Batman Writers: Detective 301-326



"I must be a creatue of the night..."

This is Batman's best period for me, the one in which I first read him. It didn't hurt to have the original writer still working on the character. The Clayface and Cat-Man series where each story built upon the earlier ones, the Dr. No-Face and Flying Bat-Cave stories, didn't disappoint in the rereading.

The stories I've read now for the first time are just as good. "The Bizarre Batman Genie" stands out—it uses the strange-transformation trope of the period to turn the second half into a Robin/Bat-Girl story when Batman becomes an antagonist.

"Targets of the Alien Z-Ray" in #305 is the only story in this run to use the sound effects Kwoom and Crzzzz and the creature roar "Rawwwr" that Arnold Drake, and not Bill Finger or Dave Wood, employs.

Batman in Detective 301-326—Writers

Mar/62	#301	The Condemned Batman	Bill Finger
Apr/	#302	The Bronze Menace	Finger
May/	#303	Murder in Skyland	Finger
June/	#304	The Return of Clay-Face	Finger
July/	#305	Targets of the Alien Z-Ray	Arnold Drake
Aug/	#306	The Wizard of 1,000 Menaces	Finger
Sept/	#307	Alpha, the Experimental Man	Finger
Oct/	#308	The Flame-Master	Finger
Nov/	#309	The Mystery of the Mardi Gras Murders	Finger
Dec/	#310	Bat-Mite's Super-Circus	Finger
Jan/63	#311	The Challenge of the Cat-Man	Finger
Feb/	#312	The Secret of Clayface's Power	Finger
Mar/	#313	The Mystery of the $1,000,000 Treasure Hunt	Dave Wood
Apr/	#314	Murder in Movieland	Finger
May/	#315	The Jungle Man of Gotham City	Wood
June/	#316	Double Batman vs. Double X	Wood
July/	#317	The Secrets of the Flying Bat-Cave	Finger
Aug/	#318	The Cat-Man Strikes Back	Finger
Sept/	#319	The Fantastic Dr. No-Face	Wood
Oct/	#320	Batman and Robin—the Mummy Crime-Fighters	Wood
Nov/	#321	The Terrible Trio	Wood
Dec/	#322	The Bizarre Batman Genie	Wood
Jan/64	#323	The Zodiac Master	Wood
Feb/	#324	Menace of the Robot Brain	Wood
Mar/	#325	The Strange Lives of the Cat-Man	Finger
Apr/	#326	Captives of the Alien Zoo	Wood

Wikiality

The Grand Comics Database notes that this House of Mystery cover, #174's, was once attributed to Carmine Infantino on pencils and inks, and then Joe Orlando on pencils and George Roussos on inks. Now it's deemed to be by Nick Cardy; it's listed as one of his in The Art of Nick Cardy (and in the DC Showcase volume, for what that's worth).

Nick Cardy had nothing to do with this cover. Possibly he submitted one, noting it on his own records, but if so, his went unused. Cardy didn't draw the cover published.

Maybe Infantino designed the cover, like he did others at the time. Maybe, maybe not. I don’t see Roussos’ work here.

My only question on the pencilling and inking here is whether Bill Draut might have helped pencil—note the head of the boy on our left. But going by his legs and so on, the main artist is Joe Orlando. I can't find the slightest trace of Nick Cardy's style in pencils or inks.

Does anybody see it here?

By the way, I ran across the GCD entry on HOM 174 when I glanced at the earlier issues, to find that attributions on Dial H for Hero that had been passed along from my twenty-year-old lists had been replaced—and I was still given the "credit." In fact, I had listed only the writers of 156-165 and 173, if I recall correctly; I didn't read the Binder and Dick Wood issues until March 2012, but I supposedly attributed them to Dave Wood. I certainly didn't credit 173 to Jack Miller. But somebody heard second-hand that Miller had taken over the feature, so blithely altered the entry from Dave Wood to Miller but left me still the source. (My latest Dial H list is a few posts back.)

Wikiality is always changing.

Doll Man Writers 1952-53

Doll Man comes to the end of his run embracing the horror boom of the early Fifties.

These attributions to William Woolfolk come from my seeing his style in the scripting; I haven't seen the pages of his notebook that, if I'm correct, record these stories.

