Bernstein's Last Run on Crime Does Not Pay (and Bonus Artists)

Finishing up Robert Bernstein's scripts for Crime Does Not Pay; the title ended with #147. (It went under the Comics Code with #143.)

But first: while going over the last issues I made a few artist IDs. When I saw Dick Giordano's earliest stuff at Charlton it seemed to me there was a George Evans influence. Sure enough, a Giordano/Vince Alascia job at Lev Gleason has been miscredited in the Grand Comics Database to Evans--"The Fall of the Saturday Night Gang," shown above. Giordano/Alascia have "Unheeded Warning" in the next issue, CDNP 145, correctly attributed to them, and their story in 146, "The Big Mop-Up," is signed.

A few Crime Does Not Pay artists

Apr/55	144	The Fall of the Saturday Night Gang	p: Dick Giordano
			i: Vince Alascia
May/	145	Cornered: The Furious End of Vic Banner	a: Ed Robbins
July/	147	Mighty Rookie	a: Robbins

Crime Does Not Pay Anthology Stories
1953-55
Written by Robert Bernstein

Feb/53	119	Mad Dog Coll, the Mad Gunman
Mar/	120	The Brady Gang
		Cut Rate Murder
May/	122	Set for the Kill
June/	123	Hymie Weiss, Dynamo of Hate
		"Lucky Joe" Masseria, Bullet Dodger
Aug/	125	The Hair-Raising Career of Massacre Mad Frank Nash
Sep/	126	Killers from the Sticks
		Kill-Crazy Fred "Banjo" Blore
Oct/	127	Dead Man's Revenge
Nov/	128	Chuck Dorset's Rage Against Death
Dec/	129	Bill Flint, the Lone Wolf
Mar/54	132	I Beg Your Pardon
June/	135	The Crook Who Set His Own Trap
Sep/	137	Mike "Straw Hat" Vanek and His Steel Coffin
		The Bloody Saga of the Chetter Brothers
Oct/	138	The Scapegoat
Nov/	139	Eyewitness
		Joe Mosdek, the Master Dealer
		A Cop's Last Fight
Feb/55	142	The Vengeful Big "Truck" Brown
		Nickel Fare to Doom

CDNP: More Bernstein, a Little More Wessler

As of 1950 Carl Wessler's personal records are complete enough to name most of his scripts for Crime Does Not Pay at Lev Gleason, so stories are noted as his on the Grand Comics Database. The source is Robin Snyder's Wessler bibilography in The Comics, compiled from those records. Here I have another couple of his where the records didn't give the titles. "The Last Mile for Tony" contains both an "Ohoo" and an "Owooo" to show Wessler wrote it. I haven't found any Wessler stories on CDNP after mid-'51 that he didn't fully record.

The GCD wonders if "The Rabbit-Punch Murder Case" could be the 9-page 1951 script for Chip Gardner that Wessler records without a title. Here is an example of why I attribute it to Robert Bernstein: "Ieee!"

Crime Does Not Pay Anthology Stories
1951-52
Written by Robert Bernstein

Feb/51	95	Having a Wonderful Crime
May/	98	Shock Treatment
July/	100	The Smell of Death
		Mission: Murder
Aug/	101	Cain versus Abel
		The Case of the Crooked Politician [CHIP GARDNER]
Oct/	103	The Rabbit-Punch Murder Case [CHIP GARDNER]
		The Fruits of Crime
Dec/	105	The Big Cut
Feb/52	107	You Can't Beat the Rackets!
		The State versus "Rock" Madden
Mar/	108	Jim Franton, Bootlegger, versus Bud Rollins, Con-Man
Apr/	109	The Vicious Vendetta Massacre
May/	110	Journey into Horror
		Bootleg "Gold"
July/	112	The Tragic Tale of "Sap" Doretti  (art: Sid Greene)
Oct/	115	Trapped by the Dead
Dec/	117	The End of the Underworld

Written by Carl Wessler

Apr/51	97	The Last Mile for Tony
June/	99	Reprieve Granted--Prisoner Is Dead

Robert Bernstein Continues on Crime Does Not Pay

Here's Robert Bernstein's next couple of years writing for Crime Does Not Pay for Lev Gleason. I hadn't convinced myself of his writing the Who Dunnit? story in #70 when I did the first list.

