*Horror 1940/1959: From the prestigious Bute Collection this week, the second and third issues of Atlas’s Journey Into Mystery from 1952. Like Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery is one of those titles that started out in the 1950s horror boom, converted to Big Panty Monsters in the post-code phase and lasted into the Marvel Age Of Comics in the super-hero Silver Age. But it’s the title’s inaugural outings that concern us here. #2 has stories by Russ Heath, Jay Scott Pike, Howie Post, Gene Colan and others. Corpses. monsters and vampires aplenty. #3 features Ben Benulis, Joe Maneely, Mike Sewowsky, Carmine Infantino and others. More corpses, dismemberment, ghosts etc.
PICTURED: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY
#2 GD/VG £425 The Bute Collection. Pre-Code. Worn but intact spine with long vertical colour-breaking creases and several short horizontal ones. Edge wear and colour-breaking creases across top and bottom cover corners. Staples slightly loose at cover, but holding firm. A couple of small nicks to front and back covers. Great colour, lovely off-white pages. SOLD
#3 VG/FN £475 The Bute Collection. Pre-Code. A superior copy with great cover colour and some gloss. Only faint spine and edge wear; tiny nick at base of spine. A couple of shallow creases across bottom right cover just break colour. Staples are tight and firm, mostly sharp corners; excellent pages are off-white to white.