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Update Archives For March 2008

30 March 2008

British Update: Fantastic, Terrific, Eagle 1965, Boys' Christmas issues, Commando, Beano, Dandy and more humour, Bunty, Judy, Girl, Pixie, Lucky Charm and more! Plus: Boys' Adventure & War and Picture Libraries completely updated!

Another mountain of British goodies for you this week as follows:

*Power Comics: More from the floor of ’64, as several dozen Fantastics and Terrifics are added to our roster (and a couple of late-coming, non-Odhams Smash issues into the bargain). These carefully re-edited (to try & pretend they were taking place in the UK) stories were the first exposure of many readers to the Marvel characters, and remain enduringly popular today.

*Boys’ Adventure and War Comics: We have just finished a mammoth stock-check and update on this section – our largest category – to reflect sales over the last few months, so you may now order with confidence that the items you require will be in stock – as long as other people reading this update don’t get to them before you do! This week, we bring you more from Eagle, the definitive story-paper of the 1950’s and 1960’s, with a mid-high grade selection from 1965’s Volume 16, a period in which the title was at one of its artistic peaks. Not only were Dan Dare’s outer-space adventures gracing the cover in sumptuous full colour by Keith Watson, but also historical swashbuckler Heros the Spartan was illustrated by Frank Bellamy, acknowledged as one of the masters of the field. In addition, we have further festive fun with Christmas issues of Hotspur, Lion, Tiger (& Hurricane), 2000 AD (always a prime repository of the Yuletide spirit), Victor ('The Panzers Struck At Christmas', hurrah!), and both series of Wizard.

*Boys’ Adventure and War Picture Libraries: And continuing our campaign of updating our inventory, this category has also been completely updated, and all stock is guaranteed physically present in the shop as of this writing. That’ll change, of course, as soon as you start placing your orders, but for now, it’s all sorted! Almost 100 fresh Commandos between #1001 and the early 4000s have been added in to stock, so there’s even more incentive to browse away.

*Humour Comics & Picture Libraries: Large updates to DC Thomson stalwarts Beano and Dandy this time, with over 100 Beanos (1970-1989) and 50 Dandy (1977-1981) being added to our roster. In addition, we have Christmas issues for Beezer, School Fun, Sparky, and Topper (“I’ve borrowed Danny’s Tranny – and now it’s my turn to have fun with it!” – what more need you say?), Holiday Specials for Viz and Whoopee, and additional stock for Whizzer & Chips, Krazy, and Buster, to delight, astound, and occasionally baffle. Diverse, or what?

*Girls’ Comics and Picture Libraries: Classics, rarities and obscurities in this week’s update. We lead with Bunty and Judy – and yes, I know we’ve been emphasising those titles in our ‘Big Girls’ Bonanza’ lately, but this is a new influx of early issues from 1963 and 1964 – gain more than 70 new issues between them this time. Additionally, we have top-ups to vintage Girl from the 1950’s, Jinty, June and Tammy, a second issue of the short-lived Pixie (which merged with June before it was a year old), the ungrammatically-titled Super Mags For Girls in full colour, and ten issues of the ultra-scarce Lucky Charm, the DC Thomson compilation which collected an entire serial in one magazine (for the boys’ equivalent, see Red Dagger), featuring Sally the Slave-Girl Star, Trudy Ten-Legs, Sisters of the Secret Pool, and the ever-active terpsichorean Sandra of the Castle Ballet. Not a huge hit at the time, these are incredibly sought-after now – we’ve only had a handful of Lucky Charm in our possession previously at 30th Century, so it could be a good long time before we see another run; take heed!

