Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: golden age, Tessie

Tessie Gets Her Own Series in Tessie the Typist Comics #1, at Auction

Arguably Marvel's first female star character since her early Joker Comics appearances, Tessie got her own series with Tessie the Typist #1

Published Tue, 11 Apr 2023 12:47:09 -0500

by Mark Seifert

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We recently talked about how Tessie is underappreciated as Marvel's earliest female star character during the Golden Age. She took over the covers of Joker Comics shortly after her debut in issue #2 of that series in 1942, and within two years was carrying three Marvel series at the same time, becoming the cover feature of Gay Comics and Tessie the Typist Comics as well. With all that going for her, Tessie is arguably one of the most important characters of the Marvel Golden Age, and there's a high-grade copy of the debut issue of her own series in Tessie the Typist #1 Davis Crippen ("D" Copy) Pedigree (Timely, 1944) CGC VF- 7.5 Off-white to white pages up for auction in the 2023 April 20 Timeless Good Girl Art Comics Featuring Dan DeCarlo Showcase Auction #40221 at Heritage Auctions.

As we've previously noted, there was very little typing involved in Tessie's adventures beyond her first few appearances in Joker Comics. That series saw her taking jobs such as nurse, reporter, assembly line worker and more in what was part of the media's recognition and promotion of the importance of the increasing role of women in the workforce during WWII. The Tessie the Typist Comics series not only leaned into this notion, but made it part of the character's ongoing story. While her boyfriend Skidsy had joined the Marines, Tessie was constantly seeking out new ways to be productive on the home front. In the debut issue alone, three different stories saw her become an animal trainer, an apple picker, and a war worker in the Timely Defense Plant.

There are only 13 copies of Tessie the Typist Comics #1 on the CGC Census, an incredibly low number for a Golden Age Marvel #1 issue, and only one copy has been graded higher than CGC 7.5. This particular copy is from the coveted Davis Crippen pedigree collection, an original owner collection that Crippen began purchasing off the newsstands when he was nine years old in 1939. Crippen ultimately bought approximately 13,000 comic books from 1939 through the early 1950s. A high-grade pedigree copy of a mid-1940s Marvel #1 issue featuring an important Golden Age character is typically going to be a hotly contested item at auction, but there's a chance to get this incredibly underrated Tessie the Typist #1 Davis Crippen ("D" Copy) Pedigree (Timely, 1944) CGC VF- 7.5 Off-white to white pages in the 2023 April 20 Timeless Good Girl Art Comics Featuring Dan DeCarlo Showcase Auction #40221 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.

Tessie the Typist #1 Davis Crippen ("D" Copy) Pedigree (Timely, 1944) CGC VF- 7.5 Off-white to white pages. Basil Wolverton art. Overstreet 2022 VF 8.0 value = $1,734. CGC census 3/23: 3 in 7.5, 1 higher.