Number 132


Doctor Of Evil!


No, not Austin Powers' Dr. Evil, but Joseph "Doc" Moran, who dug bullets out of bad guys during the gang period of the 1930s.

This is a story from Crime Does Not Pay #43, January 1946, drawn by Vernon Henkel, a true Golden Age comic book artist, who was there for the duration, from the very beginnings in the 1930s.

As told by Henkel in an interview in the fanzine Alter Ego #48, May 2005, he grew up interested in art and cartooning, and sent Quality Comics publisher, Everett "Busy" Arnold, an original comic book story. He was rewarded with a check and a steady art gig for quite a while. Like most journeymen comic book men of the era Henkel worked for various publishers over the years. He didn't work for Charles Biro for long, but long enough to do some memorable stories, including this lurid 6 2/3 pager about a notorious drunken quack who catered to the bank robber clientele.

As usual, the Crime Does Not Pay story jibes with real life only long enough to establish the story. Although they purported to be true stories, "truth" was fictionalized. For some reason while Dillinger gang member John Hamilton is called by name, the Barker-Karpis gang's name is changed to the "Russ Gobson Gang." Say what? Gobson? I can't imagine the publisher was worried about getting sued, since the only survivor of that gang in 1945, when the story was drawn was Alvin Karpis, then residing in Alcatraz.

In real life Moran was killed by Dock and Freddie Barker because he was blabbing all over town about handling money from a kidnapping by the Barker-Karpis gang. Besides whittling fingerprints off criminals, botching plastic surgery, and operating to get bullets out of desperadoes, Moran was also a money launderer. He came to a bad end, just like it was shown in the comic book. His body has never been found.

Check out the cover to this issue, in a scene inspired by James Cagney's popular gangster movie, Public Enemy.


"I'm a dirty rat and got what was coming to me." Yow! The Code of the Underworld! If I had been old enough to see that on the comic book racks my hands would be sweating and my head would fill with lust and desire to own it.

More about →

Number 103


The True Story Of John Dillinger


The word "true" in the title of this story is a relative term. There was a man named John Dillinger; he robbed banks with a gang; he escaped from prison; he died in a shootout on a Chicago street. Everything else in this story, from Crime Does Not Pay #45, May 1946, is a comic book fantasy.

In this story most of Dillinger's career is glossed over in favor of a couple of anecdotes. One is an often debated version of how Dillinger escaped from prison with a wooden gun. Some think it was a real gun, smuggled in by a bribed guard, and some think it was a fake gun, also smuggled in. The panels showing Dillinger carving the gun with a big knife are laughable. If he had a knife that big he wouldn't have needed a gun. And if a fake gun had been smuggled in, why not just smuggle in a real gun? The whole story sounds good, but starts to fall apart under examination.

The FBI is only mentioned once, and that's at the point of Dillinger's death near Chicago's Biograph Theater in 1934. It was actually an FBI stake-out. What Dillinger unwittingly did was help to create the modern FBI. The whole story is told well in the book, Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough. Through a lot of bumbling and missteps the FBI learned from its mistakes in tracking the criminal gangs that were roaming free in the Midwest. Those gangs, of whom Dillinger's was the most famous, brought about sweeping changes in law enforcement on a national basis. Up to that point most crimes, no matter how big, were handled by the states and local authorities, even when they were out of their league.

The art in "The True Story Of John Dillinger" is by Bob Q. Siege. The story follows the usual crime comics formula, which shows the criminal in action up until almost the last panel when he dies. It also has the requisite cops-getting-shot panels. In the case of the real Dillinger gang, cops did get killed, as did innocent citizens. The story also features the annoying character, Mr. Crime, who reminds us of the old-time advertising character from the Sunday funnies, Mr. Coffee Nerves.

