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Lady Luck Gets Her Own Series in a Smash Comics Takeover, at Auction

In 1949, historic Golden Age Quality Comics flagship title Smash Comics was taken over by the long-running character Lady Luck.


The Golden Age comic book character Lady Luck is the creation of comics legend Will Eisner and artist Chuck Mazoujian. Mazouzian made his comics debut with the cover of Marvel Mystery Comics #2, and by the next year was working on Lady Luck for Will Eisner's The Spirit newspaper sections.  That backup series was soon taken over by artists including Nick Cardy and Klaus Nordling, and many of those stories were reprinted in Smash Comics #42-85 (April 1943 through October 1949). But when the Smash Comics title became Lady Luck with the December 1949 cover-dated issue, the brief new series featured new covers by Gill Fox, and new stories by Nordling and Fred Schwab. The series only lasted for five issues, but you can get the debut of that series in Lady Luck #86 (#1) (Quality, 1949) CGC VG/FN 5.0 Off-white to white pages up for auction in the 2023 January 8-9 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122302 at Heritage Auctions.

Lady Luck #86 (#1) (Quality, 1949)
Lady Luck #86 (#1) (Quality, 1949)

Lady Luck has a typical and somewhat Batman-like origin story: Brenda Banks is a young socialite heiress and the daughter of a wealthy mine owner.  Frustrated with the idle complacency of her peers, she trains in martial arts and becomes a costumed detective, an "elusive enemy of crime".  There are surprisingly few copies of these listed on the CGC Census, but you can get the debut of that series in Lady Luck #86 (#1) (Quality, 1949) CGC VG/FN 5.0 Off-white to white pages up for auction in the 2023 January 8-9 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122302 at Heritage Auctions.

Lady Luck #86 (#1) (Quality, 1949)
(Quality, 1949)

Lady Luck #86 (#1) (Quality, 1949) CGC VG/FN 5.0 Off-white to white pages. First issue of the series, with numbering continued from Smash Comics. Klaus Nordling story and art. Gill Fox cover. Overstreet 2022 VG 4.0 value = $284; FN 6.0 value = $426. CGC census 12/22: 2 in 5.0, 21 higher.

CGC Grader Notes:
Bottom Front Cover Finger Bends
Left Bottom Back Cover Crease
Right Bottom Whole Book Multiple Crunch
Right Top Whole Book Small Bend

View the certification for Lady Luck #86 (#1) CGC Certification ID 258520001.

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Mark SeifertAbout Mark Seifert

Co-founder and Creative director of Bleeding Cool parent company Avatar Press. Bleeding Cool Managing Editor, tech and data wrangler. Machine Learning hobbyist. Vintage paper addict.
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