CDNP closes out 1950 with #94, but I don't see Bernstein work in those last issues of the year.

As I was looking for Bernstein stories I found a couple by Carl Wessler that didn't get to the CGD from his records. In this tier from "Jack Rosca," note the exclamation that I haven't seen Robert Bernstein ever use.

Crime Does Not Pay Anthology Stories
1949-50
Written by Robert Bernstein

Dec/48	70	Who Dunnit?
Jan/49	71	Hank Charters
Feb/	72	Craig Denby, the Movie-Struck Egomaniac
		Andy Yole
Mar/	73	Dennis Mayhew and Everett Johns
May/	75	Who Dunnit?
June/	76	Clarence Reese, the Hero-Worshipper
		Who Dunnit?
July/	77	Sheriff Ted Benton
Aug/	78	Who Dunnit?
Sep/	79	Spike Spitz
		Who Dunnit?
		Frankie Darrell vs. Lieutenant Jim Scott
Oct/	80	Vince Grey
		The Black Panther Murder Case [WHO DUNNIT?]
Dec/	82	Death in the Hobo Jungle
		Who Dunnit?
Jan/50	83	The Long Manhunt for Les Voyles
Feb/	84	Who Dunnit?
Mar/	85	Police Teamwork and 3 Blind Rats
		Confessions of a Racketeer's Widow
Aug/	90	Over My Dead Body!
		Unexpected Guest
Sep/	91	Murder Plays Hide-and-Seek

Written by Carl Wessler

Sep/49	79	Jack Roscar
Feb/50	84	Death House Blues

Robert Bernstein Starts Out on Crime Does Not Pay

Flipping through Crime Does Not Pay, I'll stop to recheck a story for more Robert Bernstein clues once my eye has been caught by his typical exclamations like "Eeeiii" and "Iiiieee." This tier is from "Bonnie Parker" in #57.

"Ghouls' Gold," possibly Bernstein's first published comic book story, is given a rare credit line. He wrote for CDNP and other titles for the publisher, Lev Gleason, from 1943 to 1955; here's the first part of a listing.

I haven't seen CDNP 46 and 54.

Crime Does Not Pay Anthology Stories
1946-48
Written by Robert Bernstein

Jan/46	43	Ghouls' Gold
Mar/	44	Mrs. Bluebeard
Sep/	47	A Weird Weekend (WHO DUNNIT?)
Nov/	48	The Greedy Gunman
		Mutiny on the Rock
Jan/47	49	Devil's Diary
		Mother of Murderers
		Brother Rats
Mar/	50	The Kill-Crazy Fleagle Brothers
		Danny Iamascia, Dutch Shultz's Triggerman
		The Invisible Killer (WHO DUNNIT?)
May/	51	The Hoover Brothers
		Pretty Boy Floyd, the Two-Faced Terrorr
		Washed in Blood
		Who Dunnit?
July/	53	Carlo Barone, the Murderous Bully
		Dr. Holmes, the Master of Murder Castle
		Death Stalks the Diamond (WHO DUNNIT?)
Sep/	55	Louis Lepke Buchalter
		"Shoe-Box" Annie
Oct/	56	The True Story of Big Mouth Nick Luciano
Nov/	57	Bonnie Parker
		The Wild Spree of the Laughing Sadist--Herman Duker
		Case of the Murdered Bathing Beauty (WHO DUNNIT?)
Dec/	58	Thomas Dun, Single-Handed Killer of Thousands
Jan/48	59	Vic Everhart, the Kill-Crazy Scoundrel
		Alvin Karpis
		Cut Rate Murder
		Financier of Death
Feb/	60	Verne Miller
		Who Dunnit?
		Was She a Monster?
Mar/	61	Clay Fogelman, Meanest Man of Crime
		Who Dunnit?
Apr/	62	William Nevinson, the Terror of the Roads
		William Bonney, Alias Billy the Kid
June/	64	Walter Legenza the Gangster
		Robert James
Aug/	66	The Savage Genna Brothers--Bootleggers
		Dick Richards
		Who Dunnit?
Sep/	67	Once There Were Three Killers from Brooklyn...
		The End of the Deadly O'Malley Gang
Oct/	68	Little Hymie Nabosco
		Belle Shirley, the Angel-Faced She-Devil
Nov/	69	The Gruesome Foursome--Including Emil, the Half-Wit

Robert Bernstein Writes Desperado

This is a way of dipping my toe in the water on Robert Bernstein's scripts for Lev Gleason; he was a major writer for them mostly after Dick Wood (their tenures overlapped in 1946-47) and alongside Carl Wessler and others. There may well be more Bernstein stories here that didn't jump out at me if he didn't use his typical exclamations.

