Did You Know that Black Artist Matt Baker co-created the FIRST Graphic Novel???

Before Will Eisner created A Contract with God...
Before Gil Kane created BlackMark...

...there was It Rhymes with Lust!

Written by Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller (combined as "Drake Waller"), illustrated by penciler Matt Baker and inker Ray Osrin, the digest-sized 1950 one-shot from St John Publications is pulpish film noir at its' coolest!

Dark Horse Comics (which published a 2007 high-quality reprint available below) explained it thusly...

In 1950, writers Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller, both attending college on the G.I. Bill, envisioned a sophisticated, novel-length comic tailored to their peers. Collaborating with comics art master Matt Baker, known for singularly defining the genre of "good girl art" on titles such as Phantom Lady, they crafted a film-noir inspired masterwork of romance, intrigue, and moral relativity. When cynical newspaperman Hal Weber reunites with old flame Rust Masson, he finds the beguiling widow of a mining magnate willing to do anything to undermine the local political machine--her only opponent for total control of Copper City!

We presented the complete original 1950 edition in a summer 2017 blogathon that ran throughout several of our RetroBlogs.
Just follow the embedded links at the end of each chapter and enjoy the whole story!
Buckle up your seatbelts and begin the adventure at True Love Comics Tales...

Note: The thanks of a grateful nation go to Kracalactaka, who found the scans of the 1950 St John first edition in the wilds of the internet, cleaned them up, and made them available!

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It Rhymes with Lust

Deluxe Reprint Edition