Posted by Rob | 09:50 a.m. GMT | 30 March 2008

American update: 1950's Charltons, Crime Suspenstories, 1950's crime and adventure from Atlas & St John, Spirit inc. 1950's Fiction House issues

Emphasis on the 1950's in this week's update with many rarities as follows, and many cover images added to our gallery:

*Charlton: 1950’s heroics with Johnny Dynamite and Nyoka the Jungle Girl, Sixties sci-fi from Space Adventures, and a beautiful Ditko-heavy Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds, with a classic 'Mirror of Age' cover which can be inspected on our Cover Gallery; check out the catalogue listing and click the link.

*EC: More for Crime SuspenStories, a personal favourite here at 30th Century, with brutality, treachery, larceny and adultery aplenty (that’s in the comics, not at 30th C – we should be so lucky…) included is a particularly nice (in the nastiest sense of the word) issue #6, of which we invite you to peruse the cover in our gallery by clicking on the link in the listing.

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: How much testosterone can you stand? Well, we’ll soon find out, as hi-octane excitement comes your way with St. John’s Atom-Age Combat #1 (in which Buck Vinson and chums are so butch they charge enemy lines wearing nothing but flippers and bathing trunks. As you would.), Men’s Adventures #8 from Atlas, tales of crime and pugilism positively dripping sweat off the page; and True Adventures #3 (the only issue – you can collect ‘em all now!), which seems to be in an unofficial competition to see how many times they can get the word 'men' onto one cover. Check ‘em all out in our virile and manly Cover Gallery. Grr!

*Spirit: A scattering of oddities this time for the famous Denny Colt, with two of the rare Fiction House issues from the 1950’s with a gloriously rendered, but hilariously busy cover on #4 – see an example in our Cover Gallery, the Kitchen Sink underground #1 from 1973, and representatives from Harvey and DC.

Posted by Rob | 09:38 a.m. GMT | 30 March 2008

23 March 2008

Hurricane Free Gift issues sold!

Sorry, but even as this week's British Update was being posted to the site, the four issues of Hurricane with free gifts were snapped up by an enterprising customer over the counter in our shop, so we're sorry to disappoint the many of you who would have been interetsed in these rarities. However, the remainder of this sweet run remains available -- for now!

Posted by Rob | 03:28 p.m. GMT | 23 March 2008

British Update: Near complete run of Hurricane, ultra-rare issues of the Big One, plus loads of Girls' Christmas issues!

A breath-taking brew of rarity and high demand in this week's British update. Eyes down!

*Boys’ Adventure and War Comics: Hurricane, the short-lived and highly sought-after Fleetway weekly from 1964-1965, breezes in this update; this is a consecutive run from the seventh issue through to the final edition, none less than good, and generally averaging VG/FN, including Christmas, Final, and Free Gift issues. Although prominently cover-billed as '“A Companion To Valiant', for most of its 63 issues, Hurricane unexpectedly amalgamated into Tiger at the end of its run, with peculiar-looking adventurer Typhoon Tracy (imagine, if you can, TinTin illustrated by Tom of Finland…) and speed racer Skid Solo making the transfer long-term. Owing to its short run and poor circulation, Hurricane is incredibly scarce these days, and always sells through fast, so act swiftly to ensure you get your copies. A photo of one of the Free Gift editions is available in our Cover Gallery – go to the listing and click the link! Teaming up with Hurricane this time is the all-new Virgin Comics version of Dan Dare. By the acclaimed (and sometimes controversial) team of Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine, this several-years-later sequel to the original Eagle stories has so far steered a skilful course between entertaining modern readers while respecting the integrity of the original series. It’s now up to issue four of its seven-issue run (a second series has been announced for next year), so jump in and catch up with what the Mekon and co are up to these days!

