Crime Does Not Pay

This is the comic that got the entire crime comics genre rolling—and may have unwittingly contributed to the formation of the Comics Code years later. It began when Bob Wood and Charles Biro were swapping yarns in a bar and discovered that gangsters and criminals would provide a neverending flow of new stories for a comic book. Grabbing the name from a popular movie feature, the pair conspired to rename Silver Streak to Crime Does Not Pay, one of the earliest, and most lurid crime comics of all time.

The allure of the series was in its graphic and violent stories, drawing material from sources as far back as the middle ages, but concentrating mostly on gangsters of the 1930s. Biro’s ghostly “Mr. Crime” narrated many of the early episodes. This character was something of a patron saint of criminals, and would egg on the thugs until their inevitable comeuppance in the final page.

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#47

Sep 1946

Cover: $0.10

W: Arne Arntzen, Red Woodbury · A: Charles Biro, Fred Guardineer, Red Woodbury, Harley M. Griffiths, Ray Burley

1 copy for $174.99
#64

Jun 1948

Cover: $0.10

W: C.H. Moore · A: Bob Fujitani, Charles Biro, George Tuska

Used in Seduction of the Innocent

1 copy for $64.60
#71

Jan 1949

Cover: $0.10

A: Charles Biro

1 copy for $10.28
#91

Sep 1950

Cover: $0.10

1 copy for $57.00