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Author:
Title: MISTER MYSTERY No. 7
Place Published:
Publisher:Standard [Indicia: Aragon Magazines, Inc.]
Date Published: September, 1952
Description:

G/VG (3.0). Cover miscut with diagonal white strip visible at spine, hint of staple rust, bottom staple pulled, light spine stress, color flake and 1/4" split at top spine, light creases to right corners of front cover, a few tiny edge nicks, tiny chips to bottom corners of front and back covers, 1" jagged tear near bottom corner of back cover. Off-white pages, slightly cream at edges. Could esily slab at 3.5 — who knows; with a lenient CGC grader, it might reach 4.0. Cover: Tony Mortellaro. Art: Basil Wolverton, John Bulthuis, Ed Smalle. Overstreet: "'The Brain Bats of Venus' by Wolverton, partially re-used in Weird Tales of the Future #7." GPAnalysis: A 3.0 sold for $311 in far-off 2010; a 2.0 sold for $630 in November 2011.

Wolverton (brain) bats 1000 in his titanic terror-tale "The Brain Bats of Venus," which may be his magnum opus in the horror category.

"The opening tale in MM #7 is the all-time classic story 'The Brain Bats of Venus' by one of comicdom's greatest artists, BASIL WOLVERTON. This is actually a science fiction story about aliens resembling flying octopi who settle onto the heads of Earthmen visiting Venus and take over their minds with their own 'great mental powers.'" — George Suarez, Tales To Terrible To Tell #9. NEC: 1993, p. 16.

"The comic book poet of brainwashing is Basil Wolverton, whose unique art style created bizarrely static yet vibrant and intense images. Wolverton is the unacknowledged master of fifties depression and anxiety, supposedly minor emotions whose true shape he reveals as profound horror." — Jim Trombetta, The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read! Abrams: 2010, p. 129.

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.