Author:
Title: ADVENTURES INTO TERROR No. 27
Place Published:
Publisher:Atlas/Marvel [Indicia: Current Detective Stories Inc.]
Date Published: January, 1954
Description: CGC certified: Good/VG (3.0). Off-white to white pages. Grader notes: Chip out right bottom of back cover; detached cover; spine stress lines breaks color; wear full top of; small crease right bottom of front cover breaks color. Note: Scuffs near bottom of slab, assorted minor marks.

GPAnalysis: A 3.0 sold for $178 in 8/22.

Credits: Cover: Gene Colan. Art: Al Luster, Bill Benulis, Jim Mooney?, Chuck Winter, and Paul Reinman.Cauldron Scaldin': Witches dunk a guy headfirst in their cruddy cauldron on Gene Colan's cover. Colan was still learning his craft when he created this composition, and his heavy inks make the image a bit hard to read. Who'd have guessed that in the mid-1960s he'd emerge as Marvel's all-time chiaroscuro king? Anyway, Colan may have borrowed the cover motif from Russ Heath's similar cover to Atlas's Suspense #24 (Nov. 1952).

Colan's image of hags dunking a poor sap in their steaming cauldron is rife with unsettling sexual overtones for those inclined to seek out such things. In his essay "Macbeth's Three Murders," Shakespeare scholar Robert Lanier Reid gives pre-Code buffs something to chew on by comparing the "devouring witches' cauldron" to the manhood-munching vagina dentata of folklore.______________________________________________________________

A limited edition of ten hardcover catalogues is available, in addition to a few dozen softcovers. Fun reference, great keepsake, fully illustrated, chockablock with obscure facts, gags, bon mots. Softcovers are $40, deluxe hardcovers with dust jackets and limitation plates are $200. These books always go fast so don't delay. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Consignments welcome for PBA's Summer 2024 Comic Book sale. Top prices for Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age, Silver Age, original art and ephemera. Find out why PBA is the new fan-fave of funnybook fiends. "This is some of the best commentary I've yet seen on the quality of the content of comic books... Priceless." – R. Crumb. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Coming Soon: The DC Universe Collection Part 3: The Golden Age (August 2024) and Weird Tales and Amazing Stories: The PBA Pulp Sale (September 2024). Contact ivan@pbagalleries.com to get on the notifications list.