Desperado not surprisingly is spun off Crime Does Not Pay as an anthology of nothing but Wild West crime stories after CDNP ran them every so often. With #9 Desperado became the Western masked hero book Black Diamond Western.

In lieu of CDNP's Mr. Crime, the lead story of most issues of Desperado was narrated by an object--a gallows, a coin, a boot--long before that became a staple of the DC war books. Here a gun is narrating "Joe Slade" in #1.

Desperado Anthology Stories
Written by Robert Bernstein

June/48	1	Joe Slade
		Sam Bass, the Cross Eyed Dead Shot
Aug/	2	Teton Jackson
Sep/	3	The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang and Its Leader "Kid" Curry
		Crazy Sam Brown
		Johnny Ringo
Oct/	4	"Doc" Holliday
		Wes Hardin
Nov/	5	King Hunter, the Self-Proclaimed King
		Clay Cottrell
		"Rattlesnake Jake" Fallon
		Bat Slater
Dec/	6	Joe Bowler
		Sheriff Ted Tucker
		Burly Will Grady and His Band of Ruthless Rustlers
Jan/49	7	One Man Against Two Armies
		"Buckskin" Frank Combs
		[WESTERN WHODUNNIT?]
Feb/	8	Cesar Leporello and the Phony Diamond of the Rio Grande
		Fools' Gold
		Blind Man's Bluff

Spy Fighter Written by (Mostly) Robert Bernstein

Clark Mason, Spy Fighter is a feature at Atlas written, all but two stories, by Robert Bernstein, including the origin in issue 1, "The Snake of Saigon," as seen here (art by George Tuska). The "Eaaaa" was my signal to look for other Bernstein mannerisms among the stories. Remember that he was writing Black Rider for Atlas at the time; there he actually got a number of credit lines thanks to artist Jay Scott Pike.

I can ID a few of the backup stories, ones written by main feature writers Bernstein or Hank Chapman. The one art ID I'll put forth is a story by the "Dinosaur Island" Batman artist, Paul Cooper.

Jumping on the war magazine bandwagon for a while, Clark Mason is in uniform as an Army lieutenant and then a captain, in combat in Korea in #9 through #13.

Clark Mason writers in Spy Fighters

Mar/51–Jul/52	1-9	(all Clark Mason stories)	Robert Bernstein
Sep/52	10	P-38	Bernstein
		The Vision	Hank Chapman
		Suicide Flight	Bernstein
Nov/	11	(all Clark Mason stories)	Bernstein
Jan/53	12	The Silent Death	Bernstein
		The Strange Enemy	Chapman
		Captured!	Bernstein
Mar/–Jul/53	13-15	(all Clark Mason stories)	Bernstein

Backup stories in Spy Fighters

Sep/51	4	Deadliest of the Species	pencils: Paul Cooper
Nov/	5	Arsenal for R-Day	wr: Bernstein
Mar/52	7	The Tower of Terror	wr: Bernstein
Sep/	10	Secret Weapon	wr: Bernstein
Nov/	11	The Destroyer	wr: Bernstein
Jan/53	12	The Human Target	wr: Chapman

Robert Bernstein Found at Toby

I haven't looked at much of Toby's output, but one point similar to what I'd seen at Quality jumped out at me: "Ikkkkk" in "The White Octopus" (art by Fred Kida). From there I knew to look for Robert Bernstein, and found a few stories of his so far at a company where, like Quality, he hadn't been known to write. The untitled stories in Black Knight 1 seem to be written by someone else.

