(Flash Comics v1 007, 1940)
Long before guys like the Joker and the Riddler made leaving baroque clues to taunt the forces of Law ahead of your next crime a super-villain cliché, the Clue Criminal was out there getting things done, with a name that I must assume was used in a low-effort Batman pastiche some time in the late 60s.
Speaking of names, the Clue Criminal steals actual real painting "the Blue Boy" and then goes on to do the same to "famed smiling picture" "Modern Louisa". I guess the Mona Lisa wasn't in Washington DC to be stolen at the time, but guess what, Gardner Fox, writer of Cliff Cornwall? I checked, and "the Blue Boy" was in California in 1940! Checkmate, me!
Anyhow, the Clue Criminal perpetrates three art thefts before inexplicably pivoting to attempted zeppelin bombing - possibly the Clues were more important than the Crimes and it was easier to put one together for zeppelin sabotage than any of the theft-worthy art pieces in town. Whatever the reason, Cliff Cornwall proves as adequate at eleventh-hour riddle solving as Batman and/or Robin and the Clue Criminal is put away.
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