Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Marvel Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged: angel, marvel, mystic comics, timely

Bondage, Angels And Hypodermic Needles in Mystic Comics #2, at Auction

A copy of Mystic Comics #2 from the second volume is currently up for auction at a 5.0 CGC grade from Heritage Auctions.

Very few issues of Mystic Comics were published by Marvel's forerunner, Timely Comics, back in the 1940s. But it certainly has had an impact. Timely ran two volumes of this superhero anthology without a regular lead character, ten issues from 1940 to 1942, then four issues from 1944 to 1945. The first volume was first edited by Martin Goodman, who compiled strips from Funnies, Inc., or Harry "A" Chesler studios, then after a seven-month gap, Joe Simon and then Stan Lee introduced Blazing Skull, Destroyer, the original Black Widow, Thin Man, Blue Blaze, Terror and the recently revived Flexo the Rubber Man. Volume 2, edited by Vincent Fago, as Stan Lee was doing military service, brought back Destroyer, Stan Lee's first originated superhero, but also the original Angel, the Young Allies, the original Human Torch, and Tommy Tyme. Stan Lee would later reboot the Angel and Human Torch with new identities twenty years later.

A copy of Mystic Comics #2 from the second volume is currently up for auction at a 5.0 CGC grade from Heritage Auctions. Its cover features The Angel, who first appeared in 1939's Marvel Comics #1, created by Paul Gustavson; he was a detective who dressed as a superhero but made no effort to conceal his identity as former surgeon Thomas Halloway, who grew up in a prison and gained a unique insight into criminals, taking his name from one given to him after he saved an inmate from execution. It also has Nazi skeletons and themes of bondage, which was quite the thing back then. It still is, to be fair. Also, the use of hypodermic needles on the cover is apparently another notable factor…

Mystic Comics V2#2 (Timely, 1944) CGC VG/FN 5.0 Off-white pages. Syd Shores hypodermic needle, giant Nazi skeleton, mad scientist, bondage cover. Al Avison and Bob Oksner art. Overstreet 2022 VG 4.0 value = $438; FN 6.0 value = $657. CGC census 6/23: 2 in 5.0, 17 higher.

CGC Grader Notes:
detached centerfold
light, multiple crease back cover
medium staple tear
moderate spine roll
very light crease center of front cover
writing top of back cover

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