Separated at Mirth: Them's the BRAKES, Pal!

Today's Mirth Separation comes to a FULL-STOP with the cover of MUTT AND JEFF # 22 (DC Comics: Cover Date: June-July, 1946) and a Gandy Goose gag from LITTLE ROQUEFORT # 2 (St. John Comics: Cover Date: August, 1952)!  

CLICK to Enlarge

We've seen the MUTT AND JEFF cover before, as part of THIS POST, but now it BRAKES through again for its second Separation at Mirth! 

In fact, if you arrange them THIS WAY, it looks like a "related-gag head-on-collision"!  

Since this won't end well, perhaps we'd better cut off this post right here...

Cynical Blog Post: If I Were a Pterodactyl, I'd Want to Live in a Different Age!

From various Gold Key Comics released in the spring of 1968, comes another reason for me to be cynical...

If I could exist in ANY Earth Time Period at all, and going strictly on NAME alone, I would NOT choose the "UPPER JURASSIC" Age!  (...Go on, say it out loud, folks!) 

...And not just because I'd become a fish stick for one of these monsters!  

 EEK! 

Happy New Year 2025!

 Happy New Year 2025!  

...Or should I, as that famous TV game show goes, phrase it in the form of a question?  

 ...Happy New Year 2025?  

As far as my answer goes... I DUNNO!  

I see some very bad things (or, at the very least, norm-shattering, chaotic things) ahead for 2025 for both our country and the world as a whole! Most of you can probably guess what, as I nonchalantly sidestep the specifics of a topic that is out-of-bounds at this humble Blog.   

Of course, I'm referring to the sudden and unexpected cancelation of THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES...

...An unfortunate occurrence not to be confused with, or mistaken for, any "real world" events of a political nature - though some of those could stand to be suddenly and unexpectedly canceled too! ...Batman and Scooby, we need your team-ups now, more than ever!  ...There, was that nonchalantly-sidestepping enough for you?  If not, I can try again... Oh, you just want me to move on?  Yeah, I think I should too!  

On the other hand, looking inward (as opposed to the increasingly ominous view "outside", with no more BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES to enjoy every month), things are looking very bright - and that's where I will tend to keep my attentions focused!  

Like HERE! 

And HERE!

And the all-great, all-new, all-exciting things comics-wise that are coming in 2025... that, darn it all, I STILL can't talk about!  ...Sorry (at least for now!) 

Happy New Year 2025!  ...For Real!  

Merry Christmas 2024!

What could possibly make a Christmas merrier than this video?  

Okay, okay... any number of things involving peace, health, and prosperity... but you must admit that this rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock" by Averi and Cici might be near the top of whatever remains!  

  Merry Christmas 2024! 

 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Tweety “Wites” Phonetically to a See-Through Sylvester!

From LOONEY TUNES # 36 (Whitman Comics, Cover Date: February, 1981) comes a little hidden gem!

Tweety and Sylvester "The Teeny Genie" 4 pages. Written by Vic Lockman and penciled by Pete Alvarado. 

As you might imagine from the opening splash panel, Tweety pulls a "genie hoax" on Sylvester.  Check out this sequence where:

A: Tweety writes a note just as he speaks!  ("wub", "wish-gwanting", "yours twuly")

B: The unknown colorist uses the same shade of green for Sylvester's eyes - AND the panel background, giving the puddy-tat's skull a "see-through look"!

C: Teeny-Tweety-Genie appears with the exclamation "SHAZOOM!" owing to this classic comics character and series! 

Aw, heck... This story is so short - and there's absolutely no chance of it ever being reprinted anywhere - that I might as well give you the whole thing!  

Honestly, as things stand, couldn't we ALL use a little more Tweety and Sylvester in our days?  

CLICK TO ENLARGE!  

Page 1:

Page 2:

Page 3:

Page 4:

Speaking of DuckTales 2017 - Perhaps One "DuckBridge" Too Far!

As mentioned in the last post's Comments Section, I am finally in possession of the complete series of DuckTales 2017 on DVD, thanks to my favorite "private label physical media dealer".  

And, as I've done many times in the past when discussing such purchases, I once again emphasize that, if the Vast Many-Tentacled Media Giant Conglomerate that owns, or presently holds the copyright to, the property in question would release AUTHORIZED COMPLETE SERIES SETS of said intellectual property (or properties), on DVD, Blu-ray, or dare-I-dream 4K, I would be first on line (or online, as the case may be) to purchase it!  ... But, since you don't and, apparently have no intention to do so... well, here we are! 

Still slowly wending my way through this long-coveted collection as if it were "The Spear of Selene" itself,  I've since battled in "The Shadow War!", played "The Most Dangerous Game... Night!", and am next primed to see what an animated version of Fethry Duck is like!  

SO, NO SPOILERS ON ANYTHING PAST FETHRY... OKAY?!  

Also, in the previous post and its comments, I've discussed the many differences between the 2017 series, its 1987 predecessor, and the comics by Carl Barks and those who followed in his wake...

...Which brings us to the BACK COVER of the "10-DVD set" that I hope to complete before our country's next civil war... but that's another story - and an off-limits topic at this friendly and humble Blog!  

If you can't read all the descriptive text touting the series, fear not... I shall parse it out for you - and verify the veracity of each hyperbole-an paragraph as we go! ...Hyperbole-an?  Ahh, let's dive in! 

"Scrooge McDuck is back in this reboot of the late-'80s animated series. He gains guardianship of grandnephews Huey, Dewey and Louie when Donald Duck reluctantly takes them to McDuck Manor, the wonder of which enthralls the mischievous triplets."

CHECK! 

