Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Carl Memling Suspense Stories

A feature of Charlton's Lawbreakers Suspense Stories and its retitling, Strange Suspense Stories, for awhile was the contest where readers provided a solution to an unfinished story; that synopsis would be scripted and illustrated in a later issue. The odd thing is that Carl Memling scripted five of the solutions but only one of the unfinished story/solution pairs.

SSS 18 Sam Dora's Box

"What Was in Sam Dora's Box?" (art by Steve Ditko) recycles a gimmick from an EC story but the pun in the character's name is what's of interest here; compare with the (better) pun for Memling's story "Appointment with Sam Mara" in Dell's Ghost Stories 4 Oct-Dec/63).

Memling's stories may start in #11, which I haven't seen.

Written by Carl Memling:
Lawbreakers Suspense Stories


May/53 12  Breakout
Murder on Rye
July/      13  Death Raps Twice
Escape from the Noose
Change in Script
Sep/      14  Man Overboard
The Last Drop
Richard Capp's Solution to "Murder on Rye"
Nov/      15  Out of the Frying Pan

Strange Suspense Stories

Mar/54 17  Beautiful Night for Murder
10¢ Worth of Doom
May/     18  What Was in Sam Dora's Box?
Caroline Denver's Solution to "Face to Face"
Dead Right
Jul/      19  All Burnt Up
Aug/     20  The Payoff
Donald Coronado's Solution to "Moment of Decision"
Sep/      21  Mary Lou Wachtel's Solution to..."Prize Package"
Nov/      22  Malcolm Hutcher's Solution to..."The Kill"

2 comments:

  1. Martin,

    Thanks for ID'ing these stories, in particular three early Ditko efforts. I've added the credits to the GCD and linked to your blog, as usual.

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  2. Nick, this is certainly a good period for seeing artists like Ditko and Giordano developing.

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