Heading:
Author:
Title: DARK MYSTERIES No. 14
Place Published:
Publisher:Story, aka Master/Merit [Indicia: Master Comics, Inc.]
Date Published: October, 1953
Description:

Fine- (5.5). A few spine stress lines, bottom staple has traces of rust, very faint crease to bottom right corner of front cover, tiny crease to top right corner of front cover, small printer's ink smear to "Y" in "MYSTERIES" in sidebar, small tear to bottom edge of back cover (1/4" or less), lightly-penciled dealer's price to top margin of back cover ("175—"). White to off-white pages. Potential to slab at 6.0. Cover: Hy Fleishman. Art: Hy Fleishman, A.C. Hollingsworth, John D'Agostino. Overstreet: "Several EC Craig swipes." GPAnalysis: A 5.5 sold for $344 in February 2021.

Overstreet says this mag features "several EC [Johnny] Craig swipes," but we don't see 'em, except for one panel in John D'Agostino's "Escape to Death" depicting a man's face shaded with rather Craig-like lighting effects (no trademark Craig flop sweat, though). Hy Fleishman's "Fingers of Doom" is yet another pre-Code potboiler about a henpecked hubby who offs his wife, but come to think of it, there's an almost Johnny Craig-like attentiveness to the physical manifestations of hatred and fear: "Gus tried to relax, but as usual, he could never keep from clenching his fists tight, as though Emma's throat was in his grasp... Just knowing Emma was there made Gus nervous, made his hands shake!"

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.