Back Issue #129 by TwoMorrows Publishing

COMICS’ BRONZE AGE AND BEYOND 2021

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TV TOON TIE-INS!

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Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

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NUCLEAR ISSUE! Firestorm, Dr. Manhattan, DAVE GIBBONS Marvel UK Hulk interview, villain histories of Radioactive Man and Microwave Man, Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy, and the one-shot Holo-Man! With PAT BRODERICK, GERRY CONWAY, JOE GIELLA, TOM GRINDBERG, RAFAEL KAYANAN, TOM MANDRAKE, BILL MORRISON, JOHN OSTRANDER, STEVE VANCE, and more! PAT BRODERICK cover!

BATMAN MOVIE 30th ANNIVERSARY! Producer MICHAEL USLAN and screenwriter SAM HAMM interviewed, a chat with BILLY DEE WILLIAMS (who was almost Two-Face), plus DENNY O’NEIL and JERRY ORDWAY’s Batman movie adaptation, MINDY NEWELL’s Catwoman, GRANT MORRISON and DAVE McKEAN’s Arkham Asylum, MAX ALLAN COLLINS’ Batman newspaper strip, and JOEY CAVALIERI & JOE STATON’s Huntress!

SCI-FI SUPERHEROES! In-depth looks at JIM STARLIN’s Dreadstar and Company, and the dystopian lawman Judge Dredd. Also: Nova, GERRY CONWAY & MIKE VOSBURG’s Starman, PAUL LEVITZ & STEVE DITKO’s Starman, WALTER SIMONSON’s Justice Peace (from the pages of Thor), and GREG POTTER & GENE COLAN’s Jemm, Son of Saturn! With a Dreadstar and Company cover by STARLIN and ALAN WEISS!

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SUPERHEROES VS. MONSTERS! Monsters in Metropolis, Batman and the Horror Genre, DOUG MOENCH and KELLEY JONES’ Batman: Vampire, Marvel Scream-Up, Dracula and Godzilla vs. Marvel, DC/Dark Horse Hero/Monster crossovers, and a Baron Blood villain history. With CLAREMONT, CONWAY, DIXON, GIBBONS, GRELL, GULACY, JURGENS, THOMAS, WOLFMAN, and a cover by MICHAEL GOLDEN.

SUPERHERO STAND-INS! John Stewart as Green Lantern, James Rhodes as Iron Man, Beta Ray Bill as Thor, Captain America substitute U.S. Agent, new Batman Azrael, and Superman’s Hollywood proxy Gregory Reed! Featuring NEAL ADAMS, CARY BATES, DAVE GIBBONS, RON MARZ, DAVID MICHELINIE, DENNIS O’NEIL, WALTER SIMONSON, ROY THOMAS, and more, under a cover by SIMONSON.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ISSUE! A galaxy of comics stars discuss Marvel’s whitehot space team in the Guardians Interviews, including TOM DeFALCO, KEITH GIFFEN, ROB LIEFELD, AL MILGROM, MARY SKRENES, ROGER STERN, JIM VALENTINO, and more. Plus: Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon before the Guardians, with CHRIS CLAREMONT and MIKE MIGNOLA. Cover by JIM VALENTINO with inks by CHRIS IVY.

CONAN AND THE BARBARIANS! Celebrating the 50th anniversary of ROY THOMAS and BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH’s Conan #1! The Bronze Age Barbarian Boom, Top 50 Marvel Conan stories, Marvel’s Not-Quite Conans (from Kull to Skull), Arak–Son of Thunder, Warlord action figures, GRAY MORROW’s Edge of Chaos, and Conan the Barbarian at Dark Horse Comics. With an unused WINDSOR-SMITH Conan #9 cover.

Celebrates the 40TH ANNIVERSARY of MARV WOLFMAN and GEORGE PÉREZ’s New Teen Titans, featuring a guest editorial by WOLFMAN and a PÉREZ tribute and art gallery! Plus: The New Teen Titans’ 40 GREATEST MOMENTS, the Titans in the media, hero histories of RAVEN, STARFIRE, and the PROTECTOR, and more! With a NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED PÉREZ TITANS COVER from 1981!

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SUPERHERO ROMANCE ISSUE! Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark’s many loves, Star Sapphire history, Bronze Age weddings, DeFALCO/ STERN Johnny Storm/Alicia Pro2Pro interview, Elongated Man and Wife, May-December romances, Supergirl’s Secret Marriage, and… Aunt May and Doc Ock?? Featuring MIKE W. BARR, CARY BATES, STEVE ENGLEHART, BOB LAYTON, DENNY O’NEIL, and many more! Cover by DAVE GIBBONS.

HORRIFIC HEROES! With Bronze Age CREATOR-OWNED COMICS! Featuring histories of Man-Thing, the Demon, and in-depth histories of MATT WAGNER’s the Creeper, Atlas/Seaboard’s horrifying Mage and Grendel. Plus other indie heroes, and Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) sensations of the Bronze Age, including rides again! Featuring the work of CHRIS COLLEEN DORAN’s A Distant Soil, STAN CLAREMONT, GERRY CONWAY, ERNIE SAKAI’s Usagi Yojimbo, STEVE PURCELL’s COLON, MICHAEL GOLDEN, JACK KIRBY, Sam & Max, JAMES DEAN SMITH’s Boris MIKE PLOOG, JAVIER SALTARES, MARK the Bear, and LARRY WELZ’s Cherry TEXIERA, and more. Man-Thing cover by Poptart! With a fabulous Grendel cover by RUDY NEBRES. MATT WAGNER.

“Legacy” issue! Wally West Flash, BRANDON ROUTH Superman interview, Harry Osborn/Green Goblin, Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Infinity Inc., Reign of the Supermen, JOHN ROMITA SR. and JR. “Rough Stuff,” plus CONWAY, FRACTION, JURGENS, MESSNER-LOEBS, MICHELINIE, ORDWAY, SLOTT, ROY THOMAS, MARK WAID, and more. WIERINGO/MARZAN JR. cover!

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Volume 1, Number 129 August 2021 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Ray Dirgo and friends (Cover art from Charlton’s HannaBarbera Parade #10, with some character substitutions by other artists.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Mark Arnold Maddy Madrazo Jerry Beck Jim Main Nate Butler Dave Manak John Byrne Richard Maurizio Ed Catto Fabian Nicieza Robert V. Conte Luigi Novi Tom DeFalco Jerry Ordway Jim Engel Ross Pearsall Mark Evanier Joe Rockhead Stephan Friedt Steve Schanes Michael Gallagher Keith Scott Grand Comics Scott Shaw! Database Evan Skolnick Hanna-Barbera Merrie Spaeth Productions Joe Staton Heritage Comics Mary Vigliante Auctions Szydlowski Kelley Jarvis-Maclay Roy Thomas Mike Kazaleh Steven Thompson Stephen Keeter Greg Walker Milton Knight Mike Zeck Ed Lute

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 OFF MY CHEST: The Secret Origins of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! . . . . 3 Scott Shaw! hops into the rabbit hole of history FLASHBACK: Bullwinkle and Rocky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 “I Read the Moose Today” or “What’s a Nice Squirrel Like You Doing in Comics Like This?” BACKSTAGE PASS: Underdog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 There’s no need to fear! TTV’s canine crusader is here! FLASHBACK: The Bronze-tastic World of Hanna-Barbera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 H-B’s comic adaptations, from Bedrock to Orbit City and beyond FLASHBACK: Gold Key’s The Hardy Boys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 The Filmation toon and tie-in comic that should have been a hit BACKSTAGE PASS: The Pink Panther . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 DePatie-Freleng’s fuschia feline, on screen and in funnybooks WHAT THE--?!: Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 From public service announcements to comic-book stardom FLASHBACK: Mighty Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Here he comes to save the day, in a trivia- and creator-loaded comics history BACKSTAGE PASS: Battle of the Planets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 The comic-book adventures of G-Force! BACK TALK will return next issue.

