This is either a huge coincidence or a very esoteric in-joke on the part of cover artist Gray Morrow. I know which one I go with.
![Buster Crabbe; Doc Caliban]()
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The Model for Doc Played Flash Gordon
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Blackhawk Writers 1956
This will echo the lists for Quality's Exploits of Daniel Boone and Robin Hood Tales in 1956. Joe Millard had been writing for Quality for some time; Robert Bernstein was Quality's final writer before they gave up the ghost in 1956. It's been pointed out that the plot of Blackhawk101's "The Lost Island" is lifted from Marvel Boy1's "The Lost World" (Dec/50); but although Bernstein was writing for Timely/Atlas at that point, I can't find his stylistic prints on the Marvel Boy story.
BlackhawkWriters 1956
| Jan/56 | 96 | 7 Graves for 7 Blackhawks | Joe Millard |
| Case of the Missing Blackhawk | Millard | ||
| Doom in the Deep | Millard | ||
| Feb/ | 97 | The Horde of the Bat | Millard |
| Hitler's Daughter | Millard | ||
| Revolt of the Slave Workers | Millard | ||
| Mar/ | 98 | The Phantom Saboteur | Millard |
| The Temple of Doom | Millard | ||
| The Black Flag | Millard | ||
| Apr/ | 99 | The Queen of Blackhawk Island | Millard |
| The War That Never Ended | Robert Bernstein | ||
| The Underground Menace | Bernstein | ||
| May/ | 100 | The Delphian Menace | Bernstein |
| The Citadel of Hate | ? | ||
| The Steel Scorpion | Millard | ||
| June/ | 101 | General Steel | Millard |
| Satan's Paymaster | Millard | ||
| The Lost Island | Bernstein | ||
| July/ | 102 | Master of Mankind | Millard |
| The Doom Cloud | Millard | ||
| The Red Professor's Secret | Bernstein | ||
| Aug/ | 103 | The Super Race | Bernstein |
| The Man Who Stole Tomorrow | Millard | ||
| Menace from the Skies | Bernstein | ||
| Sept/ | 104 | Rescue under Fire | Bernstein |
| Treachery in the Antarctic | Bernstein | ||
| The Jet Menace | Bernstein | ||
| Oct/ | 105 | Nightmare Cruise | Bernstein |
| The Red Kamakaze Terror | Bernstein | ||
| The Master of Treachery | Bernstein | ||
| Nov/ | 106 | The Flying Tank Platoon | Bernstein |
| Stars of Disaster | Bernstein | ||
| The Red Raiders | Bernstein | ||
| Dec/ | 107 | The Winged Menace | Bernstein |
| Red Timetable of Treachery | Bernstein | ||
| One Minute Till Doom | Bernstein |
Bernstein spells "Kamakaze" with an "a" throughout the story in #105, although the cover has it "Kamikaze."
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↧
Carmine Infantino Starts Off in Comics with Cap
I don't think anything earlier has been found: Carmine Infantino hit the ground running in comic books with a handful of stories on a major character, Captain America, in 1943.
From Cap 27, note the face of the French Underground fighter Pierre in panel 1; more to the point, look at him running in panel 6.
![Cap 27 Blitzkrieg to Berlin]()
Infantino-pencilled stories in Captain America
I dithered over whether the one-month earlier "Invasion of the Killer Beasts" was by Infantino—it seems so much cruder—but then I found that the Marvel Masterworks reprint credited him as one of the pencillers (others unknown), so I'll go along with that.
in U.S.A. Comics
From Cap 27, note the face of the French Underground fighter Pierre in panel 1; more to the point, look at him running in panel 6.
| June/43 | 27 | Blitzkrieg to Berlin |
| July/ | 28 | The Vultures of Violent Death |
I dithered over whether the one-month earlier "Invasion of the Killer Beasts" was by Infantino—it seems so much cruder—but then I found that the Marvel Masterworks reprint credited him as one of the pencillers (others unknown), so I'll go along with that.
in U.S.A. Comics
| May/43 | 8 | The Invasion of the Killer Beasts |
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Carl Memling at Charlton--Who Knew?
I was looking for Carl Memling scripts at Timely/Atlas in the Fifties, where he's known to have written for the horror anthologies (I haven't found any of his there yet); but with his style fresh in my mind, when I was merely reading some Fifties Charlton comics and not expecting to recognize writers, I happened across him. A Memling trademark that I've mentioned before is sirens or car engines going "Rowrrrrr."
![Crime and Justice 19, The 64,000 Dollar Question--'Rowrrrrr']()
There are one or two more Crime and Justice scripts that could be Memling's, but I'll err on the side of caution and leave them off for now. I'll get to more titles eventually; he wrote quite a bit in two years or so.
The writers known to have done some work for Charlton in the early-through-mid-Fifties include Walter B. Gibson, Bruce Hamilton, Ken Fitch, Harry Shorten, and Jerry Siegel. Fitch was one writer who, in addition to scripts written directly for Charlton, had work published there out of other companies' bought-out inventories. Joe Gill was writing for Charlton around 1954 but didn't become their house writer, filling almost all the pages, for another few years.
Carl Memling Scripts in
Crime and Justice
The writers known to have done some work for Charlton in the early-through-mid-Fifties include Walter B. Gibson, Bruce Hamilton, Ken Fitch, Harry Shorten, and Jerry Siegel. Fitch was one writer who, in addition to scripts written directly for Charlton, had work published there out of other companies' bought-out inventories. Joe Gill was writing for Charlton around 1954 but didn't become their house writer, filling almost all the pages, for another few years.
