Woolfolk Records 1946/03

Stories this month are for Fawcett and Timely. The Johnny Jingle story wasn't paid for, so probably was meant for a second self-published title alongside Mad Hatter. UPDATE: Despite its not being paid for, it seems it was intended for Orbit: in an ad in Patches #4 (July 1946), Johnny Jingle is mentioned as one of the features in a comic that would never actually come out, U.S. No. 1.

The Young Allies story, again, I can't place. The moon creature story in Captain Midnight 50, written in May 1946, is a direct sequel to this moon trip one. Latest update: now that I've actually seen issue 49, I can confirm that the story was in it and not, say, 48.

UPDATE: these are the last of the ten (!) Captain America stories that, from the evidence of the comics themselves, the editors must have written off; I've relisted them as unpublished when I hadn't been sure before. And darkmark found the "Sky Tournament" Captain Midnight story after I posted without that info.

March 1946 Comic Book Stories by William Woolfolk

12 pg	Captain America	steeplechase race
		[unpublished]
9	Captain Marvel	is knighted
		"CM Is Knighted" CM Advs 69, Feb/47
9	Captain Marvel	clock of San Lojardo
		"The Clock of San Lojardo" Whiz 85, May/47
7	Captain Midnight	sky tournament
		"The Sky Tournament" Capt Mid 53, July/47
14	Amazing Johnny Jingle	2 twins who are as one
9	Captain Marvel	the magic ruby locket
		"The Magic Locket" Whiz 83, Mar/47
8	Captain Marvel	the dog show
		"CM Judges a Dog Show" CM Advs 72, May/47
12	Captain America	woman who gave away money
		[unpublished]
7	Young Allies	butler's & maid's ball
		Marvel Mystery [thru 83, July/47]
8	Ibis	lonely Triton
		"The Lonely Triton" Whiz 86, June/46
7	Captain Midnight	trip to the moon
		"Trip to the Moon" Capt Mid 49, Mar/47

Joe Orlando's Other Ghost

Joe Orlando used Jerry Grandenetti as a ghost penciller in the mid-Sixties at Warren (on anthology stories and the Adam Link series) and at DC (on The Inferior Five and Scooter). Grandenetti's unmistakable pencils are enough of a clue, but his sound effects lettering was the clincher in an argument, for a while, as to whether Orlando changed his style for a couple of years so it coincidentally resembled Grandenetti's. Once Grandenetti started contributing full art to Warren under his own name, Orlando did some pencilling for himself again—and in cases like the later Adam Link stories, started inking even more heavily so that Grandenetti's pencilling style was, finally, nearly obscured. (How much Orlando contributed at all to "his" DC stories pencilled by Grandenetti, when Mike Esposito inked them, is a question to ponder.)

But Jerry Grandenetti wasn't Joe Orlando's only ghost. The art in "Image of Bluebeard" in Creepy 7, Feb/66 (written by Bill Pearson) is credited solely to Orlando, and its pencils have since been attributed to Jerry Grandenetti. This looks more like Orlando himself on pencils again, at first glance, but it isn't. His ghost penciller here is Bill Draut.

The boy's face in the panel below from DC's Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion 12 (Sept/73), "A Change of Bodies" (written by John Albano) is typical of Bill Draut's work. Compare with the policeman in the background in the middle panel above.

Draut inked Grandenetti at times DC under editor Orlando (Phantom Stranger) and they both worked on Swing with Scooter. Draut contributed to "Ahead of the Game" in Warren's Eerie 2 (March/66)—I haven't the issue to look at any more—did he ink Grandenetti as the GCD says, or pencil for Orlando?

Woolfolk Records 1946/02

William Woolfolk wrote ten scripts this month for Fawcett and three for Timely.

Note that the editors cut one story by a page but expanded two stories.

Update: I agree with darkmark's comment about the Captain America stories; after looking through the comics themselves with his help and finding neither hide nor hair of these plots, I've relisted the stories here as unpublished.