*Humour Comics & Picture Libraries: Ever seen a Big One? Well, neither had we until recently! This oddball Fleetway series from 1964/1965 was the size of a broadsheet newspaper, (approx. 14” x 21”) and was primarily reprints from Knockout, Sun and Comet, up to twenty years old. Selling itself solely by its format, rather than its content, proved an unsuccessful tactic, as newsagents just found it a bloody nuisance to store and display, and frequently sent it straight back to the distributors without even trying to sell it! Three weeks before its demise, Big One got an eponymous cover star, replacing the antediluvian Smiler, but the bell tolled for both character and series after only nineteen issues, and the title slid into Buster. Fear not, though – the morbidly-obese funster shared cover-billing with Buster for months longer than he did in his ‘own’ series, and lovable rogue Charlie Peace, TV stars Jimmy Edwards and Charlie Drake, and Sexton-Blake-alike Maxwell Hawke all moved over with him. A very short run, and with few copies surviving, Big One has never crossed the horizon of many British collectors – so now’s your chance! These copies are stored and mailed folded, as they originally were forty-odd years ago. This selection includes the final issue, and a photo of the ‘Big Ones’ character’s debut issue, 6th February 1965, can be seen in our cover gallery – go to the catalogue listing and click the link!

*Girls’ Comics and Picture Libraries: Christmas comes again to 30th Century, this time in a scattering of holly-festooned holiday editions of the popular series Bunty, Debbie, Jinty, Judy, and Mandy, each featuring our heroines engaging in acts of Yuletide cheer belying the tales of suffering and cruelty that lurk inside their covers. And as a special treat, Christmas issues of Twinkle! Making her 30th Century debut, Twinkle ('The picture paper specially for little girls') is something we haven’t carried before, since there’s traditionally been limited interest in tiny-tots’ comics, but recently we’ve been asked for Twinkle quite a lot, so (shrugs) we thought we’d give ‘er a go. Remember, True Believer – it’s because you demanded it!

I suspect you'll need to move fast on most of this stuff -- we don't expect it to hang around very long!

Posted by Rob | 03:21 p.m. GMT | 23 March 2008

American Update: Stunning items from Atlas horror - Strange Tales #1-#3 and Journey Into Mystery #1, plus DC humour and more modern complete sets!

Quite frankly, even we're not sure how we keep doing it, but following on from the recent mind-boggling Captain America #7, this week's star items in Atlas horror are equally staggering. Details of these and our other American stock new this week are as follows:

*DC: Another humour update this week, with issues of the masterful Inferior Five from first to last (though not quite every issue in-between!), the Showcase debut of Angel & the Ape by the superlative Bob Oksner, and a dozen more issues of Sugar & Spike, the under-rated (and, in the UK, almost non-distributed) work of genius from the pen of Sheldon Mayer. Our Sugar & Spike and Inferior Five listings have both been entirely refreshed, deleting listed-but-sold copies of these popular series, so every issue listed today is currently in stock – but probably not for long!

*Horror 1040-1959: Four key Pre-Code issues from Atlas’ Bronze Age pinnacle. The first issue of Journey Into Mystery, with a superb Russ Heath cover, and the first three issues of Strange Tales, # 1 of which is one of the scarcest Atlas issues. These two titles, amongst the scores launched by Atlas during this period, showed remarkable longevity, lasting through to the middle of the Marvel Age, with work from Heath, Maneely, DiPreta, and many fine artists unfortunately uncredited. These attractive copies (both # 1’s are VG+) are seldom seen at all, and almost never in decent grades. Scans of the covers of all four issues are available at our Cover Gallery – click on the links in the catalogue listing.

*Modern Comics Complete Sets: Continuing our Complete Set Initiative, we have the DC year-long major event, 52, plus its World War III spin-off, packaged in one universe-altering lump. Worlds live! Worlds die! Nothing will ever be the same again! Again! Plus Image’s disturbing and spooky Atheist by Hester & McCrea, in which an autistic anti-hero strives to save the world from the risen dead; Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, the last work of artist Mike Wieringo, from 2007; the flawed but intriguing faux Kirby ‘homage’, Fantastic Four; The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine, from 2001; Heroes Reborn: The Return, Spectre, Secret Six, Supergirl, and more.

Posted by Rob | 03:15 p.m. GMT | 23 March 2008

18 March 2008

Easter Opening Hours

As usual, we shall be open normal hours every day over the Easter holidays, so what better time to come and browse our very extensive stocks?

