Ken Fitch Writes Tony Gay

The early 50s company Star is best known for its covers by co-owner L. B. Cole. On the insides it made do with a lot of reprint material from various publishers, most notably Novelty, from whom it continued some titles and characters. Teen-age model Toni Gay, for instance, is a continuation of Novelty's Toni Gayle girl detective strip.

Star's romance and teen-age books did contain some original material, and every so often in the romance titles Ken Fitch got a scripting credit. So I knew to look for him at Star, and I found him on at least the first two Toni Gay stories. This tier from "The Hoaxed Hoax" shows not only his typical "Aiy-y-y-y-y-y" but the "Eeeeeee" found in some of his romance stories. The artist is Norman Nodel.

On many of the stories in the other strips in School-Day Romances/Popular Teen-Agers--Ginger Snapp/Ginger Bunn/Honey Bunn, Midge Martin, and Eve Adams--I find one writer whom I can't identify who uses the expression "Sufferin' Susie" often.

Ken Fitch Scripts on Toni Gay
in School-Day Romances

Nov-Dec/49	1	The Hoaxed Hoax
Jan-Feb/50	2	Mixed Pix

Sal Trapani Credit Where Due: Nature Boy

After all the times that Sal Trapani was given the attribution for his ghosts' pencils, it's only fair to give him credit for some stories he did ink without being recognized. I'm not sure who did the pencils on "Starvation Valley" in Nature Boy #4. Could Bill Fraccio have done any?

Jerry Siegel has been correctly credited with the John Buscema drawn stories in #3 (the first issue) and #5. The guess at Joe Gill for #4 and one story in #5 happens to have hit the mark, but another writer known to have been at Charlton in the 1950s wasn't considered. That's Ken Fitch, whose "Aiyyy" is seen in his later Dell work such as Space Man.

Nature Boy

Aug/56	4	A World Gone Mad	i: Sal Trapani
		Starvation Valley	p: Molno?  i: Rocke Mastroserio?
		Nature Boy's Private War	i: Trapani
		Peaceful Island	i: Trapani
Feb/57	5	Desert Intrigue	w: Ken Fitch   i: Trapani
		Menace from the Hills	w: Fitch  i: Trapani
		Bringing Up Junior	i: Trapani