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Author:
Title: SHOCK DETECTIVE CASES No. 20
Place Published:
Publisher:Star [Indicia: Star Publications, Inc.]
Date Published: September, 1952
Description:

VG- (3.5). Spine roll, spine stress, ¼" split at top spine, tiny chip to back cover at bottom spine, short transverse tears at spine, light staple rust, small edge chips and creases, tiny losses to corners of front cover. Cream to off-white pages. Cover: L.B. Cole. Art: A.C. Hollingsworth, uncredited others. GPAnalysis: No reported sales in this grade. Lowest two graded sales are for a 1.8 that sold for $75 in 2018 and a 5.5 that sold for $630 in August 2021.

L.B. Cole's cover depicts a midnight strangler about to throttle his helpless victim in her bed. There's an unwholesome sex-and-death edge to the image, underscored by Cole's clever use of lighting: the lampshade casts bifurcated shafts of light that resemble the fatal hourglass of a black widow spider.

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.