Redartz: Hey gang, we get a double category topic today. Anyone who watched Saturday morning or after school tv (or really, any tv) in the 60's, 70's or 80's will likely recognize some of these characters. Advertisers of the era seemed to rely heavily on the appeal of animated characters to sell products to all us impressionable kids. It must have worked, because the practice was ubiquitous. Paricularly in cereal and candy advertising, animated characters filled the commercial breaks in those great Saturday morning shows. It makes sense, you should have Count Chocula on screen prompting you to get up and pour another bowl to get through the next show!
How many of these do you remember?
Poppin' Fresh, the Pillsbury Dough Boy: He always seemed to 'pop up' on those Peanuts holiday specials, and was on nightly in prime time. He was so 'pop'ular that they made a series of rubber dolls of him and his family.
Tony the Tiger: The great Thurl Ravencroft gave voice to him for many years, way back to when they were advertised as "Sugar Frosted Flakes".
Lucky, the Lucky Charms Leprechaun: He still can be seen frolicking across the television landscape trying vainly to protect his stash of Hearts, Moons, Stars and Clovers.
Milton the Toaster: Spokes- appliance for Kellogg's Pop Tarts. Do they still even make the 'plain' ones without frosting?
Sonny the Cuckoo Bird: Seen for decades in a strangely obsessive pursuit of Cocoa Puffs, which apparently put him into one heck of a sugar high.
Wallace the Waffle Whiffer: Sort of kin to the Cuckoo Bird, Wallace had a thing for Aunt Jemima Frozen Waffles. Or at least their smell...
Quisp: This small propeller-headded alien, along with his rival Quake, starred in countless commercials from the brilliant Jay Ward studios (who gave us Rocky and Bullwinkle, and George of the Jungle). Quisp lasted quite a lot longer than Quake did. I can still hear his voice...
The Quik Bunny: Whether chocolate or strawberry, if you drank Nestle's Quik you knew the Bunny. And apparently the Bunny knew Superman...
The Michelin Man: Friendly fellow made, it seemed, from pneumatics. If you ever watched tv sports in the 70's you surely saw him. He certainly appealed to me, but I was not really in the market for tires at age 12.
The Hydrox "Drox": HB, this one's for you. Everyone knows Oreos, but Sunshine Hydrox was available also; if much less familiar. Maybe that's why they came up with this smiling glob of cream filling, to invite hungry kids to indulge in Drox devouring...
The Hamm's Beer Bear: Another case of odd advertising. Not too many kids were imbibing Hamm's, but many were attracted to the mischievous bear in his scenic mountainous commercials.
Bud Man: Another character pushing the suds. He seemed to show up all over the place on Saturday Sports shows, and on gas station walls.
Kool-Aid Man: Refreshing thirsty kids everywhere, while wrecking the walls of countless homes and buildings. Oh yeahhhh....
Loveable Truly, the Alpha Bits Postman: The younger among you may not recall him, but he delivered the message to eat up those bowls of Post Cereal through the 60's into the early 70's. He actually appeared in a full-length Saturday morning cartoon series: "Linus the Lionhearted", along with a cast comprised of all the Post cereal characters. Wasn't long after that the FCC put a stop to such things.
Hope you recall these ; and also hope you remember some others that aren't presented here. If so, by all means, share your thoughts with the BitBA assembled.
Redartz: Good day, everyone. Most of us who share a presence (whether actively participating or following along) here have numerous things in common. One factor which we probably all are experiencing is a transition from 'middle age' to...well.....let's just say 'veteran' status. If we're not undergoing it now, we will be before too many years pass. I certainly am, breaking the '60' barrier this year. It got me thinking about other transitions we make in our lives, particularly from childhood to adolescence. For instance, can you recall when you were little, and your parents made the choices about what movies you saw, or what tv shows the family viewed each night? When I was a kid, that was just 'the way it was'. It never really occurred to me to think otherwise, until I got a bit older. It was about the age of 8 when the first crack appeared in my parental wall: my folks allowed me to pick out my own comics (superhero books, that is; they had no problem with me reading Casper).
But it was a couple more years before my siblings and I were able to assert any decision-making about the tv. By the time I was 10 we could, at least, take over the set for Friday night ( Brady Bunch, Partridge Family and the ABC lineup). At this point I was becoming aware that my entertainment choices weren't always matching up with everyone elses'.
The final brick in the wall broke away when I was 15; the first time I was allowed to pick a movie to watch without supervision. We were at a motel on vacation, and we had two rooms. My folks gave the ok, and I watched my first 'R' film (actually, practically the first movie I'd seen that wasn't a Disney film): "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Boy, that was a departure from "The Apple Dumpling Gang"!
So that made my departure from childhood complete. I never really recognized the transition, but was aware of a changing of interests (including an increasing attraction to the girls around school; as of 7th. grade). Therefore my personal 'transition' probably ran from age ten to twelve. Guess I was pretty much on schedule.
How about you? Were you conscious of a shift away from your childhood pursuits? Do you recall when you were allowed the occasional entertainment choice? And was I the only one still watching Disney flicks at 14? Go ahead and 'chew the fat'...
Redartz: 2020 has been a remarkable year, in many ways. Remarkable, challenging, memorable, inconvenient, historic, odd, you name it. We all will remember this year for many reasons, both societal and personal.
