MORE FUN COMICS #18 * Siegel & Shuster * 16 Graded Copies

Heading:
Author:
Title: MORE FUN COMICS No. 18
Place Published:
Publisher:DC [Indicia: Nicholson Publishing Co. Inc.]
Date Published: February, 1937
Description: CGC certified: Good (2.0). Grader's notes: "Detached page(s) 1; heavy spine splits to cover; light pieces out to cover; light soiling on cover." Brittle pages. Provenance: The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION.

GPAnalysis: No reported sales in this grade. A 1.8 sold for 650 in 3/18.

CGC Census: 16 graded copies (12 Universal, 4 Restored). Gerber Photo-Journal Guide Scarcity Index: 7 ("Scarce: 21-50 copies").

Credits: Cover: Vin Sullivan. Scripts: Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, Russell Cole, Vin Sullivan, Jerry Siegel, Bill Carney, Henry Kiefer, Richard Speed, Henry Jay, Whitney Ellsworth, J. Muselli, Paul Ferrer. Art: W. C. Brigham, Russell Cole, Vin Sullivan, Joe Shuster, Raymond Perry, Sven Elven, Tom Cooper, Creig Flessel, Bill Carney, Leo O'Mealia, Tom Hickey, A. D. Kiefer, Henry Jay, Whitney Ellsworth, Homer Fleming, Bill Patrick, Paul Ferrer. Tapped by Taschen: The DC Universe Collection copy of More Fun Comics #18 is illustrated in Taschen's 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking (page 26), with the caption: "In the era of Stepin Fetchit and Buckwheat, the African native here was considered inoffensive, and the closest most Americans got to images of Inuit were Nanook of the North and Eskimo Pie wrappers."

"Offense" Defense: We'll leave it up to you whether or not Vin Sullivan's pillow-lipped black guy is as inoffensive as Taschen claims. It's hard for modern readers to savvy, but back in the old days, imagery like this could apparently be put forth with the best of intentions, all in the name of caricature. Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson was an advocate for the equality of blacks, and indeed, he was one of the few publishers of his era to employ an African-American artist (E.C. Stoner), as well as a woman editor (Connie Naar).

The Major's egalitarian streak was no mere lip service (pillow or otherwise). As Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson writes in her introduction to this auction catalogue, "Wheeler-Nicholson's army career continued at Fort Ethan Allan in Vermont and then in 1915 to the Philippines where he commanded a machine gun troop of African-American Buffalo Soldiers. He learned firsthand the prejudice these men endured and, determined to showcase their abilities, he challenged his commanding officer to a contest between the white machine gun troops and his black troops. Not only did his troops best the commanding officer's troops but they broke the world's record for machine gun readiness and were written up in newspapers and later in the book Machine Guns by Julian Summerville."

The Major's advocacy of black soldiers rubbed some of his superior officers the wrong way, resulting in the frictions that eventually ended his military career (and also landed him in the hospital with an army sentry's bullet lodged in his dome — how gangster is that?). — See the catalogue entries for Detective Comics #s 9 and 13 for additional details on the Major's race-related military mishaps.****************************************
The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION comprises over 40,000 comic books, encompassing every single DC comic published for retail sale from 1934 to 2014. The collection was amassed by British music producer Ian Levine over the course of several decades, and it's been hailed as the single greatest collecting accomplishment in comic book history. This collection served as the basis for former DC Comics president Paul Levitz's monumental book 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, published by Taschen in 2017. PBA is proud to present this epic collection in a series of themed sales, including The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION Part 3: The GOLDEN AGE, coming this summer. To join the DC Universe Collection notifications list, contact pba@pbagalleries.com.

Enjoying PBA's DC Universe Collection: Pre-Hero, Ashcans and Oddities sale? A very small number of softcover and limited edition hardcover auction catalogues are available for purchase. The catalogues are fully illustrated, thoroughly researched, and make excellent reference works for DC diehards. To order a copy, or to inquire about consignment opportunities, contact Ivan Briggs, PBA's Director of Comics: ivan@pbagalleries.com.