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Author:
Title: MYSTERIOUS STORIES No. 3
Place Published:
Publisher:Premier [Indicia: Premier Magazines, Inc.]
Date Published: April, 1955
Description:

G/VG (3.0). Spine very lightly rolled and slightly stressed, 1/8" nicks to spine ends, two short SEALED TEARS to top edge of front cover (the larger being 1/4"), several tears to edges of covers (up to 1/2"), some edge and corner creases, staples pulled, tiny TAPE repair to inside cover at top spine (about 1/4" square), small black spot to inside front cover at bottom staple that looks like a COLOR TOUCH but does not fluoresce under black light, penciled "308" and "008" to back cover. Cream pages. Cover: George Woodbridge (Angelo Torres inks). Art: George Woodbridge (inked by Torres), Hy Fleishman (2 stories), A.C. Hollingsworth. CGC Census: 9 slabbed copies. GPAnalysis: Highest-graded sale is a 1.5 that sold for $65 in January 2022.

First Code-approved ish. Note the African chap with a voodoo doll strapped to his hip and puffy pink lips against skin so dark that his other features are almost indetectable. How strange that the Comics Code permitted such a caricatured depiction of blackness, yet gave EC hell over its depiction of a dignified black astronaut in Al Feldstein and Joe Orlando's "Judgment Day!," reprinted in Incredible Science-Fiction #33 (Jan.-Feb., 1956). If nothing else, this inconsistency supports Bill Gaines' contention that Code czar Charles Murphy tried to nix "Judgment Day!" due to its criticism of Jim Crow.

"But 'Judgment Day!' discomfited one reader in particular. Murphy, the Code's chief censor, evaluated each EC title personally. Despite the fact 'Judgment Day!' had run two years earlier to almost no objection, even during the height of the comic book panic, Murphy insisted the story couldn't be reprinted unless the astronaut was redrawn as white." — Jeremy Dauber, American Comics: A History. Norton: 2022, p. 133. For more on Gaines' and Murphy's "Judgment Day!" jousting, see the entry for Weird Fantasy #18 in PBA's December 10, 2020 comics catalogue.

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.