CRIME COMICS 123
institution of the code, but it eff ectively pushed most crime stories into the background
of superhero or Western comics, where “crime fi ghting” remained a secondary concern.
However, it is worth noting that, before the imposition of the code, one of the earli-
est works that might be identifi ed as a graphic novel, It Rhymes with Lust, written by
Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller (as “Drake Waller”), and drawn by Matt Baker, was
published as a black-and-white “picture novel” by St. John in 1950. Although unsuc-
cessful at the time, in retrospect it and a follow-up, Th e Case of the Winking Buddha (by
Manning Lee Stokes and Charles Raab), pointed toward longer crime stories produced
in comics form for adult readers in later decades.
Th e Silver Age, while a renaissance for superhero comics as well as other genres, was
a low point for the horror and crime comics targeted by Wertham and the Comics Code.
Later one-shots like Kirby’s In the Days of the Mob (Harvey, 1971) harkened back to
earlier models, but otherwise crime comics tended to be off -shoots of popular television
programs such as Th e Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (Gold Key, 5 issues, 1967), I Spy (Gold Key,
6 issues, 1966–68) and Adam-12 (Gold Key, 10 issues, 1973–76). Th e steady return
of crime comics would be facilitated by the direct market, and the independent comics
it supported, as well as the creation of mature lines by mainstream publishers, such as
DC’s Vertigo and Paradox Press imprints. Th e rise of alternative comics in the 1980s,
when mainstream publishers were almost exclusively devoted to publishing superhero
titles, provided new space for crime comics by diverse creators, many of whom would
eventually carry their work in the genre into mainstream titles. Among these, writer
Max Allan Collins and artist Terry Beatty’s Ms. Tree (Eclipse/Aardvark/Renegade,
50 issues, 1983–89), inspired by Mickey Spillane’s notorious Mike Hammer novels,
was one of the rare tough female private eyes in comics (when such fi gures had become
extremely popular in crime fi ction). Perhaps the most striking independent crime comic
was David Lapham’s self-published Stray Bullets (El Capitan, 32 issues 1995–2005),
channeling both the roman noir’s existential despair, and the visual style of fi lm noir,
with an inventive, fragmentary continuity. Lapham also published the historical mys-
tery Murder Me Dead (El Capitan, 9 issues, 2000–1) before turning to crime-tinged
mainstream work. Other notable independent comics included the bluntly titled Shut
Up and Die! (Image, 3 issues, 1998) with grimly ironic stories by James D. Hudnall,
illustrated in starkly contrasting black and white art by Kevin Stokes, and Ginger Fox
(Comico, 4 issues, 1988), an average mystery set in Hollywood, written by Mike Baron
but illustrated in an outrageously distorted style by the Pander Brothers. Another Hol-
lywood story, Th e Score (Piranha Press, 4 issues, 1990), written by Gerard Jones and
illustrated by Mark Badger was one of the more suspenseful comics of the era. Another
original contribution to crime comics was writer Greg Rucka and artist Steve Lieber’s
Whiteout (Oni, 4 issues, 1998) and its sequel Whiteout: Melt (Oni, 4 issues, 1999–2000),
which fully exploit their setting in Antarctica, as U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko investi-
gates crimes as brutal as the weather. Other notable independent crime comics were the
products of the prolifi c rising star Brian Michael Bendis, whose series Fire (Caliber,
2 issues, 1994, signifi cantly revised when collected) Jinx (Caliber and Image, 16 issues,
