126 CRIME DOES NOT PAY
MGM documentary movie series of the same name. Th e creative talents behind this
title were Bob Wood and the gifted Charles Biro.
Th e fi rst issue appeared in June of 1942 and on the cover Biro depicted an orgy of
violence. Th e main image, in the middle of the cover, depicted two large hands with
one hand driving a knife completely through the other. Down the left side of the cover,
underneath the heading “ True Crime Cases,” were mug shots of violent, well-known
killers, and above it all was the title, CRIME in huge letters occupying one-third of the
page, while Does Not Pay appeared in very small letters beneath it. It was such covers
that helped launch the crime genre and make it so popular that Crime Does Not Pay
would eventually claim a readership of six million people.
Crime Does Not Pay was one of the earliest comic books to target an adult audience.
Biro and Wood hoped the graphic realism of their lurid illustrated tales would draw in
readers of the popular true crime and detective magazines, and pulps. Th e subject matter
included beatings, shootings, stabbings, burnings, torture, dismemberment, and sadism.
No crime, save sexual violence, was prohibited. Th e sequential art of Crime Does Not Pay
delivered these tales to a graphic degree never before seen in comic books.
Th e stories were sensationalized tales of real-life gangsters, including Baby Face
Nelson, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and many others. Each story was published
under the moral pretense that “crime does not pay.” As Mike Benton observed, “the vio-
lent lives of these homicidal psychopaths could be excitingly detailed as long as they
ended in punishment,” and since they all ended in punishment, “it was like buying a
10-cent ticket to a public execution!” Th e theme of all Crime Does Not Pay stories was
that these criminals were acting pathologically, incapable of learning any lesson or
reforming their behavior. It was never suggested that lack of opportunity, environment,
or social forces such as poverty, class, or race played a role in them becoming criminals.
Th ey were all simply unremorseful moral degenerates; this is what led to their demise
at the hands of the law.
Biro developed the fan favorite “Mr. Crime” to serve as the narrator who introduced
and commented on each story. Since there were no recurring characters, the role of
Mr. Crime was important as it was the only element that tied the stories together.
Something of a precursor to EC’s Crypt Keeper, Mr. Crime was a ghoulish fi gure
with a top hat and fangs. He was essentially crime incarnate and was constantly on
the lookout for “new talent” and referred to the criminals in the stories as his pupils.
Crime Does Not Pay was edited and drawn by Biro, but as the title developed many
other artists, including Rudy Palais, Fred Guardineer, George Tuska, Bob Fujitani, and
Dan Barry, were brought in and proved capable of rendering hard edged, realistic vio-
lence the way Biro intended. Biro was successful in making Crime Does Not Pay not only
the fi rst comic book of its kind, but one of the best-selling newsstand publications of
all time. Ultimately Crime Does Not Pay met its end as a result of such books as Fredric
Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent and the investigations of the Senate Subcommittee
on Juvenile Delinquency. Th e sanitized Crime Does Not Pay lasted only a few issues and
was cancelled in 1955.
