Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Speed Carter, Spaceman Writer

Hank Chapman's getting writing credits at Timely/Atlas in the Fifties puts him ahead of all the other writers except Stan Lee, but the crediting was inconsistent. Spaceman shows this: Chapman's name appears on just two stories, the second and third ones in issue 3, but he scripted the entire series.

Spaceman 1 first story: splash panel, then one story panel

The splash page layouts that I mentioned in my post on the Human Torch stories written by Chapman appear among these stories: a splash panel taking almost the entire page, with one story panel; and a tier of story panels before the splash.

Spaceman 1 third story: four-panel tier, then splash panel

The contemporary-sounding "Holy smokes" in Chapman's Torch and mystery stories doesn't appear here; the futuristic "Great galaxy" and "Holy atoms" substitute. "Ow-w-w," with some variations of length and hyphenation, appears throughout.

panels from third and second Spaceman 1 stories: 'Ow-w-w' and 'O-w-w-w'

The Famous Explorers of Space back-ups take place in Speed Carter's past. The Eadeh and Savage art guesses I pass along from the GCD.

Speed Carter, Spaceman—written by Hank Chapman

Sept/53#1 Speed Carter, Spaceman, and the Pirate Planeta: Joe Maneely
Slaughter on a Stara: Maneely
The Robots' Revengea: Maneely
Nov/53#2 [The Birdmen of Uranus]a: Maneely
The Half-Horrors of Hyadesa: Maneely
Who Stole the Suna: Maneely
Jan/54#3 [Grave-Robbers from Outer Space]a: Maneely
[The Core People]a: Maneely
[The Bems]a: Maneely
Mar/54#4 [The Positpeople and the Neganatives]p: Mike Sekowsky  i: Jack Abel
[The Jet-Men]p: Sekowsky  i: Abel
[The Mosquito Men]p: Sekowsky  i: Abel
May/54#5 Die, Spaceman, Die!a: George Tuska
[Beastmen of Space]a: Tuska
A Slaughter in Spacea: Tuska
July/54#6 The Thing in Outer Spacea: Bob Forgione
The Kiss of Deatha: Forgione
[Spaceworld of the Scorpeople]a: Forgione

Famous Explorers of Space in Spaceman—written by Chapman

Sept/53#1 Venus: Earth's Twin Sistera: John Romita
Nov/53#2 Mercury: The Red-Hot Planetp: Bill Benulis  i: Abel
Jan/54#3 Mars: The Dying Planeta: Al Eadeh?
Mar/54#4 Jupiter: The Giant Planeta: Maneely
May/54#5 Ceres: The Biggest Little World in the Asteroid Belta: Bill Savage?
July/54#6 How Saturn Got Its Fourth Ringa: Benulis
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 24, 2011 at 2:20 AM

    Just wondering if the Speed Carter text story in #1 was also written by Chapman.

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  2. Martin OHearnNovember 25, 2011 at 3:41 PM

    I don't think so, darkmark, but I have to admit that it's hard to match up someone's comics scripting style, where they're freer with sound effects and so on, with their prose style. Grasping at straws, that text story uses "Ah-ha," which I haven't yet seen Chapman use.

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  3. Ger ApeldoornFebruary 16, 2012 at 1:25 AM

    Have you ever tried identifying Don Rico? He has several signed stories, mostly war stuff, which might lead to some sort of list of verbal identifyers (how do you call them).

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  4. Martin OHearnFebruary 16, 2012 at 11:31 AM

    I did take down data from his Dr. Strange story long ago, and I compare it every once in a while to Fifties stories as I look through them, but no match so far.

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