*Horror 1940-1959: Ajax Farrell’s Haunted Thrills #6 from 1953 is one of those iconic pre-code horror covers that command much attention and high prices. In garish colours, including a background wall of flame and a devil, a top-hatted and be-cloaked skeleton rolls a pair of dice towards the viewer, seeming to laugh as if in some challenge as the dice come up snake eyes. By an unknown artist, but seemingly full of symbolism and menace. This is also one of the more elusive issues to collect in this series. Horrific content by Iger Shop and Carl Burgos. The cover here has strong colours, with minor edge wear, a tiny chip out at right edge, a small nick off bottom right cover and a couple of very small scuff marks just up from bottom. What stops this being out of the price range of many collectors is that the front and back covers are detached and separated, very cleanly and without being obvious, so that at first glance everything looks okay, so it presents well despite that flaw. If the cover had still been attached, this copy would have been better than Good and comfortably in four figures. Good quality pages with staples strong throughout.
PICTURED: HAUNTED THRILLS #6 PR/FA £460 SOLD