Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: crime comics, golden age

Blue Eyes and a Gun in Gangsters Can't Win, Up for Auction

Published Sun, 31 Jul 2022 12:03:10 -0500

As we noted recently about their pre-Code crime title Exposed, D.S. Publishing began life in the early 1940s as a publisher of "song sheet" magazines which reprinted lyrics of popular songs of the time (comic book publisher Charlton was in the song sheet business as well) and jumped into the comic book business in the late 1940s. With crime comics on the rise at the time in the wake of the success of titles such as Lev Gleason's Crime Does Not Pay, D.S. Publishing is best remembered today for a short-lived but extensive crime comic book line including titles like Gangsters Can't Win, Outlaws, Public Enemies, Pay-Off, Underworld, and Exposed. Gangsters Can't Win is perhaps their most infamous title, and includes some stand-out covers. Issues #2 and #3 are particularly sought-after by collectors. There's a nice group of the Gangsters Can't Win title including Gangsters Can't Win #2 (D.S. Publishing, 1948) Condition: FR and Gangsters Can't Win #3 (D.S. Publishing, 1948) Condition: GD up for auction in the 2022 July 31-August 1 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122231 at Heritage Auctions.

Gangsters Can't Win #3 (D.S. Publishing, 1948)

The series chose some particularly interesting gangsters to feature. Although Eddie Bentz, the subject of Gangsters Can't Win #2's cover feature, is not a household name today, he was one of the most notorious bank robbers of his era. Teaming up with the likes of Machine Gun Kelly and Baby Face Nelson, Bentz was also the likely mastermind of one of the most infamous bank robberies in history: the theft of $2.8M from the Lincoln National Bank of Lincoln, Nebraska in 1930. And although not the cover feature of issue #3 (none of the interior stories match that image), that issue includes the story "Blue Eyes and a Gun" about Kansas bank robbers Bennie and Stella Mae Irwin Dickson.

An incredibly underrated crime comics title from an obscure publisher, there's a nice group of the Gangsters Can't Win title including Gangsters Can't Win #2 (D.S. Publishing, 1948) Condition: FR and Gangsters Can't Win #3 (D.S. Publishing, 1948) Condition: GD up for auction in the 2022 July 31-August 1 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122231 at Heritage Auctions. If you've never bid at Heritage Auctions before, you can get further information, you can check out their FAQ on the bidding process and related matters. It's a particularly good week to take a look with lots of rare Ace Magazines comics, Champ and Champion Comics, Lev Gleason comics, and much more.