Number 2386: The First Detective

Eugène François Vidocq (sometimes shown as François Eugène Vidocq), born 1775, was a self-reformed criminal (supposedly) who founded the French Sûreté Nationale. Later he founded the first private detective agency, which was at odds with the police agency he had founded. He even ended up arrested and in jail a few times.

He was a colorful historical character, made more colorful by writing a book about himself where he could shape the narrative to make himself sound braver, smarter, and more courageous. This colorful comic book biography from Hillman Periodical’s Crime Detective #3 (1948) follows the lead of Vidocq’s autobiography, and tells a tale of Vidocq in disguise, which I believe may or may not have happened. It is a crime comic, entertainment after all, and longtime readers might remember this blog’s admonition that the word “true” in a crime comic is a floating concept, with much fiction mixed in with the bare bones of the truth.

The artwork is credited to Mort Lawrence, who went on to draw more crime stories for Wanted, another “true” crime comic.

Number 2117: Enter Calamity Kate

This story is for reader Darci, who asked  in a comment to a previous posting for another Calamity Kate episode from The Westerner Comics. So I am showing the first Calamity Kate, from The Westerner #26 (1950).

Calamity Kate is the masked identity of Miss Patricia Layne, the daughter of a deceased sheriff. She fakes being a stage robber, but in conjunction with Wild Bill Pecos goes in pursuit of the real bad guys. Something I noticed: Wild Bill knows who Miss Layne is, behind her disguise. In that way he is different than the hundreds of other comic book characters who don’t recognize the face under a domino mask.

Another thing about Wild Bill: his clothing style is...well, wild. He is color coordinated in purple pants with a matching neckerchief (which looks more like a shorty necktie), green shirt, cowboy hat and boots. No one else would look to see who Calamity Kate is, because their eyeballs would be too busy bouncing off Bill’s colorful outfit.

The story is drawn by Mort Lawrence.

Number 2030: Pretty ugly!

Two stories from Atlas Comics’ Suspense: “Skin Deep” followed “The Ugly Man” in issue number 23 (1952).

Both stories use ugliness as a sign of villainy. In the first it builds to a jokey punch line based on a cliché, and in the second, the ugly people are proud of their ugliness. Stan Lee is credited with “The Ugly Man,” and there are no guesses at Atlastales.com or the Grand Comics Database for the writer of “Skin Deep.” Typical of most horror comics, the stories are constructed to punish someone for their sins; in this case vanity. The artwork on both is superb. Artwise, this is a good issue of Suspense. “The Ugly Man“ is drawn by Joe Maneely, and “Skin Deep” is unsigned, but credited to Syd Shores with a guess for Mort Lawrence as the inker.

Number 1216: Bad blondes 2 — more blondes, more bad

Women usually fell into one of three categories in crime comic books: victims, gun molls, or ruthless criminals. These three stories, featuring blondes, fall into the criminal category.

Kathryn Kelly, wife of George “Machine Gun” Kelly, was said to have promoted her husband’s criminal career, much like a publicist or agent. She was arrested right along with him. The story, “Machine Gun Kelly,” is from Avon's All True Detective Cases #3 (1954), reprinted from Famous Gangsters #2 (1951). Kathryn goes from blonde to redhead in this story, but that's no big thing...I've been married to a blonde, brunette and redhead, and they're all the same woman.

Betty-Jane Watson, a tigress with some sharp claws, is hot but hostile. This busty gal busts out of prison. Her tale is told in Prison Break #4 (1952), drawn by Mort Lawrence.

“Angel Face,” aka Connie Farrar, has a face that appears innocent, but she's no angel, she's a devil who murders men when it suits her purposes. She's featured in Underworld True Crime (called Underworld in the indicia) #2, 1948.

These blondes may have more fun, but the guys with them, uh-uh...no fun at all.

I showed more bad blondes in Pappy's #1114.