The two Sands of the South Pacific stories could be Bernstein's first teaming with John Rosenberger, artist on so many of his Fly and Jaguar scripts at Archie in the early 60s.

The Black Knight

May/53

1

Human Sacrifice

Sands of the South Pacific

Jan/53	1	Death Dive
		The Crocodile Killers
		The White Octopus [FIJI JOE]

The Bernstein Black Rider

Some of Robert Bernstein's scripts for the costumed Western hero Black Rider at Timely/Atlas are credited—artist Jay Scott Pike added Bernstein's name when he signed his art. (Ernie Hart's Fifties writing credits also come from Pike's adding the scripter's name.) However, Pike didn't credit all of Bernstein's scripts on his stories, and there were other artists who didn't go to that trouble.

Black Rider was suspended with #18, and when it returned almost two years later there was a new writer, whose distinctive gunshots—"Whram"—don't identify him but show him as the main writer of Kid Colt at the time too.

Black Rider Written by Robert Bernstein

Jan/51	12	The Town That Vanished
		Marked for Murder
		Trek of Terror
		Hot Lead Reunion
		Six-Gun Salute
Mar/	13	The Terrified Tribe
		The Deadly Double-Cross
		The Secret in the Sand
		The Strange Man
May/	14	The Horror Castle
		The Tree Pirates Strike
		Close Shave
		The Metal Menace
Jul/	15	The Poiusoned Bottles
		The Silent Scream
		The Sign of the Wolf
		Returns from the Dead
Sep/	16	Dear Black Rider...
		Three-Cornered Feud
		Mass Murder in Montana
Nov/	17	Black Rider's Vengeance
		Mirror of Death	[credited]
		The Biggest Liar in Tombstone
		The Ghost on Four Legs	[credited]
Jan/52	18	The Indian with Two Hearts	[credited]
		Tombstone Termites	[credited]
		The Ferry at Killer's Creek	[credited]

in Two-Gun Western

Apr/52	13	Doomsday Gang	[credited]
Jun/	14	The Mountain of Doom	[credited]

in Wild Western

Feb/51	14	The Day Black Rider Died
Apr/	15	The Man Who Died Twice
Jun/	16	The Texas Tigress
Aug/	17	Brand of Terror
Oct/	18	The Murderers of Crippled Bend	[credited]
Dec/	19	Vultures of the Rio Grande	[credited]

A Quality Writer Comes to DC

When DC buys Blackhawk from Quality they take over publication without a pause; Quality's final issue, 107, is cover-dated December, 1956. Dick Dillin and Chuck Cuidera become DC artists when they come over with the book. Also coming along is Robert Bernstein, the sole writer on the final batch of Quality issues.

The writers already at DC assigned to the feature at this point include Jack Miller and Dave Wood; possibly Dick Wood too, who had worked on it into 1955 at Quality. I'm still working out the authorship of the individual non-Bernstein stories.

It would seem that the only completed story art done at Quality that DC received in the deal is "The Mutiny of the Red Sailors" in 108; the letterer is whoever worked on the title as of 107. "The Threat from the Abyss" may have been passed along to DC as a script; it too is an anti-Communist story of the sort that DC didn't much do on their own (and it's the final story in which the Blackhawk song appears at the end). My opinion is that Bernstein wrote most of the stories here directly for DC; he's moved to Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Congo Bill by the end of 1957.

Robert Bernstein
Blackhawk Scripts at DC

Jan/57	108	The Threat from the Abyss
		The Mutiny of the Red Sailors
Feb/	109	The Avalanche King
		Blackhawk the Sorcerer
Mar/	110	The Mystery of Tigress Island
Apr/	111	The Perils of Blackie, the Wonder Bird
		Trigger Craig's Magic Carpet
Aug/	115	The Tyrant's Return
		Blackie Goes Wild

Not the Two-Gun Kid

At Quality, Chuck Winter had a four-issue run in Buccaneers, as I posted here. He had twice that in Crack Western on Two-Gun Lil.

On the first four stories I'm taking the Grand Comics Database artist attributions as a start. I think I see three artists among the first four stories (the same one on #64 and 65). Leo Morey is known to have worked on the series, but I can't match him up from his signed stories at ACG a decade later; it may be that he's being inked by other hands here.

