EXTRACTS: Illustrators Crime Comics Special © 2020 Book Palace Books (144 pages in full edition)

12 Donenfeld as a partner into what was about to become one of the most successful publishing empires of the twentieth century. Detective Comics achieved a moderate degree of success—sufficient for it to become a regular monthly comic with covers depicting lurid crime by some of the best illustrators of the day, Creig Flessel, Fred Guardineer and Leo O’Mealia. The appetite for crime stories remained a dependable source of entertainment, but the stories lacked the grittiness of the criminal world as portrayed by Bogart and Cagney and, instead substituted mad scientists and oriental villains for bootleggers and bank-robbers: fantasy being the preferred option for stories aimed at a juvenile market. However all this was about to change. A year later the inevitable happened and Wheeler-Nicholson, who was still unable to clear the debt he had run up with Donenfeld, was forced out and Donenfeld’s accountant Jack Liebowitz stepped in as partner. Together these super-sharp operators would build the most successful comics empire the world had ever seen, their big opportunity arriving on the shoulders of © 1935-2020 DC Comics Imaged by Heritage Auctions (HA.com) © 1935-2020 DC Comics Imaged by Heritage Auctions (HA.com) © 1935-2020 DC Comics Imaged by Heritage Auctions (HA.com) ABOVE: Creig Flessel’s and Fred Guardineer’s covers created a world of sinister villains and noir lighting. FACING PAGE: With the runaway success of Superman , editor Vince Sullivan was keen to apply the same formula to Detective Comics and so, via the combined efforts of scripter Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, was born the super-sleuth. Although Batman had the physique of a superhero, he bled and bruised and occasionally was hospitalised. However the storylines rapidly became more fantastic which were reflected in the covers that artists such as Jerry Robinson created under the aegis of its co-creator Bob Kane.