Pay-Off (1948 D.S. Publishing) comic books 1949

Cover by Bob Jenney. Stories and art by Bob Jenney and Red Holmdale. Like many of DS Publishing's crime comics, Pay-Off transformed slowly from violent pre-Code gangster stories to milder mysteries featuring heroic detectives. Insurance investigator Johnny Dickens is called in after $1 million in jewels is stolen from a woman and replaced with fakes. A would-be burglar learns the secret past of the old dark Cobb House from its eccentric owner. WWI-era sailors encounter a modern version of the legendary Lorelei that lured the unwary to watery graves. The Lady and the Jewels; High Stakes; Murder and Make-Up; The Unhappy Millionaire; The Jinx; The Phantom Sloop. 48 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.

Cover by Al Camy. Stories and art by Al Camy, Bob Jenney, Gretchen George, B. Rhodes and Al McWilliams. Like many of DS Publishing's crime comics, Pay-Off transformed slowly from violent pre-Code gangster stories to milder mysteries featuring heroic detectives. Two women end up in a life-raft after a cruise liner goes down, but one of them is a criminal. A police detective investigating a murder encounters a modern-day Jekyll-and-Hyde. Private eye Mike Rand discovers a mysterious secret society when a case takes him to a mansion on Long Island. The Beautiful Embezzler; Death Stalks the Stage; Dangerous Alibi; Shoes Of the Guilty; Murder in the Electric Chair; Deuce of Pearls; Killer Dillers; League of the 10,000. Final issue of the series. 48 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.