Two-Gun Lil in Crack Western

Nov/49	63	She Was Ready	w: Joe Millard  a: Charles    Sultan?
Jan/50	64	The Forbidden Star	w: ?  a: Leo Morey?
Mar/	65	The Dance Hall of Death	w: ?  a: Morey?
May/	66	Even Frontier Terrorists Can Learn	w: ?  a: ?
Jul/	67	Two-Gun Lil Votes against Lynch Law	w: ?  a: Pete Riss
Sep/	68	Two-Gun Lil Conquers Western Crime	w: ?  a: Riss
Nov/	69	Hot-Lead Two-Step	w: Millard  a: Chuck Winter
Jan/51	70	The Taming of Big Bat McGrew	w: Millard  a: Winter
Mar/	71	A Bargain in Bullets	w: Millard  a: Winter
May/	72	The Ghost of Grim Gulch	w: Millard  a: Winter
Jul/	73	Six-Guns from the Sky	w: Millard  a: Winter
Sep/	74	Gun Trouble in Paradise	w: Millard  a: Winter
Nov/	75	The Vultures of Goldhill	w: Millard  a: Winter
Jan/52	76	The End of the Owlhoot Trail	w: Millard  a: Winter
Mar/	77	A Heart as Big as a House	w: ?  a: Pete Morisi
May/	78	Once upon a Time There Were Three Bassett Brothers	w: Robert Bernstein  a:   Morisi
Sep/	80	The Murder on Stage	w: Bernstein  a: Morisi
Nov/	81	The Target Is Two-Gun Lil	w: Bernstein  a: Morisi
Jan/53	82	Target of Hot Lead	w: Bernstein  a: Morisi
Mar/	83	The Fiend in Knee Pants	w: Bernstein  p: John Forte     i: ?
May/	84	The Kissing Monster	w: Bernstein  a: Edmond    Good

Blackhawk Backups 1956

For their final year publishing comic books, Quality dropped the Chop-Chop reprints in Blackhawk as of #95 and instituted a series of aviation backup stories; "Rescue from the Sky" concerns civilian aviation, but after that they're all military-related.

The art credits are straightforward: Sam Citron on all. He was Quality's artist of choice that year on Robin Hood Tales, and inked others into his look on Exploits of Daniel Boone.

The writers are the Blackhawk writers and, in point of fact, the remaining Quality writers. For what it's worth, the Who's Who lists John Broome, of all people, on 1956 Blackhawk backups, but I can't see him on the any of the three I haven't been able to attribute to Bernstein or Millard.

Blackhawk Backups 1956
Art by Sam Citron

Jan/56	96	Rescue from the Sky	w: ?
Feb/	97	War in the Sky	w: Joe Millard
Mar/	98	David and Goliath in the Sky	w: Millard
Apr/	99	Fear and Flight	w: ?
May/	100	The Ghost Plane	w: Robert Bernstein
June/	101	The Incredible Exploits of Baron von Richtofen	w:  ?
July/	102	Critical Target	w: Bernstein
Aug/	103	Fighter for Freedom	w: Bernstein
Sept/	104	Caged	w: Bernstein
Oct/	105	Winged Menace	w: Bernstein
Nov/	106	Sam's Sixth Sense	w: Bernstein
Dec/	107	Red Helicopter Ambush	w: Bernstein

Blackhawk Writers 1956

This will echo the lists for Quality's Exploits of Daniel Boone and Robin Hood Tales in 1956. Joe Millard had been writing for Quality for some time; Robert Bernstein was Quality's final writer before they gave up the ghost in 1956. It's been pointed out that the plot of Blackhawk 101's "The Lost Island" is lifted from Marvel Boy 1's "The Lost World" (Dec/50); but although Bernstein was writing for Timely/Atlas at that point, I can't find his stylistic prints on the Marvel Boy story.

