Auctions: comic books published by Lev Gleason

Buster Crabbe (1953 Lev Gleason) 4 Coverless

Comic is complete other than being coverless.

Stories and art by Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio, Bill Woolfolk, Vic Carrabotta, Pete Morisi and Mort Leav. Adventures in space, the Wild West and the jungle with actor Buster Crabbe, famed for playing Flash Gordon. Sometimes listed as The Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe #4. Buster is transported to the planet Polon, where he must liberate the human inhabitants from the tyrannical priests of Rogor. In the South American jungles, Buster Crabbe gets mixed up with a Sidney Greenstreet-like villain who wants to find ancient Aztec treasure, using a map tattooed on a hapless courier. The Thing from Out of Space; Science Lore; The Strange Case of the Shaven Heads; Gangsters of the West. Final issue of the series. 36 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Buster Crabbe (1953 Lev Gleason) 4 Coverless

Comic is complete other than being coverless.

Stories and art by Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio, Bill Woolfolk, Vic Carrabotta, Pete Morisi and Mort Leav. Adventures in space, the Wild West and the jungle with actor Buster Crabbe, famed for playing Flash Gordon. Sometimes listed as The Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe #4. Buster is transported to the planet Polon, where he must liberate the human inhabitants from the tyrannical priests of Rogor. In the South American jungles, Buster Crabbe gets mixed up with a Sidney Greenstreet-like villain who wants to find ancient Aztec treasure, using a map tattooed on a hapless courier. The Thing from Out of Space; Science Lore; The Strange Case of the Shaven Heads; Gangsters of the West. Final issue of the series. 36 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Crime and Punishment (1948 Lev Gleason) 39 Coverless

Comic is complete other than being coverless.

Cover by Charles Biro. Stories and art by Robert Q. Sale, C. H. Moore, Dick Rockwell, Fred Guardineer, and Charles Biro. A companion series to Crime Does Not Pay from the same publisher, slightly less violent and with more emphasis on police work. Five hoods plot the perfect heist, but one of them is planning a double-cross, in a story narrated by Mr. Crime. A detective gets too close to a killer in the American Zone of postwar Berlin, where life is a chaotic ruin. A detective dares the reader to figure out the identity of a mystery sniper on a college campus, in a whodunit with multiple clues and an upside-down panel for the answer. The Five Dopes; On the Level; Murderers' Circle; How They Were Trapped; Coonan's Comeback; The "Almost Perfect" Crime; Death Goes To College. 48 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Crime Does Not Pay (1942-1955 Lev Gleason) 43 FR 1.0 (R)

Restored (see item notes)

RESTORATION. Tear seal. Lateral spine tear. 2" cumulative spine split. Staple rust with migration.

Cover by Charles Biro. Stories and art by Robert Bernstein, Jack Alderman, Rudy Palais, Woody Hamlton, Vernon Henkel, and Charles Biro. The title that launched the crime comics genre, Crime Does Not Pay was noted for its violent pre-Code content and lurid tales of underworld life. An unhinged circus clown, spurned by a woman after making a declaration of love (in full clown regalia), then murders her (still in full clown regalia). The infamous Burke and Hare get jobs providing corpses to early medical schools, but when they run out of bodies, they start making fresh ones. Drunken med-school reject "Doc" Moran becomes the underworld's favorite physician. Also featuring a vintage PSA about recognizing honorably discharged veterans. The Bookkeeping Bandit; Case of the Love Sick Clown; Ghouls' Gold; The Folly of Johnny Bananas; The Case of the Impossible Suicide; Doctor of Evil; Whodunnit. 48 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Crime Does Not Pay (1942-1955 Lev Gleason) 73 FR/GD 1.5 (R)

Restored (see item notes)

RESTORATION: Spine split seal.

Cover by Charles Biro. Stories and art by George Tuska, Fred Guardineer, Claude Moore, Tony DiPreta and Charles Biro. The title that launched the crime comics genre, Crime Does Not Pay was noted for its violent pre-Code content and lurid tales of underworld life. Mr. Crime narrates the tale of two-bit hood Peter Feflin, who wages war against another street gang on the rooftops of the New York tenements. Al Jennings becomes obsessed with getting the man he's convinced was responsible for sending him to prison. Mayhew and Johns, described in the story as "stir-mad, kill-mad morons," go on a spree of murder and robbery across the South. Also featuring vintage ads for "Amazing Life-Like Rubber Masks" and "Animated Lilliputiana." Two Gangs at War and Peter Feflin; Al Jennings, the Man Who Squealed on Himself!; How the Police Stopped the Murder Rampage of Dennis Mayhew and Everett Johns; This'll Kill Ya!; Our Police Hall of Fame; On The Level; Who Dunnit. 48 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Crime Does Not Pay (1942-1955 Lev Gleason) 117 CGC 6.0

Paper: Cream to off white

Slab: Significant scratch(es) front or back

Top edge label is missing.

Label #0010444019

Cover by Charles Biro. Stories and art by Fred Guardineer and Charles Biro. The title that launched the crime comics genre, Crime Does Not Pay was noted for its violent pre-Code content and lurid tales of underworld life. The story of notorious real-life gunman Pretty Boy Floyd. Mob boss Chris Ramsdell must face the music after one of his hoods shoots a senator's daughter. A tough DA is targeted by a gangster after he convicts his brother of murder. Also featuring a vintage ad for "Lev Gleason Comics picture trading cards." Pretty Boy Floyd, "Racketeer" Reward; Test Your Judgment!; Crime News Oddities; The End of the Underworld? 32 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Lovers' Lane (1949) 35 VG 4.0

Water spotting.

Cover by Fred Kida. Stories and art by Robert Martinott, Al Luster, Al Wenzel and Eloise Taylor. From the publisher of Crime Does Not Pay, Lover's Lane offered somewhat edgier, more lurid tales than other romance comics of the era. Lorry falls for bullfighter Johnnie in Mexico, but his dangerous profession threatens to split them apart. Eddie pretend-dates Jeanne to get her to take romance more seriously, and winds up falling for her for real. Kate dates the foreman at her father's logging camp, and a jealous lumberjack tries to sabotage the whole operation. Romance In Mexico; Should You Write a Love Letter?; Love's No Gamble; The Flirt; Surrender to Love; Love Problems. 32 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.