Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Otto Binder on The Westerner

Although Jerry Bails and Hames Ware in the Who's Who had Otto Binder writing Wild Bill Pecos for Orbit (giving his tenure as 1950-51), it seems there are no records of which particular stories he wrote. I've mentioned a number of times that at least some of Binder's records were compiled after the fact; as I understand it, Jerry went through his comic book collection with Otto and asked, "Is this story yours? Is this?" (After which he wrote in the credit on the stories' first pages.) But I suspect Jerry hadn't collected The Westerner.

Mostly Binder's stories here fill in around those noted in William Woolfolk's records; the question is where Binder comes aboard. I don't find any Binder stories on the title before issue 34 in 1951—although the tenure is correct in that he wrote the first of these in 1950. There are stories in 35, 36, and 37 by neither Binder nor Woolfolk.

Otto Binder's style is pretty obvious: "Ulps," "Omigosh," "Yayyy." In the Lobo stories, with only American Indian characters, he doesn't use these informalities, so there I'm going by his style of exclamatory and explanatory captions. The cowboy expressions "Jumping horned toads" and "Howling coyotes" he uses also on a Fawcett story, "Ken Maynard and the Pied Piper of the West" (Ken Maynard Western 3, Apr/51)—again, Bails and Ware had this feature listed for Binder, but individual stories evidently were never singled out (#3 is the only issue I've seen so far). Binder shows a prediliction for alliterative names: Bronco Baily, Blazes Barns, Bushwhack Barton, Bruce Bates, Diablo Dan, Owlhoot Orton, Pete Piper.

The Westerner 41--The Twin Terrors--'Ulps'

The Westerner
scripts by Otto Binder:
Wild Bill Pecos (except as noted)


Mar/51 34  The Two-Gun Grandpappies
Death Hunt
Apr/     35  The Riddle of the Petrified Forest
May/     36  Wild Bill Pecos and the Tombstone Bugle
Tombstone City Goes Loco
June/     37  Gun Trouble
July/     38  The Kidnapped Cayuses
Aug/     39  Wild Bill Pecos and the Substitute Marshal
Sept/     40  Hostage for Death [LOBO THE WOLF BOY]
The Swirling Peril
The Greatest Hero or Hair-o of the West?
Dec/     41  The Three Great Tasks [LOBO THE WOLF BOY]
Nuggets Nugent and the Twin Terrors [NUGGETS NUGENT]
Wild Bill Pecos Guns for Nuggets

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Woolfolk Records 1951/07

LOve Diary 24 'I Tried to Buy Love' splash page

The publishers buying the stories are Orbit, Fawcett, and Quality—the latter for whom William Woolfolk starts writing some stories of private eye Ken Shannon, who not only has his own title but has taken Plastic Man's slot in Police.

July 1951 Comic Book Scripts by William Woolfolk

9 pg  Afraid to Be a Wife! girl who doesn't want a baby
"Afraid to Be a Wife" Love Diary 23, Dec/51
13  Pinhead and Foodini a robot machine that hunts gold
"Foodini's Robot Prospector" Pinhead and Foodini 4, Jan/52
Pinhead and Foodini single page gag
"Pinhead Strikes Back" P & F 4, Jan/52
Ibis prisoner on Charon's ferry
"Prisoner on Charon's Ferry" Whiz 143, Mar/52
Captain Marvel Jr. gets lazy
"CMJ Gets Lazy" CMJ 107, Mar/52
Ibis enchanted forest
"The Enchanted Forest" Whiz 144, Apr/52
Lord of Chicago Big Jim Colosimo
"Big Jim Colosimo . . . Crime Lord" Wanted 44, Jan/52
Ken Shannon suicide by a stranger
"Corpse on the Sidewalk" Police 112, Feb/52
Ibis magician of Mars
"Ibis and the Magician of Mars" Whiz 145, May/52
The Women I Paid For! man who has to buy his gal friends
7  "I Tried to Buy Love" L Diary 24, Jan/52
Ken Shannon stand-in for murder
"Stand-in for Murder" KS 4, Apr/52
Captain Marvel Jr. the horror dimension
"CMJ and the Horror Dimension" CMJ 107, Mar/52

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Ernie Colon at Archie, 1960

Ernie Colón drew at least five pages at Archie in 1960. Maybe he did more—Archie put out a lot of comics at the time that I haven't read yet—but so far I've found his work in two issues of Archie's Madhouse. He drew "Stamps for Teens" (a two-pager) in #9, Dec/60, and "How to Read Tea Leaves" (three pages) in #10, Feb/61. His inking line is the giveaway, but the cheerleader and cartoonist stamps show his pencil style best, I think.

Archie's Madhouse 9 and 10--Stamps for Teens and How to Read Tea Leaves

These issues fall in the Madhouse run in which Sy Reit, as far as I can tell, is the sole writer. (George Gladir would take over as sole writer for some years, although the editors mixed together some Reit and Gladir stories for a few issues during the changeover. In the Seventies a number of writers, including Frank Doyle, scripted stories.) Reit and Colón are connected elsewhere in that both worked on the Harvey characters—Reit created Casper the Friendly Ghost before Casper was a Harvey character—but more closely in that together they did classics-type comics stories for Boy's Life such as "The Legends of King Arthur" (Aug/92).

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Woolfolk Records 1951/06

Captain Marvel Jr 106 City in the Mirage

William Woolfolk sells to his regulars—Quality, Orbit, and Fawcett—according to his notebook of sales.

The line-up for Tex Ritter 10 is exactly that of a Western Hero, with that title's three different features (Monte Hale and Tom Mix as well as Tex Ritter). These must have been the contents assembled for WH 113; its final issue from Fawcett was 112.

June 1951 Comic Book Scripts by William Woolfolk

7 pg  Doll Man the voodoo master
"DM and the Voodoo Master" DM 38, Feb/52
Wrong Way traffic signals trip up a crook
"Wrong Way" Wanted 43, Nov/51
Monte Hale chain gang vengeance
"Chain Gang Vengeance" Tex Ritter Western 10, Apr/52
Doll Man house of vampires
"House of Vampires" DM 38, Feb/52
Monte Hale The Owl—outlaw who sees in the dark
"MH Battles the Owl" Western Hero 112, Mar/52
10  Tong War Chinese gangsters
"Hatchet Man" Wanted 45, Feb/52
Ibis in King Arthur's Court
"Ibis Battles Sir Karnak" Whiz 142, Feb/52
10  Doll Man an ancient Druid treasure
"The Druid Death" DM 38, Feb/52
Private Piney & Miss Fitt gag stuff
1  Private Piney "It Never Rains But It Pours" Pinhead and Foodini 4, Jan/52
1  Little Miss Fitt "LMF Hits a Wrong Note" P & F 4, Jan/52
Cop They Couldn't Kill Harold Moore, hero cop who was indestructible
"The Cop They Couldn't Kill" Wanted 45, Feb/52
Captain Marvel Jr. becomes a 2 headed boy
"CMJ, Two-Headed Boy" CMJ 106, Feb/52
Captain Marvel Jr. helps Mr. Marks become a super salesman
"CMJ and the World's Greatest Salesman" CMJ 106, Feb/52
Captain Marvel Jr. city in the mirage
"CMJ and the City in the Mirage" CMJ 106, Feb/52