Carl Memling Scripts in
Crime and Justice
| July/53 | 14 | Down the Drain |
| Three O'Clock Shadow | ||
| Sep/ | 15 | Vacation from Violence [MR & MRS CHASE] |
| Behind Locked Doors | ||
| Stormy Crossing | ||
| Eye Witness | ||
| Nov/ | 16 | Peril on the Pacific [MR & MRS CHASE] |
| The Hatchet Is Buried | ||
| Feb/54 | 17 | No Way Out |
| Apr/ | 18 | Killer on the Loose [RADIO PATROL] |
| Terror under the Big Top [MR & MRS CHASE] | ||
| July/ | 19 | Three's a Mob |
| Sep/ | 20 | A Deadly Circle [RADIO PATROL] |
| Nov/ | 21 | The $64,000 Question [MR & MRS CHASE] |
| Road Pirates |
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Joe Shuster's Charlton Ghost
Bill Molno was a Charlton mainstay for a decade or more on the anthology books; I see his occasional series entries mostly on the Westerns. Unless I've missed earlier stories, his debut at the company in 1954 was ghost pencils for Joe Shuster. Mark Evanier gives Dick Giordano's explanation of the ghosting in a comment on the previous post .
Here's a page from "The Well of Fear" in Strange Suspense Stories21 compared with one from about three and a half years later—after Joe Shuster's credits are long gone—"The House of Man,"Out of This World 7 (Feb/58). Molno is inking himself on this one
![Strange Suspense Stories 21 and Out of This World 7]()
There are a few more stories with Shuster's credit at Charlton that I haven't seen—hot rod ones, for instance. Unsigned 1954 stories penciled by Molno and inked by others include "Food for Thought" (SSS20, Aug), "Who Will He Be?" and "This Bite Is Sweet" (SSS21, Sept), "Mental Wizard" and, possibly, "The Crusher" (The Thing 16, Sept), and "Where Do They Lurk?" (This Magazine Is Haunted 19, Aug). I mention them thinking of the uncredited Jerry Grandenetti pieces in the mid-Sixties that have been misattributed to Joe Orlando, for whom he was ghosting elsewhere at the time. There are other "Shuster" stories in the GCD that could be looked at a second time.
Bill Molno Stories Ghost-Penciling for Joe Shuster
(Inked by Ray Osrin except as noted)
Crime and Justice
Racket Squad in Action
Space Adventures
Strange Suspense Stories
The Thing
This Magazine Is Haunted
Here's a page from "The Well of Fear" in Strange Suspense Stories21 compared with one from about three and a half years later—after Joe Shuster's credits are long gone—"The House of Man,"Out of This World 7 (Feb/58). Molno is inking himself on this one
Bill Molno Stories Ghost-Penciling for Joe Shuster
(Inked by Ray Osrin except as noted)
Crime and Justice
| July/54 | 19 | The Death Watch [RADIO PATROL] |
| Sep/ | 20 | The Anniversary Gift [MR & MRS CHASE] |
| A Deadly Circle [RADIO PATROL] | ||
| Nov/ | 21 | The $64,000 Question [MR & MRS CHASE] |
| Road Pirates | ||
| Finale for Fingers |
Racket Squad in Action
| A-S/54 | 12 | Robbery by Appointment |
| The Ransom Swindle | ||
| Protection Game | ||
| O-N/ | 13 | Malignant Model Agency |
| The Basketball Scandals |
Space Adventures
| M-J/54 | 11 | Interplanetary Safari (inked by Dick Giordano) |
Strange Suspense Stories
| July/54 | 19 | Give Back My Body (no inker signature) |
| Sept/ | 21 | The Well of Fear |
| Nov/ | 22 | The Secret of the Box |
The Thing
| Sept/54 | 16 | Death of a Gambler (inked by Vince Alascia) |
This Magazine Is Haunted
| July/54 | 18 | The Last Earl (inked by John Belfi) |
| Sept/ | 20 | Quest of the Beyond |
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Blackhawk Backups 1956
The art credits are straightforward: Sam Citron on all. He was Quality's artist of choice that year on Robin Hood Tales, and inked others into his look on Exploits of Daniel Boone.
The writers are the Blackhawk writers and, in point of fact, the remaining Quality writers. For what it's worth, the Who's Who lists John Broome, of all people, on 1956 Blackhawk backups, but I can't see him on the any of the three I haven't been able to attribute to Bernstein or Millard.
BlackhawkBackups 1956
Art by Sam Citron
| Jan/56 | 96 | Rescue from the Sky | w: ? |
| Feb/ | 97 | War in the Sky | w: Joe Millard |
| Mar/ | 98 | David and Goliath in the Sky | w: Millard |
| Apr/ | 99 | Fear and Flight | w: ? |
| May/ | 100 | The Ghost Plane | w: Robert Bernstein |
| June/ | 101 | The Incredible Exploits of Baron von Richtofen | w: ? |
| July/ | 102 | Critical Target | w: Bernstein |
| Aug/ | 103 | Fighter for Freedom | w: Bernstein |
| Sept/ | 104 | Caged | w: Bernstein |
| Oct/ | 105 | Winged Menace | w: Bernstein |
| Nov/ | 106 | Sam's Sixth Sense | w: Bernstein |
| Dec/ | 107 | Red Helicopter Ambush | w: Bernstein |
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The Ghost in Operation Bikini
"Operation Bikini," a 1963 AIP movie with Frankie Avalon, might sound like a Beach Party movie, but it came out before the first of that series; it was a World War II frogmen story. Until 1946 and the A-bomb tests there inspired a name for the new "atomic" swimsuit style, "Bikini" would have meant only the Pacific atoll. (AIP's publicity department didn't let that bother them for the posters.)
