"Mary Poppin Fink"--Artist

"Yesterday's Monster" in Charlton's Strange Suspense Stories v2 #1 (October/67), from which comes the first page above, is credited to Mary Poppin Fink. (I can't help wondering if the story's writer, Denny O'Neil, contributed the name.)

Responding to my previous post, Jake Oster by email and darkmark in a comment wondered if the artist on the very first Rang-A-Tang story at MLJ might be Edd Ashe, who's listed in the Who's Who as doing the feature in 1939-40. I don't think so after comparing the old-fashioned cross-hatched style of that story with Ashe's contemporary signed work at MLJ.

But speaking of Ashe and the Who's Who, it says he had work in Strange Suspense Stories from Charlton in 1967--that would be "Yesterday's Monster." The second page above is from "Spirits Can be Good Joes," credited to Ashe as full artist in ACG's Forbidden Worlds 133 (Jan-Feb/66). I could take Charlton job as pencils only, as per the WW, but with no idea of the inker.

The Who's Who actually gives all sorts of credits to Ashe at Charlton in the 60s that I haven't stumbled across yet, mostly on anthology stories. He's supposed to have done Space Adventures in 1967 too, which led me to look at the story drawn by Spoonerized jazzman "Melonious Thonk" in #60, but that's in quite a different style. (It too was written by Denny O'Neil, and again I'd suspect he christened the artist.)

Who Wasn't the Artist on Rang-A-Tang?

The Rang-A-Tang the Wonder Dog story in MLJ's Blue Ribbon Comics 1 (Nov/39) is bylined "By Norman Danberg." In a number of the comics of the time, it can be difficult to tell if the artist or the writer is being credited. Here I'll disagree with the Grand Comics Database; this is the writer.

Norman Danberg could have been a writer-artist like fellow pulp/comic book man Joe Archibald, but I don't think so. Danberg is better known as Norman Daniels; he wrote under many pen names in the pulps, and wrote paperbacks under both his own name and with or under the name of his wife Dorothy Daniels.

The fact that the art on the illos in Blue Ribbon 1's text story,"Death around the Bend," is identical to Rang-A-Tang's doesn't make Danberg that artist either; a so far anonymous artist did both, as well as #2's Rang-A-Tang story and both issue's covers.

In Chesler's Star Rangers 1 (Feb/37) the strip "Ghost Riders" is bylined "By Norman Daniels"; it's not until the third-to-last panel that this story's artist (W. M. Allison, the cover artist) happens to sign his name. The GCD leaves out Allison's credit, but does read this byline as saying Daniels is the writer. The GCD treats Danberg and Daniels as separate people.

One miscredit for Daniels in prose work has lasted some fifty years now; it slipped handily onto the Internet, so it will no doubt last forever. He's supposed to have been one of the writers of Doc Savage.

Will Murray put paid to that in the late Seventies. Somebody who'd seen the Street & Smith payment records had conflated the Laurence Dovovan on them with the better-known Norman Daniels. On DocSavage.org you can still see "Laurence Donovan (alias Norman Danberg)". The original fan explanation was that "Danberg wrote his Doc Savage novels under the name Laurence Donovan." Stop and think about that for a moment. The Doc Savage novels were, of course, written under the name Kenneth Robeson! As Murray pointed out when he showed that Donovan was in fact Laurence Donovan, Daniels did write backup stories for the Doc Savage magazine, and did swipe a Lester Dent Doc Savage, Devil on the Moon, for his Avengers (Steed and Tara King) novel Moon Express. That didn't make him a Doc Savage writer.

Girls' Love Story Corrections from Joe Orlando's Records

Shortly after my posting on the Joe Orlando-edited issues of Girl's Love Stories, Robin Snyder emailed me:

Dear Martin,

Here is a mystery to ponder as you look over these additions and corrections: Girls' Love Stories lasted a long time without any support from the fans. How is this possible?

Mystery #2: This success story does not appear in The Wall Street Journal, Comics Journal and others and is barely, rarely or never mentioned in the histories of the comics? How can this be?

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one in the media to report the event...does this mean it never happened?

