Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: John Buscema, Romance Comics

Highest Graded 1950 Marvel/Atlas True Secrets 3 (#1), up for Auction

1950's True Secrets 3 (#1) was a title debut from Marvel/Atlas at a time when romance comics dominiated their comic book line.

Marvel romance title True Secrets title started life as Actual Romances in 1949.  It's unclear why the title changed, though these things happened often with many comic book publishers of the period for seemingly opaque reasons.  "True" would have been more recognizeable as an indicator of a romance title to readers of that day, though Marvel would try "Actual' once again three years later with the equally short-lived Actual Confessions.  Always a publisher to jump on a trend with both feet during the period, the series joined an already bustling romance line at Marvel.  In the month of the title's launch, Marvel had romance titles on the stands which included Cupid, Junior Miss, Love Classics, Love Romances, Loveland, Lovers, Miss America, Mitzi's Romances, My Diary, My Own Romance, Romance Diary, Romances of Molly Manton, Romances of the West, Venus, Western Life Romances, and Young Hearts.  The change-over to the title True Secrets with issue #3 happened in the same month that Captain America's Weird Tales #75 marked the end of an era at the publisher.  It's not every day you see a high grade copy of a Marvel comic book from this era, but there's a True Secrets 3 (#1) (Atlas, 1950) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages up for auction in the 2023 October 26 – 27 Romance Comics Featuring L. B. Cole Showcase Auction #40224 at Heritage Auctions.

GCD tentatively attributes the interior story I was a Nobody in this issue to John Buscema, although the fluid style that would be a hallmark of Buscema's later style had not yet emerged in his work of this period, so it's difficult to say for sure.  True Secrets would go on to a 38-issue run 1950-1956, and would include notable work by Stan Goldberg and Jay Scott Pike, among others.  There are an incredible 78 CGC top-census highest-graded comic books up for auction in the 2023 October 26 – 27 Romance Comics Featuring L. B. Cole Showcase Auction #40224 at Heritage Auctions, and this True Secrets 3 (#1) (Atlas, 1950) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages is one to watch.

True Secrets 3 (#1) (Atlas, 1950) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages. The top copy on CGC's current census for the issue. Christopher Rule cover. Overstreet 2023 NM- 9.2 value = $340. CGC census 10/23: 1 in 9.4, none higher.

CGC Grader Notes:
light rust stain right center of back cover
very light spine stress lines to cover

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