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BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $90 Economy US, $137 International, $36 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Ray Dirgo and friends. Fred Flintstone © HannaBarbera Productions. Other characters © their respective companies. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2021 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins • BACK ISSUE • 1

by M

ichael Eury

Longtime BI readers, when surveying this issue’s contents, may notice [insert your favorite animation-inspired comic title here]?”, many the absence of a Bronze Age comic adaptation of a popular Saturday other toon-comics have been covered in previous issues. Please morning cartoon: Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. I wanted to include Gold consult the checklist that follows to find your faves. In the meantime, there are so many Saturday Key’s Fat Albert comic book, which ran 29 issues morning memories in this content-crammed throughout much of the 1970s, for the historical edition that you might be craving a bowl of sugary record, but after much consideration dropped it breakfast cereal as a snack. Indulge yourself. (But from the lineup. I’m sure you know the reason. don’t blame us for your cavities!) The groundbreaking animated series, which premiered on CBS in the fall of 1972, was one Next issue: Bronze Age Promos, Ads, and Gimmicks! of the first cartoons to feature a predominantly Who was the mystery writer of those zany Hostess African-American cast, a cast that included Comic Ads? Plus: the aborted DC Super-Stars characters that grew out of the standup comedy Society fan club, DC 16-page Preview Comics, of Bill Cosby. With Cosby’s fall from grace and the DC Hotline, Popeye Career Comics, Marvel’s prison conviction as a sexual predator, Fat Albert little-seen Quarterly Reports, and more. Featuring became a hot-button topic. Can we still love Fat MIKE W. BARR, KURT BUSIEK, MIKE CHEN, Albert and the Cosby Kids in the #MeToo world? GLENN HERDLING, PAUL KUPPERBERG, PAUL If you’re like me, you can separate the message LEVITZ, DAN MISHKIN, TOM MORGAN, MARK from the messenger, and from my perspective PACELLA, JIMMY PALMIOTTI, BOB ROZAKIS, Fat Albert remains one of the most important kids SCOTT SHAW!, TERRY STEWART, ROY THOMAS, TV shows of its era. It’s unfortunate, however, MARV WOLFMAN, and more. With a previously that Cosby’s crimes have forced us to exclude his unpublished 1979 5-Star Super-Hero Spectacular entertaining and influential body of work, and cover by DICK DILLIN and DICK GIORDANO. as such the Gold Key tie-in series is much too Don’t ask—just BI it! See you in thirty! controversial for inclusion here. Your friendly neighborhood Euryman, If you’re also scratching your head over the Wonder Woman and characters © DC Comics. Michael Eury, editor-in-chief table of contents, wondering, “Hey, where’s BACK ISSUE TM & © TwoMorrows.

TV CARTOON TIE-IN COMICS PREVIOUSLY COVERED IN BACK ISSUE This checklist will allow you to dig deeper into our backlist for more information about the comic books based upon, or the comics/TV connections to, the animated shows listed below. • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Adventures in the DC Universe: BI #99 Animax: BI #77 The Archie Show, the Archies: BI #33 (the Archies’ Ron Dante interview), 107 Astro Boy: BI #30 Batman: The Animated Series: BI #99 Bullwinkle and Rocky (Star Comics): BI #77 Camp Candy: BI #77 Chuck Norris and the Karate Kommandos: BI #77 Defenders of the Earth: BI #77 Droids: BI #77 Dynomutt and Blue Falcon: BI #97 Ewoks: BI #77 Fantastic Four: BI #74

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Firestar (Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends): BI #33 The Flintstone Kids: BI #77 Foofur: BI #77 Fraggle Rock: BI #77 G.I. Joe: BI #16, 118 (Fury Force) Gumby: BI #16, 85 Hanna-Barbera Marvel Comics: BI #59 Heathcliff: BI #77 H.E.R.B.I.E. the Robot: BI #25 Hong Kong Phooey: BI #105 The Incredible Hulk (1982 cartoon): BI #70 The Inhumanoids: BI #77 James Bond, Jr.: BI #33 Jonny Quest: BI #59 Josie and the Pussycats: BI #40 Legion of Super-Heroes (unproduced animated series): BI #5 Marvel Productions, Ltd. (animation company): BI #59 Masters of the Universe: BI #16, 77

2 • BACK ISSUE •Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Mr. T: BI #26 Muppet Babies: BI #77 Plastic Man: BI #3, 77 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: BI #107 Sam and Max, Freelance Police: BI #124 Scooby-Doo: BI #52 Silverhawks: BI #77 Space Ghost: BI #2, 30 (Gary Owens interview), 59 Spidey Super Stories: BI #44 Star Blazers: BI #59 Star Comics (Marvel imprint): BI #77 Super Friends: BI #30, 38, 61, 83 Superman Adventures: BI #99 Swamp Thing: BI #36 Teen Titans: BI #5 (unrealized New Teen Titans cartoon), 122 Thundarr the Barbarian: BI #31 Thundercats: BI #40, 77 Transformers: BI #16 Visionaries: BI #77

[Editor’s note: While most of this issue explores Bronze Age comic books based upon Saturday morning cartoons, ye ed didn’t want to leave you superhero fans high and dry. So here he comes to save the day! Not Mighty Mouse (although the Mouse of Might does appear later this ish), but Scott Shaw!, the Emmy and Eisner Award-winning cartoonist/animator/comics historian, who’s got something he’d like to get off his chest….] by S c o t t

Shaw!

World’s Furriest Comics Circa 1982–1983, a Captain Carrot and Pig Iron sketch by our guest columnist, Scott Shaw! Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew TM & © DC Comics.

The first time I met Roy Thomas was at the 1972 San Diego Comic-Con. Roy was basking in fandom’s overwhelmingly positive reaction to Conan; I was hawking my first professional comix, “The Turd” in Ken Krueger’s Gory Stories Quarterly. The second time I met Roy was in 1977 at the American Comic Book Company in Studio City, California. Roy had recently moved to Los Angeles to work in film; I had recently moved to Los Angeles to find work in comics and animation while managing a comic shop that was conveniently near the studios, including Hanna-Barbera Productions, located right down the street from my store. Understandably, Roy didn’t recall me from our first encounter, but as Roy became a regular customer at the ACBC, we became more familiar with each other, then friends. That lead to Roy assigning me to write and draw a backup story for a new series he had recently created for Marvel. What If? vol. 1 #8 (Apr. 1978) featured “What If the Spider Had Been Bitten by a Radioactive Human?,” which introduced “Man-Spider.” (Marvel keeps reprinting it, they just stopped paying me for it, because as we all know, Disney’s broke.) Soon after (but unconnected) I also worked on many of Marvel’s line of Hanna-Barbera comics, edited through the studio’s offices. The gig directly led to me working at HannaBarbera on their SatAM cartoon shows for years. Meanwhile, Roy and I were working on a number of concepts to “pitch” to newspaper syndicates and cartoon studios. When Roy finally left Marvel for more creative freedom at DC, it wasn’t long before we were talking about developing a new concept to pitch to Roy’s new bosses. Of course, DC was eager to license their myriad IP to TV networks. That got Roy Thomas and I thinking up concepts that would be appropriate for licensing, especially because Roy’s new deal was signed during DC’s short-lived era of creator participation in certain titles. Since I had already done a number of funny-animal stories for Quack! from Mike Friedrich’s “ground-level” Star*Reach, we starting thinking about funny animals. I think that Roy must have mentioned that he and North Carolina cartoonist Sam Grainger had once co-created a rabbit superhero named “Captain Carrot” who was in the vein of Mighty Mouse. (I didn’t see Sam’s drawing until many years later.) To incite DC’s interest, Roy, his spouse Dann, and I decided to pitch a team of funny-animal superheroes based on DC heroes, “Super Squirrel and the Just’a Lotta Animals,” a parody of the Justice League of America. Our gimmick, developed over many spaghetti dinners, was a simple one: “What if Jack Kirby drew Mighty Mouse?” In other words, funny-animal superhero stories written and designed with humorous intent but told with Kirby-esque storytelling. The plots would be serious with real consequences rather than Tex Avery-style gags but scripted with plenty of comedic versions of superhero tropes. Jack was (and is) my favorite “straight” cartoonist, so I knew what to do. We submitted a premise, character designs, and two sample pages of dynamic pencil story art. DC expressed interest, but ultimately decided that although they—especially publisher Jenette Kahn—liked the concept, they wanted new funny-animal characters, not ones based on pre-existing superheroes. Back to the drawing board, literally. While designing these new characters, my primary influences were cartoonist Wallace Wood’s somewhat obscure kid-leading-a-team-ofgoofy-heroes concepts Bucky Ruckus, Goody Bumpkin, Miracles Inc., and Fearless Ferris and the Misfits. I was also a huge fan of Gilbert Shelton’s Wonder Wart-Hog [see RetroFan #15, now on sale—ed.]

Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

by S t e v e n

Thompson

jay ward

june foray

bill scott

“Get Moose and Squirrel!” Those no-goodniks Boris and Natasha are up to… well, no good in this 1989 Rocky and Bullwinkle hand-inked, handpainted scene cel originally sold at West Hollywood’s Dudley Do-Right Emporium. Also shown are creator Jay Ward, June Foray (voice of Rocky), and Bill Scott (voice of Bullwinkle), excerpted from a 1985 group photo of the three. Cel and photos courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Bullwinkle and Rocky © Ward Productions, Inc.

