Number 2360: “How I made a killing in the murder-for-hire business.”

Something I read about DC Comics’ foray into crime comics in the late forties during a period of DC’s slumping sales (and the popularity of crime comics), is that they got the license for a comic book version of the popular radio program, Gang Busters. While the contents of early issues of Gang Busters probably weren’t much different than the more rowdy and disreputable crime titles, the hope was that the attachment to a popular radio entertainment would mitigate the usual criticism of crime comics. I have no idea whether it did or not. As it was, DC published Gang Busters for 67 issues until 1959. Having seen some of the later issues, all Code-approved, the stories were far tamer than the wilder days of the 1940s.

George Roussos drew “Murder Was My Business” for Gang Busters #1 (1948). If Fredric Wertham, M.D., critic of comic books in general and crime comics in particular, had seen the story I am sure he would have noticed that the joyful killer gets away with his lucrative career bumping off people, right up until he is led to the electric chair and turns into a coward. That is a way the publisher could point at a story and say the killer was not glorified during the story...after all, despite bragging about his career in killing (to a priest, of all people), inside he was just a gutless braggart.

Roussos was a journeyman who had done assisting on Batman, then worked for various companies over the years, including Marvel in the sixties where he was identified as George Bell. Roussos died at age 84 in 2000.

Number 2051: “Let your conscience be your guide”

“The Bribe” is a beautifully drawn story that involves conscience and moral responsibility for the chain of events set in motion when a guy doesn’t do what is right. It illustrates my favorite law, the Law of Unintended Consequences. Sometimes actions go wildly out of control very fast. Tom Brant is the poor shlub in the story. He is seduced by a blonde and bribed to give up the combination to the boss’s safe. He knows he is doing the wrong thing, but does it anyway, and then has to live with the consequences. Religion and the concept of sin aren’t mentioned, but implied by the portraits of Satanic figures.

Morals were big in crime comics of the forties, but mainly along the lines of if a guy does the crime, he will go to the electric chair. A “scared straight” approach. (And, the publishers thought, a way of mitigating criticism of the genre.) This story, artist identified by Grand Comics Database as being Dan Barry,* and published in DC Comics’ Gang Busters #6 (1948), appeals to the conscience, unusual for a crime comic.

*UPDATE: As shown in the comments section below, longtime comic art expert, Alberto Becattini, identifies the art is being by Emil Gershwin.

Number 1999: “Come and get me, coppers! Ha ha ha!”

This is day three of our crime comics week.

The usually staid DC Comics got into the crime comics business in 1948 when several other publishers flooded the newsstands with gangsters and gunplay. DC did it a different way, by licensing a popular radio show, Gang Busters. Maybe the powers at DC thought that would keep away the outrage from censorious groups. But looking at the cover of Gang Busters #1 we find some of the same elements as we’d find in other crime comics, including a crook getting shot by a cop, and a pretty girl for sex appeal.

In the story, “Crime Agency,” we see other things we have come to expect from crime comics: bondage, shootings, a criminal conspiracy. We also get a crook under fire yelling, “Come and get me, coppers!” Did any crook in the history of crookdom every really yell, “Come and get me, coppers!" at the cops firing at him? Maybe.

Dan Barry did the beautiful art for this tale of a policewoman working undercover for a gang burglarizing the homes of the wealthy. From Gang Busters #1 (1948):

Number 1830: Who were those masked men?

My brother-in-law, Jim, and I had a conversation several years ago. We had been watching some thirties gangster movies on video tape (that's how you know it was several years ago). The subject of the dialogue came up. Jim asked me, “Did people really talk like that in those days? Did they say, ‘all right, you muggs’?” I don’t know, I wasn’t there. But slang and colloquialisms change all the time, so in 1935 it could have been possible to walk past a street corner gathering of tough guys who were calling each other muggs...or worse.

That brings us to our entry today, one of the “Gang Busters” stories, this one from Popular Comics #139 (1947), and featuring masked gunmen. My question is, did any crooks actually commit crimes while wearing masks borrowed from the Beagle Boys? My opinion is that style of mask was more a symbol in fiction than a reality. Once again, I wasn’t there. The thugs trying to steal Peg Leg Bates’ peg leg full of opium wear those masks. Dialogue is fairly sparse in this story, but had there been more they might have called each other muggs, also.

One of them, captured by Inspector Stefan, says, “Ya got me, copper!” which is probably the least original line ever spoken by a crook. It leads to another question: in real life did captured criminals ever actually say to police, “Ya got me, copper”?

The mugg who drew this story is unidentified by the Grand Comics Database.

Number 1784: The Lone Wolf’s retirement plan

I am retired, and was able to retire because I had a plan. If you are interested in retiring someday, I urge you to find a plan that will fit your needs. There are many. However, whatever you consider, I guarantee that Amos P. Harmon’s retirement “plan” is not the right one to follow.

Amos has a real estate business. He hopes to move to California someday with his family. His plan is to get money by sticking up gas stations. He shoots people, too. It cinches his retirement from his real estate business will be spent at a new address, either the penitentiary or under a grave marker.

This is another story where the detective is more lucky than good. “The Lone Wolf of Crime” is from Gang Busters #19 (1950), and is illustrated by Ruben Moreira.

More of the talented Moreira. Just click on the thumbnail.