*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: What’s Old is our feature where we highlight stuff from our catalogue that you may have missed. Raised in Burma by a tigress after his parents were killed, young David Merryweather developed superhuman strength, reflexes, agility and heightened senses from… living with tigers? Because of course you would. Oh, and the traditionally feline nine lives. Eventually returning to the US, David became a Private Eye, then joined the US Army while stopping criminals preying on the innocent, as… the Catman! Eventually picking up a random orphan, Katie Conn, who without any powers or training decided to join Catman as ‘The Kitten’, a distaff Boy Wonder. Catman’s adventures, from 1941 to 1946, started out as routine superheroics, but rapidly developed a horrific edge and more mature tone, becoming notorious for gore and the way his young sidekick, ahem, matured really really fast. Now keenly sought-after by collectors, they are vanishingly rare in any condition — in 30 years, no other copy of any issue of this title has passed through our hands. This is a copy of Catman’s final issue, #32, from August 1946, with a famous and visually stunning L. B. Cole ‘shark-fight’ cover. A CGC Blue label 2.5 (GD+), acknowledging the presence of three tape strips on the spine, but with no restoration.
PICTURED: CATMAN #32 CGC 2.5 GD+ £635