THE WITCHING HOUR
Vol. 1 No. 9
June-July 1970
National Periodical Publications, Inc. (DC Comics)
Editor: Dick Giordano
Cover: Neal Adams
Writers: Steve Skeates; Len Wein
Artists: Alex Toth; Jack Sparling; José Delbo; Jerry Grandenetti?
Pages: 36
Cover price: 15 cents
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Thanks for posting these issues of THE WITCHING HOUR as a "Friday the 13th treat," John! I used to read TWC (and HOS and HOM) regularly, but I sold pretty much all of my stash of Marvel/DCs back in the '80s, so it was great to get to read these issues again!
ReplyDeleteAnd "Jerry Grandenetti?" in the artist lineup made me check the the Grand Comics Database to see what they said.
The GCD listings are rather surprising, with a number of stories *and* the cover being dubious on credits-- other than Alex Toth (signed, inked by "Wild Bill" Draut) on the host segments and Jose Delbo (signed pg.2) on "The Last Straw."
The cover is surprisingly under debate, with some sources claiming Dick Giordano inks over pencils by *Nick Cardy* rather than Neal Adams. (GCD links an unused Cardy cover that probably sparked this, but it has a *completely* different approach to the same image elements.)
GCD credits Grandenetti for the pencils on "The Lonely Road Home," but that doesn't look anything like his usual distinctive layouts and figure work from this period, IMO. To me, it looks like Jack Sparling inked by Murphy Anderson (as GCD credits the inks).
GCD also credits Sparling for pencils and inks on the short piece "The Day After Doomsday," and for pencils inked by Jack Abel on "Trumpet Perilous."
Based on Sparling's work for Warren around this time and his earlier work in pre-code comics, I can see his touch in the pencils of all three pieces and the inks of the short piece.
But I can also see a strong possibility that Jerry Grandenetti did layouts/roughs that Sparling took to finished pencils on "Trumpet Perilous," and *maybe* even on "The Lonely Road Home"-- though I think the GCD credit to JG as being involved on that one is more dubious (and that Murphy Anderson did a lot of the heavy lifting with his inks).
Anyway, loved this flashback to my early comics collecting! Keep up the GREAT work, John!
-- hsc
While the GCD is a great resource, it's not infallible. I have found a number of inaccuracies while using it over the years. After reading countless interviews with creators, even they have trouble with which stories they worked on or who assisted them -- the sheer number of works produced don't make it any easier. The fact that many of them have passed has left it up to researchers to figure out the details. You're assessments are reasonable, but, like buried treasures, they're tough to find. Thanks for your always in-depth comments!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't think there's ANY website or internet source that's infallible-- particularly user-contribution sources like IMDb and Wikipedia. And at least GCD gives its sources of info and even alternate credit attributions in many cases.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree completely-- the ENORMOUS volume of output by so many hands over so many years makes keeping track of it all extremely difficult, even for the people who actually produced the material. And add to that the fact that so much of the work was uncredited in print-- and in some cases, may have been produced by the various "shops" grinding out work by multiple uncredited hands!
And then on top of everything else, some inkers (like Murphy Anderson) had such a strong style that they tended to make nearly everything they worked on look similar-- unless the penciler had a distinctive "tell" that couldn't be restrained (like Jack Sparling's roundish, "beefy" male faces vs. Jerry Grandenetti's more angular male faces).
(But bottom line: whenever there's a conflict, I trust my own eyes over a website or even-- in some cases-- the claims of the person credited.)
-- hsc