Detective Comics #16

(June 1938)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 1)

Action Comics / promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

Script

Vin Sullivan

Pencils

Joe Shuster

Inks

Joe Shuster

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Flash! Here's a new magazine you can't afford to miss!

Indexer Notes

inside front cover

The Case of the Missing Corpse (Table of Contents: 2)

Speed Saunders / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Creig Flessel ?

Pencils

Creig Flessel

Inks

Creig Flessel; ? (see notes)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

At a lonely cemetary...

Genre

adventure; detective-mystery

Characters

Speed Saunders; Mike Bruno (intro, villain); Miss Bannon; Joseph Bannon (flashback)

Indexer Notes

We formerly credited the script of this story to Gardner Fox, but in an interview in Alter Ego #20 (June 2003), he stated that his first comic story, sold in March 1938, appeared in Detective Comics #18.

Most of the inking here is of a lighter and more delicate nature than Flessel's usual style.

Black Tony Barmacino: Dictator of the Dope Dynasty (Table of Contents: 3)

comic story / 1 page (report information)

Script

Bill Ely

Pencils

Bill Ely

Inks

Bill Ely

Colors

?

Letters

?

Characters

Black Tony Barmacino

Indexer Notes

Compare the art style with the subsequent, signed, story.

[The Plot to Kill Larry Steele, Part 2] (Table of Contents: 4)

Larry Steele / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Bill Ely (credited as Will Ely)

Pencils

Bill Ely (credited as Will Ely)

Inks

Bill Ely (credited as Will Ely)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Larry was kidnapped...

Genre

adventure; detective-mystery

Characters

Larry Steele; Snow (villain)

[The National Museum Mystery] (Table of Contents: 5)

Cosmo, the Phantom of Disguise / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Sven Elven (credited)

Inks

Sven Elven (credited)

Letters

Sven Elven

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Late one night...

Genre

adventure; detective-mystery

Characters

Cosmo; Korensky (intro, villain)

Too Many Crooks, Part 3 (Table of Contents: 6)

Bruce Nelson / comic story / 12 pages (report information)

Script

Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson ?

Pencils

Tom Hickey (credited) (signed as TH)

Inks

Tom Hickey (credited) (signed as TH)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Mr. Parsons and I...

Genre

adventure; detective-mystery

Characters

Bruce Nelson; Tony Freeland (intro, villain, death)

The Tattoo Trap (Table of Contents: 7)

text story / 1.75 pages (report information)

Script

Vin Sullivan (credited as Paul Dean)

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

Characters

Ken (F.B.I. agent)

Indexer Notes

We formerly credited the script of this story to Gardner Fox, but in an interview in Alter Ego #20 (June 2003), he stated that his first comic story, sold in March 1938, appeared in Detective Comics #18.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 8)

The Crowell Publishing Co. / advertisement / 0.25 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

[A Traitor in Our Midst] (Table of Contents: 9)

Spy / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Jerry Siegel (credited as Siegel)

Pencils

Joe Shuster (credited as Shuster)

Inks

Joe Shuster (credited as Shuster)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Valuable secret orders have been vanishing...

Genre

adventure; spy

Characters

Barrow (intro, villain, death); Kleog (intro, villain, death); Mrs. Barrow (intro); Bart Regan; Sally Norris

"Fingerprint" Farson, the Plain Clothes Man (Table of Contents: 10)

comic story / 4 pages (report information)

Script

Russell Cole

Pencils

Russell Cole

Inks

Russell Cole

Colors

?

Letters

?

Characters

"Fingerprint" Farson

Trading Trouble (Table of Contents: 11)

Buck Marshall, Range Detective / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Homer Fleming (credited as H. Fleming)

Pencils

Homer Fleming (credited as H. Fleming)

Inks

Homer Fleming (credited as H. Fleming)

Letters

?

Genre

adventure; western-frontier

Characters

Buck Marshall; Ned Tobin (intro, villain)

[The Broadway Bandit] (Table of Contents: 12)

Slam Bradley / comic story / 13 pages (report information)

Script

Jerry Siegel (credited as Jerome Siegel)

Pencils

Joe Shuster (credited as Shuster)

Inks

Joe Shuster (credited as Shuster)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Help! - Pol --!

Genre

adventure; detective-mystery

Characters

Slam Bradley; Shorty Rogers; Joan Carter (intro); The Broadway Bandit [Boris Desmond] (intro, villain)

Indexer Notes

story title from next issue blurb in previous issue

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 13)

Johnson Smith & Co. / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Letters

typeset

Indexer Notes

inside back cover

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 14)

Spencer Fireworks Co. / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

?

Indexer Notes

back cover