Phil Evans on the Flying A

On most other features that the Who's Who lists Phil Evans as writing at Western/Dell, his scripts appear much more frequently than on Gene Autry--to the point that sheer guesswork as to his scripts on the Grand Comics Database gives a correct credit a number of times. On Autry's long-running book, though, there are just a handful of Evans credits. Likewise he wrote only one story for the TV title The Flying A's Range Rider--fitting in here inasmuch the Flying A is Gene Autry's production company, named for his ranch.

This partial page from "Gene Autry and the Ghost Prison" sets off Evans alarm twice: his putting a comma after "Haw" and "Huh" instead of an exclamation point. "Wal," of course, is more likely to take a comma to begin with, and you will find it in Autry scripts by other hands.

Written by Phil Evans:
Gene Autry

Sep/50	43	GA and Owlhoots of Deadwood Mesa
Nov/	45	GA and the Ghost Prison
Dec/52	70	GA and the Combination
Mar/53	73	The Wrong Hireling
Apr/	74	Treetop Trickery
		Murder Map
May/54	87	GA and the Haunted Spiderweb

Misc. Western Gene Autry back-up

Mar/53

73

Ghost Town Girl

Range Rider in Four Color

Apr/52

404

RR and the Monster of the Desert

Mr. District Attorney Writers--Spotlight on Phil Evans

Writer Phil Evans' records (published by Robin Snyder in his History of the Comics) specify some of his stories of Mr. District Attorney and the DC title's crime back-ups, but not all; there are unnamed others in the range of numbers 6-15 (I find one in #16 too).

The first clue to an Evans story is his use of "Hmm" or "Huh" at the beginning of a sentence but following by a comma rather than the more usual dash or ellipsis (not that he doesn't use those too). These are panels from "Fake Accident Racket," which is in the records, and "The Alibi King," which isn't; the latter uses "Huh" in this fashion a good four times. Pencils by Howard Purcell on issues 6 through 59.

Mr. District Attorney writers Part 2
(* = in Phil Evans' records)

Nov-Dec/48	#6	The Big Frame	Ed Herron
Jan-Feb/49	#7	The People vs. Killer Kale	Herron
		The Case of the Vanishing Crook	Herron
		The Street of Forgotten Men	Herron
Mar-Apr/	#8	The Rise and Fall of "Lucky" Lynn	Phil Evans
		The Case of the Money Makers	Herron
May-June/	#9	The Case of the Living Counterfeits	Herron
July-Aug/	#10	Dragnet	Herron
Sep-Oct/	#11	The Game That Has No Winners	Evans *
		The Man Who Laughed at Bullets	Herron
		Second Chance Farm	Herron
Nov-Dec/	#12	Fake Accident Racket	Evans *
		I Defended the Monkey Man	Evans
Jan-Feb/50	#13	The Execution of Caesar Larsen	Herron
		The False Rumor Factory	Evans *
		Where Is Marvyn Moon?	Herron
Mar-Apr/	#14	The Alibi King	Evans
		Murder at Ceiling Zero	Evans
May-June/	#15	Prison Train	Herron
		The Man Who Fooled Juries	Herron
July-Aug/	#16	The Crime Warden	Evans