What's New

19 May 2012

British Update: Tracy

*Girls' Comics: A tintinnabulation of Tracy! A late-running addition to the DC Thomson girls' weeklies, Tracy debuted in late 1979 and hewed firmly to the established formula of plucky schoolgirls, tragic waifs, magical/alien/robotic best friends and hateful relatives, for a solid read distinguished only by the bizarre front-cover antics of our eponymous heroine and her budgie Elton who spend far too much time alone together! More than 100 copies added to our stock from #5.

Posted by Rob | 02:28 p.m. GMT

18 May 2012

British Update: Buster 1961-1965

*Humour Comics & Picture Libraries: A Big Buster Bonanza – literally, as this covers the years 1961-1965, when the titan of Fleetway humour weeklies was an 11" x 14" rival to DC Thomson's Topper and Beezer. During this time, Buster gobbled up two venerable stablemates, Radio Fun and Film Fun, with the result that, apart from Buster himself, most of the long-running humour strips in this humour weekly were centred around showbiz personalities – Charlie Drake, Bruce Forsyth, Morecambe & Wise, and the bizarre antics of Jimmy Edwards and the 'Whacko!' universe – oh, ask your grandmas, I haven't got time to explain everything… Buster was unusual among the funny weeklies, however, in having between 1/3 & 1/2 of its pages devoted to adventure strips, and many well-remembered series ran during this time – Victorian rogue 'Charlie Peace', supernatural investigator 'Maxwell Hawke', Viking crusader 'Black Axe', and mad scientist 'The Shrinker', as well as American imports 'Superman' and 'Buck Rogers', reprinting the newspaper strips. More than 100 of these oversized – and concomitantly rare, as they didn't keep well on the newsagents' shelves or in people's homes – issues added to our stock this week, including Christmas issues, Easter and Fireworks issues, and the Buster/Film Fun merger number.

Posted by Rob | 04:23 p.m. GMT

American Update: Modern DC - Conclusion of Superman titles; DC Gold/Silver Age inc 1st Batgirl, 1st & 2nd Suicide Squad in Brave & Bold, Marvel Silver/Bronze inc. 4th Iron Man

*DC: Our modern Superman journey reaches its destination with the Superman/Batman ongoing series and a long list of mini-series and specials. Plus: More Silver Age Specials, with highlights being the debut of Batgirl in Detective Comics #359, the Joker's first solo #1, Brave & Bold issues with the early adventures of the Suicide Squad (from #25), a run of Adventure Comics crossing the Legion of Super-Heroes and the Supergirl years, Atom, Batman (including #156's fondly-remembered "Robin Dies At Dawn" story), Batman Family, Showcase with 'Doctor No', Justice League of America from #13, Superboy, Sgt. Bilko, Superman (including #141's "Return to Krypton" classic), Wonder Woman, World's Finest, and a Golden Age guest-shot with Detective Comics #95!

*Marvel: A bombastic Bronze Age update, streaked with Silver! New stock from the Sizzlin' Seventies constitutes Captain America (pre-and-post the '76 Kirby revival), Daredevil (from the early 100's to the 150's), Fantastic Four, Hulk, Jungle Action, Nova, Sub-Mariner and the mighty Thor; the Sixties strand includes Dr. Strange (from his first solo series), a stirring selection of Strange Tales including early S.H.I.E.L.D., Steranko issues, and the second Annual with a Spider-Man/Human Torch team-up; and Tales of Suspense #42, the fourth-ever appearance of Iron Man (and the first – and to date, last – appearance of 'The Red Barbarian'; but don't worry, I'm sure Brian Michael Bendis is eyeing him up for a mini-series any day now…). The cover of Tales of Suspense #42 may be viewed at this link:
Tales Of Suspense #42

Posted by Rob | 04:16 p.m. GMT

17 May 2012

British Update: Pow + Smash Special, Annuals, near complete run of Warlord, Girls' Summer Specials

*Power Comics: Pow is the focus of this spotlight with many issues from #5 through to the final number of #86, when it amalgamated with Smash, together with a solo, but splendid, Smash Holiday Special from 1969.

*Annuals: Another variety of Annual editions, with new listings for Beano, Beezer, Eagle (1960's) and Hotspur (1980's), Dr. Who, Joe 90, UFO, and Have Gun Will Travel.

*Boys' Adventure & War Comics: Warlord, the last of the great DC Thomson war titles, is completely relisted from its first issue in 1974 (with partial free gift) through to its final year of 1986, with more than 500 numbers new to our listings to give us a substantial percentage of the series' 627 total issues. Home of 'Code Name: Warlord', 'Union Jack Jackson', 'Big Willi', 'Cannuck King, the Fighting Lumberjack', and many others, this reeled on largely unchanged – pausing only to gobble up stablemate Bullet in 1978 – until the latter years saw some half-arsed sci-fi creeping in. For a concentrated dose of the comic that out-Victored Victor – and the chance to grab up most of it all at once! – jump in and stake your claim now!

