*Humour Comics: Four classic comedy issues with Free Gifts from the Fleetway/IPC publishing house; we open with Buster for 7th February 1970, in VG with the Free Gift – ‘My Favourite Soccer Stars’ booklet – in FN; 1971’s Knockout #2 (19/06) is exceptionally rare with the free gift ‘Shaking Skeleton’ in decent shape, as the flimsy body joints tend to get easily lost or damaged. This copy is VG with an immaculate VF gift, still un-punched-out of its support card. Krazy #2, 23rd October 1976, is VG with the ‘Superjet Joke Camera’, still in its original envelope, the envelope a little crumpled but overall Free Gift FN; and Monster Fun #2, from 1975, is in FN with Free Gift – Freaky Spider Ring – still lurking untouched in its original pristine envelope, VF. Buster 7th Feb 1970 with Gift is £25; Knockout #2 with Gift is £40; Krazy #2 with Gift is £35 and Monster Fun #2 with Gift is £35. BUSTER, KNOCKOUT & MONSTER FUN SOLD

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’ve just added six novels by the multi-award winning author Clifford D Simak which we’ve not previously listed before. In time-honoured alphabetical order they are: A Choice Of Gods, Cosmic Engineers, Destiny Doll, Enchanted Pilgrimage, Shakespeare’s Planet and The Visitors. Simak’s aim was to root science fiction in scientific fact, without writing ‘hard’ SF, and accepting that it’s entirely possible that alien motivation and communication would be unintelligible to humans. The themes in these novels range from invasion of the Earth (The Visitors), the effect of depopulation on the Earth (A Choice Of Gods), a quest involving goblins, gnomes and witches (Enchanted Pilgrimage), strange planets (Destiny Doll and Shakespeare’s Planet) and a plucky band of humans attempting to save the Universe (Cosmic Engineers). All guaranteed to be a cracking read!

*DC: While these are inarguably a bit ‘modern’ for our demographic, Adam Hughes is probably the hottest living artist in comics, and his covers, particularly lady-centric ones, go for high prices even when he has nothing to do with the interiors. These are two of the most famous images of his 21st Century work: 2006’s Catwoman #51, in which Selina Kyle’s misdeeds appear to be catching up with her (known as the ‘Lost’ cover after the TV show, with the sequence of numbers on Selina’s board those used on ‘Lost’); and Justice League of America (2007) #6, the variant cover with the dishy and devastating Black Canary taking care of business as usual. Both are CGC Blue Label, indicating no restoration. Catwoman #51 is 9.8 (NM/M) at £185, and JLA #6 is 9.6 (NM+) at £40. SOLD

*DC: Originally adapted from a novel by Denny O’Neil, exploiting the Kung Fu craze, 1975’s Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter seemed like another example of white cultural appropriation dressed up as chop-socky entertainment, but despite some notable creators (including a blink & you’ll miss it stint by Jack Kirby), nobody’s heart really seemed to be in the project – until issue #5, when a new character, Lady Shiva, appeared in the testosterone-soaked milieu of KFF and perked things up no end. Richard Dragon’s own series faltered after eighteen issues, though he has returned many times as a supporting character attributed with – in retrospect – the training of many of DC’s hand-to-hand heroes, but Lady Shiva became the breakout star of the series, with significant appearances in the Batman books and Birds of Prey, becoming a virtual arch-enemy of the Black Canary in the latter. We have 15 of the original 18 issues of Kung Fu Fighter back in stock; pictured are issue #1 VF/NM £50 and issue #5, Lady Shiva’s debut, NM- £50. Details on all the others, of course, in our online listings.

*DC/Marvel: The DC/Marvel Crossovers are always hugely popular, so after far too long a hiatus, we’re delighted to have a handful back in stock. The main event is the Marvel & DC Presents team-up of the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans by Claremont, Simonson and Austin, in which our heroes join forces against the twin threats of Darkseid and the Phoenix. This spectacular one-shot is NM at £28. Also new to this category is 1995’s Batman Vs. The Incredible Hulk, a comic-sized reprint of the tabloid DC Special Series #27, and two prestige format one-offs, Daredevil/Batman and Punisher/Batman. Lastly, a selection of both 1996 and 1997’s Amalgam one-offs, in which the DC and Marvel Universes collided to bring us Amazon! X-Patrol! Bat-Thing! Generation Hex! Iron Lantern! and Lobo the Duck! PICTURED ITEM SOLD

*Marvel: In the fourth issue of Marvel’s Avengers series, the already formidable team of Iron Man, Giant-Man, Thor and the Wasp was augmented by one of the legendary heroes from the past. Captain America returned to action after years in Post-WWII suspended animation, and rapidly became the acknowledged heart and soul of the Avengers, who have never flourished for long without him! This copy of Cap’s iconic return to action is a pence priced copy in GD-. The primary flaw, other than moderate general wear indicated by the grade, is the large figure ‘6’ written in Magic Marker on the logo and upper central cover, in the slapdash way beloved of old-time second-hand bookstalls. Otherwise, this clean and sound copy, firm at cover and centrefold, would grade at least GD+. However, we try to be fair, so GD- p it is, on sale at £275 for one of the single most significant issues of the Silver Age.

