Woolfolk Records 1948/07

 

Quality, Fawcett, and Orbit are the publishers, as usual. William Woolfolk is assigned Lance O'Casey scripts in fits and starts; the last time he submitted some was in August 1946.

Woolfolk usually notes text pieces as "fiction"; the Wanted "feature" is a short comics story.

July 1948 Comic Book Scripts by William Woolfolk

11 pg	Doll Man	man can open any lock
		"Tom Thumb, Miniature Master of Menace" DM 22, May/49
9	Lance O'Casey	pygmy king who hates pygmies
		"LO'C Meets Longo of the Congo" Whiz 105, Dec/48
7	Captain Marvel Jr.	the singing donkey
		"The Singing Donkey" CMJ 71, Mar/49
9	Lance O'Casey	the festival of pirates
		"LO'C and the Pirate's Festival" Whiz 109, May/49
11	Blackhawk	the sunken atoll
		"Kauno . . . Atoll of Mystery" BH 26, Aug/49
11	Doll Man	meets the Minstrel
		"The Minstrel" DM 23, July/49
8	Monte Hale	under a peace bond
		"MH and His Peace Bond" Western Hero 76, Mar/49
15	The Shotgun Kid	"The Shotgun Kid" Wanted 17, Jan/49
11	Kid Eternity	Master Man with similar powers to Kid E
		"Master Man" KE 15, May/49
2	Wanted feature	"Wanted: Heber Ayers" Wanted 17, Jan/49
7	Captain Marvel	the hypochondria epidemic
		"The Phantom Plague" CM Advs 94, Mar/49
11	Plastic Man	last man on Earth
		"The Last Man on Earth" PM 17, May/49

Swipe While the Iron Is Hot

Tying together the previous two posts: Blackhawk 24 (Apr/49) with two William Woolfolk stories, and Ken Shannon, here in Police 104 (Feb/51).

A few Reed Crandall Blackhawk covers were recycled into later Blackhawk ones, as I recall was pointed out in Alter Ego. This Police cover artist is so far unidentified, but probably the editors instigated this swipe so soon after publishing the original.

Woolfolk Records 1948/06

Continuing my transcriptions of William Woolfolk's script sales records, scanned by Marc Svensson through the good graces of Donna Woolfolk; my additions of publication data are in bold.

Quality, Fawcett, and Orbit are still the steady buyers.

UPDATE: I assumed "The Fighting Cabbie" fitted into Wanted 16; but now that I've seen the issue, I find no cabbies.

If the Monte Hale stories are being published in roughly the order received, the only issue of Real Western Hero available for either of these is the unindexed issue 75; the stories in 74 and (the slightly changed title) Western Hero 76-78 are Woolfolk's, written in other months. With more slots to fill in each Monte Hale Western, that would be the better possibility. UPDATE: darkmark found the tournament story in the February MHW.

June 1948 Comic Book Scripts by William Woolfolk

11 pg	Blackhawk	crime conspiracy to take over the U.S.
		"Criminal Number One" BH 24, Apr/49
9	Ibis	Taia becomes an enchanted maiden at King Arthur's Court
		"The Enchanted Maiden" Whiz 106, Feb/49
7	The Fighting Cabbie
7	Captain Marvel	world's greatest lawyer
		"The World's Greatest Lawyer" CM Advs 93, Feb/49
10	Doll Man	Darrel Dane's double
		"Darrel Dane's Double" Feature 133, Apr/49
7	Monte Hale	gun runners
		MH Western or Real Western Hero c. Feb/49
9	Captain Marvel	book that contains all knowledge
		"The Book of All Knowledge" CM Advs 93, Feb/49
11	Blackhawk	the phantom bombers
		"Captain Suicide" BH 24, Apr/49
9	Monte Hale	tournament for marksmen
		"The Killers' Tournament" MH Western 33, Feb/49
15	The Pony Express
14	as Wild Bill Pecos	"The Pony Express" The Westerner 17, Dec/48
7	Ibis	the gorgon's sisters
		"Labyrinth of the Lost" Whiz 107, Mar/49

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.

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.