A number of the Movie Classics (and other Dell titles) included among their artists combinations of Vince Colletta, Dick Giordano, Joe Sinnott, John Tartaglione, Frank McLaughlin, Sal Trapani, and various Trapani ghosts. Operation Bikini (Oct/63) most obviously features Colletta's inks on the entire issue.
I can tell myself that I see a few Giordano poses or faces on later pages. That may just be because I expect to see him there, but certainly there were multi-artist jams among this loose group of artists at Dell. His deciding the poses would make those pages his pencils, of course, not inks. On one or two of the later pages I could admit the possibility of pencils by, say, Sinnott.
Most pages' pencils, though, belong to none of that group, it seems to me. Giordano or Sinnott's pencils usually show better through Colletta's inks, overwhelming as the inks are. There's one touch that I don't recall seeing Sinnott or Giordano use that made me consider a particular artist.
![Operation Bikini, Daniel Boone 6, AITU 146]()
I believe the penciller on most of the book, certainly the first part, is Sam Citron. Note the distinctive motion lines around the head of Malone in the second panel of the Dell page. Compare with the same from "Menace of the Renegades" in Quality's Exploits of Daniel Boone 6 (Sept/56). And see the lines used to indicate not head-swiveling but confusion in "Strange Planet" from ACG's Adventures into the Unknown 146 (Feb/64). On the latter story, Citron's pencils are credited (Pete Costanza is the inker).
At least those various artists' Dells would give indexers something to pore over for half a century—and beyond...
A number of the Movie Classics (and other Dell titles) included among their artists combinations of Vince Colletta, Dick Giordano, Joe Sinnott, John Tartaglione, Frank McLaughlin, Sal Trapani, and various Trapani ghosts. Operation Bikini (Oct/63) most obviously features Colletta's inks on the entire issue.
I can tell myself that I see a few Giordano poses or faces on later pages. That may just be because I expect to see him there, but certainly there were multi-artist jams among this loose group of artists at Dell. His deciding the poses would make those pages his pencils, of course, not inks. On one or two of the later pages I could admit the possibility of pencils by, say, Sinnott.
Most pages' pencils, though, belong to none of that group, it seems to me. Giordano or Sinnott's pencils usually show better through Colletta's inks, overwhelming as the inks are. There's one touch that I don't recall seeing Sinnott or Giordano use that made me consider a particular artist.
I believe the penciller on most of the book, certainly the first part, is Sam Citron. Note the distinctive motion lines around the head of Malone in the second panel of the Dell page. Compare with the same from "Menace of the Renegades" in Quality's Exploits of Daniel Boone 6 (Sept/56). And see the lines used to indicate not head-swiveling but confusion in "Strange Planet" from ACG's Adventures into the Unknown 146 (Feb/64). On the latter story, Citron's pencils are credited (Pete Costanza is the inker).
At least those various artists' Dells would give indexers something to pore over for half a century—and beyond...
↧
More Charlton Crime from Carl Memling
Walter B. Gibson is listed as assistant editor on issues 1-9. Although so far I've concentrated on finding Carl Memling's stories, it strikes me that Gibson could have written all the stories in #1-7 as well as "The Fake Bond Swindle" in #9.
Carl Memling turns out to be Charlton's main writer from mid-1953 into early 1955 by cover dates. (He’s well-represented in their horror comics too.) There are other writers; in Racket Squad 13, "Malignant Model Agency" and "The Basketball Scandals" are by the same person, whoever that may be. Ken Fitch is known to have written Racket Squad in 1955-56. Joe Gill starts writing for the title in 1956 (it did survive under the Code) and is its sole comics writer by the last issue, #29, in 1958.
Carl Memling Scripts in
Racket Squad in Action
| Aug/53 | 8 | In the Driver's Seat |
| The Death Notice Racket | ||
| Hush Money | ||
| The Misery Chiselers | ||
| Oct/ | 9 | Two Fisted Fix |
| Reverse Twist | ||
| Letter Perfect | ||
| Jan/54 | 10 | Stamp of Guilt |
| A Handful of Aces | ||
| When Two Thieves Meet | ||
| Door to Door Swindle | ||
| The Stradivarius Swindle | ||
| M-J/ | 11 | Botticelli of the Bangtails |
| Photo Frame-Up | ||
| A-S/ | 12 | Robbery by Appointment |
| The Ransom Swindle | ||
| Refund Artist | ||
| Protection Game | ||
| O-N/ | 13 | Your Money or Your Face! |
| Hot Ice | ||
| A Case for the Police | ||
| Free Pick-Up | ||
| Jan/55 | 14 | The Big Freeze |
| Shakedown | ||
| The Double-Talk-Artists | ||
| Mar/ | 15 | Limited Edition |
| Blackmail | ||
| Double Trouble |
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An Unheralded Sixties Marvel Artist
There are a number of comics at companies like Dell and Tower in the Sixties where Joe Giella shares the inking with Frank Giacoia—most noticeably over Mike Sekowsky's pencils, but with other pencillers as well. The publishers don't give credits to anyone on those stories.
On his work with Giacoia at mid-Sixties Marvel, Giella goes uncredited. Giacoia gets the credit (as "Frank Ray") when inking credit is given; the four girls' titles, Patsy Walker's and Millie the Model's, are the last to switch over to more than just writer and penciller signatures, in 1965.
