Auctions: comic books published by Hillman

Airboy Comics (1945-1953 Hillman) Vol. 10 #1 CGC 6.5

Paper: Off white

Label #4692677015

Cover by Ernest Schroeder. Stories and art by Bob Jenney and Ernest Schroeder. One of the more fanciful and influential of 1940s aviator heroes, Airboy fights evil with his radio-controlled plane "Birdie" and its plethora of experimental flying tech. Sometimes listed as Airboy Comics #108. No issue # on cover; Vol. 10, issue #1 in indicia. Airboy helps an aviation pioneer who's being blackmailed over a 30-year-old crash that might have been an accident or murder. In Scandinavia, The Heap helps a man try to save his village from a disastrous civil engineering scheme. The story of circus pioneer Hachaliah Bailey's first elephant. Airboy; The Heap; 10¢ a Look; The Spanish Stab; The Finger of Asia; Bits from the Blue; The Rabbit of the Baselines. 32 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Clue Comics (1943) 5 CGC 7.5

Paper: Off white to white

Label #0135246003

Cover by Dan Barry. Stories and art by Dan Barry, Alan Mandel, Tony DiPreta, and John Cassone. Forgotten superheroes from the Golden Age of comics, featuring early work by Dan Barry and other comics legends. Zippo, Nightmare and Sleepy were all listed in Jon Morris's 2015 book The League of Regrettable Superheroes. The Crane, a Nazi agent with telescoping arms, targets the Giant and the Boy King. Nightmare and Sleepy battle a prison baseball team who continue their baseball-themed crimes after being paroled. Micro-Face investigates a murder, but the body is nowhere to be found. The Boy King and the Giant; Nightmare and Sleepy: The Crooked Nine and the Diamond Robberies!!!; Stupid Manny; Micro-Face; The Tall Witness; Zippo; Jackie Law and the Boy Rangers; Twilight. 64 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Crime Detective Comics Volume 1 (1948) 9 VG/FN 5.0

Staple rust.

Cover by Dan Zolnerowich and Herb Rogoff. Stories and art by Charles Raab, Art Peddy, Jules Steiner, Jack Keller, and Dan Zolnerowich. Tales of crime and mobsters, both true and fictional, a prime example of the genre that thrived in the years before the Comics Code. The notorious cover of this issue portrays a spoof of anti-comics crusader Dr. Fredric Wertham bound and gagged, something acknowledged by the artists and Wertham himself, who points it out in both the illustrations and text of his 1954 anti-comics classic, Seduction of the Innocent. A female crimelord tries to turn herself and her fellow crooks into high-society types in 1880s New York. Spinster sisters Tabby and Birdie Rosebud, "the 70-year-old teenagers," enter a stock-car race in their ancient jalopy and astound fans and drivers alike with their speed. Beautiful Meat-Hooks; Elmo's Penthouse; No Mice Are Nice; The Apple; Strange Confession; The Rosebud Sisters; Smith Does It Again; The Witness; Corkscrew Alley. 52 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Real Clue Crime Stories Vol. 7 (1952) 9 VG 4.0

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Art by John Rosenberger and others. Another crime comic from the prolific studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, this one featuring crimes throughout history as well as the standard gangster tales. Sometimes listed as Real Clue Crime #81. No issue # on cover; Vol. 7, issue #9 in indicia. A two-bit hood dares to steal a coat and a small fortune from a ganglord. Rhoda fears the house built by the husband she murdered is trying to kill her. A US double agent pretends to be a traitor to infiltrate an enemy air force. Barney's Blanket; The Ames Ice Box; Ten Minute Traitor; The Naked Cabbage; Parents: Visit our Schools; The Empty Apple; The Spanish Clip; Crime Vignettes. 32 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Real Clue Crime Stories Vol. 7 (1952) 11 VG+ 4.5

Art by John Prentice and others. Another crime comic from the prolific studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, this one featuring crimes throughout history as well as the standard gangster tales. Sometimes listed as Real Clue Crime #83. No issue # on cover; Vol. 7, issue #11 in indicia. A hotel maid has a double life as a high-dollar jewel thief. Feds investigating foreign agents focus on their latest asset, Adrian Zadek. Up-and-coming singer Roman gets involved with Sheila, the girlfriend of his ganglord employer. Also featuring a vintage ad for training as a "Criminal Investigator" by mail. The Mink Shroud; Goodbye Mouthpiece; The Two-Flag Huckster; The Law vs an Envelope Seal; Johnny the Gent; Third Window-Street Level; Purloined Pathos; Pigeon in the Jungle. 36 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.