*Marvel: Given her peculiar origins, Dazzler’s longevity as a comics heroine has been remarkable. Conceived as a disco tie-in by Casablanca Records in the late 1970s, Marvel was to create a singing super-heroine and Casablanca was to recruit a live singer to ‘be’ Dazzler. Originally intended to resemble Grace Jones, the design was considerably altered to resemble then-hot actress Bo Derek. When the record company withdrew, leaving Marvel with an ‘orphaned’ character, she was introduced as a fully-fledged mutant in X-Men #130. Alison Blaire, with the ability to transmute sound into light, has been an unlikely mainstay of the Marvel Universe ever since, and we have a copy of her premiere appearance in X-Men #130, a near-flawless cents copy, NM.
PICTURED: X-MEN #130 NM £75 SOLD

*Marvel: Stock refreshed for Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD this week, with issues between #7 (famous Steranko Daliesque cover) and #16, including the 1st first Bullseye in #15. Full details in our catalogue.

*Marvel: A sweep through the entire alphabet of the Marvel Silver & Bronze Ages this week produces new stock for the following titles: Alpha Flight, Avengers, Daredevil, Defenders, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Logan’s Run, Power Man, Secret \wars, Spectacular Spider-Man, Sub-Mariner, Super-Villain Team-Up, Tales To Astonish, Thor, What If & X-Men. 

*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’. At an average of 80+ pages per issue, 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! 30 new issues in stock, from 1945’s V1 #6 to 1947’s V5 #6.
PICTURED: MISS AMERICA V1 #6 GD £44

*Annuals: While our ‘Immaculate Annuals’ event has, sadly, drawn to a close, other Annuals still enter our stock regularly, and this week we welcome a couple of dozen Girls’ Annuals to our lists, starting with Girl herself, the ‘sister’ to the illustrious Eagle, from 1955 to 1961, then Girls’ Crystal from 1972 on, Jackie from 1985, Misty from 1979, a plethora of Princess from 1963 to 1975, a crocodile of School Friend from 1953 to 1972, and a tag-along Tina from 1968.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Commencing in 1959, GM Smith/Micron’s Combat Picture Library, despite being relatively obscure compared to the more illustrious Commando, Battle, etc., nevertheless managed a very respectable 1000+ issue run until 1985, outlasting many rivals. We had taken an hiatus from our ongoing Combat restock over the autumn, but we’re back this week, with issues between #256 to #398. A curiosity is that for much of its run to this point, Combat had followed the cover dress common to its rivals – Air Ace, Commando, et. al. With #256, however, a new editor or art director was clearly at the helm, and the covers became lurid, colourful mini-posters reminiscent of a cinematic grindhouse studio, with energetic violence and drama compensating for a lack of finer artistic qualities. These cheap & cheerful battle tales – if you’ll excuse my oxymoron – are extensively replenished this week, 60 new numbers being added between #256 – ‘A Man Must Die’ – through to #398 – ‘Friends of Enemies’. Many more Combat await, but we will be interspersing them with other Picture Libraries to ensure our beloved punters don’t get, ahem, combat fatigue.

*Humour Comics: From the 1970s, extra-thick Holiday Specials from three popular Fleetway/IPC series; Knockout (second series) 1972, Krazy 1977 and Monster Fun from 1976! Hearken back to the halcyon days of beach donkey rides, candy floss, sunburn and travel sickness!
PICTURED: MONSTER FUN SUMMER SPECIAL 1976 VF £35

On a regular cycle, we sweep through our entire stock to delete sold items and keep our listing as up to date as possible. We’ve just finished deleting sold items from the following file in our British section:
*Humour Comics
As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available.

Over the festive period this year, our hours will be as follows:

Monday 23rd December: Open as usual 11 a.m to 6 p.m.
Christmas Eve Tuesday 24th December: Closed
Christmas Day Wednesday 25th December: Closed
Boxing Day Thursday 26th December: Closed
Friday 27th December: Open as usual 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday 28th December: Open as usual 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monday 30th December: Open as usual 11 a.m. to 6 p m.
New Year’s Eve Tuesday 31st December: Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
New Year’s Day Wednesday 1st January: Closed
Thursday 2nd January onwards: Open as usual 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: James Tiptree quickly made an impact when his work began appearing in SF publications. Intensely private, speculation abounded about his true identity. Robert Silverberg famously wrote an introduction called Who Is Tiptree, What Is He? to a collection of short stories (Warm Worlds And Otherwise) in which he described scouring telephone directories (remember them?) and failing to find a single Tiptree. He went on to scoff at suggestions that Tiptree was a woman, writing that the style was intrinsically masculine, and citing the author’s knowledge of travel and espionage to suggest that in reality Tiptree was a secret agent. I imagine his face was red when Tiptree was finally revealed to be Alice Sheldon (although to be fair, she had been in the CIA)! In addition to this collection with its notorious introduction, we have two more collections, Star Songs Of An Old Primate and 10,000 Light-Years From Home, as well as a novel, Up The Walls Of The World. Featuring great stories such as The Women Men Don’t See, Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death and The Man Who Walked Home, these are all well worth checking out.

