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Monster Hunters #4 (Charlton, February 1976, 25¢) has a Tom Sutton painted cover and an early Mike Zeck story, years before Secret Wars and Kraven's Last Hunt.
Key Debuts and Story Milestones
No first appearances in this issue. What it has is a painted Sutton cover and pre-Marvel Zeck.
- The cover is painted by Tom Sutton: a swimmer twisting away from a huge, finned, fanged fish rising out of the churning sea. Sutton was the first artist ever to draw Vampirella.
- “That Old Gang of Mine” (6 pages) — art by Mike Zeck, signed, script by Joe Molloy. Zeck started at Charlton in 1974. Within a decade he drew Marvel's Secret Wars, where he designed Spider-Man's black costume, and then Kraven's Last Hunt.
- “Hidden Paradise” (8 pages) — Joe Gill script, art by Spanish artist Enrique Nieto. A reporter couple runs from a jungle snake god and comes home with it “right on film!”
- “The Unbelievers” (8 pages) — Joe Gill script, Carlos Vila art.
- “A Dead Man's Due” — a 2-page text story by Mike Pellowski, illustrated by Steve Ditko.
Behind the Scenes and Quirky Details
- Your host is Colonel Whiteshroud, the pith-helmeted big-game hunter in the cover vignette, who introduces the stories in this issue. Monster Hunters ran 18 issues, 1975–79.
- Look at the barcode. It reads “01234 56789”, a placeholder number rather than a real product code.
- The back cover is a 1976 career-school ad: law enforcement training above “Become a Disc-Jockey, Announcer, Newscaster or Sportscaster”, with a coupon asking for military rank and discharge date. It is uncut.
Condition:
FRONT
Previous owner's name — “John” written in blue ballpoint in the top margin above the Charlton logo; it is shown in the photographs — No impact on the grade.
Corners — three sharp and square; the bottom-left slightly worn — LOW impact to the grade
Surface, gloss and flatness — flat and glossy, painted colours bright, no creases — No impact on the grade.
SPINE
Spine wrap — small brown foxing specks and scuffing along the cream strip at the fold, with a few short ticks in the lower third. This is what sets the grade — MED impact to the grade
Structure — straight, no roll, split or separation, checked in raking light — No impact on the grade.
BACK
Soiling — faint grey smudging in the top-left margin and along the bottom edge near the spine — LOW impact to the grade
Corners — all four square; coupon uncut — No impact on the grade.
INTERIOR
Page quality — Cream to Off-White — No impact on the grade.
Pages — complete, no tears — No impact on the grade.
Graded 7.0 (Fine/Very Fine), honest range 6.5–7.5. Sutton's painted cover is flat, glossy and bright on this copy, with square corners. What holds it at 7.0 is speckled wear along the spine wrap. A previous owner's name is written at the top of the cover. We describe it, but it doesn't lower our grade; a certification service would count it.
Please note: The grade above is my own opinion on a raw, uncertified comic and is offered in good faith — it is not a certified grade from CGC, CBCS or any other grading service. The handwritten “John” is a previous owner's name, not a creator's autograph; there is no other hand-applied writing, stamp or sticker. It is the original 1976 printing. The photographs are of the actual comic you will receive: twelve high-resolution views including close-ups of all eight corners, a raking-light shot of the spine and an interior spread. The book ships bagged and boarded in a rigid cardboard mailer.
