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

Matt Baker and the End of Cinderella Love, Up for Auction

Matt Baker's cover for Cinderella Love #29 ends that romance series on a high note, and there's never been a better copy at public auction.

At 11 issues and counting, Cinderella Love qualified as a hit comic book for publisher Ziff-Davis.  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. It was certainly not what the publisher had hoped for.

When interviewed about the comic line and his hiring of Jerry Siegel to oversee it in late 1950, William B. Ziff suggested that Ziff-Davis comic books would be more highbrow than what was typical in the era.  Their line did have a distinctive look with its focus on painted covers, but the company never found its footing in comics, despite expending considerable effort to do so.   Across its entire magazine line, the Ziff-Davis corporate culture encouraged experimentation combined with ruthlessly cutting losses, which perhaps accounts for that staggering 70% failure rate during what was essentially just a little over a year of full operation.  By mid-1952, it was clear that the Ziff-Davis comic book line was a failure.  As Bernard G. Davis would later derisively put it, "We got into comic books at the tail-end of the postwar comics boom, but we never found them satisfying either to our pocketbooks or pride. G. I. Joe offends neither."

So Ziff-Davis kept G.I. Joe and sold most (and perhaps nearly all) of the rest of the line and its inventory to St. John.  Even the Approved Comics, Inc. imprint it had used to publish some of its line turned up at St. John as the series Approved Comics.  More about that and some of the other details here another time.

Hitting newsstands in January 1951, the title of the Ziff-Davis Cinderella series was likely inspired by the massive success of Disney's Cinderella throughout 1950, which had also prompted a wave of Cinderella-themed consumer goods.  The debut issue's inside front cover contains a short comic feature on American women who married royalty, which concluded that it was still possible for American girls to find their prince charming.  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 stories were typical tales of comic book romance.

The Cinderella Love series has a confusing history at St. John.  It initially took over the Ziff-Davis numbering, with issues #12-14 having painted covers from unused Ziff-Davis inventory.  Matt Baker's first cover for the series is on Cinderella Love #15.  The series then pauses and returns five months later with Cinderella Love #25, taking over the numbering from the series Romantic Marriage (another Ziff-Davis acquisition).

Baker's cover for Cinderella Love #25 is considered among his best pieces of cover artwork, and the issue has become highly sought after among collectors.  But that entire run of Baker covers #25-29 are absolute gems, and Cinderella Love #29 is one of the best.  I personally think it rivals #25.  It's just a classic, well-executed by Baker in a way that elevates its source material.  Baker was often loosely inspired for his covers on Cinderella Love by the interior stories, many of which were reprints from Ziff-Davis inventory and previous St. John romance titles.  But it appears that scheduling mistakes or changes sometimes happened on this title.  The cover of Cinderella Love #29 matches a scene from the story I was a Campus Tramp from issue #28, by artist Lily Renée.

Cinderella Love #29 hit newsstands just days before Archer St. John's death on August 13, 1955.  A careful look at the St. John publishing and assignment schedule suggests that for months, Archer St. John had been attempting to prepare the company's comic line to survive the onset of the Comics Code era by transitioning away from crime, horror, and romance and towards humor. Meanwhile, St. John's adult-oriented magazine Nugget would soon be launched.  This period feels like tragically unfinished business for both Archer St. John and Matt Baker, but the artist finished Cinderella Love on a high note.

This issue is nearly impossible in high grade, and arguably, there's never been a higher graded copy available at public auction than this CBCS 5.0 up for auction now.  A monumentally underappreciated Baker cover from near the end of the St. John era, there's a Cinderella Love #29 (St. John, 1955) CBCS VG/FN 5.0 Off-white to white pages up for auction in the 2023 August 17 The Matt Baker Comics & Comic Art Showcase Auction #40233.

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