Adventures in Comic-Boxing: The Case of the Migrating Penguin!

When it comes to PENGUINS, Warner Bros. Looney Tunes has a pretty memorable one that twice co-starred with Bugs Bunny...

Walter Lantz had a pretty memorable one of his own... CHILLY WILLY! 

But there must have been a brief period during Chilly's tenure at Lantz when he may have become dissatisfied with his contract... and briefly defected to Warner Bros.

Otherwise, how would you explain THIS?!    

WALTER LANTZ NEW FUNNIES #278 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: July-August, 1960) 

...Yes, really! Let's dolly in for a closer look... 

Maybe he was tired of working with SMEDLEY?  

...Or lower-tier players like Homer Pigeon?  

...And taking SECOND BILLING, NO LESS!  The unhappiness of that experience even caused him to put on TOO MUCH WEIGHT!   

The GOOD SCRIPTS, like "The Legend of Rockabye Point" (possibly the single funniest cartoon of all time)... 

...And "I'm Cold" stopped coming, much to the little guy's displeasure.  

Or maybe he just wanted to work with "that Oscar-Winning Rabbit, Bugs Bunny!" Or the rabbit's renowned animation director Chuck Jones?  

Ya, know... like that OTHER penguin did!  

But, alas, Chilly's experiences at Warner Bros. were not good... 

...Being a PENGUIN and all, they cast him in a BATMAN movie, as a "hench-peng" to THIS GUY!  

Chilly didn't like that AT ALL!  

Coincidently, at that time, Walter Lantz decided to lure him back with the promise of working with THEIR top star, Woody Woodpecker...

...And so, he once again became "Walter Lantz Chilly Willy"! 

...And remained happily so (though still "chilly") ever after! 

...OR... COULD IT HAVE BEEN MUCH SIMPLER THAN ALL THAT?  

Could it have possibly been nothing more than a... PRINTING ERROR?!  

Could THIS...

...Have been erroneously run in place of... THIS?   

                                         

...Eeeh, COULD BE!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Here We Go Blathering (and) NUTS in May!

Just an hour or so late for May Day 2024, we present the perfectly picked cover of DELL FOUR COLOR #202 WOODY WOODPECKER (Dell Comics, Cover Date: November, 1948)!

It's MAY, he's BLATHERING... and, at this earlier stage of his development, he's certainly NUTS! 

And fitting for MAY DAY because, after he's treated you to his particular brand of annoying madness, you'll find yourself yelling "MAYDAY!" 

Oh, WAIT... Those aren't NUTS he's throwing about... they're NOTES!  

 ...So, I guess we can say that Woody's out [wait for it] "sewing his wild NOTES!"  

Ha-ha-ha-HA-ha! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Where's Walt... Oh!

The traditionalists among us, myself included, tend to lament the corporate morphing of the name Walt Disney into just plain "Disney"...or "Disney's" - demonstrating, perhaps, the omnipresent possessiveness of the ever-gobbling media giant over even its founder. 

But, we find an unusual example of the converse in the pages of DELL FOUR COLOR #805 SCAMP (Dell Comics, Cover Date: June, 1957) in the ad copy for Dell's CHIP 'N' DALE comic...

Take a gander at the possessive proper noun, and blink with wonder! 

 

Yes, the two chatterbox chipmunks could certainly be referred-to as "WALT'S CHIP 'N' DALE", as it's not too difficult to figure out who "WALT" is!  

It's not THIS GUY...

Or THIS GUY!  

But, ya gotta wonder where the "Disney" went, and how its absence passed through a presumed series of editorial reviews.  

...Maybe this is an example of REAL "Disney Magic"!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Oswald's Full-Page Cross-Promotion!

While everybody loves Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, I'll bet few have thought of him in terms of a comic book pitchman... or "pitch-rabbit", if you will.  

But, take a gander at this ad from LOONEY TUNES AND MERRIE MELODIES COMICS #22 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: August, 1943), where Oswald steps up to plug his own Dell Comics title - NEW FUNNIES!  

The ad is on the inside back cover and, because of that positioning, note how Oswald presumes that you have just finished reading this issue of LOONEY TUNES, with a direct reference to "the adventures of Bugs Bunny and his pals", before making his pitch!  

We liked 'em just fine, Oswald!  In fact, they were GREAT!  

Oswald throws it to his NEW FUNNIES co-stars...

Then comes back for the clincher!

OH, MAN... I AM SOOOO THERE!  (...or I would have been if I were around in 1943!) 

Gotta love that early design on Woody Woodpecker!  

I guess Oswald was chosen for this, so he could do a "rabbit segue" from Bugs...

...Leaving me to wonder if Bugs ever took control of the inside back cover of an issue of NEW FUNNIES for similar purposes! 

After all, he CAN be a little "enthusiastic" at times...

For an ACTUAL example of a comic book subscription ad that Bugs invaded, look no further than HERE!  

You get the feeling that Oswald, at least, did it with the proper permissions!

 

That's All [New Funnies] Folks!

In Search of Ancient Bertrams # 2 "What’s Buzzin’, Bertram?"

 

One of a number of things I've become known for as a translator and dialogue writer/creator for European stories published in American Disney comic books is the use of the name "Bertram"! 
 

More is explained HERE! 

But where did my fondness for the name come from?  Well, it was first seen a comic from "my sainted sixties" of course - and, I'll identify it at some point - but for now "In Search of Ancient Bertrams" will spotlight various uses of "Bertram" in vintage comics that would eventually result in making the name a standard of my comics writing work!

Today's "Bertram" is courtesy of MARCH OF COMICS #81 (Western Publishing, 1952) Oswald the Rabbit!  Art by Lloyd White. 

Tired of the rabbit-routine, Oswald's adopted sons, Floyd and Lloyd, try living as birds.  Unfortunately, they still look like rabbits - and that attracts the hungry attentions of Bertram Buzzard, and his wife Beulah.  

 Look out kids, here comes "Big Bad Bertram"!

I'd venture to guess that Bertram might be a cousin (or something) to another, more famous Walter Lantz character... Woody Woodpecker's regular foe, Buzz Buzzard!  

Note the family resemblance!

Barely escaping, as all little comic book animals are wont to do (...and wouldn't we be sad if they didn't), Floyd and Lloyd do not fare well in the roles of fish or bears either! 

And, as expected, they resign themselves to being just plain rabbits, much to the relief of Poppa Oswald! 

Thanks in part to another "Ancient Bertram"... Bertram Buzzard! 

We've got a bounty of Bertrams in store for future installments of "In Search of Ancient Bertrams", so do come on back! 

...Come for the "Bertram"... Stay for the "Burgers"!