I've heard of "Double Indemnity"... but "Double Indicia"?
Just when you think you've seen it all, something new always comes along to delight, puzzle, or in some way astound you... either in the "Oh, that's SO GREAT!" sense... or in the "How did THAT ever happen?" sense!
SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58 (DC Comics, 2010 Series, Cover Date: August, 2015) contains a definite example of the latter!
Our recent post on SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 53 (HERE) shows a reprint of a previous issue's LEAD STORY - but with the original INDICIA REMOVED, leaving lots of "empty space" at the bottom of the page.
If you can conceive of it, SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58 does this one better (...or, would that be "one WORSE"?) Let's crack those covers, and see what awaits us inside... beyond the "phony disguised ghost for our Meddling Kids to unmask", that is!
Here is the first page of SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58. It is the cover story. The NEW story of the book. ...Looks normal enough. (CLICK to ENLARGE all illustrations!)
The second story in the issue is a REPRINT from SCOOBY-DOO # 49 (DC Comics, 1997 Series) from 2001. Let's see if YOU can spot the problem before Velma and Fred beat you to it!
Let's DOLLY-IN for more of a close-up...
Yeah, that's VERY SMALL! Here's a better look!
OMG! It is the ORIGINAL INDICIA from SCOOBY-DOO # 49 (August , 2001) NOT REMOVED from the story's reprint in SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58 (August, 2015)!!!!
...And, THAT'S not even the WORST of it!
In more recent years, as opposed to 2001, DC Comics puts its indicia in the back of each issue - where, traditionally, most publishers (DC included) had once put it on PAGE ONE!
So, HERE is the LAST PAGE of SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58...
...With its indicia at the BOTTOM OF that last page!
Closer look...
So, now we are left with the indicia for SCOOBY-DOO # 49 (August , 2001)...
...Actually PRECEDING the proper indicia for this issue - SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58 (August, 2015)!
As I said... "Just when you think you've seen it all..."
That's why we'll never run out of these "Adventures in Comic-Boxing" posts! ...And ain't that a wonderful thing!
BONUS FINAL LOOK AT THE PROMO FOR THIS ISSUE!
...And, from that same promo page, don't we also miss the BATMAN '66 title! ...I sure do!
16 comments:
…oh, my. And given that indicia are obviously legalese meant for the sole consumption of lawyers as opposed to regular ol'readers… couldn't the publishers have gotten into actual legal trouble for this? Whoever was responsible for this mishap must have gotten a pretty stern talking-to from the head office, I should imagine. Unless, of course, no one but you ever caught it because no one (not even the publishers) actually ever bother to read the indicia.
I'll mention an entertaining bit of cross-language trivia while I'm here: in French, an indicia is colloquially known in the publishing industry as l'ours -- “the bear”. I have no idea why, but it's certainly more picturesque than the English version. And more importantly, it led to a brilliant visual joke in a children's newspaper (Le Petit Quotidien, or The Little Daily), where they had one of their cartoonists drawn an actual bear hiding behind a "billboard" on which the indicia was inscribed. The bear was awfully cute, but who's to bet at most one in a thousand of the kid readers got it? I, myself, remember dawning, unbridled joy when I learned of what an editor's ours was years later and finally got it.
Here's the playful pantigrade in question:
https://i.imgur.com/UOx6Zpv.png
Cute li'l fellow, innit.
On a wholly unrelated note, it's funny you should mention Scooby-Doo when I came across, in the absolute last place I expected, what may be the direct ancestor of The Scooby-Doo Plot (or maybe not; maybe they're both ripping off some older source; but it's still startling). The 1950 Mickey Mouse comic-strip The Pharaoh's Curse, first printed as one of those weird cereal giveaways, and reprinted in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #557.
The plot plays out exactly like a Scooby-Doo episode, with apparently-spooky goings-on at a museum, the plucky hero and his comic-relief dog (in this case, Pluto) investigating, finding "clues" that show how the various special-effects were achieved, ending in a chase scene with a masked, costumed evil-doer. The authorities arrive, the plot is recounted by the plucky detective, said plucky detective says that "the only thing left to do is to see who's hiding underneath that mask". The who in question is an extremely suspciious character glimpsed at the beginning, "Boris", the museum's night watchman. And "Brois" actually says, almost verbatim, the "And I'd have gotten away with it, too, if you meddling kid hadn't snooped into my affairs" line.
If you add that all the one-shot character in the stories are, for some reason, drawn as semi-cartoony humans rather anthropomorphic animals, in a style almost identical to that of the original 1960's Scooby-Doo — including, to make it all even weirder, Professor Dustibones from Gottfredson's Land of Long Ago, who is otherwise identical to Gottfredson's depiction but is turned into a human:
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/scrooge-mcduck/images/7/76/Human_Dustibones.png/revision/latest?cb=20180716115614
…well… I had to repeatedly pinch myself to remember that this was from 1950 and in no way could have been based on the Mystery Machine gang's goblin-foiling feats.
Achille:
At TIAH Blog, we’d never advocate that anyone receive a “pretty stern talking-to”, much less anything worse, for what clearly appears to be a accidental lapse in editorial or quality control – but I know that if it were my job to “proof” a book before release – neither this, nor the previous instance of “indicia-eradication-leaving-behind-a-big-blank-space” would have reached the comic shops and/or newsstands. Both instances would seem to leap-out during a casual leafing, even to an untrained eye, as being something out of the ordinary.
…Then again, for all we know… I *could* be the first person to catch this – or, certainly, at least the first to offer it for discussion.
I just report noteworthy oddities, as I find them – while (as the subset title indicates) “adventuring through my comic boxes”. And, to be completely “fair-and-balanced”, as one of our cable news networks used to proclaim itself (heh!), a similar thing has even happened in WALT DISNEY SHOWCASE # 4 (2018). It actually has the indicia for UNCLE SCROOGE # 38! I guess these things “just happen”! We’ll see if this gets corrected.
“The Bear”, huh? I like that! Perhaps because it “Bears Information” about the issue? …Yeah, I’m reaching! HERE is that link!
I don’t have the Mickey Mouse giveaway, but I’m gonna have to go back and look up WDC&S # 557!
It’s not all that surprising to find Scooby-Doo origin fragments scattered all over the Dell Comics line. Mickey, Mouse, Porky Pig, Andy Panda, etc. often had such adventures 1-2 decades before Scooby and the Gang.
In fact, a fair number of years ago now, when David Gerstein asked me about my fondness for Scooby-Doo (…and particularly the original “Scooby-Doo Where Are You?” series that debuted in 1969), I told him that it was the first time I’d ever seen anything like “Dell-type adventure stories” on TV, and outside of comics! It should be noted that David eventually saw the light, and it was HE who turned me on to the more recent series “Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated”!
And, all of those possible “Dell-Era Ancestors” aside, I still maintain that (big TV parody/tribute fans that they were) THIS is what Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera used to form the basis for Scooby-Doo!
And HERE is the “Dustibones” link.
Oh, I was not advocating that whoever normally "should" have caught the slip-up should be scolded or worse. I was merely hypothesizing that if such a mistake did put the company in legal trouble, they likely did.
You are reaching, because that "bear" pun absolutely does not work in French.
I'll go have a look at that other "Scooby-Doo Archeology" post right away!
Joe:
I think you'd be a tough fella to have as a boss becuase not only would i never have noticed the indica discrepancy but I've never previously noticed an indica ever! Then again if you were the editor of a comic line and my job was stamping on indicas I'm sure you would spend time properly training me. Based on "Editor Joe's" attention to detail I'm sure you'd be a better multitasker than good ol' Uncle Gideon and while you were training me you would also be teaching me the entire recorded history of indicas, calling suppliers and laughing at highly inaccurate cable news tag-lines!
I also really enjoyed "Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated". Excellent example of a good way to reboot a property. Don't try to make something overly dark or violent; take something people like and expand on what makes it FUN while also appealing to modern sensibilities.
Achille:
That was a very fascinating bit of "cross language trivia". Thank you for sharing that. Cool tidbits like that make me wish I knew more than one language (fluently)
Achille:
You write: “ I was merely hypothesizing that if such a mistake did put the company in legal trouble, they likely did. ”
Quite possibly so! But, I wonder what significance a comic book’s indicia even has anymore, beyond identifying the issue and publishing frequency, and listing the names of key organizational and editorial personnel.
One time, when advertising was strictly tied to circulation, and there were strict rules placed upon subscription mailing rates, it would have seemed more meaningful than it is today.
But, I’m not in on that end of comic book publishing, so who knows!
I would have been quite surprised if that “reach-y pun” actually DID work in French! If it did, I’d do it over again… because it “Bears Repeating”!
Do let us know what you think of my Scooby-Doo origin hypothesis! It would be quite the coincidence, if not true.
Clapton:
So nice to see your return to “this-crazy-fun-thing-we-do-here”!
In real business life, I’ve actually been a pretty easy boss to work for, unless the product was something I was truly passionate about. Then, I go into Scrooge McDuck mode! So, it’s a good thing I’ve never held any sort of authority when it comes to comics! …Because THERE you’d see my more obsessive attention to detail! Heck, you see it in these Blog posts!
…And I’d get every ounce of work out of you for that “Thirty Cents an Hour”!
“Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated” was utterly amazing! I’d urge everyone who has not seen it, to do so. But, like so much of today’s television… you must make a commitment to see it in strict order! That’s why getting the three DVD sets was, at least for me, the best way to take it all in! …I pity anyone who tried to watch it irregularly scheduled on TV.
I often describe it as “Scooby-Doo meets LOST” but, by this time, LOST has so fully faded into history that soon folks won’t know what I mean.
Sharing “cool tidbits” with us is one of the things Achille does best, and were glad to have him on board!
Oh, and glad I could contribute to your “indicia education”!
…I pity anyone who tried to watch it irregularly scheduled on TV.
Hah! Pity me then, my friend.
Funny tidbit: I grew up with The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. (…Which, come to think of it, may have been at the root of why I like Vincent Price so much, even though I was watching the French dubs at the time.) So I always "liked" Scrappy-Doo and Fflim-Fflam. Not in the sense that I loved them as my favorite characters, sure, but to me they felt as integral a part of the Scooby-Doo cast as Shaggy or Scoobs.
And guess what, the first episode of Mystery Incorporated I stumbled on was the one with the wax museum exhibit where they take these weird jabs ar Fflim and Scrappy, and… I was so very confused! It wasn't until a year or so later that I began frequenting the English-speaking Internet, and discovered that Scrappy was so unpopular as to have TVtropes name an "unpopular late-added character" as "a Scrappy", and Fflim-Fflam was barely any better. At the time I was split because I was thrilled to see a modern Scooby show referencing those characters who had been dropped for (I thought) no reason in the other recent productions, and at the same time I didn't understand why the Mystery gang was acting so standoffish and awkward about what should have been the fond memories of their fun adventures with Scrappy and Fflim.
Still, it was the good sort of intriguing, and made me seek out more of the show, so it worked out. (Never mind some more residual confusion when I got to the Vincent Van Ghoul episode.)
Achille:
I don’t REALLY know why Scrappy is so loathed by American fans, because I don’t feel that way.
True, he was an “add-on character” who didn’t do much to enhance the original concept – which, by the way, DIDN’T NEED any enhancing, as such things as the SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP comic book routinely still show – but there were other such characters. And some of those could be even more damaging to the series original concept – like “The Great Gazoo” on The Flintstones (There was NO turning back after that!), and oh, say… the annoying character “Carl” on the far lesser known H-B series Johnny Bravo.
…And Bubba Duck would merit a book (…nay, a UNIVERSE) of his own, when it comes to being needless and annoying!
There are those who even say that about Ranger Smith and Jellystone Park, for Yogi Bear. …I don’t!
Even in Disney comics we have characters (Princess Oona, O.K. Quack – and I’ve even worked on them) and concepts (Double Duck, Duck Avenger, Ultraheroes) that take us farther and farther away from what made those comics great in the first place!
I think I would have found more frequent appearances by “Scooby-Dum” to be even more annoying than Scrappy. Say what you will, the little guy had spunk! Annoying spunk, perhaps, but spunk nonetheless!
And, not so surprisingly, the basis for MY love of Vincent Price stemmed from his appearances on BATMAN (as Egghead) and VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (as Professor Multiple)!
Hopefully, in France, “Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated” was more regularly, and more frequently, scheduled than it was here! The way it, and other great things like “Batman: The Brave and the Bold”, were handled by (what was once) “Cartoon Network” here made such series difficult, if not impossible, to follow! Thank goodness for DVDS!
Joe:
Well it's a pleasure to back!
People think that Jellystone Park was Yogi Bear's "Shark Jumping moment"? What was Yogi's cartoons like BEFORE jellystone?
As for Cartoon Network's handling of it's shows... it's bad, and it's only getting worse.
A friend of mine who was a big fan of Stephen Unniverse has told me Cartoon Network has ruined the show by forcing it's creators to make enough episodes so they can air a new episode a day for periods of up to months at a time thusly drastically lowering the quality of the show.
It's a shame. While I also struggled to watch Batman: B&TB and Scooby Doo Mystery Inc for a while Cartoon Network got its act to together. Not only were Regular Show, Adventure Time, Amazing World of Gumball, The First Few Seasons of Stephen Unniverse and the 2nd season of the looney tunes show great but they were aired in a way to was easy to follow. Alas all "golden ages" must end.
Clapton:
And, for me, the “Golden Age” of (what was once) “Cartoon Network” ended quite some time ago, alas! In the ‘90s, in the evenings after work, I used to have it on every night!
Freakazoid!, Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, “The Acme Hour” (all theatrical shorts) “Toon Heads” (theatrical shorts with a running theme), and good new stuff like Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, and Johnny Bravo! You couldn’t ask for more after a hard and stressful day at work!
I don’t think I’ve bothered since “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” ended – and I saw much of that for the first time on DVD anyway, as well as ALL of “Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated”!
“People think that Jellystone Park was Yogi Bear's "Shark Jumping moment"? What were Yogi's cartoons like BEFORE Jellystone?”
I completely disagree with that assessment of Yogi’s filmography. On the other hand, anything done AFTER the original runs of THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW and THE YOGI BEAR SHOW is, unfortunately, a vastly different story.
In those earlier cartoons, Yogi was more conniving, more free spirited… and often more GROUCHY! He would steal pies cooling on windows, traverse a bull’s pasture to reach a honey-filled bee hive, outwit hunters, fail to catch a wily trout, try to hibernate while a “Yakky Doodle Prototype” would keep him awake… and even get his undeserved lumps trying to cross a highway!
Indeed, even the very first Yogi Bear comic book story was about HUNTING – which could never happen in Jellystone! I wrote about it HERE!
Huh; that's weird. I read once, and found it very sensible indeed, that Yogi Bear was HB's answer to Disney's Humphrey the Bear cartoons, with the same formula of a plump, greedy, unusually-clever-for-a-bear-but-still-pretty-slow bear character being pitted against a "reasonable", but occasionally narrow-minded, ranger (be it Smith or J. Audubon-Woodlore), in a pardoy of Yellowstone Park. The dates seemed to make sense. But if Yogi Bear started life in a completely different setting, is it just a case of convergent evolution? Hmm…
Achille:
I would tend to agree that Yogi Bear was Hanna-Barbera’s answer to Disney’s Humphrey. The whole “national park/rule-quoting ranger/mischievous hungry bear” setup makes it impossible to deny. Though, taking full advantage of Daws Butler’s considerable voice talents, Yogi was certainly (and of necessity) more verbose than Humphrey.
Of course, from my perspective as a “kid of the sixties”, I knew Yogi, long before I knew Humphrey – given the regularity of H-B cartoons on TV – vs. Disney’s near-total lack of same. I may have even first encountered Humphrey in a 1968 issue of WALT DISNEY COMICS DIGEST, drawn by Paul Murry, and thought: “Hey, this is just like Yogi!”. At least that’s how I recall it.
Even in his earliest days, Jellystone Park was always part of the mix for Yogi. The very first Yogi Bear cartoon aired (on THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW in 1958) was “Yogi Bear’s Big Break”, in which he tries to escape the benevolent captivity of national park life.
But, it was not the first Yogi cartoon to be produced! That honor goes to “Pie Pirates”, in which he and Boo-Boo are wandering hungry bears who try to steal a pie, cooling on a lady’s window sill. Unfortunately, an angry watchdog has other ideas. It’s a great (though crudely animated, even for H-B) cartoon that I’ve watched countless times over the years – on TV and later DVD!
Then again, the same goes for “Yogi Bear’s Big Break”, and pretty much ALL of the early Yogi cartoons, be he a denizen of Jellystone, or not!
In the order that I listed them in my last comment, here are the titles of those non-Jellystone Yogi cartoons, if anyone might be interested in looking them up. “Pie Pirates” (Pie), “Big Bad Bully” (Bull), “Tally-Ho-Ho-Ho” (Hunter), “The Stout Trout” (wily trout), “Slumber Party Smarty” (Yakky Doodle prototype – and a particular favorite of mine), and “Baffled Bear” (Highway Crossing).
There are more non-Jellystone cartoons as well. Some, like with the baby eagle, or little Indian boy, are even touching! They and the early Jellystone cartoons are on the THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW DVD set, a very frequent “go-to” of mine when I have only a short viewing window… You know that (all together now) “Horrifically Busy” thing?
Every cartoon in that set is an early H-B gem!
I, too, encountered Yogi long before Humphrey the Bear. In the mid 60's on one of our local stations Yogi ran on the HH Show as well as on his own show on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, alternating with Woody Woodpecker on Tuesdays and Thursdays. About 1967 or 68 the Disney Sunday night program aired "The Ranger of Brownstone." Of course, the premise was similar, but in those days I did not make a direct connection--probably because, stylistically there is a huge difference between an H-B cartoon and a Disney cartoon. Plus the presence of Donald Duck and a very different ranger (and I barely noticed or paid much heed to the vocal similarity to a certain Touche Turtle or a dog named Droopy) made Humphrey seem different from Yogi. And of course, Humphrey apart from a few grunts and an occasional shout or whimper rarely if ever spoke. There was room in my eight-year-old world for more than one cartoon National Park and more than one ranger-bear comedy team. This may also have been due to the fact that by age 8 I had been to many national parks throughout the country so my mind was more open to a wide variety. My parents were very big on travel, which was great for us kids!
Factoid: Did you know that Yogi Bear was NOT indigenous to Jellystone Park? A couple of sources bear (sorry, couldn't help it!) this out. On the Golden record album "Songs of Yogi Bear and all his Pals" there is a song titled "Before Yogi" where Ranger Smith bemoans the state of Jellystone Park before Yogi's arrival. The second source is the Gold Key comic book "Jellystone Album" in which Yogi's life story is told starting from his childhood, showing him taking leave of his doting parents and setting out to make his own way. Yogi and Boo Boo met on a cross country bike trip and arrived in Jellystone together. This also gives a good logical reason (not that cartoons are all that big on logic!) for some of Yogi's earliest adventures to take place outside of Jellystone and sans Boo Boo.
Scarecrow:
Being from New York, I’d never seen a National Park outside TV, movies, or comic books… still haven’t, alas! So, perhaps the novelty – if not outright other-worldliness – of the concept struck me all the more so, when drawing parallels between Yogi and Humphrey.
While I never had the record, I certainly have – and do recall – the comic! And sure enough…. Yes!
Maybe someday, when I get to do the comic-book biography of Yogi Bear, as Don Rosa did for Scrooge Mc Duck, I’ll sort all that stuff out into a cohesive whole!
…Wouldn’t THAT be something! You listening, DC Comics?
Then again, I’d have to incorporate “Yo, Yogi!” into his childhood, wouldn’t I?
…Aw, forget it!
If you'd have to incorporate "Yo Yogi" into Yogi's childhood, you would also have to incorporate "Flintstone Kids" into the childhoods of Fred, Barney, Wilma, Betty, and Dino. And that whole series contradicts the "Honeyrock Hotel" episode where Fred and Barney didn't even know Wilma and Betty until they were late teens/young adults.
I missed out on "Yo Yogi," although from what I hear that isn't anything to regret. But face it, if you had to use "Yo Yogi" as part of Yogi's official biography, you would also have to include "The Galaxy Goof-Ups", "Yogi's Space Race," "Yogi's Ark Lark," "Yogi's Gang," and "Yogi's Treasure Hunt." Not to say I don't like any of these, because I love pretty much every time that Daws Butler voiced Yogi, regardless of the quality of the scripts. He brought out the richness of the character in every re-interpretation, and kept him in character despite everything. Now "Laff-a-Lympics" is a fun one to me, because I love seeing all of the H-B characters interacting in the same world, and the same goes for "Yogi's All-Star Christmas Caper" and "Yogi's First Christmas." I even enjoy Yogi's participation in (gasp!) "Casper's First Christmas." And of course the feature-length ones, particularly "Hey There It's Yogi Bear." But also where would you fit in "The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound"? As it is set in the old west yet with plenty of modern references. (Another one I absolutely love--it's hilarious when you look at it carefully, lots of outrageous humor embedded in it. Yes, it's overlong and a bit slow at times, but some effort was made to recapture the glory days of the H-B characters--how effectively is of course up to individual judgment.)
