Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Charles Biro, daredevil, golden age, Lev Glason

Reacting to a Real Life Crime Wave in Daredevil Comics #5, at Auction

Daredevil Comics #5 was inspired by the FBI's Q1 1941 release of its regular Uniform Crime Reports, debuting the bizarre character Sniffer.

Published Sun, 21 May 2023 13:57:10 -0500

by Mark Seifert

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Many of the comic books of the early Golden Age were a response to the rising chaos of a world at war, but sometimes, those comic books were not a direct reaction to the war itself. For example, the Daredevil story written and illustrated by Charles Biro in Daredevil Comics #5 took inspiration from the staggering 15.4% real-life rise in the murder rate in early 1941 as reported by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports data for the first quarter of that year. Citing the FBI's crime figures on the opening page, the story was a deliberate attempt to have Daredevil respond to the turbulence and uncertainty of the era. An interesting early issue of a Golden Age series made infamous by the debut issue, Daredevil Battles Hitler, there's a Daredevil Comics #5 (Lev Gleason, 1941) Condition: VG up for auction in the 2023 May 21-23 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122321 at Heritage Auctions.

As the story unfolds, an inventor named Dr. Roe publicly demonstrates his groundbreaking refinement over the Lie Detector – the "Death Detector." The Death Detector is capable of determining if a person is capable of murder or has committed a murder. In his civilian identity of Bart Hill, Daredevil is in the audience and prods known murderer Nat Tony into taking the test to determine if it's real. But Nat Tony panics and shoots Dr. Roe before he can use his device. In the resulting mayhem, Daredevil secures the Death Detector with the intent of turning it over to the FBI. Before that can happen, the mob puts together a team of killers called the Deadly Dozen to prevent him from turning the Death Detector over. In the end, Daredevil defeats them all.

The weird cover art by Charles Biro here depicts Daredevil up against a sort of monstrous and embellished version of the character the Sniffer, who is shown to be a member of the Deadly Dozen in the story. As depicted in the story, the character might be considered a mutant of sorts, with a heightened sense of smell and a tough, strong, and unusual physique. Against all odds, the Sniffer became a Lev Gleason regular, transforming into a reluctant hero of sorts after refusing to go along with a Nazi plan in Daredevil Comics #8, which earned him Daredevil's respect. The character was quickly starring in his own regular feature in the title, which had him being drafted into the U.S. Army for a time. A decade later, Sniffer and the Deadly Dozen revert to their criminal ways for a stint in the Crimebuster feature in Boy Comics.

Interestingly, the Q1 1941 15.4% increase in the homicide rate over the same period from 1940, as reported by the Uniform Crime Reports, seems to have been an aberration of sorts, as the overall 1941 increase dropped steadily over the next three quarters and the number was later reported as up only 0.3% for the entirety of 1941. Perhaps some complex societal response to the turbulent times in the run-up to America's entry into WWII. A strange comic book from a publisher that put out a lot of weird-in-a-good-way stuff, there's a Daredevil Comics #5 (Lev Gleason, 1941) Condition: VG up for auction in the 2023 May 21-23 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122321 at Heritage Auctions.

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