Heading:
Author:
Title: CRIME SUSPENSTORIES No. 25
Place Published:
Publisher:EC [Indicia: L.L. Publishing Co., Inc.]
Date Published: October-November, 1954
Description:

CGC certified: VG/Fine (5.0). Cream to off-white pages. Cover: Jack Kamen. Scripts: Otto Binder, Jack Oleck. Art: Reed Crandall, Bernie Krigstein, George Evans, Jack Kamen. Includes the infamous "Are You a Red Dupe?" editorial. GPAnalysis: A 5.0 sold for $349 in September 2021.

PBA's Director of Comics is especially fond of this ish, as the 1973 East Coast Comix reprint of this rag was his introduction to EC when he was an '80s teen, fanning the flames of a lifelong EC obsession. Our Director of Comics recently asked Bruce Hershenson, co-publisher of the East Coast Comix series of EC reprints, why he and Ron Barlow chose Crime SuspenStories #25 to represent CSS in their reprint series. It turns out that this ish played a key role in Bruce's EC fixation as well:

"In 1968, on Labor Day, I went to the World Science Fiction Convention in Berkeley California, where I traveled by myself, a big deal for a 15 year old. I had become good friends with Barry Bauman, a legendary early collector, who was 19 and offered to let me stay at his house. While there he showed me his copy of Crime Suspenstories #25, and I LOVED 'Dog Food,' and that turned me from a mild EC fan to a rabid one. So when it came time to pick an issue of Crime Suspense to reprint (we were rotating through the titles, as you know), I prevailed on Ron to go with #25, and that is how and why it was picked!"

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.

A limited edition of 100 softcover and 6 hardcover catalogues are available. 140 pages, fully illustrated. Fun reference, great keepsake. Softcovers $40, dust-jacketed hardcover with limitation plate $200. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.

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.