*Horror 1940-1959: L B Cole was one of the most famous of Golden/Atomic Age cover artists. He drew in a variety of genres, and was artistic director at Star, illustrating 95% of the company’s covers; his lurid, feverish style, almost hallucinogenic, graced horror, science-fiction, jungle and romance alike. Star took over the venerable title Blue Bolt in 1949 (previously it had been a classic anthology title starring the titular character, with much work by Simon & Kirby, Everett etc, lasting throughout the war years and beyond). By the time we got to the final issue, #119, Blue Bolt himself was long gone and the emphasis of the series had changed to horror, according to the zeitgeist of the time. Indeed, the title was rebranded as Ghostly Weird Stories from #120 onwards. Contents include two stylish horror shorts by Jay Disbrow plus reprints of Fox science-fiction and jungle stories. But it’s the wonderful L B Cole cover for which this issue is prized. This is a lower graded copy, but the cover image is not spoilt by the spine split down to and including the upper staple, tiny lower spine split and small chip out of bottom right (see scan). There is edge wear, a long vertical crease, some of which breaks colour and about three other longish creases which are relatively faint. A 4.5 cm tear from the centre of the right edge has been well sealed. Small stamped arrival date above ‘weird’ in the logo. Pages are okay, with a couple of minor margin stains and one small tear. 
PICTURED: BLUE BOLT WEIRD TALES #119 GD £300 SOLD