*Girls' Comics: We begin a series of Sensational Summer Special Updates kicking off with girls' Summer and Holiday Specials from Bunty (1980's, plus the 2009 facsimile of the 1972 special), My Guy (1990's, with 'hunks in trunks' a-plenty), a scarce Penny from 1979, Tammy from the 1970's, and an attractive Tina from 1979 (formerly 'Princess Tina', and listed under that title, but the series was officially 'uncrowned' in 1971). Look for more Summer Specials in other categories coming soon!

Posted by Rob | 05:32 p.m. GMT

American Update: Modern DC - Superman

*DC: Our modern Superman extravaganza continues with Superman (the series that started with John Byrne in 1987), plus the on-going Superman, Man of Steel series from 1991-2003. Look for the concluding part of this epic update very soon!

Posted by Rob | 10:26 a.m. GMT

16 May 2012

American Update: Undergrounds (inc. some UK)

*Undergrounds: A selection of countercultural imperatives from 1971 on, with new stock of the 'classic' American undergounds: Balloon Vendor, Cocaine Comix, Star*Reach, Tales of the Leather Nun, and Zap, and their UK brethren, which are often scarcer: Bogey, Cozmic Comics, Edward's Heave, Serious Comics, Sideshow Comics, and the notorious Nasty Tales. With vanishingly low print runs, undergrounds are becoming increasingly collectible, and we expect competition for these to be intense, so order swiftly!

Posted by Rob | 05:41 p.m. GMT

Housekeeping Update

As regular visitors to our site will know, 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 American section:

*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics

and from the following files in our Books section:

*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
*Crime, Spies & Secret Agents
*TV/Film Tie-Ins
*Pulp Fiction

As of the time of writing, these categories are bang up to date, with every item listed available, so you may order with confidence!

Posted by Rob | 03:04 p.m. GMT

11 May 2012

British Update: Complete set of all 3 Super Coloured Comic Annuals 1950-52 by Dennis McLoughlin

*Boys' Adventure & War Comics: Possibly three of the rarest items we have had in stock, the Super Coloured Comic Annual issues from 1950-1952, regarded by some as the Holy Grail of British comic collecting. We understand from Internet sources and prominent British collectors that fewer than 15 copies of each of the three volumes are known to exist. In our years of dealing, these are the only copies we have ever seen, and we're unlikely to see more – hen's teeth are more commonplace! Selling for the princely sum of 2/6 back then, these softcover albums are rebinds of the Boardman comics which were distributed through Woolworths, including Blackhawk, the Spirit, space adventurer Swift Morgan, private eye Roy Carson and Buffalo Bill. They also feature new text stories starring most of the same characters. Prices range from £200-£275. Cover scans of all three may be viewed at these links:
Super Coloured Comic Album #1 1950
Super Coloured Comic Album #2 1951
Super Coloured Comic Album #3 1952
Small images are reproduced below:

VERY SORRY TO DISAPPOINT ANYONE, BUT INTEREST IN THESE HAS BEEN PHENOMENAL AND THEY ARE NOW ALL SOLD

Posted by Rob | 03:30 p.m. GMT

American Update: Marvel pre-hero monsters, a round-up of Western titles, John Carter & Tarzan and a rare Religious Comics splurge!

*Marvel: Big-Panty Monsters Ahoy! From the pre-hero pages of Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery comes a plethora of critters to tax the imagination, including Goliath, the Sandman, the Sorceror, the Roc, and Gargantus. Less scrupulous dealers than ourselves would describe some of these characters as 'prototypes' for the heroes of the Marvel Universe. Pay them no heed – we love these stories for themselves, and for the stunning art by Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and their Marvel stablemates.

*Western: A rousing round-up of rannies (whatever they are..) from sundry publishers, including DC's All-Star Western and Tomahawk, Charlton's Billy the Kid, Gunfighters, Outlaws of the West and Wyatt Earp, animal antics with Dell's Hi-Yo Silver and Rin Tin Tin, not one but two incarnations of the Outlaw Kid (Atlas and Marvel), and from Marvel proper, Rawhide Kid and the Ringo Kid.

*Tarzan/ERB: More of the 70's Marvel incarnations of John Carter of Mars and Tarzan, with stunning art by Cockrum and Buscema; additions to our stock of DC's Korak and Gold Key's Tarzan; a high-grade Tarzan's Jungle Annual from Dell; and the seldom-seen 1982 Tarzan Summer Special, with all-new artwork by the Kubert School and Studio.

