*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints Of US Material: In the early 1950s, a small number of horror comics (around 40) were produced by a variety of UK publishers reprinting US pre-code horror stories in black and white. Just as in the USA, these became notorious and subject to censorship which led to their discontinuation. There’s a lot of information online about the banning of UK horror comics if you want to know more, and I particularly recommend a youtube video by Canadian Dave Dustin on the subject (see the Links page in our Extras section for more information). These UK horror comics have become both extremely rare and much sought after in recent years, and we’re delighted to have issue #1 (and only) of Arnold’s Ghostly Weird Stories, which reprinted the American Ghostly Weird Stories #122 from Star. Plus, since this comic is double the size of a standard US comic, there are also stories from Blue Bolt Weird Tales #111 and All Famous Police Cases #14. Interior art from Jay Disbrow, possibly Matt Baker and many others.  But it’s the sensational horror/sci-fi cover by L B Cole for which this issue is rightfully prized. 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, crime and romance alike.
PICTURED: GHOSTLY WEIRD STORIES #1 CGC 3.0 GD/VG £675. Arnold number this as #1, although the CGC label calls it #122 (which it is a partial reprint of). Unrestored blue label, cream to off-white pages. PLEASE NOTE: The CGC case has a small crack at extreme top right corner. This is as it came to us and appears to be the result of impact damage rather than tampering; it would not appear to be sufficient to allow the comic to be removed. Certainly the CGC grader notes match the defects for the encased copy, so we believe this is a genuine CGC copy. SOLD