"The Berry Boy," Tom Mix Western no. 34, 1951

I am fascinated by the contradictory aspects of the drawing style on this page. While the characters are very cartoony, the settings, especially in panels 2 and 3, were drawn in a much more realistic manner, as if by an action-adventure artist slumming in a children's strip. Look also at the menacing shadows on the kid's face in panel three. Funny enough, the vegetation gets more and more cartoony from panel to panel. I think this was done to indicate the passage of time from dawn to noon (see how the cast shadows grow shorter); nevertheless, this kind of atention to naturalistic detail is highly atypical of such kid-oriented fare.


Any suggestions on who the artist might be?