Predictable Moral Story

Crime SuspenStories consist of short but effective crime/mystery/suspense stories. The images in the panels are indicative that they are inspired by the film noir genre of movies during that time exemplified by the spotlighting of over-dramatic reactions by the characters. We can also see the influence of short fiction writers in the concise story lines. The film-like panels images aid with the process of short stories by illustrating the caption boxes that display the actual plot line. So the images end up simplified. The art style is more realistic which also helps with the suspense because it looks like these events could occur in real life. This is essential in the making of these stories because they need to give readers a bit of a scare in a short amount of time. 

There is a predictable formula to the SuspenStories like there have been formulas to the comic strips and superhero comics that we have read so far. Ironically, we can also assume that each story ends in an unexpected way due to the crime/mystery/suspense aspect of the comics. Many of the stories have a similar tension in that the main character's action led to a bad ending. That action was usually trying to better their current situation such as kill a wife or kill a look-a-like so that they can live rich. But then it backfires on them! The character or the reader looks back in hindsight and realizes if they just did not make that crucial error/action, they would not be where they are currently, which usually is dead. These stories are like the Aesop's fables for adults. However, the violence, portrayals of women, lack of competent law enforcement figures are what led to the Comics Code Authority.