*Religious Comics: A diverse selection of spiritualities represented in this update to one of our more unusual categories; Amar Chitra Katha, the English translation of a long-running Indian series; 1950's copies of Treasure Chest, from the Catholic Guild; full-on Bible-Thumping from Spire, with Attack, God's Smuggler, and In The Presence Of Mine Enemies; and finally, the world's only certified kosher comic (it says so right there on the cover…) Mendy and the Golem, in which we are introduced to the interstellar menace of Oy Vayder! No, it's not April 1st, okay?

Posted by Rob | 03:21 p.m. GMT

10 May 2012

Whitko Collection Update: Magazines/fanzines galore about Vintage US Comics

*Magazines & Books About Vintage US Comics: From the vaults of our late friend Steve Whitaker, a very eclectic selection of fanzines and prozines ranging from 1970 to the early years of the 2000's. Highlights include a nice selection of the 1970's house fanzine FOOM, a scarce early Marvelmania, the Marvel-Comic Con Convention Booklet from 1976, the extremely limited circulation Tales of the Implosion (to which Steve was a contributor), swatches of long-running fanzines Amazing heroes, Back Issue, Comic Book Artist, Comic Book Marketplace, Comic Media/Comic Media News, Comics Forum, Comics Interview, and Comics Journal, plus short-run, low-circulation 'zines like Comic Book Heaven, Comics – The Golden Age, Graphic Eye, Graphic Sense, Graphic Story World, Energy, Glimpse, Nemo, Short Fuse, X-Men Chronicles, and Taaru! Climb aboard for a journey through detail-obsessed fanboyishness the way you like it!

Posted by Rob | 05:28 p.m. GMT

British Update: UK/Australian reprints -- Horror, Sc-Fi, Western, War and more, plus Smash & Wham, Boys' World from Vol 1 #1 and large amount war/battle/combat stuff in Boys' Picture Libraries

*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: A huge update to this category, with more than 150 items including: reprints of pre- and post- Code horror (Black Magic, with S & K material, Mystic, Spellbound (from #1), Marvel Tales (scarce Miller digest), Twilight Zone Comic Album; Australian reprints of mostly DC material (Air Force Heroes, Super Adventure, Superboy, Tip Top, Wonder, World's Finest, and a stray copy of Avengers!); and a general selection from Miller, Arnold, World Distributors and others, of movie tie-ins, adventure and comedy including Battle Action, Battle Fire, Frontier Trail, Grey Ghost, Gunsmoke, Human Torch, John Wayne, Quick-Trigger Western, Race for the Moon, Sir Lancelot and Brian (no, we couldn't believe that one either…), Two-Gun Kid, and more.

*Power Comics:Smash from its relaunch issue in 1969, when it was rebranded as a Valiant companion and gained series such as Janus Stark, Cursitor Doom, Tri-Man and His Sporting Lordship, and a nice selection of later Wham!, with the Leo Baxendale-inspired funnies augmented by American imports the Fantastic Four.

*Boys' Adventure & War Comics: Boys' World is restocked from Vol 1 #1 through to its second and final volume, with the early contributions of author Harry Harrison quickly subverting this originally-educational weekly into a classy adventure series that was a worthy rival to Eagle – into which it was soon subsumed. Popular science-fiction and fantasy strips such as 'Wrath of the Gods', 'Iron Man', 'Merlo the Magician', and 'Angry Planet' (a curiously neutered adaptation of Harrison's own 'Deathworld' novels) were the selling point here. Most of these new additions are low-to-mid grade, making them very affordable.

*Boys' Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Close to 300 new entries in the war/combat/battle stakes, with a startling amount of rarities and early issues. Highlights include a substantial number of the scarce Pearson series Air War Stories, Picture Stories of World War II and Sea War, plus Action War (from #1), Air Ace, Attack (from #1), Battlecry (from #3), Battlefield (from #1), Battleground (from #3), Combat, Commando (from #210), Conflict, Pocket War, Sabre Library War In Pictures, Silhouette, and – by way of a change from all this war – science-fiction adventure with Starblazer (from #1)

Posted by Rob | 03:47 p.m. GMT

Housekeeping Update

As regular visitors to our site will know, 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:

*Boys' Adventure & War Picture Libraries

As of the time of writing, this category is bang up to date, with every item listed available, so you may order with confidence!

Posted by Rob | 10:23 a.m. GMT

9 May 2012

American Update: Modern DC - Superman

*DC: We commence the listing of our modern Superman stock with the latter end of the original series into the 1980s, following on when it changed its title to Adventures Of Superman, then reverting to just Superman again before concluding in 2011. Hundreds of issues added, and yet more to come with this exhaustive inventory of the Man Of Steel. Stay tuned.

Posted by Rob | 04:33 p.m. GMT

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