And, after ye editor's break in Paris last weekend, our stock updates to the website will be back with a vengeance this weekend, including some very rare and high demand British comics.

Keeping the faith!

Posted by Rob | 08:24 a.m. GMT | 18 March 2008

12 March 2008

Billy Bunter is 100!

As you probably know by now, Billy Bunter, one of the 20th Century's most iconic creations, turns 100 this year. We've taken the opportunity of celebrating his centenary with a tribute by our very own Will Morgan which can be found in the Features and Articles section of the site.

We have many incarnations of Bunter in stock, from his earliest appearences in Magnet, through to Knockout and Valiant.

We've also cleared down some of the older and out of date features and hope to be adding fresh ones over the coming months. Our ever-expanding Alan Class Rough Guide is still there though, along with advice on storing and preserving your collection.

Posted by Rob | 02:40 p.m. GMT | 12 March 2008

11 March 2008

American Update - Captain America Comics #7! (1941)!!!

Well, if ever one comic justified a special midweek update all to itself, it's this one:

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: An extraordinary item: Captain America Comics #7, from 1941, with three Captain America stories by Simon & Kirby, including an early Red Skull appearance, and an astonishing double-page splash on 'Death Plays the Scales'; there’s also a Cap text story, adventures of Father Time (by Stan Lee), Hurricane, and Headline Hunter, and a Sentinels of Liberty club page. This beautiful item is in a remarkable state of preservation for its vintage, with clean, flexible off-white pages showing no brittleness, vibrant cover colour with only very minor edge & corner creases, and strong staples. Easily the highest-grade comic from the war years that we’ve had through our hands at 30th Century. Extended time payments are available on this item which grades at a stunning FN- and is priced at £1350, which we believe to be a very competitive price, comparing favourably with the biggest American dealers in such items. Check out the cover scan for yourself – go to the catalogue listing and click on the link.

Posted by Rob | 09:00 a.m. GMT | 11 March 2008

British Update - Picture Libraries: Boys': Fleetway Super, Super-Detective, Thriller; Girls: Bunty, Debbie, June, Princess, Schoolgirls'

In this extra midweek update, a choice selection of hugely popular picture libraries from the 1950's to the 1970's as follows:

*Boys’ Adventure and War Picture Libraries: Additions to five crucial series this time. Opening with the hard-to-find 132-page Fleetway Super Picture Libraries, the Fantastic/Stupendous series is enhanced with more Steel Claw and Spider issues, beginning with #1! These extra-length stories are, as far as we know, unique to these editions, and not reprinted from any previous series. Other Fleetway Super Libraries in the Front Line and Secret Agent Series bring us the exploits of Maddocks’ Marauders, Sgt. Ironside (no, not the Raymond Burr version…), Johnny Nero, and the Barracuda. Elsewhere, Super Detective Library gives us new stock featuring Rip Kirby and Blackshirt, while Thriller is recharged with further adventures of Spy 13, Battler Britton and the Shadow (no, not the Lamont Cranston version…), for more pint-sized two-fisted action than you can stand!

*Girls’ Comics and Picture Libraries: Our Big Girls’ Bonanza rolls on with some little girls – to wit, the digest-sized comics of Bunty and Debbie Picture Libraries. Lengthy runs of both these popular series, (Bunty from #39, Debbie from #12) with the answers to the burning questions; how come 'Horoscopes Rule At Dingley School'? Why is it that 'Their Queen Is A Panda!'? Who is 'Sandra’s Slave'? - and a bevy of futuristic femmes – 'Marti from Mars', 'Trixie From 2097', and 'Milly Moon', among others. We’ve also got smaller selections of short-run series Girl Picture Library, and the more vintage Princess and Schoolgirls’ Picture Library, as well as some scarce June P.L. Holiday Specials from 1977 and 1982. These done-in-one digest stories are eternally popular, so order early to avoid disappointment.

