Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Scooby "Speaks" His First Words!

We can't let the 50th Anniversary Year of Scooby-Doo (September, 2019 - August, 2020) end without a look at this!  

Here is an ad for the CBS Television Network Saturday morning line-up - featuring Scooby-Doo and the rest of the new shows for the 1969-1970 TV season - as seen in SUPERMAN # 220 (DC Comics, Cover Date: October, 1969) - released on August 05, 1969 (per GCD) just in time to "get the message out" for September!

Picture this, running across the centerfold of the comic...

(Click to Enlarge Illustrations)

In what may well have been the last good network Saturday morning line up until the 1990s, we have pictured: 

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines.

Archie with Sabrina.

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.

Repeats of The Monkees. 

And a completely new series titled "Scooby-Doo Where Are You!".

As well as several more truly classic series that never got beyond the obligatory checklist! 

Even in his own book (SUPERMAN # 220)...

...Superman didn't get any billing better than this!

...But I digress!  

Ya gotta admit, that was QUITE A LINEUP!  

Classics and favorites up-and-down, and everywhere you looked.  

And, amid it all, comes this freshman series about a mystery-solving dog and his human friends...

What chance could it have among these then-titans-of-TV-toondom?  

Let alone become arguably bigger than all of them?  

Such is the amazing journey of Scooby-Doo - and it actually begins HERE, in this ad, and in (what are supposed to be) his very own words...

...And let's pause a moment and consider that THIS would be Scooby-Doo's "first comics appearance"!

Not THIS, as is commonly regarded...

Scooby-Doo Where Are You! (Gold Key) # 1

...But THIS! 

Considering these characters had never been drawn for comics before, the art is quite good - and is so for the ad as a whole!  

And a WHOLE LOTTA COMICS followed in its wake...

 ...A LOTTA LOTTA COMICS!  

And, at TIAH Blog, we've enjoyed and celebrated them all - in spirit, if not in actual posts... because that would be  ...A LOTTA LOTTA POSTS!   

(...Besides, I'm rather proud of that Scooby montage above, that I just created!  Played around a bit with sizing and combining existing images... and PRESTO!)  

Oh, and one more thing about the ad... This particularly prescient pair of adjacent images...

...Shows how The Monkees will loom large in Scooby-Doo's future!  

Part of every Monkees TV episode is a wild slapstick romp as a rock song plays over it.  CBS must have thought so highly of this concept that it was mandated for the second season of SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU...

 From "Scooby's Night with a Frozen Fright" (1970)!  Run, Hide (not "Hyde"), and Groove to the Music! 

...As I said, (not "Hyde")! 

...And has been an off-and-on component of various Scooby-Series ever since!  

...And, if that isn't "food for musical thought", I don't know what is!  

Anyway, it's been a fun 50 years with Scooby-Doo - and here's to the Next 50!  

Even with no "preceding "R"s, you said a mouthful, Scooby!  

Separated at Mirth: NO TRAINS! Just PLANES and AUTOMOBILES!

While not an EXACT "Separation at Mirth", where the same gag is used by different characters, this instance between MUTT AND JEFF # 22 (DC Comics, Cover Date: June-July, 1946) and REAL SCREEN COMICS # 23 (DC Comics, Cover Date: April-May, 1949) is close enough!  

Indeed, the two covers look better together when in REVERSE chronological order! 

This way, Fauntleroy Fox looks as if he going to directly drop-in to the scene that Mutt and Jeff are rapidly vacating! 

And, with Foxie's luck, he'll probably land inside the exposed chassis of Jeff's speed-buggy, disengage the brake on impact, and roll off the cliff - painfully meeting Mutt and Jeff at the bottom! 

One final thought before we all take the plunge...

Doesn't that FULL MOON really make the MUTT AND JEFF cover special?  

My complements to the great Sheldon Mayer who drew the cover - and especially to the colorist, whose choices for the logo, full moon, and sky-background truly made this a standout effort! 

Now We Are Twelve!

If you were to take this truly classic Pooh book by A.A. Milne and Ernest H. Shepard...

...And put it side-by-side with this similarly revered version... 

...It would apply to TIAH Blog... because "Now We Are Twelve!", having been "born" (...or however Blogs come into being) on August 14, 2008!  

And, while there may be some who regard this "nice tiny spot of relative calm among the vast and tumultuous reaches of the Internet" as a "Blog of very little brain", I'd like to think we've all had some grand times over the last dozen years!  

