NY State Legislature on the Violence of Marvel Tales #97, at Auction

Marvel is not the first publisher to come to mind when we think of the Pre-Code Horror era of the late 1940s through the early 1950s, but perhaps it should be.  Not only did the publisher enter the horror genre in earnest before EC Comics, but it was also the driving force of the market — publishing around 389 comics that can be considered PCH, vs EC Comics PCH output of about 91 comic book issues.  One of the early entries of these, Marvel Tales #97, ended up in a 1951 Report of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Publication of Comics.  There’s a Marvel Tales #97 (Atlas, 1950) Condition: GD/VG up for auction at the 2023 May 14-16 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122320 at Heritage Auctions.

The Joint Legislative Committee depicted panels and pages from a number of comics in this report, placing their examples into three groups:

1. Brutality, violence and crime.
2. Drawings which depict ways of bodily injury, plans for commission of crime and unlawful breakings.
3. Sexually suggestive cartoons and in some instances semi hidden pornography.

In the section giving examples for the “brutality, violence and crime” group, the report shows several panels from the Marvel Tales #97 story Beyond the Grave, a story drawn by Don Rico in which a witch doctor transfers his mind into the body of a huge gorilla with brutal results.  The cover story about an evil doll brought to life by sorcery, The Wooden Horror! was penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Christopher Rule.  An explanation of the fate of Atlantis, The Nation that Vanished, and a Sun Girl superhero story round out the issue.

An interesting example of early Pre-Code Horror era history, there’s a Marvel Tales #97 (Atlas, 1950) CGC VG/FN 5.0 Cream to off-white pages up for auction at the 2023 January 8-9 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122302 at Heritage Auctions.

Affiliates of Bleeding Cool buy from and/or consign to Heritage Auctions.