CGC certified: Pedigree Grade: NM- (9.2). Cream to off-white pages. Powell art. Northford. Cover by Warren Kremer. Stories and art by Bob Powell, Joe Certa, and Manny Stallman. Northford copy. Additional provenance: Metropolis Comics label on back of CGC holder. Minor 1/4" crack to top back edge of holder. The Northford collection, found in a chest of drawers sold to an antique dealer in the early '70s, contained the most complete run of pre-Code horror comics of all pedigreed collections. Northford mags can be identified by a small "circle-X" stamp on back covers.
Zombies, radioactive mutants, time travel. Used in Seduction of the Innocent. Inside cover ad: "FREE... 10 HITLER STAMPS. Mail coupon at once. We'll send you this fascinating set of 10 Hitler stamps. Different sizes, colors, values. NO COST TO YOU."
"The comic book... ads offered the young a two-bit con artist's version of the good life: get-rich quick schemes ("Make Money! Get Prizes!"); instant methods for growing muscles, learning hypnotism, or developing breasts; collections of penny-ante magic tricks, bags of nondescript toy soldiers, and worthless batches of foreign postage stamps." -Tom Englehardt, The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation [NY: 1995].
CGC census: Six 9.2 copies (no copies graded higher.) Top 6 copy. Comparable CGC sales: 9.2 sold for $1049 (March, 2018). It was the first recorded sale in this grade since 2005.
"Advertising in comic-books has caused decent boys and girls many tears... Comic-book stories teach violence, the advertisements provide the weapons. The stories instill a wish to be a superman, the advertisements promise to supply the means for becoming one. Comic-book heroines have super-figures; the comic-book advertisements promise to develop them. The stories display the wounds; the advertisments supply the knives. The stories feature scantily clad girls; the advertisements outfit peeping Toms." -Dr. Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent [Rinehart: 1954].
Consignments Accepted for PBA's Next Comic Book Auction. Golden Age, Silver Age, Pre-Code, Original Art, Interesting Ephemera Sought. Contact ivan@pbagalleries.com for details.
March 26th Comic Book Sale catalogues available. Supplies Limited. Softcover catalogue limited to 200 copies ($45 + $5 postage/handling). Hardcover limited to 26 lettered copies, dust jacket, special limitation plate ($150). Contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.