THIS COMIC IS TOPS!

There have been some pretty off-the-wall comics published over the years. For example, FATMAN THE HUMAN FLYING SAUCER (1967, created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck), the Dell monster super-hero line (Frankenstein, Dracula, Werewolf), DC's BROTHER POWER THE GEEK, HANSI, THE GIRL WHO LOVED THE SWASTIKA and THE BOUNCER (1944, created by Robert Kanigher) are just a few that come to mind and I'm sure you can think of many others.

One of the weirdest is a two-issue offering from the“flamboyant, free-spending"  Lev Gleason in 1949 called TOPS. Published under the name Tops Magazine, Inc. in an apparent attempt to differentiate it from his other line of comics, Gleason enlisted his trusty right-hand man, Charles Biro to assemble a comic book strictly for a "sophisticated" mature readership. Any topic would be fair game, except sex.

This excerpt from my article "Fear in Four Colors: The Hideous History of American Horror Comics Part V, The Great Horror Comics Purge" (available HERE) explains that Gleason was leaning towards this idea to capture a larger readership and decided to go all in with TOPS.

During the war, while costumed characters were beating up on Nazis and “Japs” publisher Leverette Stone “Lev” Gleason—who had worked with Max Gaines at Eastern Color in the 1930’s—was on the lookout for something new to add to his weakening line of super-hero comics Silver Streak, Daredevil and Boy Comics. He approached his creative team of Charles Biro and Bob Wood for some fresh blood . . . and it would be blood—and plenty of it—that he would get. Said to be inspired by an offer of prostitution that Wood had once experienced (which he declined), they pitched the idea of a comic with a true crime theme. Gleason loved it and replaced what would have been the twenty-second issue of Silver Streak with the first issue of Crime Does Not Pay, on sale April 29, 1942. Whether he knew it or not, Gleason took the title from a currently-running MGM true crime TV series with surprisingly no pushback from the film studio!

Gleason’s book set off a “crime wave” of its own. After selling on average 200,000 copies for the first few issues (the same as the first print run as Superman), by the end of 1942, sales increased to 300,000 and eventually reached a circulation of over one million copies a month. A tsunami of crime titles followed from the competition, and as horror comics did later, became more violent, bloody and sexually suggestive, as well as being aimed at an increasingly growing readership of older teenagers and adults.

After previously getting in hot water with the FBI over his left-wing political dealings, Gleason came under the scrutiny of the House Un-American Activities as a result of his affiliation with a known Communist organization. The anti-fascist, left-leaning Gleason became a card-carrying Communist in the 1930s in reaction to the Capitalist meltdown known as the Great Depression. In order to stay out of jail, Gleason testified at the committee and was released without being penalized. Luckily for the comic book industry, comics were not a subject of the inquiry.

According to the masthead, Biro is listed as Director, ex-publisher and newspaperman William H. Kofoed is the editor, and illustrator and co-creator of CRIME DOES NOT PAY Bob Wood is the Managing Editor. Comic book letterer Irv Watanabe (who would later work for Marvel and Warren, among others) is designated as the Art Director.

This is how Gleason explained his lofty rationale for publishing TOPS in his introduction to the first issue:

After nine years of planning and of research, we present a new concept in magazine publishing -- TOPS. It is the logical result, the normal evolution, the climax of the advance of the comic strip. The enormous interest of the American public in comics, the refinement of its art, style and technique, made possible the creation of this magazine.

This new means of entertainment for which we have coined the descriptive word, Illustories, now takes its place in full maturity alongside the theatre [sic], movies, radio and television. It is not unlike the dramatic arts; it's contact is both visual and literary.

The comic itself was over-sized (101/4" x 12 1/4") so it would appropriately sit alongside the rest of the  "big people's" magazines on the newsstand. Reed Crandall, George Tuska and Bob Lubbers were among the impressive list of talent who contributed work in both issues. What I think is the biggest score was getting a two-page Dashiell "The Maltese Falcon" Hammett story. How that happened is anyone's guess, but it sure added some cred. Oddly, it's not promoted on the cover!

Gleason's brash, but nevertheless noble attempt to bring comic books to an exclusively adult audience failed after two bi-monthly issues, and it ceased publishing in September 1949. Today, TOPS is considered rare with prices going as high as $4,200.

TOPS #1 (July 1949)

Cover by Charles Biro.

Art by Reed Crandall.

Art by Dan Barry.

Art by Reed Crandall.

Art by Bob Fujitani.

Art by George Tuska.

Art by Fred Kida.

Art by Sy Barry.

Art by George Tuska.

TOPS #2 (September 1949)

Cover by Charles Biro.

Art by Reed Crandall.

Art by Bob Lubbers.

Racy!

Art by Fred Kida.

Those interested in learning more about the life and career of Lev Gleason can purchase his biography by his nephew HERE.