Collectible Bat Man #18 (1943) Golden Age Comic Book
Collectible Bat Man #18 August-September 1943 Golden Age Comic Book. Insure the 4th of July! Hitler, Mussolini & Hirohito on cover.
This is the first time this comic book has been for sale as it came from my uncle's belongings after he passed away & has been stored in my basement for approximately 20 years. I know very little about comic books but did read an article on grading comics. I would say this comic is somewhere between fine and very good.From what I have read a very good comic may be rolled, staples may have rust, may have creases, fading & discoloration, pages may be brown. This particular comic I would say is rolled, the staples have rust, there is discoloration from some water damage on both the front & back covers but no fading & the pages are brown especially on the outer ends of the pages that are exposed from the spine rolling somewhat.
There is a crease in the corner of the back cover. The colors on the FRONT COVER are quite bright yet but there is some soiling especially in the area to the far left starting by Hirohito & progressing up to the top through the words Bat (See close-up Photo #4) as well as the water stains by Hirohito & on the top by Hitler (see Photo #4 & Photo #8).
These photos show the stains on the cover from the front & also from the back of the front cover. The spine has some soiling & a tear & scuff that also encompasses the letters IN in the word Insure on the front cover (see Photo #5). The front cover also has some numbers written in pencil in the upper right hand corner above Hitler's head (see Photo #4). The front cover on the edge near Mussolini has an area approximately 1-3/4" long & less than 1/16" where there is thumb edge wear into the color of the front cover.
There is also loss of the yellow color above the No. 18 on the front cover & some soiling on the spine. Nothing has been scotch taped & there are no missing pages & none of the pages are bent, folded, written in or are loose. One page has a 1/4" by 1/16" indentation of missing paper on the outer edge & a few pages have small pin head, half a pin head & pin prick size holes. The holes are difficult to describe as it seems to not be not from human damage & more like a punch, worm hole or paper deterioration.
These are mainly in the bottom white border & not in the colored drawings. The pages also have age related foxing & yellowing.
The BACK COVER has water stains, soiling, scuffing type chews along the bottom edges especially in the lower right hand corner (see Photos #2 & #7). The scuffing chews mainly affect the back cover & the last page. There is also a crease in the lower left corner & scuffing around the tip of the arrow (see Photos #2 & #7) as well as a couple creases by the upper staple. When I read the description as to a comic being graded as fine there were areas where the comic fell into this category too as there are no large portions of the front cover missing only the area in the word INSURE & the paper is scuffed back & is actually not missing & the thumb wear through the color of the cover to the area to the right of Mussolini, there is no taping or fading & the comic lays flat. The corners are slightly blunted. Hopefully I've described the comic well enough but please ask questions. The item "Collectible Bat Man #18 (1943) Golden Age Comic Book" is in sale since Tuesday, April 05, 2016. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Comics\Golden Age (1938-55)\Superhero". The seller is "unearth-schan" and is located in Trego, Wisconsin. This item can be shipped to United States.