Crime Must Pay the Penalty

Launched in 1948 by Junior Books, Inc., Crime Must Pay the Penalty was a crime-comics series that never actually produced an issue, existing instead as a title built around artist Ken Rice's familiar pulp-style panels and moralistic cover promises. Though no issues were ever published, the series endures as a historical curiosity—a ghost in the rack of mid-century newsstand crime comics, defined more by its pointed title than any actual stories. Its