The crime wave of the early 1930s, which included criminals and gangs like the Barrow Gang (Bonnie and Clyde), the Barker Gang (the Barker brothers and Alvin Karpis), Baby Face Nelson, who was also a member of the Dillinger crowd at times, Pretty Boy Floyd, et al., were holdovers from the Wild West. The crooks didn't ride horses, they rode in cars with horsepower. Besides old-fashioned six-shooters they used modern weaponry, with the Thompson submachine gun being a favorite. They often outran, outgunned and outwitted the rural police forces they encountered. Dillinger and his cohorts escaped capture more than once in bloody shootouts with the police and FBI. All of this captured the public imagination and was big news in the press. But they were really just murdering thugs with no respect for anyone else. They were a continuation of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, the James Gang, Billy The Kid and the rest of the criminal cretins who were given stature by the media of the time; stature that in real life they didn't deserve.

More about →

Number 49


Bonnie Parker



Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were 1930's Depression-era outlaws who earned 15 minutes of fame, which has now lasted over 70 years. This story from Crime Does Not Pay #57, November 1947, tells their story…sort of.

Bonnie wasn't really a cigar smoker. That was a prop she used for a photo. The Barrow Gang took a lot of pictures of themselves, and like most people, sometimes they gagged it up. In the end Bonnie and Clyde were killed by a hail of bullets, but it was in an ambush by lawmen, not because they blundered into a situation where they got killed for opening fire on unsuspecting cops. I suspect that even in 1947 when this story was published the editors didn't think a story with cops lying in wait to assassinate people was appropriate. Not even for a crime comic. After all, the idea of Crime Does Not Pay was to show that crime, well, doesn't pay, not that lawmen could sometimes get as down and dirty as the criminals they were hunting.

Bryan Burrough, who wrote the 2005 book, Public Enemies, didn't think much of Bonnie and Clyde. He said of them: "Murderous children who longed for the big time, Bonnie and Clyde have garnered an artistic and cultural relevance in death they never found or deserved in life."

George Tuska, longtime comic book artist, illustrated the story. Tuska worked for comics from the late '30s until the 1970s when he retired. He had an illustrative style perfect for this type of story. He ended his career drawing superheroes for Marvel Comics. I didn't think that was his forte, but I loved his work in Crime Does Not Pay.

More about →

Number 2

Mother of Murderers

I want to thank Dr. Fredric Wertham for his 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent, which introduced me to crime and horror comics. Thanks, Fred! Without your book seducing me, I don't think I would have searched out those sleazy old comic books. You turned straw into gold when you put out that book, mein herr.

Today's edition of Pappy's Golden Age Comics reproduces a classic story from Crime Does Not Pay #49, January 1947, by another Fred, artist Fred Guardineer. Guardineer was a Golden Age Comics pioneer…literally one of the first artist-stars of the early comic books. He retired in 1955 from comic books, but his old work still commands admiration from old-time comics fans. He had a great line style, very bold inking, with uncluttered designs and solid drawing. I have a copy of the fanzine Graphic Story World #2, from 1972, with a short article and photo of Fred. By the early '70s Fred Guardineer was drawing outdoor life pages for a paper called The Long Island Fisherman. He died in 2002.

This story, Mother of Murderers, is classic Crime Does Not Pay material. That comic book earned its reputation with stories like this, and Fred Guardineer didn't disappoint. Lots of gunplay, killings, all of the real fun stuff about crime comic books. Those of you with dial-up may want to go out and rob a convenience store* while these pages are downloading.

As a bonus, and I'll include these from time to time, is a classic ad from that same issue of Crime Does Not Pay. This is the infamous Kiss Me In the Dark, Baby tie.

I could never figure out how a guy wearing a tie that said Kiss Me in the Dark, Baby could actually get a girl in the dark so he could kiss her. If this worked for you let me know. I'm always looking for tips on how to get girls. Even a stud-muffin can use a new approach from time to time.

Until next time, stay happy! Pappy

*I'm only kidding, here. I do not want you sending your parole officer to my house to tell me to quit seducing the innocent.

More about →