Crime Illustrated was a black-and-white magazine published by EC Comics in late 1955 and early 1956. Part of EC's Picto-Fiction line, each magazine featured three to five stories.[1] The format alternated panels of typography with panels of illustrations. Thus, it was arranged in tiers like a comic book but eliminated hand-lettering, balloons and panel borders.

Crime Illustrated
Cover by Joe Orlando
Publication information
PublisherEC Comics
ScheduleQuarterly
FormatAnthology
Publication dateNovember/December 1955 - Spring 1956
No. of issuesTwo
Creative team
Created byWilliam Gaines, Al Feldstein

The first issue appeared with a cover date of November–December 1955. Crime Illustrated ran for a total of two issues. The Picto-Fiction magazines lost money from the start, and when EC's distributor went bankrupt, they had no choice but to cancel them.

Writers

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The editor of Crime Illustrated was Al Feldstein. As with EC's comics, Feldstein was the most prolific writer of this title, and generally wrote up to three stories per issue. In addition to stories credited to him, Feldstein also wrote using the pseudonyms Maxwell Williams and Alfred E. Neuman. In a move suggested by publisher William Gaines, Feldstein included retellings of previous stories: the first issue's "Fall Guy for Murder" and "Mother's Day", and the second issue's "Screenplay for Murder" and "Pieces of Hate". Writers included Jack Oleck (who had contributed to EC's earlier publications), Richard Smith and John Larner.

Artists

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Artists featured in Crime Illustrated include Joe Orlando, Bernard Krigstein, Reed Crandall, Graham Ingels, George Evans, Jack Davis and Johnny Craig.

Reprints

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Crime Illustrated was reprinted along with the other Picto-Fiction magazines in hardbound volumes by Russ Cochran (and Gemstone Publishing) in 2006 as part of his Complete EC Library. These reprints also included the first-time publication of the third issue (assembled in 1956 but never published by EC). Dark Horse reprinted Crime Illustrated as part of the EC Archives series in 2022.

Issue guide

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# Date Cover Artist Story Story Artist Story Writer
1 Dec 1955 Joe Orlando Fall Guy for Murder Bernard Krigstein & Reed Crandall Al Feldstein
The Sisters Joe Orlando Jack Oleck
Fool's Gold Graham Ingels Richard Smith
Farewell to Arms Reed Crandall John Larner
Mother's Day George Evans Alfred E. Neuman
2 April 1956 Reed Crandall Motive Reed Crandall Jack Oleck
Fair Trade Graham Ingels John Larner
Clean Sweep Joe Orlando Maxwell Williams
Screenplay for Murder Jack Davis Al Feldstein
Pieces of Hate Johnny Craig Alfred E. Neuman

References

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  1. ^ Schelly, William (2013). American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950s. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 137. ISBN 9781605490540.