It's Christmas Crime! JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "Lady Who Believed"

Here's a Yuletide tale with a slightly-different take on Kris Kringle...

....as a Christmas crime-fighter and defender of the innocent!

This never-reprinted tale is from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #34 (1955), the first issue published under the restrictive auspices of the Comics Code Authority.

I wonder if it was originally-meant to be as gruesome as EC's legendary "...and All Through the House..."?

We'll never know the answer...but we will return in 2021 with more proof that...

Crime Does NOT Pay!
Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year!

Halloween Horrors AMAZING DETECTIVE CASES "Ghost Story"

Here's a never-reprinted 1950s tale...

... that's both about law enforcement and justice from beyond the grave!

You may note the Joe Maneely-illustrated cover doesn't really match the Bill Everett-rendered tale from Atlas' Amazing Detective Cases #13 (1952)

There are several possible reasons for that.

1) the cover and interior art were done at two different points in time, sometimes months apart!

2) The cover artist didn't have copies of the interior pages as visual reference, only plot descriptions from the editor!
3) the cover was done before the interior art as a "springboard" and the actual writer/artist(s) made changes when they were creating the story!
All three of these reasons could (and did) apply to Atlas Comics' books if the story's artist didn't do the cover...as was the case most of the time!

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Blackjacked and Pistol-Whipped

A Crime Does Not Pay Primer

CoronaVirus Crime Comics SCOTLAND YARD "Little Al of the Secret Service in Case of the Microbe Menace"

When Commies attempt to use biological warfare on US soil...

...only America's brave intelligence agents can uncover and neutralize the threat!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's crime anthology Scotland Yard #3 (1955) is actually previously-unpublished inventory from Ziff-Davis' Little Al of the Secret Service (previously Little Al of the FBI) that Charlton acquired when Ziff-Davis' short-lived comic division closed and they sold the previously-published and never-published material to recoup costs.

Illustrated by Mike Roy, the story is probably written by Ziff-Davis' comics editor Jerry (Superman) Siegel.

Little Al was called that because, though he was shorter than average but so feisty and determined that he overcame that height disadvantage with martial arts skills and superb deductive abilities.

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Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics

PERRY MASON "Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Hard-Boiled Lawyer (yes, it is a thing")...

There's a helluva lot of plot here.
Reread Part 1 and Part 2, then join us as the trial begins...

Until two issues of a 1960s Perry Mason comic based on the TV show, this (and the previous issue we showed) were Perry's only comic book appearances!

Speaking of TV...

...here's a pre-Star Trek Leonard Nimoy as Pete Chennery in the adaptation of "Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe.

BTW, in the 1963 Perry Mason TV episode, Chennery was the murderer!

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Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe

(the novel this comic was adapted from)

PERRY MASON "Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe" Part 2

We Have Already Seen...

...lunching in a department store's restaurant, Perry and his secretary, Della, see an elderly woman who appears to be a shoplifter!

There's an incredible amount of plot in the previous chapter involving stolen jewels, drunken gem dealers, and blood on the sole of the shoplifter's shoe (Hence the title)!

So you should go back and read Part 1 before continuing here, after Perry discovers the second corpse in this tale...so far...

And with that, we take our leave until the surprising climax...

Tomorrow!

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Perry Mason Movie Collection

Featuring the early days of Perry Mason's career!

PERRY MASON "Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe" Part 1

Now that the HBO mini-series has concluded...

...let's look at another of the hard-boiled lawyer's (read it and it'll make sense) never-reprinted comic adventures, based on an Erle Stanley Gardner novel...

Don't you just hate when that happens?

The Story Continues...

TOMORROW

Don't Miss It!

This never-reprinted, book-length tale from McKay's Feature Book #50 (1947) was either written or edited by Erle Stanley Gardner, adapting his 13th novel, Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe!

It was illustrated by Paul Norris, an artist with extensive comic book and newspaper strip credits including Brick Bradford, Secret Agent X-9, Jungle Jim, Tom Corbett: Space Cadet, The Sandman, and Tarzan.

He's also the co-creator of DC's Aquaman!

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Visit Amazon and Order...

Perry Mason Movie Collection

Featuring the early days of Perry Mason's career!