There are some shake-ups in the art on Patsy Walker and Patsy and Hedybefore this: Stan Goldberg and Sol Brodsky pinch-hitting for Al Hartley on pencils, for instance (Brodsky pencils PW120 and 121 below, but Hartley returns for the others). Inkers such as Chic Stone and Vince Colletta come aboard for a few issues—it took Nick Caputo's ID of Stone on the GCD to place that artist for me on the feature; no problems with recognizing Colletta! I'd agree that the inking on P & H101 is John Tartaglione's, so it's skipped below.
It looks as if Giella inks the majority of pages on all of these issues save P & H 102. I think I might see a few Giella pages where one close-up face has been inked by Giacoia, whose inks editor Stan Lee was no doubt expecting to see somewhere. Al Hartley's pencils manage to show through Giella's inks, but some of Sol Brodsky's pages might as well be pencilled by Giella himself in the Sheldon Moldoff style; these pages with their Bob Kane hands are from Patsy Walker121.
![Patsy Walker 121]()
Joe Giella does do some credited inking for Marvel a decade later, and in fact shares the inking credits with Frank Giacioa on Power Man 35 (Sep/76).
Joe Giella and Frank Giacoia inks
on Patsy Walker
on Patsy and Hedy
On his work with Giacoia at mid-Sixties Marvel, Giella goes uncredited. Giacoia gets the credit (as "Frank Ray") when inking credit is given; the four girls' titles, Patsy Walker's and Millie the Model's, are the last to switch over to more than just writer and penciller signatures, in 1965.
There are some shake-ups in the art on Patsy Walker and Patsy and Hedybefore this: Stan Goldberg and Sol Brodsky pinch-hitting for Al Hartley on pencils, for instance (Brodsky pencils PW120 and 121 below, but Hartley returns for the others). Inkers such as Chic Stone and Vince Colletta come aboard for a few issues—it took Nick Caputo's ID of Stone on the GCD to place that artist for me on the feature; no problems with recognizing Colletta! I'd agree that the inking on P & H101 is John Tartaglione's, so it's skipped below.
It looks as if Giella inks the majority of pages on all of these issues save P & H 102. I think I might see a few Giella pages where one close-up face has been inked by Giacoia, whose inks editor Stan Lee was no doubt expecting to see somewhere. Al Hartley's pencils manage to show through Giella's inks, but some of Sol Brodsky's pages might as well be pencilled by Giella himself in the Sheldon Moldoff style; these pages with their Bob Kane hands are from Patsy Walker121.
Joe Giella does do some credited inking for Marvel a decade later, and in fact shares the inking credits with Frank Giacioa on Power Man 35 (Sep/76).
Joe Giella and Frank Giacoia inks
on Patsy Walker
| Apr/65 | 120 | What Can We Do about Nancy Brown? |
| Jun/ | 121 | Another Spring, Another City, Another Love |
| Aug/ | 122 | No Greater Love |
| Oct/ | 123 | Don't Leave Me, My Love |
on Patsy and Hedy
| Jun/65 | 100 | When a Girl Becomes...a Woman |
| Oct/ | 102 | So Much Love, So Few Kisses [mostly Giacoia] |
| Aug/ | 103 | Love's Finest Hour |
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↧
Dick Wood at Charlton, 1956
Dick Wood was credited for scripts at Charlton, but that was in 1969. He had a run of Phantom stories just after the company took over the title from King Comics. Those may have been inventory scripts, or Charlton may have hired him for his familiarity with the character; three of his scripts were illustrated by Charlton artists like Jim Aparo. The fourth, the only one drawn there by Bill Lignante, I'd imagine was completed at King and so looks an inventory story on all counts. But to paraphrase Arlo Guthrie, that's not what I'm here to talk about.
I'm here to talk about 1956.
![Blue Beetle in Nature Boy 3--'Jumping cats!']()
Scanning Charlton's Fifties output for Carl Memling stories, I couldn't help seeing some by Dick Wood; his style is so colorful: "Great suffering Hannah!" or in the case above, "Jumping cats!" I find a handful of his stories, all in the one year. Before anyone asks, I haven't IDed the writer on the four other new Blue Beetle stories of the period, in BB 20 and 21 (June and August, 1955).
Dick Wood 1950s Charlton Scripts
Blue Beetle
in Nature Boy
anthology stories:
Out of This World
Racket Squad in Action
Strange Suspense Stories
I'm here to talk about 1956.
Dick Wood 1950s Charlton Scripts
Blue Beetle
in Nature Boy
| Mar/56 | 3 | Unmasked | p: Charles Nicholas i: Sal Trapani |
anthology stories:
Out of This World
| Aug/56 | 1 | The Mission from Outer Space | a: Nicholas |
Racket Squad in Action
| Feb/56 | 20 | The Portrait Racketeers | p: Bill Molno i: Trapani |
Strange Suspense Stories
| Aug/56 | 30 | Lost Child | p: Molno i: Trapani |
↧
Not the Two-Gun KId
At Quality, Chuck Winter had a four-issue run in Buccaneers, as I posted here. He had twice that in Crack Western on Two-Gun Lil.
On the first four stories I'm taking the Grand Comics Database artist attributions as a start. I think I see three artists among the first four stories (the same one on #64 and 65). Leo Morey is known to have worked on the series, but I can't match him up from his signed stories at ACG a decade later; it may be that he's being inked by other hands here.
