All True Crime #40
In "The Highway Massacre," a 1950 Marvel true crime tale, a cunning impostor named Matches uses his talent for impersonation to take over the life of a reclusive art collector, Dane, after murdering him and his butler. With the help of Beadle, Matches tries to sell off Dane’s prized collection, but his overconfidence leads to a fatal mistake when a sharp-eyed man named Johnson sees through the ruse. The story, illustrated by Pierce Rice, builds tension with a chilling final confrontation that ends in a shocking fall—no balcony, no escape.
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Matches believes he could be a great actor and uses his impersonation skills in crime. Matches and Beadle kill Dane and his butler then take over their lives, but he forgets Dane is supposed to be a misanthrope in his eagerness to sell off part of Dane's art collection to Gentry. Gentry brings in Johnson, who quickly determines 'Dane' is a fake. Johnson claims the police are on the way and cautions Matches not to try and escape through the balcony outside his office window. Matches ignores him and goes to do just that - but there is no balcony and he falls to his death.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).