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

90 publishing. A fresh idea was needed—would Biro and Wood be interested in coming up with an entirely new concept for Gleason’s comics? The story of how Biro and Wood dreamt up the soon to be notorious Crime Does Not Pay may be apocryphal, but it does bear retelling as it conjures up the essence of the “life is stranger than fiction” narrative that underlies so much of the history of one of the US’s most notorious comic books. The story goes that in the brain-storming sessions that followed on from Gleason’s magnanimous offer, Biro related the story of how he was approached by a character he met in a bar with an unusual proposition. Biro’s bar companion offered him a night’s sex romp at a nearby hotel with his ‘girlfriend’ if he could watch the encounter. Biro, declined the offer, but was taken aback when, a few weeks later, a photo of his drinking companion appeared in the press along with details of his arrest for sex slavery. The fact that the anecdote, which originated from an interview with Creig Flessel, refers to the Mickey Jelke case, which occurred some twelve years after the Illustration by Peter Richardson BELOW: Mickey Jelke: Legend has it that the inspiration for the “truth is stranger than fiction” remit that underscored Crime Does Not Pay was a chance drinking encounter with a man that offered Biro a night’s sex-romp with his girlfriend provided he could observe proceedings. The source of the story, artist Creig Flessel, said they were astonished when a few days later the man concerned appeared in the papers being tried on charges of keeping sex-slaves.