Auctions: comic books December 1952

Crime Does Not Pay (1942-1955 Lev Gleason) 117 CGC 6.0

Paper: Cream to off white

Slab: Significant scratch(es) front or back

Top edge label is missing.

Label #0010444019

Cover by Charles Biro. Stories and art by Fred Guardineer and Charles Biro. The title that launched the crime comics genre, Crime Does Not Pay was noted for its violent pre-Code content and lurid tales of underworld life. The story of notorious real-life gunman Pretty Boy Floyd. Mob boss Chris Ramsdell must face the music after one of his hoods shoots a senator's daughter. A tough DA is targeted by a gangster after he convicts his brother of murder. Also featuring a vintage ad for "Lev Gleason Comics picture trading cards." Pretty Boy Floyd, "Racketeer" Reward; Test Your Judgment!; Crime News Oddities; The End of the Underworld? 32 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Eerie (1951 Avon Series) 10 GD+ 2.5

Cover by Alvin C. Hollingsworth. Edited by Sol Cohen. Art by Alvin C. Hollingsworth, Harry Lazarus, Charles Nicholas, George Roussos and Everett Raymond Kinstler. Tales of horror from the era just before the Comics Code was introduced. A couple takes refuge in a haunted house, where they learn about the hidden treasure and the mad ghost of Uncle Ezra; A scientists assistant murders him for his new super-grow plant formula, but learns too late that it makes things grow anywhere; Statues in a wax museum come to life, and one has revenge on its mind. Great if inexplicable cover by Alvin C. Hollingsworth. Only the Dead Live Here!; Green Grows the Grass; World Below the Ground; Phantom of the Waxworks!; Castle of Terror! 36 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Secret Romances (1952) 11 VG 4.0

Only one staple (manufacturing).

Original, pre-Code romance stories from Canadian publisher Superior, often featuring a crime or mystery element and plentiful good-girl art. Lois is torn between soldier Larry and defense contractor Jeff - but the story takes a left turn with the discovery of a spy ring. Sisters Betsy and Ellen get into a feud over dating older men, but one of the sisters is secretly married to boot. Bert discovers that his new wife Mary has inherited her father's gambling problem. My Cheating Heart; Two Kinds of Love; Too Young for Kisses; Gamble With Marriage. 32 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Strange Terrors (1952 St. John) 5 CGC 5.0

Paper: Off white

Label #2103900018

Painted cover by George Meyerriecks. Stories and art by Joe Kubert, Albert Tyler and Bill Molno. Classic pre-Code horror from St. John. WWII veteran Peter visits Crete and learns the minotaur is real, and so are his sacrificial victims, in a story with early art by comics legend Joe Kubert. Archaeologists seeking a lost Viking treasure have strange encounters with the Viking past. In a New Orleans antique shop, a collector buys cursed coins that a legend claims were gambled in exchange for human souls. Death's Pool; Victory Chant of Gundar Arne; Mirror Image; Gag Bag; Fun Time; Curse of the Chateau Rouge. 32 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Suspense (1950) 14 GD 2.0

Cover art by Russ Heath. Death and Doctor Parker, art by Russ Heath; Doctor Parker injects himself with Doctor Hart's immortality serum. We Meet at Midnight, art by Allen Bellman. The Last Man, pencils by Mike Sekowsky. The Hide-Out, art by George Klein. Out of This World. 36 pgs. $0.10. Cover price $0.10.

Tomb of Terror (1952 Harvey) 6 GD+ 2.5

2" Spine split from bottom. Cover coming detached at both staples. Oxidation.

Cover by Lee Elias. Stories and art by Abe Simon, Moe Marcus, Rudy Palais and Joe Certa. Tomb of Terror was one of Harvey Comics' notorious pre-Code horror comics. Astronauts awaken in a future world inhabited by apelike creatures. An apprentice magician murders his boss, but didn't count on magical revenge from beyond the grave. A volcano god reanimates the dead to show his displeasure with the local village. The Survivors; Return from the Grave; Blood Ghost; Volcano of Doom; Doomed To Die; Found: The Lair of the Snow Monster. 36 pages, full color. Cover price $0.10.

Whiz Comics (1940 Fawcett) 152 PR 0.5 (R)

Restored (see item notes)

Interior is complete. RESTORATION. Piece-fill.

Cover by Pete Costanza. Stories and art by Bill Woolfolk, George Marko, Otto Binder, and Kurt Schaffenberger. The Fawcett comic that introduced the original Captain Marvel (Shazam) to the world. Captain Marvel encounters Charmee, who makes beautiful but dangerous things, like giant glass snowflakes that fall from the sky. Lance and Mike learn that their enemy, pirate queen Shanghai Lil, has learned to control the very forces of volcanic energy. Ibis and Taia seek whoever brought a zombie back from the dead on a mission of vengeance. Captain Marvel: The Dangerous Beauty Maker; Doc Sorebones; Lance O'Casey: The Deadly Islands; Golden Arrow: One-Man Law; Tightwad Tad; Wicky and O'Shawnessy; Dopey Danny Dee; Wilbur the Waiter; Ibis the Invincible: The Undertakers Revenge. 32 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.