Number 1746: “Right through de head.” The Crime Cult and the Higgins Gang

Gang Busters was a popular radio program. It was licensed by Dell, and later by DC for comic book adaptations. These two stories, reprinted in Dell’s Four Color #24 (1943), were originally published in Popular Comics, issues #72 and #73.

Dan Gormley, who drew the stories, is better known to me as a funny animal artist. I was unfamiliar with his crime comics work, but he signed both stories.

Both stories have panels where a victim is shot through the head. (Shot through “the skull” in “The Higgins Gang” story.) I think the same writer wrote both, and he also used a “Yow!” in both stories. John Stanley was known for his use of that word, but are these early work by Stanley? I won’t go that far. They seem too formulaic for an inventive writer like Stanley. And as far as catching crooks goes, the detective, Chief Winston, seems more lucky than good.

An obligatory “Crime does not pay!” message is inserted into the last panel of each story.

My one other Dan Gormley posting. Just click on the thumbnail.

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