So I guess it's a matter of deciding what "fits" and what doesn't. "Yo Yogi" and "The Flintstone Kids" definitely belong to alternate Yogi and Flinstones universes. DC Comics is of course the home of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in which many alternate worlds co-existed and were ultimately streamlined into one--although I believe that has been reversed by now, and they are back to multiple universes again. But if there can be an Earth-1 Superman, an Earth-2 Superman, an Earth-1 Flash, an Earth-2 Flash, etc. it is surely possible to relegate all of those "alternate" Yogis and Flintstones that don't seem to fit anywhere else into alternate worlds of their own. (A whole alternate "Yo Yogi" world? Perish forbid, as Snagglepuss would say!)
Come to think of it, there seems to be an "alternate universe" Duck Tales now, while the original Duck Tales series was itself somewhat of an alternate universe to the Carl Barks stories from which the basic premise was derived.
I guess what fits and what doesn't is up to each individual to decide. There is only so far that continuity can be retroactively established without becoming an exercise in either futility or absurdity.
But don't throw away the concept of a cohesive Yogi biography--it sounds totally cool to me!
Scarecrow:
If I were doing any sort of biographical history of The Flintstones, I would immediately discard "Flintstone Kids" because "Honeyrock Hotel" was one of the very best episodes of the entire series – and I would never accept any alternate versions as canon!
Assuming I were to do the same with “Yo, Yogi!”, the rest of “The Life and Times – and also Rhymes – of Yogi Bear” would go something like this…
During the years of 1958-1962, covering both THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW and THE YOGI BEAR SHOW, Yogi became such a huge attraction at Jellystone National Park, that the U.S Park Service began to showcase and merchandise him as a must-see attraction for vacationers. He eventually appeared in more public advertisements than Smokey the Bear!
This led to some eager filmmakers, riding the wave as eager filmmakers are wont to do, to produce a movie called “Hey There, it’s Yogi Bear!”, and Yogi became bigger than Rin-Tin-Tin, Trigger, Flipper, Gentle Ben, and Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion combined. Unlike those animal contemporaries, his ability to SPEAK only aided his rise to super-stardom! He could tell his own jokes, and do his own material – in rhyme, no less!
The rest of the stuff, like "The Galaxy Goof-Ups", "Yogi's Space Race," "Yogi's Ark Lark," "Yogi's Gang," "Yogi's Treasure Hunt." , etc. all came about from the bad ideas of the type of exploitive TV producers that proliferated in the 1970s – the ones that gave us such horrors as ”Circus of the Network Stars” and ridiculous stuff like that!
Though somewhat of an exception occurred when a similarly-exploited mystery-solving Great Dane was brought together with Yogi for a grand concept of competition to be called "Laff-a-Lympics"!
"Laff-a-Lympics" was originally conceived as the ultimate “Man vs. Beast” challenge – with teams of animal characters led by Yogi (late ‘50s/early ‘60s characters) and Scooby-Doo (characters of the mid-to-late ‘60s-onward) competing against a third team of HUMAN CHARACTERS plucked from all periods of time, like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Where’s Huddles, The Roman Holidays, and Wait ‘Till Your Father Gets Home!
It would have been a GLORIOUS and TRUE competition show, until some network executive butted-in and insisted that there be a team of villains and cheaters that will always lose, so the kiddies will learn that honesty is always – and without fail – the best policy!
So, enter “The Really Rottens”, to make "Laff-a-Lympics" just another clone of "Wacky Races"! Sigh! You can’t win ‘em all! …And, if you’re those low-down “Really Rottens”, you can’t win ANY of ‘em – EVER! ...Network mandate!
"Yo Yogi" could even be worked in as “cuddly merchandise” from that very same exploitive era – but with NO connection to “reality”!
Say, this stuff ain’t bad, considering I just made it up on the spot! …Hey, DC Comics, wanna talk?
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