And I had the "CM Traps a Sleepwalker" issue wrong in the original post; see again the comments.

February 1946 Comic Book Stories by William Woolfolk

9 pg	Don Winslow	climbs Mt. Everest
		"DW Climbs Mt. Everest" DW 38, Sep/46
12	Captain America	looks for an apartment
		[unpublished]
6	Ibis	isle of monoliths
		"Isle of Monoliths" Whiz 77, Aug/46
9	Captain Marvel	magic carpet
		"The Wonderful Magic Carpet" Whiz 88, Aug/47
9	Captain Marvel	boy pirate
		"The Boy Pirate" Whiz 84, Apr/47
7	Captain Marvel	ghostly ghostwriter
		"The Ghostly Ghostwriter" CM Advs 68, Dec/46
7	Captain Marvel	traps a sleepwalker
		"CM Traps a Sleepwalker" CM Advs 71, Apr/47
12	Captain America	a rival for C.A.
		[unpublished]
9	Captain Marvel	king of Terror Island
8		"The King of Terror Island" CM Advs 73, June/47
12	Captain America	mysterious card
		[unpublished]
10	Marvel Family	Capt. Marvel's sickness
11		"CM—Invalid" MF 14, Aug/47
10	Marvel Family	the Vikings
11		"The MF and the Last Vikings" MF 9, Mar/47
7	Captain Marvel	Marvel's record
		"CM's Record" CM Advs 72, May/46

Trapani Pencillers

So far I've called the pencillers on some Sal Trapani stories ghosts, since I've inferred that these Charlton artists were not hired directly by Warren (Bill Molno going uncredited there) or by Gold Key (no one getting credited there at the time).

This post's Gold Key stories, I believe, could have been actual inking assignments given Trapani by the editors; he didn't hire the artists and present the entire art job as his own. I make the assumption because these weren't artists associated with Trapani's "talent pool," Charlton.

In a way they have been ghosts, though, because readers like the Grand Comics Database indexers have attributed the full art to Trapani.

The pencils for "Happy Weekend" in Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery 38 (December/1971) are by Paul Reinman. (I'm not sure who the writer is.)

The penciller on "World-Wide Woman Hunt" in Secret Agent 2 (January/1968) is Bob Jenney. The first issue of this TV tie-in was drawn by Bill Lignante; more than a year elapsed between the two issues with their very different art styles. Both issues were written by Dick Wood.

Woolfolk Records 1946/01

For those who came in late: William Woolfolk kept records of the comic book scripts he sold in the Forties and Fifties; Donna Woolfolk let Marc Svensson scan the old notebook pages; and I've added publication data (in boldface) where I could, in these transcriptions.

Scan © Marc Svensson

You'll see that Woolfolk referred to the Marvel Family as the Captain Marvel Family a few times in his notes, and I've been tacitly transcribing it as the former.

This month's stories sold to the Railroader Ray unknown company of December 1945, as well as Fawcett and Timely.

As of this posting, the Grand Comics Database entry for Mary Marvel 10 has been miscrediting the Dr. Whirro story as a 14-pager written by Otto Binder. In fact, the Dr. Whirro story by Woolfolk is 7 pages and then there's a separate 7-pager, "The Birdmobile," (the cover story) which is indeed by Binder.

I couldn't track down the Young Allies story's publication (if it was published). UPDATE: after not finding the Captain America stories (apart from "Inspector Leeds") anywhere in the comics, I've noted them as unpublished. darkmark found the "Stratosphere Treasure Hunt" publication info that I hadn't. FURTHER UPDATE: In his comment darkmark was correct about the dictator story, as an eventual look at the issue showed.