When we last left our stalwart heroes, Rocky the flying squirrel and Bullwinkle Moose had been seemingly safely ensconced at Western Publishing’s Gold Key Comics. That was at the (squirrel) tail end of 1962. Suddenly, as if by some existential form of four-color magic, the dauntless duo turned up again, in—of all places—Derby, Connecticut, some eight years later, for a seven-issue run at Charlton Comics before continuing on their Western way with numbering as if nothing had ever happened! To find out what mystery caused this bizarre sidestepping, don’t miss our next episode, “I Read the Moose Today,” or “What’s a Nice Squirrel Like You Doing in Comics Like This?” Well, no mystery, actually, and you don’t really need to wait until the next episode, either. Look at it this way. If Rocky and Bullwinkle had been a comedy team in old Hollywood, they might have started their careers at the top with MGM making their classics, but then, after diminishing box-office returns, gone on to release new, if somewhat lesser quality, pictures through Monogram. Then, when the public’s fickle tastes took them up again, MGM would come calling to take them back into the fold. Not that that would last long, either, and yet even here in the 21st Century, new adventures and reprints have arisen for Rocky and his friends, both in print and in animation. What’s all the fuss about, you ask? Just who are Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose, anyway, and why do they simply refuse to stay in the past? The answer to that lies in the waning days of the Eisenhower Administration of the late 1950s.

6 • BACK ISSUE •Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue

Kil-glorious Art (top left) The first appearance of Rocky, Bullwinkle, and pals in comics, in Dell’s Four Color #1128 (Aug.–Oct. 1960). (top right) Bullwinkle horns in as the title star in the first issue of his own ongoing comic (Nov. 1962). Both covers by Al Kilgore. (bottom) This Bullwinkle daily comic strip (from Nov. 4, 1964) may predate B I’s Bronze Age purview, but Al Kilgore’s artistic wizardry is too good not to share. Courtesy of Heritage. © Ward Productions, Inc.

al kilgore

WOSSAMOTTA U’s BULLWINKLE HISTORY 101

The middle initial “J” in both characters’ names stands for Jay Ward. Ward and Alex Anderson, who had earlier teamed on early cartoon hero Crusader Rabbit, created Rocky and Bullwinkle as part of an unproduced TV series concept called The Frostbite Falls Review, about animals running their own television station. Ward and former Looney Tunes writer Bill Scott refined the characters and Ward’s company, Jay Ward Productions, created and produced Rocky and His Friends for ABC-TV beginning in 1959 and The Bullwinkle Show for another four seasons on NBC after it was determined that viewers felt more empathy for the big, dopey moose than for the plucky little squirrel. As noted, Rocky was a flying squirrel, seen perpetually in an aviator’s cap. Unlike real-life flying squirrels that can merely glide short distances, Rocky was a flying fool. He could buzz around like Superman and was, in fact, described in the show’s original opening as a “supersonic speedster.” In those days of sonic booms all over America, “supersonic” was quite the buzzword. Rocky was a boy scout type, a do-gooder, a moral compass, and a pretty smart young lad. In other words, although a heroic role model, he was actually kind of a dull character. This is why Bullwinkle, the lovable doofus with his own portable hat rack, became the favored POV character. A character biography credited to Jay Ward and Bill Scott states, “Despite his obvious sophistication, Rocky still retains his squirrel’s penchant for collecting nuts, as witness his partner, Bullwinkle.” Bullwinkle is the everyman character, seemingly not quite all there and yet a goodhearted and lucky soul, a loyal, goofy friend with a penchant for stumbling into adventures, many of which pitted him against spies. At the time of the series’ debut, the world was in the throes of the Cold War with the Soviets, and it seemed like spies were everywhere. Spies were especially big in popular fiction of the 1950s such as Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. Thus it was that Jay Ward’s fictional Frostbite Falls also had antagonistic spies, in the person of diminutive Communist-type Boris Badenov, his taller female sidekick, Natasha

Fatale, and sometimes their more Nazi-like fearless leader, Fearless Leader. Basic good vs. evil adventures… with lots of puns and occasional breaking of the fourth wall. Every episode of the TV series was structured like an old-timey Vaudeville act, with a short, serialized, farcical adventure chapter with our main characters followed by brief “on-stage” shtick, then one of several hilarious backup features such as Dudley Do-Right, a dead-on sendup of the once-popular adventure genre that included O’Malley of the Mounted, Renfrew of the Mounted, and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. The Do-Right segments proved to be popular enough that Dudley got his own spinoff TV series and eventually his own spinoff comic-book series as well. Amongst the other well-remembered backup features were Fractured Fairy Tales (narrated by the great character actor Edward Everett Horton), Aesop and Son (with Aesop played by Hollywood star Charlie Ruggles and Junior by Daws Butler), and Peabody’s Improbable History, featuring cartoon dog genius Mr. Peabody and his “pet boy,” Sherman. Without really trying, Ward and his multitalented writer-director Bill Scott, who also voiced Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Mr. Peabody, and other Ward characters, created a slow-building mini-phenomenon. Their cartoon series proved to be immensely popular with kids, of course, but eventually intrigued and attracted the college-age and adult audiences that were appreciative of the humor of Nichols and May, Ernie Kovacs, Stan Freberg, and MAD magazine. The show’s writing, led by Scott and future MTM writers Chris Hayward and Allan Burns, was the key, with satirical silliness and puns being the order of the day. Equally important, though, were veteran radio performers June Foray, Paul Frees, William Conrad, Hans Conried, and Walter Tetley providing most of the other voices alongside Scott. Actress June Foray portrayed Rocky so well and in so many projects for so many years that her 2009 autobiography, Did You Grow Up With Me, Too? (for which I, myself, did transcription work!), features her squirrely alter ego posing with her on its front cover.

Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 7

the story ends on a cliffhanger, with the narrator giving us two possible titles for the next episode, just like on the cartoon. Before that next episode begins, we even get a Fractured Fairy Tales and a Bullwinkle’s Corner, again mimicking the TV show’s format. Manak successfully captures all the familiar character “voices” right out of the gate. He throws in puns and little off-plot asides just like the series, too. In fact, the only disappointing factor in this reboot of Bullwinkle and Rocky is its artwork. The great comics artist Ernie Colón was certainly no stranger to children’s comics, having been the main artist associated with Richie Rich for many years by that point. His simple, stylish penciling had also enlivened sci-fi and horror tales at Warren as well as DC’s Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld. As inked here by longtime Harvey Comics inker Jacqueline Roettcher (and by Al Milgrom in later issues), his Bullwinkle and Rocky are given a less traditional, if still recognizable, look. “I’d known Ernie for years,” says Manak, “and had as much respect for him and his art as anyone. Ernie had his own slightly different version of the Ward style, but he could practically pencil and ink a whole story in one night! I really couldn’t complain about it a bit!” According to Manak, it was Ernie Colón who was behind his ending up on the new Bullwinkle and Rocky title at Star Comics in the first place. “I left my editorial job at DC after three years, not because I didn’t like it but because I wanted to start freelancing again. At Ernie Colón’s urging, I met Sid Jacobson, who was running Star Comics for Marvel, with the intent of starting a writing career. After showing my writing mettle on some other Star titles. Sid mentioned to me that Star was getting the rights to do Bullwinkle. I jumped at the chance to write it! Rocky and His Friends was absolutely my favorite show way back when! “For the most part,” he continues, “we did ‘visual scripts’ which were literally storyboards of each comic page, so we got quick feedback from anyone who had to give approval. After seeing my first script, Peter Piech—Rocky’s TV producer at the time for Ward and in charge of our Bullwinkle comic—told Sid that it was just like doing the show again!” The various side features also turn up again, of course. Dudley Do-Right returns in “The Return of Dudley Do Right Snidley Whiplash” in Bullwinkle #3 (Mar. 1988), written and drawn by Manak (with Milgrom inks) and again so true to its source, one can almost hear the old-timey silent movie music accompanying the story. The head scratcher, though, is why Snidely’s skin is colored such a dark green throughout. While his skin had always been a bit pale and tinted in the cartoons (if not always in his earlier comics appearances), here he looks as if he had wandered in from a Munsters story! After the first two Star Comics issues, the remaining seven simply had “Marvel” in the corner box, even though the stories inside continued to say, “Star Comics Presents” or “A Star Comics Presentation.” By the end of the too-brief nine-issue run, Manak himself was doing the art as well as the writing. Even before the end of the Star/Marvel run, though, a second 3-D issue surprisingly appeared from Blackthorne! Also by Stephenson and Pacheco, this one was 3-D Bullwinkle for President #1 (a.k.a. Blackthorne 3-D Series #50, Fall 1988) and is a follow-up to the team’s earlier “Kirward Derby” adaptation. It features the return of that spectacular

