Crime Does Not Pay #88

A city street turns treacherous on this June 1950 cover, where private eye Chip Gardner is caught in the open as a gunman leans from a speeding yellow car with weapon drawn — Bob Fujitani's cover art capturing every desperate, wide-eyed detail of a man suddenly very aware he's the target. The teaser at the bottom promises Gardner stops wisecracking when "Death Carries a Torch," which makes this 52-page anthology feel like essential mid-century crime noir. Published by Lev Gleason with Charles Biro and Bob Wood at the editorial helm, Crime Does Not Pay #88 delivers the hard-boiled atmosphere the series built its reputation on.