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Crime and Punishment

    (Lev Gleason, 1948-1955)
™ and ©1953 Lev Gleason Publications, Inc.

The crime comics of the late 1940s were the stage for some of the most intense, complex, and disturbing stories ever told in graphic form. Possibly the greatest of all the crime comic publishers was Lev Gleason, who pioneered the genre with the ground-breaking Crime Does Not Pay and other titles, including Crime and Punishment.

Like their counterparts in film noir movies of the period, comic book criminals rarely, if ever, escape ultimate punishment for their misdeeds. Nevertheless, the emphasis on their activities and personalities made the criminals into “heroes,” or at least stars. Editor/artist Charles Biro had a real feel for the moral geography of the criminal classes, and his stories in Gleason’s magazines had an authenticity and sociological rigor that others often lacked. The Comics Code obliterated much of the ambiguity (and drama) of crime comics, and doomed the genre by the mid-1950s.
Jump to issue:
  • 1
    #1
    Apr 1948
    Cover: $0.10
    W: C.H. Moore  ·  A: Dan Barry, C.H. Moore
    No copies available
  • 2
    #2
    May 1948
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Bob Fujitani, Fred Guardineer, Frank W. Bolle, George Tuska, Mike Roy
    Used in Seduction of the Innocent (mentioned in text, p. 112)
    No copies available
  • 3
    #3
    Jun 1948
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Bob Fujitani, Mike Roy, Leonard Starr, George Tuska, Tony Di Preta, Joe Certa
    Used in Seduction of the Innocent
    No copies available
  • 4
    #4
    Jul 1948
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Bob Fujitani, C.H. Moore, Fred Guardineer, Tony DiPreta, Chic Stone
    No copies available
  • 5
    #5
    Aug 1948
    Cover: $0.10
    W: C.H. Moore  ·  A: Bob Fujitani, C.H. Moore, Fred Guardineer, Charles Nicholas
    No copies available
  • 6
    #6
    Sep 1948
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Bob Fujitani, Mike Roy, John Belfi, Fred Guardineer
    No copies available
  • 7
    #7
    Oct 1948
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Bob Fujitani, Fred Guardineer, C.H. Moore, Charles Nicholas, Mike Roy
    No copies available
  • 8
    #8
    Nov 1948
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Bob Fujitani, Charles Nicholas, John Belfi, Fred Guardineer
    No copies available
  • 9
    #9
    Dec 1948
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Bob Fujitani, Al Borth
    No copies available
  • 10
    #10
    Jan 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    W: C.H. Moore, Sidney M. Elias  ·  A: Bob Fujitani, Al Borth, C.H. Moore, Fred Guardineer
    No copies available
  • 11
    #11
    Feb 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    W: Chuck Stanley, Sidney M. Elias, Claude Moore  ·  A: Bob Fujitani, Fred Guardineer, Al Borth, Claude Moore
    1 copy for $63.00
  • 12
    #12
    Mar 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    W: Claude Moore, Robert Perry  ·  A: Claude Moore, Bob Fujitani, Robert Perry
    No copies available
  • 13
    #13
    Apr 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    W: Claude Moore, Robert Perry  ·  A: Bob Fujitani, Claude Moore, Robert Perry, Robert Martinott
    No copies available
  • 14
    #14
    May 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 15
    #15
    Jun 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 16
    #16
    Jul 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    Used in Seduction of the Innocent
    No copies available
  • 17
    #17
    Aug 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 18
    #18
    Sep 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 19
    #19
    Oct 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 20
    #20
    Nov 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 21
    #21
    Dec 1949
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 22
    #22
    Jan 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 23
    #23
    Feb 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 24
    #24
    Mar 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 25
    #25
    Apr 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 26
    #26
    May 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 27
    #27
    Jun 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 28
    #28
    Jul 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 29
    #29
    Aug 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 30
    #30
    Sep 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 31
    #31
    Oct 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Bill Everett
    No copies available
  • 32
    #32
    Nov 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 33
    #33
    Dec 1950
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 34
    #34
    Jan 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 35
    #35
    Feb 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 36
    #36
    Mar 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 37
    #37
    Apr 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 38
    #38
    May 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 39
    #39
    Jun 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    Drug story
    No copies available
  • 40
    #40
    Jul 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 41
    #41
    Aug 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Al McWilliams, Alex Kotsky, Charles Biro, Fred Guardineer
    No copies available
  • 42
    #42
    Sep 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 43
    #43
    Oct 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 44
    #44
    Nov 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 45
    #45
    Dec 1951
    Cover: $0.10
    Drug story
    No copies available
  • 46
    #46
    Jan 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 47
    #47
    Feb 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Al McWilliams, Charles Biro
    No copies available
  • 48
    #48
    Mar 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 49
    #49
    Apr 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Fred Guardineer
    No copies available
  • 50
    #50
    May 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 51
    #51
    Jun 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 52
    #52
    Jul 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    A: William Overgard
    No copies available
  • 53
    #53
    Aug 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Dick Rockwell, Fred Guardineer
    No copies available
  • 54
    #54
    Sep 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 55
    #55
    Oct 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 56
    #56
    Nov 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 57
    #57
    Dec 1952
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 58
    #58
    Jan 1953
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 59
    #59
    Feb 1953
    Cover: $0.10
    Cited in Seduction of the Innocent (Comic Book Philosophy) (?)
    No copies available
  • 60
    #60
    Mar 1953
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 61
    #61
    May 1953
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 62
    #62
    Jul 1953
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 63
    #63
    Sep 1953
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 64
    #64
    Nov 1953
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 65
    #65
    Jan 1954
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 66
    #66
    Mar 1954
    Cover: $0.10
    3-D
    No copies available
  • 67
    #67
    May 1954
    Cover: $0.10
    3-D
    No copies available
  • 68
    #68
    Jul 1954
    Cover: $0.10
    3-D
    No copies available
  • 69
    #69
    Oct 1954
    Cover: $0.10
    A: Bob Martinott
    Drug story
    No copies available
  • 70
    #70
    Dec 1954
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 71
    #71
    Feb 1955
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 72
    #72
    Apr 1955
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 73
    #73
    Jun 1955
    Cover: $0.10
    No copies available
  • 74
    #74
    Aug 1955
    Cover: $0.10
    Final Issue
    No copies available