Private eye Ken Shannon took over Plastic Man's lead slot in
Police Comics at the end of 1950 and within the year received his own title as well. I index
Ken Shannon in this post; I haven't seen a complete run of the post-Plas
Police.
Shannon's main penciller was Reed Crandall. Sam Burlockoff has said he inked Crandall on the feature; Burlockoff's major credit that I know of is early war stuff at DC, but I'm not familiar enough with his style to credit him with particular stories here. Chuck Cuidera has been linked to Crandall here in much the way George Klein was once credited with inking every Superman story Curt Swan ever pencilled, be they inked by Kaye, Moldoff, or Forte if not Klein. I'll just put aside the question of Ken Shannon inkers altogether on this list.
I believe two stories are pencilled by W.G. Hargis, who got to sign a number of his Inspector Denver stories in
Police. One story's penciller I can't figure at all.
The penciller just behind Crandall in terms of quantity (counting the appearances of the strip in both
Police and
KS) has been a mystery. The inking obscured his style as seen earlier at other companies.
I see the work of John Daly. The young man shaking Shannon's hand is the best example of Daly's style in faces, showing through the inking; Ken Shannon himself is inked heavily to match Crandall's face for the character. The next panel's rather stodgy staging of the figures comes closest to the staging on the Aquaman page, the staging that typefies Daly to me.
All ten covers were pencilled, if not inked as well, by Crandall.
The William Woolfolk credits are a sneak preview into his script records for 1951-52. In brief: Woolfolk and Joe Millard share use of the scream "Eeeahhh," but Millard uses his standby "Owoooff" that Woolfolk never does. "Q," a Quality writer of the Fifties I can't yet name, opts for variations of "Urghh" and "Iiieee." UPDATE: "Q" is Robert Bernstein
Ken Shannon 1-10 Writers and Pencillers
| Oct/51 | #1 | The Evil Eye of Count Ducrie | w: Joe Millard p: Reed Crandall |
| | The Playful Pickpocket | w: Millard p: Crandall |
| | The Carrier Pigeon Case | w: Robert Bernstein p: W.G. Hargis? |
| Dec/ | #2 | Cut-Rate Corpses | w: Millard p: Crandall |
| | Invitation to a Murder | w: Millard p: Crandall |
| | Front Man for Murder | w: Millard p: Crandall |
| Feb/52 | #3 | The Corpse That Wouldn't Sleep | w: Millard p: Crandall |
| | The Case of the Butchered Butcher | w: Millard p: Crandall |
| | One Day I'll Kill You | w: Millard p: Crandall |
| Apr/ | #4 | Stone Hatchet Murder | w: Millard p: Crandall |
| | Stand-In for Murder | w: William Woolfolk p: Crandall |
| | The Case of the All-Seeing Eye | w: Millard p: Hargis? |
| June/ | #5 | The Case of the Carny KiIler | w: Millard p: Crandall |
| | The Man from Nowhere | w: Woolfolk p: ? |
| | Doctor of Death | w: Woolfolk p: John Daly |
| Aug/ | #6 | The Vampire Mob | w: Millard p: Crandall |
| | Dead Man's Alley | w: Millard p: Daly |
| | Dee Dee Can't Be Dead | w: Bernstein p: Daly |
| Oct/ | #7 | The Ugliest Man in the World | w: Bernstein p: Daly |
| | Murder on Account | w: Bernstein p: Daly |
| | Too Many Killers | w: Bernstein p: Daly |
| Dec/ | #8 | Mansion of Mangled Men | w: Woolfolk p: Daly |
| | The Chinatown Murders | w: Bernstein p: Daly |
| | The Doom Express | w: Bernstein p: Daly |
| Feb/53 | #9 | The Flame of Doom | w: Millard p: Daly |
| | Necklace of Blood | w: Woolfolk p: Daly |
| | Day It Rained Money | w: Millard p: Daly |
| Apr/ | #10 | In the Shadow of the Chair | w: Millard p: Daly |
| | Your Money or Your Blood | w: Millard p: Daly |
| | [untitled] | w: Bernstein p: Daly |
The back-up feature in 1-9 is Angles O'Day (Not-So-Special Investigator), not only wriiten and drawn but lettered by Jack Cole, and 10 presents a Flatfoot Burns by Al Stahl, the last of that series from
Police and
The Spirit.