Two-Gun Lil in Crack Western
| Nov/49 | 63 | She Was Ready | w: Joe Millard a: Charles Sultan? |
| Jan/50 | 64 | The Forbidden Star | w: ? a: Leo Morey? |
| Mar/ | 65 | The Dance Hall of Death | w: ? a: Morey? |
| May/ | 66 | Even Frontier Terrorists Can Learn | w: ? a: ? |
| Jul/ | 67 | Two-Gun Lil Votes against Lynch Law | w: ? a: Pete Riss |
| Sep/ | 68 | Two-Gun Lil Conquers Western Crime | w: ? a: Riss |
| Nov/ | 69 | Hot-Lead Two-Step | w: Millard a: Chuck Winter |
| Jan/51 | 70 | The Taming of Big Bat McGrew | w: Millard a: Winter |
| Mar/ | 71 | A Bargain in Bullets | w: Millard a: Winter |
| May/ | 72 | The Ghost of Grim Gulch | w: Millard a: Winter |
| Jul/ | 73 | Six-Guns from the Sky | w: Millard a: Winter |
| Sep/ | 74 | Gun Trouble in Paradise | w: Millard a: Winter |
| Nov/ | 75 | The Vultures of Goldhill | w: Millard a: Winter |
| Jan/52 | 76 | The End of the Owlhoot Trail | w: Millard a: Winter |
| Mar/ | 77 | A Heart as Big as a House | w: ? a: Pete Morisi |
| May/ | 78 | Once upon a Time There Were Three Bassett Brothers | w: Robert Bernstein a: Morisi |
| Sep/ | 80 | The Murder on Stage | w: Bernstein a: Morisi |
| Nov/ | 81 | The Target Is Two-Gun Lil | w: Bernstein a: Morisi |
| Jan/53 | 82 | Target of Hot Lead | w: Bernstein a: Morisi |
| Mar/ | 83 | The Fiend in Knee Pants | w: Bernstein p: John Forte i: ? |
| May/ | 84 | The Kissing Monster | w: Bernstein a: Edmond Good |
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Second Try on a Trapani Ghost
In other words, I saw (here) Don Perlin-type faces under Sal Trapani's inks on Hogan's Heroes4. But after finding the same penciller's style under Trapani inks in other comics, with some panels a bit more obvious, I revise my identification. Trapani's ghost penciller here is Bill Ely.
The funny thing is that I was led to this in a Trapani-less Charlton issue. The unsigned first story ("The Witness") in The Many Ghost of Dr. Graves 1 (May/67) was obviously by Ely but didn't seem to match up with the early-Sixties art of his at DC I was accustomed to. My first thought was, "He's using the same ghost penciller as Sal Trapani," and then I applied Occam's razor—it's simpler just to accept Ely as penciller in both instances.
The figures of Colonel Klink falling (especially in panel 3) on this Hogan's Heroes page are the clue to Ely's style here; that style peeks through on the cop in panel 1 of the Superheroespage, and more noticeably in the figure of Dan's father in panel 3.
Bill Ely pencils on Hogan's Heroes
| Mar/67 | 4 | Operation Flick Flack |
On Superheroes
| Jan/67 | 1 | The Origin of the Fab Four |
| Apr/ | 2 | The Clowns |
| Nutt's Revenge | ||
| Enslaved |
↧
Trapani and Friends at ACG
Sal Trapani and his ghost pencillers come aboard for ACG's final two years of operation. Bill Ely is his sole ghost there for nine stories as of the 1967-dated issues. Ely's regular assignment at DC, Rip Hunter, ended in late 1965.
My impression is that Rocco Mastroserio penciled the first page of "The Mirror of Mystery"; Dick Giordano certainly did the remaining three. What do you think?
![Unknown Worlds 53 Mirror of Mystery]()
There were six other Ditko/Trapani stories at ACG after "My Ancestor—the Indian Scout," all credited to both artists, so not on these lists of ghosted ones. I daresay that Richard Hughes said "Oh, come on!" to the idea that the readers wouldn't recognize that particular penciller. (For what it's worth, after ghosting the pencils on Nukla1 at Dell, Giordano gets a signature along with Trapani's on #2 and 4, as does Ditko on #4.)
Adventures into the Unknown
Forbidden Worlds
Gasp!
Unknown Worlds
Interestingly enough, there's an ACG story ghosted byrather than for Sal Trapani. The art on the other new story in Unknown Worlds 53 is credited solely to Bob Jenney, but Trapani is inking Jenney's pencils.
Unknown Worlds
My impression is that Rocco Mastroserio penciled the first page of "The Mirror of Mystery"; Dick Giordano certainly did the remaining three. What do you think?
Adventures into the Unknown
| Dec-Jan/67 | 169 | Two Vials from Vidalia | p: Bill Ely |
| Jun-Jul/ | 173 | Miss Hepzibah Takes a Trip | p: Ely |
Forbidden Worlds
| Nov-Dec/65 | 132 | The Mirror of Mystery | p: Rocco Mastroserio, Dick Giordano |
| Jul/67 | 144 | "Click, Click," Went the Machine | p: Ely |
Gasp!
| Mar/67 | 1 | The Terrible Teen-Agers | p: Ely |
| Apr-May/ | 2 | Vengeful Spirit | p: Ely |
| Jun-Jul/ | 3 | Sorry, You've Got the Wrong Ghosts | p: Ely |
| Aug/ | 4 | You've Got to Relax | p: Ely |
Unknown Worlds
| Feb/66 | 45 | My Ancestor—the Old Indian Scout | p: Steve Ditko |
| Mar/ | 46 | That's My Partner | p: Giordano |
| Mar/67 | 53 | The Haunted Brush | p: Ely |
| Aug/ | 57 | When the Gizmo Blew a Gasket | p: Ely |
Interestingly enough, there's an ACG story ghosted byrather than for Sal Trapani. The art on the other new story in Unknown Worlds 53 is credited solely to Bob Jenney, but Trapani is inking Jenney's pencils.
