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

Matt Baker's Iconic and Rare Giant Comics Editions #12, at Auction

When you think of comic book romance, you think of this. Giant Comics Editions #12 Diary Secrets is one of comics history's most iconic covers

When you think of comic book romance, you think of this. Giant Comics Editions #12 Diary Secrets features one of the most iconic and infamous covers in comics history.  The Overstreet Price Guide has had it at the top of their list of top ten most valuable romance comic books for a long time.  And really, one can think of a list of perhaps hundreds of important and valuable vintage comic book keys that are both far less iconic and far less rare than this one.  Perhaps the single most sought-after romance comic book in American comic book history, there's a Giant Comics Editions #12 Diary Secrets CGC VG 4.0 copy up for auction in the 2025 July 18 Golden Age Comics Century Showcase at Heritage Auctions.

Giant Comics Editions was the formal title for a series of 18 rebound remaindered St. John comic books that was published 1948-1950.  Issues in this series generally included 100 to 132 pages and were priced at 25 cents.  They included a variety of material that had been published by St. John, from romance to newspaper strip reprints to Terry-Toons.  Nine of the 18 covers of the series were based on newspaper strip material or Mighty Mouse.  Two of them were photo covers.  It's a tribute to Matt Baker's star power as a cover artist, not to mention St. John's awareness of that star power, that six of the remaining seven covers featured Matt Baker artwork.  Five of those featured new, original artwork, while the sixth was a montage of previously-run interior panel art mostly by Baker.

We've spent some time talking about Baker's inspirations for various covers here in recent years, such as the also-iconic Cinderella Love #25 cover, where we discussed the idea that Baker was known to have a considerable file of reference material.  The Giant Comics Editions covers present a little bit of a different situation, as the contents of those can vary over a specific time frame. In one example, the central figure of Giant Comics Editions #15 is believed by some to have been inspired by St. John editor and a model herself, Nadine French King, and this is an assessment that seems very likely to me as well. But we also know that when he was covering a comic book that contained reprint material, which he did often, he usually let an interior story from the comic in question inspire him in some way.  I believe it is not unlikely that the fumetti photo-comics feature "Come-On Girl" in Teen-Age Romances #5 provided Baker with both his thematic inspiration and his photo reference in this case.  Based on the discernible patterns and timing frames of the Giant Comics Edition reprint material for each release, that issue falls within the time frame of possible contents for Giant Comics Editions #12 Diary Secrets. The central female figure of the title page of "Come-On Girl" is wearing a similar dress, shoes, bracelets, and while her pose is different it is not too dissimilar.  And the theme of this story certainly fits this cover.

All of these Giant Comics Editions are tough to get, and like most squarebound comics, are particularly difficult to come by in anything resembling high grade.  Matt Baker produced many spectacular covers over the course of his career, but this iconic Giant Comics Editions #12 cover is simply the best.  If you're serious about any aspect of vintage comics, this one should be on your radar. There's a very rare chance to get a Giant Comics Editions #12 Diary Secrets CGC VG 4.0 copy up for auction in the 2025 July 18 Golden Age Comics Century Showcase at Heritage Auctions. If you've never bid at Heritage Auctions before, you can get further information, you can check out their FAQ on the bidding process and related matters.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!