If you haven’t looked at what Dark Horse has been publishing these days, you may want to. I’m not just talking about their Omnibus series or Conan reprints or even their even their, seemingly, endless supply of Hellboy/B.P.R.D. material, but rather their new direction of Archives.
For years the Dark Horse Archives were instantly recognizable with their circle emblem and black side panels. The problem was they also resembled the DC Comics Archives, which may be the case as to why they changed their dust-jackets to encompass an entire cover of an issue collected inside the book. The new format has worked out well for Creepy, Eerie, Tarzan and Turok, to name a few. Each series has found a dedicated audience and it looks as though Dark Horse is committed to continue to publish, and even complete, every comic in hardcover form. I should point out that the traditional dust-jacket design has not been completely written off, Nexus and Magnus: Robot Fighter will sustain this look.
Last week, on February 4, 2011, Dark Horse made a quiet announcement that they are launching a special reprint title to their vast library – Crime Does Not Pay. I find this to be a monumental achievement and one that should be hailed as the next great collected edition reprint project – from any company. This comic book series was published from 1942-1955 by Lev Gleason Publications. But what makes it extraordinary is that it was at the very center of Dr. Fredric Wertham’s Seduction Of The Innocent that led to the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency and consequently the Comics Code Authority, which has just become defunct as of January 2011. Wertham writes in his book:
A boy who burglarized stores explained, I read the comic books to learn how you can get money. I read about thirty a week. I read Crime Does Not Pay, Crime and Punishment, Penalty, Wanted. That is all I can think of. There was this one case. It was in back of a factory with pretty rich receipts, money. It showed how you get in through the back door. I didn’t copy that. I thought the side door was the best way. I just switched to the skylight. I carried it out practically the same way as the comic book did it, only I had to open two drawers to do it. I didn’t do every crime book, some of them were difficult. Some of them I just imitated. I had to think the rest out myself. I know other boys who learned how to do such jobs from comic books.
This was the crime book of the day, even outselling Jack Kirby and Joe Simon’s Headline Comics, which was considered to be a cheap imitator. But what made it so special, and probably why it sold so well, was because the stories inside were based on actual events. The reader, with that knowledge in hand, gave the comics new meaning with every blood red ink stain and the shocking turn of events on every panel and page.
Now it looks like this is a “Best Of” edition reprinting the most popular and controversial comics (July 2011, $19.99). It’s unknown if Dark Horse will go back and revisit the series form the very beginning giving us a full blown hardcover Archive series. Let’s hope they do.
Crime may not pay, but I would.
Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades and Forbidden Planet International (UK)
![[facebook]](http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/social/facebook.jpg)
![[twitter]](http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/social/twitter.jpg)
![[google+]](http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/social/g.jpg)
![[blog rss]](http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/social/rss.jpg)
![[itunes]](http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/social/itunes.jpg)
![[podcast rss]](http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/social/podcast.jpg)
![[Forbidden Planet International]](http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/images/fp_image.jpg)
![[In Stock Trades]](http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/images/instocktrades.jpg)
![[Party Poker]](http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/images/PartyPokerLogo12.gif)