Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Matt Baker, St. John Publications

Dreams and Deceptions, Matt Baker's Cinderella Love #26 at Auction

Cinderella Love #26 contains the inspiration for both that issue's Matt Baker cover as well as his iconic issue #25 cover.

St. John Publications acquired the title Cinderella Love (along with the titles Romantic Love, Kid Cowboy and Wild Boy of the Congo) from publisher Ziff Davis in 1953. The Ziff-Davis Cinderella Love series had likely been inspired by the success of Disney's Cinderella throughout 1950.  The now-legendary animated classic also prompted a wave of Cinderella-themed consumer goods and created the kind of phenomenon that had people attempting to insert the concept of Cinderella into cultural conversations ranging from politics to the economy and everything in between.  The St. John comic book series is best remembered for its Matt Baker covers today.

While the Disney-propelled interest in Cinderella-style love stories likely helped make the series one of the few Ziff-Davis comic book successes, the publisher's brief foray into comics was a pretty dismal failure. Of the nearly 60 comic book titles the publisher launched, Cinderella Love was one of only three series that lasted longer than 10 issues (along with Romantic Marriage and G.I. Joe).  70% of the line lasted two issues or less, and many of those titles have largely been forgotten today.

But St. John's version of Cinderella Love is a sought-after series among romance collectors even though it's mostly (or perhaps completely) reprint material, due to its covers by the legendary Matt Baker.  As we've discussed over time about Baker's work, more often than not, he based his covers on one of the interior stories in these situations. For example, his cover for Cinderella Love #15 seems inspired by the interior story The Wall of Wealth, (which originally appeared in Ziff Davis issue #5).

Cinderella Love #26 is an even more interesting case, as perhaps due to some scheduling mix-up, the Baker cover that matches the interior story Mardi Gras Sweatheart ended up as the legendary cover of issue #25 — widely considered one of the most sought after romance comics ever published.  Another story in issue #26, Dreams and Deceptions, was used by Baker as the inspiration for that issue's cover.

Matt Baker's covers have made St. John's Cinderella Love one of the most famous titles in romance comic book history.  There's a CGC VG+ 4.5 copy of issue #26 and a CGC VG 4.0 copy of issue #15 up for auction in 2024 October 3 – 5 Good Girl Art and Romance Comics Showcase Auction #40269.

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