LAWBREAKERS ALWAYS LOSE 10
"THE KILLER WHO WALKED LIKE A MAN!"
Marvel Comics (at times in its early history sometimes referred to as Timely or Atlas) was always a 2nd-level publisher-- somewhere in the middle as far as quality was concerned-- whose specialty was flooding the market with imitations of whatever was then currently popular.
LAWBRERAKERS ALWAYS LOSE was one of many such anthology titles that focused on "crime". What we have here is is a story that is either inspired by, or, a loose adaptation of...
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE".
I would suggest it was mostly inspired by the 1932 film with Bela Lugosi, since it focuses so much on the carnival sideshow and isn't really a "mystery" as the original story was. There also seems a tip-of-the-opera hat to the 1932 DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, when you see the gorilla strolling down the street in a tux, looking not that much different from Frederic March.
This would be the 2nd comics story based on or inspired by "Rue Morgue", the previous one being 5 years earlier in Gilberton's CLASSIC COMICS #21 (Jul'44). As it happens, that version had been reprinted as CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #21 (Aug'49) only 2 months before this came out, and again in CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED GIANTS #2 (Oct'49), the SAME month as this, suggesting whoever did this one may have been inspired by the other one.
The guy in the (unrelated) cover photo sure looks to me like a young Darren McGavin, who, a decade later, would play MIKE HAMMER on TV!
(This page was originally set up on Sunday, November 1, 2015. I'm moving it to a new page so it will be easier to make changes in the future.)
LAWBREAKERS ALWAYS LOSE 10
photo cover (Marvel / October 1949)
(inspired by "The Murders In The Rue Morgue") / Version 2
Story & Art by SAM GROSS / Page 18
Scan of LAWBREAKERS ALWAYS LOSE #10 cover
from the Heritage Auctions site.
Scans of LAWBREAKERS ALWAYS LOSE #10 interiors
from Pappy's Golden Age Comics blog.
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
Special thanks to "Pappy"!
Also, special thanks to Eric Fabiaschi for identifying the artist!
For more:
Read about Edgar Allan Poe at The Poe Museum site.
Read about Edgar Allan Poe at the Biography site.
Read about THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE at the Spark Notes site.
Read about THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE at the Britannica site.
Read the complete story at the Poe Museum site.
See the RUE MORGUE Gallery of Illustrations.
Audio:
Hear the WEIRD CIRCLE radio episode!
Hear the Paul Hecht CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER episode!
Comics:
Read the Arnold L. Hicks RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Sam Gross RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Guido Crepax RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Gino Dauro RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Miguel Gomez Esteban RUE MORGUE adaptation! (coming soon!)
Read the Cezar Lopez Vera RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Illustrated Classics RUE MORGUE adaptation! (coming soon!)
Read the Jose Ortiz RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the E.R. Cruz RUE MORGUE adaptation!
(Coming soon:)
Read the Moises Cespedes RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Ediciones Maisal RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Howard Priestley RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Mark A. Nelson RUE MORGUE sequel!
Read the Silvio Camboni RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Matt Brooker RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Reno Maniquis RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Emerson Dimaya RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Ola Skogang RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Richard Corben RUE MORGUE adaptation!
Read the Leandro Fernandez RUE MORGUE adaptation!
See the CHRONOLOGICAL list of Edgar Allan Poe stories!
See the ALPHABETICAL list of Edgar Allan Poe stories!
(Continued in Poe 1949, Pt.4)
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