Teen-Age Romances #42, St. John, 1955, a Matt Baker masterpiece

[29dukedog]

Teen-Age Romances #42, St. John, March 1955. Matt Baker cover. Some of these late period issues of Teen-Age Romances are ultra scarce. As Baker collectors know all too well, several years can often pass between sightings of certain issues.

 

St. John's romance comics underwent a couple of changes starting around August of 1954; no new stories were produced from that time on. All titles utilized reprints from earlier issues, and from Ziff-Davis material that St. John had purchased when ZD liquidated its assets. Also, Matt Baker left his position as St. John's art director, but he continued to produce new covers for them on a freelance basis.

 

It was during this time that Baker created some of his most outstanding covers, many of which are highly coveted and sought out by collectors. Ironically, many of these same books are extremely scarce, for reasons that are not completely understood. Romance comics had declined in general popularity by this time, and it is thought that St. John had distribution difficulties, which in turn led to increasingly smaller print runs. What this means to today's collectors, unfortunately, is that many of Baker's best covers are also the hardest ones to find.

 

This is a complete and unrestored copy, grading 3.5/4.0. Tight cover and centerfold. Half inch tear, top edge. Small piece missing from back cover, top right corner. See scans. Asking $700. $575. shipped in the US by boxed Priority Mail. Payment by Paypal (made within 24 hours of sale, please).

 

It's over when someone posts, "I'll Take It", or when I post, "Sold by PM".

 

 

 

[capt_comics]

Very Nice

 

GLWTS (thumbs u

[comicnoir]

One of the best.

[Sqeggs]

A very, very tough book.

[29dukedog]

At 7:00 PM Central tomorrow night (Sunday, 7/6), the sale ends here and picks up on eBay.

[29dukedog]

Back from eBay, price has since been dropped from $700. to $575. shipped in the US via boxed Priority Mail.

[Stevenrams]

Dang, that's a beautiful copy for the grade. Vibrant and sharp colors that's for sure. Wish I had the funds. Just a bit too expensive for me. GLWTS!

[29dukedog]

Dang, that's a beautiful copy for the grade. Vibrant and sharp colors that's for sure. Wish I had the funds. Just a bit too expensive for me. GLWTS!

 

It's a steep price, to be sure, but it's not without precedence. Earlier just this year, a lower grade copy of 41 went for around $450. on eBay. Also this year on eBay, a mid-grade 44 went for upwards of 1k. The winner of both auctions, I believe, was a boardie who regularly posts in the Baker Romance thread. Not sure who the underbidders were, though.