Dell Comic's THE TWIST

        Nothing epitomizes  the odd state of affairs at Dell Comics in mid 1962 quite like this comic. Their two decade plus association with Western Publishing had ended, and Western took most of the lucrative character licenses with them to their new venture, Gold Key Comics. Dell was left with mostly new inhouse creations and some TV show tie ins.

         One of those inhouse comics was THE TWIST, cover dated July 1962. It only lasted one issue and was written by Paul C. Ignizio and drawn by Bill Willams. This, and one issue of the TV tie-in Diver Dan are the only known credits for the writer. On the other hand, Bill Williams is well known for drawing Bunny from Harvey Comics, Dunc and Loo for Dell, and Dennis The Menace for Fawcett. He also did the similar themed Kookie for Dell during this time, and half a decade later was doing Millie The Model for Marvel.

   It's hard for a dance craze to star in it's own comic, so some typical teenage types were inserted. They had names like Tony, Bobby, and Mary. It seems to have been typical teenager comics of the day; a Pizza place and a Dance hall compete for business. Sounds like something from Kookie. 

Bill Williams cover is very nice and iconic of the era.

Update:

By popular request, here are some samples of the interior...