*Clearance Corner: In the late Sixties and early Seventies, it was a common practice of distributors Thorpe & Porter to strip the covers of unsold copies for credit, then re-purpose the ‘destroyed’ coverless copies, four to an issue, under a new cover. These ‘Double Double’ Comics are literally random – any given issue of, for example, Superman Double Double Comics might have copies of Superman, but is just as likely to have any other DC title of the period, or even the occasional Marvel and ACG that slipped into the pile of unsold comics in the warehouse. Thorpe & Porter also produced Annuals in hardcover, gathering up six unsold copies, rather than four, and, the rebound copies, though trimmed for binding, were allowed to retain their original covers. Like their ‘floppy’ brethren, the ostensible stars of the Annuals often bear only a passing resemblance to the contents. We’ve acquired eleven of these random jumbles which are incomplete – they have at least one issue removed from the binding – plus two similarly-afflicted Annuals. Each one has at least three complete issues (though, as noted above, the ones in the ‘floppies’ are coverless). The issues in question are Adventure #2 & #3, Detective #1 & #2, Justice League #1 & #2, two copies of each but with completely different contents, Superboy #2, and Superman #2 & #3, plus the Brave & Bold and Wonder Woman Annuals. And no, we’re not able to tell you the contents of each issue – we’d be here all day! This bundle of 13 battered beauties can be yours for £30, plus UK postage (if required) of £8. Please note that, with regret,  Clearance Corner lots are not available to buyers outside the UK. 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’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:

*DC: Queen of a ‘watery world in another dimension’, the woman who would become Mrs Aquaman debuted in issue #11 of Aquaman’s own title from 1963. Little did Jack Miller & Nick Cardy imagine when they created this tale of Mera that over 50 years later she’d become a star of the silver screen! This VG pence stamped copy of Aquaman #11 is one of the lower graded items in the Square Mile Collection, with blunt corners, some tiny edge creasing and a worn spine, plus a (not severe) vertical crease down the centre, but still presents well, with decent staples and page quality.
PICTURED: AQUAMAN #11 VG p £150

*Marvel: After a little artistic floundering in his early issues, the Sightless Swashbuckler lucked out when the superlative Wally Wood took over illustrating his adventures. This is probably the finest Wood issue, marked not only by the premiere of the red Daredevil costume, (replacing his original outfit, which actually looked like it was designed by a blind man…) but also by a genuinely gripping battle in which Daredevil, overpowered by the vastly superior might of the Sub-Mariner, shows such courage and determination that even Namor’s scaly heart is moved to compassion. A lower graded issue by comparison with most of the square Mile Collection, this VG pence stamped copy of Daredevil #7 has some colour-breaking creasing above the logo and a (non-severe) vertical crease, as well as some spine and edge wear. Nevertheless, it is solid with tight staples and white pages and an unspoilt cover image.
PICTURED: DAREDEVIL #7 VG p £150

*Marvel: The Square Mile Collection has a number of pre-hero Marvel issues, often known (by us) as the Big Panty Monster era, and this is the first to be listed. No BPMs sadly on the cover of this issue of Tales Of Suspense #30 (‘The Haunted Roller Coaster!’), but the Creature from Krangro waits inside, alongside work from Kirby, Ditko and Heck. A VG+ pence printed copy, tight and flat with great cover colour and gloss, minimal wear, good staples and page quality, marred only by some Marvel chipping to the right cover edge.
PICTURED: TALES OF SUSPENSE #30 VG+ p £50 SOLD

More from the Square Mile Collection next week!

*DC: It’s the turn of Mister Miracle in our Jack Kirby Fourth World spotlight this week, with many issues of the original series from 1971 from #2 upwards fresh into stock. Many debuts included, significantly that of Big Barda in #4, a lovely FN+ pence copy with just minor edge wear. For full details, consult our catalogue listings. 
PICTURED: MISTER MIRACLE #4 FN+ p £85 SOLD

*DC: We continue our sweep through the DC Silver/Bronze Ages with selections from the following titles: Karate Kid (#1), Kingdom Come (Mark Waid/Alex Ross’s wonderful alternate future of the end of the DCU), Legion of Super-Heroes (#259, 1st issue of series), Lois Lane (from #28), Man-Bat, Metal Men and Phantom Stranger (later issues with Black Orchid & Deadman).

