Beschreibung:

Fair/Good (1.5). Chips to spine and edges, two extra staples added, tape to inside and outside spine, small piece of tape to inside back cover reinforcing creased top corner. Cream pages. Cover: Bernard Baily ("I Killed Mary" cover vignette cut/pasted from earlier Basil Wolverton story). Art: Sal Trapani, Tony Mortellaro?, Eugene Hughes?, uncredited others. Overstreet: "Wolverton-c panel-r/#5; used in a '54 Readers Digest anti-comics article by T.E. Murphy entitled 'For the Kiddies to Read.'" GPAnalysis: No reported sales in this grade. Lowest-graded sale: A 3.0 sold for $600 in August 2019. "The other fellows are rough and strong and I like them that way! You're just a weak-kneed sissy, and I wouldn't let you kiss me if you were the last boy on Earth!" — Eponymous Mary, "I Killed Mary." T. E. Murphy (not to be confused with Charles F. Murphy, the first Comics Code czar) panned this mag in an article published in the June, 1954 edition of Reader's Digest ("For the Kiddies to Read"). Murphy was appalled by Sal Trapani's "I Killed Mary," in which a geeky incel chops up a teen tart for scoffing at his advances. "In another gem, entitled 'I Killed Mary'... an inferior boy named Bobbie [sic] meets a girl named Mary and walks home with her. They stop in a barn because it is raining. There she is shown reclining on the hay. He makes advances to her, but she laughs at the 'sissy.' Thereupon he picks up an axe, and is shown hacking her to death. There is a close-up of the girl's undraped leg as she lies murdered. Later the boy is shown hanging from the rafters of the barn, a suicide. That book was bought only a few yards away from a spot where a ten-year-old girl had been choked to death by a pervert just a few days previously." Like Wertham, Murphy makes unproven statements connecting comics to crime. Unlike Wertham, Murphy doesn't categorically denounce comic books as a pernicious social blight. In fact, he advises parents not to tar all comics with the same brush, but to consider that some comics just aren't suitable for children: "Many comic books are good — some are educational, others downright funny... This is not a prudish campaign against cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians; such interests are normal interests of chilhood, whereas adultery, necrophilia and cannibalism are not." A deluxe limited edition of 12 hardcover catalogues is available, in addition to a small number of softcovers. 400 lots, fully illustrated. Fun reference, great keepsake. Softcover $40, deluxe hardcover with dust jacket and limitation plate $200. Eight of the 12 hardcovers are pre-ordered and the rest will go quickly, so reserve yours now. To order, contact [email protected] . Consignments welcome for PBA's Spring 2022 Comic Book sale. Top prices for Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age, Silver Age, original art and ephemera. Find out why PBA is the new fan-fave of comics auctioneers. "This is some of the best commentary I've yet seen on the quality of the content of comic books... Priceless." — R. Crumb. Send inquiries to [email protected] .