*Marvel: One of the scarcer Spider-Man appearances, and often overlooked, was his guest-shot in Strange Tales Annual #2. While Annual #1 had been devoted exclusively to reprinted Big Panty Monsters and shock-ending chillers, by the second issue, Johnny Storm, the Fantastic Four’s Human Torch, had taken over as the lead feature, and an all-new 18-page Lee & Kirby story teamed him up with – and in finest Marvel tradition, pitted him against – the Amazing Spider-Man! This issue is scarce in the USA, and even rarer here in the UK, for reasons unknown. This is a pence copy, GD/VG, with minor lower spine wear and a small upper spine split, on sale at £145.

*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 NM p £80. SOLD

*Marvel: When the Ant-Man name was unclaimed in the late 1970s, a brainier-than-average sneak-thief, Scott Lang, stole Hank Pym’s old apparatus and became the second bearer of that title! But it’s okay – he did bad things for good reasons, specifically to find a cure for his dying daughter, as was revealed in Marvel Premiere #47 and #48, the two-part tale which (after a non-costumed cameo in Avengers #181) was Scott’s first full appearance. John Byrne and David Michelinie created this different take on the hero, and since then, Scott has had his ups and downs – been in jail a few times, been dead a few more, been a love-slave of the Purple Man (No, really. Google it. Better yet, don’t) – but he’s fought his way back to respectability, and has achieved cinematic stardom in two eponymous movie hits, plus pivotal roles in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’. This double-dip debut for our loveable scientist scofflaw consists of a VF/NM p #47 at £75 (pictured), and the conclusion in #48 FN+ p will run you a mere £11.

*Marvel: The popular Thing team-up title, Marvel Two-In-One, is replenished this update with issues between #38 and #78, co-starring the great and good of the Marvel Universe, including Thundra, the Impossible Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Giant-Man, the Vision and a host more!

*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: By 1952, the teen humour/romance juggernaut that was Patsy Walker had already conquered two regular titles (Miss America and her own self-titled series), and this launched the third, focusing on the rivalry between Patsy and her ‘frenemy’, Hedy Wolfe (like the others didn’t!). Patsy and Hedy continued into the Marvel Age proper, our heroines growing up from high-schoolers, to young career women, to ‘Gals on the Go-Go!’, finally fading out in 1967 with #110 – by which time, having guested at Reed and Sue’s wedding, Patsy & Hedy’s links to the Marvel Universe ‘proper’ were firmly established. Featuring early work by famous humourist Al Jaffee (later known for his many contributions to Mad Magazine), this selection begins with #1 (VG £90 pictured) and continues to #49, in a wide variety of grades.

*Marvel UK: The Hulk Weekly launched by Marvel UK in 1979 – the height of the Hulk TV show’s popularity in Britain – was a refreshing change from their all-reprint fare. Although there were some twice-told tales in its pages, it was at first mostly new tales of old favourites, produced by stars in the making: Hulk by Dave Gibbons, Black Knight by Steve Parkhouse & John Stokes, Nick Fury by Steve Moore & Steve Dillon and immortal vigilante Night Raven by Steve Parkhouse & David Lloyd, who made his debut in the premier issue. “All very nice, but what’s that got to do with Captain Britain?” we hear you ask. Well, most of the new material fell by the wayside early on, but the Black Knight strip continued (with a brief hiatus from #31-40) to the very final issue, and introduced a wandering mysterious figure who eventually turned out to be – you guessed it – Captain Britain, who was to co-star for much of the strip’s remaining run. One of the Captain’s least-remembered gigs, but noteworthy work from an under-rated creative team. We have a complete run of Hulk Weekly new in, all 63 issues, mostly mid-grade ‘readers’, but a chance to pick up a lot of material that has never been reprinted anywhere else.