Blackhawk Writers 1956

Jan/56	96	7 Graves for 7 Blackhawks	Joe Millard
		Case of the Missing Blackhawk	Millard
		Doom in the Deep	Millard
Feb/	97	The Horde of the Bat	Millard
		Hitler's Daughter	Millard
		Revolt of the Slave Workers	Millard
Mar/	98	The Phantom Saboteur	Millard
		The Temple of Doom	Millard
		The Black Flag	Millard
Apr/	99	The Queen of Blackhawk Island	Millard
		The War That Never Ended	Robert Bernstein
		The Underground Menace	Bernstein
May/	100	The Delphian Menace	Bernstein
		The Citadel of Hate	?
		The Steel Scorpion	Millard
June/	101	General Steel	Millard
		Satan's Paymaster	Millard
		The Lost Island	Bernstein
July/	102	Master of Mankind	Millard
		The Doom Cloud	Millard
		The Red Professor's Secret	Bernstein
Aug/	103	The Super Race	Bernstein
		The Man Who Stole Tomorrow	Millard
		Menace from the Skies	Bernstein
Sept/	104	Rescue under Fire	Bernstein
		Treachery in the Antarctic	Bernstein
		The Jet Menace	Bernstein
Oct/	105	Nightmare Cruise	Bernstein
		The Red Kamakaze Terror	Bernstein
		The Master of Treachery	Bernstein
Nov/	106	The Flying Tank Platoon	Bernstein
		Stars of Disaster	Bernstein
		The Red Raiders	Bernstein
Dec/	107	The Winged Menace	Bernstein
		Red Timetable of Treachery	Bernstein
		One Minute Till Doom	Bernstein

Bernstein spells "Kamakaze" with an "a" throughout the story in #105, although the cover has it "Kamikaze."

Robin Hood Tales

Quality's companion title to Exploits of Daniel Boone was Robin Hood Tales—they were not only the company's last major titles at around a year's duration apiece, but each accompanied a number of other companies' late-50s versions of the public-domain heroes on the stands. The two titles shared the writers Joe Millard and Robert Bernstein, as far as I've seen the only two working for Quality by then.

Ogden Whitney not only drew #1's interior Robin Hood stories, he did the cover, a move uncharacteristic for Quality; the other covers are by the expected team of Dick Dillin and Chuck Cuidera. Whitney was about the only artist who got to sign his work at the company at this point, although over in the romance titles, not here. The artist of #2-6 is the main artist on Daniel Boone: Sam Citron. (Note his typical speed lines as Maid Marian turns her head.) For all the decades in which fandom attributed to Citron much of Pete Riss's work earlier at Quality (he's still given the credit for many of Riss's Superman stories), some of the work he actually did has gone unidentified.

I believe the artist on #2-6's back-up stories is Harry Anderson (as seen in the second tier here, from #2). I'd now ID him on the back-up frontier story in Exploits of Daniel Boone 6 (Sep/56), "War to the Finish."

Robin Hood Tales
#1 a: Ogden Whitney; #2-6 a: Sam Citron

Feb/56	1	The Trapping of Robin Hood	w: Joe Millard
		The Wrath of Robin Hood	w: Millard
		The Black Knight of Castle Fury	w: Millard
Apr/	2	Rescue of Maid Marian	w: Millard
		The Scourge of the Bailiff	w: Robert Bernstein
		The Golden Rain	w: Millard
Jun/	3	The Scroll of Doom	w: Millard
		The Miserly Miller of Mimms	w: Millard
		The Knight in Red Armor	w: Bernstein
Aug/	4	Ambush of the Merry Men	w: Bernstein
		Little John's Peril	w: Bernstein
		An Arsenal of Hate	w: Bernstein
Oct/	5	Menace of the Royal Assassins	w: Bernstein
		The Baron's Tyranny	w: Bernstein
		The Capture of Robin Hood	w: Bernstein
Dec/	6	The Plot to Destroy Robin Hood	w: Bernstein
		The Ransom of Maid Marian	w: Bernstein
		The Knight Who Hated Chivalry	w: Bernstein

Miscellaneous Medieval Stories in
Robin Hood Tales
#1 a: Citron; #2-6 a: Harry Anderson

Feb/56	1	Engines of War	w: ?
Apr/	2	Saracen Ambush	w: ?
Jun/	3	The Recue of King John	w: Millard
Aug/	4	Sir Guy's Worst Fate	w: ?
Oct/	5	The Miser's Secret	w: Bernstein
Dec/	6	Sir Darton's Deal with Doom	w: Bernstein

Exploits of Daniel Boone

When I first looked at Quality's Exploits of Daniel Boone, I could see that the covers were by Dick Dillin and Chuck Cuidera, and that the writers were the company's mainstays in its final year, Joe Millard and "Q" (whom I now know is Robert Bernstein). I could find John Forte's work on some of the back-up stories, but on the Boone stories themselves I had no idea of the artist.

