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Update Archives For August 2009

22 August 2009

British Update: Free Gift Farrago returns in Boys' Adventure & War plus Humour and lots more!

Several highly collectible Free Gift issues among this week's new stock in the following categories:

*Boys’ Adventure and War Comics: A Free Gift Farrago update! Yes, once again, we’ve had an influx of vintage comics with various peculiar bits of cardboard or plastic appended, making them sought-after collectors’ items! Action for 29/5/1976 with the ‘Invasion’ game (not at all like ‘Battleship’), the first three issues of 1979’s Crunch with the free bracelet (er, ‘wristband’! we meant ‘wristband’!) and stickers, Barry Sheene poster and extremely hazardous ‘Skull Badge’, respectively; and the premier issue of the short-lived Scoop, with its ‘Big Event’ Sports Diary. Scans of the Action and the Crush #1 may be found in our Cover Gallery section – click the link in the listing proper. But not content with this largesse, we also have updated our stocks of Adventure (1949), Bullet (1976), Champion (1944 and 1950), Comet (1950), Hotspur’s various incarnations from 1947 to 1976, the obscure and oversized Jingles, a ‘hybrid’ that looks humorous but is mostly adventure inside, Valiant (1976), and Wizard Vols. 1 and II, from 1947 to 1977.

*Humour: A Free Gift Farrago update! The always-popular Krazy is welcomed back to our lists, with the first three issues from 1976, including the free gifts of a ‘Superjet Joke Camera’ and the ‘Top Pop Hummer’ (if you have to ask, you don’t need to know…) in issues #2 and #3 respectively. Scans of the second and third issues (with #2’s bulkier gift also scanned separately) may be seen in our Cover Gallery – you know what to do by now, fanboy… Additional stock is also listed for Cor (the second and third issues from 1970), a swathe of Dandy from 1948-1976, Gem from 1937, Knockout from 1947, and Whizzer & Chips and Whoopee from 1976.

Posted by Rob | 10:57 a.m. GMT | 22 August 2009

American Update: Batman 1980-2009 plus Undergrounds

*DC: Following up on our previously-announced revision of our catalogue stock, we’ve brought Batman from the early 1980’s to early 2009 into the fold, incorporating such key storylines and events as ‘Ten Nights of the Beast’ , ‘Death In The Family’, ‘Batman: Year One’, ‘Knightfall’, ‘Hush’, and many more, by legendary creators including Miller, Mazzucelli, Lee, Azzarello. For our next stock upgrade, cast an eye over at the House of Ideas, and Marvel’s Mightiest Hero team – coming soon!

*Undergrounds: Additions to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and spin-off Fat Freddy’s Comics & Stories, Corben’s Rip In Time, the first issue of Harold Hedd, and the ultra-scarce magazine-sized Mr. A from 1973, in which Steve Ditko’s didactic and judgemental ‘hero’ struts his stuff, with a set of morals and values very different from the usual standards in the underground world!

Posted by Rob | 10:53 a.m. GMT | 22 August 2009

Housekeeping Update

As regular visitors to our site will know, on a regular cycle, we sweep through our entire vintage 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 British section:

*Boys' Adventure & War Picture Libraries
*TV & Film Related Comics

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

Posted by Rob | 10:50 a.m. GMT | 22 August 2009

14 August 2009

British Update: Lion 1966 & 1969, Starlord, Tiger 1968, June & School Friend 1969-71 and Schoolgirl Picture Library

A pot pourri of popular stuff this week in the following categories:

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Continuing our major Lion overhaul, we have new stock from two pivotal years in the series’ history: 1966, when it was newly-merged with the fledgling Champion, bringing the super-heroic ‘Phantom Viking’, ‘Jet Jordan’, and ‘Return of the Stormtroopers’ to a line-up already redolent with established stars ‘The Spider’, ‘Robot Archie’, and ‘Zip Nolan’; and 1969, when the series absorbed Eagle, the paper it was created to oppose, though by then the sadly-diminished Eagle could only bring ‘Lightning Stormm’, ‘The Waxer’, ‘The Gladiators’, and reprints of ‘Dan Dare’ to the table. We also have fresh stock for the scarce 2000 AD spin-off of 1978, Starlord, and 1968 Tiger, all new this week.

*Girls’ Comics: More June & School Friend, this time from 1969 to 1971, more than seventy new issues featuring fashion-doll ‘Sindy’ and her friends, ‘Bessie Bunter’, ‘Gymnast Jinty’ ‘Mamselle X’ of the Resistance, and ‘Rascal, The Richest Dog In the World’, not to mention (because I’ve banged on a bit about her in previous updates) time-travelling trolley-dolly, sorry, courier, ‘Glory Knight’, drawn by the ineffable John Burns. (Oops, I have mentioned it, haven’t I? Never Mind…)

*Girls’ Picture Libraries: Additional stock to the scarce Schoolgirls’ Picture Library this week, from #163 to #213. looking for further fun and frolics with ‘The Invisible Schoolgirl’, ‘Desert Taxi’, ‘Kennel-Girl Detective’, ‘Fireworks With the Peewits’, or ‘Melody Makers On Tour’? Well, look no further!

Posted by Rob | 11:50 p.m. GMT | 14 August 2009

American Update: DC Bronze Age Expansion

*DC: As promised last week, the first step in an expansion of our Silver/Bronze stock is initiated this time. Although we, of course, are ageless, it’s crossed our attention that our clients are getting older, and what we once regarded as ‘recent’ stock is their childhood nostalgia To that end, we’ve moved our cut-off point on three titles – Adventure Comics, Brave & Bold, and World’s Finest Comics – to the conclusion of their respective first series, to have the full run of these venerable titles in one section, and bringing over 200 new entries to our listings.

