Thursday, March 13, a good number of Canadian Golden Age books presented themselves for auction including a copy of the much-sought-after Nelvana compendium. To me this looked like a single-owner collection dropped at once for whatever reason. Here is a quick look at some of the more significant results and all prices are in U.S. dollars.
WECA Comic Results Heritage Auction March 13 2025
| TITLE | Grade | Price |
| Nelvana nn | 6 | $15,600 |
| Colossal Comics (Palm Tree) | 4.5 | $3,840 |
| The Weekender V2 N1 | 5 | $2,640 |
| Wow 1 | 3 | $2,400 |
| Super V2 N1 | 7 | $2,160 |
| Super V2 N2 | 8 | $2,040 |
| Rocket V2 N2 | 1.8 | $1,920 |
| Triumph 21 | 5.5 | $1,440 |
| Freelance V1 N5 | 5 | $1,320 |
| Commando 12 | 5 | $1,200 |
| Rocket V1 N6 | 7.5 | $1,140 |
| Active 29 | 5.5 | $1,080 |
| Lightning 11 | 4 | $1,080 |
| Active 6 | 6 | $1,020 |
Now, I must note that Jim Steele, Chief Cataloguer Comics and Comics Art bought 4 copies of my WECA Comic Book Price Guide last month and has been using to provide context values for each WECA comic that now appears in their auctions. This may indicate that they are receiving a good number of WECA comics for auctions or plan to expand more into this area.
With this auction this solid copy of the Nelvana compendium reaches the new height of $15,600. The popularity and desirability of this book has always been the character and the iconic flying superhero pose on the cover. This is better than the $14,750 achieved for a 5.0 on ComicLink back in 2016, but maybe we would have expected a bit more from a 6.0. It is well below the $18, 100 achieved by a Better Comics Vol. 1 No. 1 back in June of 2022 on icecollectibles. All in all, a solid result in this era of post-pandemic correction. I was surprised to to find a dozen slabbed copies with one other at this grade and three at 6.5. With 12 slabbed copies, it appears to be one of the most slabbed WCA books with most having lss than 10 slabbed copies. $3,840 now sets a price point for one in this condition.
The palm tree Colossal Comics is the first of these remainder collection Colossal Comics that I’ve seen come up for auction on line. These books are thick, square-bound 196 pg comics that contain four Bell Features remaindered comics (many with their original covers) glued together at the spine, slapped with a new, wrap-around cover (of which there appear to be five variants), and trimmed. I have never seen one of these slabbed because of their thickness and, if they were, they would probably receive a green or purple label because they are all trimmed. This one has Dingle’s palm tree cover and is in a solid 4.5 which is a good grade to finde given the fragility of the square bound spine.
The Weekender Vol. 2 No. 1 has it’s value driven by the Gus Ricca ‘testube’ cover taken from Chesler’s Dynamic Comics No. 11. There are two copies in the census. For an issue that contains only American Chesler reprints, $2, 640 is a great result.
I felt that the first issue of Wow Comics, that is the very first appearance of a Bell Features comic (though in reality it was published by Commerical Signs of Canada), underachieved a little though it was just a raw 3.0. Still, $2,400 is nothing to sneer at. There are 9 slabbed copies of this issue in the census with the highest being a 6.5.
I’ve never figured out why the FEH Supers with their MLJ reprints (though the Sheild is redrawn with a Union Jack) and Archie covers have been so popular among collectors. These two were in great shape and unusual grade for WECA comics and did well achieving over $2,000 each. There are 5 of the Vol. 2 No. 1 in the census and 8 of the Vol. 2 No. 2.
The Rocket Vol. 2 No. 2 is a low-grade copy but, I believe, rides the popularity of the robot cover which I’m sure is destined to become iconic. There are 3 copies of this in the census and this is the middle graded of those three.
One book I’d like to take note of is the Active 29. I was surprised by the $1080 this book achieved. It is a non-descript late WECA title that contains only American funny animal reprints. What I think carries it is the mad scientist cover by Adrian Dingle. A copy has not been slabbed into the census.
The FECA, or reprint era (1948-53) comics did well too. Here are the main results:
| Title | Grade | Price |
| Rocket Man V2 N1 | 5 | $4,080 |
| Dime 30 | 8 | $960 |
| Dime 33 | 4 | $660 |
| 4 Most 22 | 4 | $660 |
| Comic Toons 37 | 2 | $576 |
| Dynamic 30 | 4 | $552 |
| Superb 43 | 3.5 | $552 |
| Unusual Adv. 53 | 5 | $552 |
| Comedy 16 | 2.5 | $540 |
| Avenger Crime 25 | 3.5 | $504 |
| Flash nn | 5.5 | $504 |
| Red Seal 30 | 3.5 | $504 |
The Rocket Man V. 2No. 1 (actually the only issue of the title) is another book that rides the popularity of the cover it has chosen to use the lurid Gus Ricca cover from Chesler’s Punch Comics No. 9. This makes it an anomaly generally out of line with the other FECA comic prices, but is great to see. There are four slabbed copies in the census.
The Dime 30 and 33 are hybrids using the old WECA Dime masthead and continue the numbering from the WECA title but have only American reprints in them. They contain only American reprints so the appeal must be in their covers and rarity. Likewise the 4Most 22 and Comic ‘Toons 37 ride their Blue Beetle and Namora covers in terms of their value. Dynamic 30 is a Superior Publications continuation of the original Chesler run and has a unique Canadian cover as is the Red Seal 30 at the bottom of the list. The last comic I want to draw attention to is the Avenger Crime 25 because this is one of the dozen or so books that came out of London Ontario publisher Pioneer Publications and I am glad to see it gain this value. Which may be because of its Phantom Lady cover.
All in all these Canadian Golden Age comics seem to be healthy, even robust, in terms of their value to collectors. The question which arises from this then is how big is the collector base for these comics. I estimate it at being a fairly niche enterprise of no more than a couple of hundred of us which seems to match the small supply. These are almost exclusively Canadian with a small smattering of Americans. Icecollectibles will have another Canadiana auction on eBay in May and we will look to more positive results from that.
That Weekender cover is amazing. I had the Dynamic counterpart I sold with two center wraps missing and it still fetched over $1000 US. Cover driven indeed!
I love that Ricca cover to Rocket Man, I also love that robot cover on Rocket Comics but they all pale in front of that iconic Nelvana Compendium, nice work here Ivan.