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Update Archives For November 2007

26 November 2007

British Update: Marvel UK Avengers, Film Fun Annuals, early 20th Century Boys' comics, many 1970's #1 issues, Scorcher Holiday Specials, 1950's Millers and similar, Buster, Cracker, Krazy, Monster Fun, Viz, Judy 1966/67 and more!

Another gargantuan British update this week across many of our most popular categories, featuring lots of #1 issues and many rarities and oddities:

*Marvel UK: Avengers Assemble! From the very first issue, 60+ of the UK-repackaged adventures of Earth’s Greatest Heroes (frequently with new covers and splash pages), revitalising this mainstay of the publisher.

*Annuals: Small but select, this week’s update features vintage Film Fun Annuals, in decent grades, starring Old Mother Riley, Abbott and Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, and more. The UK-scripted ideas of how the American characters speak and live are particularly baffling!

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Well, we’ve outdone ourselves on the diversity front this week. We have a selection of boys’ story papers ranging from 1909 to 1932, including titles such as Boys’ Cinema Weekly, Boys’ Magazine, Boy’s Own paper, Chums, and Pluck; the antecedent of the comic as we understand it, these text-with-occasional-illustration magazines featured stories of adventure, battle, sport, and school life, usually with a few ‘improving’ articles and how-to features that look very odd to the modern eye. In the more traditional boys’ weekly comics, we have a selection of mid-grade early issues, including #1’s for Bullet, Action 21, and Speed, first and second issues for notorious 1970’s weekly Action, and the first three issues of soccer superstar Roy of the Rovers’ solo series, as well as scarce Scorcher Holiday Specials from 1973 to 1978. And we top this off with a succession of fifties’ oddities in the US-imitating smaller format, from Miller and other short-run publishers: Biggles, Broncho Bill, Bulldog Brittain, Colorado Kid, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Gunhawks, King of the Royal Mounted, Pancho Villa, Pecos Bill, Rocky Mountain King and TV Heroes all fit this bill, and several #1s are included in this category. (Of course, we’re hazy as whether many of them had a #2, but what more can we do?)

*Humour Comics and Picture Libraries: A major input of Buster from 1969, shortly after its merger with the short-lived Giggle, to 1976, when it had just dropped the masthead of the vanquished Cor! Along the way, we have adventures of Val’s Vanishing Cream, Cruncher - the Termite with an Appetite, Tin Teacher, Pete’s Pocket Army, and a galaxy of ‘fun-chums’. We also have fresh stock of Cracker, Krazy #1, Monster Fun #2, and by way of considerable contrast, early issues of Viz from #11, in which the swearing and toilet humour reign supreme. Yay!

*Girls’ Comics and Picture Libraries: Bonanza continues! We’re back on track with our monster Judy update, and this time we offer the years 1966 and 1967, in which the title developed a decided propensity for sci-fi and fantastic adventure, with ‘Beneath the Blue Iceberg’, ‘Marina and the Monsters’, and ‘Slaves of the Silver Sphere’ plus ‘The Girl Who Could Do Anything’ starring Twinkle from the planet Zeus. (I don’t remember Patrick Moore talking about that one on ‘The Sky At Night’…) But fear not – ‘Bobby Dazzler’, ‘Sandra of the Secret Ballet’ and ‘Wee Slavey’ contribute their more terrestrial talents, as well as, yes, the triumphant return of ‘The Girl From D.O.R.S.E.T.’! (“I have a nylon rope – here in my hair!” (Of course you do, dear; of course you do….)

Posted by Rob | 02:46 p.m. GMT | 26 November 2007

American Update: Action Comics & many other Silver Age DC plus Warren Magazines inc Famous Monsters Of Filmland #1

*DC: Concluding our reverse-sweep through the alphabet, we zero in on A-G this week, with extensive updates to our stocks of Action Comics (ranging from #302 to the 480’s), Challengers of the Unknown (from #35 through to the close of their original series and the 80’s revival) and Detective Comics (late 60’s and early 70’s issues with Adams, O’Neil and key characters introduced [League of Assassins, Man-Bat] who would be influential in the Batman’s future). On top of those runs, we add to Adventure, Angel & the Ape, the scarce All-new Collector’s Edition with Superman Vs. Wonder Woman, Batman, Brave & Bold, Flash, From Beyond the Unknown (from #1 up) and Green Lantern, for a dazzling array of Silver/Bronze goodness.

*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: It’s a war on Warren this week, with Creepy, Eerie and (via her UK edition) Vampirella all represented, plus ‘adult’ mag 1984 and a very rare and unusual item, the UK edition of Famous Monsters of Filmland #1. (Despite an ill-advised publishers’ joke on the cover, it IS #1 – honest!)