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: The D.C. Thomson story paper Wizard, launched in 1922, was laid to rest in 1963 – but after a decent interval the Powers-That-Be tried Wizard again, this time in comic strip format. Launching with a centre 16 pages devoted exclusively to soccer-themed strips, including factoid/biographical and fiction such as ‘The Voice That Ran The Rangers;’ non-football series included pressurised pugilism in ‘Slave of the Ring’, plucky wandering orphan in ‘Scrappy: A Boy All Alone’ and futuristic peace-keepers in ‘Soldiers of the Jet Age’. We welcome back into stock the first three issues of the ‘reboot’, each with their original (and surprisingly scarce) Free Gifts. Issue #1 comes with ‘The Sure-Shot Shooter’, a plastic weapon which would get you banged up under today’s Zero Tolerance policies. Still sealed in its original envelope and glued into the comic, the gift is VF, but its decades-long presence has caused some cover creasing and ‘bumps’, meaning that the comic itself is only VG. Issue #2 is the biggie – the comic is only GD (perfectly sound, but with some foxing and corner wear), but the Free Gift is a plastic wallet containing glossy photographs of eight soccer stars. According to every source we can find, this is a very scarce item intact (the flimsy wallet often goes astray), let alone in this high grade of VF. Lastly, #3 features eight more full-colour cards to cut up and stick in your wallet from the previous issue. The comic is Fine, the cards uncut and VF – and by ‘eck, judging by these mugshots, footballers were a lot less pretty in the 1970s! Issue #1 VG with Gift VF is £35; Issue #2 GD with Gift VF is £50 and issue #3 FN with Gift VF £25. SOLD

*Girls’ Comics: The long-running Princess had four Holiday Specials during its run, and we have two of these scarce items back in stock, from 1965 and 1966 respectively. Although Princess tried to up-market itself as a magazine on the covers, the comic strips were nevertheless the prime selling point of the series, in particular ‘The Happy Days’, starring the irrepressible Sue Day and her family. The 1965 Holiday Special is VG £40 (crossword not done, paper dolls firmly in place); 1966 is GD/VG £35.

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Six works by Harry Harrison are featured here, all published in the 1960s or 1970s and none of which have graced our shelves before. Four are novels; Captive Universe, Planet Of The Damned, Skyfall and The Jupiter Legacy. One is a collection of Harrison’s short stories, War With The Robots, and for the final book he acted as editor, SF: Authors’ Choice features 14 eminent writers choosing their best stories.

*TV/Film Tie-Ins: After a hugely successful stint as driving force behind the Avengers and (in the 1970s the New Avengers), Brian Clemens turned his attention to a tougher crime action series, the Professionals, another big hit that ran from 1977 to 1983; for a while, Cowley, Bodie & Doyle became household names as their hard-edged series became perhaps a metaphor for the times, replacing the eccentric and psychedelic 1960s. Inevitably, a series of paperback novelisations by Ken Blake spun off from the series and have always found a good market on our shelves. Six more nice graded copies of these now in stock: #8 Dead Reckoning, #10 Cry Wolf, #11 Spy Probe, #12 Foxhole, #14 Operation Susie and #15 You’ll Be All Right. 

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 files in our American section:
*Marvel M – S
and in our British section:
*Annuals
*Magazines/Books About Vintage UK Comics
As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available.

*DC: We know, it sounds a bit weird, but two decades after the publication of this 1965 issue, DC linked it retroactively to their blockbuster crossover ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’, by declaring the major events therein (no, we’re not going to tell you what they were – spoilers!) as the retconned kick-off to Crisis. This nifty team-up between the Green Lanterns of Earths One and Two has therefore acquired an historic value beyond that seemingly justified by its (admittedly considerable) merits. This is an attractive glossy VG+ p copy, light corner and edge wear, on sale at £65. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Despite the many issues of Amazing Spider-Man which have passed through our hands in the last quarter century, we’re always thrilled when an early copy by the ‘real’ Spidey artist, Steve Ditko, comes into our possession, and seldom more so than by this week’s acquisition, the second issue of Amazing Spider-Man, featuring the debut of one of his most enduring enemies, the Vulture! Despite his physically frail appearance, the airborne pensioner has survived numerous deaths, remodels, and replacements by younger counterparts, and the importing of the Vulture into the Spidey cinematic mythos with ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ has enhanced the character’s popularity. This issue also features the premier appearance of the Terrible Tinkerer – no, really – who while less persistent than the Vulture, is still an occasional player in the Spidey mythos. Only Spider-Man’s third-ever appearance anywhere! This is a CGC Blue Label (no restoration) 3.5 (VG- equivalent), on sale at £1,000.

