Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Batman 121-130 Writers

Jerry Coleman wrote a lot more Superman stories for Mort Weisinger than Batman ones for Jack Schiff, but he did write Batman with Superman for Schiff in most of the heroes' World's Finest team-ups from late 1959 through 1962. Coleman's work calls attention to itself with the sound effects Whammp and Whapp, ones not used by the other Batman writers in this period.

Batman 127--Batman's Super-Partner

Batman 121-130 Writers

Feb/59 121  The Body in the Bat-Cave Bill Finger
Crime Rides the Rails Finger
The Ice Crimes of Mr. Zero Dave Wood
Mar/     122  Prisoners of the Sargasso Sea Finger
The Cross-Country Crimes Finger

The Marriage of Batman and Batwoman Finger
May/     123  The Secret of the Everglades Finger
The Joker's Practical Jokes Finger
The Fugitive Batman Finger
June/     124  The Invisible Batman Finger
The Return of Signalman Finger
The Mystery Seeds from Space Wood
Aug/     125  The Secret Life of Bat-Hound Finger
King Batman the First Finger
The Last Days of Batman Finger
Sept/     126  The Mystery of the 49th Star Finger
The Menace of the Firefly Finger
The Batman Lighthouse Finger
Nov/     127  Batman's Super-Partner Jerry Coleman
The Second Life of Batman Finger
The Hammer of Thor Finger
Dec/     128  The Interplanetary Batman Finger

The Million Dollar Puzzle Finger
The Batman Baby Finger
Feb/60 129  The Web of the Spinner Finger
The Man from Robin's Past Finger
Merriweather Jones—Crime Prophet Coleman
Mar/     130  Batman's Deadly Birthday Finger
The Master of Weapons Finger
The Hand from Nowhere Finger

6 comments:

  1. Martin, I have never read whatever happened to Jerry Coleman. It's almost as though he disappeared off the face of the earth. A bit like the Wood brothers, except that I believe they died relatively young.

    Nice to see some new (to me) Dick Sprang art.

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  2. So little was known about Jerry Coleman, Lee, that by the Eighties the sole story he was known to have written was "The Super-Family from Krypton" in SUPERBOY 95; that was the only handle I had on his style.

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  3. Martin, as you probably know, very occasionally, Mort Weisinger would mention the writer's name in the lettercols of his books. I know of at least one instance (maybe, but doubtfully, more) where he credited Jerry Coleman as the author of a story; this MAY even be that story, in Superboy #95.

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  4. Lee, now that I look, I find that the Coleman credit is indeed given in the letter column of SUPERBOY 97, where 95 is discussed.

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  5. Do we know anything at all about Coleman, other than he worked for DC from 1951-1962, and possibly wrote the text filler credited to a Jerry Coleman at Spark in 1946. Did Weisinger ever say anything about him? He apparently didn't write pulps, didn't write books. Not the sports guy, as Wesinger would have mentioned that.

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  6. Jake Oster tells me that Coleman was primarily a high school English teacher, writing comic books on the side. A school paper article mentioned his writing Superman, which shows he felt better about letting people know he was a comic book writer than Stan Lee did at the time, per Stan's own anecdote.

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