Pulp-Inspired Pre-Code Horror of Strange Mysteries #8, up for Auction

Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: pre-code horror, Strange Mysteries

Strange Mysteries was an obscure Pre-Code Horror title for the American market from Toronto publisher Superior Comics, lasting 1951-1955.

Pre-Code horror will never go out of style, as fans of gruesomeness and gore will always want what many considered too sinister at some point. Case in point is Strange Mysteries #8, published by Superior Comics in 1952. This book features all kinds of gnarly stuff, including a man burned alive and a severed head, things that probably would have sent your parents in a tizzy if they saw you reading it back then. Not to mention the cover is itself a swipe of a devil cover to pulp magazine 15 Mystery Stories. Heritage Auctions has a Strange Mysteries #8 (Superior Comics, 1952) CGC FN- 5.5 Off-white pages up for auction in the 2023 July 13 – 14 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40227.

Superior Publishing was a Toronto-based comic book publisher that primarily operated from 1945-1956.  The company largely reprinted American comic material for the Canadian market due to Canada’s post-WWII Foreign Exchange Control Act 1947-1951, which banned the import of American comic books but unlike the previous War Exchange Conservation Act, allowed them to be reprinted by Canadian publishers.  Superior began publishing original material for the American market after the end of the Foreign Exchange Control Act, including a number of noteworthy horror titles such as Journey into Fear, Mysteries Weird and Strange, Strange Mysteries, and Tales of Horror.  In 1956, the publisher ceased operations as the 1950s comic book moral panic resulted in the Comics Code.

Pre-Code Horror That Would Make Your Parents Scream

“Strange Mysteries #8 (Superior Comics, 1952) CGC FN- 5.5 Off-white pages. Devil cover swiped from the June 1950 issue of the pulp magazine 15 Mystery Stories. Contains a man-burned-alive panel and a severed head panel. Overstreet 2022 FN 6.0 value = $135. CGC census 6/23: 4 in 5.5, 12 higher. Jack Kamen-ish art and stories. “Flaming Horror”; A fat man’s face is horribly scarred when he accidentally sets fire to his hotel room; He inherits a house and meets a lonely ghost. A man tries to kick him out of his house so he kills him. “Mask of the Devil”; The wife of an evil ruler gives birth to a demon because of a curse; The demon is raised in secrecy and vows revenge on his father. “Brain of Belial” text story by David Palmer. “Through Wicked Eyes”; A witch leaves a pair of glasses for a man; These glasses allow the man to see how people will die; He looks at a picture of his wife and sees that she will be killed by a taxi. “Return of the Corpse”; A policeman and doctor scheme to catch a grave robber; The policeman pretends to die and is buried in a coffin; The doctor is the grave robber and blocks the air hole. 36 pages, full color. Cover price $0.10.”

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