Posted by Rob | 02:36 p.m. GMT | 26 November 2007

19 November 2007

British Update - Beano, Plug, oddities, Bunty, Mandy, June & School Friend

*Humour Comics & Picture Libraries: Beano bonanza! From 1962 to 1967, dozens of fresh issues of the UK’s definitive humour weekly, plus a couple of issues of Plug, the 1977 spin-off in which the eponymous Bash Street Kid (Percival Proudfoot Plugsley, to give him his full title…) briefly had his own series. Plus a couple of oddities – the 1919 Penny Popular, a story-paper with Greyfriars tales of Harry Wharton and Co, and the 1920 Kinema Comic, featuring Fatty Arbuckle, Houdini, and other luminaries of the then-silent screen.

*Girls’ Comics and Picture Libraries: An update to our Mandy issues, ranging from #24, in its first year of publication 1967, to 1979, June & School Friend from 1970, and Bunty from 1962 through to 1983, a scattershot input separate from our methodical ploughing through of the entire series. Join Pearl, Police cadet, the Invisible Schoolgirl, Mamselle X of the Resistance, Valda and many more for exciting adventures this week, and stay tuned for our regularly-updated long runs of Bunty and Judy, resuming very soon!

Posted by Rob | 07:33 p.m. GMT | 19 November 2007

American Update - DC Silver Top-Up plus Horror Magazines

*DC: A Silver Age sweep again through DC, with the second half of the alphabet featuring prominently; several of the scarce Limited Collectors’ Edition/Famous First Editions tabloids, plus updates to Justice League of America, Lois Lane, Phantom Stranger, Sea Devils, a complete run of Secret Society of Super-Villains (now more pivotal than ever to DC continuity in the wake of the recent Identity Crisis and Villains United series!), Shadow, Superboy (and the Legion of Super-Heroes), Superman, Super-Team Family, and two Mike Sekowsky masterworks, Inferior Five and the ‘Emma Peel’ Wonder Woman. Okay, that’s not properly speaking the second half of the alphabet – but hey, it’s the second half of the box! Join us again in the very near future for A through to H, and any fans of Action Comics – brace yourselves!

*Vintage Magazine Sized Comics: Scream! No, not a command, but a title – the last of Skywald’s three early-70s’ ‘Horror-Mood’ titles, the lurid, phantasmagoric - okay, barmy – Skywald line generated much controversy for its violence, incoherence, and shameless emulation of Warren, and Scream was the lowest-print run afterthought of the line, but here in Putney we have early issues, in affordable low-mid grades, with the series characters Lady Satan and The Victims, as well as one-off tales of gibbering (in both senses of the word) horror. We also have the UK edition of Ghoul Tales, with nasty Pre-Code reprints galore, from the early 1970’s.

Posted by Rob | 07:29 p.m. GMT | 19 November 2007

11 November 2007

American Update - Archie's Mighty Heroes, Dynamite #1, Atlas Annie Oakley, Black Knight & Jann Of The Jungle, Master Comics, My Friend Irma, Comic Media's Weird Terror, 1950's Westerns from DC & Atlas and even more!

A truly superb selection of incoming American gems this week across a wide range of subject matter, with the emphasis firmly on the 1950s:

*Archie: The 1960’s Archie 'Mighty Heroes' are back on the rampage! As immortally rendered by scripter Jerry Siegel and artist Paul Reinman, the company’s attempts to emulate the Marvel style resulted in some of the most excruciating comics ever – and we have them! First, the showcase title Mighty Comics Presents, with solo stories of, among others, Steel Sterling, the Hangman, and the world’s most hen-pecked hero, the Web! And then, Mighty Crusaders, the book where everyone teams up to imitate the Avengers’ and the FF’s intramural squabbles. One issue is inexplicably entitled 'Too Many Superheroes' as if there could ever be any such thing! Buy ‘em and listen to your brain cells imploding…

*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: A bewildering variety of entertainment of all stripes, opening with Sterling’s After Dark (sporting astonishingly Toth-esque art by Sekowsky) Hillman’s Airboy (backed-up by muck-monster the Heap), Atlas’ Black knight by Joe Maneely, Master Comics with Captain Marvel Junior, Bulletman (and Bulletdog!), and Nyoka; Atlas’s Jann of the Jungle, with exquisite Al Williamson and Jay Scott Pike artwork; Rugged Action #1, a debut issue from Atlas; Fawcett’s Suspense Detective; and top of the shop, the Crippen Collection Copy (no, really!) of Comic Media’s Dynamite #1, with lovely Pete Morisi art and a certificate of provenance from Heritage Auction galleries (who graded it as FN+ rather than our verdict of FN). A scan of the cover of Dynamite #1 is ready for viewing on our Cover Gallery Feature – go to the entry & click on the link.