When I looked at the title again after IDing artists on G.I. Combat, I knew who drew Daniel Boone: Sam Citron. His style at Quality matched up with credited work at ACG in the Sixties.

But when I took a third look, I realized that the artist ID wasn't quite so simple after all. The Boone stories' art in all six issues looked similar because of the inking. The layout of the figures in some stories, though, was more awkward than Citron's usual work.

The penciller on most of issues 3-5 I'd come to recognize on other Quality features like T-Man, and Fawcett's Monte Hale; fittingly enough, Edmond Good was the first artist on DC's frontiersman series, Tomahawk. At times his figures look like Bob Kane's filtered through Sheldon Moldoff's ghosting; usually it's the hand placement that tells, but see the full figure of the farmer in the second panel here from "Master of Magic." The first two stories in issue 5 look different enough that I'd give a very tentative guess at John Daly's pencils.

UPDATE: I thought "War to the Finish" in #6 might be drawn by John Rosenberger, but I believe now that it's by Harry Anderson.

Exploits of Daniel Boone

Nov/55	1	Doom at the Stake	w: Joe Millard  a: Sam Citron
		Raid in the Scioto	w: Millard  a: Citron
		Assault on Boonesborough	w: Millard  a: Citron
Jan/56	2	The Ghost of Dan'l Boone	w: Millard  a: Citron
		Duel at Dawn	w: Millard  a: Citron
		Web of the White Savage	w: Millard  a Citron
Mar/	3	Island of Doom	w: Millard  p: Ed Good  i: Citron
		Rescue from the Redskins	w: Millard  p: Good  i: Citron
		The Honor of Daniel Boone	w: Millard  p: Good  i: Citron
May/	4	Master of Magic	w: Millard  p: Good  i: Citron
		Rendezvous with Disaster	w: Millard  p: Good  i: Citron
		The Pilgrims from Pennsylvania	w: Millard  p: Good  i: Citron
July/	5	Treaty of Doom	w: Robert Bernstein  p: ?
			i: Citron
		The Cunning of Blackfish	w: Bernstein p: ?  i: Citron
		Mission of Peril	w: Bernstein  p: Good  i: Citron
Sept/	6	Menace of the Renegades	w: Bernstein  a: Citron
		Through the Indian Wall	w: Bernstein  a: Citron
		Desperate Mission	w: Bernstein  a: Citron

Miscellaneous Frontier Stories in
Exploits of Daniel Boone

Nov/55	1	How the Cheyennes First Got Guns	w: Millard  a: John Forte
Jan/56	2	Rain of Fire	w: Millard  a: Forte
Mar/	3	The Wizard of the Water	w: Millard  a: Citron
May/	4	Sons of Courage	w: Millard  a: Forte
July/	5	Four-Footed Menace	w: Bernstein  a: ?
Sept/	6	War to the Finish	w: Bernstein
			a: Harry Anderson

Writer "Q" Gets a Name

In my Ken Shannon and G.I. Combat posts I identified one writer only as "Q"—I could see his style in story after story in Quality's last couple of years, but I couldn't put a name to him. He wasn't any of the writers listed in the Who's Who as working there; for all I knew, he never worked anyplace else and would remain unknown.

I found him at Atlas in the early Fifties. Robert Bernstein had a number of Black Rider stories signed for him by artist Jay Scott Pike. Bernstein scripted more Atlas stories at the time, but uncredited.

"Q" stands out at Quality by so many captions precise as to time: Ten minutes later..., Twenty minutes later.... Exclamations like "Iiieeee," "Eeiii," and "Urghh" distinguish his scripts from, say, Joe Millard's or Dick Wood's there at mid-Fifties Quality. These are details that jumped out at me when at last I read those Black Rider stories.

