Manhunt #4

Manhunt #4 (January 1948) delivers the kind of pulp tension that made postwar crime comics irresistible — all for a dime. Ogden Whitney's cover art sets the mood perfectly: two figures locked in a violent struggle burst against a blazing yellow flash, while below them an ominous envelope stamped "Death, Inc." is addressed to one Miss Karen Larsen of Desert Ranch, Flagstaff, Arizona, its skull seal promising nothing good. Promising stories tied to the F.B.I., Scotland Yard, the Northwest Mounted, and the Secret Service, this issue of Magazine Enterprises' anthology series is a vivid snapshot of late-1940s crime comics at their most atmospheric.