Mr. District Attorney Writers III--"How in Hannah?"

Here are the writers that jumped out at me on a sweep through these issues. The panel from "Blueprint of a Traitor" shows how Dick Wood can be easily spotted more often than not. As with France Edward Herron and Jack Miller, and of course other writers, he may have more stories in these issues, but ones where he hasn't been quite so obvious.

Mr. District Attorney writers Part 3

Sep-Oct/50	#17	The Bachelors of Crime	Ed Herron
Nov-Dec/	#18	The Phantom Thief	Herron
May-June/51	#21	The D.A. Pounds a Beat	Herron
July-Aug/	#22	Blueprint of a Traitor	Dick Wood
Sep-Oct/	#23	Diary of a Criminal	Wood
		The Big Basketball Fix	Wood
		The Gang with 1,000 Gimmicks	Herron
Nov-Dec/	#24	The Killer in the Iron Mask	Herron
Jan-Feb/52	#25	I Hired My Killer!	Herron
Mar-Apr/	#26	The Case of the Wanted Criminals	Wood
		The Prisoner in Cell 13	Herron
May-June/	#27	The Crimes of Caesar Torro	Wood
July-Aug/	#28	The Sound Waves of Crime	Wood
Sep-Oct/	#29	The Crimes of Mr. Jumbo	Wood
		The Case of the Outlaw Broadcasters	Wood
Jan-Feb/53	#31	The Hot Money Gang	Wood
Mar-Apr/	#32	The Case of the Bad Luck Clues	Wood
		The T.V. Gang	Jack Miller
July-Aug/	#34	The Amazing Crimes of Mr. X	Herron
Sep-Oct/	#35	This Crime for Hire	Herron
		Gangland's Rubout Squad	Herron
Nov-Dec/	#36	The Chameleon of Crime	Herron
		The Life and Death of a Criminal	Miller

Casebook Mystery in Mr. District Attorney

May-Jun/53

#33

The Case of the Night-Shift Scandal

Miller

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

Mr. District Attorney: Eppure è Ed Dobrotka

Nowadays I can't compare this artist's work to any of what he did on Superman, because on the Grand Comics Database the Jerry Siegel records at one remove of the Shuster Shop work seem to be disappearing Ed Dobrotka from the feature and replacing him in the history books with the mistakenly mentioned Sam Citron.

Well, Dobrotka also worked on the Seven Soldiers of Victory at DC, and Captain Triumph and Betty Bates at Quality (Sam Citron worked there too, but on different features and later, in a style recognizable from his credited stories later still at ACG). Here is art from the Betty Bates story in Hit 40 (May 1946) to compare with panels from DC's radio show tie-in title Mr. District Attorney—ones from "The Million-Dollar Racket," "Station K-I-L-L," and "The Case of the Fat Crook." A very different inking style almost suffocates the pencils on Mr. District Attorney; still, art-spotters have discerned Dobrotka's style underneath, but—sigh—misattributed it to Citron.

France Edward Herron's scripts are distinctive enough to jump out at me while I'm primarily looking for the artist.

Mr. District Attorney stories
pencilled by Ed Dobrotka

Jan-Feb/48	#1	The Innocent Forger
		The Five Days That Shook a City
		The Million-Dollar Racket	w: Ed Herron
		The Spook Crooks
Mar-Apr/	#2	The Richest Man in Prison	w: Herron
		The Case of the Crooked Models
		The Case of the Blind Crook	w: Herron
		Station K-I-L-L
May-June/	#3	The Honest Convicts	w: Herron
		The Case of the Fat Crook	w: Herron
		In This Corner—Death	w: Herron
July-Aug/	#4	The Merchant of Death	w: Herron
		The False Code of Honor	w: Herron
		Death Writes a Forgery
		The Case of the Loan Shark
Sept-Oct/	#5	The Booby-Trap Killer
		The Gas-Man Sleuth	w: Herron
		The Counterfeit Medicine Mob

Spyman

How much Jim Steranko contributed to the published stories of the characters he created for the Harvey Thrillers begs two questions: how many scripts did he submit and how many were used? Steranko's scripts on Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, are much more in the Marvel style than anything at Harvey, so although there isn't a lot that lets me say "The Birth of a Hero" is written by Steranko, there's nothing that leads to any other writer.

Look through France Edward Herron's credited work at DC on Blackhawk and Challengers and you'll find "Kwhamma" a lot.

Otto Binder's attributions for the back-up pieces in the Thrillers line seem to have morphed into credits for the main features, but I can't find him on Spyman, for one. I can't even find his style on the Eye Spy backup in #1.

