Heading:
Author:
Title: FIGHT AGAINST CRIME No. 21
Place Published:
Publisher:Story [Indicia: Story Comics, Inc.]
Date Published: September, 1954
Description:

VG+ (4.5). Mild spine stress, fine crease lines to top right corner of front cover, bottom right corner of front cover crimped, some creases and dustiness to back cover, some foxing to "C" in "CRIME," 1/2" tear to margin of one page. Cream to off-white pages. Clean and press to 5.0-5.5? Cover: Uncredited. Art: The stories are unsigned and are not credited in Grand Comics Database, but are almost certainly by Ross Andru (possibly with Mike Eposito inks), Hy Fleishman (2 stories), Bill Savage. Overstreet: "EC swipe." GPAnalysis: No reported sales in the grade. A 5.0 sold for $336 in May 2020.

Last ish before the Comics Code compelled a title change to Fight Against the Guilty. Story's flagship crime-horror mag died the way it lived: peddling rehashes. The cover, featuring a woman attacking her man's assailant, is adapted from the "broken-bottle" cover printed two issues before. Both covers, incidentally, are reworkings of the cover motif featured on issues 12, 16 and 17, in which killers are interrupted in the act of murder by vengeful attackers. It's possible that no other pre-Code publisher got so much mileage out of so little material as Story.

Which brings us to this issue's EC swipe. Hy Fleishman's "Lady Killer," in which a letter-bomber gets blown sky-high by his own supply, is clearly cribbed from Reed Crandall's "Return Blow" (Crime SuspenStories #23). The unsigned "Tricked!," which bears the artistic hallmarks of Bill Savage, features a wheelchair-bound wife whose romantic rival pushes her off a cliff. It seems awfully familiar, and may be swiped from an EC story. If any readers can identify the original story, please drop us a line.

Consignments welcome for PBA's Fall 2022 Comic Book sale. Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age and Silver Age comics, original art, vintage comic-related photos and ephemera sought. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com.

A limited edition of 100 softcover and 6 hardcover catalogues are available. 140 pages, fully illustrated. Fun reference, great keepsake. Softcovers $40, dust-jacketed hardcover with limitation plate $200. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Consignments welcome for PBA's Fall 2022 Comic Book sale. Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age and Silver Age comics, original art, vintage comic-related photos and ephemera sought. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com.