More Charlton Crime from Carl Memling

You'd imagine that Charlton's Racket Squad in Action would be the least objectionable of the crime comics, its subject matter being swindles rather than injuries to the eye or Tommy-gun massacres. I'm sure Frederick Wertham considered it a how-to manual, however; and certainly Charlton put out enough other material sitting there smoking and saying, "What are you gonna do? Comics-Code me?"


Walter B. Gibson is listed as assistant editor on issues 1-9. Although so far I've concentrated on finding Carl Memling's stories, it strikes me that Gibson could have written all the stories in #1-7 as well as "The Fake Bond Swindle" in #9.

Carl Memling turns out to be Charlton's main writer from mid-1953 into early 1955 by cover dates. (He’s well-represented in their horror comics too.) There are other writers; in Racket Squad 13, "Malignant Model Agency" and "The Basketball Scandals" are by the same person, whoever that may be. Ken Fitch is known to have written Racket Squad in 1955-56. Joe Gill starts writing for the title in 1956 (it did survive under the Code) and is its sole comics writer by the last issue, #29, in 1958.

Carl Memling Scripts in
Racket Squad in Action

Aug/53	8	In the Driver's Seat
		The Death Notice Racket
		Hush Money
		The Misery Chiselers
Oct/	9	Two Fisted Fix
		Reverse Twist
		Letter Perfect
Jan/54	10	Stamp of Guilt
		A Handful of Aces
		When Two Thieves Meet
		Door to Door Swindle
		The Stradivarius Swindle
M-J/	11	Botticelli of the Bangtails
		Photo Frame-Up
A-S/	12	Robbery by Appointment
		The Ransom Swindle
		Refund Artist
		Protection Game
O-N/	13	Your Money or Your Face!
		Hot Ice
		A Case for the Police
		Free Pick-Up
Jan/55	14	The Big Freeze
		Shakedown
		The Double-Talk-Artists
Mar/	15	Limited Edition
		Blackmail
		Double Trouble