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Sep 13, 2018

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1296: Crime Does Not Pay #97, April 1951


When I picked up today's comic to read it, I realized that it's a year older than my Mum. Easily one of the oldest pieces in the collection, the other interesting thing is that, literally, minutes ago when I downloaded this cover from the GCD was the first time I've ever seen the cover of this comic. The copy I have was part of a lot of coverless issues I picked up a couple of years ago. Many of them are this old, and I'm happy to actually have some representation of this era in my collection, despite their coverless nature.

And that's a pretty great cover, really.

The stories, ostensibly ripped from the headlines and police reports of the time, are actually pretty cool. I haven't read much in the way of crime comics, but these ones did not disappoint with their grim, noir detectives and dames, and the crafty crooks who menace them. The lead story, "Death on the Run" follows a detective as he stumbles through a case when he is hired by a man who is, seconds later, murdered, and the crooks go after the detective as well. He solves the case even as he has to stay one step ahead of them.

The stories definitely live up to the title of the comic. The criminals in each story meet bad ends, learning that the straight and narrow is the only way to avoid Death's icy grip.

More to come...

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