sealed in its original packaging.
PICTURED: DANDY
#1529 VG WITH FREE GIFT VF £27.50 SOLD
#1530 GD WITH FREE GIFT VF £25 SOLD
#1772 FN WITH FREE GIFTS VF £30 SOLD

*Clearance Corner: In with a British comic collection we recently acquired were a batch of 2nd series Hotspur where the condition fell below the normal standard of comic we usually sell. There are 70 of these (no duplicates) where the grade averages Fair, but all are complete and readable. Rather than dispose of them, we thought we’d pass them on at a rock bottom price to someone who can get many hours of enjoyment out of them. Numbers range from #116 (1962) to #739 (1973), 70 issues all for just £25 (plus £8 UK p&p if required). SOLD

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror:   John Wyndham is perennially popular, so in this update we’ve added a range of titles published under his usual name – Chocky, Consider Her Ways And Others, Jizzle and The Midwich Cuckoos, as well as early works originally published in the name of John Beynon – Sleepers Of Mars, Stowaway To Mars, The Secret People and Wanderers Of Time. In addition there’s The Outward Urge, written in collaboration with Lucas Parkes (also John Wyndham!). As a final inducement The Midwich Cuckoos has a still from Village Of The Damned on its cover.
PICTURED:
THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS GD £4
CONSIDER HER WAYS AND OTHERS VG £5
THE OUTWARD URGE GD £4

*Marvel: In the third appearance of the Invincible Iron Man, our hero battled the uncanny powers of Doctor Strange! No, not the Master of the Mystic Arts, but a super-scientist whose nefarious schemes nearly ended Shell-Head’s career before it took off. Smilin’ Stan Lee, however, clearly liked the name, and mentally filed it away for early re-use, inspiring the much more successful and enduring second Doctor Strange, who debuted shortly thereafter. This beautiful copy is one of the gems of the Square Mile Collection, a stunning VF, with bright pages, lustrous cover colour, and only very vestigial lines at the left cover edge, barely visible. A truly remarkable grade from the early days of the Marvel Universe. High resolution images are available on request.
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE #41 VF p £700

*DC: We make no secret of the fact that the early Justice League adventures by Fox, Sekowsky and Sachs are among our favourites here at 30th Century, and this week’s DC Square Mile instalment features two of the finest: Issue #16’s “Cavern of Deadly Spheres!” with an unusual twist-ending for the period: and #20’s “The Mystery of Spaceman X!”, combining super-heroics with old-school sci-fi (a field in which author Fox was a veteran). As is characteristic of the Square Mile Collection, these are lovely items for their vintage, the #16 being FN+ with only a few light spine ‘ticks’, and #20 being an even sweeter bright & tight FN/VF.
PICTURED: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
#16 FN+ p £65
#20 FN/VF p £80

More from the Square Mile Collection next week!

*DC: Mister Miracle – a.k.a. escapologist Scott Free, son of New Genesis but raised on the hellworld of Apokalips – was the most popular of Kirby’s ‘Fourth World’ series, primarily because of his cast of bizarre characters with positively Dickensian names. Issue #2 saw the debut of one of Scott’s greatest nemeses, the delightfully inappropriately-named Granny Goodness, ruler of an ‘orphanage’ which trained children in the service of Apokalips’ dictator Darkseid. Her treacly manner and speech at odds with her violent and sadistic persona, Granny Goodness is one of the outstanding villains of the Fourth World saga, and her first appearance, in an exceptionally clean and bright VF, is now back in stock.
PICTURED: MISTER MIRACLE #2 VF £75 SOLD

*Marvel: Introduced in 1972 as the star of his own title, Luke Cage, then ‘Hero For Hire’, was Marvel’s third black superhero (after Black Panther and the Falcon) but the first to hold his own book, and Marvel cross-pollinated Luke early on, with a guest-appearance in their top seller, Spider-Man. In ASM #123 (non-distributed in the UK), Spidey misinterprets Luke’s attempts to get a living wage for his heroics as something more sinister and one of those ‘let’s have the heroes clobber each other’ misunderstandings ensues, doubtless hoping to draw readers over to Luke’s own series. A lovely stand-alone issue by Conway, Kane and Romita, and a lovely condition, bright and flat, tight staples at cover and centrefold, sharp corners.
PICTURED: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #123 VF+ £60