Falling In Love #115

Falling In Love #115 (On Sale: March 17, 1970) has a cover attributed to Jay Scott Pike, but I personally don't see it but the inks by Vince Colletta could be why.

This issue begins with "First Love of My Life" drawn by John Rosenberger. That is followed by "Hold on to Your Dreams" inked by Vinny Colletta. We end with "Love is Where You Find It" penciled by Artie Saaf.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Binky #72

Binky #72 (On Sale: February 10, 1970) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli and a new name. The series was previously known as Leave it to Binky.

We begin with Binky in "It's Unsteady to Go Steady." That is followed by Little Allergy in "The Artist" and in "The Sleep-Walker," which was reprinted in Best of DC #28. Next we have Binky in "Beware -- of Benny's New Wheels" and Little Allergy in "The Wanderer." We end with Binky in "It's an Ice Day" drawn by Artie Saaf and Henry Scarpelli.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Unexpected #116

Unexpected #116 (On Sale: October 7, 1969) has a cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with a Mad Mod Witch story, "Express Train to Nowhere" by Dave Wood and Artie Saaf. Four passengers board a train to, well, we are not sure. they are Alex, just fired from his job for having no imagination or drive; Doc, a brilliant surgeon leaving the city to become a country doctor because of shaky hands; Linda, an artist who flopped int he big city and is now heading back home in shame, and Zaroff, a circus aerialist who turned to crime to make ends meet, now on the lam.

The train heads into a strange mist and stops. The four exit the train only to find a world of zombie like automatons. They realize their train has vanished in the mist so they attempt to follow the automatons but find themselves trapped by an electronic barrier. Alex convinces Linda to use her makeup to make him look like one of the automatons and in his disguise he is able to pass through the barrier. With Linda's help they all get free.

Only now they find their path blocked by a giant skull. Though Doc doesn't think he can do it, they talk him into climbing the skull and using Linda's nail file and scissors he is able to operate on the skull, triggering the jaw to open. Inside they find a path that eventually is bisected by a deep chasm. Zaroff uses their shirts and jackets to make a rope and uses it to carry Linda across the chasm, like walking a tightrope. Doc realizes that he has seen Zaroff's face on a wanted poster and wants nothing to do with him, but the others convince him to use the improvised rope to cross with them.

Once on th other side they hear the sound of a train whistle in the distance and make a run for it, finding the train pulling out just as they get there. In a mad dash they all make it and the train ends up back where they started. But Linda now has confidence in her artwork and decides to stay, Alex feels he has plenty of imagination and aggressiveness and decides he will prove it, Doc realizes he still has some surgical skills and notices how steady his hands now are, and Zaroff decides to turn himself in and take his punishment. As Alex leaves he knows that once he feels he is a success he will be looking Linda up.

Next is "Steps to Disaster" drawn by Pat Boyette. A Dutch cobbler finds a piece of mahogany floating int he water and decides to make some wooden shoes out of the beautiful wood. A worker in the tulip fields kills his boss and takes the payroll and heads out of town, planning to steal a boat for England. One night a week later he sees the cobbler making shoes and needing shoes he steals the mahogany ones and kills the cobbler. He then steals a sloop and heads for England, but is pulled out to the deep Atlantic by a storm, being pulled ever northward for days. A sudden lurch tosses him into the water where the wooden shoes begin to pull him down. He sees an iceberg as a spectre of death and then sees hundreds of skeletal people trapped in an ice prison. A giant face materializes saying that it is his own evil that has brought him to this place. The shoes pull him under and as he dies the shoes slip from his feet sinking to the bottom where they come to rest at the wreck of the Titanic, where the mahogany beam had come from. Reprinted in Unexpected #162.

Next is "Mad To Order" a one-pager inked by Murphy Anderson. I don't know who penciled it. In it a man invites two tailors into his room for a fitting of a new jacket, but finds the jacket too small, too tight and too constraining. As they leave the room we see him in a straight jacket in his cell saying how he will never by anything from them again.

That is followed by "Ball of String" drawn by Bernie Wrightson. Ethatn had been saving string since he was a small boy and had amassed a gigantic ball, when his landlord threw him our for keeping "that sphere of rubbish." In a fit of rage Ethan kills his landlord and wraps his body up in the ball of string. He places the ball into an open carriage and heads out for the country to bury the body. However, his cat had grabbed a hold of the end of the string and as Ethan drove through town the ball was slowly unwinding, revealing the body inside to a passing policeman. Reprinted in Unexpected #161.

Lastly is "Ashes to Ashes, Dustin to Dust" by Murray Boltinoff and Sid Greene.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Falling In Love #111

Falling In Love #111 (On Sale: September 18, 1969) has a cover by Ric Estrada and Vinny Colletta.

We begin with "The Girl Who Can't Say No" drawn by Artie Saaf and Vinny Colletta. Next is "A Tug-o-War with My Heart" drawn by Ric Estrada and Vinny Colletta. that is followed by Betty's Boutique drawn by Tony Abruzzo.We end with "Shy Girl" drawn by Ric Estrada and Vinny Colletta which was reprinted in Young Love #109.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Our Fighting Forces #122

Our Fighting Forces #122 (On Sale: September 11, 1969) has a cover by Joe Kubert. This is the last issue for Lt. Hunter and his Hellcats.

We begin with Lt. Hunter and his Hellcats in "24 Hours to Die" by Robert Kanigher and Artie Saff. We end with "Coward -- Take This Hill" by Robert Kanigher and Fred Ray.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Falling In Love #110

Falling In Love #110 (On Sale: August 5, 1969) has a cover inked by Vince Colletta and not a bad job for once.

