CHAMBER OF CHILLS #20 * 1.5 * Crypt-Keeper Copycat

Heading:
Author:
Title: CHAMBER OF CHILLS No. 20
Place Published:
Publisher:Harvey [Indicia: Witches Tales, Inc.]
Date Published: November, 1953
Description:

Fair/Good (1.5). Cover split at spine, with back cover detached and front cover barely holding on to the pageblock at the bottom staple. Chips to top edge of front cover, light general wear including spine stress and corner creases. If not for spine split, would be a solid 3.5. Off-white pages, edges slightly cream. Cover: Howard Nostrand. Art: Howard Nostrand, Bob Powell, Manny Stallman, Joe Certa, John Guinta. GPAnalysis: No recorded sales in this grade. The lowest-graded copy is a 3.0 that sold for $250 in June 2020.

Crypt-Keeper copycat cover by Howard Nostrand, the poor man's Jack Davis. When asked if Harvey's art director, Warren Kremer, ordered him to ape Davis, Nostrand copped to the imposture with a refreshing lack of ego: "It was my own idea... All this junk was my idea... This is, you know, pure Davis, this kind of garbage." — Howard Nostrand interview, Graphic Story Magazine #16 (1974), p. 32.

Nostrand is a favorite of Harvey horror hounds, but the artist had little esteem for his own output, or for that of many of his peers: "When you turn out such a volume of stuff the quality is going to suffer. There weren't enough competent artists around to turn out good work, so schlock was put on the stands. In a horror story it didn't matter if the story stank and artwork was rotten as long as it showed a lot of guts hanging out and blood-sucking or other perversions." Nostrand's gripe echoes Dr. Wertham's criticism of the assembly-line ethos of the comics biz: "The artist is a machine and his only aim is to attain a mechanical competence that will make him completely indistinguishable from the other 'machines' in the business." — Seduction of the Innocent, p. 266.

A deluxe limited edition of 12 hardcover catalogues is available, in addition to a small number of softcovers. 400 lots, fully illustrated. Fun reference, great keepsake. Softcover $40, deluxe hardcover with dust jacket and limitation plate $200. Eight of the 12 hardcovers are pre-ordered and the rest will go quickly, so reserve yours now. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Consignments welcome for PBA's Spring 2022 Comic Book sale. Top prices for Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age, Silver Age, original art and ephemera. Find out why PBA is the new fan-fave of comics auctioneers. "This is some of the best commentary I've yet seen on the quality of the content of comic books... Priceless." — R. Crumb. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com.