Welcome back to this week's top pics from Heritage's weekly comic book auctions! Heritage holds weekly funny book auctions that feature key issues, overlooked comics, oddball memorabilia items, and more. These auctions are a must if you want to beef up your collection! Here are my top picks for you to watch.
Cotton Goes to War CGC Universal 6.0
As most of us know by now, comic books played a big part in the war effort during World War II. Comic books were cheap forms of entertainment, and could be geared to any age group. Most of us are familiar with Superman and Captain Marvel selling war bonds in their respective comics, but the US Government also got in on the action. This comic, Cotton Goes to War, was distributed by the Department of Agriculture to farmers to show how they could also help. This short comic was meant to rally farmers to only send over good cotton, with the requirements listed in the comic. This wasn't the only time comics told people what to send over -- many times, comic books encouraged readers to recycle their comics to help with the war effort!
This CGC Universal 6.0 has off-white to white pages. Not many of these have been graded - in fact, CGC has only graded 2 copies. It's hard to say where this will end up price-wise, but this would be a great piece for a Golden Age or wartime collection!
Weird Mysteries #2 CGC Universal 3.5
What a cover! Drawn by Bernard Baily, who would go on to co-create The Spectre and Hourman, this cover needs little introduction. This Golden Age icon created many memorable covers, including Mister Mystery #12, Weird Mysteries #4, and Weird Tales of the Future #7. This cover for Weird Mysteries is detailed, shocking, and yet oh so engrossing. Baily's art is rightfully still celebrated today, with many of his comics being collector keys.
This CGC Universal 3.5 has off-white pages. To date, CGC has only graded 79 copies, with 72 receiving a Universal grade. The current fair market value for a 3.5 copy is $725, making this an affordable late Golden Age pre-code horror book. Interest in this book has started to increase, but I don't see it taking off like other notable pre-code horror of the era for some time.
Archie's Madhouse #22 Ungraded
What always tickled me was how popular Archie's outlier characters became in the 1990s as opposed to the core comic. Sabrina the Teenage Witch was a very popular show in the 1990s, and Josie and the Pussycats saw a solid amount of fanfare thanks to the syndicated cartoon show and the (very good) live-action movie. Of course, these characters had to start somewhere. In Sabrina's case, she, alongside Salem, made their debut in Archie's Madhouse #22. Interestingly, Aunt Hilda - or rather a prototype Hilda - premiered in Archie's Madhouse #19.
Madhouse 22 has been a key Archie and Silver Age book for as long as I can remember. Interest in this book fluctuates, with a more recent spike in popularity happening when the Netflix Sabrina show premiered. While interest has cooled, this still remains an important key book for Archie fans, horror fans, and Silver Age collectors. This book is ungraded, but Heritage notes it is Good / Very Good condition.
