The Nightmare Romance of Harry Anderson’s Love Journal #10, at Auction

Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Harry Anderson, Romance Comics

Harry Anderson might be best remembered for his Pre-Code Horror Marvel/Atlas covers like Astonishing #32, but his Love Journal #10 is a stand-out.

Harry Anderson (1911-1972) was a prolific and underappreciated comic book artist working from 1939 to 1955.  He began his career as a ghost artist for the newspaper comic strip Robin Hood and Company for the Toronto Telegram.  In comics, he worked a wide range of publishers, early on via the Binder, Chesler, and Funnies Inc studios and later directly for the publishers.  He did promotional comics such as March to Market, the Story of Meat for distributor Swift & Company, and Adventures into the Past for General Electric.  In the heroic genre, he worked on Dynamo for Lev Gleason, The Flag for Ace Magazines, The Conqueror for Hillman, and T-Man for Quality among many others.  This was all solid work, but it seems that Anderson really came into his own when he was asked to draw something weird or unusual.   His Pre-Code Horror work for Marvel/Atlas includes some of the publisher’s most memorable covers of that era, including the werewolf cover of Astonishing #32 and the zombie cover of Mystery Tales #19.

His penchant for drawing the weird and unusual seems to have served Harry Anderson well for his best-known romance cover on Love Journal #10.  This issue has caught fire on among collectors recently because of its exceedingly weird cover by Anderson for the lead story Branded in this debut issue of the title.  While I don’t have access to the interior story that inspired this wonderfully strange cover, it certainly appears to be a psychological interpretation of the nightmarish impact of romantic or sexual gossip.

All this has served to make Love Journal #10 one of the hottest romance comics of the past few years, with a CGC 6.5 copy reaching $6600 in late 2022.  This CGC 5.5 copy is now up for auction and has seen spirited bidding so far in the 2024 February 29 – March 1 Golden Age Romance Featuring Fox Comics & Comic Art Showcase Auction #40258.

Love Journal #10 (Our Publishing Co., 1951) CGC FN- 5.5 Off-white to white pages. This first issue of the title sports a simply stupendous and finely detailed cover by Harry Anderson — the ridicule and shame are palpable! Overstreet 2023 FN 6.0 value = $426. CGC census 1/24: 2 in 5.5, 3 higher.

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