Crime and Punishment #48

Lev Gleason's long-running true-crime anthology delivers a genuinely tense cover for issue #48: costumed criminals — a menacing clown and a pirate armed with a revolver — lurk behind a curtain at what the story title confirms is a masquerade, whispering their cold-blooded plan to strike the moment the band plays "Tiger Rag." Meanwhile, an unsuspecting crowd mingles around a bandstand just steps away, completely unaware of the danger. Al McWilliams brings a sharp, cinematic energy to the scene, making this 1952 entry in the "True Criminal Case Histories" series feel as immediate as a newspaper headline.