Editors
haven't always gotten the credits right in the comic itself,
and in some cases, almost 45 years later, the errors haven't
been corrected in indexing. The first nine issues of
Vampirella
from Warren, in 1969-71, provide
examples.
#1 left off the credits for the final story, "A Room Full of Changes,"
but—if you assumed the other
credits were correct, as I'd say they are—you could work out
from the list of contributors
on the contents page that this was the one story written for the issue
by Nicola Cuti, and that the artist was Ernie Colón.
In #2, the script for "Montezuma's Monster" was miscredited to Don
Glut, but in the #3 letters page corrected it to R. Michael
Rosen—when
he
pointed out the mistake. He
was
listed in #2's list of contributors.
#5 brings the miscredit that has been dutifully entered in the
Grand Comics Database. The art on "The Craft of a Cat's Eye" is
credited to John Fantucchio, like that of "Ghoul Girl" later in the
issue. The artist team, under their collective pen name, is in the list
of contributors: "Tony Williamsune," actually Bill Fraccio and Tony
Tallarico. Critics may have moaned and groaned about their
art—but that means it should
be, at the very least, distinctive, doesn't it? The full page
here is from "Cat's Eye" (the only story in the issue not signed, by
the way) and the tier is from "Ghoul Girl."
#7 credits the art of "Collection Creation" to "Williamsune." This
mistake has been caught in the GCD; the actual artist, listed as a
contributor, is Jerry Grandenetti.
In #9, the editors use a writer/artist's pen name, which is not a
mistake on their part, but the GCD ought to credit "Alac Justice" as
Jack
Katz, identified as such by the
Who's
Who. If
Katz's style is so hard to ID because he wasn't doing that much
in mainstream comics at
the time, can the same be said for #4's "David StClair" (meant for "St. Clair," I'd say, but misspelled
"Sinclair" in the GCD)? Ernie Colón had stories under his
own name for comparison's sake in issues 1,
2, and 7 as well as in
Creepy
and
Eerie.
Speaking of pen names, let me return to one I mentioned: Tony
Williamsune. On
Vampirella,
the GCD never mentions the penciller in
that team of Tony and William: Bill Fraccio. One can see where the
mistake comes from, since in #1 he's ghosting the pencils for Tony
Tallarico, who takes the sole credit. But a look elsewhere gives more
information about their styles.
Gunmaster
at Charlton gives a comparison of Fraccio's pencils under various
inkers: not only Tallarico (#2) but Ernie Bache (#1, 3, 4), Vince
Colletta (#87), and Frank McLaughlin (#89). (Yes, the numbering changed
to take up another title's—it's Charlton.) #89
gives a credit line to Fraccio and McLaughlin. It repeats that
credit in the bottom margin of a back-up story drawn by José
Delbo—bringing me back to my original statement about the
trustworthiness of credits.
