Happy Halloween - 2021!

Averi and a special friend are here to wish you all a Happy Halloween 2021!

Not to be outdone, Avi's little sister, Cici, gets into the act with me in a "very convincing old man costume"!  

But, if you think my "old man costume" is convincing check me out as Averi's friend the scarecrow!

On my knees, with my legs painfully folded behind me and hidden from the camera... I'd say that's one of my best disguises yet!  

Separated at Mirth: To Each His Hitchhiking-Own: Gold Key AND Dell Style!

When I was a car-less teenager, all the kids used to hitchhike to get to the mall, beach, movies, etc.  

Even I went along with it once or twice, reluctantly - as a sort of "Boo Boo to a Yogi-like friend"!

"I know, Boo Boo, we'll go HITCHHIKING!" 

 

But that was long before I began to fight for better bus service in my county, and things were like this...

Versus the far better system we have now.  

Hicksville-bound busses... then and now!

We lived more dangerously back in the early 1970s, and I'm glad to see that the practice has all but vanished in the decades since.  

But hitchhiking was in full force among Long Island's youth when BUGS BUNNY #125 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: September, 1969) was released!

And, in December, 1967, long before I ever imagined indulging in such a potentially dangerous method of travel (reluctantly, of course, because I was one of the "good kids"), there was also UNCLE SCROOGE # 73 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: February, 1968), hitchhiking with his own preferred mode of transportation!  

Despite each character displaying his own particular fetishism (be it carrots or money), what we have here - you guessed it - is a hitchhiking SEPARATION AT MIRTH!  

Similar layouts with the main character "large, close, and at left" and the approaching vehicle further back and at right.  

Of course, these were both 1960s Gold Key reprint covers so that means there were Dell antecedents for each... and here they are!  

BUGS BUNNY #36 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: April-May, 1954)  

UNCLE SCROOGE #32 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: December, 1960 - February, 1961)

Bugs Bunny covers are by Ralph Heimdahl.  Uncle Scrooge covers are by Carl Barks.  

As we hope our beloved characters reach their intended destination safely - and that each gets what he wants from their respective approaching vehicles -  we give a great big "Thumbs-Up" (...or should that be THUMBS-OUT") to another installment of Separated At Mirth!  

EXTRA HITCHHIKING BEAGLE-BONUS!

Here are the covers of BEAGLE BOYS #11 and #17, each with an appropriate hitchhiking gag!

And even another Separated at Mirth!

Beagle Boys covers are by Pete Alvarado.  

Gotta love the gag-symmetry: Hitchhiker - Armored Car - Armored Car - Hitchhikers! 

What Did I Do This Weekend?

Gee, this is the second consecutive post that I've titled with a question!  I've really gotta get back into my old groove of "Comic Box Adventuring" and "Mirth Separation"!  

But, to answer that "second consecutive titular question", I must remind you just how much I enjoy reserving Saturday afternoons for reading comic books - and THIS POST will do that nicely!

I don't get to do that as much as I'd like to this days... That old "Horrifically Busy" thing, you know. 

But this weekend (Yes, Saturday AND a bonus Sunday - almost wall to wall) reviewing, researching... and, most important of all - READING many Carl Barks stories of early 1960s vintage in order to prepare story notes for a future Fantagraphics volume.  ...Talk about combining "business with pleasure"! 

Buy these things, folks!  You'll never see a better presentation of these stories, complete with Story Notes and other detailed extra features!  They've certainly made a believer of me! 

Where Have I Been?

 That's a good question... Where HAVE I been?  

Here, there, perhaps nowhere... eating honey with a bear...

Scarfing bagels strewn with lox, hanging with a Crow and Fox...

Reading comics, some like these...

Reading others that feature cheese...

Or kicking back with DVDs! 

...Many DVDs!  

Go ask LOBO... He might know...

...But here's one place... I DIDN'T GO!  

Not in '20... or '21...

...Since COVID had me... on the RUN! 

Okay, everyone... we all know why I didn't go in 2020... because there was NO con!

I didn't expect to one to happen in 2021 either - but somehow it is doing exactly that as I write this!  And, as much as I LOVE New York Comic Con, in this time of Delta and likely heretofore unknown additional variants, I just can't see myself confined to any indoor space that could possibly look like THIS! 

I'm sad about it, to be sure... but better safe (at home) than sorry!  

I'd be wearing a mask, was double-vaccinated in 2020 - and, within the last thirty days, have received a COVID vaccine booster.  But, I'm still not ready to face this... or even a scaled-down version of anything like it. 

So, for the first time in I-Forget-How-Many-Years, there will be a New York Comic Con without me!  Maybe next year...

Oh, but WHERE HAVE I BEEN?  

Does the answer "Horrifically Busy" count as a "where"?  

Lately, I've been deeper "underwater" than THESE GUYS! 

The Blog and my personal communications, in particular, have gone to hell, and, I'm sorry about that!

But, now as I begin to surface once again, and life begins working its way back to normalcy, I hope to begin regular posting very soon!  ...I also hope you all find your way back, because it's all of you that make this thing fun!  

...And what good is anything without FUN!

Separated at Mirth: Too Big To Fail... But, Somehow They Do!

 Some of us never "outgrow" comic books (...and thank goodness for that)...

...But, on rare occasions, some comic book characters will "outgrow" their cover image space to where their fearsome faces are obscured by the comic's title logo! 

And, with that rather tenuous introduction, we present out latest Separated at Mirth entry: WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #159 (DC Comics, Cover Date: June, 1966), cover by classic Superman artists Curt Swan and George Klein ...

...And DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES #23 (Gladstone Series II, Cover Date: December, 1993), cover by the great Don Rosa.  

But, Joe... (you may find yourself asking), I see the "Separation" but, with our respective heroes facing such huge and overpowering adversaries, "Where's the Mirth?"  

To this, I offer that each issue's adversaries are just SOOOO BIG, that even the standard comic book cover image space cannot contain them!  

...An unusual, if not outright mirthful, use of the requisite issue title logo!  

  Gotta love this side-by-side!   

Of speculative interest: We know from previous comments, that Don Rosa read the Mort Weisinger-era Superman comics of which WORLD'S FINEST #159 is one - edited by Old Unca Mort himself.  

So, it's possible that Rosa could even have (consciously or otherwise) been influenced by that cover, when creating his own for DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES #23.  

Regardless of who may have influenced whom, we leave you with WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #159 and DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES #23...  Separated at Mirth!  

Though ya gotta wonder why the LAND OF THE GIANTS comic never tried that stunt!  

...It would have been a natural!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Charlton Aims "HIGHER"!

This is an Internet scan of the cover of THE FLINTSTONES #20 (Charlton Comics, Cover Date: January, 1973). 

This is MY COPY of THE FLINTSTONES #20.

Now, I can't speak for the Internet scan, which may have been cropped when scanned, or maybe its FAR LEFT SIDE is rolled or even missing.  Note below, the Charlton Logo and Ray Dirgo's signature are cut off... (...No comments on whether or not that's a "good thing", please!) 

...But MY COPY is definitely "cut" incorrectly!

The TOP is CUT OFF...

...And the BOTTOM has TOO MUCH BLANK PAPER below the cover image!

 

Note the Side-by-Side Comparison! 

(Click to Enlarge to see the differences)

Charlton had their own press and printing plant in an old factory-like building in Derby, CT... I actually saw it from my car, where they printed, bound, and cut-to-size their own comic books.  

And, at least for MY copy - as far as that "cutting" goes - (which brings everything higher and closer to the top, to the point where some of it is even CUT OFF), ya gotta say... "Charlton Aimed HIGHER!", perhaps a bit TOO high... and characteristically missed the mark! 

Separated at Mirth: KNOT Now, Boys!

The various and sundry "Scouting Organizations" that tend to pop-up in comics may be good for young boys, but they can be murder on a guy's lawn! 

Just ask Oswald the (one-time "lucky") Rabbit and Donald Duck, as they find themselves... "Separated at Mirth!" 

DELL FOUR COLOR # 541 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: April 1954).

WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES # 260 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: May 1962) - By Carl Barks.

There's an ADDITIONAL INSTANCE for Donald...

HUEY DEWEY AND LOUIE JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS # 9  (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: April 1971) - By Kay Wright.

Things to note: 

Carl Barks CREATED the concept of the super-scouting JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS organization in the 1950s, but HIS 1962 cover gag depicts the boys as more generic scouts!  

Kay Wright, by the positioning of EVERY ELEMENT of his cover for HUEY DEWEY AND LOUIE JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS # 9, clearly based his cover on that of Barks for WDC&S # 260.  

Ironically, it was Kay Wright, and not Carl Barks, who properly depicts the boys as Junior Woodchucks...  Though, considering the TITLE of the series, how could he not?  

Kay Wright really wasn't THAT terrible an artist... when he was copying Carl Barks' layouts as above, that is!  ...Of course, I will never forgive him for stuff like THIS...

Though Huey, Dewey, and Louie have been most associated with scouting over the decades, it was Oswald's adopted sons (NOT NEPHEWS!), Floyd and Lloyd, who did the gag first! 

The adoption occurs... 

From WALTER LANTZ NEW FUNNIES # 135 (Cover Date: May, 1948).  Art by Lloyd White.  (Gotta wonder if one of the bunny-boys was named after Mr. White, as he first drew them!) 

But, as noted, Donald Duck and his nephews have long been associated with scouting, as evidenced by this cover from WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES # 11 (Cover Date: August 1941) and the animated shorts.  

And, what was Oswald doing in his more-carefree, pre-parenthood days?  

And, with that hearty raspberry from Oswald (...back in his "Lucky Rabbit" days) you have DELL FOUR COLOR # 541 (1964), WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES # 260 (1962), and HUEY DEWEY AND LOUIE JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS # 9 (1971) - Separated at Mirth! 


Oh, no... wait!  Here comes Charlie Chicken... yes, THAT "Charlie Chicken"...

...To remind us that HE, TOO, did the "Garden Hose, Knot Tying" cover gag in ANDY PANDA # 35 (Cover Date: August/October, 1956)!  

And, having done so in 1956, he did it before any of those "Ducky-Come-Lately" scouts... Junior Woodchucks, or otherwise!  

Also, Charlie was SO SLY that he was the only one NOT TO GET CAUGHT IN THE ACT!  

...SEE? 

There he goes, innocently tying a piece of string... proving to a suspicious Andy that (...wait for it) he "Knows Knotting!"