Monday, June 5, 2023

Another Comic Design Inspired by a Pulp Cover

It took Mort Weisinger 20 years in each instance to recycle the images for the 1960-61 "Jimmy Olsen's Private Monster" and "The Giant Turtle Man" from pulp covers of 1940-41.

The editors of Amazing Mystery Funnies managed a much quicker turnaround. In Volume 2 #11 (November 1939) The Fantom of the Fair fights a robot standing in for, I should think, the real Fair's Elektro (who did turn up in All-Star Squadron in the 80s). Here the robot is taken from Amazing Stories earlier in the same year—January 1939. The pulp robot is of course Otto Binder’s Adam Link, who would appear in comics himself in the 50s and 60s.

Amazing Stories 1/39, Amazing Mystery Funnies 11/39


Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Fitch-Crandall-Willner on Robin Hood: Who Did What?


Here's another strip where the writer's style is so distinctive his identity just leaped out at me. Ken Fitch uses "Aiy-y-y-y" in any number of the stories in Brown Shoe Company's 7-issue Adventures of Robin Hood giveaway. This page is from the first story in #5, "How Will Stutely Walked into the Hands of the Sheriff's Men." Another clue to Fitch, seen on other pages, is his putting dialog in the captions every so often, in addition to balloons.

I entered the Robin Hood stories' artists because I've seen the attributions reversed: Ray Willner pencils and Reed Crandall inks (Willner signed most of these, with Crandall ghosting). You may recall years ago how Crandall and George Evans art (at Dell and Gilberton, for instance) was IDed as Evans pencils and Crandall inks; but the inker isn't the one who lays out the panels and the characters' poses (and the way Crandall has people pose is, in a word, distinctive).

A few Robin Hood stories at Brown are attributed to Crandall only, pencils and inks, but he has a story in a 1955 issue of the publisher's Buster Brown Comic Book, #41, for comparison--and there his inks look just like his inks at EC, Warren, and so on. I find the inking on these Robin Hood stories consistent throughout, which is to say Willner's.

The inside front cover featurettes in #2 and 3 and all the covers are, I think, Wilner's pencils as well as inks; or at least I don't see Crandall's pencils on them.

Adventures of Robin Hood

c. 1956 1-7  Robin Hood stories w: Ken Fitch  p: Reed Crandall  i: Ray Willner
    Little John stories w: Fitch

Friday, April 21, 2023

Who Created the Gabby Hayes Giveaways?

The only publisher information given on the 1951 Gabby Hayes Quaker Oats giveaways is the copyright to Quaker's parent company Kogran Inc. The Grand Comics Database figures the publisher for Fawcett, who of course published Gabby Hayes Western at the time.

Accidental Sherlock 'Whuh-uh-huh'

The problem is that the contents weren't supplied by Fawcett. At the time, Gabby was being drawn there by artists like Jack Binder and Leonard Frank. In the giveaway "Accidental Sherlock" (the first one scanned and put on the Internet so far) the art is definitely not from Fawcett. I'm not too good at distinguishing the relevant artists, but this is one of Western Publishing/Dell's--Mike Arens or such. (Can somebody with a better handle on those artists make an identification?)

It's the writing that jumped out at me, as it's by Western's major writer of 50s cowboys--Elizabeth Beecher. Working from just two of her known scripts--the Disney movie adaptations The Great Locomotive Chase and Westward Ho the Wagons--I find these items also in "Accidental Sherlock": "dad-ratted," "Humph," "o'" for "of," "Ooomph," "Wal, __," and "Ye-owww" (the spelling actually "Ye-ooow" in the Gabby story, but the hyphenization the same).

From other stories I've atributed to Beecher at Western: "B'gosh," "Gallopin' gophers," "H-e-l-p," "Leapin' lizards." The exclamations that made me say "Elizabeth Beecher!" as soon as I got that far into the Gabby Hayes comic are a horse going "Whuh-uh-huh" and "Whicker-er-ee." The easiest place to find horses (and dogs) with such catch phrases is Gene Autry's Champion. At Fawcett they don't say much more than "Gulp."

Since I wrote the above, two more of these Gabby Hayes giveaways have come online: "Double Cross Brand" and "Tracks of Guilt." The art is by other Western artists or the same artist. The writing is very probably Elizabeth Beecher's, but in these two stories there are no word balloons for horses that would make the attribution the slam dunk it is on "Accidental Sherlock."

Saturday, April 1, 2023

Crime Does Not Pay by Burt Frohman

As I went through Crime Does Not Pay looking for stories written by Robert Bernstein, jotting down a few stylistic indications for other stories in passing, I found some Burt Frohman quirks that led to a good handful of his scripts on the title.

CDNP 119 'Our story begins,' 'ya,' 'Cut it'

The tiers here are from different pages of "Partners in Corruption" in #119; it and #74are the issues known to contain Frohman stories according to his records, as passed along, titles not given, in the Who's Who.