January 1946 Comic Book Stories by William Woolfolk

14 pg	Railroader Ray	the race to save a child
9	Captain Marvel	return of Aunt Minerva
		"The Return of Aunt Minerva" CM Advs 66, Oct/46
12	Captain America	24 hours to live
		[unpublished]
10	Marvel Family	3 clues to fortune
		"Three Clues to Fortune" MF 12, June/47
12	Captain America	endowment to help fund C.A.
		[unpublished]
7	Mary Marvel	dead man's house
		"MM and the Dead Man's House" MF 9, Mar/47
9	Captain Midnight	stratosphere treasure hunt
		"The Stratosphere Treasure Hunt" Capt Mid 45, Oct/46
7	Mary Marvel	the forest symphony
		"Forest Symphony" MF 8, Feb/47
9	Captain Midnight	fights a dictator
8		"Captain Midnight Fights for Freedom" Capt Mid 49, Mar/47
12	Captain America	Inspector Leeds' last case
		"The Last Case of Inspector Leeds"CA 60, Jan/47
9	Ibis	Ibis on trial
		"Ibis the Invincible on Trial" Whiz 78, Sep/46
7	Mary Marvel	Dr. Whirro's future camera
		"MM Meets Dr. Whirro" MM 10, Apr/47
7	Mary Marvel	man who talked to animals
		"MM and the Man Who Talks to Animals" MM 10, Apr/47
7	Captain Marvel	butterfly hunter
		"The Great Butterfly Chase" CM Advs 67, Nov/46
8	Young Allies	mansion for murder
		YA
12	Captain America	terror on the telephone
		[unpublished]

Sal Trapani's Ghosts: Wayne Howard

Wayne Howard worked for DC and did some inking for Marvel, but his chief work was at Charlton. He created the anthology Midnight Tales (1972-76) with its hosts The Midnight Philosopher and Arachne. Each issue had a theme; for instance, the stories in #7 are "Ooze," "Goo," "Sludge," and "Muck."  Professor Cyrus Coffin and his niece Arachne were featured not only in the frame stories but in a number of the main stories as well. Although the series started with scripts by Nicola Cuti and with stories drawn by other artists as well, by the end of the run Howard was writing and drawing the entire issue. The covers were all gags unrelated to the interiors; he got to sign them and thus the book "Created by Wayne Howard."

He's another Charlton artist who showed up at Gold Key ghost pencilling for Sal Trapani. In Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery 43 (Oct/72), Howard pencils "Forbidden Rituals."

My comparison is from Midnight Tales 2 (Feb/73) and the frame story "The Class of '76." The hand to face, little finger separate, is a typical female character's gesture throughout the artist's work.

Wayne Howard also pencilled for Sal Trapani on "The Stalking Time Bomb" in Boris Karloff 42 (Aug/72). Both BK stories were written by Dick Wood. I believe Howard pencilled for Trapani on the story "My Granddaughter Will Haunt You" in Shadow Play 1 (June/82). Shadow Play and Shroud of Mystery were one-shot last gasps by Western (their comics called no longer Gold Key but Whitman). The stories came out of the recently-cancelled mystery anthologies' inventory. If I'm correct that the writer on "Granddaughter" is Leo Dorfman, then that story was in inventory for about ten years, somehow shelved when Dorfman left as sole author of the Ripley's Believe It or Not title.

Woolfolk Records Update 1

These are stories listed in William Woolfolk's scripting records whose publication data I hadn't tracked down when I posted the months; but with feedback from darkmark in the respective comments, I've updated the posts themselves and repeat the info (in boldface) here.

The Fawcett editors turned the Sergeant Twilight script into a Captain Midnight story easily enough with the addition of a page. (I missed it because I couldn't decipher "fossil" from Woolfolk's handwriting.)

April 1945

5 pg	Ibis	the master of discord
		"Music Madness" Ibis 3, Win/45

June 1945

7	Sergeant Twilight	vanishing fossil
8	Captain Midnight	"The Vanishing Fossil" Capt Mid 40, May/46

September 1945

6	Black Venus	man tired of fighting fascism
		[untitled] Contact 10, Jan/46

October 1945

9	Captain Marvel	Lantenego Street
		"CM...A Good Neighbor" CM Advs 63, July/46