Press Release - September 6, 2011

Finest Collection Of 1960s DC War Comics To Be Offered At Heritage Auctions

The War Comic Collection of Houston business executive Keith Marlow, offered Nov. 10-11, features the first appearance of Sgt. Rock and Haunted Tank

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - The highest-graded copies of the first Sgt. Rock and Haunted Tank comics highlight the war comic collection of Houston business executive Keith Marlow, being offered by Heritage Auctions as part of its Nov. 10-11 Signature® Vintage Comics & Comic Art Auction in Beverly Hills, also taking place live online via Heritage’s proprietary real-time bidding platform, HERITAGE LIVE!® on HA.com.

“In assembling this superb grouping, Keith Marlow has accomplished something remarkable,” said Ed Jaster, Senior Vice President of Heritage. “After selling his entire war comic collection through Heritage in 2007, he went out and amassed an even better war comic collection.”

War comics were very rarely preserved in high grade compared to superhero comics of the same era, making the assembly of a high grade set exponentially more difficult.

The collection, which carries a pre-auction estimate at well into six figures, spans Our Army At War #81-157 (with the first Sgt. Rock comic starting off this 1959-65 run) and G.I. Combat #44-143 (this 1957-1970 run begins with the first issue published by DC Comics). The most notable issues are the three key early appearances of Sgt. Rock (Our Army At War #81 and #83 and GI Combat #68) as well as the first appearance of the Haunted Tank in G.I. Combat #87.

“Looking through Keith’s collection, you can see why the appeal of war comics transcends just the military theme,” said Barry Sandoval, Director of Operations for Comics at Heritage. “The covers, in particular, are spectacular. They’ve got gut-wrenching action, portrayed by some of the best artists in the business.”

All comics in the Keith Marlow Collection are being sold without reserve.