Rather surprisingly, I can't find any of the other known writers at Lev Gleason using "ya" for "you" as Frohman often does (tier 2). Once in a while he uses "Cut it" (tier 3), which is even more exclusive. A jumping-off point is an opening caption like Our story begins on ___... (tier 1), but beware; he shares Our story opens on ___... with Bernstein.

I'm expecting this to lead to other Frohman stories at Lev Gleason, on Crime and Punishment for one, of course, but also hoping it will lead to more of his stories at Ace and Atlas. Another run through CNDP itself is likely to turn up ones that I've missed the first time through.

Some Crime Does Not Pay Anthology Stories
1947-53
Written by Burt Frohman


May/47 51  Killers' Jinx
Apr/49 74  The 5 Durin Brothers
Feb/50 84  Mad-Dog Roundup
Jan/52 106  Crooked Mouthpiece
July/     112  Momma's Boy
Aug/     113  No Honor Among Thieves
Nov/     115  The Lone Witness
Nov/     116  Bloody Hideout
Dec/     117  Racketeer's Reward
Feb/53 119  The Hatchet Man
  Partners in Corruption
Apr/     121  Irving ("Waxey" Gordon) Wexler
  Marty Aarons "Bugs"
July/     124  A Night of Terror

Saturday, March 11, 2023

There's No Need to Flee / Underdog (Part One) at Gold Key

Fast Work--Underdog 3

"FBA" is my interim name for the final Bullwinkle artist at Gold Key; I don't know if he or she worked on any comics other than these two Seventies titles. This is their first Underdog story.

Some Steve Skeates Underdog attributions on the Grand Comics Database are from the writer himself but it's sometimes unclear whether they mean a single story or an entire issue; I just started from scratch on IDing him here by typical bits like Our hero and "Hunh?" I may have missed some, of course.

"Beware the Blowhard" is attributed to Skeates on the GCD because it was credited to him in the American Mythology reprint. My impression is that American Mythology simply thought him the sole Gold Key Underdog writer and so didn't credit anyone else on their GK reprints.

The Grand Comics Database posits Mark Lasky as the writer of "Some Fun City" as there's an "M.L." sneak on graffiti in the splash panel. Working from his credited GK mystery anthology stories I can't say he didn't; and "Sneeze Squeeze" seems to be by the same writer.

UNDERDOG at Gold Key Part I

Mar/75 #1  The Dress Mess w/a: John Albano

  Wacky Weather a: John Costanza
    Plop Went the Plot! w/a: Albano
    Getting Together a: Costanza
June/     #2  Lovable Lunkhead a: Costanza
    A Foul Fowl w: Albano a: Chris Browne
    Gilded Cage a: Browne
Sep/     #3  The Ice Cream Scream a: Costanza
    Fast Work w: Steve Skeates a: FBA
    Topsy-Turvy Time a: FBA
Dec/      #4  Double for Underdog w: Skeates a: Browne

  Let's Twist Again!
w: Skeates a: FBA

  Underdog Meets the Pie Man w: Skeates a: Browne
Mar/76  #5  Underdog Meets the Hush Puppy w: Skeates a: FBA

  Lullaby for a Superhero
a: FBA

  Super Scrapbook
a: FBA

  Wedding Bells for Sinister Simon w: Skeates a: FBA
Apr/     #6  Head in a Cloud a: Browne

  The Mop-Thing
a: Costanza

  Underdog--No More w: Skeates

  Sneeze Squeeze w: Mark Lasky? a: FBA
June/     #7  The Cosmic Canine w: Skeates a: FBA

  The Super-Pie
w: Skeates

  Sealing Underdog's Doom w: Skeates a: FBA

  The Past Is Tense w: Skeates a: FBA
Aug/     #8  Belling the Dog w: Skeates

  This Suits Me Fine
w: Skeates

  Too Many Clowns w: Skeates a: FBA

  The Has-Been Hound w: Skeates a: Costanza
Oct/     #9  From Ghost to Ghost w: Skeates a: Costanza

  Underdog Turns Chicken w: Skeates a: Costanza

  Just a Pup! a: Costanza

  Some Fun City w: Lasky?
Dec/      #10  Bubble Trouble Gum w: Skeates a: FBA

  King Gong a: FBA

  The Poly-Unsaturated-Monster w: Skeates

  What's the Youth? w: Arnold Drake a: FBA
Feb/77  #11  The Private Life of Shoeshine Boy w: Skeates a: FBA

  The Big Game w: Skeates

  Slipping Away w: Skeates a: FBA

  When You're Fat You're Fat! w: Skeates
Apr/     #12  The Deadly Fists of Fingers w: Skeates a: FBA

  Who Was That Lady? w: Skeates

  The Forget Me Nuts a: FBA

  Beware the Blowhard w: Drake a: FBA

  New Villain in Town w: Skeates