We don’t do nearly enough of these, and I hope to remedy
that in the future. So, please forgive a few amateurish comic page scans to come, and let’s return to
our classic title header and say:
THE ISSUE AT HAND IS:
DELL FOUR COLOR # 410 “Porky Pig in The Water Wizard”. (Cover Date: July-August, 1952).
The best known and most fondly remembered period for the line
of comic books known as DELL FOUR COLOR Second Series (1942-1962) was an approximate
ten-year span, ending somewhere in the latter part of 1952, which gave us some
of the very best issues of DONALD DUCK (to be sure!), MICKEY MOUSE, BUGS BUNNY,
PORKY PIG, WOODY WOODPECKER, and the first three issues of UNCLE SCROOGE. At the time of DELL FOUR COLOR # 410, this
historically great period was about to come to an end.
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| You don't need to be a MOUSE, to have your own PHANTOM! |
Preceding it was a run of independently numbered First
Series of FOUR COLOR issues (1939-1942) that included the first comic book
printing of “Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot” (FC # 16 First Series),
which not only gave the Floyd Gottfredson daily newspaper serial the title it
carries to this day, but even christened the dark-cloaked villain formerly
referred to as merely “The Blot”, as “The Phantom Blot”.
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| FOUR COLOR # 16 (First Series) |
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| FOUR COLOR # 16 (Second Series) |
The Dell Four Color Series would continue on through the
remainder of the original “Dell Comics” run in 1962 and, of not inconsiderable
note, would give us the earliest Hanna-Barbera comic titles such as RUFF AND
REDDY, HUCKLEBERRY HOUND, QUICK DRAW McGRAW, and YOGI BEAR. The run would conclude, with the introduction
of Western Publishing’s new line called “Gold Key Comics”.
From the end of the prime period of the Dell Four Color run in
1952, new ongoing eponymous, independently numbered titles for Dell’s mainstay characters
like DONALD DUCK, BUGS BUNNY, etc. would emerge, with most of them running through
the Gold Key and later Whitman years.
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| Who's eponymous, Doc? |
DELL FOUR COLOR # 410 “Porky Pig in The Water Wizard” was
even more of a transitional issue from that prime period than it appears,
because its indicia indicates a BI-MONTHLY frequency and a cover date
(characteristic of the later titled and numbered series) but retains its
numbering as part of the DELL FOUR COLOR series. It was also the Next-To-Last PORKY PIG FOUR
COLOR issue, before the numbered series would commence with Number 25 (Cover
Dated: November-December, 1952).
As with some of the cartoons in THIS DVD COLLECTION, Porky
Pig has made the character conversion to “fifties suburban homeowner” in the
stories contained herein. And, while
Daffy Duck is not along to harass and heckle him, Porky seems to have fallen
into a pattern of hanging-out with Sylvester.
Not the scared, mute version that can’t seem to warn the Pig of
murderous mice (twice) and jumping Jupiterians in the series of Chuck Jones
cartoons I call “The Cowardly Sylvester and Stupefyingly Oblivious Porky in
Danger Trilogy”. But instead, we are
presented with an odd, alternate version of the Pussycat that was popular in
forties and early fifties comics that I’ve described as an “eloquent and
eccentric vagabond”.
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| In the comics, I'm usually more eloquent, Guv'nor! |
As it is our custom in our DVD Reviews, and because I like
the format, we’ll conduct our series of Comic Book Reviews by breaking it down
into CONS and PROS.
The CONS:
By no means a “perfect” comic book, it’s nevertheless hard
to find any true “CONS” to pin on DELL FOUR COLOR # 410 “Porky Pig in The Water
Wizard”.
Those now accustomed to a steady diet of the legendary works
of Carl Barks and Floyd Gottfredson – the two true geniuses of the “funny
animal genre” in comic books and newspaper strips, respectively – might find
the stories contained herein to be wanting.
Too simple, or too fanciful, and perhaps lacking that overriding logic
that was characteristic of Barks. But
that doesn’t make them “bad” stories.
They’re just different from Barks and Gottfredson, and representative of
a type of storytelling that is no longer exhibited in any current and/or
popular form. There’s nothing wrong with
that. I daresay it has a charm all its
own.
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| Okay, so it ain't this! So what?! |
The PROS:
32 Pages – All Comics:
One *could* carp that earlier issues of the DELL FOUR COLOR series were
52 pages for the same dime (…Dime?!) but I’ll never see this as anything but a
“PRO”. Anyone who disagrees can
fast-forward to the late seventies, and discover 32 page comic books with as
little as 17 pages of story material inside.
The Art: Tony Strobl
in the first two stories, and John Carey handles the third tale a shorter backup. Writers are, alas, unknown.
Visually, these stories are a delight to behold. Strobl, in particular, is at his very
best. The simple cover art is in no way
indicative of the joys waiting inside. (…and how often does it work the
OTHER way around?)
