For years I joked about finding a box of Golden Age comics at a garage or estate sale; like those people that find the first Superman or Batman comic inside the wall or mixed among a bunch of papers in Grandma's attic.
The "Golden Age" of comics, for those unfamiliar with comic books, dates from essentially 1938 with the appearance of Superman in "Action Comics" #1 to 1956 with the appearance of the "Silver Age" Flash in Showcase #4 which heralded, of course, the "Silver Age" of comics. When the terms were coined, they were basically 50 year-old and 25 year-old comics (hence Gold and Silver). It was my fantasy that I'd come upon a box of superhero comic books dating from the 1940's some day.
Last weekend, my fantasy became reality, although not with superheroes.
I was at an estate sale for a 95-year-old woman who'd recently passed away. She was an Italian war bride whom neighbors described as sweet, but stern. From the pictures of the estate sale, the house was packed with vintage items.
I had gone to this sale in the hopes of snagging a vintage Frankenstein character glass I'd see in a box on the estate sale's website. When I got there, I was 40th in line and they were letting people in 10 at a time. By the time I got inside, the character glasses were picked over and the Frankenstein glass was gone. Oh well. I looked around the rest of the house, focusing on the basement as I typically do before moving on to the kitchen and then the bedrooms, which are typically my last stop. We were an easy 45 minutes into the sale at this point.
In one bedroom, my wife pointed to a box and said, "Did you see the comics?" I hadn't. I pulled the box out and my eyes bugged when I saw 10 cent cover price issues. The box was marked $1 each.
"Sherry the Showgirl #3" Dec. 1956
I was unfamiliar with the first issue I pulled out, "Sherry the Showgirl", but it was an Atlas comic which was the name of Marvel Comics in the 1950's. I figured 1950's non-superhero comics probably weren't too desirable, but had to be worth more than a $1. The cover art was recognizable (to me) as Dan De Carlo's work, a very popular artist known for his "GGA" (Good Girl Art) and who created the contemporary design of Betty and Veronica from the Archie series.
I did recognize "Millie the Model". This particular comic book run was called "A Date with Millie" and I later discovered it was the first issue of that run. Also a Dan De Carlo cover.
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