"Q" is a writer I can't name, who wrote quite a lot for Quality in the Fifties: war, horror, some Robin Hood, some Daniel Boone; not to mention Blackhawk just before DC took over the title. UPDATE: I'm replacing the letter with the writer's name, now that I've figured out who he is: Robert Bernstein.

As for IDing the artists on these stories, I'm throwing my hands in the air and walking away.

Doll Man Writers 1952-53

Feb/52	#38	The Druid Death	William Woolfolk
		House of Vampires	Woolfolk
		Doll Man and the Voodoo Master	Woolfolk
Apr/	#39	The Death Drug	Woolfolk
		The Sinister Safari	Woolfolk
		Ticket of Terror	Woolfolk
June/	#40	Doll Man and the Giants of Crime	Woolfolk
		The Mysterious Mr. Magnet	Woolfolk
		The Bleeding Statue	Woolfolk
Aug/	#41	The Headless Horseman	Woolfolk
		Darrel Dane's Bodyguard	Woolfolk
		The Beast Man	Woolfolk
Oct/	#42	The Mind-Monster	Woolfolk
		The Spectre in Steel	Woolfolk
		Diary of Death	Woolfolk
Dec/	#43	The Thing That Killed	Woolfolk
		The Emerald Eye of Evil	Woolfolk
		Satan's Sculptor	Woolfolk
Feb/53	#44	Radioactive Man	Woolfolk
		The Raiser of the Dead	Robert Bernstein
		Wanted: Darrel Dane	Bernstein
Apr/	#45	The Man with the Iron Face	Woolfolk
		The Killers from X-T-B-2	Woolfolk
		The Doom Box	Joe Millard
June/	#46	The Monster from Tomorrow	Millard
		Flame of Evil	Millard
		The Killer Hawks	Millard
Oct/	#47	Midget of Murder	Dick Wood
		The Mad Hypnotist	Wood
		Crime's Mr. Magic	Wood

Beverly Hillbillies Writer

The TV title The Beverly Hillbillies is the fourth longest-running title after Combat, Ghost Stories, and Alvin for Dell following its split with Western Publishing. All covers are photos except for #10 by Gene Colan (as noted in the GCD). #18 is the only issue with three individual stories; other issues may include chapter titles in multi-part stories.
I'd hazard that the one-page inside-cover stories in the early issues, that I haven't listed, were all written by Arneson; the art anomaly among them is that the IFC to #3 was drawn by Fraccio and Tallarico, not the main story's Henry Scarpelli.

#19-21 (inevitably, as Dell limps into the early Seventies) reprint #1-3.

The Beverly Hillbillies

Written by D.J. Arneson; pencilled by Bill Fraccio; inked and lettered by Tony Tallarico

June/63	#1	Some Neighborly Help
Sept/	#2	Live Elegant

Written by Arneson; drawn by Henry Scarpelli

Dec/	#3	Community Chaos
Mar/64	#4	Culture Vultures
June/	#5	Holiday Havoc
Sept/	#6	Treasure Hunt
Dec/	#7	The Show Must Go On
Mar/65	#8	Jed's Birthday
June/	#9	Circus Daze
Sept/	#10	My Son, the Monster
Dec/	#11	The Call of the Jungle
Mar/66	#12	Jed's Little Dream House
June/	#13	Flyin' Granny
Sept/	#14	Summer Camp Capers
Dec/	#15	Crazy Cruise
Mar/67	#16	Hold That Line
May/	#17	Pass the Skis, Please
Aug/	#18	Granny's Goodie-Wagon
		Inferior Decorating
		Jethro's Great Romance

Dial H for Hero and G for Ghosts

It seems Jack Schiff, some time after the Sixties, recalled that Jack Miller had written Dial H for Hero. But then, Julius Schwartz remembered that he himself had used Gardner Fox as one of his writers on Superman. The credits on the Superman stories he edited (and the timing of Fox's being let go from DC) show Schwartz was mistaken. The writing style of the uncredited Dial H stories suggest that Schiff was equally mistaken. Schiff also noted, if I remember correctly, that Bob Kane actually did all the Batman artwork he supplied DC; I hate to think how many attributions on the Grand Comics Database would have to be changed if Schiff's recollections are taken for gospel on all subjects.

