Martinex1: Hey BitBA fans, today we have a special mix of two of our favorite topics - Saturday morning cartoons and comic books! It is like chocolate and peanut butter, two great concepts that go great together. So we have also combined our blog features The Quarter Bin $1 Challenge and the Animation Congregation for this post.
You may think it is rare for your favorite Saturday cartoons to leap to the comic spinner rack, but I disagree. It seems that back in the bronze age, it was quite common for the stars of animated series to jump to the comic medium. Dell, Charlton, and Gold Key particularly took advantage of the synergy. From super-heroes to funny animals to adventurers, we've got them all.
Take a look at the myriad books we have assembled and pick your four favorites. Hopefully this selection brings back some warm memories of carefree weekends, television consoles, a big bowl of cereal, and warm pajamas.
Share your thoughts on these and other favorite series and comics. We'd like to know which books you would buy if these showed up on the spinner rack. Cheers!
9 comments:
Holy Cow! Where did that British "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" come from? I have the #1 issue with Green Goblin on the cover, I always assumed that was the only one in existence!
Nothing more to say except Bullwinkle rocks!
-david p.
Wow... this is fun! (And where is everyone, watching the Royal Wedding?)
I've read the Speed Racers and Johnny Quests in my youth and never got the thrill out of the book that I did the show, so...
I'm going to overthink this and look for TV shows that could carry the same humor to the comic.
Got to go with Mr. MaGoo! (Backus's commercial "Canfields for everyone!" still sticks in my head!)
Jetsons - I had a few in my youth and they translated well (rot re rorge! LOL)
Having watched the Banana Splits on TV and been an official member of the BS Club, I gots to have one of those!
And lastly, Tennessee Tuxedo! No doubt my friends and colleagues at work watched it as well and hence often say to me, "Charlie Horse 47, You're a genius!" LOL
Well, I was a fan of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Mister Magoo, The Flintstones, and Bugs Bunny (and of both Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera cartoons in general), so I'll pick those.
That said, although Western/Gold Key did very good adaptations of a lot of TV cartoon shows in the 1960s, the 1970s versions by Charlton were generally the pits. The 1990s Hanna-Barbera comics by Archie were not bad.
In some cases, I actually liked the Gold Key comic books better than the animated cartoons on which they were based. I enjoyed the Looney Tunes/Bugs Bunny/Road Runner show, but the Gold Key comic books had more variety. They told actual stories, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. As opposed to just a bunch of sight gags about the characters chasing each other back and forth. (And just as Carl Barks put the Disney Ducks in exotic adventures, instead of just doing minor variations on "Donald gets into a snowball fight with his nephews.")
IIRC, the DC Shazam comic book predates the TV show. After the TV series began, DC changed the comic to more closely resemble it. That is, Billy traveled around the country in an RV with his "Mentor" (who, in the comics, was Uncle Dudley). (Similarly, in 1966-68, the Batman comics got increasingly campy, although they never got quite as self-consciously silly as the TV series.)
I would not be surprised if, in the 1970s and earlier, when comics were still sold in general retail outlets (grocery stores, drug stores) the TV tie-ins actually sold better than stuff like the X-Men or Nick Fury, which, at the time, were not familiar to the general public.
Even as a kid, I never cared much for the Hanna-Barbera "funny" cartoons. They just weren't that funny! I think I watched them simply because they were on and I wasn't going to *not* watch t.v. I loved the Looney Tunes & related cartoons, though. In fact, they can still get a laugh out of me.
I'm sure the H-B action cartoons were just as bad as their "funny" ones, but I liked them more. My favorite was the Herculoids because giant monsters are always awesome. My first choices would be Super TV Heroes and TV Stars (that Alex Toth cover would be worth getting in and of itself). After that, I'd want the Spider-Man/ Mr. Fantastic team-up and Shazam! My inner child would always goes for super-heroes. My outer adult, too...
- Mike Loughlin
Excellent blending of topics, partner! Comics and cartoons, it doesn't get better than that...
Actually, I have several of those pictured- the Jonny Quest book and the "Super TV Heroes/ Herculoids" are both favorites. I'd agree with TC that overall, the Charlton books were less appealing. As for Gold Key, I had plenty of their offerings. Often in the form of Disney and Golden Comics Digests, which were like a whole Saturday morning by themselves.
My picks: Groovie Goolies!!! Never knew that existed, I'd have gone nuts for that back in the day.
Add to that Josie, Frankenstein Jr. and Bullwinkle. Now that's a fun morning's reading.
My pick is for a comic you've missed: Hot Wheels.
Watched the cartoon because back then at that age I watched any cartoons. The comic I would have bought but lasted one issue - that Toth fellow would have been just too strange for my taste (as it was developing at the time)...these days I'd buy it like a shot.
I love a MASH-UP!!!
I would have to go DC with these, in no particular order, Shazam, Super-Friends, Isis and Space Ghost. I watched all those cartoons!!!
I know here, Spidery Super Stories were produced in conjunction with The Electric Company. It was the older show for kids who had outgrown Sesame Street. Morgan Freeman played Easy Reader and he would be in some of the Spidey scripts. I think you could even order them through the school book sales.
(Sunday morning blues always about you
I wake up alone in a big room
Got myself to blame for all my bad moods
And I really wish that I didn't feel this way
I want to break the circle but the circle won't break
I don't wanna spend another night
Trying to figure out why you are always on my mind woah
All I know you keep me coming back for more
Even when I think I've had enough
When I tell you that it's over now we're done, ooh
Don't let go, just keep me coming back for more
You keep me coming coming coming coming back for more
I'm coming coming coming coming back
Two weeks and three whole days and I give in
I was doing so good but you always win
And I really wish sometimes that we would just move on
But what would I be doing if you were gone
I don't wanna spend another night
Trying to figure out why you are always on my mind woah
All I know you keep me coming back for more
Even when I think I've had enough
When I tell you that it's over now we're done, ooh
Don't let go, just keep me coming back for more
You always find a way to make me want to stay
You'll never get away from me
I don't wanna spend another night
Trying to figure out why you are always on my mind woah
All I know you keep me coming back for more
Even when I think I've had enough
When I tell you that it's over now we're done, ooh
Don't let gom just keep me coming back for more
You keep me coming coming coming coming back for more
Coming back for more
You keep me coming coming coming coming back for more
Just keep me coming back for more).
Alas the UK contingent (if I'm not mistaken) won't have seen most of these comics during the golden age of Saturday morning TV. Little or no distribution, more is the pity. However - a sidebar - the first programme I saw on colour television was an episode of Inch High Private Eye.
Hi Colin. Believe it or not, I looked for an Inch High Private Eye comic book but could not find a record of any. If anybody knows of one, give a shout.
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