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Author:
Title: MISTERIOS DEL GATO NEGRO No. 43 * Mexican HAUNTED THRILLS No. 1
Place Published: Mexico
Publisher:La Prensa
Date Published: May, 1957
Description:

CGC certified: VG- (3.5). Off-white pages. "FOREIGN COPY" rubberstamp to front cover. Mexican version of Haunted Thrills #1 (Ajax-Farrell, 1952). Color interior. Stories translated into Spanish. Cover and art by uncredited Iger Studio talent. CGC Census: This is the only graded copy.

Like any self-respecting pre-Code corpse, Ajax-Farrell's defunct line of horror mags refused to stay dead, rising from the grave to wander in lonely exile south of the border. The strange resurgence of forbidden Yankee horror mags in Mexico was the cultural equivalent of an cast-out spirit taking up residence in a new host body. Mexican kids must have been delighted to read these tawdry tales that American parents had rejected as too spicy for bland Eisenhower-era tastes, but not everyone accepted this horror hejira with open arms.

"In Mexico, writers, parents and teachers have made a large-scale attempt to have the government stop the importation of American crime comics." — Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent. Rinehart: 1954, p. 293.

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.