Done
Berkeley, CA, United States
Auction Details
Comic Books: Pre-Code Horror & Other Comics
PBA Galleries
Greetings, gang, and welcome to PBA?s fifth comic book sale. Fright fans will be pleased to see that once again our focus is on the seedy underbelly of the comics world: the ?terrifying, shocking, sensational, appalling, forbidden? but simply wonderful? pre-Code horror comic books of the 1950s. As usual, we?ve tried to delve beneath the surface of this fascinating category with our signature blend of research and commentary. Despite the surge in interest in pre-Code horror, we feel that these books have yet to receive their proper due ? they?ve become very attractive as investment collectibles, to be sure, but we think they?re even more valuable for the insights that they yield to careful observers. In his influential anti-comics opus Seduction of the Innocent, Dr. Fredric Wertham claimed to detect hidden content embedded in these lurid pamphlets: ?In ordinary comic books, there are pictures within pictures for children who know how to look.? Granted that Wertham was a bit of a plonker, but we?re not unsympathetic to this particular claim of his ? indeed, we believe that a hidden psychosexual portrait of midcentury America is buried in the pulpy pages of old horror comics, and we?ve made it our business to try and bring this shadowy portrait to light, one pre-Code mag at a time. We hope that you?ll find our efforts diverting.
Sale highlights include a complete run of Stanley Morse?s WEIRD MYSTERIES, including another copy of #5, a gruesome classic that?s become PBA?s pre-Code calling card (we?ve offered copies in three of our four previous outings); a near-complete run of MYSTERIOUS ADVENTURES and its sister title FIGHT AGAINST CRIME, including a 6.5 copy of FAC #20 (infamous severed head cover); Avon?s EERIE #1, the first true horror comic; a rare and possibly unique misprint copy of DARK MYSTERIES #19, with the inside covers not only printed upside-down, but with another company?s name in the indicia; a Yankee version of CHAMBER OF CHILLS #23, featuring one of th
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![WOMEN OUTLAWS No # * 5.5 * Cody of the Pony Express Printing Oddity: Heading: Author: Title: WOMEN OUTLAWS No Number * Variant with Pony Express #7 Contents Place Published: Publisher:Fox [No indicia] Date Published: [September, 1950] Description: Fine- (5.5). Spine](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621668_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)
![WORLDS BEYOND #1 * 1.5 * Bernard BAILY * Bob POWELL * Age of Depravity: Heading: Author: Title: WORLDS BEYOND No. 1 Place Published: Publisher:Fawcett [Indicia: Fawcett Publications, Inc.] Date Published: November, 1951 Description: Fair/Good (1.5). Spine stress, small](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621669_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)










![ACTION COMICS #242 * CGC 4.5 * 1st App: BRANIAC & Kandor: Heading: Section 3: Everything ElseAuthor: Title: ACTION COMICS No. 242 Place Published: Publisher:DC [Colophon: National Comics Publications, Inc.] Date Published: July, 1958 Description: CGC](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621680_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)


![AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 * CGC 2.5 Purple Label * 1st Sinister Six: Heading: Author: Title: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL No. 1 Place Published: Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Non-Pareil Publishing Corp.] Date Published: 1964 Description: CGC certified: Good+ (2.5). Purple](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621683_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)
![AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #31 * CGC 5.5 * SPIDEY vs Master Planner: Heading: Author: Title: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 31 Place Published: Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Non-Pareil Publishing Corp.] Date Published: December, 1965 Description: CGC certified: Fine- (5.5).](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621684_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)
![AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #121 * CGC 9.2 * Death of GWEN STACY: Heading: Author: Title: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 121 Place Published: Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Marvel Comics Group] Date Published: June, 1973 Description: CGC certified: NM- (9.2). White pages.](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621685_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)
![AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #129 * CGC 7.5 * 1st App: PUNISHER: Heading: Author: Title: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 129 Place Published: Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Marvel Comics Group] Date Published: February, 1974 Description: CGC certified: VF- (7.5). White pages.](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621686_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)
![AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #299 * CGC 9.6 * 1st Brief App: VENOM in Costume: Heading: Author: Title: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 299 Place Published: Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Marvel Comics] Date Published: April, 1988 Description: CGC certified: NM+ (9.6). White pages. Cover:](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621687_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652300271)
![BATMAN #10 * CGC .5 (Qualified) * Catwoman's Snazzy New Duds: Heading: Author: Title: BATMAN No. 10 Place Published: Publisher:DC [Indicia: Detective Comics, Inc.] Date Published: April-May, 1942 Description: CGC certified: Poor (.5). Green Label (QUALIFIED).](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621688_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)
![CAPTAIN AMERICA #100 * 3.5 * 1st Ish * Origin Partially Retold: Heading: Author: Title: CAPTAIN AMERICA No. 100 Place Published: Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Leading Magazine Corp.] Date Published: April, 1968 Description: VG- (3.5). Spine stressed and rolled,](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621689_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)
![DAREDEVIL #1 * CGC 6.0 * DD's Debut * Man Without FEAR: Heading: Author: Title: DAREDEVIL No. 1 Place Published: Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Olympia Publications, Inc.] Date Published: April, 1964 Description: CGC certified: Fine (6.0). Cream to off-white](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621690_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)
![DAREDEVIL #7 * 3.0 * Hooray for WALLY WOOD * Red Suit Redesign: Heading: Author: Title: DAREDEVIL No. 7 Place Published: Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Olympia Publications, Inc.] Date Published: April, 1965 Description: G/VG (3.0). Spine stressed and rolled, a few](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/642/247983/128621691_1_x.jpg?height=310&quality=70&version=1652296444)
