The Complete New Adventure Run, At Long Last 10 10

[RareHighGrade]

It has been a decades-long goal of mine to complete the run of New Adventure Comics, which most seasoned collectors agree is the most challenging series of DC books.  This 20-book run includes numerous classic covers by my favorite Golden Age artist, Creig Flessel, as well as interior work by the likes of Siegel and Shuster, Leo O’Mealia, Fred Guardineer and Bob Kane (before Batman).

My quest started in the 1990’s, when I ran monthly want ads in the Comic Book Marketplace magazine offering to purchase any of these books.  How many responses did I get?  Not even one!  So I had to do it the hard way – picking up, at most, a copy or two a year from dealers, fellow collectors or auctions.  Although I was able to complete most of the run after a couple of decades of effort, one issue continued to elude me.  Until now.  

Having finally completed the set, I plan to post the books in sequential order in this thread.

[RareHighGrade]

As you will see, the covers started out whimsical and humorous, but then steadily progressed to more serious themes.  The covers on the first three issues in the run were done by Whit Ellsworth, who was the artist on most of the covers of New Comics, the series that preceded New Adventure.

Here is the first New Adventure issue, no. 12.  It’s a pretty tough book, with only 8 Universal copies on the CGC census.  This Lost Valley copy is one of the rare examples of a 1930’s book that is in higher grade than the Church copy, which comes in second in the census at 5.0.

 

[RareHighGrade]

Here's the Church copy, for comparison.

 

[grendelbo]

[RareHighGrade]

Issue #13 was long considered rare; in fact, it’s listed as a 10 (less than 5 copies in existence) in the Gerber book.  However, its reputation for rarity, as well as its related value, caused a handful of issues to surface in the marketplace.  There are now 8 Universal copies in the CGC census.  This is my raw copy, which comes from the “penciled S” pedigree, a collection that includes many pre-hero DCs in decent grade.

 

[sagii]

[Johnny545]

Love this - huge fan of this run - personally added one during the PBA auction. 
 

Can’t wait to see this run and thanks for sharing.

[innocuous]

Congratulations. Looking forward to seeing them all. Group shot at the end?

[piper]

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

[grendel013]

Amazing!

[RareHighGrade]

This is the raw Church copy of #14, which has an ad for Detective #1 on the back cover.  Interestingly, there are two Church copies of this book; the other copy is a CGC graded 7.0.

 

[buttock]

Oh boy!

[tth2]

Congratulations, Peter!  An amazing accomplishment and a true testament to your OCD dogged determination! 

I, along with many others here, wait with bated breath for the rest. 

 

[RareHighGrade]

Issue #15 ushered in the first of the Flessel covers, and it’s a classic.  In Norman Rockwell style, the artwork evokes the carefree nature of boyhood, which is a continuing theme of Flessel’s covers until issue #23, when the subject matter became more mature and darker.

This issue is extremely difficult to find.  In fact, according to the CGC census, it is the rarest New Adventure issue, with only 3 Universal copies, none of which is high grade.  This rarity is reflected in the recent sale of Ian Levine’s former copy, a CGC 4.5 that sold for $12,500 last month.

My raw copy comes from the Church collection.

[jmg3637]

Awesome accomplishment.  Looking forward to seeing the full run in one place.

 

Even as a long time collector, I have never seen most of these previously

[tth2]

On 4/7/2024 at 9:41 PM, RareHighGrade said:

My raw copy comes from the Church collection.

Of course it does. 

[Moondog]

Well done, Peter!

[Yorick]

On 4/6/2024 at 3:02 PM, RareHighGrade said:

First appearance of Jor-L!!!

[Yorick]

Feel free to share any interior picture(s) of O'Mealia's "Andy Handy."