Was There Russian Election Interference? And you thought Howard the Duck’s run for the Oval Office was nutty! Photo cover to Blackthorne’s 1988 one-shot 3-D Bullwinkle for President #1, with art insert by Jorge Pacheco. © Ward Productions, Inc.

chapeau (named after the largely forgotten comedian Durward Kirby) while introducing the reader to a more up-to-date punny hat, the “Pia Fedora” (named after controversial but now-forgotten starlet Pia Zadora). Although the fact that it was in 3-D no doubt scared many fans away, the 28-page story found in the 3-D Bullwinkle for President issue turns out to be the most accurate and familiar portrayal to date of Ward’s now legendary characters in the comic-book format! The story opens with the Narrator leading us into the White House, with Bullwinkle already occupying the Oval Office. When his Veep, Rocky, asks what’s on the day’s agenda, the President replies, “First we have to do one of those nifty flashbacks so’s the readers will know how we got here.” The disappointed Narrator says, “I was supposed to say that.” And away we go, with all the familiar tropes, all the good and bad guys, puns and in-jokes galore, an epic plot, and Waldo-like full-page panels. Disappointingly, no more Bullwinkle comics were forthcoming from Blackthorne, but Marvel’s Bullwinkle and Rocky comic continued on until issue #9 (Mar. 1989), which featured Manak’s funny take on Bullwinkle as the superhero the Masked Avenger. After that, it seemed once again that the Ward characters were perhaps played out and would finally be retired. Still to come, though, were DVD releases of the classic episodes, two live-action feature films (Boris and Natasha in 1992 and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle in 2000), author (and later Bullwinkle voice himself) Keith Scott’s bestselling book, The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose, several well-received new cartoon shorts, June Foray’s autobiography, and a rebooted, modernized streaming series, as well as tradepaperback reprints of the original Bullwinkle and Rocky comic books and finally all-new stories featuring the venerable Jay Ward properties—some even drawn once again by Jorge Pacheco! Hokey smoke! But all that’s behind us now, and retirement once again seems eminent. Ah, but to quote the immortal words of Rocket J. Squirrel, himself, “That trick never works!” STEVEN THOMPSON is Booksteve of Booksteve’s Library (http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot. com) and a dozen other blogs. He has written for Fantagraphics, TwoMorrows, Yoe Books, Bear Manor Media, and Time Capsule Productions.

12 • BACK ISSUE •Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue

by M

TTV or Total TeleVision productions was created as an answer to Jay Ward Productions in Hollywood in 1960. Jay Ward had begun as an advertising vehicle for General Mills and its initial offering was Rocky and his Friends, starring Rocky, the flying squirrel and his pal, Bullwinkle Moose. The series premiered in 1959, and although popular, was not exactly what General Mills was really looking for in regard to a cartoon show to advertise its cereals. They were expecting a cute and kid-friendly funnyanimal show, and instead they got a show that featured hard-hitting satire of the Cold War and espionage. The people at General Mills’ advertising agency, Dancer Fitzgerald Sample or DFS, were in a quandary. They didn’t want to upset what Ward Productions was doing in Los Angeles, but at the same time, they didn’t trust some of the stuff they were doing. Indeed, some of the story ideas that Ward had come up with like Truthpaste were soundly rejected, and others that did go through, like the idea of counterfeit box tops, was not greeted well by General Mills, for fear that people might do the same with their box tops for promotions.

ark Arnold

THERE’S NO NEED TO FEAR, TTV IS HERE

Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog, just little ol’ me… …Underdog. And the series’ main cast and crooks, as illustrated by Jim Engel for an issue of Spotlight Comics’ Underdog series that went unpublished. Courtesy of the artist. Underdog © Classic Media, LLC.

So, TTV was formed in New York, with four principals who had advertising backgrounds, three of whom came from DFS. Their initial offering was a show called King Leonardo and His Short Subjects in 1960, which contained three segments. The first was The King and Odie, where King Leonardo and his handler Odie Cologne were constantly at odds with the King’s sibling Itchy Brother and his mob boss, Biggy Rat. The second segment was The Hunter, about a detective dog out to capture the Fox and stop him from doing his latest crime and inadvertently defeating him and sending him to jail with the help of Officer Flim Flanagan. The third segment was of Tooter the Turtle, a meek turtle who consistently wished he was something he wasn’t like an astronaut or a baseball player. Tooter would go visit Mr. Wizard the Lizard, who would grant him his wish, but always warn him of consequences. Tooter would invariably get himself in trouble in his new guise and always call out, “Help! Mr. Wizard!” for Mr. Wizard to rescue him and bring him back home. King Leonardo and his Short Subjects was syndicated as The King and Odie Show. Similar to how The Rocky Show was syndicated from Rocky and His Friends, The King and Odie Show was designed to be shown in either a 15-minute or a half-hour format. Early in the series’ NBC run, selected Columbia Pictures theatrical cartoons were aired on the program, some featuring The Fox and the Crow and Li’l Abner. These shorts were added to fill time when production of the early shows was delayed. The Columbia cartoons were featured during NBC showings of Hanna-Barbera’s Ruff and Reddy, but not included in subsequent syndicated versions of the series. Another segment of the original King Leonardo show was Twinkles (an orange elephant), which simultaneously appeared as a feature on Jay Ward’s Rocky and His Friends. The title character served as the mascot of Twinkles Cereal, a product of the show’s chief sponsor, General Mills. The 90-second Twinkles segments continued to air in syndication during the 1960s, and were presented in a 15-minute format under the title

Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 13

Spotlight on Underdog (top) Courtesy of artist Jim Engel, his original cover art to Spotlight’s Underdog #1 (1987). (bottom) Engel’s art for the cover to Spotlight’s Underdog #3 appeared in this ad, which announced the renumbering of the series to a new #1, but Spotlight folded before it could see print. Ye ed was slated to script at least one story in this unrealized issue. © Classic Media, LLC.

UNDERDOG BRONZE AGE COMIC CHECKLIST

recall how I got connected with them, though I think they approached me, and I was thrilled. What really appealed to me was doing cover art for comics featuring theatrical and (particularly) TV cartoon characters I’d grown up with. Some of them (mostly the TV ones), in my view, had never been in comics that were drawn very well, and I felt my style could enhance them. I was also totally free to come up with whatever I wanted to draw for the covers.” Main continues by explaining his duties on the series: “If memory serves, I believe I scripted one of the stories for the second issue that had Underdog meeting up with Fearo again. I liked the character and since I’m a big classic King Kong nut, I enjoyed doing that. I believe that I had editorial duties at that point with issue #2 as well. Much of my position at Spotlight was traffic control—seeing that assignments were on time... pairing creative teams… checking out submissions and that sort of thing!” Engel adds, “I did the cover for Underdog #1 (which was jim engel published), and also for #3, which wasn’t (though they ran my final art for #3—uncolored—as a teaser ad in #2). For what it’s © Jim Engel. worth, I hated the ‘coloring’ on my Spotlight covers. I’d supplied color guides for all of them, but… “I also did the cover to Mighty Heroes #1, which was published, and the cover for #2, which wasn’t. I painted a color cover for the Mighty Mouse and Friends Christmas Special, which was published. I did the covers for Heckle & Jeckle #1 and Tom & Jerry and Friends #1 (neither of which were published; I’d also penciled T&J #2’s cover).” So, what happened to Spotlight Comics? Even Main doesn’t completely know. He recalls, “I wish I knew the answer myself! The company was expanding too quickly! Just prior to this Spotlight was greenlighted to bring the MGM cartoon characters into comics under its banner! I was excited to get a chance to script Droopy and Screwy Squirrel! I just think the bottom line was that funds were being dispersed to pay three different companies, Viacom, ITV, and now MGM or whoever owned those characters then, and not realizing what the repercussions would be. “I was proud though to see books I was involved in available in various newsstands and comic shops! It was a dream come true for this old fanboy!” Engel adds, “As to why Spotlight folded, I don’t know. I do know there are people who were owed money for stories and art and never got it, and/or didn’t get art returned. I’m pretty sure I was paid for everything I did, but I was very tenacious about getting my never-published originals back, and I did.” [Editor’s note: Spotlight Comics publisher Richard Maurizio discusses the company’s rise and demise in this issue’s Mighty Mouse article.] Blackthorne released an Underdog in 3-D one-shot in 1988 (with art by Jorge Pacheco), reprints of the Charlton Comics series appeared under the Harvey Comics banner in the early 1990s, and in recent times, American Mythology has reprinted both the Charlton Comics and Gold Key Comics series, along with some brand new stories. American Mythology even published a story originally intended for the unpublished Underdog #24 from Gold Key. The success of Underdog lives on, with the character even appearing in a live-action film from Disney in 2007. If you ever think that the memories of Underdog are on the wane, have no fear, Underdog is here!

