We’ve got an absolute menagerie of cool, weird, and exciting comics over here at PBA Galleries! Here’s a little highlight to break up our Top 10 list. Most of our seasoned comics collectors in the audience will know that DC wasn’t always about superhero comics. In fact, DC would only become Detective Comics (where we all know Batman would make his debut) in 1937; starting in 1935, they were Nation Allied Publications. DC didn’t become DC overnight; however, there were 26 issues of “Detective Comics” before our favorite bat would appear, and even before that, DC had “Adventure Comics” and “More Fun Comics.” Both series would begin their lives as humor comics, and both would evolve as popular tastes shifted.
The debut of Superman in “Action Comics” #1 would be the catalyst for the biggest boom in comics: the superhero. While “More Fun Comics” would continue to be a humor comic, it only took a little under two years for superheroes to debut within its pages, the first being The Spectre in issue #52. This doesn’t mean that issues of “More Fun Comics” pre-52 have no value – quite the contrary. In fact, a subset of collectors has begun to track appearances of ads for “Action Comics” #1 in early issues around this period, which finally leads us to “More Fun Comics” #31.
Though this is debated among collectors, “More Fun Comics” #31 may be the second appearance of the “Action Comics” #1 house ad, depicting the artwork of Superman lifting the car from its cover. While the value of advertisement appearances is also debated among collectors, the sheer rarity of this comic easily puts its value in the thousands, with less than 20 copies known to exist. Lucky for you, reader, every single comic mentioned in this writeup will be available for auction through PBA Comics. So keep your eyes and ears out for further information from us!
Written by Kai Newquist, Comics Research Associate