From the November 1947 issue of Crime Does Not Pay #57
In 1949, Maryland adopted a pioneering “defective delinquent” law when a young legislator was moved by a series of senseless, violent Baltimore murders. The 19-year-old son of a wealthy family, Herman Duker, held up a milkman, father of two, and without provocation shot him dead. As a small child Duker exhibited appalling cruelty to animals and deviant sexual behaviors, both of which persisted for years. Arrests for thefts and burglaries began at an early age. At 16 he was diagnosed as a psychopathic personality, and two years later committed his sensational murder.The judge sentenced Duker to hang because, he said, if given a life sentence the violent young man would be a lifelong danger even to the prison guards.
Click HERE for the full article.
Click HERE for the full article.
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Vintage 50's ad
And don't forget to head over to Chuck's Comic Book Catacombs today for another look at the "lighter side of crime", this time an Atlas spoof on Gang Busters and Crime Does Not Pay. It's a silly classic illustrated by future MAD Magazine legend Dave Berg!
I'm glad the comic left out the deviant sexual behaviors.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Chicago Tribune, it was Duker himself who wrote and drew the story: “The Laughling Sadist”, from cartoonist Herman Duker, who wrote the comic book Crime Does Not Pay. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) :-O
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't based on a true story ,it would be great unintentional humor , stuff like these filled the lurid pocket sized comics in Italy when I was a brat ...
ReplyDeleteI like the linked article as much as or more than the comic. Thanks for the bonus!
ReplyDelete"Bill! He's taking the sugar bowl!" That cracks me up every time.
ReplyDeleteGOD IF THAT BRUTAL SPLASH DIDNT GRAB YOU FROM THE GET GO NOTHING CAN! GREAT ART AND NICELY WRITTEN, ALTHOUGH BEING A TRUE STORY I GUESS THERE WASN'T MUCH EXTRA THEY OBVIOUSLY NEEDED TO DO.
ReplyDeleteTHE ARTICLE AFTERWARDS WAS ALSO A FASCINATING READ, BUT DID THEY HANG DUKER OR SEND HIM TO THE CHAIR?
>I'm glad the comic left out the deviant sexual behaviors.
ReplyDeleteYou are?
>“The Laughling Sadist”, from cartoonist Herman Duker, who wrote the comic book Crime Does Not Pay. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Ha ha! That's some hysterically shoddy reporting.
>BUT DID THEY HANG DUKER OR SEND HIM TO THE CHAIR?
That all depends on weither you believe a fact based article or a comic book adaptation. Maybe they hanged him first and then put his corpse in an electric chair (or vice versa) you know, to really seal the deal?
Unintentional humor and stolen sugar bowls aside, I think tomorrow we'll wrap up June with a softer, more traditional look at crime comics. That means lots of satanism. See ya's tomorrow!
That was just...damn...just...damn..that splash was so ott it was scary,and the animal scenes..shit.as for the sugar bowl thing,yeah that was unnecessarily stupid,and so was the contention that Duker wrote and drew this himself,was that rumor based on Bob Wood,or did it predate him?
ReplyDeleteLove these ads... the comic reminds me Reefer Madness movie... the fist panel is a piece of art!
ReplyDeleteMy pug, Bandit, was offended by the animal cruelty so I let him read some Richie Rich books to get over it.
ReplyDelete>>BUT DID THEY HANG DUKER OR SEND HIM TO THE CHAIR?
ReplyDelete>>That all depends on weither you believe a fact based article or a comic book adaptation. Maybe they hanged him first and then put his corpse in an electric chair (or vice versa) you know, to really seal the deal?
According to the article, the governor commuted the sentence.
>According to the article, the governor commuted the sentence.
ReplyDeleteRight. So he was commuted to a lesser sentence of being executed in the electric chair in a comic book.
>the contention that Duker wrote and drew this himself,was that rumor based on Bob Wood,or did it predate him?
ReplyDeleteThat was just lazy or stupid journalists not parsing the splash page correctly.
>a lesser sentence of being executed in the electric chair in a comic book.
ReplyDeleteWell, I ask you, karswell, if you were offered the chance to be executed in the electric chair in a comic book, would you say no? The governor could unleash a wave of crime perpetrated by comic book fans!
"Look at that cat burn!" Uproarious.
ReplyDeleteOn a much darker note, I think my neighbours' kids are Sadists in Training.
Right. So he was commuted to a lesser sentence of being executed in the electric chair in a comic book.
ReplyDeleteI wish that were my governor.
Holy crap.
ReplyDeleteSo wait, I'm a little fuzzy here...
Crime--it pays, right?