• Underdog (Charlton) #1 (July 1970)– 10 (Jan. 1972) • Underdog (Gold Key) #1 (Mar. 1975)– 23, (Feb. 1979) • Kite Fun Book (1974) • March of Comics #426, 438, 467, 479 • Underdog (Spotlight) #1–2 (1987) • Underdog in 3-D (Blackthorne) #1 (June 1988)

Note: Later Underdog comic books were published by Harvey and American Mythology, but they fall outside the scope of this article.

MARK ARNOLD is a pop-culture historian with over 15 books to his credit on subjects ranging from The Monkees, The Beatles, Underdog, Pink Panther, Cracked, Disney, Dennis the Menace, and more. He is currently at work on another Disney book and a book on the history of MAD.

18 • BACK ISSUE •Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue

by M i c h a e l

Eury

Anyone who attempts to produce a comic book based for Ruff and Reddy, the first of what would become upon a Hanna-Barbera television cartoon is working a legion of Hanna-Barbera Productions cartoon from a deficit, as H-B’s cartoons are as distinguished series for television. Curtin’s snappy music blended by their audio tracks as much as they are their iconic perfectly with Bill and Joe’s lyrics, inciting viewers to “Get set, get ready, here come Ruff and Reddy.” characters and limited animation. As the H-B family of shows grew, their sing-along Hanna-Barbera sound effects are legendary. If I mention “Kabong,” “Scrambling Feet,” themes wisely identified their stars for the kids of the 1960s growing up in front of the tube: “Falling Object Whistle,” “Bugle Charge,” “The biggest show in town is Huckleberry or “Bongo Feet and Zip,” chances are Hound for all you guys and gals. The you will “hear” those sounds and biggest clown in town is Huckleberry remember specific scenes from old Hound with all his cartoon pals.” cartoons, even though these sound “Yogi Bear is smarter than the effects were often interchangeable average bear. Yogi Bear is always in among H-B series. the ranger’s hair.” Equally important, if not more “Flintstones. Meet the Flintstones. so, are the Hanna-Barbera theme They’re the modern Stone Age family. songs. While their later show themes From the town of Bedrock they’re a might not be as well remembered, page right out of history.” each of the earlier H-B toons Everything you needed to boasted a theme song that you know about these characters was simply cannot forget. Most were hoyt curtin laid out for you in song. And while composed by the late, great Hoyt The Adventures of Jonny Quest’s Curtin, who was scoring music for television commercials when he was tapped in 1957 theme had no lyrics, none were necessary thanks to by animation pioneers Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, Curtin’s jazzy score, with its pulse-pounding drum who had just left MGM and their Academy Award®- and trombone intro that screamed, “Excitement winning creation Tom and Jerry, to score their lyrics awaits ahead!”

From the Stone Age to the Bronze Age (left) Charlton’s The Flintstones #1 (Nov. 1970). Cover by Ray Dirgo. (center) Marvel’s The Flintstones #1 (Oct. 1977). Cover by Roger Armstrong and Joe Prince. (right) Blackthorne’s The Flintstones 3-D #1 (1987). Cover by Jorge Pacheco. Who did it best? That’s up to Yabba Dabba You. TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions

Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 19

NEW BOOKS FROM TWOMORROWS

OLD GODS & NEW A COMPANION TO JACK KIRBY’S FOURTH WORLD

For its 80th issue, the JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine presents a double-sized 50th anniversary examination of Kirby’s magnum opus! Spanning the pages of four different comics starting in 1970 (NEW GODS, FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE, and JIMMY OLSEN), the sprawling “Epic for our times” was cut short mid-stream, leaving fans wondering how Jack would’ve resolved the confrontation between evil DARKSEID of Apokolips, and his son ORION of New Genesis. This companion to that “FOURTH WORLD” series looks back at JACK KIRBY’s own words, as well as those of assistants MARK EVANIER and STEVE SHERMAN, inker MIKE ROYER, and publisher CARMINE INFANTINO, to determine how it came about, where it was going, and how Kirby would’ve ended it before it was prematurely cancelled by DC Comics! It also examines Kirby’s use of gods in THOR and other strips prior to the Fourth World, how they influenced his DC epic, and affected later series like THE ETERNALS and CAPTAIN VICTORY. With an overview of hundreds of Kirby’s creations like BIG BARDA, BOOM TUBES and GRANNY GOODNESS, and post-Kirby uses of his concepts, no Fourth World fan will want to miss it! Compiled, researched, and edited by JOHN MORROW, with contributions by JON B. COOKE. (160-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $26.95 • (Limited Edition HARDCOVER) $35.95 Digital Edition) $12.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-098-4 • NOW SHIPPING!

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KEITH DALLAS & JASON SACKS detail the decade X-MEN #1 sold 8.1 million copies, IMAGE COMICS formed, Superman died, Batman broke his back, Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN led to the VERTIGO line of adult comics, and gimmicky covers, skimpy costumes, and mega-crossovers ruled!

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by E d

Catto

It should have been a huge hit. After all, it had everything going for it. The effort was based on a long-running property that was loved by generations. The original books were bestsellers in the field of juvenile fiction. The characters had even appeared on the screen before, so non-readers would know them. These characters were ready for their renaissance with a hip update. They looked “now” and they looked “wow,” with current fashions and haircuts. The cast was broadened to include an independent woman and the first black character on a Saturday morning program. Most importantly, they followed the animation studio’s successful formula. Just as Filmation Studios had done with their hit Archie program [see BACK ISSUE #107—ed.], they took well-loved characters, made them hip, and injected bubble gum music into the mix. This effort provided the opportunity to learn from past mistakes. They developed a plethora of merchandise (toys, Halloween costumes, board games) for store shelves coordinating with the show’s debut. And another correction: a real band would be ready and available to record and tour to capitalize on the program’s success. But then… something happened. All these plans of pop-culture supremacy were undone by a stoner, his dog, and his three best friends. What happened? Why didn’t the show click? Why isn’t Gold Key’s The Hardy Boys comic lovingly collected and revered today? How did it instead become just a footnote, a curiosity, and a perennial pop-culture trivia question? Like the characters themselves, let’s solve the mystery of The Hardy Boys’ Gold Key Comics!

C’mon, Get Happy Gold Key’s groovy first issue cover to The Hardy Boys #1 (Apr. 1970), featuring Dan Spiegle art. © Filmation Associates.

The Hardy Boys were created by Edward Stratemeyer for his Stratmeyer Syndicate. It’s hard to understand the impact of this publishing house by today’s standards, but suffice it to say that they brought juvenile fiction, a precursor to today’s Young Adult/YA trend, to the forefront of American pop culture. Stratemeyer published numerous series, including Tom Swift, The Bobbsey Twins, The Rover Boys, and The Hardy Boys. And from The Hardy Boys template came Nancy Drew. The Hardy Boys were also rebooted many times. Periodically, the book series would be updated. The Hardy Boys characters came to life on screen on Disney’s The Mickey Mouse Club. There was an ABC pilot that debuted in September of 1967, but it failed to gain traction. Meanwhile, Filmation Studios was enjoying success with their adaptation of Archie comics. It’s not unimaginable to surmise that Filmation thought that The Hardy Boys would simply be their next big hit. The Riverdale teenagers were similar to Joe and Frank Hardy and their friends. But did the studio really put enough effort into it? So much of the animation production and rotoscoping was repurposed from their Archie show. And The Hardy Boys cartoon program employed an astonishingly small company of vocal talents— notably Byron Kane, Dal McKennon, and Jane Webb. Each would play several parts in every episode. In some ways, Filmation tried to do new things, learning lessons from Archie. While the Archie gang would always exist only as comic characters or cartoons, or as Don Kirshner-controlled studio musicians, Filmation created a live touring band version of The Hardy Boys. Lookalike actors were hired to play the characters in the opening and closing credits of the show and to perform at live concerts. The “real” Hardy Boys were Jeff Taylor as Joe and Reed Kailing as Frank. Bob Crowder, the drummer, had played with several groups, including the Shirelles. Norbet (Nib) Soltysiak was the brothers’ friend Chubby, and Devin English, a former Playboy Club Bunny, became the live incarnation of the band’s female dancer.

Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 41

HARDY HISTORY

Those Meddling Kids… (left) A photo cover on #2. (center) Hanna-Barbera’s similar concept, Butch Cassidy. (right) The Hardy Boys solve the mystery of the Headless Horseman in issue #3. By Christensen and Spiegle. Hardy Boys © Filmation. Butch Cassidy © Hanna-Barbera.

They didn’t do drugs. There was no sexual tension, neither overt nor implied, between Wanda Kay and her friends. And the gang was always respectful when speaking to adults—even when capturing the villains.

COVER TUNES

You’d think that with just four issues, there would be some cohesive uniformity to Gold Key’s Hardy Boys series. But as with so many expectations about the ’60s Hardy Boys, you’d be wrong. The first issue’s cover is a collage that looks as if it was designed by the same groovy artist who painted the Partridge Family’s bus. It sports a series of panels repurposing the Dan Spiegle artwork from the series. One panel, however, showcases a photo of the live-action Hardy Boys actors playing their instruments. The second issue’s cover is a friendly group shot of the actors smiling on a sunny day. The lighting looks natural and the poses look natural—without a whiff of playing concerts or solving mysteries. It’s surprisingly warm and upbeat. The penultimate issue, #3, offers up a spooky cover of the headless horseman, in typical Scooby-Doo fashion. The cover copy provided prospective readers with everything they needed to know: “Returning from a Western Rock Festival, the Hardy Boys encounter the Headless Horseman!” The Hardy Boys #4 cover takes us full circle, as it’s back to the Partridge Family layout. Interestingly, the photo montage of the actors show them all sharing an ice cream soda, in that “almost trademarked” pose of Archie, Betty, and Veronica! The logo is the one constant. It’s a typical, albeit innocuous, groovy font. And on most of the covers, it’s augmented by the additional tagline, “On the Beat!” But the odd part is that this isn’t the logo used on the cartoon. The show and most of the merchandise used a clever logo in the shape of two boys with a guitar, well communicating the premise and potential of The Hardy Boys.

MERCHANDISE

In the modern era, we often think of comics as the starting point for character merchandise. There wouldn’t be The Walking Dead T-shirts or Batman pajamas if the characters didn’t originate in the comics. But with The Hardy Boys, it’s a bit more convoluted. They characters had been merchandised via the books and TV shows long before this incarnation.

And if you were a kid who was passionate about this particular reboot, you had a lot of things you could buy—record albums, 45s, sheet music, View-Master reels, Halloween costumes (featuring Frank, Joe, or Wanda Kay), a Milton Bradley board game, and a Corgi car. To the world in 1970, The Hardy Boys comic series was just another licensing tactic. Unlike The Walking Dead or Batman, comics weren’t driving this property’s effort.

SO, WHAT WENT WRONG?

It would seem that this incarnation of The Hardy Boys was destined for pop-culture greatness. But it all fizzled pretty quickly. The biggest problem seemed to be that right after The Hardy Boys debuted, ABC introduced its own group of mystery-solving teens that would travel the country in a counterculture vehicle. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, complete with bubble-gum rock songs, spookier mysteries, slicker animation, and an iconic canine, became a huge hit that continued season after season. The Hardy Boys and friends, by no fault of their own, seemed like also-rans by comparison. The mystery is solved. The Hardy Boys should have been a hit but it wasn’t. Joe, Frank, and the gang would have gotten away with it, too, if not those (other) meddling kids… and their dog. ED CATTO is a marketing and start-up strategist, with a specialty in pop culture. As founder of Agendae, Ed is dedicated to helping brands and companies innovate and grow. As part of the faculty at Ithaca College’s School of Business, Ed teaches entrepreneurial courses and one unique class focusing on comic conventions and Geek Culture. Ed’s also an illustrator, having won the 2019 Pulp Factory Award and a retropreneur, rejuvenating brands like Captain Action.

44 • BACK ISSUE •Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue

THE PINK PANTHER’S ORIGINS

David DePatie was the final head of the original Warner Bros. cartoon studio, makers of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, before it was shut down for good in 1963. With nothing left to lose, DePatie and his partner, Isadore “Friz” Freleng, founded their animation studio and officially called it DePatie– Freleng Enterprises Unlimited, Inc. A formal six-page memo introducing the company was issued on Warner Bros. stationery on March 19, 1963 and appears to be the first printed mention of DFE anywhere. In the inter-office communication, DePatie details plans for DFE to take over cartoon production for Warner Bros. by leasing the cartoon building and using many of its employees. The new company was publicly announced in the May 31, 1963 edition of Daily Variety. There was an overlap of the two studios. Warner Bros. was still doing the final touches on the animation for The Incredible Mr. Limpet, a Don Knotts comedy that combined live-action with animation. Work on the animated portion of this film was completed by April 19, 1963, as evidenced by an internal Warner Bros. memo that also mentions everyone’s termination from Warner Bros. including DePatie’s. Cartoon Studio upon completion by M ark Arnold of this work. No mention of DePatie–Freleng is mentioned or referenced. DePatie recalled, “Basically the entire staff was pretty much left intact until we ultimately closed down. When Friz and I formed our company, we literally had the cream of the crop, the pick of anybody we wanted, because they were all gonna get laid off. “There was a five-year lease on the building plus all the equipment for $500 a month. That really put Friz and I on the map. We had a beautiful facility, all ready to go.” david depatie DePatie explains how the Pink Panther came to Los Angeles Public be: “One day the telephone rings, and on the other Library/Valley Ties Photo Collection. end is [filmmaker] Blake Edwards. I had known Blake through an uncle of his by the name of Owen Crump. Crump was a producer at Warner Bros., and through that relationship I had met Blake two or three times. He said, ‘David, I understand that you are in the animation business. I’d like to see you.’ I go over to see Blake and he hands me the script of The Pink Panther. He said, ‘This is a live-action movie. I really don’t know where there’s a place for animation, but I’d like you to design me a pink panther.’ “We had a character designer by the name of Hawley Pratt. Hawley must have done at least 100 different renditions of a panther. The only thing we had to go by was in the script itself, the thing about the jewel that gets swiped back and forth, and in this—this diamond—is an imperfection that looks like a pink panther. We designed some stuff and one Sunday we took it over to Blake’s house and spread them out over his living room floor. He walked around, and he’s a pretty decisive guy, and he said, ‘That’s the one I want!’ The Panther was born. “Blake went off to Rome to shoot the movie, and the only thing he used the Panther for was on letterheads and business cards. Friz and I didn’t have any idea of where it was going to go from there. After the Congratulations! It’s Pink! picture was completed, I got a call from Blake and he said, ‘I have the (left) Pink-matted original art, by Phil DeLara, for the cover film in the can now and I would like to tell you my thoughts, so come on over.’ I went over to see him and he said, ‘I want you to create a of (inset) Gold Key Comics’ Pink Panther #1 (Apr. 1971). main title sequence for my movie.’ Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). “We went on to create a storyboard with the character involved in all of the main title credits and he thought it was great. He had to take Pink Panther © MGM Studios, Inc. Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 45

Environmental Protectors

by E d

These Gold Key comic books shared their characters’ public service messages and entertained young readers in the process. (left) Smokey Bear #6 (June 1971). (right) Whitman variant of Woodsy Owl #5 (Nov. 1974). Cover by Paul Norris and Larry Mayer.

Lute

Many comic books are set within a city, whether it be the New York of Marvel Comics or the fictional Metropolis, Star City, or Gotham City of DC Comics. However, during the 1970s Gold Key Comics went in the opposite direction when they produced a pair of comics set within the woods. These comics didn’t feature big-name superheroes but instead two widely known advertising icons: Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl. While neither is as popular as Superman, Batman, or the Amazing Spider-Man, most kids and adults still know who they are to this day, and some can even recite their catchphrases. The popularity of the characters meant that fans would want to see Smokey and Woodsy in a variety of formats. This included comic books, and Western Publishing (under their Gold Key imprint) was happy to oblige them. While Gold Key Comics had its own stable of characters including Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom; Magnus Robot Fighter; and Turok, Son of Stone, the company was mainly known for its use of licensed characters including Disney, Star Trek, and many others, so Smokey and Woodsy fit right in. But these two comic-book series would stand apart from the other licensed titles: instead of simply providing entertainment, they would also provide readers with a message of either fire safety or pollution control.