We begin with "Always a Bridesmaid... ...Never a Bride" drawn by Artie Saaf and Vince Colletta. Next is "Afraid to Fall in Love" inked by Vince Colletta and we end with "They Called Me a Boy Chaser..." drawn by Artie Saaf and Vince Colletta. This last story was reprinted in Young Romance #197.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Our Fighting Forces #121

Our Fighting Forces #121 (On Sale: July 10, 1969) has a Lt. Hunter's Hellcats cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with Lt. Hunter's Hellcats in "Take My Place" by Robert Kanigher and Artie Saaf. The back-up is "Jump into Two Wars" by Bob Haney and Joe Kubert and reprinted from Star Spangled War Stories #108.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Unexpected #114

Unexpected #114 (On Sale: June 5, 1969) has an unimpressive cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with Johnny Peril in "My Self -- My Enemy" by George Kashdan, Ed Robbins and Vinnie Colletta. That is followed by our cover-story, "The Well of Second Chances" by Dave Wood and Artie Saaf.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Angel and the Ape #5

Angel and the Ape #5 (On Sale: May 13, 1969) has a cover by Bob Oksner. It looks like the staff of Benedict Arnold High School (a school populated by Universal Horror-style monsters) from the now canceled Adventures of Bob Hope comic are now a part of Angel and the Ape.

Once again we know very little about this issue. It begins with "Pigeon Mob" drawn by Bob Oksner and finishes with "The Case of Hippie, Hippie, Hooray" drawn by Artie Saaf and Wally Wood.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Our Fighting Forces #120

Our Fighting Forces #120 (On Sale: May 8, 1969) has another Lt. Hunter's Hellcats cover by Joe Kubert.

This issue begins with Lt. Hunter's Hellcats in "Devil in the Dark" by Robert Kanigher and Art Saaf.

The back-up story is "Killer on My Back" drawn by the Scottish wonder Ken Barr.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Our Fighting Forces #119

Our Fighting Forces #119 (On Sale: March 11, 1969) has a Lt. Hunter's Hellcats cover by Joe Kubert.

Inside we have Lt. Hunter's Hellcats in "Bedlam in Berlin" by Robert Kanigher and Artie Saaf. That is followed by "Home..." by Howard Liss and Fred Ray and and "This Story Has No Title" a reprint from All-American Men of War #4 by Robert Kanigher, Gene Colan and Bernard Sachs.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Unexpected #112

Unexpected #112 (On Sale: February 6, 1969) has a nice cover by Neal Adams.

Johnny Peril stars in "The Brain Robbers" by George Kashdan and Jack Sparling. "Burn, Match, Burn" is by Dave Wood and Artie Saaf and "The Corpse That Didn't Die" is by Dave Wood and Pat Boyette and was reprinted in Unexpected #162.

Dave Wood's (AKA D. W. Holtz and D. W. Holz) first writing for DC was in Big Town #1, January 1951. In the early '50s he also wrote a number of Strong Bow stories for All-Star Western and Foley of the Fighting Fifth for All-American Western and Western Comics. He wrote for numerous issues of Rex the Wonder Dog beginning with issue #1 and pulled a long stint on the DC war books, All-American Men of War, Our Army at War and Star Spangled War Stories.

For World's Finest Comics he wrote Green Arrow, Tomahawk and Batman/Superman stories. He also wrote Batman stories in Batman and Detective Comics and Superman stories in Superman. For Mystery In Space he wrote Adam Strange, Space Ranger and Ultra the Multi-Alien (Dave's creation) and for Strange Adventures he wrote Star Hawkins and Animal Man (Dave's creation). Dave Wood also wrote a number of Dial H for HERO stories for House of Mystery and the Martian Manhunter for House of Secrets.

In 1968 he made the rounds of the Mort Weisinger books doing Supergirl in Action Comics and the Superboy and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen features, but by 1969, Dave was relegated to this single Murray Boltinoff mystery title, where, except for a fill-in back-up story in the Boltinoff-edited Challengers of the Unknown (a story most likely written for the Unexpected), Dave would finish his career at DC.

Before coming to DC, Dave wrote Blackhawk stories for Quality from 1940-1949 and wrote Bombshell for Lev Gleason. During his time at DC Dave also wrote adventure stories for Harvey Comics and between 1958 and 1960 wrote the daily syndicated strip Sky Masters of the Space Force drawn by Jack Kirby and Wally Wood.

I don't know why Dave left DC or what happened to him after he left DC except for a single story he wrote that appeared in Creepy Magazine in 1971. This was the time when the old guard of writers were being pushed out and Dave Wood was most likely just part of that push. Dave's stories in Unexpected would appear regularly for the rest of 1969, then in three issues in 1970 then one issue in 1971, 1973, 1974 and finally in 1975.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Our Fighting Forces #118

Our Fighting Forces #118 (On Sale: January 9, 1969) features a Joe Kubert Lt. Hunter's Hellcats cover.

This issue begins with Lt. Hunter's Hellcats in "Hell Underwater" by Robert Kanigher and Artie Saaf. This is Artie Saaf's second story for DC, the first being a romance story in 1967. Saaf would do all kinds of work for DC for the next ten years or so, from romance and horror to Binky and Scooter, Lois Lane, Supergirl and the Teen Titans.

The back-up stories are "Battle Light" from Our Army At War #41 and produced by Robert Kanigher and Irv Novick and "Yankee Stallion" written and drawn by Fred Ray.

Edited by Joe Kubert.