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

3 comments:

  1. R.I.P. Chris Browne. Is his recent passing why you started looking at this Underdog run?

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  2. Martin, I suspect John Costanza may have drawn the covers to #'s 1 and 2. What say you?

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  3. Sorry for the late replies, ShadZ and Nick. I had to get my new Gmail account to forward comments to my original email account.
    Shadz, I started on Underdog mostly for the sake of that Bullwinkle artist, since American Mythology credited some his stuff to George Wildman. But Chris Browne's background characters on stories here jumped out at me as being in the Hi and Lois/Beetle Bailey style, Chris being known to have done work for Gold Key (Road Runner).
    Nick, that's how I picked out John Costanza (not to mention John Albano)--by the human background characters. All the artists are pretty much on model with Underdog himself, so I don't know what I'd say about those two covers.

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