Author:
Title: CLUE COMICS No. 14 [Vol. 2, #2]
Place Published:
Publisher:Hillman [Indicia: Hillman Periodicals, Inc.]
Date Published: April, 1947
Description: VG+ (4.5). Mild spine stress, a few edge nicks, several small chips to bottom edge of front cover, pencilled distributor's mark ("2-2") to "E" in "CLUE". Light tan pages.

Credits: Cover: Dan Barry. Art: Jack Kirby (2 stories), Carmine Infantino, Ed Wheelan, uncredited others.

GPAnalysis: No reported sales in this grade. A 4.0 sold for $1793 in 11/21. Overstreet: "Bondage/torture cover; man attacks and kills people with electric iron." "Iron" Man Leaves Victims Mighty Sore: Dan Berry's cover presents one of the most demented scenarios ever to grace the front of a pre-Code crime mag: a sadistic thug prepares to scorch a blonde's back with an electric iron, while two previous victims lay burned and bloody in the foreground. The kitchen setting, complete with appurtenences of mid-century domesticity – calendar, dish rack, electric iron and ironing board – contrasts with the bondage and torture motif in an unsettling way, hinting at a darkness nestled in the heart of postwar American abundance.

Charles Biro struck the same note five years earlier on the cover to Crime Does Not Pay #24 (in which a hood roasts a moll's mug on a kitchen stove), and EC would explore similar terrain a few years later in tales of domestic terror like "Indisposed!" (Haunt of Fear #25), in which a man feeds his wife's corpse to the garbage disposal unit, and "Death of Some Salesmen!" (Haunt of Fear #15), in which an oven, a vacuum cleaner, a TV set, and other emblems of modern convenience are repurposed as tools of torture.

"Within a few years, 'crime' comics like Crime Does Not Pay emerged from the shadows, displaying a wide range of criminal acts for the delectation of young readers.... [evoking] postwar fears [about] the 'freedom' of the commercial media.... to concretize both the fantasies of the young and the nightmarish fears of grown-ups into potent products. For many adults, this was abundance as betrayal, the good life not as a vision of Eden but as an unexpected horror story." – Tom Englehardt, The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation. Basic Books: 1995, pp. 136-137.______________________________________________________________

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.