Nick Caputo gives Mike Esposito as a possibility for the inks for the first part of Tuska's story. A CGD guess at the second part's inks is Carl Pfeufer.

I suspect the intro pages on the Thrillers are more likely written by editor Joe Simon than by the main-feature writers.

Spyman

Sept/66	#1	The Birth of a Hero	w: Jim Steranko?
			p: George Tuska
Dec/	#2	The Hand Is Quicker Than the Monster	w: Ed Herron
			a: Dick Ayers
Feb/67	#3	Death of Spyman	w: Herron  a: Bill Draut

Spyman backups

Sept/66	#1	Eye Spy and His Gal Friday...Jane Blond	w: Dick Wood??  a: ?
Dec/	#2	You Push a Button [ROBOLINK]	w: Otto Binder
			a: Carl Pfeufer
Feb/67	#3	Campy Champ: The Terrific Teen	w: Binder  a: Pfeufer

The Revolutionary War Wheel--Tomahawk 102-118 Writers

In "The Attack of the 'Gator God" Bill Finger reuses not only the War Wheel that he originated in Blackhawk 56 (Sept/52) at Quality; his heroes use pretty much the same method to defeat it (and Tomahawk's is a little more ingenious, as he leaves footprints over the trap).

Most stories from Tomahawk 102 through 118 are drawn by Fred Ray, but for "The Attack of the 'Gator God" in #105 he only pencils; Bob Brown inks the story. Brown draws "Battle Hat" (#101), "The Frontier Frankenstein" (#103), and "The Ghost of Tomahawk" (#104) as well as the covers through #115. Irv Novick draws "The Mad Miser of Carlyle Castle" (#113).A letter column credits Jerry Grandenetti's pencils along with Joe Orlando's inks (credited for the only time in that combination that I'm aware of, after all the ghosting Grandenetti did for Orlando) on "Tomahawk: Guilty of Murder" (#118). Neal Adams draws the covers of #116-118.

The back-up stories not entered here are reprints; in "The League of Tomahawk Haters" in #113 (from #54), Dan Hunter has been minimally redrawn, recolored, and relettered into the young Ranger, Stovepipe.

Tomahawk 102-118
Writers (underlined=credited on story splash or in another issue's letters page)

J-F/66	#102	The Dragon Killers	France Ed Herron
		Bring Back a Prisoner—Alive	Bill Finger
M-A/	#103	The Frontier Frankenstein	Herron
		The Super-Ranger with Nine Lives	Herron
M-J/	#104	The Fearful Freak of Dunham's Dungeon	Herron
		Take Me Alive	Finger
J-A/	#105	The Attack of the 'Gator God	Finger
		Hold That Bridge	Herron
S-O/	#106	The Ghost of Tomahawk	Herron
		One-Man Fort	Herron
N-D/	#107	The Tribe below the Earth	Herron
		Last Stand of the 3-in-1 Ranger	Herron
J-F/67	#108	New Boss for the Rangers	Herron
M-A/	#109	The Caveman Ranger	Finger
		The Toy Tiger	Herron
M-J/	#110	Tomahawk Must Die	Finger
J-A/	#111	Vengeance of the Devil-Dogs	Herron
S-O/	#112	The Rangers vs. Tomahawk	Finger
N-D/	#113	The Mad Miser of Carlyle Castle	George Kashdan
J-F/68	#114	The Terrible Power of Chief Iron-Hands	Carl Wessler
		Traitor of the Totem Pole	Finger
M-A/	#115	The Deadly Flaming Ranger	Wessler
M-J/	#116	The Last Mile of Massacre Trail	Wessler
		The Making of a Hero	Wessler
J-A/	#117	The Rangers' Last Stand	Dave Wood & Murray   Boltinoff
		The Gauntlet of Doom	Wessler
S-O/	#118	Tomahawk: Guilty of Murder	Kashdan
		The Ranger Who Wouldn't Fight	Herron

Splash page credits begin consistently with #119; the one story thereafter presented uncredited (drawn by Frank Thorne) is this one:

M-A/70

#127

Big Anvil's Big Lie

Kashdan

Tomahawk 83-101 Writers

When Murray Boltinoff took over editing Tomahawk he changed the format from three stories per issue to a double-length one and a back-up (with #95 a full-lengther). #83, his first issue, introduces the "G.I.s of 1775," Tomahawk's Rangers, as supporting cast for the lead stories, but through #93 the back-ups still team Tomahawk with his original young partner Dan Hunter. The use of some fantastic elements carries over from Jack Schiff's stewardship.

