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Author:
Title: ALL-AMERICAN COMICS No. 5
Place Published:
Publisher:DC [Indicia: All-American Comics Inc.]
Date Published: August, 1939
Description: CGC certified: Poor (0.5). Grader's notes: "Missing interior part/page/wrap 9th wrap affects story; spine fully taped; light tears to cover; moderate spine splits to cover; moderate staining to cover." Off-white pages. Provenance: The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION.

GPAnalysis: No reported sales in this grade. Lowest-graded sale is a 3.5 that sold for $247 in 2017.

Overstreet: "The American Way begins, ends #10." CGC Census: 10 graded copies (8 Universal, 2 Restored). Gerber's Photo-Journal Guide Scarcity Index: 5 ("Less common than average: 200-1000 copies").

Credits: Cover: Walter Galli. Scripts: Jerry Siegel, Al Smith, Gene Byrnes, Edwin Alger, Robert Ripley, Percy Crosby, A.W. Nugent, Richard Rick, Fontaine Fox, Edwina Dumm, Carl Claudy, John Wentworth, George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart, Jon Blummer, George Storm, Harry Lampert, Sheldon Mayer. Art: Bill Smith, Stan Asch, Al Smith, Burr Inwood, Gene Byrnes, Calvin Fader, Robert Ripley, Percy Crosby, A.W. Nugent, Richard Rick, Fontaine Fox, Edwina Dumm, Walter Galli, Jon Blummer, Harry Lampert, Sheldon Mayer. The Father of Funnybooks, Part 2: "[Max] kept scrambling. Why bring out comic books as premiums for other people, he asked himself, when they could be sold directly to kids? In early 1934, he put together a 10-cent comic book called Famous Funnies and got Dell Publishing to back a printing of thirty-five thousand copies. This first Famous Funnies, available only in chain stores, sold out, but Dell pulled out of the deal. Unfazed, Max got Eastern to publish the comic, this time with distribution through newsstands. It was the nation's first monthly, normal-sized comic magazine." — Frank Jacobs, The MAD World of William M. Gaines. Lyle Stuart: 1972: p. 55.****************************************
The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION comprises over 40,000 comic books, encompassing 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, including The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION Part 3: The GOLDEN AGE, coming this summer. To join the DC Universe Collection notifications list, contact pba@pbagalleries.com.

Enjoying PBA's DC Universe Collection: Pre-Hero, Ashcans and Oddities 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 DC diehards. To order a copy, or to inquire about consignment opportunities, contact Ivan Briggs, PBA's Director of Comics: ivan@pbagalleries.com.