PBA Galleries Comic Books: Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age, Silver Age and Undergrounds
Thursday, February 3, 2022 11:00 am Pacific Time
605 Addison Street Berkeley, CA : 94710
415.989.2665
pba@pbagalleries.com
www.pbagalleries.com

BERKELEY, CALIF. — PBA Galleries announced an auction of comic books: pre-code horror, Golden Age, Silver Age and undergrounds on February 3. It is PBA’s fourth comic book sale and, like the three previous outings, this sale’s focus is on pre-Code horror, crime and related genres.
Sale highlights include a near-complete run of Comic Media’s Horrific, including the second and 7th issues, featuring Don Heck’s over-the-top bullet-hole-in-head and guillotine covers; a baker’s dozen of Mister Mystery mags, including numbers 6 and 11; a selection of Weird Tales of the Future, including two copies each of numbers 3 and 7; five issues of Stanley Morse’s notorious schlock-fest Weird Mysteries, including another copy of #5; a copy of Seven Seas Comics #4, boasting one of Matt Baker’s top covers; the Cosmic Aeroplane Pedigree copy of Teen-Age Romances #11 (highest-graded copy, with cover and four stories by Matt Baker); a clean 4.0 copy of Crime Patrol #15, featuring the first appearance of the Crypt-Keeper, a mag of significance to EC fans; and a copy of Front Page Comics #1 from 1945, boasting one of the very earliest horror-themed covers to haunt America’s newsstands.

The sale also features a dozen rare International editions of US horror comics, including seldom-seen Mexican versions of some of Frank Frazetta’s most coveted covers. International versions of pre-Code comics have been off-radar for most collectors until recently, and interest is gaining rapidly. Recent scholarship has cast a spotlight upon these esoteric internationals, revealing a previously untold shadow history that presents the anti-comics crusade of the 1950s in a strange and fascinating new light. Paul S. Hirsh’s recently released book, Pulp Empire: The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism, makes a strong case based on the author’s delvings into declassified documents that American comics circulating abroad, as well as international reprints of Yankee comics, were harming America’s international reputation, spurring intervention by Uncle Sam. Quotes from this and other books are distributed throughout the catalog.

Rounding out the sale is a mixed bag of Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age and underground comics, including a high-grade copy of Adventure Comics #75, featuring a Kirby-created precursor to Marvel’s Thor; a CGC 7.0 Daredevil #1; a CGC 9.2 Night Nurse #1; an ultra-rare Helicon vol. 6, #3, with a cover by R. Crumb (not listed in either Kennedy’s or Fogel’s Underground Comix Price Guides); and underground publishing’s Ron Turner’s last remaining copy of the rare silver foil variant of Slow Death Funnies #2.

PBA continues to safeguard the health of employees and clients and is open by appointment only. PBA limits live auction participation to online or phone bidding. For more information about upcoming sales, to schedule a Zoom preview or phone bidding for a future auction, contact the galleries at 415-989-2665, www.pbagalleries.com or pba@pbagalleries.com.

Specialists in Exceptional Books & Private Libraries at Auction
525 lots focusing on Pre-Code horror, crime, and related genres.
Consignments Always Welcome
SEVEN SEAS COMICS No. 4 Classic Matt Baker cover
DAREDEVIL No. 1 Origin and 1st appearance of Daredevil
CRIME PATROL No. 15 First appearance of the CRYPT-KEEPER
CUENTOS DE BRUJAS No. 47 A great pre-Code cover
[HELICON Vol. 6, No. 3 With Poster Insert, Rare
ADVENTURE COMICS No. 75 Features Thor prototype