Robert L. Wood (June 14, 1917 – November 7, 1966), was an American comics illustrator. Wood worked for the Harry "A" Chesler Company and provided art for multiple companies, including

MLJ Magazines Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Lev Gleason Publications Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Stone Gleason (1898–1971), was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including '' Daredevil Comics'', '' Crime Does Not Pay'', and ''Boy Comics''. Backgr ...

. In 1942, Wood and

Charles Biro Charles Biro (May 12, 1911 – March 4, 1972) was an American comic book creator and cartoonist. He is today chiefly known for creating the comic book characters Airboy and Steel Sterling, and for his work at Lev Gleason Publications on '' Dared ...

co-created '' Crime Does Not Pay'', a series largely credited with beginning the "

crime comics Crime comics is a genre of American comic book, American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence a ...

" trend in the industry. Wood's personal life was marred by drinking and gambling addictions, and he served a total of three years and eight months in prison between 1958 and 1963 for

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

. A few years after his release, Wood was struck by a car and killed.

Career profile

According to

David Hajdu David Hajdu (; born March 1955) is an American columnist, author and professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He was the music critic for ''The New Republic'' for 12 years and is music editor at ''The Nation''. Biography ...

's ''The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America'', Wood was " derstood to have grown up in blue-collar

South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...

," but he "rarely discussed his background or life outside of comics." Wood worked for the Harry "A" Chesler Group, which provided artwork for

Lev Gleason Publications Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Stone Gleason (1898–1971), was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including '' Daredevil Comics'', '' Crime Does Not Pay'', and ''Boy Comics''. Backgr ...

MLJ Magazines Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Novelty Press Novelty Press (a.k.a. Premium Service Co., Inc.; a.k.a. Novelty Publications; a.k.a. Premier Group) was an American Golden Age comic-book publisher that operated from 1940 to 1949. It was the comic book imprint of Curtis Publishing Company, publi ...

. In 1942, Wood left the Chesler Group and went to work full-time for Gleason, where he co-created ''Crime Does Not Pay'' with

, serving as editor and sometimes artist. ''Crime Does Not Pay'' would go on to become one of the best-selling

in history, and was credited as the title that pushed the comics industry toward darker, crime-oriented titles.Hajdu notes the title as having sold "well over a million copies" by 1947, and indicates that once purchased, comics were passed along from friend to friend, leading the editing team to claim a total readership of over five million.

Manslaughter charge and death

In 1958, after the cancellation of ''Crime Does Not Pay'', Wood's drinking and gambling problems worsened, culminating in his arrest for

. After spending several days with a prostitute in a Gramercy Park hotel, Wood beat and killed her in an argument. After hailing a taxi, Wood told the driver, "I'm in terrible trouble. I'm going to get a couple of hours sleep and jump in the river." The cabbie responded "What happened? Did you kill somebody?", to which Wood replied "Yes, I killed a woman who was giving me a bad time in Room 91 of the Irving Hotel. Why don't you call someone at a newspaper and make yourself a few dollars?" The cabbie reported Wood's actions to the police, who arrested him at his

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

residential hotel. According to

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...

's account of the murder, "Wood's clothes were so bloodied, police borrowed a pair of pants from the hotel manager to take Wood in for questioning." Wood was sentenced to three years in prison for first-degree (voluntary) manslaughter. He was paroled after two years and eight months, then arrested six months later on a parole violation, finally being released for good in July 1963. Three years after his release from prison, he was struck by a car while attempting to cross the

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jersey ...

Career profile

Manslaughter charge and death

References

Further reading