Crime and Justice #21

This Charlton crime anthology from 1954 puts you right in the middle of a high-speed aerial pursuit — the cover by Joe Shuster (pencils) and Ray Osrin (inks) drops viewers into a biplane cockpit where a goggled pilot reacts with alarm as bullets punch through the fuselage, while a determined man and a wide-eyed blonde woman brace themselves in the rear seat. True to the series' promise of "baffling crime cases solved by fast moving police action," the cover crackles with the kind of tense, kinetic energy that made mid-century crime comics such a compelling read. Inside, writer Carl Memling's "The $64,000 Question" awaits, rounding out a package that captures everything fans loved about the genre in its prime.