.

Toonpedia sez of Turok:

//
The comic was illustrated by Rex Maxon. Other credits are harder to pin down. Some sources say it was scripted by Paul S. Newman, probably the medium's most prolific writer; others say Gaylord DuBois, also extremely prolific. The character was probably created by editor Matt Murphy, but one prominent source that gives this information also says the first writer was Alberto Giolitti - who was actually the artist most prominently associated with the character over the years.
//

It is not so hard to pin down the writer credits for the first eight issues.

Gaylord Du Bois, who, one suspects, was more concerned about getting paid than getting writer credit, kept meticulous accounts of what scripts he sent to his editor for payment. The account books from before mid-1943 were destroyed by fire. But the subsequent account books, beginning from mid-1943, were transcribed by Randy Scott.

"Gaylord Du Bois's Account Books Sorted by Title, compiled from the original account books by Randall W. Scott" is available through InterLibrary Loan.

Michigan State University
Special Collections Division
http://www.lib.msu.edu/comics
Fon: (95) (517) 355-3770
Fax: (95) (517) 353-5069

Here's the catalog entry: Gaylord Du Bois's Account Books Sorted by Title / compiled from the original account books by Randall W. Scott. -- 1985. -- 203 leaves ; 28 cm. -- Photocopy of computer printout. -- Call no.: PN6727.D77 A2S35 1985

Michigan State University will send a photocopy on InterLibrary Loan. How much it will cost depends on your library...sometimes it's free!

Pages 44 through 63 of the account books is the section for "The Lone Ranger (including Hi-Yo Silver)." Du Bois's contribution to The Lone Ranger comic book periodical was limited to the "Young Hawk" American Indian feature in the back of the comic. The second feature was written by Gaylord Du Bois, beginning in Young HawkThe Lone Ranger #11, May 1949, and running in every issue thereafter, straight through to the final issue, #145, May 1962. That's 135 issues over 10 years.

Grand Comics Database (comics.org) states of Young Hawk, "[The] feature originated in "The Funnies" (Dell) #65, June-July, 1942 and was also featured in "New Funnies" (Dell) #66 and #67 (both 1942."

Since Du Bois's earlier account books from before 1943 were destroyed by fire, I do not know if GDB created the Young Hawk character or not. (The account books show that Du Bois was writing original Gang Busters stories for Popular Comics in 1943 and original Clyde Beatty stories for Super Comics in 1944.) All of the Young Hawk appearances in The Lone Ranger were written by Du Bois.

Page 51 of the Account Books:

//
Young Hawk Finds World Below. 16p. For Young Hawk one-shot, 1954. Sent November 22, 1953.
//

The very first Turok story, in Four Color #596 (a one-shot), is "Turok and the World Below," 16 pages.

Page 51 of the Account Books:

//
Young Hawk Conquers the Terrible Ones. 18p. For Young Hawk one-shot, 1954. Sent December 14, 1953.
//

The second Turok story, in Four Color #596, is "Turok and the Terrible Ones," 18 pages.

Young Hawk has transformed into Turok.

Gaylord Du Bois is indisputably the writer of not only the first issue, but the creator of the character.

I have been reading a photocopy (from Michigan State University through InterLibrary Loan) of Irv Ziemann's biography of Du Bois (that was serialized in Comics Buyer's Guide beginning in issue #829 (Oct. 6, 1989), page 60).

Condensed from Ziemann:

//
In 1946 Oskar Lebeck told Gaylord Du Bois that his western comics were getting repetitious. Du Bois asked what he could do. "Go west," said Lebeck. "Get a used travel trailer, best bargain you can. We'll advance you the money." Du Bois and his wife, Mary, covered 18,000 miles in a canvas-covered trailer. Texas, Mexico, Big Bend, Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, Navajo Mission, Navajo Territory, Gallup, Arizona, Grand Canyon, Ogden, Utah, Grand Tetons, Idaho, Shelby, Montana, Alberta Province, Peace River. They stopped at Carlsbad, where they followed guides down a rough trail into the famous Carlsbad Caverns, 800 feet below the ground.  Scripts written during the trip paid for the trailer, the trip, plus extra. Upon return back east, Du Bois's travel notebooks were crammed with material for western comics. In the years that followed, Gaylord and Mary were to continue covering all the (then) 48 states, writing as they went. Crisscrossing the continent year after year, Gaylord dictated to Mary as he drove, then typed on hotel beds at night.
//

That was all before the interstate highway system created by Eisenhower, btw. There were no interstate highways in those days. Just state roads, like Route 66.

The Account Books section for Turok record every story that appeared in Turok #2-8. Without question, Du Bois wrote all the stories, and most of the filler, for the first 8 issues of Turok. Every story in those issues is accounted for.

And be reminded that Du Bois kept the account books not for ego but as a record to make sure he got paid for everything he wrote and mailed in to his editor.

But where did Du Bois get the idea for the Lost Valley, and dinosaurs? From his travels, no doubt.

The Lost Valley setting of Turok.

Du Bois was influenced by his visits to Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico and identified the "Lost Valley" as located in the area. Ziemann writes of Gaylord and Mary, "They stopped at Carlsbad, where they followed guides down a rough trail into the famous Carlsbad Caverns, 800 feet below the ground."

In the comics, Du Bois identified the Lost Valley as part of the Carlsbad Cavern chain.

As late as issue #8 of Turok, Du Bois's last scripts for the series, when the artists had long since established Turok as an adult, Du Bois continued to introduce the two Turok stories in that issue (as he had in previous issues) by describing Turok and Andar as "youths" (more befitting Young Hawk than Turok; though Andar was depicted as a youth). The first story in that issue begins, "Turok and Andar, Indian youths, have found their way into a strange network of deep canyons in the Carlsbad area, where ancient forms of life still exist...They have found no way to get out." The second Turok story in that issue begins, "Trapped in a deep canyon in the Carlsbad area of New Mexico, Turok and Andar, two Indian youths, have met ancient forms of life."

As to any other credit for the creation of Turok and Andar, why the decision was made to change the names of the two Young Hawk characters and create a different series, I know of absolutely no evidence that anyone other than Du Bois was the creator of the characters and writer of the stories for the first 8 issues.

As to the Toonpedia remark about Turok, "The character was probably created by editor Matt Murphy." I know of no evidence that Murphy was involved in creating the character or the stories or the setting. Young Hawk was already established, and a Young Hawk trip to Carlsbad was an appropriate one-shot story-setting for the character.

I hear tell that Watchman was what Alan Moore produced when he was assigned to write a series using the Charlton super-heroes, and that once his editor at DC saw what he had done with the characters, an editorial decision was made to change the characters from their Charlton incarnation. New names were given the characters, but that editorial decision does not redound to editorial writing/creator credit: Watchman is Alan Moore's creation. I don't know who first created Young Hawk, nor why Young Hawk's name was changed for the Young Hawk one-shot that became Turok, but that editorial decision does not redound to editorial writing/creator credit:  Turok is Gaylord Du Bois's creation.

.