On Gold Key's TV tie-in The Wild, Wild West #3, here's yet other Sal Trapani ghost that I can identify. Try to unimagine the Trapani inks; apart from the poses, the faces of James West in the second and sixth panel are probably the places where José Delbo's style best shows through. Delbo's first work in the U.S.A. was in 1966 at Charlton and Dell; he didn't show up at Gold Key without Trapani inks until around 1970, so I think we can assume that these are ghost pencils paid for by Trapani.
On his blog Lee's Comic Rack Lee Hartsfeld has identified Bill Molno as Trapani's ghost on issue 4. After that issue, I have yet to ID the pencillers.
Leo Dorfman uses captions like A startling moment later... and In the next astonishing moment... throughout the series.
The Wild, Wild West—written by Leo Dorfman
| June/66 | #1 | Outlaw Empire | a: Alden McWilliams |
| Nov/ | #2 | The Phantom from the Past | a: McWilliams |
| June/68 | #3 | The Stolen Empire | p: José Delbo i: Sal Trapani |
| Dec/ | #4 | Montezuma's Gold | p: Bill Molno i: Trapani |
| Apr/69 | #5 | The Night of the Tongs | p: ? i: Trapani |
| July/ | #6 | Maximilian's Treasure | p: ? i: Trapani |
| Oct/ | #7 | The Night of the Buccaneer | p: ? i: Trapani |
I can see Jose Delbo but there seems to be a stronger Pat Boyette vibe, especially in the faces and poses of the non-Jim West characters in panels 2 and 5.
ReplyDeleteDave, throughout the book there are more faces and poses that say Delbo to me (as those ones that you mention do). When I said unimagine the Trapani inks on this page, I’ll go the next step and suggest picturing the inks as if by Dave Hunt, and see if you get a late-70s Wonder Woman feel.
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