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Issue: Crime SuspenStories #1
Publication Date: October 1950
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Disclose Detail
Issues: #1 of 27 Issues
Title:
Variant: unnamed
Rating: Authorized A. C. M. P. Conforms to the Comics Code
Publisher: FlagEC
Brand:
Indicia Publisher: L. L. Publishing Co. Inc.
On Sale Date: 07/11/1950
Volume: 1
Pages: 36
ISBN: none
UPC/EAN: none
Price: $0.10 USD
Indicia Frequency: Authorized A. C. M. P. Conforms to the Comics Code
Content Items: 7 (6 stories, 1 cover)
Editor(s):  
Disclose Notes: The on-sale date is the publication date reported in the U. S. Copyright Office filing. Catalog of Copyright Entries, Periodicals, July-December 1950, page 187, registration number B254047.

Originally this comic was to be a continuation of Vault of Horror (EC, 1950 series), starting with issue #15. While this issue was being printed, it was decided to keep Vault of Horror publishing and make this issue #1 instead. Issues already printed had "Vol. 2 No. 15 (Formerly Vault of Horror)" in the indicia. That portion was printed again with a black bar covering the Vault of Horror information and "Vol. 1 No. 1" printed above the black bar. The rest of the print run was printed with just "Vol. 1 No. 1" with the rest of the indicia where "(Formerly Vault of Horror)" was, was left blank.
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Disclose Format
Publication Type: Comic Book
Color: Color
Dimensions: Standard Golden Age U. S.
Paper Stock: glossy cover; newsprint interior
Binding: Saddle-stitched
Publishing Format: Was Ongoing Series
Format Notes:  
Disclose Reprinted In16
Disclose Reprinted From0
There is currently no data for this Issue being reprinted from anywhere.
Disclose Images2
Cover, Front
Original Artwork
Digital Edition
Adult Image
Title Page
Indicia on this Page
 
 
Cover, Front
Original Artwork
Digital Edition
Adult Image
Title Page
Indicia on this Page
 
 
Assets0
 
spacer
Disclose Content Items (7 total)
Disclose Issue Images
[untitled]

Illustration  on  Cover, Front
Credits
Colorist(s): ? (see notes)
Subject Matter
Genres: crime
First Line: This is the doll you're paying me to kill?
Reprinting
In Content Item: FlagWeird SuspenStories #1 published November 1950
as [untitled] [Illustration on Cover, Front]
In Content Item: FlagCrime Suspenstories #1 published November 1992
as [untitled] [Illustration on Cover, Front]
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Letterer credit by Craig Delich.

Colors were previously attributed to Marie Severin, but it is unlikely that Severin had begun coloring at EC when this issue was colored (Cassell 2012, 33–34 and 171).
_________
Reference:

Cassell, Dewey, with Aaron Sultan. 2012. Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics. Raleigh: TwoMorrows Publishing.
Disclose
Murder May Boomerang

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ? (see notes)
Subject Matter
Genres: crime
Character(s): unnamed father; unnamed son; Alvin Carcas (villain, name only)
Synopsis: Nearly inseparable, a father and son did everything in life together until that one day when a prisoner from a nearby penitentiary discovers the pair's cabin, where he steals clothing and nearly beats the father to death. Distraught, the son drives the father around, trying to locate the escapee, when the dazed father points out the villain, and the son runs him down with their car. Soon, however, the son realizes the father's mistaken identification.
Reprinting
In Content Item: FlagCrime SuspenStories #19 published October 1953
as Murder May Boomerang [Story on Interior Page(s)]
In Content Item: FlagIskalde Grøss #3/1989 published January 1989
as Bordet fanger [Story on Interior Page(s)]
In Content Item: FlagCrime Suspenstories #1 published November 1992
as Murder May Boomerang [Story on Interior Page(s)]
In Content Item: FlagCrime Suspenstories #19 published May 1997
as Murder May Boomerang [Story on Interior Page(s)]
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 8
Disclose Notes: Most of the story is told in flashback.

Story likely inspired by Samuel Blas's story, "Revenge", which appeared in a 1947 issue of Colliers Magazine, and which later became the first episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" TV show in 1955.