One personal aspect of this strange year for me: it's the first year since 2006 in which I'll not be attending a comic book convention. Considering all that's going on, that's not really a big deal; obviously. Nonetheless, missing out on all the great aspects of a convention is a disappointment. There have been online 'virtual conventions', a couple of which I've checked out. They have been interesting, but it certainly isn't the same as attending a show in person.
Therefore, for me and for any of you who also miss the Con experience this year, we are having our own 'BiTBA Con' today. How, you may ask, is this to work? Read on, friends, and see.
There are four basic activities I love about attending a comic convention. Meeting creators, seeing displays of artwork, getting to know other comics fans, and (of course) hitting the dealer's room. Incidentally, I also like seeing the cosplayers, but that's out of my capabilities for now.
Anyway, we will sort of simulate these four activities as our topic this week. To wit:
1. Meeting Creators- leads to our question . At our 'virtual convention', we can offer the chance to meet any of our favorite Silver/Bronze age comics pros. So, given the chance, what one creator (alive or not is immaterial) will you choose to meet, and what will you ask them about?
2. Seeing Artwork- I hereby present a limited, but (I hope) enjoyable selection of original art pages for your perusal.
3. Getting to know other comics fans- okay, here we will share a little about ourselves, for the benefit of those who may not know or are newer to our group. Just pretend we're standing in line at the snack bar and decide to chat a bit.
4. Hitting the Dealer's Room- this means one more question for you. As times are tough financially for many this year, our funds are limited. However, each of us has somehow found 100 dollars (or the UK equivalent in Pounds) to spend as we like. What will you select?
To get the show going, I'll start off...
1. My creator: Will Eisner. I've admired his work since first seeing it in those great Warren magazines in the 70's. Later I learned just how huge a shadow he casts in the history of the comics medium. I would ask him what he thinks of comics today as published, digitally vs. print, and what he thinks is a realistic future for the medium.
3. A bit about myself: I've been reading comics for 53 years now, amazingly. I just love the medium and all it's genres; humor, horror, heroes, the whole works. And there are always new (and undiscovered old) comics to be found and appreciated. Spidey is my top favorite character, but I also love Archie, Sugar and Spike, the Spirit, Batman and the Avengers. Oh, and Neil the Horse. And my wife is great, totally understanding and supportive of my hobby. She always helps search at those flea markets we frequent...
4. With my 100 dollars, I'll try to pick up a sketch from one of the artists. They all are here, so I'll pick a Spidey sketch from John Romita. And expect to pay about 50 dollars for it. With my remaining fifty, I'll try to hunt down a couple issues missing from my "Sugar and Spike" run, and finish off with a few Marvel and DC horror anthologies (my latest craze, "Tower of Shadows", "House of Mystery", and so on).
Okay, that about covers my 'day at the convention'. I'll stand here and eat my overpriced hot dog while you all share your convention experience!
Redartz: Greetings once again! We're back at it again with a fun poser for you to consider, regarding your favorite comic covers. But first, a quick update for you.
Several of you have inquired about the circumstances of my power outage and consequent general absence from this space last week. Well, the circuit breaker box on the side of our house literally melted; it's truly miraculous we had no fire. Obviously the power had to be cut, and between awaiting repairs, local safety inspectors and utility officials, we were stuck in the 'dark ages' for about 8 days. Not an experience I'd recommend for anyone, but we made it through. Fortunately the temperatures were mild for the most part. No longer will I take air conditioning and lights for granted!
Anyway, on to our topic. The premise: you have been selected to choose the artwork for a big exhibition. More specifically, this show will showcase comic cover artists throughout the medium's history. And with such a wide possibility of artists to choose from, space allows only 1 cover per artist. So, your task is to pick the artists, and choose a great representative cover for each artist,one that highlights their talent and impact. As I'm a framer by trade, I'll see that your picks are safely framed, of course!
Our gallery has several wings, so we can have a section for Golden age, Silver age, Bronze and Modern if you so choose. And while you begin your careful consideration, I'll submit a few nominations to get the show started. Feel free to improve upon my picks as you see fit. As the week goes on, I'll try to post some more nominees based upon your comments; the better to fill our gallery. See you at the opening!
My preliminary nominations:
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| Jack Kirby |
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| Neal Adams |
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| Dave Cockrum |
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| John Byrne |
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| John Romita, Sr |
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| Barry Smith |
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| Walter Simonson |
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| George Perez |
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| Carmine Infantino |
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| Joe Kubert |
More to Come...
A bit late, but here are some of the nominated covers, presented for the appreciation and illumination of one and all. Thanks everyone for each response! And as suggested by our friend HB, you can look forward to seeing 'Hall of Fame Cover' pop up periodically on a single artist basis. Salutations!
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| Dave Cockrum |
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| Jim Aparo |
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| Steve Ditko |
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| Rich Buckler |
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| Nick Cardy |
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| Mike Ploog |
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| Herb Trimpe |
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| John Byrne |
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| John Buscema |
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| Frank Frazetta |
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| Mike Kaluta |
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| Alan Davis |
Redartz: Hello again gang. Again this week I must humbly ask your input, as the Redartz household remains without electric service and my net access is limited. I'll relate the tale at another time. For now, thanks for your indulgence.
Redartz: Greetings gang! This week sees some unanticipated distractions (like, our power is out for days), for your humble host, so BitBA assembled is counting on one of you to step up with a great topic for the week! Our group appreciates it, I appreciate it, and (I assume) the Leader appreciates it...