*Marvel:  One of the scarcer early Thor appearances, at least here in the Old Country, is Journey Into Mystery #112, an oddball ‘untold tale’ flashing back to the events of Avengers #3. Intervening in a dispute between fans of the Hulk and Thor, the Thunder God himself responds to the question of who’s stronger by narrating an extended ‘Director’s Cut’ of the previous skirmish between himself and old Jade-Jaws in said Avengers issue. Apparently intended to ‘big up’ the profile of the Hulk – who was at that point homeless, a wandering villain without his own series – this ‘extended remix’ story is superbly told by Lee and Kirby, and in the back, ‘Tales of Asgard’ relates the origin of Loki. Only lightly distributed in the UK for unknown reasons, this is scarcer here than its contemporaries, although this specific copy is a pence edition; VG+, with light to moderate edge wear, but vivid colour and unimpaired cover image, this is on sale at £100. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: Lorna Dane had met up with the X-Men in the previous issue, rescued by Iceman after being caught up in one of the bouts of anti-mutant hysteria which sweep Marvel-Earth twice a week, but it wasn’t until issue #50 that she had her Big Reveal: she was the daughter of Magneto, Master of Evil Mutants and heir to all his power! Fortuitously, this issue was one of a handful drawn by Jim Steranko, and his innovative layouts, cinematic storytelling and nifty costume design for Lorna (who, though generally known as Polaris, didn’t formally adopt that codename until later) made this story a gripping read with stunning visuals. To say that Lorna’s history has been convoluted is an understatement – the ‘official’ position as to whether she’s Magneto’s offspring or not has changed many times (she is at the moment, but give it a week or two…), but – except when she’s had psychotic breaks and become a villain, as you do – she’s been a stalwart member of the X-Men and/or X-Factor for decades now. This copy of her premiere is a lovely FN cents copy, light edge & corner wear but unimpeded image of one of the most striking covers of the Silver Age; on sale at £80.

*Marvel: From 1984, a little later than most fare in our catalogue, the famous Marvel series which launched a sequence of crossover ‘events’ which still reverberate through the Marvel Universe today. Secret Wars was the first of its kind, and featured many landmarks, but most famously the origin of Spidey’s black costume (later revealed to be the alien symbiote Venom) in #8. Cuddly brain-eating symbiotes remaining eternally popular with the kiddies, this origin issue is keenly sought-after – especially now our evil protoplasmic chum is the star of his own movie franchise – and our new copy of Secret Wars #8 is an attractive FN p copy at £40. SORRY, THIS HAS NOW SOLD

*Marvel: 1976’s Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #1 marked the second ongoing Spider-Man title published by Marvel, in what people feared might dilute the franchise – if only they knew! Intended originally to focus more on Spidey’s civilian alter ego, it rapidly evolved into an adjunct to, and frequent crossover with, Amazing Spider-Man, founding the practise which was to become industry standard in later decades. This copy of PPSM #1 is VF+, a pence copy at £35. Listed in our catalogue under ‘Spider-Man, Spectacular’.

*Marvel: We’re pleased to extend our range of the Defenders, Marvel’s non-team, by adding issues to our catalogue between #51-99. Included is #94, the 1st Gargoyle. Full details as always in our catalogue.

*Miscellaneous 1960 Onwards: As part of his pioneering, if short-lived, involvement with the ‘America’s Best Comics’ imprint, Alan Moore created, in conjunction with artist Kevin O’Neill, a Victorian era combination of characters from famous literary works: Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man and so forth. This unlikely and reluctant alliance faced down foes in two mini-series, then resurfaced periodically from various publishers in a number of one-offs, original graphic novels and spin-offs, as well as trade paperbacks compiling the early iterations. The subject of a controversial film (which Moore publicly disavowed and condemned, and which is rumoured to have caused star Sean Connery to retire from acting!), the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics and graphic novels are of a much higher quality. Even if, over the intervening years, Moore’s narrative techniques have become ever more esoteric and oblique, there is much entertainment to be had in his shameless plundering of popular culture, with characters from Thunderbirds, TV’s Avengers, Ian Fleming’s oeuvre and Billy Bunter being involved in cosmos-altering events – sometimes as major players, sometimes as carefully non-litigious cameos. Our newly listed League of Extra Gents stock features selections from the two original mini-series (including the catch-up Compendium Editions of series one), the original Graphic Novel Black Dossier, the spin-off hardcover OGNs Nemo: Heart of Ice, Nemo: The Roses of Berlin, and Nemo: The River of Ghosts, and three trade paperback compilations, of Series One, Series Two and Volume Three, which collects three stand-alone editions.