Rare Comic On Rare Stamps, Thrilling Adventures in Stamps, at Auction

Youthful Publications was part of a constellation of publishing companies with loose connections to DC Comics founder Harry Donenfeld. One principle of the company, William Friedman, had acted as Donenfeld’s lawyer on numerous occasions, while another, Adrian Lopez, had previously co-founded a magazine publisher with Donenfeld.  With publications that included adult satire, cheesecake magazines, and romance and horror comics, something like Stamp Comics (renamed Thrilling Adventures in Stamps for its final issue) might be the last thing you’d expect from these publishers. But it just might have been the best-promoted publication that Youthful ever tried to launch.  An interesting idea that caught the attention of stamp collectors in its day and ever since, the series failed to gain much traction in its day, it would appear, and its final issue is considered very rare.  But there’s a Thrilling Adventures in Stamps #8 (Stamp Comics, 1953) Condition: FN- up for auction in the 2022 June 26-27 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122226 at Heritage Auctions.

The premise behind Stamp Comics was simple and clever:  each story would take a look at an important postage stamp from throughout history and tell the tale that the stamp represented.  As an editorial in issue #1 explained: “It has been truly said that stamps are the mirror of history.  These tiny gummed labels that carry the mail to the furthest corners of the world have started wars, idolized heroes and villains alike, immortalized the great and the unknown; and in doing so have become the world’s most popular hobby. In this book we have attempted to give you some of the thrilling and exciting stories behind the stamps in your collection.”

The collecting hobby of the day seems to have reacted enthusiastically to the idea.  Youthful promoted the series at collector conventions, and it was promoted in numerous collecting trade journals and advertised in other magazines.  It was a wholesome idea at a time when the mainstream took a very dim view of the comic book industry, but sadly, it only lasted for eight issues.  Thrilling Adventures in Stamps #8 might just be the toughest to get out of the run, but there’s a Thrilling Adventures in Stamps #8 (Stamp Comics, 1953) Condition: FN- up for auction in the 2022 June 26-27 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122226 at Heritage Auctions.