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

Going Beyond True Crime in D.S. Publishing's Pay-Off, Up for Auction

D.S. Publishing's short but memorable crime comic book line included the likes of Gangsters Can't Win and Pay-Off.

Published Sat, 08 Jul 2023 18:57:10 -0500

While we've seen in the past that many D.S. Publishing titles did a good job of chronicling actual true crime, a glance at the series Pay-Off suggests a more "inspired by" approach. The stand-out story of the debut issue, "Diamond Lil of Otsego" seems to be very loosely inspired by events surrounding a real-life bar known as Diamond Lil's Roadhouse in operation in that area in the late 1930s, but by issue #3, the series subtitle changed from "True Crime Cases" to "Thrilling Detective Stories." As for the title, the general idea was that the "payoff" for crime is eventually not what criminals hope it will be. An underappreciated crime comic from a publisher that put out many memorable crime titles, there are copies of three of the five issues of Pay-Off #1, 3, and 4 Group (D.S. Publishing, 1948-49) up for auction in the 2023 July 13 – 14 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40227 at Heritage Auctions.

D.S. Publishing began life in 1940 when publisher Richard Davis acquired the highly-regarded Dance Magazine from the magazine's founder MacFadden. The company then moved into publishing "song sheet" magazines which reprinted lyrics of popular songs of the time (comic book publisher Charlton was in the song sheet business as well) along with a wide range of other magazines like Tune In covering the radio industry, fashion magazine Silhouette. The company got into the comic book business in late 1947 with Jeff Jordan, U.S. Agent. 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. D.S. Publishing effectively ceased operations in 1951 when it failed to launch a planned pair of pulp-style digests called American Mystery and American Western due to paper shortages that had an impact across the entire industry that year. The American publishing industry had been impacted by such shortages frequently in the post-WWII era.

The publisher released a flurry of crime-related comic book titles 1948-1949, and they all disappeared nearly as quickly as they were launched. It seems likely that Richard Davis, with his range of magazine titles, became wary of comic books when the comic book moral panic ramped up in earnest around that time. Particularly as D.S. Publishing comic book titles like Gangsters Can't Win and Pay-Off began appearing on local banned comic book lists.

There are copies of three of the five issues of Pay-Off #1, 3, and 4 Group (D.S. Publishing, 1948-49) up for auction in the 2023 July 13 – 14 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40227 at Heritage Auctions. If you're new to Heritage Auctions, make sure to check out their FAQ on the bidding process and related matters.