Have your own special PIC-A-NIC with a copy of SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP # 35 from DC Comics, released February 28, 2018!
This is a comic I've been waiting for most of my life, considering that I've been a fan of Yogi Bear since the earliest days of THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW, and a fan of Scooby and the Gang since watching the very first broadcast of SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU in 1969!
My grandmother bought me the first YOGI BEAR comic book in 1959 (Art by the great Harvey Eisenberg)...
...And I bought myself the second SCOOBY-DOO comic book in 1970. (Art by Jack Manning)
I picked up the first one over ten years later! (Jack Manning again! He worked on the animated series, too!)
Okay, so you get it! I love 'em both, and since first discovering the SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP title, I had hoped to see team-ups with other classic Hanna-Barbera characters. And, we GOT 'EM, like THIS ONE and many more!
This pairing seemed a natural, given both Yogi and Scooby's status as iconic creations of the Hanna-Barbera studios. I might enjoy seeing Scooby Doo meet Lippy the Lion or Yippee, Yappee, and Yahooey - but I don't think that's ever gonna happen!
Besides, it's not as if Scooby and Yogi haven't crossed paths before, as in the '70s with LAFF-A-LYMPICS...
...And Yogi even made a very brief but eyebrow-raising cameo on SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERY INCORPORATED, in the 2000's. Now, THAT'S an ACTOR for ya!
But, at long last, here's Yogi in his pic-a-nic basket swiping glory, with Scooby in his mystery-solving glory! Aw, heck... There's just "glory" EVERYWHERE!
And, no greater is said "glory" than in the case of RANGER SMITH!
Ranger Smith had MANY different looks...
So many that John Kricfalusi superbly satirized the situation in one of his '90s cartoons!
But, eventually "Mister Ranger" settled into what I feel was his best look about 1960-61.
Then, there was a movie called "Hey There, It's Yogi Bear" in 1964, for which Ranger Smith was redesigned - and, in my opinion, not for the better!
He was somehow "less funny" with this particular look!
...Until this glorious comic...
...And this glorious sequence therein!
YES! THE "REAL MISTER RANGER" IS BACK! YAY!
And, because this IS a Scooby-Doo comic, there's a GHOST! ...And wouldn't you be disappointed if there wasn't!
You just gotta love the LITTLE YOGI HAT on the title lettering!
Beyond the "Ranger Resurgence" and the "Guest Ghost", the hallmark of the SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP title, and its superb writer Sholly Fisch - who's written every issue to date, are the wonderful little character bits that each story is brimming with.
For instance, this reference to the opening theme sequence of THE YOGI BEAR SHOW!
Or, how about this reference to POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK, where Yogi AND Scooby's original comic books were printed and shipped?
As a kid, I actually COULD spell "Poughkeepsie", but only because I wrote away for so many Gold Key Comics subscriptions, for issues like these!
It really says "Poughkeepsie, New York"... Click to Enlarge!
...And later, of course, I saw "The French Connection"!
How do you not love this exchange between Ranger Smith and Daphne, and the parallels it draws between Yogi and Shaggy!
Lest I neglect my solemn responsibilities as a "Comic-Book Dialogue Creator", I must regretfully cite one instance of character dialogue that could have been handled better!
A zoo-bound Yogi is in the crate below...
Boo-Boo should have added THREE MORE WORDS to his objection: "You can't ship Yogi off to the Poughkeepsie Zoo - JUST LIKE THAT!"
Because it would FLOW MORE SMOOTHLY with Ranger Smith's dialogue below!
Sorry! Sometimes, I just can't help it!
Now, we've reached the point at which I always bow-out, rather than SPOIL THE PLOT, and just tell you to go and buy the issue!
But, for once, would any of you mind if I were to REVEAL SOMETHING ABOUT THE MYSTERY?
If you DO mind, please take this opportunity to exit the Blog Post - and remember my urging you to buy the issue. In fact, buy EVERY issue of SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP! They're ALL GREAT! Read them multiple times, and share them with your family and friends! You'll make yourself a better person and the world a better place! Go forth!
After all, it IS Scooby-Doo, so you know SOMEBODY'S DRESSED UP IN A GHOST COSTUME, right? In fact, it is SO MUCH a Scooby-trope that SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP itself regularly references it in suitably jocular fashion.
And *I* even did so in IDW's UNCLE SCROOGE # 7 (2015)!
Okay, I've filled enough space so that no one will inadvertently see a SPOILER that they do not wish to see... So here goes!
Surprise, surprise! It's two crooks hiding out in Yogi's cave under a bed-sheet!
Nothing wrong with those crooks. They look reasonably "Hanna-Barbera-ish" enough for me.
But, from a comic that has made SO MANY wonderful and often unexpected character references before - like this incredible reference to the only-once-seen eloquently-speaking Dino...
...Or the "Really Rottens" of LAFF-A-LYMPICS...
...I'm actually surprised that our story DIDN'T reference "Jack and Mack", two crooks who (all together now) HID OUT IN YOGI'S CAVE in the cartoon "Big Brave Bear" (1958)!
Perhaps they're BROTHERS of "Jack and Mack", or NEPHEWS, or COUSINS five-or-six-times-removed. Seven-or-eight-times, even!
Another funny thing... These two crooks must be SO TOUGH that, unarmed, they can spook two bears, a fully-grown Great Dane, four meddling kids, and a Ranger of the United States Forest Service... just by extending their non-fisted hands!
"Jack and Mack", on the other hand, did it the OLD FASHIONED WAY!
I hope DC's comics aren't becoming as gun-shy as some others have become in recent years!
NAAAHH! Those guys are just MORE INTIMIDATING than "Jack and Mack"... probably because their NAMES DON'T RHYME!
Nevertheless, don't YOU be intimidated by these non-rhyming-guys! Go to your local comic book shop and get a copy of SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP # 35!
It's just one great big PIC-A-NIC!
13 comments:
Interestingly, there's an episode of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in which Ranger Smith appears, in his 1964 redesign. Since that show obviously takes place before every other Scooby production chronologically, it makes perfect sense that they used his "classic" design for this comic (even if all the characters' poses seem to be derived from stock art), because the 1964 design does look younger than his "classic" self. Does make you wonder, though - does this mean that all the later Yogi cartoons that used Smith's 1964 redesign are actually prequels to the original show?
...Oooohh! My head hurts! ...Dizzy! ...Fainting! ...Help me, Mister Ranger! THUD!
...Tweet-Tweet-Tweet!
Waking from my fainting spell... I've had enough trouble accepting SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERY INCORPORATED being a prequel to SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU!
...Now THIS?
...Oooohh! My head hurts AGAIN! ...Dizzy! ...Fainting! ...Help me, Shaggy! THUD!
...Tweet-Tweet-Tweet!
Now do I hear tweet tweet? Do I hear dizziness? Do I hear fainting?
Someone needs your friendly neighborhood continuity expert!
Scooby-Doo, Mystery Incorporated is not, actually, a prequel to Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?. It is in fact set in alternate continuity with the original Where Are You used as broad-strokes of the characters' past (but you have to assume it all happened more recently, and that it all happened around the same town). The later series are not at all canon to Mystery Incorporated, although elements of 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo make their way back into the new continuity, but altered and distorted (Scrappy went to jail, Flim-Flam too apparently, and Vincent Van Ghoul was only a Vincent Price-like actor, never an actual sorcerer).
Meanwhile, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo is a prequel to the then-current Scooby-Doo cartoons, meaning it is meant to show the childhood of Scooby and the gang as if their familiar adult selves lived in the 1970's-1980's (it's the same sort of advancing-present that The Simpsons and Marvel comics are notorious for). Thus, if we assume Shaggy is around 25, and that kid-Shaggy in A Pup is about 10, we deduce that A Pup COULD, in fact, be taking place around 1965 by that logic, making it logical that Ranger Smith would look how he looked in the 1964 cartoons.
However, this would force us to consider that the original 1950's mustachioed Ranger Smith was either a different Smith, or that those cartoons actually take place later than the 1960's ones, possibly concurrent with the 1980's Scooby-Doo "present" we established for A Pup's chronology.
(pant… pant…)
No, wait, I'm not quite done yet! The problem with this approach is, of course, that none of this meshes in any way with the fact that our sliding-timeline-continuity has since moved, and we can now have "adult" pre-1964 Smith meet the "normal" versions of the Mystery Gang. Not to mention none of this accounts for the Laff-a-Lympics and other such events where Hannah-Barbera characters crossed over way back in the 1960's and 1970's.
Thus, my final ruling on the issue of Ranger Smith is: they're all the same, okay? He, like the Mystery Gang, hasn't aged since the shady 15-years-before-the-present,-whenever-that-is past of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. His 1960-1961 appearance can be loosely considered his canon appearance, and all others are variations of it, with the 1964 redesign being what happened when he tried a new shaving cream. Old Mustachioed Smith is either retconned, Anakin-Skywalker-style, to have always been Young Smith, or we assume he's the current Smith's father, after whom our Smith has really taken.
Important note: this does nothing to alter the fact that Mystery Incorporated is still in an alternate continuity. Think of it like you think of DuckTales 2017 in relation to the classic comics universe: some things are easter-egged to have been the same (Armstrong, most of the L&T), but you'd be hard-pressed to find a Barks comic that's genuinely, wholly canon to DT17, and nor should you take DT17 into account when thinking about furth Disney Comics continuity (e.g., Della's story won't be canon to the comics).
Thanks, Achille!
I feel SOOOOO much better now!
Gosh, things were much simpler when Vic Lockman wrote almost everything!
I must admit that SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERY INCORPORATED was an amazing ride, and I urge anyone who hasn’t seen it to do so. I’m fond of describing it as “Scooby-Doo meets Lost”! And, it is best seen in “binge mode” rather than sporadically, as it was originally broadcast.
But, if I may SPOIL THE ENDING…
YES, I’M SPOILING MY INTERPRETATION OF THE ENDING OF SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERY INCORPORATED…
…SO EVERYONE NOT WISHING SUCH A SPOILER…
…SKIP OUT OF THIS COMMENT NOW.
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OKAY, YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!
The ending, as best I recall, sees the Scooby gang setting off in the Mystery Machine on their series of adventures that were immortalized as SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU?.
As mentioned, I watched SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? from the start, enjoying it as an animated representation of the type of mystery/adventure story that was prevalent in 1950s Dell comics… but I never imagined its legend and continuity would grow to such incredible proportions.
…Yep, things were sure simpler when Ol’ Vic Lockman wrote almost everything, by cracky!
Well, Smith is a very common name, so it is not unlikely that the Park Service could have several rangers with that name. And it is possible that more than one of them could have been assigned to Jellystone at different times.
FWIW, New York City has had several different police commissioners named Murphy, and more than one named Kennedy, all unrelated to each other.
But it may be pointless to talk about probability for a cartoon series about anthropomorphic animals, anyway.
Oh, it’s NEVER “pointless” to talk about such things around here, TC!
“Kennedy” and especially “Murphy” seem very likely names for New York cops, and even police commissioners! Makes sense!
And, given the number of Smiths in the world, there could certainly be more than one serving the United States Forest Service!
In fact, there are enough “Smiths” that two of them could meet in grand comedic fashion, even in the far reaches of space!
I just feel that a certain amount of comedic potential was lost in the redesign, as the pre-1964 versions of Ranger Smith (all of them, actually) could “look funnier” in their ongoing battle of wits with that “Smarter than [the] Average Bear”!
Technically, if we're counting latter-day spin-offs, we must include "Yo Yogi!", in which Ranger Smith is depicted as a 20-something security guard at Jellystone Mall..."Officer Smith".
Simplicity in the older comics? I remember the brief time in the 90's when Harvey reprinted the Charlton HB material. The premiere Yogi Bear issue had a story that was just a reference to an old commercial where Chuck McCann
would be the guy on the other side of the medicine cabinet exclaiming "HI GUY! HOW'RE YOU TODAY?"..I didn't get that bit at all until I saw the commercial in a retrospective TV special devoted to past commercials.
John Romita Jr. and Howard Mackie created a Spider-Man villain named "The Ranger" and I always thought they missed out on having Spidey make "Mister Ranger" jokes.
The simplest explanation for the Ranger's different looks over the years is that he was obsessed with plastic surgery and his face wasn't really easy to take in after his previous facelift, so he let it regress back to old look.
I do find it charming that Warner Brothers still has licensed usage of the "Jellystone Park" name and appearances by official costumed Yogi Bear for "meet and greet" at various campgrounds in the U.S. Never been to any myself, but amateur videos posted on YouTube confirm this is still ongoing. Print ads for the parks were included in DVDs of "Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!". Prior to this, I only knew of it from seeing a road sign on the way to either Rye Playland or Six Flags Great Adventure...been a long time since I've been to either of those.
‘Rehab:
You write: “I remember the brief time in the 90's when Harvey reprinted the Charlton HB material.”
I sincerely hope that, someday, you will be able to overcome that severe mental trauma, and put those psyche-scarring memories permanently behind you! …Same goes for anything that would call itself “Yo Yogi!”
The only thing worse than Charlton creating “new” Hanna-Barbera comics, starting in 1970, was Harvey’s haphazard reprinting of those same atrocities in the 1990s!
That particular incarnation of “Harvey” (as opposed to the far better one that published through the seventies – maybe slightly beyond?) did so without any care or regard for what they were (frankly) “vomiting into the market” – save the sly tactic of commissioning Scott Shaw(!) to produce new and attractive covers!
These covers by Shaw were the ultimate “bait and switch” to hopefully hide the horrid art and stories that lurked inside, until it was too late and the purchase was made!
Everything Harvey did at that time, and in that particular area, smacked of going for a quick-cash-in on the resurgence of funny animal characters brought about by Gladstone Series One, and later “Disney Comics” (1990). Only thing is, they took beloved characters, Hanna-Barbera, Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, etc. and presented them in the worst possible way! Even when they used material from Western Publishing (with Woody and T&J, as opposed to the horrors of Charlton) they somehow still managed to present this “good” material in a “bad way” – and (all together now) without sufficient regard for the characters, the material and (alas) the end consumer!
I’ve seen photos of those “Jellystone” campgrounds too. Nice that Yogi is kept alive in such an appropriate way – as opposed to “malls” and “space races”. Though, being a lifelong, died-in-the-wool New Yorker, the closest I’d ever care to get to camping is reading a story about the Junior Woodchucks!
Remarkably, this week on TV, I saw a commercial for “Rocket Mortgage” featuring Yogi, Boo-Boo, and Ranger Smith! And, just as in SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP # 35, “Mister Ranger” has his 1960-61 look back! …Maybe this has become a new (and welcome) Style Guide revision!
Someone must have that commercial up on YouTube by now. Go look for it!
I get the impression, Joe, that you liked this one! Not sure what my first clue was...but seriously, or at least as seriously as we get around here, considering we're discussing comics and cartoons, this Yogi Bear appearance is a welcome revival of a beloved franchise! I, too, like the "classic" Ranger, but I don't really mind the HTIYB version, either...it's Don Messick's voice that sells it for me. But it is nice to see a return to the heyday of the Yogi cartoons. Plot's a little on the simplistic side, and of course the story is WAY too short--but I like it, and I'll take it!
I'm so glad DC didn't do to Yogi what they did to Blubber Bear! Or Top Cat, for that matter, or Snagglepuss.
Oh, and when I was young my family camped at some of the Jellystone Parks around the U.S. and Canada. The one we visited most was the one in Door County, Wisconsin, outside of Sturgeon Bay, and we also went to one in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I think there were more, but those are the visits I remember best. We loved seeing the costumed Yogi and posing beside the cutouts of Yogi, Boo Boo, and Cindy. We also loved "Old Faceful" geyser. At night they showed movies--usually Laurel & Hardy or the Three Stooges, plus of course, a handful of Yogi Bear cartoons.
Thanks for this extremely fun and wildly enthusiastic post! May there be many future glories for SDTU!
“Extremely fun and wildly enthusiastic posts” are what we’re all about here, Scarecrow! …Glad you could be a part of the… er, um, uh… “extremely fun and wildly enthusiastic post-type fun”!
Camping was not part of my youthful experience and, most likely as a result, not a part of my adult experience. But, at least from this safe, warm, and dry perspective, it sure would have been nice to have been a part one of those 1950s-1960s “nuclear families” that went on car-and-trailer trips to places with “Art Lozzi designed brush-trees”, spouting geysers, and where wily bears would swipe, or otherwise con you out of, your food!
Who am I kidding... one night, and I’d be running back to the city – on foot! But, it’s fun to think about, anyway!
I’m expecting the next of “many future glories for SDTU” as soon as this coming Wednesday, March 28, 2018! Hopefully, I’ll find the time to post on it.
Finally, HERE is the Yogi Bear Rocket Mortgage commercial for you all to enjoy!
The pre-1964 Ranger Smith shown on this issue from Scooby-Doo Team-Up is exactly the Harvey Eisenbberg design.
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