In 1942 Lev Gleason published issue #1 of Crime Does Not Pay. It was edited and written by Charles Biro, and Bob Wood provided the art work. This was a landmark moment as the pair had just created a whole new comic book genre. Crime Does Not Pay is considered as the first 'true crime' comic book published. There is debate about where the inspiration for this came from. One story is that Biro had the idea after meeting a career criminal in a bar. Another, that it was actually Gleason who came up with the idea. No matter where the idea for the title came from, the truth is that 'true crime' was already making its way onto radio and also film.

Sales of the title gradually rose and by the end of World War II 800,000 copies of each issue were being published. Growth filled the void left by the demise of many superhero comics and characters.

Seeing this new market, and the decline in appeal of their masked and caped characters, it was not long before other publishers launched their own titles. This fiercely competative environment saw each title attempting to out do the others, with a rapid growth in violence and gorey images.

This eventually led to a backlash from parents and moral crusaders. The publication of Dr. Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent meant that the books were taking much of the blame for the rise in juvenile delinquency. With the creation of the Comics Code Authority, the newer issues were so sanitized that most quickly folded and the heyday of True Crime Comics was over.

We have 326 titles and 12,026 issues in our 'Crime Category' for you to enjoy.