By their very nature, comic books have sported lots of FUNNY COVERS!
Archie even published a comic literally titled LAUGH...
...Which, alas, did not always live up to its name!
But many of them did, including this unlikely instance of Donald Duck doing the same gag as Mutt and Jeff!
Even such favorite characters as JUDGE DREDD and LOBO got into the act!
...And Lobo didn't even HAVE TO APPEAR ON THE COVER to pull off a good gag!
But, here's today's question? (Um... did we have one yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that? ...Help me out here... I'm DAFFY from "eight posts in eight days"!)
...NO, NOT YOU!!!
...Where were we? You know I'm doing all of these ON THE FLY (...and is it ever a STRAIN on that insect's back!), without my usual meticulous pre-planning - so, small wonder I'm so DAFFY!
Are we doin' THAT BIT again?! Scwam, you cwazy Duck!
Okay (finally), our QUESTION Of The DAY: "Have any comic book covers ever made you LAUGH OUT LOUD?"
If so, feel free to tell us in our Comments Section!
I can easily think of one offhand that DID make me laugh out loud when I first saw it... and STILL DOES on the rare occasions that I pull it out...
DONALD DUCK #167 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: November, 1975)! A slapstick gag I find SO FUNNY that it even OVERCOMES BEING DRAWN BY KAY WRIGHT!!!
...NOW, THAT *MUST* BE A FUNNY GAG!
Don't ask me how the guy responsible for THIS...
...And ESPECIALLY THIS...
...Could have brought out the amount of mirth he did in that one cover illustration.... but, somehow, it happened! GCD says that BILL WRIGHT (...who did amazing stuff like THIS)...
Larry Mayer was sometimes able to "save" Kay Wright's art into something remotely resembling respectability, but there's no sign or evidence that he was involved.
But, WHY is this gag so funny! I have an answer to that question but, with humor being as subjective as it can be, you may see it differently... OKAY, HERE GOES...
They certainly have a SCROOGE/DONALD or JETSON/SPACELY type of relationship! They may have even invented it!
There's also no known evidence that he was working off another artist's rough layouts, as he did with some of the JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS stories that were written (and sketched) by CARL BARKS in the early 1970s.
Despite all this, THE GAG REMAINS FUNNY! Which owes much more credit TO THE GAG ITSELF, than to the pencil artist!
It is the relative POSITIONS OF POWER between the two characters that makes it work!
The fact that Uncle Scrooge can exact CONSEQUENCES from the accidental indignity he suffers at the (literal) "hand" of Donald - accounting for Don's "almost afraid to look" expression - is what makes it funnier than if it occurred between two characters of EQUAL STATURE, or if the "power character" is the one inflicting the pain!
As an example of the latter, would it be as funny if BUGS BUNNY had done this to Elmer Fudd? Not really *as* funny, because you'd expect that from their dynamic.
...And it really wouldn't be funny at all, if Elmer were to do it do Bugs!
Just as Stan Laurel would be able to do it to Oliver Hardy, but not vice-versa!
An ad for a comic that never happened!
This is the type of gag that would work well for George Jetson and Mr. Spacely... (A Charlton panel illustration, of course! - Note that they (poorly) copied Gold Key's "The End" logo!
...But, oddly enough, not so much for Fred Flintstone and Mr. Slate - because their "relationship", such as it is, functions at a "less familiar" level and at a much greater distance!
That said, it would also work for the rarely-acknowledged-but true-nevertheless prototypes for George Jetson and Mr. Spacely - Dagwood Bumstead and his boss Mr. Dithers!
So, while I wonder what it might have been like if it had been drawn by Carl Barks, Don Rosa, or William Van Horn, let's hear it for Cover Number Eight (and the, Puff! Pant! halfway point of our 16th Anniversary marathon) DONALD DUCK # 167...
...One of those rare covers that makes me laugh out loud! And, despite its artistic shortcomings, manages to do its job well!
.....................................................
PS before I go: What I said about doing these 16th Anniversary posts "on the fly" is true (...okay, maybe not that part about the "insect's back").
Each morning I have NO IDEA of what I'm going to do (...that's kinda like every morning, whether I Blog or not! COFFEE, please!). Don't know which cover I'm going to select and don't know what I'm going to write about the cover that I don't know I'm going to select.
Uncharacteristic of me, I truly WING IT, often fighting back sleepiness as I end up doing these late at night.
It makes for a more rambling - but organic - type of post! Don't know if I like that approach as a general rule, but I think its sorta fun for this special occasion! What do you all think?