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 Ducrie	w: Joe Millard p: Reed Crandall
		The Playful Pickpocket	w: Millard  p: Crandall
		The Carrier Pigeon Case	w: Robert Bernstein  p: W.G. Hargis?
Dec/	#2	Cut-Rate Corpses	w: Millard  p: Crandall
		Invitation to a Murder	w: Millard  p: Crandall
		Front Man for Murder	w: Millard  p: Crandall
Feb/52	#3	The Corpse That Wouldn't Sleep	w: Millard  p: Crandall
		The Case of the Butchered Butcher	w: Millard  p: Crandall
		One Day I'll Kill You	w: Millard  p: Crandall
Apr/	#4	Stone Hatchet Murder	w: Millard  p: Crandall
		Stand-In for Murder	w: William Woolfolk p: Crandall
		The Case of the All-Seeing Eye	w: Millard  p: Hargis?
June/	#5	The Case of the Carny KiIler	w: Millard  p: Crandall
		The Man from Nowhere	w: Woolfolk  p: ?
		Doctor of Death	w: Woolfolk  p: John Daly
Aug/	#6	The Vampire Mob	w: Millard  p: Crandall
		Dead Man's Alley	w: Millard  p: Daly
		Dee Dee Can't Be Dead	w: Bernstein  p: Daly
Oct/	#7	The Ugliest Man in the World	w: Bernstein  p: Daly
		Murder on Account	w: Bernstein p: Daly
		Too Many Killers	w: Bernstein p: Daly
Dec/	#8	Mansion of Mangled Men	w: Woolfolk  p: Daly
		The Chinatown Murders	w: Bernstein  p: Daly
		The Doom Express	w: Bernstein  p: Daly
Feb/53	#9	The Flame of Doom	w: Millard  p: Daly
		Necklace of Blood	w: Woolfolk  p: Daly
		Day It Rained Money	w: Millard  p: Daly
Apr/	#10	In the Shadow of the Chair	w: Millard  p: Daly
		Your Money or Your Blood	w: 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.

Woolfolk Records 1948/05

Fawcett, Quality, and Orbit are the familiar publishers here.

Monte Hale stories aren't that easy to track down, with his comics spottily collected or indexed; but this will be one of William Woolfolk's frequent assignments for four years. I did find one of this month's five in Real Western Hero; the unindexed Monte Hale Western 32 came out in the same month. These descriptions don't fit any of the story titles indexed in 31. UPDATE: darkmark IDed two of the Monte Hale stories, #32 having since been indexed on the GCD. I've corrected my transcription of "overage" here, which I'd put down as "average." Now that I've seen the issue itself, I can add the other two stories. "Indian chief" might be better described as "Indian warrior," but a chief is a character in it.

Likewise these Wanted stories fit between known stories in issues 15 and 17. They may have been published under titles other than Woolfolk's. UPDATE: They were. Now that I've seen Wanted 16, I've changed the titles here as the editors did there, and added the text story title.

May 1948 Comic Book Scripts by William Woolfolk

7 pg	Captain Marvel	the chameleon stone
		"The Chameleon Stone" CM Advs 91, Dec/48
9	Marvel Family	world's greatest magician
		"The World's Greatest Magician" MF 30, Dec/48
14	Doll Man	Undertaker's coffin crimes
		"Coffins for Crime" DM 20, Jan/49
8	Woozy	becomes general of a S. American country
		"Commander in Chief" Plastic Man 15, Jan/49
7	Ibis	the skull of a sorcerer
		"The Skull of Evil" Whiz 105, Jan/49
8	Monte Hale	crooked judge runs town
		"Outlaw Town" Real Western Hero 74, Jan/49
15	The Musical Murders	a mad pianist
		"The Musical Demon" Wanted 16, Nov/48
7	Monte Hale	the overage sheriff
		"The Over Age Sheriff " MH Western 32, Jan/49
7	Monte Hale	outlaw stallion
		"Pardner--Outlaw Stallion" MH Western 32, Jan/49
12	Plastic Man	Beau Brummel
		"Beau Crummel" PM 15, Jan/49
9	Monte Hale	alone with 5 killers
		"Terror Trek" MH Western 32, Jan/49
9	Monte Hale	Indian chief
		"Tribe of the Tomahawk" MH Western 32, Jan/49
10	Double for Death	playwright becomes character he writes about
		"Double for Destiny" Wanted 16, Nov/48
2	fiction	"What Happened to the Cyclops?" [text] Wanted 16, Nov/48

Writers: Aquaman in Adventure 247-284

247 would be an arbitrary start to a run of any comic except Adventure; the significance lies in the Superboy story, of course, not with Aquaman or the other back-ups. A number of my attributions here were circulated through fandom in the Nineties by Rich Morrissey, but on this list I've filled in the gaps in the run.

Jack Miller typically uses the captions Just then..., Before long..., The answer comes the next instant..., and In the next [adjective] instant...; Robert Bernstein typically the caption Moments after... instead of Moments later.... But these are not hard and fast differences, of course; in "The Robinson Crusoe of the Sea" (252) there's a Moments after..., but more clues point to Miller. If so, he happened to use that style of caption once.

"A World without Water" (251), out of all the Aquaman stories, uses the exclamations "Owoofff" and "Eeaahh" (also used in only one Green Arrow story: "The Man Who Hated Arrows" in 249). These are seen throughout the Dale Evans and Sierra Smith stories by Joe Millard, at DC, as well as the myriad of stories he did at Quality. The "Y-i-i-i-i" in both turns up in 250's "The Guinea Pig of the Sea."

All Aquaman art in these Adventure issues is by Ramona Fradon except 284, which is by Jim Mooney.

"How Aquaman Got His Powers" in 260 is the new origin. "The Manhunt on Land" in 267 is the crossover with Green Arrow, the other back-up, also written by Robert Bernstein at the time; the two villains switch land and sea theatres of operation. "The Kid from Atlantis" in 269 introdues Aquaman's new partner, Aqualad.