...So, what do we do for our dozen-th anniversary?  

I'm not so sure.  I can re-do the old stunt of running comic book covers for "Issue Twelve" of any given title... but that sort of thing that seems more appropriate for "Anniversary 13", so you'll probably see a whole bunch of thirteenth-issue covers next year!  

I could tell you how much I enjoy your readership, participation, and yes... friendship!  How this thing would be "just a buncha lifeless unread words" without you!  But, I feel that way EVERY DAY, not just on anniversaries - dozen-th or any other kind! 

Ah! I know! 

Since we added "Now We Are Six" plus "Now We Are Six" to get "Now We Are Twelve" ... Why don't we play "Twenty Questions" - but minus eight - to get Twelve Questions"!  

I'll ASK them, and I'll ANSWER them (often with copious illustrations)!  Here goes:

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01: WHAT ARE YOUR MOST FAVORITE THINGS IN THE WHOLE WORLD?

Oh, there are a lot of answers to that question!  Let's hope I remember to name them all.  

Esther and Averi (with a spot reserved for Avi's little sister - coming this fall) and our home and life together - after that, in any order...

...Comic books, DVDs and Blu-rays on a big screen TV, my writing of comic books and related text articles; nice quiet days, my retirement, going to bed late - and waking-up late, morning coffee, pizza, certain fast-food burgers, neighborhood walks, buses and my transit advocacy activities... and especially this Blog and everyone and everything that comes with it!  

02: WHAT ARE YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THINGS?

Politics, needless nastiness, deception especially in the workplace, misinformation purposely disseminated by politicians - and especially by media outlets with agendas, ill-intent dressed up as pride and patriotism. Oh, and eggs! Yuck! 

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03: WHAT IS YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIE?

Casablanca - hands down, or "up" if Bogart's got a pistol trained on you! 

04: WHAT IS YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE GENRE MOVIE?

Night of the Living Dead - for pure scares, there IS no better horror film! Being shot in black-and-white (odd for 1968) only added to the eeriness!  

Runner up: Forbidden Planet. You can see the origins of BOTH Star Trek and Lost in Space (in general concept and in specific episode plots) in its amazing sci-fi vision! 

05: WHAT SORT OF MOVIES DO YOU DISLIKE?

Most modern movies, overproduced CGI-fests, and rom-coms. 

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06: WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE PRODUCTS OF ANIMATION?

Theatrical Division: Bugs Bunny. 

Television Division: Huckleberry Hound. 

07: WHAT ARE YOUR LEAST FAVORITE PRODUCTS OF ANIMATION?

Anime or anything that "was a toy before it was a legitimate character".  

Runner up:  Any modern series where well-designed classic-characters are needlessly distorted beyond recognition for the sake of equally-needless change! 

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08: WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOWS (Classic Era)?

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Star Trek (TOS) , Batman, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits - and I'll expand the definition of "Classic Era" just enough to include Kolchak the Night Stalker

09: WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOWS (Modern Era)?

The Walking Dead Family of Shows, the Modern Era of Doctor Who (thanks to Achille Talon), The Simpsons, Family Guy, and an honorable mention to Curb Your Enthusiasm, starring the great Larry David. 

10: WHAT ARE YOUR LEAST FAVORITE TV SHOWS?

The so-called "Reality Shows". If that's reality, I'll take vanilla! Especially those shows that glorify people who engage in repulsive behavior. That's not entertainment! That's TRASH!  Game shows and rowdy daytime talk shows, as well. 

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11: WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS? (...As if you didn't know!)

Western Publishing - AKA Dell (1962 and Prior) and Gold Key Comics.  For a LONG TIME, no one did it better! 

 

Runner up: DC Comics (1950s thru 1990s) - very little worthwhile after that, save BATMAN '66 and SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP! 

12: WHAT ARE YOUR LEAST FAVORITE COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS?

Marvel 1990s and on. Image - the worst and most repulsive of all (even though "The Walking Dead" came out of that pollution mill)!  Today's DC. 

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BAKER'S DOZEN BONUS QUESTION: IF YOU COULD TRADE YOUR LIFE WITH ANYONE ELSE, WHO WOULD THAT BE! 

Me... Only younger!  

Okay, maybe not!  

Ah, that's better!  

Well, that's "Twenty Questions" - minus eight - equals Twelve Questions - plus one to make a baker's dozen", for me!  

Onward to TIAH Blog - Year Thirteen!