Law Against Crime #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeLaw Against Crime #1 stands as a compact artifact of the pre-Code crime-comics boom that swept American newsstands in 1948, arriving at the exact moment publishers were pushing the boundaries of graphic content with near-total freedom. Its cover — a condemned prisoner strapped into an electric chair, rendered in the vivid primary palette that defined L.B. Cole's signature style — became one of the most talked-about images of the era, exemplifying the visceral shock tactics that would eventually provoke a congressional investigation and the creation of the Comics Code Authority. The series also anticipated a documentary authenticity impulse, with its covers explicitly claiming that the stories inside were drawn from real police cases. As a short-lived, three-issue title from a minor publisher, the run's outsized cultural footprint relative to its tiny distribution footprint makes it a telling snapshot of just how far Golden Age crime comics had traveled from the superhero pages of the early 1940s.
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Essankay Publications Co. debuted the title in April 1948 with cover art by L.B. Cole, whose career as a Golden Age cover artist was already well established through his bold, flat-color designs for numerous publishers. Interior art on issue #1 was contributed by Cole alongside Francis Bjerstedt, and at least one story — an eight-page Randy O'Brien, Special Investigator adventure titled 'The King of Diamonds' — was produced by the Iger Studio, the prolific comic-book packaging outfit that supplied content to dozens of small publishers of the period. The series ran for only three issues across a single summer (April through August 1948), an extremely compressed run that reflects both the volatility of the mid-century newsstand market and the increasing scrutiny crime comics were attracting from civic groups.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Essankay Publications Co.; cover-dated April 1948; part of a three-issue run that concluded in August 1948.
- Cover art by L.B. Cole — a Golden Age artist renowned for his high-contrast 'poster color' covers — depicts a criminal being executed in an electric chair, one of the most discussed pre-Code cover images of 1948.
- Interior credits for issue #1 include L.B. Cole and Francis Bjerstedt; the Iger Studio packaged at least one story for the issue: an eight-page Randy O'Brien, Special Investigator tale titled 'The King of Diamonds.'
- The series mixed crime stories with children's humor strips — an unusual editorial hybrid for the genre, described by contemporary databases as 'an odd mix of crime stories and children's funnies.'
- Each cover of the series carried copy claiming the stories were based on real police cases, linking the title to the true-crime documentary tradition that ran alongside pulp crime comics in the late 1940s.
- Issue #3 of the series (August 1948) was later cited in connection with Dr. Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, the 1954 polemic that catalyzed the Comics Code Authority.
- The complete run was reprinted almost simultaneously by Stan-Rae Limited, a Canadian publisher, indicating the title had cross-border distribution interest despite its short life.
- Issue #3's content was later reprinted in full in Star Publications' All-Famous Crime #9 (1951), giving the series a second life under L.B. Cole's own subsequent publishing venture.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Crime Fighting Detective #13 (1950), Public Enemies #2 (1989), Wings Comics #5 (1998), Law Against Crime #1
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