Marvel. November, 1962. VG (4.0). Light spine stress and edgewear, including a few tiny Marvel chips to right edge of front cover. White pages. Jack Kirby cover. Stan Lee script. Art by Jack Kirby.

Debut of the Puppet Master, who uses his puppets formed of special "radioactive clay" to enslave the FF. The bald, geeky Puppet Master looks a bit like Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.

According to comics theorist Mark Seifert, both Lee and Kirby had connections to Uncle Sam's propaganda apparatus during WWII – and, perhaps, after. He claims that "Kirby helped the CIA during the event that they made the movie Argo about," and that Lee's "playwright" designation in the U.S. Army's Signal Corps was possibly a propaganda position. "Stan's film-making Signal Corps colleagues in the Playwright unit... such as John Huston, Darryl Zanuck, etc., very obviously did many propaganda films targeting the American public... Is there any reason to think that Stan wasn't doing the same in comics that his filmmaking colleagues were in film? I think it's likely he was."

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