Separated at Mirth: Movie Monster Meets Monster Movie!

We conclude our "Halloween Week with Boris Karloff", with a rather unusual Separated at Mirth... 

...Unusual in that it is not between two similarly-themed comic book covers, as is our practice, but between a comic and a DVD!  

"The Monster That Challenged the World" (1957, Released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber 2017)...

 

...And BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY # 35 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: June.1971). 

They go so nicely together, don't they?  

One content to be in his own movie - and one looking for just a bit more!  

Talk about a "breakout role!"  

The critics have spoken... their last words! 

And so we have "The Monster That Challenged the World" and BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY # 35 - Separated at Mirth (...or whatever passes for "Mirth" if you're a hideous monster)! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

What’s Last …and First …and Red (read) All Over? (...Another LONG Post!)

Ya know?  That old joke REALLY doesn’t work in printed form!  No matter, because…

THE HOLIDAYS AREN'T OVER UNTIL I SAY THEY ARE!

As for that “What’s Last …and First” part... You're probably asking yourself, now that the (once unimaginable) New Year of 2020 has been rung in, what was the LAST comic Joe read in 2019 - and what was the FIRST comic he read in 2020 - and were they really "red (read) all over?"

...Even if not, just go along with the bit, okay?  

You're ALSO probably asking yourself... They must have been really spectacular choices to commemorate such an important turn-of-decade, right? 

Well, EVERY comic book I own is "special" to me, kinda like the way every coin is "special" to Scrooge McDuck.  Each one of my precious comic books has "its own story"!  In fact, many of them have SEVERAL stories, and lots of ads to boot - but I digress. 

But, in terms of historic import - or "gravitas", if you will - you might well consider my choices to be quite ordinary!  Though, again (like Scrooge's coins), none of them are "ordinary" to me! 

Last Comic of 2019:  MARCH OF COMICS # 402 -  Daffy Duck (Promotional Giveaway, 1975)

First Comic of 2020: WORLD'S FINEST # 106 (DC Comics, Cover Date: December, 1959)

Feel free to read on, once your moment of stunned silence has passed! 

Okay, now that you've rejoined us, I have to ask... Has anyone ever actually said "Great Scott!" in real life? 

Sure, Captain Kirk might occasionally say "Great Work, Scotty!" in times of crisis...

...But "Great Scott!"?  I dunno!  

Yet, it's even on the cover of the VERY NEXT ISSUE (# 107)! 

...And, many, many more! 

You might think that my choice of WORLD'S FINEST # 106 could have something to do with its  Cover Date of December, 1959 - sixty years after we'd just left 2019 in our cosmic rear view mirror... but, no.  It was just luck-of-the-draw, as both these comics were in the very last shipment of back issues I received from Lone Star Comics before the turning of the year!   

So, without further ado, let's say goodbye to 2019 with MARCH OF COMICS # 402 -  Daffy Duck (Promotional Giveaway, 1975)!

"March of Comics" (as discussed in THIS POST) was designed to be a giveaway premium, and was used for promotional purposes by major retailers such as Sears, and by others you probably never heard of.

Beginning in 1946, and ending in 1982 (!), it ran for an astounding 488 issues - and was produced by the same editorial and creative folks that brought you Dell and Gold Key Comics. 

Daffy Duck "The Bottled Blabber" 14 pages (of 3-tiers per page) is written by Vic Lockman and penciled by Phil DeLara. 

Long story short, Daffy and Elmer Fudd, with the help of a few wacky inventions by Elmer's (presumably deceased) Uncle Fignewton Fudd...

...Travel to a somewhat familiar place in time and space, even if you've never read this particular story before!  

"Familiar", that is, to ANOTHER duck named "DONALD"!

Yes, Vic Lockman sent BOTH famous ducks back to the fabled "Battle at Hadrian's Wall"!  

Happily for us readers, Lockman gave us two very different stories about "Hadrian's Wall" - for Donald in 1966, and for Daffy in 1968!  More "wall" for "all", let's have a ball!  

...And, yes, I said "Daffy in 1968!" 

Because, while March of Comics # 402 appeared in 1975, the story therein was reprinted from 1968's March of Comics # 313!

Look closely, and you'll see a reference to "1968" in one of the panels I reproduced above!  

Look closer still, and you'll find a total of FOUR references to "1968" scattered throughout MOC # 402!  Oops!  Someone was asleep at the time-switch!  

All the more oddly, this story was ALSO reprinted in GOLDEN COMICS DIGEST # 39 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: September, 1974) - where THREE of the FOUR references to "1968" were changed to "1974"... but one was not!  

Golden Comics Digest # 39: ("1974" re-lettered)

March of Comics # 402: (Still "1968" in 1975) 

(Click to Enlarge)

Western Publishing... Ya gotta love 'em! 

Regardless of the year, it was my last comic-read of 2019!  Now, let's usher-in 2020 with WORLD'S FINEST # 106!

There's probably no better way to celebrate a new year than with a good 1950's sci-fi-based-villain story, featuring DC's two greatest heroes...

...Oh, yeah! ...And Robin, too! 

(...Okay, maybe there ARE better ways, but none I'm willing to discuss here!) 

Classic DC artist Dick Sprang could sure draw some great villains!  

And, look... Even some iconic "giant props"!  

Add a villain that's (at least temporarily) a match for Batman (Oh, yeah! ...And Robin too!)... 

...As well as Superman...

...And a good time is had by all...

...Eventually! 

See the lower left of the panel above… Even DICK TRACY admires “The World’s Finest Heroes!”

WORLD'S FINEST # 106 is rounded-out by stories featuring "Tommy Tomorrow" and "Green Arrow and Speedy" - the later of which serves to illustrate just how similar Green Arrow was to Batman!

