Heading:
Author:
Title: WEIRD MYSTERIES No. 6
Place Published:
Publisher:Stanley Morse [Indicia: Gillmor Magazines, Inc.]
Date Published: Augut-September, 1953
Description:

CGC certified: Fine- (5.5). Off-white to white pages. Cover: Bernard Bailey. Art: Tony Mortellaro? Overstreet: "Decapitation cover." GPAnalysis: No reported sales in this grade. A 6.5 sold for $2250 in January 2020, and a 4.5 sold for $860 in 2018.

Bernard Baily had a tough task trying to top his gonzo cover to Weird Mysteries #5, but it's safe to say he pulled a rabbit out of his hat with this mag's nutty cover. Baily's depiction of a magician pulling a gory severed head out of his top hat of terror is one of the most graphically disturbing images of the pre-Code era.

"The cover of this issue depicts a shrunken head being removed by a magician's gloved hands from a top hat.... This neck, jagged and bloody, trails severed veins and arteries.... This may well be the most graphic decapitated head cover ever to appear on a Pre-Code Horror comic. Remember, upon questioning, EC's Bill Gaines defended a similar scene on a Crime SuspenStories cover by stating that 'bad taste' would be having the murderer hold the head a bit higher so that the severed neck would show. Apparently, the issue of 'taste' did not trouble Gillmor at this point in the company's existence." — George Suarez, Tales To Terrible To Tell #9. NEC: 1993, p. 20.

Consignments welcome for PBA's Fall 2022 Comic Book sale. Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age and Silver Age comics, original art, vintage comic-related photos and ephemera sought. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com.