The problem is that these scripts don't sound much like Bernstein's half a decade later at Archie with the Fly and Jaguar, sat DC with the Superman family, or even at Marvel with Thor, Iron Man, and the Human Torch. His captions Moments after..., when the other writers use Moments later..., don't show up in the earlier stuff.

Writers' styles can change over the years, but my methodology depends on their not changing completely. I felt better about my IDing "Q" as Bernstein when I found a few of his later quirks sprinkled through these stories. One difference between Bernstein and Otto Binder on Superman: Binder uses "Omigosh" only; Bernstein uses "Migosh" as well. "Q" uses "Migosh." The clues that led me years ago to Bernstein on Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Congorilla were certain sound effects used on Superman, the Archie Adventure heroes, and the Marvel heroes. Pwanng connects this Two-Gun Lil story from Crack Western 83 (March/53) with the Aquaman story from Adventure 260 (May/59).

The Who's Who has Robert Bernstein working at Fawcett, strips unknown; I hope I can track him down there eventually, too.

G.I. Combat 1-5

G.I. Combat began at Quality. Much later, after DC bought the title, the WWII stories of the Haunted Tank headlined; but in 1952-3 this anthology presented nothing but contemporary Korean War stories.

I can identify the three writers by style but can name only one of them, Joe Millard. "Q" worked on Ken Shannon, T-Man, Blackhawk, Exploits of Daniel Boone, Robin Hood Tales, and Web of Evil—and wrote a couple of stories for Doll Man—from 1951 or '52 to Quality's demise at the end of 1956. "GIC A" I've so far found scripting only on this title. The first story here uses "damn" and "dammit" but that experiment in precode adult-aimed writing ends before the issue and the title get any older. UPDATE: "Q" is Robert Bernstein.

Indexers have reflexively named Chuck Cuidera as Reed Crandall's inker on most of his stories at Quality, no matter the actual style (or the reports of other inkers like Les Zakarin or Sam Burlockoff on some of his strips). In the case of the first G.I. Combat story, however, Crandall's inker is indeed Cuidera. Note the faces of the lieutenant in the top tier panels as examples of Crandall's pencils and the sergeant's face in the bottom tier's middle panel as most obviously Cuidera's inks.

 

My impression is that Pete Morisi and Sam Citron ink themselves on this title, but the difference between John Daly stories' inks at DC and Quality suggests he didn't ink himself at both. After the obscuring inks over Charles Nicholas's pencils in #1, the inking of his stories here is pretty consistent, and so although I've never seen his inks credited later at Charlton or DC, I'll venture that he does ink himself from #2 on.

The cover pencils are by Crandall: #1, 3-5, and Dick Dillin: #2.

G.I. Combat 1-5

Oct/52	1	Beyond the Call of Duty	w: Robert Bernstein
			p: Reed Crandall
			i: Chuck Cuidera
		Killing Pitch	w: "GIC A"  a: Pete Morisi
		The Runt Breaks Through	w: Bernstein  p: Charles Nicholas
		Trumpet of Death	w: "GIC A"  a: ?
Dec/	2	Operation Massacre	w: Bernstein  p: John Daly
		Prison Camp Slaughter	w: Bernstein  a: Morisi
		Behind Enemy Lines	w: "GIC A"  a: ?
		The Human Fly on Heartbreak Hill	w: "GIC A"  a: Nicholas
Feb/53	3	Havoc behind Red Lines	w: Bernstein  p: Daly
		An Indestructible Marine	w: "GIC A"  a: ?
		No Grandstand in Hell	w: Joe Millard  p: Crandall
		Suicide Decoy	w: Bernstein  a: Nicholas
Mar/	4	Bridge to Bloody Hell	w: Millard  p: Dick Dillin
		Vengeance Raid	w: Millard  a: Sam Citron
		The Lieutenant Attacks	w: "GIC A"  a: ?
		One Man Army	w: "GIC A"  p: Crandall
Apr/	5	Vindicated under Fire	w: "GIC A"  p: Dillin
		Glamour Guys of Hell	w: Bernstein  a: ?
		Hell Breaks Loose on Suicide Hill	w: Millard  a: Citron
		Death of a Coward	w: Bernstein  p: Crandall