Unknown Worlds
| Mar/67 | 53 | Ghost Girls Don't Play Football | i: Sal Trapani |
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The Golden Age Batman Artist You Never Heard Of
When asked if he drew a number of the Batman stories listed below, Bob Kane said "Yes." He didn't explain why the creator of Batman, using this temporary new style, would be doing a few work-for-hire crime stories for DC a year later in Gang Bustersand such. The pencils for those crime back-ups have been variously attributed to Jim Mooney or Charles Paris; evidently they evoked Batman in a way the indexers couldn't put their fingers on.
![Dinosaur Island, Crooked Gambler]()
To be fair, I had some stories on this list (like "Nine Lives Has the Catwoman" in Batman35) that I removed after a few more looks when I did see Bob Kane's work after all, or the work of various hands. (Maybe some of those Batman stories belong back here; maybe some here don't belong. The crime stories I'm sure of.) Although the inks for 35-36 have been attributed to Ray Burnley, with Jack Burnley's corroboration, I'd suggest there are different inkers on different stories; I won't try to ID them.
Above are tiers from two of the stories I saw in reprint in the Seventies ("Dinosaur Island" and "The Case of the Crooked Gambler"). For years I'd IDed this artist for myself as just the "Dinosaur Island artist." Then finally—last month—I saw a signed story by him at Atlas: "The House That Wasn't There" in Journey into Unknown Worlds 7 (Oct/51). The signature is Paul Cooper. He has other early-Fifties signed stories at Atlas as well as at companies like Youthful. He's not trying to ape Bob Kane at this point.
![House That Wasn't There]()
Paul Cooper at DC:
Batman
Batman in Detective
Batman in World's Finest
Perfect Crime Mystery etc.in Mr. District Attorney
Perfect Crime Mystery etc. in Gang Busters
Perfect Crime Mystery in Star Spangled Comics
Above are tiers from two of the stories I saw in reprint in the Seventies ("Dinosaur Island" and "The Case of the Crooked Gambler"). For years I'd IDed this artist for myself as just the "Dinosaur Island artist." Then finally—last month—I saw a signed story by him at Atlas: "The House That Wasn't There" in Journey into Unknown Worlds 7 (Oct/51). The signature is Paul Cooper. He has other early-Fifties signed stories at Atlas as well as at companies like Youthful. He's not trying to ape Bob Kane at this point.
Paul Cooper at DC:
Batman
| Jun-Jul/46 | 35 | Dinosaur Island |
| Dick Grayson, Author | ||
| Aug-Sep/ | 36 | The Penguin's Nest |
| Stand-In for Danger | ||
| Sir Batman at King Arthur's Court |
Batman in Detective
| Nov/46 | 117 | Steeplejack's Showdown (plus cover) |
| May/47 | 123 | The Dawn Patrol Crimes |
| Oct/ | 128 | Crimes in Reverse |
Batman in World's Finest
| May-Jun/47 | 28 | Crime under Glass |
| Nov-Dec/ | 31 | The Man with the X-Ray Eyes |
| Jan-Feb/48 | 32 | The Man Who Could Not Die |
| Jul-Aug/ | 35 | Crime by the Book |
Perfect Crime Mystery etc.in Mr. District Attorney
| Jan-Feb/48 | 1 | Studio Cop |
| Jul-Aug/ | 4 | Border Cop |
| Sep-Oct/ | 5 | The Murder with a Million Witnesses |
Perfect Crime Mystery etc. in Gang Busters
| Aug-Sep/48 | 5 | The Case of the Crooked Gambler |
| Oct-Nov/49 | 12 | The Case of the Perfect Alibi |
Perfect Crime Mystery in Star Spangled Comics
| Mar/49 | 90 | Remote Control Murder |
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The Superman Artist You've Heard Of--Believe Me
"If There Were No Superman" in World's Finest 38 (Jan-Feb/49) seems to have been a stumper as far as IDing the penciller goes. His final World's Finest Boy Commandos, as it happens, was in the previous issue. This is his second Superman story, the first being "The Man Who Bossed Superman" in Superman51 (Mar-Apr/48); before 1949 is out he'll start contributing the occasional story to Superboy.
![World's Finest 38 'If There Were No Superman']()
Curt Swan will return to drawing Superman.
The best guess on the penciller for "If There Were No Superman" has been Wayne Boring, with a question mark. That just goes to show how important it is to ignore the inking; in this case Stan Kaye's inks on Swan immediately remind you of his inks on Boring. Try to imagine these panels as if inked by George Klein. One way or the other, you have to look behind the inks for Swan's poses and layouts and a few recognizable facial types. The less you look at Superman himself, where Boring's version is certainly the model, the better. On other pages than these, objects like castles and ships showcase Swan's realistic approach rather than Boring's impressionistic one.
Speaking of inkers obscuring pencillers, that Boy Commandos story in WF 38, "Rip Carter—Fugitive from a Chain Gang," has been attributed to Swan, but its pencils are by another BC artist you've heard of: Jack Kirby.
Curt Swan will return to drawing Superman.
The best guess on the penciller for "If There Were No Superman" has been Wayne Boring, with a question mark. That just goes to show how important it is to ignore the inking; in this case Stan Kaye's inks on Swan immediately remind you of his inks on Boring. Try to imagine these panels as if inked by George Klein. One way or the other, you have to look behind the inks for Swan's poses and layouts and a few recognizable facial types. The less you look at Superman himself, where Boring's version is certainly the model, the better. On other pages than these, objects like castles and ships showcase Swan's realistic approach rather than Boring's impressionistic one.