Joe Orlando, like most editors, kept poor records and they are as reliable as those from any other editor. (Only Boltinoff kept accurate records as far as I can tell.)

I have an accounting of Joe's records. Many of your identifications match his. You and Nick Caputo know your names and ID.

But.

There are exceptions and I have noted them in the following.

I have also made a few additions for features you omitted.

Yours,
Robin

I've reworked the list Robin sent into my format. Here are the additions, as well as the corrections with which I'm updating the post itself. Robin gives a number of writing credits for Barbara Friedlander and Carol Fein, neither of whom appeared in the post. "From Barbara Miles with Love" is the romantic advice text page. There are two separate "Dates" pages in #147.

SangorShop commented on the post with info from the records for #157, and I'll repeat that I certainly should have seen Ric Estrada's pencils even under Tony DeZuñiga's inks; Estrada lettered the title in his distinctive style, as he did for many of his stories. (The GCD got this credit mixed up with "For Love or Money" in #153, but that's DeZuñiga solo.)

Below this list, for the sake of completeness, are a few more credits Robin sent from the records that I'm not incorporating into the original post.

UPDATE: Scruggs on "Scrapbook of Tears" is, at this late date, just a tantalizing surname in the records, but a possibility would be Wilson Scruggs, whose syndicated strip "The Story of Martha Wayne" lasted from 1953 to 1962.

Girls' Love Stories credits added from Joe Orlando's records

Apr/69	142	From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Jack Miller
May/	143	From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Miller
Jul/	144	From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Joe Orlando
		He Loves Me...He Loves Me Not	a: Vince Colletta
Aug/	145	From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Miller
Oct/	146	Abandoned	i: Mike Peppe
		From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Carol Fein
Nov/	147	Confessions	w: Barbara Friedlander
		The Ugliest Girl in the World	w: Friedlander
		From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Fein
		Dates 'n' Mates/Dates and Mates	w: Friedlander  a: Ric Estrada
Feb/70	149	Forbidden Love	w: Friedlander
		From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Orlando
		Dates 'n' Mates	w, a: Liz Berube
		Confessions: Episode Three	w: Friedlander
Apr/	150	Confessions: Episode #4	w: Friedlander
		Her Secret Shame	w: Friedlander  i: Nick Cardy
		From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Miller
May/	151	Beauty on a Budget	w: Friedlander  a: Berube
		Love Thief	w: Miller
		Confessions: Episode 5	w: Friedlander
July/	152	In This Issue	w, a: Liz Berube
		Laura	w: Friedlander
		Confessions: Episode Six	w: Friedlander
		From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Fein
Aug/	153	From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Fein
		The 3 Faces of Love	w: Miller
Nov/	155	Will No One Trust Me Again?	w: Miller
		Scrapbook of Tears	w: Friedlander  p: Scruggs
Feb/71	157	One Husband, Two Loves	w: George Kashdan
		Anatomy of a Romance	w: Friedlander  p: Estrada   i: Tony DeZuñiga
		From Barbara Miles with Love	w: Fein

The credits below, in my opinion, point out Robin's caveat about the reliability of the records. The evidence of the story itself shows that Win Mortimer penciled "Love Today--Cry Tomorrow" in the art above; note the brunette girl's face in both panels. Likewise the first episode of "Confessions" looks just like the other episodes--full art by John Rosenberger.

SangorShop recalls John Calnan as working for Murphy Anderson at one point; Anderson's getting the payment to pass along to Calnan would explain the latter's name not appearing in the records for these two stories in #155 and 157. The first "Uptight" in #157 is signed by Lee Elias.

Disputable credits from Joe Orlando's records

May/69	143	Love Today--Cry Tomorrow	a: Wally Wood
Nov/	147	Confessions	i: Colletta
Nov/70	155	Will No One Trust Me Again?	i: Anderson
Feb/71	157	One Husband, Two Loves	i: Anderson
		Uptight (both pages)	p: Win Mortimer  i: Jack Abel

She Knows What Evil Lurks

I couldn't say who painted the Private Detective Stories May 1941 cover. Three artists at Trojan around this time that I can name are H. J. Ward, Harry Parkhurst, and Allen Anderson.

