![]() ![]() The secret was its sheer luridness covers showed bullets flying, brains exploding, faces pushed into burning stoves, you name it. It was a comic book, not a history book!īut fiction or not, Crime Does Not Pay sold like gangbusters, with reports of anywhere from one to four million copies a month at its peak, even when there were dozens of imitators on the stands. Of course, reality often took a back seat to fiction when the story called for it, or out of sheer sloppiness. It was the first “true crime” comic book, which is to say it purported to relate actual crimes committed by actual criminals, occasionally famous ones like Lucky Luciano and Baby Face Nelson. Now, thanks to Dark Horse, we can see what made this particular comic book so successful – and notorious.Ĭrime Does Not Pay began in 1942 at small Lev Gleason publications, co-edited by Bob Wood and Charles Biro, who contributed stories and art as well. They say crime doesn’t pay, but Crime Does Not Pay sure did. ![]()
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