Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: bill everett, journey into mystery, pre-code horror

Bill Everett's Fright Wedding on Journey into Mystery #6, at Auction

Bill Everett was a prolific contributor to Marvel/Atlas's Pre-Code era, and created many underappreciated covers from this period.

A foundational creator of the Golden Age, Bill Everett is best known for his creation of Namor the Sub-Mariner in that era and his co-creation of Daredevil in the Silver Age.  But Everett excelled at an astonishing range of material, and his work between those two ages for Marvel/Atlas during the Pre-Code era on science fiction, war and horror titles includes countless underappreciated gems.  A one-off creation from Everett during this period, the Zombie from Menace #5, would later become an enduring Marvel horror character.  But Everett would contribute to about 200 Marvel/Atlas issues 1949-1954, including nearly 100 covers.

There are numerous underappreciated Pre-Code Horror gems among those covers, including Journey Into Mystery #6's "Till Death Do Us Part!" cover.  The CGC 7.0 copy of this PCH classic has currently already set a record for this issue at $13,500 as of this writing, with several days left in the auction, and for good reason.  There are only two higher-graded copies on the CGC census, and nothing higher than 7.0 has hit public auction in at least 20 years. That issue and several other Marvel/Atlas comics with Bill Everett covers and art from this era up for auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions.

Best remembered as the title that introduced Thor to the Silver Age Marvel Universe in 1962, Journey into Mystery started out as one of the many Marvel/Atlas horror titles of the Pre-Code era.  The publisher is generally underappreciated as the driver of the horror genre during this era with around 389 comics that can be considered PCH, vs EC Comics' PCH output of about 91 comic book issues.  As a glance at the scan will show you, this is a classic black cover scenario here, the common phenomenon where good-looking copies have become tougher to come by because the back background makes wear much more apparent.  The highest graded copy of this issue on the CGC Census is a GCC 8.0, and neither it nor the 7.5 copy have hit public auction. That's part of why bidding has been spirited on this beautiful CGC 7.0 copy and several other Marvel/Atlas comics with Bill Everett covers and art from this era at auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!