Wings Comics #67 Empire of the Sun Movie Prop Replica

DC Comics, published date: 1987.

This comic appears to be either a replica of a comic used as a prop in the film Empire of the Sun or an unused prop for that film.

The comic contains the interior from Adventures of Superman #432 from 1987 shown above, with an additional 4-page story "Ack-Ack Andy" shown below:

Wings Comics #67 actually existed (with a different cover), originally produced by Fiction House (who were active between 1940 and 1954) and published in 1946:

The movie prop replica seems to have the same back cover advert from the Adventures of Superman #432 from 1987, however, the actual movie prop comic has the back cover advert from the original Wings Comics #67 from 1946 (above).

It is possible that they changed the prop comic in the film to better match the time using the advert from the 1946 comic (although that was produced four and a half years on from when the comic appeared in the film, which was set when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour and began to occupy the Shanghai International Settlement depicted in the film).

The comic appeared twice in the film, once near the start with Jamie Graham (played by, Christian Bale) a British upper middle-class schoolboy reading it in a car (first picture) and then when John Malkovich's character Basie steals it from him (the other pictures, shown here).

Below: John Malkovich's character Basie folds one of the actual prop comics in half (Joe Pantoliano can't look and Christian Bale is likely thinking it won't be a near mint after that!):

One known copy of the prop comic seems to have come from D.C. Editor Bob Rozakis who awarded it to a reader who won one of his "29 Point Trivia" contests. Apparently, the comic came with a handwritten note by Rozakis (on DC Stationary): Here's another 29 Point Trivia prize - a comic we produced for the movie "Empire of the Sun"..

Not much is known about how many copies were produced for either the original prop comics used in the movie or the comics with the 1987 advert on the back. Only the comics with the later advert seem to have come up for sale, with prices $500 and over back in 2016 (with a couple of known sales) plus one sale recently in September 2021 for $300 (maybe in in very fine or so condition).

In mid-October 2021, the CGC census had two gradings recorded for the Wings Comics Prop Comic #67: one in 4.0 (very good) and another in 8.5 (very fine plus). CGC also note: Printed for use in Steven Spielberg's, "Empire of the Sun" movie but it's not clear which adverts these copies have on the back cover.

Please get in touch if you have any further info on either of these prop variants.