Let's check the boxes, shall we? 

"Wealthy Guy in a Mansion"?  CHECK!

"Youthful Ward"?  CHECK!

"The Arrow Signal"?  CHECK!  

"The Arrowcar"?  CHECK!  

...And, quite true - no joke, he drove "The Arrowcar" out of "The Arrow Cave"!   CHECK-A-ROONIE!  

Small wonder they made so much of the similarities, which evolved into a rivalry, on the animated series BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD!  

Not to mention the comic based on the show! 

Anyway... This post might be just about finished, BUT...

THE HOLIDAYS AREN'T OVER UNTIL I SAY THEY ARE!

We will have at least one more Holiday Post before I'll consider calling it quits.  Be there, won't you?  

BONUS GCD LINKS:  Here are the links to each featured comic at Grand Comics Database!

March of Comics # 402  (I wrote this one!) 

World's Finest # 106

Merry Christmas 2017 (and 1950) with Bugs Bunny!

Merry Christmas 2017, to all of our readers and friends - old and new! 

And this is the special Christmas comic that I mentioned in OUR LAST POST! 

I had never read Dell Comics’ BUGS BUNNY’S CHRISTMAS FUNNIES # 1 (1950) before this month, because I’d just gotten my copy this December.  Ditto for BUGS BUNNY’S CHRISTMAS FUNNIES # 2 (1951).  Read ‘em both over the last two weeks.  Both are excellent issues, and a great way to set the scene for the joyous holidays soon to come. 

BUGS BUNNY’S CHRISTMAS FUNNIES # 1 is also the source of the “Giant Robot Snowball Fight” splash panel, I posted previously! 

It is part of the climactic sequence of the issue’s lead story, Bugs Bunny in “The Days Before Christmas”, written by Don R. Christensen, and drawn by Tony Strobl. 

This unusual Christmas tale runs a whopping 31 PAGES (…of this even-more-whopping 128 page comic magazine), which would explain why this particular story was never reprinted by Gold Key during the 1960s or ‘70s – though a “32-Page, No Ads” special comic would have accommodated it quite nicely, with any random one-page gag to fit on Page 32. 

It wouldn't have fit in this 1966 Christmas issue, for instance!  Oh, and could you have gotten "more sixties" than "The Girl from B.U.N.N.Y."?  ...Well, could ya? 

Where do I begin to list the strange and wonderful elements that went into making this tale? 

Needing some Christmas money, Bugs becomes an assistant chimney sweep.  It’s big business this time of year, as chimneys are cleaned in anticipation of the arrival of Santa Claus!  On his first job, Bugs accidently destroys Elmer Fudd’s Christmas tree.  

While in the forest, trying to replace it, Bugs runs across… a Biblically-dressed shepherd, who “contracts with Santa” to provide The Jolly One with little 1950s-Sci-Fi-style Robotic Helpers – and (if that’s not enough) possesses a “Magic Twig” that duplicates the placid personality of any docile animal it touches into said robotic helpers, in order to bring them to peaceful and presumably productive life!  (Whew!) 

Fired as an assistant chimney sweep, Bugs becomes apprentice to the shepherd, who has just created a GIANT robot to do the GIANT (What else?) tasks that Santa requires! 

Soooo, guess what happens when Bugs accidentally duplicates the decidedly non-placid personality of a grizzly bear into the GIANT robot?  No more spoilers on this (GIANT or otherwise) … It’s Christmas, and NO ONE ever asks Santa for spoilers! 

From cover to cover, BUGS BUNNY’S CHRISTMAS FUNNIES # 1 is an outstanding issue, with both Holiday and Non-Holiday tales brought to you by the talents of the aforementioned Don R. Christensen and Tony Strobl, with John Carey, Phil De Lara, Al Hubbard, Fred Abranz, Vivie Risto, Jim Pabian, Gil Turner, and Ken Champin… a veritable “Who’s Who” of Dell Comics circa 1950 – Carl Barks, Harvey Eisenberg, and Roger Armstrong excepted.

 I know, Bugs! I'm in awe of this line-up, too!

There are the usual game and text-story pages… and the “sheet-music” and lyrics to three seasonal songs: “O Come All Ye Faithful”, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, and (of course) “Jingle Bells” are reproduced!

Adding to the outright unconventionality of it all, are the one-and-only (I’m certain!) comic book appearance of the Scotsman who challenged Bugs Bunny to a wild game of golf.  "One-and-only", at least for Pre-DC Comics modern issues, where virtually any character who EVER appeared in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical shorts could be found.  

Darned near everyone appeared in DC's version of LOONEY TUNES comics!

And, finally… THREE, count ‘em, THREE comic book adaptations of actual LT & MM cartoons – One for Bugs Bunny, and two for Daffy Duck… at least ONE of which could very definitely never be shown on TV today!  Another vastly changes one supporting character for no possible reason I could see, save maybe “giving us more dialogue to read” than the original character would have given us.   Oh, and the Scotsman was in an ORIGINAL STORY, not a cartoon adaptation!  Imagine that!

So, BUGS BUNNY’S CHRISTMAS FUNNIES # 1 makes quite a nifty Christmas (or holiday of your choice) present for anyone fortunate enough to receive one… or just go out and get one for yourself, like I did.  You won’t be sorry! 

We’ll be back with one or two “Christmas Extensions” before we’re through.  Merry Christmas (or holiday of your choice), Happy New Year (or “first of the month” of your choice), and enjoy whatever you do this holiday season to the fullest! 

Finally, a BUGS BONUS WINTER GAG, from another Dell comic, just for the sake of celebration!  Click to Enlarge!