Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: golden age, Matt Baker, St. John Publications

Dr. Morphine and the Zombie Club in Crime Reporter #1, Up for Auction

Crime Reporter #1 is a classic late-1940s crime comic featuring a villain named Dr. Morphine and an exclusive spot called Zombie Club.

Published Fri, 29 Jul 2022 21:28:09 -0500

by Mark Seifert

Last updated Tue, 22 Oct 2024 17:08:21 -0500

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Article Summary

Explore the intriguing Crime Reporter series by St. John Publications from 1948.
Meet Dr. Morphine and his dark underworld ties in Crime Reporter #1.
Discover the mysterious Zombie Club with its addictive allure in the Blue Monk story.
Admire the covers by Bob Lubbers and interiors by Charles Sultan.

Crime Reporter was a short-lived three-issue 1948 series from St. John Publications launched to take advantage of the crime comics boom of that pre-Code era. The series is best remembered today for its Matt Baker covers on issues #2-3, and aside from the covers, is composed entirely of reprints from Chesler comic book material with some of the better-known characters renamed. Lucky Coyne from Red Seal Comics and Dynamic Comics became Jinx Jordan in Crime Reporter, and the infamous Black Dwarf from Red Seal Comics stories became Blue Monk in Crime Reporter. The stories chosen are a pretty wild mix of no-holds-barred material that had been a Chesler trademark. A highly collected short St. John series made memorable due to its Good Girl art covers, there's a CGC VG/FN 5.0 copy of Crime Reporter #1 (St. John, 1948) up for auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions.

Jinx Jordan is the titular crime reporter of the series, working for a newspaper called The World. In this debut issue, he investigates the release from prison of a bootlegger named Count Morphine. While telling Jordan that he intends to become a law-abiding citizen, Count Morphine leverages his underworld contacts to threaten women with torture and death in order to coerce their husbands to commit crimes for him. While there's no morphine involved in this process, Count Morphine is nonetheless a nasty piece of work.

Meanwhile, in the Blue Monk story, that character investigates a string of mysterious deaths of members of the toney Zombie Club. Members of the club pay $50,000 per year for access — the equivalent of $615,000 in 2022. It turns out the primary draw of the club is a drink called a Zombie — which contains an unspecified and addictive illicit drug. The Blue Monk breaks up the Zombie Club and warns its members to seek medical attention because they've become addicts.

Crime Reporter is a classic late 1940s crime comic series with some great covers and more than a little dose of weirdness added to the mix. The underappreciated issue #1 cover is by artist Bob Lubbers with interior art by Charles Sultan, Paul Gattuso, and other Chesler regulars. There's a CGC VG/FN 5.0 copy of Crime Reporter #1 (St. John, 1948) up for auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions.