Heading:
Title: BATMAN No. 72
Publisher:DC [Indicia: National Comics Publications, Inc.]
Date Published: August-September, 1952
Description: CGC certified: VG+ (4.5). Purple label: Restored (C-1). Off-white to white pages. Grader notes: "Erasure mark top of front cover; staple holes; staple repositioned; interior spine reinforced; light staple tears; moderate creasing to cover; small amount of color touch on left top front cover; small tear top of back cover; very light spine splits to cover." Provenance: The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION.
 
CGC Census: 93 graded copies (80 Universal, 6 Qualified, 7 Restored).
 
GPAnalysis: No reported sales in this grade. A 4.0 sold for $264 in 5/22.
 
For comparison purposes, here are recent Universal sales: A 4.5 sold for $417 in 12/21; a 4.0 sold for $395 in 4/21.
 
Credits: Cover: Win Mortimer. Scripts: David Vern. Art: Bob Kane (Batman and Robin only), Lew Sayre Schwartz, Charles Paris (inks), Dick Sprang, and Jim Mooney (signed as Bob Kane). Overstreet: "Last 52-page ish."Bat-cyclopedia: "In August-September 1952 Batman and Robin find themselves pitted against the SINISTER 8; apprehend BIFF; and unravel a mystery involving the DEATH-CHEATER'S CLUB." — Michael L. Fleisher, The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes Vol. 1: Batman. Macmillan: 1976, p. 124.
 
Details: The Death-Cheater's club membership consists entirely of men who were pronounced legally dead, but were somehow brought back to life. Accountant and club member Jeff Sievers has embezzled thousands of dollars of the other members' personal funds. To protect his ill-gotten gains, Sievers starts murdering the members of the club, while casting suspicion onto gangster Little Dougy, who was pronounced legally dead but was denied club membership due to his criminal career. Bruce Wayne intentionally consumes poison and has Dick Grayson resuscitate him so that he may legitimately join the club, and he swiftly deduces the true identity of the killer.
 
Clubbed to Death: The idea of a club for living folks who've been wrongly declared dead isn't as far-fetched as it seems. In fact, an Indian chap named Lal Bihari formed just such a group to advocate for the rights of the living "dead" in 1976, and the group now boasts 20,000 members: "Lal Bihari applied for a bank loan but was turned down due to the fact that he was dead. Despite Mr. Bihari’s repeated cries to the contrary, and also despite being very much NOT DEAD, he had been declared deceased by his uncle, who did so in order to gain ownership of his nephew’s land. Discovering around 100 people in the same boat as himself he founded the Association of Dead People in order to campaign for an easier process of reversing a death certificate." — Eddie Tesla, "Four Strange Clubs You Wouldn't Want to Be a Member Of," sickchirpse.com, March 25, 2011.The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION comprises over 40,000 comic books, including a copy of every single DC comic published for retail sale from 1934 to 2014. The collection was amassed by British music producer Ian Levine over the course of several decades, and it's been hailed as the single greatest collecting accomplishment in comic book history. This collection served as the basis for former DC Comics president Paul Levitz's monumental book 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, published by Taschen in 2017. PBA is proud to present this epic collection in a series of themed sales over the next two years. To join the DC Universe Collection notifications list, contact pba@pbagalleries.com.
Enjoying PBA's Batman sale? A very small number of softcover and limited edition hardcover auction catalogues are available for purchase. The catalogues are fully illustrated, thoroughly researched, and make excellent reference works for Batman fans. To order a copy, or to inquire about consignment opportunities, contact Ivan Briggs, PBA's Director of Comics: ivan@pbagalleries.com.