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Pow! Biff! Bam! Golden Age comics deliver punch

By: Staff Writer

21/05/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

11"I loved the artwork so much that I took real good care of them. I turned the pages very carefully," the 78-year-old said. "I relished, treasured them."

Chicorel's diligence will likely pay off when 110 or so of the comics he started collecting as an eight-year-old go up for auction soon at Heritage Auction Galleries, an offering that's expected to bring in about US$500,000.

The sale begins today with the most important comics, followed by the rest over the weekend.

"These comic books are all very hard to find and if you do find them you're not going to find them in this kind of condition," said Maggie Thompson, senior editor of Iola, Wis.-based Comic Buyer's Guide.

"Some of these are key comics in the field," she said.

The collection boasts the likes of Batman No. 1 and Marvel Comics No. 1. The most expensive comic -- expected to clear $100,000 -- is the scarce Marvel Mystery Comics No. 9, noted for its cover battle between the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner -- the first time two superheroes appeared in the same story, said Heritage's director of comics operations, Barry Sandoval.

Experts say most comics from the "Golden Age" -- the late 1930s through the 1940s -- were thrown away or fell victim to the Second World War-era paper drives. And most of those saved were read until they were in tatters or stored in places where light, moisture or heat got to them.

"If a comic book was really good in the 1940s, chances are it got read to death," Thompson said.

In a world where a creased corner could take tens of thousands of dollars off the value, Chicorel's careful treatment of his collection over the years will make it especially coveted.

"They're high grade across the board," Sandoval said.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 21, 2009 E5

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