Number 2111: Legs Diamond, the human target

Jack “Legs” Diamond, infamous Prohibition-era gangster, was the target of killers four separate times. In the first three attempts at rubbing him out, Legs got a total of ten bullets in him. He survived each of those attacks. He might have felt invincible. But he ran with a rough crowd, and he did not survive the last attack in 1931, when a couple of goons put two bullets in his head. Goodbye, Legs!

Legs had a girlfriend, Marion “Kiki” Roberts. In this crime comics version of Legs’s life and career, Kiki becomes “Diki.” The editors would do that sometimes when the person they were referring to was still alive. Kiki, who had been a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl, went on the road with her newfound notoriety, after Legs was safely dead.

Artwork by Bob Q. Siege. From Crime Does Not Pay #44 (1945).

“It’s the Truth”

With this issue of Crime Does Not Pay, a 16-page rotogravure section was included with the comic book. It was done in standard detective magazine style, with lurid text articles like “The Riddle of the Bludgeoned Beauty!” and “‘That’s the Killer!’ Shrieked the Parrot!” The section included little fillers called “It’s the Truth” with things every young crime comics reader should know about hanging, the gas chamber, and accidental death by firearms. Also, an informational bit for young murderers: how not to make the mistake of placing a gun in a dead man’s hand, to make it look as if he used it on himself.

Number 1282: The Claw and the Clawites

The Claw, here making his appearance from Daredevil Comics #27 (1944), was billed as “The World's Worst Villain.” The thought struck me when looking at him, he may not have been exactly the world's worst, but he was the tallest. I'm sure that if the Claw was around today some sharp sports agent would find a way to get him a multi-million dollar contract playing professional basketball.

I also like the little devils that do the Claw's bidding. But someone, for lack of a better name, came up with “Clawites.” It has a certain ring...the Claw and the Clawites. Could've been a rock band from the era in which I grew up.

Artwork on this tall tale is by Bob Q. Siege, who also worked for editors Charles Biro and Bob Wood on Crime Does Not Pay.

Number 67


The Last Look


According to the Internet site, Lambiek.net, Bob Q. Sale was born in 1924 and died in 1962, which made him about 38 when he died. That's too young, and you have to wonder how he would have developed had his career been allowed to continue. He had a decent drawing style, although it's apparent in this story one of his panels had a partial swipe. Check out the panel on page 4 that looks a lot like the panel from Mad #7, "Smilin' Melvin" by Wally Wood.

This story, The Last Look, from Atlas Comics' Mystic #31, June 1954, has one of my favorite types of scenes from horror comics: dead guys hauling live guys into the ground! The dead guys even have mold on them. That's a good reason right there to read it.