*Horror 1940-1959: Additional stock to Atlas’s Mystery Tales, and a brace of ultra-rare Comic Media horror issues, Weird Terror #5 and #12; this short-lived Pre-Code series feature Pete Morisi and the surprisingly under-rated Don Heck, who was turning out some stellar work at this time. His cover to Weird Terror #12 is particularly lurid and hallucinogenic, and a fit accompaniment to these bloodthirsty tales of terror and revenge. A scan of Weird Terror #5 is also available for viewing in our Cover Gallery.

*Teen Humour/Funny Girls: Okay, you’re a comics publisher in the 1940’s, and you’ve exhausted all possible career choices for your ‘Funny Girl’ titles: model, actress, nurse and typist are taken, so what do you do next? Funny cowgirl - obviously! The very rare Timely Annie Oakley issues, first three out of the four, are newly listed; Kurtzman’s 'Hey look!' is an added incentive in #2, but all three have great charm and desirability to followers of Millie, Nellie, Tessie and co. Plus, My Friend Irma! Irma Petersen’s dim-bulb hijinx are always fresh and appealing, thanks to the superlative cartooning of Dan Decarlo. Irma never stays with us long, so grab her while she’s in Putney! A scan of Annie Oakley #1 is to be seen in our Cover Gallery.

*Western: What, more Annie Oakley? Yep, after her short ‘funny-girl’ run at Timely, she was revived by Atlas as a straight western heroine, continuing the numbering from her old series, and the debut ‘serious’ issue, #5, is here. We also have All-American Western and All-Star Western, DC’s 1950’s mainstays, with the Trigger Twins, Johnny Thunder (not to mention his shapely rival, Madame .44…) and, er, Super-Chief. Plus, more adventures of Atlas’ racially-conflicted anti-hero (no, not Sub-Mariner, the other one.) Apache Kid! Indian or White Man? Stork or Butter? French or Saunders? None of these questions will be answered in our new listings…

Posted by Rob | 08:27 p.m. GMT | 11 November 2007

British Update - Bunty & Judy from the early 1960's

Our Girls' Comics Bonanza continues this week as follows:

*Girls’ Comics and Picture Libraries: Bunty and Judy are back with a bang this week, with Bunty from 1962-1965, featuring 'The School With A Secret', 'Ragamuffin Ballerina', 'Two On A Tandem', and 'The Strange Journey of Jessica Jones' (presumably before she married Luke Cage and joined the New Avengers – and that’s a gag that’ll go straight over the head of 90% of the audience!), and Judy from 1964 and 1965, a period in which intrepid terpsichorette Sandra Wilson not only dealt with 'The Sultan’s Ballet' AND 'The Sinister Ballet', but we also saw the debuts of 'Wee Slavey' and 'Bobby Dazzler', two serials which each enjoyed successful runs of more than a decade. This, as previously noted, barely scratches the surface of our mammoth Bunty & Judy incoming, so stay tuned for more all-girl action in future updates!

Posted by Rob | 08:13 p.m. GMT | 11 November 2007

4 November 2007

British Update - Vintage Annuals inc Dandy 1948, Vulcan with Free Gifts, Hornet, Tiger Holiday Specials, McLoughlin, Embleton, TV21, Playbox, Rainbow, Huckleberry Hound, Dandy Summer Specials, Viz, Diana with Avengers and more!

A huge and esoteric mix of British material this week from the 1920's to the 1990's. Just a short (but great) entry in our Girls' Comics Bonanza (which continues next week), and we finish off our Free Gift Farrago with Vulcan for now, although we hope to have more free gift issues in very soon! Details of this week's gems as follows:

*Annuals: A startling selection of vintage items from the 1920’s upward! We have a rare, post-War Dandy Monster Comic (as they called the Dandy Annual back in those days), from 1948, with the familiar faces of Korky the Cat, Desperate Dan and Keyhole Kate all in place, as well as the decidedly less familiar faces of Merry Marvo and His Magic Cigar, Freddy the Fearless Fly, the Boy With The Iron Hands, and the Cheery Chinks. (All together now: 'Oh dear.') Be that as it may, this is an attractive mid-grade copy with considerable edge & corner ‘shelf wear’, but no scribbling or tears. We’ve also got the second and third Dennis the Menace Annuals, from 1958 and 1960, (‘Annual’ was a vaguely-defined concept back then...), Greyfriars Holiday Annual with Billy Bunter and Co. from 1929, Every Girls’ Annual from 1948 with a story by hot new author Enid Blyton, School Friend from 1952 up, Girls’ Crystal from 1954 onwards, Knockout from 1947 with that Bunter boy again (he nips around a lot, for a fat bloke…), early June and Princess (that’s two separates, not a combo title) from 1962 onwards, and additions to Beano, Beezer, Cor, Jinty, Sally, Tammy, and the one-of-a-kind Schoolgirls’ Own Pets Annual from 1958! What more do you need?

*Boys’ Adventure & War Comics: Okay, we normally do diverse, but this week in Boys’ Adventure we excel ourselves, with updates to our Free Gift Farrago, several long-running series replenished, and a scattering of very obscure 1940’s and 1950’s titles. Star of the show are the first two issues of the National Edition of Vulcan, from 1975, in VG/FN and VF with their respective Free Gifts of a 'Super Potato Gun' (don’t try firing any ordinary potatoes with it, now!) and a 'Magical Numbers Card Game', both intact and unopened. This popular short-run series, showcasing the cream of IPC/Fleetway’s adventure series, is highly sought-after anyway, but free gift issues are virtually unheard of. We also have additions to the 1960 and 1961 Eagle-competitor Express Weekly with Ron Embleton’s Wulf the Briton, 1970’s Hornet with the curiously-weedy super-hero Captain Hornet, the first Valiant Christmas issue from 1962, and TV21 (second series) with Thunderbirds, Star Trek, Joe 90 and more, from 1969 to 1971. Also this week, four scarce 1970’s Tiger Holiday Specials, including the strange 1975, which has a crossover 'Battle of the Superstars' and 'Tallon of the Track', which stars – gasp – a girl! Rounding off, we have a list of rarities and esoterica from the olden days: All-Action Comic, featuring 64 pages of science fiction with Swift Morgan, Captain Sciento, and Sam English Museum Rover (it’s okay, it’s a future museum..) by McLoughlin, Embleton and others. There’s Bat Magazine, featuring our spooky western hero and new horror, plus Fiction House reprints; Western Super Thriller, with superhero Ace Hart fighting the slinky Zonda while the Rawhide Kid (not that one) plays back-up; Super Duper, with ersatz American crimefighters Air Viking, Wonder Boy and Dane Jerrus; and Young Marvelman to boot. Crikey!

*Humour Comics: Racism and sexism in this week’s update, with two very contrasting new entries; from 1951 to 1953, Playbox and Rainbow, two over-sized juvenile titles which featured anthropomorphic hijinx with Tiger Tim, Twizzle, and Polly and Her Poms, as well as the odd soft-adventure strip and, regrettably in Playbox, 'The Darkie Boys', which is exactly what you think it is. We’re purveying them as historical documents, folks, we don’t endorse the sentiments, okay? From considerably less innocent times, Viz is also added to our catalogue listings this time round, as one of the few remaining British comics still being published. glorying in vulgarity, swearing and toilet humour, Viz has become a bit of a cult (no, I said CULT) in the UK, and while – as you might guess with series like, 'The Fat Slags' and 'Sid the Sexist' – it’s not exactly a hotbed of political correctness, the racism at least is a lot less overt than in the naïve 1950’s. We’ve also got some hard-to-find 1970’s Dandy Summer Specials, and the tabloid curiosities, Huckleberry Hound’s Summer AND Winter Extras from 1965, with a panoply of Hanna-Barbera favourites.

*Girls’ Comics and Picture Libraries: A small diversion from our Judy/Bunty bonanza to welcome a handful of Diana issues, including a second issue in GD, and a handful of the much sought-after issues from 1967 featuring the Avengers TV series; Steed and Mrs. Peel sit oddly among the tales of school and ballet adventures, but these short and beautifully-drawn strips admirably evoke the spirit of the popular show.

Posted by Rob | 10:26 a.m. GMT | 4 November 2007

Coming Attractions

American stuff on the way! Fear not, lovers of Golden, Silver and Bronze Age American titles. We have lots and lots of vintage gems waiting in the wings which we'll be grading and adding to the website over the coming weeks. We've spent the last few weeks trying to get some of the huge British collections we've bought out of our storage areas and on sale, but some really classic US stuff will be along very soon -- our usual classic mix of mainstream and oddball!

Posted by Rob | 10:15 a.m. GMT | 4 November 2007