The cover of the 1977 paperback edition of Charg, Monster is, of course, by Jim Steranko.

Joe Orlando's Girls' Love Stories' Creators

I chose a DC romance comic's run edited by Joe Orlando because he used one writer I can recognize at a glance paging through the comics: Jack Oleck. Another writer surprised me, although he's known to have worked for Orlando in 1969 on House of Mystery—see GLS 146 on the list.

As far as artists go—with the inkers striving to make everything look alike, you could ask ten people and get ten opinions, but here are mine. I will point out that "Laura" in #152 has been attributed to Art Saaf by his son, Steve Saaf per the CGD, but the evidence of the art itself shows that, under Jack Abel's inks, the pencils are by Werner Roth (above). On the other hand, Art Saaf's pencils under Colletta on "The Cheat" in #153 (below) have gone unattributed. "He Loves Me...He Loves Me Not" in #144 mostly looks like Roth, but on page five I see one panel with a close-up I'd otherwise credit to Saaf.

With the new stories hard enough to ID, I've left out the reprints with their slapdash updating obscuring things even further.

Note that the name in the #144 story is not Margaret but Margret; it took me a while to actually see that. I haven't seen issues 148, 154, or 156—romance comics not having been collected as assiduously as superhero ones, there aren't any uninterrupted runs of the DC titles that I can find.

UPDATE: I've added corrections (in bold) from Robin Snyder and SangorShop taken from Joe Orlando's payment records. See the new post for the additions of features like the text pages. Nothing more than the surname Scruggs is known about the artist in #155; a possibility would be Wilson Scruggs of the syndicated strip "The Story of Martha Wayne" (1953-1962).

Girls' Love Stories edited by Joe Orlando

Apr/69	142	Thrill-Chick	w: ?  p: Jim Aparo  i: Bill Draut
		So Long in Love	w: ?  p: Win Mortimer   i: Nick Cardy
		What Should I Do?	w: ?  p: Mortimer  i: Cardy
May/	143	Love Today--Cry Tomorrow	w: Robert Kanigher   p: Mortimer  i: Wally Wood
		Only Love Can Create	w: ?  a: Ernie Colón
		Cindy	w: ?  p: Mortimer  i: Cardy
Jul/	144	Can Love Last Forever?	w: ?  a: John Rosenberger
		He Loves Me...He Loves Me Not	w: ?  a: Vince Colletta
		Memory of Margret	w: ?  p: Ric Estrada  i: Colletta
Aug/	145	Tears for Tomorrow	w: ?  p: Estrada   i: George Roussos
		My Secret	w: John Albano  p: Jay Scott   Pike  i: Colletta
Oct/	146	Abandoned	w: ?  p: Tony Abruzzo   i: Mike Peppe
		Which Love Is Mine?	w: Otto Binder  a: Rosenberger
Nov/	147	Confessions	w: Barbara Friedlander   a: Rosenberger
		The Ugliest Girl in the World	w: Friedlander  p: Mortimer   i: Jack Abel
		Will the Real Prince Charming Please Stand Up?	w: Jack Miller  p: Estrada   i: Colletta
Feb/70	149	Forbidden Love	w: Friedlander  p: Estrada  i: Abel
		For Better or Worse	w: Jack Oleck  p: Roth   i: Colletta
		...But Only in My Dreams	w: Kanigher  a: Liz Berube
		Confessions: Episode Three	w: Friedlander   a: Rosenberger
Apr/	150	Confessions: Episode #4	w: Friedlander   a: Rosenberger
		Her Secret Shame	w: ?  a: Abruzzo   i: Cardy
		Wallflower	w: Oleck  p: Roth  i: Wood   (some Murphy Anderson?)
May/	151	The Wrong Kind of Love	w: Miller  p: Pike  i: Colletta
		Love Thief	w: Miller  p: Roth  i: Abel
		Confessions: Episode 5	w: Friedlander   a: Rosenberger
July/	152	Laura	w: Friedlander   p: Roth  i: Abel
		Confessions: Episode Six	w: Friedlander   a: Rosenberger
		The Prettiest Girl in Town, Poor Thing	w: Miller  a: George Tuska
Aug/	153	For Love or Money	w: Oleck  a: Tony DeZuñiga
		The Engagement Ring	w: Oleck  a: Don Heck
		The Cheat	w: Oleck  p: Saaf  i: Colletta
		The 3 Faces of Love	w: Miller  p: Mike Sekowsky   i: Dick Giordano
Nov/	155	Will No One Trust Me Again?	w: Miller  p: John Calnan   i: Joe Giella
		Scrapbook of Tears	w: Friedlander  p: Scruggs  i: Colletta
Feb/71	157	One Husband, Two Loves	w: George Kashdan  p: Roth  i: Calnan?
		Love Thy Neighbor	w: Oleck  a: Saaf
		Uptight (cheaters)	w: Henry Boltinoff  a: Lee Elias
		Uptight (wolf)	w: Boltinoff  p: Mortimer  i: Abel
		Anatomy of a Romance	w: Friedlander  p: Estrada   i: DeZuñiga

