Showing posts with label Woolfolk scripts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Woolfolk scripts. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Ken Shannon and the Aquaman Artist

Private eye Ken Shannon took over Plastic Man's lead slot in Police Comics at the end of 1950 and within the year received his own title as well. I index Ken Shannon in this post; I haven't seen a complete run of the post-Plas Police.

Shannon's main penciller was Reed Crandall. Sam Burlockoff has said he inked Crandall on the feature; Burlockoff's major credit that I know of is early war stuff at DC, but I'm not familiar enough with his style to credit him with particular stories here. Chuck Cuidera has been linked to Crandall here in much the way George Klein was once credited with inking every Superman story Curt Swan ever pencilled, be they inked by Kaye, Moldoff, or Forte if not Klein. I'll just put aside the question of Ken Shannon inkers altogether on this list.

I believe two stories are pencilled by W.G. Hargis, who got to sign a number of his Inspector Denver stories in Police. One story's penciller I can't figure at all.

The penciller just behind Crandall in terms of quantity (counting the appearances of the strip in both Police and KS) has been a mystery. The inking obscured his style as seen earlier at other companies.

Ken Shannon 10, story 2, panels

I see the work of John Daly. The young man shaking Shannon's hand is the best example of Daly's style in faces, showing through the inking; Ken Shannon himself is inked heavily to match Crandall's face for the character. The next panel's rather stodgy staging of the figures comes closest to the staging on the Aquaman page, the staging that typefies Daly to me.

Adventure 151 Aquaman panels

All ten covers were pencilled, if not inked as well, by Crandall.

The William Woolfolk credits are a sneak preview into his script records for 1951-52. In brief: Woolfolk and Joe Millard share use of the scream "Eeeahhh," but Millard uses his standby "Owoooff" that Woolfolk never does. "Q," a Quality writer of the Fifties I can't yet name, opts for variations of "Urghh" and "Iiieee." UPDATE: "Q" is Robert Bernstein

Ken Shannon 1-10 Writers and Pencillers

Oct/51#1 The Evil Eye of Count Ducriew: Joe Millard p: Reed Crandall
The Playful Pickpocketw: Millard  p: Crandall
The Carrier Pigeon Casew: Robert Bernstein  p: W.G. Hargis?
Dec/    #2 Cut-Rate Corpsesw: Millard  p: Crandall
Invitation to a Murderw: Millard  p: Crandall

Front Man for Murderw: Millard  p: Crandall
Feb/52 #3 The Corpse That Wouldn't Sleepw: Millard  p: Crandall
The Case of the Butchered Butcherw: Millard  p: Crandall
One Day I'll Kill Youw: Millard  p: Crandall
Apr/     #4 Stone Hatchet Murderw: Millard  p: Crandall
Stand-In for Murderw: William Woolfolk p: Crandall
The Case of the All-Seeing Eyew: Millard  p: Hargis?
June/    #5 The Case of the Carny KiIlerw: Millard  p: Crandall
The Man from Nowherew: Woolfolk  p: ?
Doctor of Deathw: Woolfolk  p: John Daly
Aug/    #6 The Vampire Mobw: Millard  p: Crandall
Dead Man's Alleyw: Millard  p: Daly
Dee Dee Can't Be Deadw: Bernstein  p: Daly
Oct/    #7 The Ugliest Man in the Worldw: Bernstein  p: Daly
Murder on Accountw: Bernstein p: Daly
Too Many Killersw: Bernstein p: Daly
Dec/    #8 Mansion of Mangled Menw: Woolfolk  p: Daly

The Chinatown Murdersw: Bernstein  p: Daly
The Doom Expressw: Bernstein  p: Daly
Feb/53#9 The Flame of Doomw: Millard  p: Daly
Necklace of Bloodw: Woolfolk  p: Daly
Day It Rained Moneyw: Millard  p: Daly
Apr/    #10 In the Shadow of the Chairw: Millard  p: Daly
Your Money or Your Bloodw: Millard  p: Daly
[untitled]w: Bernstein  p: Daly

The back-up feature in 1-9 is Angles O'Day (Not-So-Special Investigator), not only wriiten and drawn but lettered by Jack Cole, and 10 presents a Flatfoot Burns by Al Stahl, the last of that series from Police and The Spirit.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Doll Man Writers 1952-53

Doll Man 44 cover: Radioactive Man


Doll Man comes to the end of his run embracing the horror boom of the early Fifties.

