Real Clue Crime Stories #9 (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Inspired by the success of Lev Gleason Publications' Crime Does Not Pay, Jack Kirby and Joe Simon decided to make a crime comic. As a result, Hillman Publications produced the title Clue Comics. It featured true crime stories that both glorified the underworld lifestyle of sex, murder and greed utilizing a narrator that foretold each tale as a fable for sticking to the path of the straight and narrow. After the third issue, Kirby and Simon were able to convince editor Ed Cronin to add the word 'Crime' to their newest creation. As a bit of a compromise, the word 'Real' was also added since the stories told in the publication were based on true stories, even if these tales were embellished quite a bit. 

Real Clue Crime Stories made its newly named debut with the June, 1947 edition. The life story of the notorious gangster Ma Barker and her family of killers were the cover feature; though historians now believe that this story was made up by the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover to cover for the accidental death of the elderly matriarch during a shoot-out in 1935. 

For the November, 1947 issue of Real Clue Crime Comics, I was able to verify that 4 stories are in fact about real life criminals. Opening story 'Kid Twist' is about the Austrian-Hungarian/Italian gangster Max Zweifach (Zwerbach), who led the Max Eastman gang until he was gunned downed by a team of a rival gang and his own men in broad daylight. Then meet Jack 'Legs' Diamond, a crime lord who became so fearful of being killed, he sets himself up in a literal fortress in upstate New York and runs his operation by plane and proxy.

 'The 9 Lives of Michael Malloy' would be a hilarious story, if it wasn't true. Malloy is a drunkard who claims that he is near death. So a group of friends at the tavern Malloy frequents decide to take an insurance policy out on him. But Malloy just keeps breathing. So, they poison his beer. And Malloy just keeps drinking. After several murder attempts, the fellas finally kill off Michael Malloy. Only now, the insurance company smells a rat. This interesting story was featured on an episode of Mysteries at the Museum and was the inspiration for the episode 'One for the Road' on the NBC 80s anthology series Amazing Stories.

The last verifiable story is the required prose tale Hillman needed to maintain first class postage rates for the comic. It tells of the counterfeit ring of 'Count' Victor Lustig that ultimately brought the con man down. Though he managed to rake in millions of dollars in 1930s and 40s greenbacks, Lustig's most interesting con was his selling of the Eiffel Tower... twice!

The penultimate story of this issue is about a Revolutionary War era highwayman whose generosity turns out to be his downfall. The final tale is a take on the urban legend in which someone is challenged to go to a graveyard at midnight and to plunge a knife into a famous grave. In typical fashion, the knife manages to snag the clothing of the participant. The belief that the dead have risen from the grave due to this insult scares the defiler to death. Only with this being a crime comic book, there's a devious twist at the end. 

The cover and the first story were illustrated by Dan Barry, who drew a ton of beloved comic strip characters including Flash Gordon, Tarzan and Spider-Man in a career that spanned 6 decades. The only other artist who provides a signature is Art Helfant, a gag artist who crafted the 3 one-page funnies that add a slight doze of brevity to an otherwise intense and melodramatic book.

Kirby and Simon left Hillman in 1948. Yet despite this departure, Real Clue Crime Comics lived on. 5 more volumes of 12 issues each were published from 1948-52. A 6th volume was begun in 1953, amassing 3 issues before Hillman decided to shutter its comic book unit. Hillman Periodicals continued to publish a number of general interest and right-wing opinionated magazines until 1961 when publisher Alex L. Hillman sold off his very popular digest-sized Pageant to McFadden Communications. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #13 (With the word 'Clue' in the Title) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.