Mister Crime and the Horror of Crime Does Not Pay No. 24 is up for auction

Posted in: Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged with: Bob Wood, Charles Biro, Lev Gleason

Crime Does Not Pay is perhaps the most infamous title in the history of American comics, and issue #24 is one of the most infamous issues.

According to a comic book industry legend quoted in Spill! #6 (among other things) it was Charles Biro Who was the originator and driving force behind it? Crime doesn't pay Concept, set out the idea for him Lev Gleason Co-editor Bob Wood in a Broadway bar. If that's true, the title took a long time to develop. Wood and Biro had known each other since 1937, when both worked for the Harry Chesler Studio, and Wood first prominently used the phrase “crime doesn’t pay” in print during the debut of the character “The Target” in the 1940s Target Comics #10as a warning from the hero to criminals who have this problem. Wood appeared to predict both his and Biro's future a few issues later, in early 1941 Target Comics v2 #4which involves a scheme in which the stories in a syndicated newspaper comic strip provide instructions for specific crimes to a criminal gang. Biro was used in the story as a character caught up in the plan. Of course Biro and Wood's Crime doesn't pay He would be accused of doing just that countless times after the title's debut in 1942.

If Wood and Gleason were waiting for the chance to publish their dream crime comic book, this chance came Leslie Charteris and the saint. According to his own statement in an editorial, publisher Lev Gleason went to great lengths to make the Saint Gleason's flagship Silver linings Cover with issue #18, written by Charteris himself. Gleason's expensive gamble didn't work out. Three issues later (and one issue after Gleason bragged about how much he paid Charteris to get the Saint in the comics), the title was dead by issue #21. It was replaced by Crime doesn't pay which received its numbering with issue number 22.

The Crime doesn't pay The title phrase was generally inspired by the MGM film short series of the same name, which ran since 1935. The film series soberly warned of a life of crime as a direct result of the then-recently introduced Hays Code, in part after Hollywood came under fire for its glorification of gangsters. Ironically, the comic series that inspired it did much to spawn the Comics Code some 20 years later. It is known that Bob Wood himself served a prison sentence for first-degree manslaughter for the murder of his girlfriend in 1958.

The comic series quickly took off Crime doesn't pay #24which introduces Mister Crime, a ghostly storyteller of the sort who would later appear frequently in horror comics. The ghostly figure also encourages characters to give in to their worst instincts throughout the stories. Both in this behavior and in his appearance, Mister Crime is clearly inspired by the advertising character Mr. Coffee Nerves, which he created Milton Caniff And Noel Sickles in 1936. Issue #24 also features one of the most infamous covers of the series by Biro, and that's saying something. One of the most sought-after crime comics in American comic history, of which there is a CGC FN 6.0 copy Crime doesn't pay #24 (Lev Gleason, 1942) will be auctioned in the Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase auction #40272, October 24-25, 2024 at Heritage Auctions.

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