SMOKEY BEAR

“Remember – Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires!” Those words helped propel Smokey Bear (not Smokey the Bear as some people think) into one of the most iconic characters ever. Smokey Bear is a fictional character used in advertising by the US Forest Service to help remind youngsters (and oldsters, for that matter) that their actions could prevent forest fires. He first appeared in 1944 (Smokey’s official birthdate is August 9, 1944). His first slogan was “Smokey Says – Care Will Prevent 9 out of 10 Forest Fires.” His most famous slogan made its debut in 1947 and remained the same until 2001 when it was changed to “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires!” However, Smokey Bear is more than just an icon of the Fire Service, as he has been featured in cartoons, comic books, toys, and other merchandise. Smokey Bear’s first comic-book appearance was in Dell’s Four Color #653 (Oct. 1955). The Smokey Bear comic book that many collectors are familiar with is a promotional comic first published in 1959 called The True Story of Smokey Bear. It contained the first 16 pages of Dell’s Four Color #932 (Aug. 1958) and recounted the “true” story of Smokey Bear and how he got his name. The story is based on the true story of a black bear cub that was saved during a fire in New Mexico in

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1950 and given the name of Smokey Bear after the fictional character. The promotional comic has been reprinted many times, with very little to no change to the cover or in the content. Reprints of the promotional comic can easily be found and are regularly given out to children to promote fire safety. In addition to those comics, Smokey was also featured in issues #708 (June 1956), 754 (Nov. 1956), 818 (July 1957), 1016 (Aug. 1959), 1119 (Aug. 1960), and 1214 (Aug. 1961) of Four Color. Dell’s Four Color which ran for over 1300 issues, was an anthology that featured a plethora of characters including Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Flash Gordon, Little Lulu, and Tarzan amongst many, many others. Remember when I said that the name is Smokey Bear and not Smokey the Bear? Well, Dell’s Four Color comics featuring Smokey were called Smokey the Bear Nature Stories. Even Dell didn’t get the memo on his name. Thankfully, his next comic-book series would correct this oversight. In 1969, Rankin-Bass Productions, famous for holiday-themed stop-motion television specials including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer [see RetroFan #12] and Frosty the Snowman, amongst many others, produced the animated series The Smokey Bear Show for ABC’s Saturday morning lineup. The show ran for one season of 17 episodes, but continued in reruns. The cartoon was the basis for Gold Key’s Smokey Bear comic book. The cartoon itself was based on the Smokey Bear comics from Dell’s Four Color. So Gold Key’s Smokey Bear was based on Rankin-Bass’ The Smokey Bear Show, which was based on comic-book stories published by Dell Comics. Got it? A comic based on a television show based on a comic based on an advertising icon. Whew! Each issue of the Gold Key Smokey Bear comic contained several stories that varied in page length but usually ran approximately eight pages, giving readers a mix of stories containing fire-safety tales and fun kid-friendly stories. The Comic Code Authority seal was nowhere to be found on the books, but that didn’t matter since they were aimed at children and contained inoffensive material that parents wouldn’t mind their children reading. The comic lasted for 13 quarterly issues published between 1970 and 1973. Let’s look at a random sample of issues to get a feel for the series and the types of stories published. Smokey Bear #2 (May 1970) contained four stories plus an instructional page. The first story found Smokey Bear helping Mrs. Grizzly wake up her husband who is an off-season hibernator in “The Big Pushover.” “Too Many Cooks” had Smokey helping Jethro Coyote and his family put out a fire that they started in the woods. Mayor Owl wanted to turn the town into a convention destination but the idea backfires in “An Unconventional Town.” There is an instructional page with Smokey Bear discussing how to set up a campsite. The issue ended with “A Bad Sport,” in which Smokey encountered a bald eagle with a wig. Issue # 9 (Mar. 1972) once again featured four stories. In the first tale, “Heaven’s Devils,” Jethro Coyote and his family were back, but this time they took up riding motorcycles and Smokey used them as roving fire-spotters. Of course, Jethro and his family ended up causing a fire. In “Here’s Randy,” TV personality Randy Otto came to interview Smokey. Randy’s manager started a fire in the woods that Smokey put out. Floyd Fox wanted to bird watch in peace so he dressed up like a tree so no one would see him in “A Moving Experience.” The final story, “The Natural Thing to Do,” had Smokey instructing artist Pierre La Tulipe about fire safety. Four stories also made up the contents of Smokey Bear #11 (Sept. 1972). The first one, “The Meanest Man in Town,” had Weasel J. Googe trying to kick Jethro Coyote and his family off of Googe’s property for not paying rent. Smokey helped to keep them from getting evicted. “Private Eye Clem” was a starring vehicle for Smokey’s deputy Clem. The story saw Clem go undercover as his favorite fictional TV detective, Barney Bomb, to stop an unscrupulous carnival owner who didn’t take care of fire hazards that Smokey had pointed out. Smokey attended a Fire Fighter Convention in “What in Blazes?” and taught the children why protecting the forests are important and that preventing fires in cities and towns are important as well. Smokey showed the kids some everyday things that could cause fires such as an unattended grill and frayed wires. In “Growing Pains,” Mayor Owl’s

Smarter Than the Average Bear (top) PSA poster for Smokey Bear’s fire-prevention campaign, circa mid-1980s. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (bottom left) The first Smokey Bear comic (incorrectly titled “Smokey the Bear”), Dell’s Four Color #653 (Oct. 1955). (bottom right) Western Publishing’s popular and oft-reprinted The True Story of Smokey Bear. © USDA Forest Service.

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In the comics and cartoon worlds, where anthropomorphous characters (that is, illustrated and animated beings who behave as if they were human) exist including Donald Duck, Droopy Dog, and Felix the Cat, one particular muscle-bound murine reigns supreme— MIGHTY MOUSE! For almost 80 years, Mighty Mouse has entertained generations of children and adults worldwide through theatrical cartoons, syndicated and all-new animated shows for television, a plentitude of merchandise including apparel, board games, plush dolls, playing cards, story records, and, of course, comic books.

WHO IS MIGHTY MOUSE… AND HOW HE CAME TO BE!

Originally created in 1942 by Paul Terry’s Terrytoons Studios as “Super Mouse,” the character first appeared in the animated short, “The Mouse of Tomorrow” —a parody of DC Comics’ archetypal hero, Superman (just a year before, cartoons produced by Max Fleischer Studios were released through Paramount Pictures) and Walt Disney’s iconic Mickey Mouse, who had already reached a decade-and-a-half of multimilliondollar prosperity. Super Mouse was flying high after the release of several more well-received Terrytoons. But some changes were necessary; another “Supermouse”— sporting a similar red-and-blue costume—regularly appeared in Nedor Publishing Company’s Coo Coo

Comics, coincidentally debuting in 1942. Reportedly, Terry himself decided to change the name to “Mighty Mouse” and, after his animation staff tested various color schemes, permanently changed his new star’s costume to yellow and red. By the time Mighty Mouse first appeared in Terry-Toons Comics #38 (Nov. 1945), his popularity skyrocketed to become one of the most victorious superhero animals in pop-culture history. Retiring in 1955, Paul Terry sold Terrytoons Studios and its vast 25-year inventory of cartoon characters to CBS Television. His decision to do so would break ground in the industry; it paved the way for theatrical cartoons of the past to be shown to a new generation inside their homes. For a dozen years, Mighty Mouse Playhouse was, arguably, the show that introduced American children—boys and girls alike—to superheroes. Throughout this time, Mighty Mouse and other Terrytoons appeared in hundreds of comic-book stories by multiple publishers including Timely (later Marvel, with stories written and edited by a young Stan Lee!), St. John Publications (including the first-ever three-dimensional comic book—reportedly selling over 1.25-million copies!), Pines, Dell, Gold Key, and again, Dell. For 23 years, Mighty Mouse comics were consistently published throughout the Golden and Silver Ages—eclipsing well-known superheroes including Marvel’s Captain America and

V. C o n t e

Mighty Mouse in the ’70s Through the ’90s! (left) Western/Gold Key’s Adventures of Mighty Mouse #168 (July 1979), featuring cover copy playing off of ’70s Jawsmania. Cover artist unknown. (center) Spotlight’s Mighty Mouse Adventure Magazine #1 (1987). Cover by Nate Butler. (right) Marvel’s Mighty Mouse #1 (Oct. 1990). Cover by Ernie Colón. Mighty Mouse, Deputy Dawg, and Heckle and Jeckle © CBS Operations, Inc.

