Every once in a while, an artifact surfaces that suggests a whole direction pop culture might have traveled but didn't. What if, for instance, Big Star's power pop had been truly popular, carrying on a tradition of '60s songcraft into the next decade? Or what if the late-'80s series Frank's Place (long overdue for a DVD release) had caught on, ushering in a new depth and sophistication to sitcoms? The 1950 "picture novel" It Rhymes With Lust is a similarly tantalizing dead end. Released at a transitional time in comics—between the golden age of superheroes and the '50s horror boom—it offered a full-length, self-contained story inspired by the era's noir films. Co-writer Arnold Drake repeatedly referred to it as the first graphic novel. It has rivals for that honor, but it's certainly one of the first. Drake, who went on to create the Doom Patrol and Deadman for DC, co-wrote it with budding novelist Leslie Waller. To draw it, they enlisted Matt Baker, an artist famed for his sensual depiction of women—and, as an African-American, a pioneer in the comics field, even if at least some of his employers never learned his race.