Colors were previously attributed to Marie Severin (see Indexer Notes for this issue’s cover, above).
Disclose
Death's Double-Cross

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ? (see notes)
Subject Matter
Genres: crime
Character(s): John Drakely (death?); the Drakely's doctor; Ruth Drakely (villain, John's wife); Ronald Drakely (villain, John's twin brother, death?)
Synopsis: Ruth was bored and lonely. Her two-year marriage to John was missing something: love, and she found it in John's twin brother. The two conspired to do away with John and thought they had.....but a little mole on the cheek of Ronald made Ruth wonder.
Reprinting
In Content Item: FlagIskalde Grøss #3/1991 published January 1991
as Dødens dobbeltspill [Story on Interior Page(s)]
In Content Item: FlagCrime Suspenstories #1 published November 1992
as Death's Double-Cross [Story on Interior Page(s)]
In Content Item: FlagThe Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #2 published August 2012
as Death's Double-Cross [Story on Interior Page(s)]black-and-white reprint
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Letterer credit by Craig Delich.

Writer Feldstein likely used concepts found in James M. Cain's novels "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1934) and "Double Indemnity" (1936) as a basis for this tale.

Colors were previously attributed to Marie Severin (see Indexer Notes for this issue’s cover, above).
Disclose
Reward!

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Penciller(s): ? (spot illustration)
Inker(s): ? (spot illustration)
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
Genres: crime
Character(s): Ngami (native prospector, death); Carstairs (villain, prospector)
Synopsis: Carstairs had trailed a native prospector to his hut, hoping to steal a fabulous gem from him. Discovering the native dead, Carstairs lifted the jewel and left the hut as others began to approach the hut. The joy of the gem would be short lived, however.
Reprinting
In Content Item: FlagCrime Suspenstories #1 published November 1992
as Reward! [Text Story on Interior Page(s)]
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 2
Disclose
A Snapshot of Death!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ? (see notes)
Subject Matter
Genres: crime
Character(s): Louie (pool hall proprietor); Frank Darrow (Jean's husband); Doctor Hartley (also in flashback); Jean Darrow; unnamed Policeman; "Red" Morgan (villain, death)
Synopsis: A woman enters a pool room and hires a man to kill a lady, whose picture she provides to him. Imagine his surprise when he notes that the photo is of the woman wanting the crime committed.
Reprinting
In Content Item: FlagIskalde Grøss #3/1991 published January 1991
as Dødens bilde [Story on Interior Page(s)]
In Content Item: FlagCrime Suspenstories #1 published November 1992
as A Snapshot of Death! [Story on Interior Page(s)]
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 6
Disclose Notes: Cover story.

Some of the story is told in flashback.

Colors were previously attributed to Marie Severin (see Indexer Notes for this issue’s cover, above).

Loosely based on "Tribulations of a Chinaman in China" by Jules Verne.
Disclose
Double Indemnity!

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Penciller(s): ? (spot illustration)
Inker(s): ? (spot illustration)
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
Genres: crime
Character(s): unnamed wife (death); unnamed husband (villain, death)
Synopsis: A man kills his wife after taking out a double-indemnity policy on her, then attempts to make her death look like an accident. But fate has a twist in store for him.
Reprinting
In Content Item: FlagCrime Suspenstories #1 published November 1992
as Double Indemnity! [Text Story on Interior Page(s)]
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose
High Tide!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: crime
Character(s): unnamed bookkeeper (death); unnamed civil service worker (death); unnamed lawyer (death); unnamed ship's skipper (villain, death)
Synopsis: Four men on a mail boat leave the infamous Mephisto Prison and soon hear by radio of the escape of one of the prisoners. When the boat's engine, clogged with sand, brings the craft to a halt a ways off shore, all fingers begin to point to each other as the culprit.
Reprinting
In Content Item: FlagIskalde Grøss #3/1989 published January 1989
as Høyvann! [Story on Interior Page(s)]
In Content Item: FlagGeluiden uit een andere wereld #[nn] published October 1989
as Hoog tij! [Story on Interior Page(s)]
In Content Item: FlagCrime Suspenstories #1 published November 1992
as High Tide! [Story on Interior Page(s)]
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Marie Severin’s statement that “[Harvey] Kurtzman colored his own art, especially on covers...” (1995) suggests that Kurtzman colored stories that he drew, albeit perhaps less consistently than he colored his cover art.
_________
References:

Cassell, Dewey, with Aaron Sultan. 2012. “The Artists of EC Comics” (reprinting Severin 1995). In Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics. 46–47. Raleigh: TwoMorrows Publishing.

Severin, Marie (John Province, transcriber [uncredited]). 1995. “Mostly About Color.” In CFA-APA 36, January.

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