EC (Indicia: "L.L. Publishing Co., Inc."). August-September, 1953. Good/VG (3.0). Spine rubbed and worn, staples a bit pulled, edge and corner wear, ¼" tear at top edge of front cover, ½" tear at right edge of front cover. Some nicks and a tiny chip or two (2mm or less). Johnny Craig cover. Craig script. Plots and scripts by Gaines and Feldstein. Art by Craig, Davis, Evans, Ingels.

One of two EC covers self-censored before publication (the walking corpse on the cover originally had an ax embedded in his skull). Bill Gaines explained: "There was one period when we had to have an attorney censoring our material because of the trouble we got into with the wholesalers.... Two covers that were censored were The Vault of Horror #32 and Tales from the Crypt #38. The readers could tell that the covers had been changed because we ran house ads of the uncensored versions. But we censored those covers at the request of somebody; I think in this case it was at the request of the attorney."

A limited edition of 100 softcover and 15 hardcover catalogues are available. Over 200 pages, fully illustrated. Fun reference, great keepsake. Softcovers $40, dust-jacketed hardcover with limitation plate $200. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com or call 415-989-2665

R. Crumb says, "I found [PBA's catalogue] so interesting that I am saving it for the texts that accompany the comics which were put up for auction. This is some of the best commentary I've yet seen on the quality of the content of comic books. I especially enjoyed the reviews of the post-war horror comics. Great. Priceless."

Consignments welcome for PBA's Spring 2021 Comic Book sale. Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age and Silver Age comics, original art and ephemera sought. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com or call 415-989-2665