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

86 BELOW: The legendary Lev Gleason, a left- leaning publisher, whose desire to build a fairer society informed every aspect of his life—not least his business dealings and the generous deal he would cut with Biro and Wood. RIGHT: A cover from Gleason’s debut comic, Silver Streak C omics —the title was taken from the Silver Streak Pontiac that was his business partner Arthur Bernhardt current vehicle of choice. in their departure from the Fleischer Studio). Other Chesler alumni would include Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert, all of whom would later find themselves working on Biro and Wood’s scripts. The Chesler Studio was to provide Biro and Wood with an incredibly fortuitous stepping stone to the big-league of comic creators. Amongst the clients that Chesler supplied was a left-leaning Irishman by name of Lev Gleason. Gleason was a man committed to the idea that government could create a fairer society: growing up in a comfortable Protestant home in Vermont, he dropped his studies at Harvard to enlist for service in the First World War. Upon return to the US, he eschewed continuing his studies and plunged straight into the world of work, his love of books steering him towards the world of publishing. His first jobs were in relatively lowly positions handling sales and advertising in Boston based magazines such as The Open Road For Boys and National Sportsman . Illustration by Peter Richardson