*Marvel: A further triptych of Avengers debuts this week as we present Avengers #112 (1st Mantis FN+ p), #144 (1st Hellcat FN £27) and #181 (1st Scott Lang – the man who would be Ant-Man – VF p). Still relatively affordable key issues! 
PICTURED: AVENGERS
#112 FN+ p £35 SOLD
#144 FN £27 SOLD
#181 VF p £33

*Marvel: In just the second issue of the ‘New’ X-Men, the team suffered its first fatality as Thunderbird, the native American X-Man, bit the dust in the wrap-up of the Count Nefaria story from the previous issue. A nice, glossy VG+ issue, cents of course since #95 was never distributed in the UK and is therefore keenly sought on these shores.
PICTURED: X-MEN #95 VG+ £45 SOLD

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: The latest offering in our Atomic Sci-Fi event is an Avon one-shot from 1951: An Earth Man On Venus. Based on the novel ‘The Radio Man’ by Ralph Milne Farley, this is an exciting tale of interplanetary adventure in the vein of Edgar Rice Burroughs and H G Wells. With sumptuous artwork by the great Wally Wood, this is also a visual treat (it’s a pity he didn’t get to draw the cover as well). Sadly, this copy only rates PR/FA; the cover is held on by the spine being heavily taped, and there is also heavy tape round the edges of the inside front cover; But the pages are okay and it’s still a lovely thing to own.
PICTURED: AN EARTH MAN ON VENUS PR/FA £65.

*Horror/Mystery 1960-1980s: Not long after House of Secrets’ ‘rebranding’ as a horror title (following its decades as a genteel sci-fi series), issue #92 saw a story that transcended the traditional one-off horror genre, and launched a character who became a major star for DC, culminating in his recent TV series. (We won’t talk about the movies. Ever.) In ‘Swamp Thing’, we were introduced to Alex Olsen and Damien Ridge, 19th Century best friends whose love for the same woman led Damien to murder Alex after Alex had married the beautiful Linda. Later, however, when Linda began to suspect the truth, Damien planned to murder her too: but her life was saved by Alex, returned from the swamp as a subhuman plant-creature. Linda fled from the creature in horror, never realizing that the beast who saved her was her beloved Alex. This classic tale of love, betrayal and revenge, masterfully told by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson, struck a powerful chord with the readership, and a 20th century version of the character was launched in his own series, and has starred in some of the most critically-acclaimed stories in the comics medium. This is a low grade House Of Secrets #92 for the budget conscious, graded at FA+; it is well worn, with cover creasing (particularly a long colour-breaking crease down the front cover, with a 1″ tear at the top sealed by tape on the inside; whilst less than fresh, the staples are okay (someone has inserted an unnecessary extra one towards the bottom of the spine) and the page quality isn’t bad. There is minor wear damage at the back bottom cover and rear pages, which doesn’t hurt the stories. Some pen marks around the logo area. All together perhaps not as bad as it sounds and a great way to fill that annoying gap in your House Of Secrets collection.
PICTURED: HOUSE OF SECRETS #92 FA+ £200

*Marvel UK: We’ve been trawling through the various series/appearances of Captain Britain in Marvel UK titles these past few weeks and this week we reach the grand finale, back where it all began with the first series of Captain Britain from 1976. As Smilin’ Stan himself wrote in the very first issue: ‘We present the mightiest, most mysterious man on Earth, the one and only Captain Britain!’ (Never one for undersell, ol’ Stan…). This selection includes early issues from #1 (alas, no gifts) and stars #8, the first appearance of Betsy Braddock, she who would become Psylocke of the X-Men. Interest in the Captain has never been higher, so your early attention is recommended.
PICTURED: CAPTAIN BRITAIN #8 FN £100

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: In our Free Gift spotlight this week we present the first two issues of Bullet. From 1976 onwards, in the decade that taste forgot, we have issues #1 & #2 of D.C. Thomson’s hard-edged Bullet weekly, starring medallion man Fireball, Wonder Mann, Survivor and a host of other action heroes. Both issues are complete with their Free Gifts: #1 (FN) has Free Gift (VF): Survival Folder and Wallet; #2 (FN with some stacking ink markings) has Free Gift (VF): the rarer Secret Sign Ring and Symbols.
PICTURED: BULLET
#1 FN WITH VF FREE GIFT £30
#2 FN WITH VF FREE GIFT £40 SOLD

*Humour Comics: Krazy launched in 1976, lasting 79 issues of comedy which largely revolved around the audaciousness of its frontman Cheeky (later to get his own ongoing weekly) and other members of his ‘Krazy Gang’, and parodies of TV shows such as ‘Birdman and Chicken’ and the ’12 1/2p Buytonic Boy’. In an attempt to move in a fast-paced, ‘sketch-show’ direction, it printed jokes and illustrations tucked between the panels, and in between the regular strips were a host of one-off spoofs and fake ‘guides’. The back covers were given a twist too, being ‘disguised’ in some way, like the cover of a fake Maths book, ostensibly so any watching authority figure could be fooled that the reader was doing something more productive. We have twelve new issues of Krazy in stock, all from the first year of publication, commencing with the very first.
PICTURED: KRAZY #1 VG £15

Our exclusive window designer, Dr Evilla, has concocted a festive forest wonderland for our Christmas display this year. What’s that Doc? It’s just something you cobbled together in five minutes? Ssshhh, don’t tell everyone — they’ll never believe you… View our grotto in the flesh, so to speak, or, if you can’t get to our shop this season, take a look at the image here.