Charles Biro’s Bizarre Cover on Daredevil Comics #11, at Auction

Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Charles Biro, daredevil, lev gleason

Lev Gleason editor/creator Charles Biro sometimes seemed to use Daredevil Comics as an excuse to create a series of bizarre villains.

Publisher Lev Gleason, creator/editor Charles Biro, and creator/editor Bob Wood are arguably the instigators of the Pre-Code era.  Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay is the most notorious comic book title in American comics history, and likely helped trigger the Pre-Code era more than any other single title.  But while the publisher was best known for crime and superheroes, Charles Biro made sure there was plenty of horror mixed into the Gleason titles as well.  One stand-out case in point is the completely weird cover that can be found on Daredevil Comics #11 (Lev Gleason, 1942) CGC FN- 5.5 Slightly brittle pages, which is up for auction in the  2023 July 13 – 14 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40227 at Heritage Auctions.

Daredevil Comics got its start as Daredevil Battles Hitler, which might be the most infamous propaganda comic book in American history, but also doubles as the first issue of the Golden Age Daredevil’s solo series for Lev Gleason Publications.  The creation of Jack Binder, the character debuted in Silver Streak Comics #6, and was pitted against Lev Gleason star supervillain The Claw in the next issue.  After punching Hitler and battling the Claw again in Daredevil Battles Hitler, the hero got down to business in Daredevil Comics #2 and beyond by taking on criminals of every type in order to fulfill his origin-moment promise to his dead parents.

Biro seems to have taken his cue from the likes of Hitler and the Claw to make the series more about the villains than Daredevil himself, and created a series of weird ones to pit his hero against.  The plot of Daredevil Comics #11 is very much like the origin of Clayface in Detective Comics #40.  A movie is being filmed and the actor playing the monster becomes that monster in real life.  An iconically weird cover and story by Biro, there’s a Daredevil Comics #11 (Lev Gleason, 1942) CGC FN- 5.5 Slightly brittle pages, which is up for auction in the  2023 July 13 – 14 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40227 at Heritage Auctions.

Daredevil Comics #11 (Lev Gleason, 1942) CGC FN- 5.5 Slightly brittle pages. Classic bondage and torture cover by Charles Biro. Contains electrocution and hanging panels. Biro, Bob Montana, and Dick Briefer art. Contains a Claw backup story. Overstreet 2022 FN 6.0 value = $2,190. CGC census 7/23: 2 in 5.5, 15 higher.

Affiliates of Bleeding Cool buy from and/or consign to Heritage Auctions.

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!