Boltinoff didn't make any great change in the creative personnel; on this run the feature's mainstay artist Fred Ray drew all but one story, and one-time Tomahawk artist Bob Brown every cover, as well as the lead story in #98 and the backup in #101. Ed Herron and Dave Wood had been sharing the writing chores for a number of years under Schiff.

Boltinoff credits Herron, Ray, and letterer Stan Starkman every so often in the letters columns. The sure sign of Ed Herron's work in the Sixties is the sound effect Kwhamma; note the "a" at the end that the other DC writers at the time don't use. Some lettercol credits for Herron are for individual stories and some are general; he wrote most of this run, but not every single story before Bill Finger's first credit.

Tomahawk 83-101
Writers (underlined=credited on story or in letters page)

N-D/62	#83	20 against the Tribe	France Ed   Herron
		The Mighty Hand of Chief Great Storm	Herron
J-F/63	#84	There's a Coward among the Rangers	Herron
		Miss Liberty's All-Girl Army	Dave Wood
M-A/	#85	The Whispering War	Herron
		The Giant from Inside Earth	Herron
M-J/	#86	The Rangers vs. King Colosso	Herron
		Lord Shilling—Yankee Ally	Herron
J-A/	#87	The Secrets of Sgt. Witch Doctor	Herron
		The Tick Tock Terror	Herron
S-O/	#88	The Rangers Who Held Back the Earth	Herron
		Miss Liberty Rides Again	Herron
N-D/	#89	The Terrible Tree-Man	Herron
		Hold That Bridge	Herron
J-F/64	#90	The Prisoner in the Pit	Herron
		Booby-Trap Town	Herron
M-A/	#91	The Tribe below the Earth	Herron
		The Straw Soldiers of Devil Pass	Herron
M-J/	#92	The Petrified Sentry of Peaceful Valley	Herron
		Target—Tomahawk	Herron
J-A/	#93	The Return of King Colosso	Herron
		Dead Silence	Herron
S-O/	#94	Rip Van Ranger	Herron
		Heartbreak Hill	Herron
N-D/	#95	The Tribe beneath the Sea	Herron
J-F/65	#96	The Ranger Killers	Herron
		The Battle That Never Died	Herron
M-A/	#97	The Prisoner behind the Bull's-Eye	Herron
		Coonskin Lottery	Herron
M-J/	#98	The Pied Piper Rangers	Bill Finger
		The Man in the Muzzle	Herron
J-A/	#99	The Rangers vs. King Cobweb	Herron
		The Battle of Little Ben	Finger
S-O/	#100	The Weird Water-Tomahawk	Herron
		The Ghost of Trigger Hill	Finger
N-D/	#101	Tomahawk, Enemy Spy	Herron
		Battle Hat	Finger

Cave Carson Writers

Cave Carson, master spelunker, Christie Madison, geologist, and Bulldozer Smith, ex-sandhog strong man, adventured inside Earth in the Mighty Mole, an update of Abner Perry's mole machine in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar novels. Instead of a mechanical screw, this one used an unnamed laser beam—a "thermo ray"—to cut into the rock of the crust. Their first adventure read like a novel itself when I found it as a preteen.

Upon their return in the Showcase run the team did without the Mighty Mole, and made do with mascot Lena the lemur. Bob Haney was credited in the letters page in Showcase 49: "Bob Haney now writes INSIDE EARTH." Note the "now"; he didn't write it before 1964. There was a change of editors: Jack Schiff on Cave's B&Bs, Murray Boltinoff on the Showcases. France Edward Herron is known to have worked on Cave; but a Ka-fuuush! in B&B 33 indicates Dave Wood, and In the next startling moment... and Tense hours elapse... point to Jack Miller in #41. There was only one more artist (four) than writer (three) on the five stories in B&B; Showcase stuck to the one creative team.

Cave Carson: Adventures Inside Earth
in The Brave and the Bold

A-S/60	#31	The Secret beneath the Earth	w: Ed Herron
			a: Bruno Premiani
O-N/	#32	The City 100 Miles Down	w: Herron
			a: Bernard Baily
D-J/61	#33	The Alien Robots from Inner Space	w: Dave Wood
			a: Baily
F-M/62	#40	Three Caverns of Doom	w: Herron
			a: Joe Kubert
A-M/	#41	The Raiders from the Secret World	w: Jack Miller
			a: Mort Meskin

in Showcase

J-F/64	#48	Killers of the Dead-End Maze	w: Bob Haney
			a: Lee Elias
M-A/	#49	The Fury of the Fiery Avenger	w: Haney  a: Elias
S-O/	#52	Prisoners of the Lost World	w: Haney  a: Elias