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This is Kurt Schaffenberger, right? It's lettered by the guy who seems to have lettered all the ACG comics (check out story titles and sound fx). Wonder who he was. |
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The letterer's name is Ed Hamilton, and he worked for ACG and its subsidiary, Custom Comics, for nearly two decades, doing all their logos and almost all of their lettering for books that came out of the NYC offices. ACG's commercial giveaways continued into the '70s (mostly drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger), years after ACG's demise, which is why (I assume) Hamilton didn't migrate to DC or Marvel like the rest of the ACG staff. Custom was responsible for the 1955 7-cent/3-for-15-cents comics (FUNNY COMICS, GAY COMICS, POP COMICS, SMILE COMICS, TICKLE COMICS and WHEE COMICS), MISS SUNBEAM ("Adventures in Space," "The Zany Scientist"), WINGS OF ADVENTURE, THE FRIENDLY COOTIE BUG (from the Cootie game), BABY DOLL STORY BOOK, SKATING SAFETY, WRANGLER PRESENTS ("Great Moments in Rodeo" #1-50 (!) and "Ride 'Em Cowboy" #1-6), the BUSTER BROWN Shoes series of giveaways ("Makes the Team," "The Jet Age," "Safety Patrol," "Out of This World," and "My Dog Tige" and the Safety Coloring Book), CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL, GILBERT TOYS PRESENTS ADVENTURES IN SCIENCE, the SHERIFF OF COCHISE comic scanned here, SKY KING ("Runaway Train"), THE HIDDEN CREW, THE OTHER TOWN, the Ideal action-figure comics for G.I. JOE and CAPTAIN ACTION AND ACTION BOY, THE STORY OF ELECTRICITY, ELECTRIC SAFETY FROM A TO ZAP, THE BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL, and THE ATOM, ELECTRICITY AND YOU, from 1973. I've no doubt there are plenty of others. (SAFETY AROUND ELECTRICITY, allegedly 1978, looks as if it might be by the same company, but later issues from Custom Comics of America do not.) Most of these were lettered by Hamilton. |
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And, oh yeah, thought Schaffenberger did the interiors, Ogden Whitney did the SHERIFF OF COCHISE cover. |
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That's fascinating. I've never heard of most of those comics (other than Buster Brown, GI Joe, and Captain Action). It would be great if more of those titles could pop up here. But I guess many might still be under copyright. Still, thanks for the information. |
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Everything listed after and including THE HIDDEN TRUTH would be post-1964 and therefore in copyright, though only the Ideal comics would likely be actively protected. All the rest would be in public domain, even if the DCM is erring on the side of caution by five years by cutting things off at 1959. |
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Back to the comic: I loved the TV show when I was a kid, and I've lived in Cochise County, so I was excited to find and download this. Good scans -- but the content is geographically inept. If I had an extra physical copy, I'd probably fill the margins with notes and corrections. Still, it's a nice curiosity piece. Just don't expect anything like verisimilitude. |