Speaking of inkers obscuring pencillers, that Boy Commandos story in WF 38, "Rip Carter—Fugitive from a Chain Gang," has been attributed to Swan, but its pencils are by another BC artist you've heard of: Jack Kirby.
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Dorothy Woolfolk's Early Entries in Love Diary
Since some of Dorothy Woolfolk's Love Diaryscripts (in #17-19) were noted in William Woolfolk's records because he'd supplied the plots, I was able to get a handle on her writing style. I've mentioned that one of his pet expressions was "Good glory"; one of hers is "Oh, glory." She uses "Oh" in other expressions like "Oh, golly" and "Oh, (name). Dorothy does use "Good glory" herself once or twice. These panels are from "Hardboiled Heart" in #6.
![Love Diary 6 'Oh, glory' and 'Oh, golly']()
These are the stories that I'm quite sure of at this point. There are others I might add later when I get an even better handle on her style (in other words, beyond those particular expressions); I have fifteen more stories from #1-10 down with a question mark after her name. From his records we know that William had two stories in #8 and one in #10. There are other writers on the comic; for instance, there's a run of the Prescription for Happiness feature all by the same writer.
I expect I'm retconning Dorothy (Roubichek) Woolfolk's name at this point; but it's the one she used for the better part of her career, I believe, and certainly in indicia and book bylines when I saw her work in the Seventies.
Love Diary scripts by
Dorothy Woolfolk included in #1-10
I expect I'm retconning Dorothy (Roubichek) Woolfolk's name at this point; but it's the one she used for the better part of her career, I believe, and certainly in indicia and book bylines when I saw her work in the Seventies.
Love Diary scripts by
Dorothy Woolfolk included in #1-10
| Nov/49 | #3 | Afraid to Love |
| Not My Decision to Make | ||
| Jan/50 | #4 | I Lied to My Heart |
| Movie Crazy [SALLY WEEKS] | ||
| Mar/ | #5 | She Wanted My Man [A NURSE CONFESSES] |
| Stolen Kisses | ||
| May/ | #6 | Love Tyrant |
| Hardboiled Heart | ||
| Too Sure of My Man [SALLY WEEKS] | ||
| Oct/ | #9 | Too Young to Love |
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Superman Writer Woolfolk. But Probably Not the One You Expected.
A quarter of a century ago I IDed a number of William Woolfolk's Superman stories. His records later showed, however, that I'd mistakenly attributed too many stories to him—some from before and some from after he actually worked on the character.
On the earlier stories, it turns out that my Woolfolk ID was just given to the wrong Woolfolk. Compare these panels from "Super-Cowboy" with those from Dorothy Woolfolk's "Hardboiled Heart" in Love Diaryin the previous post.
![Action 134 'Oh, glory''Oh, golly']()
In places such as Steranko's History of Comics it's been told that Dorothy was writing Lois Lane stories when William started writing Superman. That made people assume it was around 1946, since that's when the Lois Lane back-up strip in Supermanended. Actually, it was a few years later: she was writing the Superman strip, with a number of Lois-centered stories in the mix (not unlike the other writers, of course; recall that "Lois Lane, Cavegirl" in Action129 is by Alvin Schwartz). Those Lois Lane back-ups' writers are accounted for: Don Cameron on some, Whitney Ellsworth on others.
This is my first pass on IDing Dorothy Woolfolk's Superman stories in Action; I'm looking over Supermantoo. The stories I misIDed as William's that fall after his actual run belong to a third hand.
Superman in Action Comics
Scripts by Dorothy Woolfolk
On the earlier stories, it turns out that my Woolfolk ID was just given to the wrong Woolfolk. Compare these panels from "Super-Cowboy" with those from Dorothy Woolfolk's "Hardboiled Heart" in Love Diaryin the previous post.
In places such as Steranko's History of Comics it's been told that Dorothy was writing Lois Lane stories when William started writing Superman. That made people assume it was around 1946, since that's when the Lois Lane back-up strip in Supermanended. Actually, it was a few years later: she was writing the Superman strip, with a number of Lois-centered stories in the mix (not unlike the other writers, of course; recall that "Lois Lane, Cavegirl" in Action129 is by Alvin Schwartz). Those Lois Lane back-ups' writers are accounted for: Don Cameron on some, Whitney Ellsworth on others.
This is my first pass on IDing Dorothy Woolfolk's Superman stories in Action; I'm looking over Supermantoo. The stories I misIDed as William's that fall after his actual run belong to a third hand.
Superman in Action Comics
Scripts by Dorothy Woolfolk
| Jun/49 | #133 | The World's Most Perfect Girl |
| Jul/ | #134 | Super-Cowboy |
| Jan/50 | #140 | Superman Becomes a Hermit |
| Apr/ | #143 | The Bride of Superman |
| Jun/ | #145 | Merton Gloop and His Magic Horseshoe |
| Jul/ | #146 | The Statues That Came to Life |
| Nov/ | #150 | The Secret of the 6 Superman Statues |
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Mary Marvel's Final Artist at Fawcett
In 1948 Mary Marvel loses her strip in Wow Comics to Tom Mix and even has her own book retitled and taken over by another screen cowboy, Monte Hale. She remains a member of the Marvel Family, of course, and her solo strip continues as a backup in Marvel Familyinto 1951.
Her final penciller there is Pete Riss. There seem to be a number of inkers—or finishers—some obscuring his style more than others. On this page from "Mary Marvel Fights the Likeness Peril" the woman in green, especially in the middle tier (note her arms), is the best example of Riss's pencils.
