Have you ever wanted to walk into the pages of a comic book? Sometimes you can get the chance to at one of the fan events at San Diego Comic Con, or maybe a fun pop-up event in your own city. But what if you want to experience pre-code horror up close and personal, you'll need to make a trip down to Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights.
Every year HHN delights guests from all over the world with their first class haunted houses, scare zones, and even themed food. The event also boasts an impressive -- and immersive -- tribute store. Last year's tribute store was themed after a Halloween dark ride, like you would find in an amusement park or beach boardwalk. This year the theme is a local comic book store.
McPherson's Collectibles, Cards, & Comics starts off like any normal comic book shop, and yes -- there are vintage comics inside! The façade is incredible and highly detailed, though it does give off the feeling that something sinister lied in the back room of the comic shop.
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A quick glance indicates that Universal pulled inspiration from EC Comics and other pre-code gems. The inclusion of the vintage toys, and Gold Key and Dell comics is also rather special.
The Phantom is used in Universal Orlando's Island of Adventure, and the Gillman is a beloved Universal Monster. The tribute store's logo is also clearly inspired from pre-code horror, which is a marvelous nod.
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The rest of the store leads you into a crime noir setting, before dropping readers off in a 1950s diner. The end "pages" reminded me of the current Archie horror, but any slice of life horror book from the Atomic and Silver Age would fit in here. The store ends with a mannequin of the Ripper before you exit.
If you did visit the tribute store and are curious about pre-code horror, you're in the right place. If you're curious as to what comics could have potentially inspired this store, you're also in the right place.
Right off the bat we have a copy of the Dell Creature from the Black Lagoon comic. The first printing is from 1963, and is a grail book for many monster fans. A CGC blue label 9.6 currently has a one-year average of $4,080, but the copy shown above is not a 9.6. That copy is likely close to a CGC blue label 3.5. The last time an example in that grade sold was in December of 2020 for $100. I personally own an ungraded -- yet very beat up -- copy that I bought for $25. The Phantom #7 as shown above might not be a grail or a key book, but a CGC blue label 9.4 has a one-year average of $528, with only 12 examples being graded. The highest grade belongs to one CGC blue label 9.6, which last sold in 2012 for $896.
Pre-code horror, on the other hand, has seen all-time high prices on certain books.
Chamber of Chills #19 is one of the era's most popular books, with examples commanding top dollar when it comes available. The current highest graded copy is a CGC 9.6 blue label, which last sold in November 2021 for $102,000. Examples with a 2.5 - 4.5 all have a fair market value of $12,000.
Even ungraded examples still fetch thousands. This cover was popularized in pop culture thanks to The Misfits using it for their single, Die, Die, My Darling. Issue #23 is another grail book thanks to the incredible cover. While it may not have crossed over into other aspects of pop culture, the cover has remained iconic to collectors. To date, CGC has graded 102, with the highest grade currently at 9.2. While there is no sales data for an example in that grade, the fair market value for a 9.0 is $36,000.
Crime SuspenStories, the crime thriller comic, has a handful of grail books as well.
Crime SuspenStories #22 features a beheaded woman with a bloody axe on the cover, a truly gruesome sight. CGC has graded an impressive 411 copies, with 372 receiving a blue label. With only 1 9.8 and one 9.6 on census -- and no sales data behind either -- the next highest grade of 9.4 has a fair market value of $92,000.
Crime SuspenStories #20 is also a grail book for many, with CGC grading 278 copies to date. The hanging man cover is startling and is a must-have for many horror fans. The highest grade, 9.6, has a fair market value of $36,000.
Of course, there are hundreds of books that could have inspired this year's tribute store.
What comics do you think inspired Universal? Let me know in the comments below!
*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent advice on behalf of GoCollect.