Mr. District Attorney #36

Straight from TV and radio to the comics page, Mr. District Attorney #36 (1953) promises "The Chameleon of Crime! — The Amazing Story of the Mobster of Many Talents!" Win Mortimer's cover captures the tension perfectly: a trench-coated figure scrambles up the side of a building while far below, police officers swarm a rooftop scene lit by the glare of an emergency vehicle, with speech bubbles making clear that this wily criminal has — once again — slipped the net by turning himself into a "human fly." At a dime a copy, this DC title brought sharp crime-drama thrills to readers who already knew and loved the character from the airwaves.