Jack Miller certainly did write for House of Mystery when it carried Dial H, but he wrote the Martian Manhunter stories. He and Dave Wood share some ways of writing—both use "Great ghosts" and Tense moments later..., but they differ in other ways. Where Wood uses "O-oh," Miller makes use of "Oh-h-h-h." The first Dial H story, among others, has a couple of instances of Wood's pausing after a first word: "I'm...back to normal again!" and "He's...entering an escape hatch of some kind!"

The two Otto Binder stories contain his old standby "Ulps." The Bill Finger story uses "Wha-aat." The Dick Wood stories boast "Great suffering cats" and "Howling horrors." Since these are the only stories of his I've seen for DC at this time—he had moved over to Gold Key, King, and Harvey—I wonder if he ghosted them for his brother Dave.

And I believe the final Dial H for Hero story is another example of Charles Nicholas' ghost pencilling for Sal Trapani. The pose of the policeman in the middle panel is typical Nicholas.

Dial H for Hero in House of Mystery

Jan/66	#156	Dial H for Hero	w: Dave Wood  a: Jim Mooney
Mar/	#157	The Marauders from Thunderbolt Island	w: Dave Wood  a: Mooney
Apr/	#158	Dial V for Villain	w: Dave Wood  a: Mooney
June/	#159	The Clay-Creep Clan	w: Dave Wood  a: Mooney
July/	#160	The Wizard of Light	w: Dave Wood  a: Mooney
Sept/	#161	The Mummy with Six Heads	w: Dave Wood  a: Mooney
Oct/	#162	The Monster-Maker of Littleville	w: Bill Finger  a: Mooney
Dec/	#163	Baron Bug and His Insect Army	w: Dave Wood  a: Mooney
Jan/67	#164	Dr. Cyclops—the Villain with the Doomsday Stare	w: Dave Wood  a: Mooney
Mar/	#165	The Freak Super-Heroes	w: Dave Wood  p: Mooney i: George Roussos
Apr/	#166	The King of the Curses	w: Dave Wood  p: Mooney i: Roussos
June/	#167	The Fantastic Rainbow Raider	w: Otto Binder  p: Mooney i: Roussos
July/	#168	The Marauding Moon Man	w: Dave Wood  p: Mooney i: Roussos
Sept/	#169	The Terrible Toymaster	w: Binder  a: Mooney
Oct/	#170	Thunderbolt's Secret Weapon	w: Dave Wood  a: Mooney
Dec/	#171	The Micro-Monsters	w: Dick Wood  a: Frank Springer
Feb/68	#172	The Monsters from the H-Dial	w: Dick Wood  a: Springer
Apr/	#173	Revolt of the H-Dial	w: Dave Wood  p: Charles Nicholas  i: Sal Trapani

Covers by Jim Mooney except #163: Carmine Infantino/Joe Giella; 171: Nick Cardy; 172: Frank Springer; and 173: Jack Sparling.

John Belfi Sneak on Plastic Man

John Belfi noted that he inked Jack Cole on Plastic Man in the early Forties, but it seems he didn't say which stories he inked.

Actually, he did indicate at least one. He sneaked his name into the Plas episode in Police Comics 23 (Oct/43), the ghost train story. See the name on the suitcase tag in the middle foreground.

Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants

On these two titles from Gold Key—tie-ins to science fiction TV shows produced by Irwin Allen—the writer credits are as straightforward as on Girl from UNCLE: one writer on each.

Art on both titles came from Tom Gill. I can't tell how much was contributed by John Verpoorten, who's known to have assisted Gill on Time Tunnel; Ted Galindo pencilled for Gill on Land of the Giants. The Time Tunnel covers were paintings by George Wilson; Giants used photo covers.

The Time Tunnel

Feb/67	#1	The Assassins	Paul S. Newman
		The Lion or the Volcano?	Newman
		Mars Countdown	Newman
July/	#2	The Conquerors	Newman
		The Captives	Newman

Land of the Giants

Apr/68	#1	The Mini-Criminals	Dick Wood
Jan/69	#2	Countdown to Escape	Wood
Mar/	#3	Giant Damsel in Distress	Wood
June/	#4	Safari in Giantland	Wood
Sep/	#5	Operation Mini-Surgeon	Wood