Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Dan DeCarlo, golden age, millie the model

DeCarlo, Millie & More: Collecting Vintage Marvel's Elusive Beauty

Rarity can be an elusive concept for some vintage Marvel, and the Marvel/Atlas humor line contains a number of undiscovered gems.

In several recent showcase auctions, we've had discussions about some of the rarest in-demand comic books within the collecting focus in question.  Rarity is a surprisingly difficult concept to pin down when it comes to comic books, and it's even more difficult to discuss when it comes to vintage Marvel/Timely/Atlas comic books.  For most other publishers or collecting categories, defining rarity is easier. Ask a group of serious collectors about the rarest Fox Feature Publications comic books, and U.S. Jones #2 will be among the answers.  For Centaur, it's going to be Amazing Man #26.  With MLJ, Hangman #8 is an issue that will be brought up.

For more expansive collecting categories, the definition of rarity can be more elusive, but in many such cases, there is still some degree of consensus.  Factors like historical notions of rarity from the Overstreet Price Guide and the Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books Gerber "scarcity rating" among other historical references are usually considered. Census numbers, when balanced with demand for a particular issue, are an obvious data point. Serious collectors in the category will always have opinions based on their experience.  For example, New Adventure Comics #26 is widely considered one of the rarest DC comics because it was one of the last issues a well-known DC completist needed to finish his set of every DC comic book ever.  Double Action Comics #2 will be another comic that comes up when DC rarity is discussed. Issues of New Fun Comics among other very early releases will probably be mentioned.

But when I started asking collectors about vintage Marvel comic book rarity, the reaction was very different.  One collector responded with an anecdote.  When this collector asked a high net-worth Golden Age Marvel superhero completist why he didn't take his collection all the way and collect the rest of the Timely and Atlas comics that Marvel had put out before the Silver Age, the response was enlightening.  Even though money was no object for this individual, and even though he had all of the most expensive Marvels already anyway, he considered finishing off all the publisher's humor, war, crime, western and other comics from the 1940s and 1950s an impossible task.

That's not the first time I've heard this notion from serious Timely/Atlas collectors.  Daunting as it is, a small handful of collectors have seriously pursued a complete DC Comics set since comic collecting began to go mainstream in the early 1970s.  But I'm not sure there are any true Marvel comic book completists, at least not anymore.  It's been widely reported that paleontologist, mathematician, comics historian and indexer George Olshevsky once assembled a complete Marvel collection, though there seems to be some dispute as to whether "complete" really did mean all of the obscure stuff.  I can think of one or two longtime Marvel collectors who might be steadily pursuing the set, but I'm not sure anyone has come very close to completing it.  The idea seems to be unthinkable to most, even for collectors with the resources to consider it.

Because of this, there's really no collector whisper network as to what that magic combination of rare and desirable is for the kind of comics represented in this 2023 April 20 Timeless Good Girl Art Comics Featuring Dan DeCarlo Showcase Auction #40221.  The CGC census is likewise unhelpful in this assessment, as incredibly there are nearly 60 issues in the auction with census numbers of one or zero.  And Fully 70% of the comics listed in the auction have single-digit census numbers.

Does this mean they're all really that rare?  Not all of them, no.  But all of this does mean that collectors at large probably don't yet have the data to determine that magic combination of desirable, cool, and tough to get in this particular category of vintage Marvel collecting.  So while I currently have no particularly useful way to assess rarity for the comic books in this auction, I did manage to get some opinions on what issues might be the hidden gems here.

The Hidden Gems of the Marvel Timeless GGA Auction

• Tessie the Typist #1 — A Beautiful cover and in the words of one collector, a "wildly undervalued key that never gets the love it deserves."  I could not agree with this assesment more, and made the case that Tessie is probably one of the most important Marvel characters of the late Golden Age.
• Millie the Model Comics #22 — Millie is the series that defines Dan DeCarlo's legacy as a GGA artist.  In the words of one collector, "there are some wondrous covers here done with a wink and a nudge that oozes 1950's charm."  Issue #22 is a great example, but there are dozens of amazing covers in this run.
• Cindy Comics #36 — While #37 gets all the attention, #36 has, as another collector told me "the kind of silly double-entendre cover that makes several issues of Archie Comics notorious" and collected, and is far less common than you'd think.  Heritage has only sold two copies ever before this solid mid-grade.
• Comedy Comics #7 — The late issues of this run are all challenging, and this issue #7 is the first copy Heritage has offered, as well as the second highest graded.
• Georgie Comics #32 — Late issues of Timely series in this category of comic books tend to be tough, but this cute cover is a ghost.  It is very challenging to find in any condition, and this is the highest-graded copy.
• Girls Life #4 —  There are no common issues in this series, but #4 has zero graded copies in the CGC census.
• Hedy De Vine Comics #27 — There are many pretty covers in this series, but the predominantly black background makes this book really pop in nicer condition.
• Hedy De Vine Comics #39 — A lovely Dan DeCarlo cover that is not easy to find.
• Joker Comics #14 — Early Joker Comics can be tough to find, and this cute swimsuit cover is one of the best covers as well as one of the most rare issues!
• Lana Comics #6 — An often overlooked series, with lots of fantastic covers in this run and some devilishly challenging books to acquire.
• Margie Comics #40 — Another pretty black-border cover, and the highest graded.
• Mitzi's Romances #10 — Certainly one of the most rare Timely GGA books.  Collectors have gone years without even seeing a copy for sale.
• My Friend Irma #27 — There are a number of very underappreciated DeCarlo covers on this run, with his trademark mix of beautiful women and silly gags.
• Nellie the Nurse Comics #16 — Hello, nurse! One of the many striking covers of this run.
• Patsy and Hedy #18 — This one has a cover by the legendary Al Jaffee.  There are a lot of beautiful and ridiculously fun covers on this run.
• Showgirls #1 —  A very short run of Decarlo doing what he does best.

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