Auctions: comic books in 'Pre-Code Horror'

Amazing Ghost Stories (1954 St. John) 15 GD/VG 3.0

Centerfold detached at one staple. Interior tearing.

Cover by Matt Baker. Stories and art by Bob Powell, Frank Giacoia, Robert Bernstein, Ray Willner, and Vic Martin. Classic pre-Code horror from St. John. Jim encounters zombie soldiers in Haiti, in a story with art by comics legend Bob Powell. A hunter kills a rare white eagle and activates an ancient curse, in a story with art by future Marvel artist Frank Giacoia. A ghost in an old New Orleans mansion seeks a couple's help in bringing his killer to justice. Plus an article on Egyptian freemasonry. Cover by good-girl art legend Matt Baker. Payment in Full!; The Stalking Doom; Cagliostro: Swindler or Superman?; Out of the Unknown; Wings of Death!; Vic Martin; Spirit Spasms; All the King's Men. 36 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Baffling Mysteries (1952) 18 CGC 5.0

Paper: Cream to off white

Label #0124701009

6 of Me on the Prowl, art by Ken Rice; An evil sculptress and a mad doctor create six clones of ex-G.I. Barney Phelps; As the clones commit crimes, the real Phelps is desperate to stop them. 12 Hours to Doom, art by Lou Cameron; Businessman Arthur Matlin discovers a magic sundial which summons Chronos, the spirit of time;p With the help of Chronos, Matlin can travel some hours ahead into the future; He uses this ability to commit crimes. The Ghost in the Portrait, art by Ken Rice; A young couple free the ghost of an evil ancestor; He takes revenge on the bones of the people who sentenced him to death; Then he commands the man to murder his wife, as he did with his wife. Crimson Wraith from the North, art by Sy Grudko. 36 pgs. $0.10. Cover price $0.10.

Blue Bolt (1949) 115 CGC 4.5

Paper: Cream to off white

Label #4683996001

Cover by L. B. Cole. Stories and art by Jay Disbrow and others. Pre-Code tales of horror and monsters, unofficially called Blue Bolt Weird Tales of Terror. As the horror-comics craze grows, Star shifts the former superhero title to horror and mystery stories. Official indicia title remains Blue Bolt, despite shifting cover titles. The origin of Sergeant Spook, as a dead policeman learns he can still be seen and heard by teenage Jerry, and helps Jerry rid an orphanage of ghosts. A cursed parchment from Tibet kills anyone who reads it. An explorer and his dog seek a shape-shifting Alaskan monster, in a rare sequel to a previous story, "The Ghoul of the North" from issue #113. Cavern of Death; The Parchment of Death; Death from the Skies; Terror in the Fields; Secret of the Moaning Ghosts; The Return of the Ghoul. 32 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.