Crime SuspenStories #19

Credits:
Cover dated October/November 1953
Cover by Al Feldstein

"The Killer" - Art by Reed Crandall/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Wined-Up!" - Art by George Evans/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Murder May Boomerang" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig
"About Phase" - Art by George Evans/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines

Al Feldstein turns in his only cover for Crime SuspenStories, making this the first issue of the comic for which Johnny Craig didn't do the cover (as he did the cover for the concurrent issue of Shock SuspenStories)

"The Killer" - A man named Jonathan grew up always being good at creating things and wanted to be a craftsman. He is unable to get into the guild however due to his family not being into the business. His father keeps trying him to go into his line of business, and wanting to be married, Jonathan accepts. His job, which he keeps secret from his wife, frequently forces him to leave the house at night. One night when he leaves their baby is born dead. His wife starts growing cold towards him after this. One day Jonathan returns from his work and finds his house trashed and his wife gone. He is brought to the authorities who tell him his wife was having an affair and murdered her lover. His wife is sentenced to be hung, and Jonathan finally reveals his job to her, that he's the hangman. A strong way to start off the issue, with a terrific shock ending.

"Wined-Up!" - A wealthy man named Charles is paralyzed from the waist down after being in a car accident with his wife Laura. Laura later reveals that she wants to kill Charles, having married him only for his money. She plans on killing him at their summer home by tying a string to his wheelchair and rolling him into the water of the nearby lake. The time comes and Laura pulls the wheelchair into the water as planned. However, Charles reveals that he was never paralyzed after all, having suspected that she was trying to kill him. Laura gets cramps from his tampering with the alcohol she drank prior to heading to the water, and he leaves her to drown. Another strong story with a good art job from Evans, who has 2 stories in this issue.

"Murder May Boomerang" - A man drives through the rain in a car with his father. Flashbacks show the father raising the son alone after his wife died. When the son grows up, he goes to college and becomes a chemist and gets a raise that permits his father to stop working. The two go on a vacation to celebrate where they go hunting, camping, etc... One night when the son leaves his father alone he hears about maniacs that have escaped from a local prison and are where his father is. The son rushes back and finds his father beaten, and that one of the escaped maniacs have stolen some of his hunting clothes. The son heads out and kills the maniac when his father points him out to him. But later when they spot another man in hunting clothes, the father claims he was his attacker. The son realizes that his father has had a nervous breakdown and will point out anyone wearing hunting clothes as his attacker. This story was reprinted from issue 1 and was the only instance in Crime SuspenStories where a story was reprinted. It was used when the story "The Tryst", which was originally meant for this issue, got moved to the concurrent issue of Shock SuspenStories. This occurred when the scheduled 8 page Kamen lead story for that issue, "Three's A Crowd" got reduced to 7 pages, requiring an 8 page story to replace it.

"About Phase" - A man named Wilbur is married to a shrew of a wife who is always complaining and fighting with him. In the local city, a maniac has killed women the night of the full moon multiple times. Wilbur read up on the killer in the newspaper, who is being claimed to have lycanthropy, a mental illness that convinces him that he's a werewolf. Wilbur comes up with a plan to kill his wife the night of the full moon, then confess to it, be sent to an institution and pretend to be cured a few years later. The next full moon Wilbur goes through with it and confesses, but the police do not believe him as there was an eclipse of the moon that night. Wilbur, who had also killed the other women, is jailed and sentenced to be hanged. An average Horror SuspenStory that was originally intended for Shock SuspenStories #11 but was moved here instead as a result of the shuffling mentioned in the previous story.