Auctions: comic books July 1951

Lars of Mars (1951 Ziff Davis) 11 CGC 6.5

Paper: Off white to white

Label #0194699013

Painted cover by Allen Anderson. Stories and art by Gene Colan, Jerry Siegel, and Murphy Anderson. Sent to Earth to prevent nuclear war, Lars of Mars must first convince TV producer June Conway that he's a real Martian. "Rascally totalitarian scientist" Dr. Raskov creates a freezing gun that threatens to upset the balance of power in the Cold War, unless Lars can destroy it. Lars tries to help a baseball pro live up to a little boy's admiration of him. The writer for the Lars stories is Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman, who said, "I knew people would have difficulty forgetting a Martian with a Swedish name." Captain Ken Brady, Rocket Pilot, investigates the mystery of The Boy Who Wasn't There, in a story with early art by future Marvel legend Gene Colan. In another Colan story, a family goes on a weekend outing to the Moon, a routine occurrence in the year 2000. Plus fun facts about Mars and the Universe, and Amazing Prophecies. Another terrific painted cover by Allen Anderson, a highlight of the short-lived series. Our Amazing Universe; The Terror Weapon!; The Crucial Game!; Amazing Prophecies; A Certain Type of Magic; Week-End on the Moon; Captain Ken Brady, Rocket Pilot: The Boy Who Wasn't There; This Weird World; The Earthshaker! Final issue of the series; some stories were reprinted in 3-D in the 1980s. 32 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Superboy (1949-1979 1st Series DC) 15 CGC 4.5

Paper: Off white to white

Label #4581694002

Cover art by Win Mortimer. The Secret of the Golden Coins, pencils by John Sikela, inks by Ed Dobrotka; When Clark and his friends find a pirate treasure chest filled with gold coins with Superboy's picture on them, Superboy flies back to the past to find out how that happened. Clark Kent's Terrible Report Card!, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by John Fischetti; Clark deliberately gets assigned to the "problem kids" class. Play Ball--Superboy's Workshop activity page. Nostradamus biography. Peg humor two-pager by Henry Boltinoff. Superboy's Class Reunion!, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by John Fischetti; Clark visits a reunion of some of his old high school pals; Superboy appears in flashback only. 52 Pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.