![Marvel Family 58]()
There are no Mary Marvel strips in 52, 56, and 59, as those issues' Marvel Family stories are full-length. The Mary story in 51, like the Marvel Family lead, seems to be out of inventory from a number of years earlier.
Mary Marvel in Marvel Family
Penciled by Pete Riss
Her final penciller there is Pete Riss. There seem to be a number of inkers—or finishers—some obscuring his style more than others. On this page from "Mary Marvel Fights the Likeness Peril" the woman in green, especially in the middle tier (note her arms), is the best example of Riss's pencils.
There are no Mary Marvel strips in 52, 56, and 59, as those issues' Marvel Family stories are full-length. The Mary story in 51, like the Marvel Family lead, seems to be out of inventory from a number of years earlier.
Mary Marvel in Marvel Family
Penciled by Pete Riss
| Jul/50 | 49 | MM and the Adult Children |
| Aug/ | 50 | MM Battles the Melody of Crime |
| Nov/ | 53 | MM Battles the Evil Exterminator |
| Dec/ | 54 | MM Battles the Predatory Plants |
| Jan/51 | 55 | MM and the Miser of Resources |
| Mar/ | 57 | MM Battles the Collector of Hate |
| Apr/ | 58 | MM Fights the Likeness Peril |
| Jun/ | 60 | MM and the Man Who Killed with Kindness |
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The Legion Artist You've Heard Of. "Who Was It?""Same Guy!"
Win Mortimer took over as regular artist on the Legion of Super-Heroes in late 1968. Naturally, if you didn't take a good look, you'd assume he's the penciller of "Lament for a Legionnaire" in Action384 (Jan/70). Well, he may have touched up the figure of Element Lad in the splash panel. But otherwise Curt Swan returns for his final bow on the strip's first run.
![Action 384 Lament for a Legionnaire]()
If it explains the long-standing misattribution, Swan is being inked on this story by Jack Abel, the regular on the strip at this point, whereas on the very same issue's Superman story George Roussos is his inker.
Nelson Bridwell mistook Swan's 1952 art for Mortimer's in the reprint of the Batman story "The Masterminds of Crime." He was corrected and ran the correction soon after.
But certainly by 1970 (if not as early as 1952), Mortimer's and Swan's art styles don't look very much alike, do they?
If it explains the long-standing misattribution, Swan is being inked on this story by Jack Abel, the regular on the strip at this point, whereas on the very same issue's Superman story George Roussos is his inker.
Nelson Bridwell mistook Swan's 1952 art for Mortimer's in the reprint of the Batman story "The Masterminds of Crime." He was corrected and ran the correction soon after.
But certainly by 1970 (if not as early as 1952), Mortimer's and Swan's art styles don't look very much alike, do they?
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Arneson, Not Segall
The misattributions to Don Segall on the GCD for these books, coalescing as far as anyone can tell out of thin air, originated decades earlier with me, back around the time I misidentified some non-William Woolfolk stories as Woolfolk's. I was correct in making the leap from these Dell stories to the Tower ones, but started from a misidentification of the writer. From what I can see now, Don Segall worked at Dell up through the middle of 1965; these are from 1966-67.
DJ Arneson not long ago recalled writing a comic's entire first issue for Tower, an "Undersea guy." He actually wrote two issue's worth of those double-sized books, going by the style. He remembered writing the Dell monster superheroes specifically. His other series like the Monkees and Dark Shadows (to name only two) never got misattributed.
An early warning sign for Arneson's writing is "Great Scot" rather than "Scott" (although I've seen him use the latter once or twice). The full page here is from 1966's bookstore comic THE GREAT SOCIETY COMIC BOOK, on which he and Tony Tallarico (though not ghost-penciller Bill Fraccio) got cover and splash credits; the tier below it is from FLYING SAUCERS 1, art by Chic Stone.
![Great Society Comic Book, Flying Saucers 1 'Great Scot']()
DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN, of course, took up their numbering after one-shot tie-ins to the Universal movies a few years earlier. DRACULA 5 was skipped. The reasoning is obvious: 5 would have reprinted 1, but they skipped over it to the superhero issues. It may be a persnickety reason for the numbering gap, but it is a reason, not the mistake that fans have called it.
Scripts by DJ ARNESON, not Don Segall, at Dell
DRACULA 2-4
DRACULA 6-8 (reprints 2-4)
FRANKENSTEIN 2-4
WEREWOLF 1-3
FLYING SAUCERS 1-4
FLYING SAUCERS 5 (reprints 1)
at Tower
UNDERSEA AGENT 1-2
DJ Arneson not long ago recalled writing a comic's entire first issue for Tower, an "Undersea guy." He actually wrote two issue's worth of those double-sized books, going by the style. He remembered writing the Dell monster superheroes specifically. His other series like the Monkees and Dark Shadows (to name only two) never got misattributed.
An early warning sign for Arneson's writing is "Great Scot" rather than "Scott" (although I've seen him use the latter once or twice). The full page here is from 1966's bookstore comic THE GREAT SOCIETY COMIC BOOK, on which he and Tony Tallarico (though not ghost-penciller Bill Fraccio) got cover and splash credits; the tier below it is from FLYING SAUCERS 1, art by Chic Stone.
Scripts by DJ ARNESON, not Don Segall, at Dell
DRACULA 2-4
DRACULA 6-8 (reprints 2-4)
FRANKENSTEIN 2-4
WEREWOLF 1-3
FLYING SAUCERS 1-4
FLYING SAUCERS 5 (reprints 1)
at Tower
UNDERSEA AGENT 1-2
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