DC. November-December, 1943. CGC certified: Fine/VF (7.0). Off-white pages. Cover by Jack Burnley. Scripts by Jerry Siegel and Mort Weisinger. Art by Ira Yarbrough, Ed Dobrotka, Joe Shuster, Fred Ray. Clark Kent joins the Army.

In "King of the Comic Books," Superman saves a cartoonist from Nazis who want to kill him for mocking Hitler in his mags. The story may have been inspired by real-life events. As Mark Evanier relates in Kirby: King of Comics, Simon and Kirby were deluged with angry phone calls and anti-Semitic hate mail after depicting Captain America bashing Hitler's mug on the cover of Captain America Comics #1: "The threats were reported to the police, and everyone was puzzled that uniformed officers were so readily dispatched to patrol Goodman's corridors. A few days later, Simon was startled when the receptionist announced that New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was on the phone, asking to speak to the editor of Captain America. 'It was him, no doubt about it,' Simon explained. 'He said he loved the book and he said, 'You boys are doing a great job and the city of New York will make certain that no harm comes to you.'"

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