Posted by Rob | 08:55 a.m. GMT | 11 March 2008

9 March 2008

American Update - 1950's 'Superman Family' DCs, Atlas & Fawcett titles, DC Teen Humour and more modern complete sets.

Wacky weirdness from the 50's and 60's this week, as well as a chance to grab yet more bargains in more contemporary comics:

*DC: A sizeable Superman family update, as Jimmy Olsen (from #26), Lois Lane (from #10) and Superboy (from #48) step to the fore, with a plethora of pre-distribution wackiness, including timeless tales like 'Bird Boy of Metropolis', 'Leopard Girl Lois', 'The Human Flame Thrower', 'Baby Lois Lane' and, er, 'The Untold Story of Superboy’s Spectacles'. Okay, so they couldn’t all be winners – but with superlative art from Kurt Schaffenberger, John Forte and the Swan/Klein team, you can be! We also have a half-dozen Pre-Distribution issues of Adventure Comics (from #244), with the Boy of Steel backstopped by Green Arrow and Aquaman, illustrated by (among others) the criminally under-regarded Ramona Fradon, and some new guy named Jack Kirby. Scans of the covers to Superboy #48 and Adventure Comics #244 can be viewed in our Cover Gallery by following the links from the catalogue pages.

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: Atlas and Fawcett updates this time, with the genre-bending Girl Comics #1 (sometimes romance, sometimes adventure), Jungle Tales (with Jann of the Jungle) and Lorna the Jungle Girl, (both Lorna and Jann featuring lovely art by Jay Scott Pike, among others) and Master Comics, starring Captain Marvel Jr., Radar, and Bulletman and Bulletgirl (and occasionally Bulletdog – who knew?).

*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: Do you want to Leave It To Binky – or would you rather Swing With Scooter? Either way, here’s your choice, as we have a wealth of DC’s late-60’s Archie rip-offs, er, timeless teen humour classics, including, as well as the above-mentioned titles, Binky’s Buddies and Debbi’s Dates, the latter from a very nice #1. Plus, Marvel’s very own short-lived Archie-alike, Harvey, as delineated by Stan Goldberg.

*Modern Comics Complete Sets: Our popular Modern Comics section expands this time with complete sets of over a dozen series, including Infinite Crisis tie-ins Omac Project and Rann-Thanagar War, the 2007 Sub-Mariner, Legends, Mystery In Space, Alex Ross’ Kingdom Come, the recent acclaimed Manhunter series, and, by way of considerable contrast from all the grit & grimness, the Marvel Romance Redux set of five themed one-shots, in which vintage romance comics are re-scripted to add a disturbing but funny new dimension. Check out 'President Stripper' – a classic of its kind!

Posted by Rob | 11:23 a.m. GMT | 9 March 2008

British Update - More Alan Class Collectors' Plate Sets, Victor 1963-1992, dozens of Humour Christmas numbers, Bunty 1977-78, Judy 1974-75

Whew! Another jam-packed British update for you this week, full to the brim with unique collectibles that you'll be tripping over yourselves to add to your collection. Detials as follows (for full information, as always please refer to the appropriate catalogue pages):

*Alan Class Reprints: Fifteen new publishers’ Plate Sets are added to the listing this week; as previous visitors to our website will recall, these items come from the personal collection of the publisher, Alan Class, and each set comprises the four lead printing plates used in the original comic's cover printing, a copy of the comic printed with these plates, and a signed certificate of authenticity signed by Alan Class himself. These are packaged in a special protective case. Several sets (as noted) have additional historical artefacts such as colour proofs, interior page plates, or printers’ photostats. All of the major Alan Class titles are represented, plus sought-after short-run series such as Out Of This World and Outer Space. A particular gem is Creepy Worlds #44, with not only the cover plates and colour cover proofs, but the entire interior content in publishers’ photostats – a veritable do-it-yourself bootleg kit! (But be warned; if suspiciously-mint copies of Creepy Worlds #44 start flooding the market, we will blow the whistle on you!)