Posted by Rob | 11:44 p.m. GMT | 14 August 2009

11 August 2009

British Update: Lion, Hey Diddle Diddle & Disney

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: The Lion is on the prowl! More than a hundred issues added to our listing, including a virtually complete year of 1954 and ranging from the early to mid 1960s, the advance guard of a massive Lion update that will take us from its first year of 1952 to its final year of 1974. Join Sandy Dean of Tollgate School, Captain Condor, Maroc the Mighty, Robot Archie and the pride of Lion’s leading series as we segue through the decades in the weeks to come.

*Younger Readers’ Comics: Hey Diddle Diddle – we have a virtually unbroken run of this nursery-rhyme inspired weekly from 1972’s second issue through to late 1973. Headlined by ‘Baby Baby Bunting’, the story of an obsessive-compulsive toddler who dressed in a rabbit suit 24/7 (and who would today be either the subject of investigation by Social Services or the star of a website – but those were more naive times…), the gentle adventures of nursery characters famous (‘Old King Cole’) and obscure (‘Jack Wag’?) had a surprisingly long run and was popular enough to absorb stablemate ‘Bobo Bunny’ in its second year, at which point the pastel pachyderm ‘Pinkie Puff’ joined the line-up, and words failed me. We also have a plethora of early-1970’s Disney, from ‘Disneyland’ and ‘Donald & Mickey’, through ‘Goofy’ and ‘Wonderful World of Disney’ – the former three all from their premiere issues.

Posted by Rob | 02:11 p.m. GMT | 11 August 2009

American Update: DC Silver & Bronze Age

*DC: Another Silver Age Sweep through many of the classic titles of the DC Universe, from the 1950s to the 1970s; new stock this time for Action, Adventure, Brave & Bold, DC Special Series, Flash, Jimmy Olsen, Justice League of America, Lois Lane, Metal Men, Secret Society of Super Villains, Superman, Wonder Woman and Worlds Finest – a veritable cornucopia of costumed characters cavorting in continual combat. Further expansion of both the range and the depth of our Silver?Bronze Age Stock is imminent, so keep an eye open for future updates!

Posted by Rob | 02:08 p.m. GMT | 11 August 2009

Cover Gallery Update

We continue our rolling programme of adding many more cover images of our stock to our catalogue. This week, new images can be seen for the following - just click on the link on the appropriate catalogue page(s):

*DC Comics: Comic Cavalcade, Creeper & Detective Comics

Many more to follow on a regular basis.

Posted by Rob | 02:05 p.m. GMT | 11 August 2009

5 August 2009

Latest News -- IT Upgrades

This autumn will see substantial improvements to our IT capabilities here at 30th Century. We're adding new hardware and communications and redesigning our website to make it even more user friendly and fully searchable. In addition, we're planning to introduce a fuller range of American back issues from the mid-70s to date, so that we can offer our online customers the same extensive range of stock that visitors at the shop can browse. We're also relocating more of our office functions to the shop, so some of you who may have experienced a day or so delay before we're able to confirm availability of items will soon see that disappear with all emails answered more promptly.

Some of these changes will take longer than others, but we hope to have everythig in place by the end of 2009.

Occasionally, (but not too often) some of these changes will entail smaller website updates than usual as we instigate some of these improvmenets. This week, for example, we just have one section updated with new arrivals, but it's a doozy! Read on:

Posted by Rob | 06:13 a.m. GMT | 5 August 2009

British Update - Eagle 1982-90, Valiant 1963-64, Victor 1962-66

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Owing to tremendous sales – and thanks for that, folks – we have substantial new stock to our 1980’s Eagle from 1982’s debut issue (in Fine condition, with ‘Space Spinner’ free gift!) through to 1990, shortly before the title’s demise. Remembered for its excruciating ‘photo-strips’ (and where are the plucky Assistant Editors and gophers who played ‘Sgt. Streetwise’ and ‘Joe Soap’ now, eh?), Eagle nevertheless boasted some top-notch comics art from Ian Kennedy and Oliver Frey on the ‘Dan Dare’ series from the beginning, and when it converted back to a standard comic in 1984, primo talent like Jim Baikie and John Burns were prominent contributors. Turning to more vintage titles, both Valiant and Victor get some attention this week; Valiant is recharged from 1963 and 1964, the heyday of ‘Kelly’s Eye’, ‘Steel Claw’, and the quintessential misunderstood-giant-robot-gorilla saga, ‘Mytek the Mighty’, whose debut issue is among this update’s highlights. Victor has new inventory added from 1962, its second year of publication, to 1966; very few significant changes here, as Victor readers knew what they liked – basically, ‘Tough of the Track’, ‘Braddock’, ‘Morgyn the Mighty’, and true tales of wartime heroics – and very few other strips seemed to really ‘take’ for long, despite brave efforts from the likes of ‘Wee Bandy’ and ‘The Jungle Fox’ to attract an audience. Still, with more than 200 issues new in this week, there’s plenty to choose from! (Provided you want to choose an issue with ‘Tough of the Track’, ‘Morgyn the Mighty’, and…okay, I’m shutting up now…)

Posted by Rob | 06:02 a.m. GMT | 5 August 2009