Would You Believe Alan Riefe?

I had no idea Alan Riefe wrote for Dell, but the style on Get Smart #3-7 seemed familiar to me what with sound effects like Ker-blammo; finally the penny dropped when it reminded me of Riefe's run on Jerry Lewis at DC and I compared lists.

Riefe goes on to write for paperbacks in the Seventies, some under his own name, some under pseudonyms, and some under house names, on detective and Western series. One earlier comics-related credit is as sole writer on one of those magazines adding funny speech balloons to news and Hollywood photos, 1964-65's three-issue Talking Pictures.

Issues 1-4 are full-length stories. "Quilt While Ahead" is a pun on "Quit While Ahead"; the latter is not the actual title. Dick Giordano is ghosting the pencils on Get Smart 1; Sal Trapani takes the sole signature in the run on that issue (two times if you count #8's reprint). Tony Tallarico does no work on Get Smart.

GET SMART

June/66	#1	The Hairless Hound Caper	w: ?  p: Dick Giordano   i: Sal Trapani
Sept/	#2	The Dumb Bunny	w: ?  p: Steve Ditko   i: Trapani
Nov/	#3	The Nuclear Gumball Caper	w: Alan Riefe  p: Ditko   i: Trapani
Jan/67	#4	The Great Baseball Caper	w: Riefe  a: Henry Scarpelli
Mar/	#5	The Great Fly Caper	w: Riefe  a: Scarpelli
		Quilt While Ahead	w: Riefe  a: Scarpelli
		The Double Purpose Porpoise Caper	w: Riefe  a: Scarpelli
Apr/	#6	The Kookie Kanine Kaper	w: Riefe  a: Scarpelli
		The Captured Copter Caper	w: Riefe  a: Scarpelli
		The Screwball Scooter Caper	w: Riefe  a Scarpelli
Aug/	#7	The 4000 Year Old Man Kaper	w: Riefe  a: Scarpelli
		The Airborne Bathysphere Caper	w: Riefe  a: Scarpelli
		The Infiltration Caper	w: Riefe  a Scarpelli

Who Expected This Artist Here?

Two stories among the Dick Giordano/Vince Colletta ones at early-Sixties Timely-Atlas-Marvel have probably passed as Giordano's pencil work because like his they whisper "Charlton" to the reader's subconscious. For comparison with "No Dates for the Dance," the bottom tier with a typical pose is from the latter company's The Young Doctors 1 (Jan/63), inked by Vince Alascia.

Charles Nicholas otherwise last worked for Timely in the Forties. I don't know if you'd actually call this ghosting for Colletta, considering Dick Giordano got to sign some of his stories in the run. But I doubt editor Stan Lee directly poached Nicholas here. As Mark Evanier has pointed out (concerning Joe Orlando's bringing in Jerry Grandenetti's work), editors were probably just as happy to trust some artists like Orlando and Colletta to do all the work of subcontracting the pencils.

Charles Nicholas pencils, Vince Colletta inks

Love Romances

Sep/60

89

No Dates for the Dance

Teen-Age Romance

Sep/60

77

The Mistake of Mary Dixon