*Boys’ Adventure and War Comics: The war n’ sport weekly, Victor, is spotlighted this update as we have more than 100 new issues ranging from 1963 (the second year of publication) through to 1992 added in. Old favourites Tough of the Track, Braddock VC and Morgyn the Mighty are joined by new series as the trusty warhorse struggled to find an audience in the latter days of the 20th Century – though if you ask me, 'Rod & Line', a comic strip devoted to the thrills and peril of, erm, fishing, wasn’t really the way to capture an action-starved younger audience.

*Humour Comics & Picture Libraries: Christmas comes early at 30th Century, with a fiesta of festive fun – Christmas issues for over a dozen popular titles, ranging from 1974 to 1998. The 'Christmas Number' was an old tradition of British Comics, and these issues are eternally popular in the nostalgia market. Beano, Beezer, Buster, Cheeky, Cracker, Dandy, Krazy, Monster Fun, Plug, Sparky, Topper, TV Comic, Whizzer & Chips and Whoopee are all updated this week, but grab ‘em fast before the Christmas spirit wears off!

*Girls’ Comics and Picture Libraries: Bunty AND Judy in one week? We’re spoiling you – but you deserve it! Bunty from 1977 and 1978, with plucky resistance belle 'Catch the Cat!', alien invading hi-jinx with 'The Balloon of Doom!' (why yes, they were getting a little desperate – why’d you ask?) wacky robot fun with 'Tina’s Tin Twin' and magical school stories, decades before young Mr. Potter, with the young witches of 'Abracadabra Academy!'. Over in Judy from 1974 and 1975, Roberta 'Bobby' Dazzler, only girl at Westbridge School for Boys, changes direction from a battle of the sexes to a romantic triangle as a new boy, Don, starts vying with Bobby’s friendly rival Mike for Bobby’s attention. Move over, David n’ Tina – this is the soap-opera angst we’re looking for!

Posted by Rob | 11:14 a.m. GMT | 9 March 2008

2 March 2008

American Update: Classic 1950's Ditko Charlton sci-fi/mystery plus Atlas and Weird Terror in Pre-code Horror

Definitely a taste of the quirky in this week's American update in the following categories:

*Charlton: A classy range of Charlton’s Post-Code mystery & sci-fi titles are added to our stock this week. Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds, Out Of This World, Strange Suspense Stories, and Unusual Tales all have new listings, with Ditko a-plenty, including some outstandingly eerie covers. But don’t take my word for it; check out our scans of Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #3 & #5 and my personal favourite, Unusual Tales #15 – in which the sidewalk monster seems to be rearing up solely to notify the passer-by that he can 'Win 8,000 Prizes!' – in our Cover Gallery by following the links given in the catalogue section.

*Horror 1940-1959: More Atlas horror/mystery, both Pre- and Post-Code, with additions to our Mystic and Spellbound stock. The Atlas bullpen of Maneely, Everett, Heath and company turn in their usual superbly-crafted work, and then there’s Paul Reinman. We also have new listings for Comic Media’s Weird Terror, one of the more sought-after lurid shockers of the 1950’s. Cover-featured stories 'Don’t Miss The Man-Ape!' and 'The Fleabite!' deliver more blood & terror than the titles would lead you to believe.

Posted by Rob | 09:47 a.m. GMT | 2 March 2008

British Update - Bunty 1974-1976

*Girls’ Comics and Picture Libraries: Bunty, Bunty, Bunty! Three years’ worth, virtually complete, from 1974 through to 1976, years previously under- or non-represented in our stock. Averaging VG/FN, these are clean, very collectable copies with considerable eye appeal. Our Big Girls’ Bonanza rolls on – next time: Judy!

Posted by Rob | 09:42 a.m. GMT | 2 March 2008