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March of Comics #4 Featuring Walt Disney's Donald Duck (Carl Barks) - RARE COMIC BOOK! (110156)

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,000.00 USD
March of Comics #4 Featuring Walt Disney's Donald Duck (Carl Barks) - RARE COMIC BOOK!  (110156)
SOLD
400.00USD+ (100.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2020 Feb 14 @ 14:09UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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March of Comics #4 Donald Duck (K. K. Publications, Inc., 1947) 32 pages, full color. Cover art by Walt Kelly. Inside script and art by Carl Barks. In the feature story, "Maharajah Donald", Donald leaves the boys with nothing but a pencil stub for cleaning the garage, but they trade it up to a steamer ticket to India; They stowaway when Donald goes to India and save him from tigers when he becomes Maharajah for a day, by trading up another pencil stub to something valuable. In the second story, "The Peaceful Hills," Donald takes a mountain hike.

March of Comics was a comic book series published by Western Publishing or a subsidiary (K. K. Publications, Inc. 1946-mid 1960s). 488 issues were published from 1946 to 1982 as a promotional, "shoe store giveaway", with space for retailers to stamp their name on the cover, such as "Sears" and/or place an ad on the back cover. They were intended for vendors to give away to shoppers and children visiting store locations. Some of the shoe stores would print their names above the title logo, most notably Sundial. This "Boys' and Girls' variant has no retailer name on the cover. Issues of the March of Comics series are typically harder to find for collectors than other comics published in the same period, given their method of distribution because give-aways are more prone to be thrown away by recipients (or their parents). This scarce giveaway comic with Donald Duck as Napoleon on the cover, features Donald in the story "Maharajah Donald" and is known as one of the hardest to find duck books by the masterful Carl Barks. Mickey Mouse also makes a cover appearance on this piece, adding to the collector appeal.

Gerber's Photo-Journal Guide to Comics rates this a "7" or "scarce" in its Scarcity Index.

Our consignor was given this comic on a shopping spree with his mother at the time of issue. As a kid he handled his comics carefully and often asked for an extra freebie in order to keep one in plastic for his official "collection" because he could not resist the urge to read and enjoy the stories. This has been well-loved but kept in the best condition possible for it's age. The book has not been removed from the plastic bag for over 30 years.

According to the CGC Census, only 22 of these books are known to exist, making this book #23. Values for this book range from under $1,000 for ungraded books in poor condition, to over $10,000 for encapsulated books grading 7 and higher, with the highest grade a 9.6, selling for $26,000. 2019 sales were few but results were strong, although more conservative than a decade ago, when the comic book market seemed to be at it's peak. This book has been professionally encapsulated and graded 2.0 by CGC.

Provenance: The Historic V & T Railroad Depot Stockpile of Pierce Powell's Western Memorabilia
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Date: 1947