Expert: Chris Brown - 8/31/2009

Question
Chris,

I found this issue at some junk market. The interesting thing is that it is "autographed" on the cover and the 1st page. A date (12/8/54) follows the signature. However I can't read the sucker. The signature is clear; just so flowerly that I can't make heads nor tails of it. I know Joe Maneely did the cover art. It certainly doesn't seem to be that name.

Any insight/info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

Answer
Hi Brian

It was not at all uncommon for children in the past to write their names on the covers and inside pages of comic books, just as many schoolkids now write their names on their textbooks.  The date could likewise be when the comic was obtained by some collector way back when.

While there were certainly people, mainly children, collecting comics in the 50s, and there were also people interested in autographs, I have never heard of a comic autographed by an artist or writer before the 1960s.  It seems highly unlikely to me that the signature is that of someone who was involved in making the comic if it was signed in the 1950s.

Chris