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

Matt Baker's "Mona Lisa", Cinderella Love #25, Up for Auction

The second highest graded copy to hit the auction block in over a decade, Matt Baker's Cinderella Love #25 is one of the world's most sought after romance comics.

Published Thu, 11 Dec 2025 13:02:03 -0600

by Mark Seifert

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Article Summary

Matt Baker's Cinderella Love #25 is celebrated as one of the most desirable romance comic covers ever created.
This issue reflects Baker's peak artistry, showcasing storytelling and visual mastery in the Golden Age of comics.
Collectors prize Cinderella Love #25 as Baker's work at his peak.
St. John Publications became a crucial part of Baker's career, elevating him as a leading artist in comics history.

Matt Baker's cover for Cinderella Love #25 (St. John, cover-dated December 1954) is considered among his best pieces of cover artwork, and it's easy to see why. A festive, celebratory theme, a budding romance in the background, and a beautiful woman in the foreground who clearly has something on her mind. Like much of Baker's artwork, it's a cover with a story to tell, and with those party streamers raining down, it feels like love is in the air here indeed. In recent years, the story behind this comic book romance cover has started to materialize, which has only added to its mystique among collectors. This issue has become one of the most sought-after romance comics and is at the top of most Baker collectors' lists as well. In June 2024, a CGC 7.5 copy sold for an incredible $60,000. The highest graded copy on the CGC Census as of this writing is a CGC 8.0 and copies of this issue don't change hands very often in any grade. The second-highest graded copy to emerge at public auction in over a decade is now up for auction at the December 11 Golden Age Comics Century Showcase Auction IV.

This vintage comic illustration features a glamorous woman with dark hair and a flower accessory, surrounded by colorful scenes of celebration, including joyful characters in period costumes. — Cinderella Love #25 (St. John, 1954)

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, and the title contained reprints of the Ziff Davis material and earlier St John romance titles. It appears that Baker was sometimes loosely inspired for his covers on Cinderella Love by the interior stories. His cover for Cinderella Love #15 seems inspired by the interior story The Wall of Wealth, and his cover for Cinderella Love #26 is based on the interior story Dreams and Deceptions, for example. But it appears that scheduling mistakes or changes sometimes happened (or perhaps they simply didn't care all that much). The cover of Cinderella Love #29 appears to match a scene from the story I was a Campus Tramp from issue #28, the previous issue. And it has been noted that the cover of Cinderella Love #25 seems to have the same theme as the story Mardi Gras Sweatheart from issue #26, the next issue.

Matt Baker career timeline. Click to enlarge.

After spending roughly three years working for Fiction House and Fox via Iger Studio, Baker embarked on what is perhaps the most important part of his career in mid-1948 with St. John Publications. He was one of the best Good Girl artists in comics at that time, but not everyone knew that yet. His St. John work has made him a star in the decades since. The cover of Crime Reporter #2 was the first St. John work by Baker to hit the newsstand, with a June 26, 1948, on-sale date (per Library of Congress copyright records). This was followed by a six-page interior story in Northwest Mounties #1 (on sale August 1, 1948) and then the cover of Crime Reporter #3 (on sale September 22, 1948). Notably, all three of those releases are designated as October 1948 issues in their indicia (edit: oddly, Authentic Police Cases #6 has an on-sale date before Crime Reporter #3 despite having a November 1948 issue designation, so it's hard to know how to place that on the timeline). Some five years into his St. John tenure, Baker was the most polished artist of female figures and faces in comics, period. The cover of Cinderella Love #25 is a reflection of Baker at his peak.

The auction data confirms what most fans know: this show-stopping issue is widely considered Matt Baker's best cover and also one of the most sought-after romance comics in the world. Baker's mastery is fully on display here: it's a cover that tells a thousand stories of romance and drama with an alluring beauty at the center of it. This CGC 5.5 is the second-highest copy Heritage has ever offered, and given that the highest graded copy went for a staggering $60,000, this is not just an auction, it's an event. The "Mona Lisa" of comic book romance, there's a Cinderella Love #25 (St. John, 1954) CGC FN- 5.5 Off-white pages copy up for auction at the December 11 Golden Age Comics Century Showcase Auction IV.