{{italic title
The ''Real Clue Crime Stories '' comics series debuted in June 1947, following three issues as ''Clue Comics''. The first cover
was done by
Joe Simon
Joseph Henry Simon (born Hymie Simon; October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books ...
and
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...
. The comic title came about following the huge success of ''Crime Does Not Pay'' (comics), which had a circulation of more than two million monthly by 1947.
Simon and Kirby convinced Ed Cronin, the editor of Hillman Comics, to let them do stories which appealed to a similar audience as the Gleason publication. The first cover of ''Real Clue Crime Stories'' was Volume 2, #4. The Simon and Kirby cover featured a quote from
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
which said ''Commit a crime and the world is made of glass''. This became a continuing slogan of the comic, appearing in the top right hand corner of front covers.
Inside each issue featured three stories by Simon and Kirby, along with a regular feature character, Gunmaster, by Dan Barry. Among the stories adapted by Simon and Kirby was "Come With Me and Diel", about a criminal who targeted his victims during
The Blitz
The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War.
Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
, in
London, England
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. In the opening
panel
Panel may refer to:
Arts and media Visual arts
*Panel painting, in art, a painting on a wood panel (as opposed to canvas, a wall etc)
*Panel (comics), a single image in a comic book, comic strip or cartoon; also, a comic strip containing one ...
the reader is introduced to the comic's narrator, Inspector Greeno of
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
. Greeno solves the crime because of an ID tag which the killer inadvertently dropped during an attempted homicide.''Collected Jack Kirby Collector'', John Morrow and Jack Kirby, TwoMorrows Publishing, 2004, Pg. 30.