Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Chesler, Mac Raboy
Master Key’s Moscow Mission in Dynamic Comics #9, at Auction
In Dynamic Comics #9, Master Key is called on to guard the U.S. Secretary of State for the 1943 Moscow Conference to plan the final stages of WWII.
An Allied meeting at the Kremlin becomes the target of a Nazi spy plot in Dynamic Comics #9, a 1944 Chesler issue with a cover by Mac Raboy. The Master Key adventure sends the character in his alter ego as FBI agent Ray Cardell to Moscow to protect a high-ranking State Department representative, likely the U.S. Secretary of State, only to have him replaced by an imposter. The setting here appears to be inspired by one of the most important diplomatic developments of the prior few months. The October 1943 Moscow Conference had publicly demonstrated Allied cooperation against the Axis during the later stages of the war, and this Master Key story hinges on a Nazi attempt to spy on information developed there.
Master Key’s Mission to the Kremlin
The actual Moscow Conference brought U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, UK Prime Minister Anthony Eden, and Soviet First Deputy Premier Vyacheslav Molotov together from October 19 to 30, 1943. Its discussions included military plans to shorten the war and preparations for an invasion of northern France. Stalin was also involved with these meetings at the Kremlin, and he is depicted here at the end of the story. In the context of the news reports of the moment, it’s easy to see where the Master Key plot came from. Headlines such as the November 2, 1943 report inThe Baltimore Sun, “Pact Upsets Nazi Guesses,” described the success of the conference as the “most staggering setback of the war” for Nazi propagandists. In the story, the Secretary of State’s assistant is a Nazi spy. Master Key foils the Nazi plot that involved replacing the Secretary of State with an imposter just as a key plan was about to be discussed during the conference.
The offered copy is from the collection of Jon Berk and is graded CGC Universal VG 4.0 with off-white pages. While there are five Universal copies above this one on the CGC census, only one of those has ever come up for public auction, and it’s a CGC 6.0 which sold for $16,800. With a Mac Raboy Mr. E. cover and a wartime saga built around a key moment during the final stages of the war, there’s a Dynamic Comics #9 (Chesler, 1944) CGC VG 4.0 copy up for auction at the November 5, 2026 Golden Age Century Comics Showcase Auction VI #40378.
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