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ARE GOLD KEY/WHITMAN COMICS REALLY GOOD COMICS? When asked how the Bronze Age of Terrytoons comics compare with the characters’ Golden Age and Silver Age predecessors, three well-known animation and comics experts clearly expressed their opinions: • MILTON KNIGHT “The Gold Key/Whitman comics weren’t the same; all their adaptations were sanitized. Imagine discovering a coverless copy of a St. John’s Mighty Mouse comic; I loved a story by [Terrytoons animator and director] Connie Rasinski with a sexy Mitzi Mouse. Seeing a Heckle and Jeckle comic by “the Stretchy Artist”—Jim Tyer—was a dream come true. Up to then, I had never seen a ‘funny comic’ that actually looked like animation. From then until the 1980s, a bias against authentic animation style had arisen; cartoons were one thing, but comics were supposed to be comics. Dell had always had that going, and so did the others. I had my own differences with the publishers for this reason; though they were doing animated characters, the styles were not authentic.” • JERRY BECK “Mighty Mouse comics from the 1950s were done by Terrytoons Studios and, unlike the Dell/Gold Key/Whitman

books, these artists actually signed their names to the work! The comic stories were drawn based on [Connie] Rasinski’s model sheets, and the comic adaptations of the cartoons were sometimes better! The whole run of the St. John’s era is amazing. The kooky, looseness of Jim Tyer—Robert Crumb once parodied Gandy Goose in that style! And later, Gene Deitch’s Tom Terrific and Clint Clobber were just fantastic!” • SCOTT SHAW! “They’re kinda tepid. The Dell stuff is not memorable, at least not to me. The ones that were packaged by Western Publishing are competent but unremarkable. Those that followed, after the split between Western and Dell, are quite poor, Dell’s equivalent to Charlton’s substandard line of Hanna-Barbera titles. “I love Timely’s Mighty Mouse funnybooks written and drawn by Al Jaffee in a style that displays his cleverness, versatility, and draftsmanship. I’m not crazy about Al Fago’s work. I don’t know if he was the editor or not, but there seemed to be a directive to draw every opening splash page with a huge image of the feature star’s face. The concept is bland and a rather lazy solution to what could have been impressive, as in Al Jaffee’s stories.” DC Comics’ the Flash, whose adventures ceased publication in the 1950s but returned for the 1960s. But all good things eventually come to an end and, in 1968, Dell’s Mighty Mouse #172 would be the last issue to appear on newsstands for nearly a decade… Now we fast-forward to flash back to discuss Mighty Mouse’s comics comeback during the Bronze Age! Early known Mighty Mouse art created sometime in the 1970s includes two gags pitched for an unrealized comic book or newspaper strip. Written and illustrated by Tony Tallarico, this veteran cartoonist’s immense body of work includes other Terrytoons properties used in children’s books and advertising. Sadly, Paul Terry passed away in 1971. But Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Deputy Dawg, and other studio creations remained alive and well through nationwide television syndication during the 1970s. Children who once watched Terrytoons and read the comics were now adults—and all too happy to share those same experiences with their own families. Mighty Mouse merchandising was in full force, too: buttons, cereal bowls, chalkboards, puffy stickers, Super-8 films, trace-and-paint sets, daily vitamins, and more were readily available at the local grocery stores, five-anddimes, and toy-and-model shops. One company in particular reigned as the proud, powerhouse licensee for the character—Western Publishing!

The Early Years (top left) The former “Super Mouse” as he first appeared in 1942’s “The Mouse of Tomorrow,” and (top right) Mighty Mouse’s final look. To help remedy possible confusion with Standard Comics’ Supermouse (bottom left), Paul Terry insisted for years that Mighty Mouse’s revised name appear on posters, publicity, and licensing materials. (bottom right) A publicity photo of Paul Terry, promoting Mighty Mouse and other Terrytoons characters from his animation studios, in New Rochelle, New York. Mighty Mouse and Terrytoons characters © CBS.

54 • BACK ISSUE •Br onze Age TV Toon Tie-ins Issue

THE GOLD KEY/WHITMAN YEARS

Western Publishing Company, Inc., mostly known for creating its iconic line of Little Golden Books, Big Little Books, jigsaw puzzles, clean drawing slates, and other products for the children’s market, had two production offices in the 1970s: one in Los Angeles, California, and the other in Poughkeepsie, New York. Most of Western’s mammoth line of television- and movie-licensed comics was created in the former, but the Terrytoons comics were compiled from the latter location. Presumably, it was more convenient as Terrytoons Animation Studio was based in New Rochelle, New York, and that CBS Enterprises, renamed Viacom in 1970, had executive offices in Manhattan. Western, via its partnership with Dell Comics, had been involved with Mighty Mouse and other Terrytoons since the late 1950s after St. John’s Publishing’s last issue #144 (mistakenly, Dell’s series starts with #144—now cited as #144-B). After both companies went their separate ways in 1962, Western formed its own comics imprint, Gold Key, and published Mighty Mouse #156–165. Soon after, the Terrytoons license briefly returned to Dell; it published a second, brief run of Mighty Mouse, issues #166–172, without “Western” influence, later causing confusion among comic-book collectors. Although the Mighty Mouse title went on hiatus, other Terrytoons properties—specifically two magpies—would take the forefront in Gold Key’s anthology series, New Terrytoons (vol. 2). A couple of songbirds named Heckle and Jeckle—also part of TV’s heavy rotation of cartoons during the 1970s— took center stage and appeared on 44 covers of the entire 54-issue series. Published between 1962–1980, New Terrytoons would be the sole Terry-verse publication for almost a decade. Western started printing comics for non-traditional markets under its Whitman brand, where the company’s other products were sold. Other than the imprint changes on the front cover, the interior comics were unchanged. This decision was made for two “key” reasons: so newsstand distributors would not accept returns on comics that were not branded “Gold Key,” and so the “Whitman” comics, poly-bagged in twos and threes, had a potentially indefinite shelf-life. It was not uncommon for some retailers to carry both brands—Gold Keys on spinner or wall racks with several other publishers, and the Whitman multi-packs hanging from pegboards as part of the Western Publishing products display. “Western’s take on comic books was quite different than that of any other publisher,” notes animation historian and professor Jerry Beck (cartoonresearch.com)—who wrote over a dozen books on the subject, published an essay celebrating Mighty Mouse’s 75th Anniversary for 2017’s San Diego Comic-Con’s Souvenir Book, and, as once-Vice President of Nickelodeon Movies, tried to green-light a feature-length film starring Terrytoons’ top star, albeit unsuccessfully: “DC, Archie, Harvey, and other companies truly saw comics as respectable periodicals,” says Beck. “Western viewed theirs as ‘just another item’—one more SKU [stock keeping unit] as part of a decades-long, mass-product offering. jerry beck Their comics were one small component of a broader licensing deal to support their massive, supermarket distribution model. They were just creating cheap, throwaway entertainment for kids.” By early 1977, sales figures on New Terrytoons had waned and the book was under threat of cancellation. Interest in Heckle and Jeckle as the main feature was on the decline. Viacom International, now in charge of all Terrytoons consumer products, advised its licensees of a forthcoming Saturday morning cartoon show starring both Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle. Western soon reached a deal for the mightiest of all super-animals to return to comics—now as the starring feature in the bimonthly anthology series and once again in his own title, Adventures of Mighty Mouse. According to a 1994 conversation with Howard Berk, then-Viacom’s Director of Licensing and Merchandising, comics were an important component of its Terrytoons roster of characters: “TV syndication of the older Terrytoons material kept merchandising viable, but many of those original theatrical shorts did not air [in the 1970s]. Packages were usually geared for stations to have several weeks of programming, and then they would be repeated ad infinitum. This was before cable and home-video tapes and [laser]discs. [Viacom] realized that fresh cartoons on network television were needed to reinvigorate interest in our children’s properties. In the meantime, comics and storybooks were the best avenues for new editorial [content].”

Mighty Mouse vs. the Syndicate… …newspaper, that is. (top) Two tryouts possibly for an unrealized Mighty Mouse newspaper strip. Illustrated by artist Tony Tallarico circa 1970s, these panels (available at coollinesartwork.com) appeared for auction but remain unsold as of this writing. Note that Pearl Pureheart appears instead of Mitzi Mouse. (bottom) Not seen in comics since 1968, Mighty Mouse returned to take over the prime spot in New Terrytoons #44 (May 1977), replacing Heckle and Jeckle as the cover feature. With the exception of #47, he would appear on every cover until the series’ final issue, #54, in 1979. © CBS.

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