Auctions: comic books published by Trojan Magazines

Beware (1953 Trojan/Merit) 6 FR 1.0

7" cumulative spine split. Cover detached. Oxidation.

Stories and art by Henry Kiefer, Al Tyler, John Belfi, and Myron Fass. Pre-Code horror comic from Trojan Magazines really gets into gear with this issue. In fact, this issue was used for an illustration in the anti-comics classic Seduction of the Innocent (illo #12, with caption, "Children are first shocked and then desensitized by all this brutality."). A mad scientist builds a robot and programs it to think, then is surprised when it attacks him with a yen for taking over the world. In one of the more original "poetic justice" horror stories, a man murdered in a paper pulper returns from the grave to avenge his murder through paper products. Hugo seeks revenge on those who have slighted him. Plus a grisly article about real-life decapitations and what happens after. The Thing from Beyond; Almost Human; The Paper Ghost; Life After Death?; The Phantom of the Moor. 36 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Crime Smashers (1950-53 Trojan) 7 CGC 5.5

Paper: Off white

Label #4371100007

Cover by Wally Wood. Stories and art by Robert Leslie Bellem, Adolphe Barreaux, Max Plaisted and Keats Petree. Despite the title, not true "crime" comics, but mystery comics featuring detective heroes. Action girl Sally the Sleuth suspects that a bowling alley is a front for an illegal gambling den. Reporter Ray Hale investigates the murder of a dance-hall girl and uncovers a dope ring. Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective (who dresses like '50s-era Jimmy Olsen in these stories) investigates blackmail and murder on a movie set, in a story with an extended girl-fight sequence. Bondage-themed cover is early work by comics legend Wally Wood. Gail Ford, Girl Friday: The Clutch of Evil; Sally the Sleuth: Death Rolls a Strike; Ray Hale, News Ace; Bump the Jackpot; Dan Turner Hollywood Detective: Off Stage Kill. 36 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.