The STORIES: The
first two stories typify the “Dell Comics Adventure Template”. Two characters (one smarter – or at least
more logical – than the other) travel to a foreign land, or get mixed up in a
crime closer to home. In this issue we
have one of each type. A short backup,
where the punch line is a character using an item or device for something it
was not intended to do, rounds out the issue.
Click on any of the comic page scans to enlarge.
“Porky Pig in The Water Wizard” (16 pg.): Does anyone below the age of 40 know what a
“divining rod” is? Read this story, and find out…
Porky, while walking a wooded path with Sylvester, finds a
forked stick which, when combined with some innate ability on the part of the Pig,
acts as a “divining rod” that allows Porky to locate water flowing
underground. His new-found notoriety
results in both Pig and Cat being kidnapped by a flying carpet, and taken to a
desert Sheik for whom he finds a sub-sand source of valuable water.
A rival Sheik learns of this and wants some “found water” of
his own, but the first Sheik (fearing he’ll no longer have a profitable water
monopoly) breaks the stick (…Aw, couldn’t he have spared the rod?) and has
Porky and Sylvester thrown into a pit of desert quicksand… Huh? IS there even such a thing? If it’s just desert SAND, how can it be
murky enough to sink into? Maybe the
“found water” below? Wouldn’t tying
them out in a sandstorm accomplish the same thing… and allow the story to
retain more of its marginal believability?
Communicating with a family of buzzards, the pair escape the
pit, appropriate a camel and take an extremely bumpy ride outta-there! Strobl makes the ride look all the more
uncomfortable by drawing P&S largely defined by “jiggly lines” and pained
expressions as they bop along. Finally
home, their butts are too sore to sit down to dinner with Petunia. “Travel
to a foreign land”? … Check!
“Porky Pig and the Safecracking Goat” (12 pg.):
Goats that eat anything made of metal have always been
popular in cartoons like THIS ONE, THIS ONE, and THIS ONE. Now, it’s time for one in comics.
As a labor saving device to help fifties suburban homeowner
Porky cope with his growing grass and piling trash, the eccentric version of
Sylvester turns up with a GOAT. The goat
does indeed level the lawn and make a repast of the refuse but, in the grand
tradition of perpetually-hungry goats, does not stop there. He begins eating (or eating THOROUGH)
anything made of metal on or in Porky’s house.
Two burglars hear of this and kidnap the goat to eat through
commercial safes – which in incredible animated goat fashion, it does. As the goat’s owner, is Porky on the
hook? “Get mixed up in a crime closer to
home”? Yep-a-roonie!
Petunia Pig (untitled, 4 pg.): Jealous of Petunia’s attentions toward a
deep-sea salvage diver, Porky intends to spoil their outdoor get-together by
luring a mess o’ mosquitoes to the spot.
Anyone see how they overcome Porky’s plot by “using an item or device
for something it was not intended to do”?
…Think about it a moment, and get
back to me.
Three one-page gags (on the inside front, inside back, and
back covers) round out the issue.
THINGS I LIKED: Some
good dialogue for a comic of this vintage.
Here are some examples:
An exchange from “The Water Wizard” between the Sultan of
the Desert Kingdom and his servant:
SERVANT: “O’ Noble
One, what wouldst have this morning?”
SULTAN: “Water… Stupid
One!” (He gulps down a drinking
glass and CHOKES.)
SERVANT: “I am afraid
you must be content with your usual GLASS OF DUST, O’ High One!”
(The Sultan spits out the dust!)
SERVANT: “A thousand
pardons… but I would have sworn there was a DROP OF DEW in it!”
………………
Porky and Sylvester make some “fifties suburban homeowner”
plans with their wondrous Divining Rod:
SYLVESTER: “Say, pal… why don’t we find some water in
your backyard, and put in a SWIMMIN’ POOL!”
PORKY: “Swell! I’LL
find the water, and YOU dig the p-pool!”
SYLVESTER (thinks): “Oops!
Methinks I’m getting the WRONG END
of the STICK!”
…Divining Rod? …
Stick? That’s a JOKE, son! I say, that’s a JOKE, son! (Okay, moving on…)
…………………….
In “The Safecracking Goat”, Porky considers how Sylvester’s
gift-goat can help him with his (all together now) “fifties suburban homeowner”
chores:
PORKY: “W-well, I’ve got to admit he m-might work out
okay, Sylvester, b-but…”
SYLVESTER: “Butt!
That’s right! He can
BUTT, too!”
OVERALL: DELL FOUR COLOR # 410 “Porky Pig in The Water
Wizard” is a solid, by-the-numbers example of the Dell funny-animal comics (Non-Barks Division) of its
period.
It is neither great, nor poor. The art tends to be superior to the
stories. In certain spots, it is vastly
superior. But, if you’re looking for a
good Saturday afternoon read you can’t go wrong with this.
…Divining Rod? …
Stick? That’s a JOKE, son! I say, that’s a JOKE, son! (Okay, moving on…) 
