Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Bernie Breslauer, Chuck Winter, Curt Swan, George Kashdan, George Roussos, Henry Boltinoff, Howard Sherman, Jack Lehti, Jack Schiff, Mort Weisinger, Real Fact Comics, Stookie Allen, Will Ely, Win Mortimer
In 1949 Curt Swan Gave Us Real Fact Comics #19, at Auction
Issue nineteen of Real Facts Comics, up for auction from Heritage Auctions today, has a cover by the late great Curt Swan.
Real Fact Comics, published by DC Comics, as it was then, lasted for 21 issues from 1946 to 1949 and was pitched as an educational comic book though one that delved into true crime to get a little attention for itself. Real Fact Comics was part of a drive to create comics that would educate and inform children as well as entertain and was in direct response to criticism of comics from a noted children's book author, Sterling North, who called comics "a poisonous mushroom growth," "sex-horror serials," and "graphic insanity." And North suggested comics should be replaced with other forms of classic or wholesome literature in children's lives. In response, Parents' Magazine Institute created True Comics in 1941, and the genre blossomed, even though sales did not. Nevertheless, it was good to be seen publishing such a title like Real Fact Comics was DC's first and only entry into the field. The first issue saw Jack Kirby and Joe Simon create stories, and the third issue had a very early letters column to whom Harlan Ellison wrote and was published for the first time in issue six.
Issue nineteen of Real Facts Comics, up for auction from Heritage Auctions, has a cover by the late great Curt Swan, most associated with Superman during the Bronze Age and who produced hundreds of covers and stories throughout his career. He is also believed to have drawn the "I Am A Camera Cop" front page story as well. Written and drawn by a variety of comic book writers and artists, the issue also includes work by Jack Schiff, Mort Weisinger, Bernie Breslauer, Jack Lehti, George Kashdan, Win Mortimer, Henry Boltinoff, Will Ely, Howard Sherman, Stookie Allen, Chuck Winter, George Roussos, and Dan Barry. And it may be a lot more popular now than it was then.
Real Fact Comics #19 (DC, 1949) Condition: VF-. Curt Swan cover. Irwin Hasen, Win Mortimer, and George Roussos art. Overstreet 2022 VF 8.0 value = $83.