Aquaman begins appearing in the forerunner to his own book, four Showcase appearances, in the same month as Adventure 280. With 281, the back-up space that held Aquaman and Congorilla stories is devoted to double-length stories of either one, alternating, so Aquaman doesn't appear in 281 or 283. After Adventure 284 his back-up slot moves to Detective and then to World's Finest.

The Superboy story in 280, by the way, "Superboy and the Mermaid from Atlantis" (written by Jerry Siegel), takes two panels to account for the difference between Aquaman's Atlanteans with legs and Lori Lemaris's fishtailed merfolk.

Aquaman in Adventure 247-284 Writers

Apr/58	#247	Aquaman's Super Sea-Squad	Jack Miller
May/	#248	The Traitor of the Seven Seas	Miller
June/	#249	Wanted—Aqua-Crook	Robert Bernstein
July/	#250	The Guinea Pig of the Sea	Joe Millard
Aug/	#251	A World without Water	Millard
Sept/	#252	The Robinson Crusoe of the Sea	Miller
Oct/	#253	The Ocean of 1,000,000 B.C.	Bernstein
Nov/	#254	The Menace of the Electric Man	Miller
Dec/	#255	Aquaman's Double Trouble	Bernstein
Jan/59	#256	The Ordeal of Aquaman	Bernstein
Feb/	#257	The Imitation Aquaman	Bernstein
Mar/	#258	The Incredible Fish of Doctor Danton	Miller
Apr/	#259	The Octopus Man	Miller
May/	#260	How Aquaman Got His Powers	Bernstein
June/	#261	Aquaman Duels the Animal-Master	Bernstein
July/	#262	The Undersea Hospital	Bernstein
Aug/	#263	The Great Ocean Election	Miller
Sept/	#264	Aquaman and His Sea Police	Bernstein
Oct/	#265	The Secret of the Super-Safe	Bernstein
Nov/	#266	Aquaman Meets Aquagirl	Bernstein
Dec/	#267	The Manhunt on Land	Bernstein
Jan/60	#268	The Adventures of Aquaboy	Bernstein
Feb/	#269	The Kid from Atlantis	Bernstein
Mar/	#270	The Menace of Aqualad	Bernstein
Apr/	#271	The Second Deluge	Bernstein
May/	#272	The Human Flying Fish	Bernstein
June/	#273	Around the World in 80 Hours	Bernstein
July/	#274	Aqua-Queen	Miller
Aug/	#275	The Interplanetary Mission	Bernstein
Sept/	#276	The Aqua-Thief of the Seven Seas	Bernstein
Oct/	#277	The Underwater Olympics	Bernstein
Nov/	#278	Aqualad Goes to School	Bernstein
Dec/	#279	Silly Sailors of the Sea	Bernstein
Jan/61	#280	The Lost Ocean	Bernstein
Mar/	#282	One Hour to Doom	Bernstein
May/	#284	The Charge of Aquaman's Sea Soldiers	Miller

Woolfolk Records 1948/04

 

The scripts William Woolfolk wrote this month were bought by Fawcett, Orbit, and Quality, plus a publisher I hadn't heard he worked for: Prize (content supplied by Simon & Kirby on this title). This would be his sole known story for the company and his first romance story (whose publication data I couldn't track down from his description). In fact, in an interview decades later, he recalled he hadn't worked for Simon & Kirby.

As a sign of where the times are going for superheroes: Real Western Hero has taken over the numbering of Wow Comics, and Monte Hale Western, which will figure in May's listings, has taken over that of Mary Marvel.

April 1948 Comic Book Scripts by William Woolfolk

7 pg	Captain Marvel	Capt. Marvel's hand commits crime
		"The Hand of Captain Marvel" CM Advs 90, Nov/48
8	Captain Marvel	Titans beneath the sea
		"The Mightiest Sea-Mortal" CM Advs 91, Dec/48
9	Young Romance	spoiled rich girl
		Young Romance
14	Kid Eternity	the living dead
		"Obeah-Brutes" KE 13, Jan/49
7	Ibis	magic tapestry
		"The Tapestry of Terror" Whiz 104, Dec/48
15	True Western	the taming of Tombstone
14	as Wild Bill Pecos	"Terror in Tombstone" The Westerner 16, Oct/48
15	Plastic Man	Plas thinks Woozy a crook
		"Woozy's Reputation" Police 86, Jan/49
9	Captain Marvel Jr.	Sivana Jr.'s dream machine
		"Sivana Jr.'s Dream Machine" Master 98, Dec/48
10	Tom Mix	the crime showboat
9		"The Crime Show Boat" Real Western Hero 73, Dec/48
12	Monte Hale	the hangman's scroll
		"The Hangman's Scroll" RWH 71, Oct/48
9	Captain Marvel	war between the planets
		"The War between the Planets" CM Advs 91, Dec/48