These attributions to William Woolfolk come from my seeing his style in the scripting; I haven't seen the pages of his notebook that, if I'm correct, record these stories.

"Q" is a writer I can't name, who wrote quite a lot for Quality in the Fifties: war, horror, some Robin Hood, some Daniel Boone; not to mention Blackhawk just before DC took over the title. UPDATE: I'm replacing the letter with the writer's name, now that I've figured out who he is: Robert Bernstein.

As for IDing the artists on these stories, I'm throwing my hands in the air and walking away.

Doll Man Writers 1952-53

Feb/52#38 The Druid DeathWilliam Woolfolk
House of VampiresWoolfolk
Doll Man and the Voodoo MasterWoolfolk
Apr/    #39 The Death DrugWoolfolk
The Sinister SafariWoolfolk
Ticket of TerrorWoolfolk
June/    #40 Doll Man and the Giants of CrimeWoolfolk
The Mysterious Mr. MagnetWoolfolk
The Bleeding StatueWoolfolk
Aug/    #41 The Headless HorsemanWoolfolk
Darrel Dane's BodyguardWoolfolk
The Beast ManWoolfolk
Oct/    #42 The Mind-MonsterWoolfolk
The Spectre in SteelWoolfolk
Diary of DeathWoolfolk
Dec/    #43 The Thing That KilledWoolfolk
The Emerald Eye of EvilWoolfolk
Satan's SculptorWoolfolk
Feb/53#44 Radioactive ManWoolfolk
The Raiser of the DeadRobert Bernstein
Wanted: Darrel DaneBernstein
Apr/    #45  The Man with the Iron FaceWoolfolk
The Killers from X-T-B-2Woolfolk
The Doom BoxJoe Millard
June/    #46 The Monster from TomorrowMillard
Flame of EvilMillard
The Killer HawksMillard
Oct/    #47 Midget of MurderDick Wood
The Mad HypnotistWood
Crime's Mr. MagicWood

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Pete Riss Manhunter

This list's Manhunter stories in Quality's Police Comics are pencilled by the Superman artist I identified as Pete Riss in my previous post. The same "actor" appears in both the Action 92 Superman story ("Haircut—and a Close Shave," May/46) and the Police 49 Manhunter one: the bullet-headed and emaciated type who plays the barber in one and Allard in the other.

Action 92 Superman and Police 49 Manhunter tiers with identical characters

None of these Manhunter stories' pencils are by Al Bryant, to whom they've been attributed. Other artists worked on the feature before #37 and after #59; Riss may have done some stories in years other than this mid-Forties run. Note that Riss did not draw the story in Police 55.
"MH" is a writer whose style I can follow from story to story but whom I can't name. I see more than one inker on this run of stories; penciller Pete Riss may well be one of them. Perhaps John Forte is another.

I'm using my own standards as to which words on a splash page constitute a title, and I've made up the titles in brackets for this list.

Manhunter Pencilled by Pete Riss in Mid-1940s Police Comics

Dec/44#37 The Matchw: Joe Millard
Jan/45#38 [Blind Justice Will Kill Manhunter]w: Millard
Feb/45#39 [A Picture Kills]w: Millard
Mar/45#40 Music Hath Charmsw: "MH"
Apr/45#41 Port of Missing Goodsw: ?
May/45#42 Two Tracksw: Millard
June/45#43 Tramp Club Deathw: Millard
July/45#44 The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted—Manw: "MH"
Aug/45#45 The Tailor's Dummyw: ?
Sept/45#46 [Torch Tigue]w: Millard
Oct/45#47 I'm Guiltyw: "MH"
Nov/45#48 [The Corpse behind the Catsup Bottle]w: Millard
Dec/45#49 Archer without a Boww: Millard
Jan/46#50 Disgracew: "MH"
Feb/46#51 Crime Declares an Armisticew: William Woolfolk
Mar/46#52 [Mystery from the Morgue]w: Woolfolk
Apr/46#53 [A Houdini under Water]w: Woolfolk
May/46#54 [Target: Thor]w: "MH"
July/46#56 The Vengeancew: Woolfolk
Aug/46#57 Will Death Miss Twice?w: "MH"
Sept/46#58 Hatchetw: "MH"
Oct/46#59 [The Bonds of Cruel Captivity]w: ?