"While living with their trillionaire relative, the boys learn long-held family secrets and unleash symbolic artifacts from Scrooge's past."

CHECK! Except Scrooge as a "trillionaire" seems a bit of a comedown from Barks' proud and boastful self-made "fantasticatillionaire"!  ...Scrooge wouldn't be..., uh, um... "undervaluing his assets" to avoid taxes, would he?  Naww... that's someone else!  (Of course, I mean GLOMGOLD here, no references to any actual person living or dead  is intended - as those disclaimers used to say!)  

"The threesome's antics send the family on a number of adventures, which include Webby Vanderquack, the granddaughter of Scrooge's housekeeper, Mrs. Beakley." 

CHECK-A-ROONEY!  Three-for-three, so far! 

...And finally...

"The show's animation style is inspired by the classic comic designs of animator Carl Barks." 

WAIT... WHAT, NOW?  

"The show's animation style is inspired by the classic comic designs of animator Carl Barks." 

AH-OOO-GAH!  TILT!  REJECT!  YOU ARE FIBBING, FIBBING, FIBBING!  

  (...Or as our title says, "One DuckBridge too far!")  

"The show's animation style is inspired by the classic comic designs of animator Carl Barks." 

TIME FOR SOME SERIOUS FACT-CHECKING HERE! 

"The show's animation style is inspired by the classic comic designs of animator Carl Barks." 

True, Carl Barks *was* a Disney "animator", who worked on Donald Duck theatrical shorts...

...But that was ancient history! Then again, DuckTales is all about... "rewriii-ting hist-treee", isn't it? 

However, the Carl Barks we all know and love became an all-time historic figure by working in the field of COMIC BOOKS!  

Indeed it was THOSE VERY COMIC BOOKS created by Carl Barks that formed the basis for anything bearing the name "DuckTales" - 1987, 2017, and anything in-between or after!  

And, in those fabled comic books, Carl Barks drew his cast of game-changing characters LIKE THIS...

He never drew ANYTHING that looked like THIS...

Aww, but when ya enter the crazy, mixed-up (but now needed more than ever) world of "private labels", ya gotta expect occasional missteps... as long as the discs themselves are of high quality - and these are! 

...Just like the many wonderful works of Carl Barks himself! 

DuckTales is... "Dynamite"!

First I'd like to welcome you back to this too-long-neglected humble Blog!  Said period of neglect is my doing entirely... No excuses, but plenty of apologies for the long period of inactivity.  Same apologies to those I've owed personal communications for far too long a while!   

That said, let's jump headfirst into a hot topic for late 2024... 

The Issue At Hand is: DuckTales #1 (Dynamite Entertainment, Cover Date: November, 2024)!  

Dynamite Entertainment has become a publisher for which I've gained very much respect in recent times!  They have aggressively licensed popular properties from the many embedded tentacles of both the Disney and Warner media empires as well as other sources.  

Dynamite Entertainment first came to my attention with its DJANGO/ZORRO seven-issue series of 2014 which, oddly, Esther pointed out to me knowing my fondness for the "Spaghetti Western" movies featuring the mythical western hero/anti-hero Django!  The series was very well done - and was actually written by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino!  

 

In 2017 Dynamite offered another fine team-up series, the six-issue THE SHADOW/BATMAN, which was particularly welcome as I was no longer interested in the way DC was handling Batman... and most of their other characters in general. 

And, while I left it at that, I resolved to go back and sample other Dynamite titles and series based on other characters and properties I liked, but that would take until 2024 to happen.  

Dynamite DID license Disney properties from the Disney Afternoon and feature films, but I had little to no interest in those. However, in early 2024 they licensed and published 1960s Hanna-Barbera adventure classic SPACE GHOST...

...And soon followed by H-B's original adventure classic, JONNY QUEST...

...Both as ongoing series - and both have been GREAT!

Now, they've added an ongoing DuckTales series to what I fear may eventually become an oversaturated Disney comics market (...thanks, Marvel!), but I'm glad they did!  

I'm glad they did because, unlike the already-repetitive approach Marvel has taken with the greatest of Disney characters - where each of them are awkwardly cast as (...wait for it) Marvel Superheroes!

The notable exception to this was their first release: "UNCLE SCROOGE and the INFINITY DIME"...

...Which still suffered from too much "Marvel Specificity" and an overabundance of Marvel-style physical fighting...

...Resulting in a greater deviation from the evergreen foundations set down by Scrooge's creator Carl Barks than I'd prefer, it still wound up as a decent story! 

But we now have a new comic featuring Uncle Scrooge McDuck that's closer to "The Real Thing" than anything other than the Fantagraphics hardcover Disney collections!  

And while Dynamite's 24-page opening opus, "Four Corners of Your World Part One: The More things Change...", consisted essentially of set-up and establishing for future issues (...the curse of modern comics - sizing stories for the inevitable trade paperback collections), it's a good, solid, and entertaining entry set squarely in the mode of the DuckTales classic series.  

 You can read my detailed GCD index for the issue HERE!  

Though I'll offer a few tidbits below: 

The story, as well as the issue/series as a whole, uses the familiar 1987 DuckTales character models and continuity, rather than the more jarring and unconventional 2017 versions.

Within the overall story, are three flashback stories told by Scrooge that break with the "modern visual format" of the main story. These flashbacks are two pages each, are drawn in a retro-style that resembles that of master Italian duck artist Marco Rota and are rendered in the four-tiers-per-page, rectangular panel format used by the Dell and Gold Key comics from the Golden Age thru the Bronze Age.   ...Note the contrast in style! 

Completing the retro-look of the flashbacks (a clever way to indicate that these are "old stories" that Scrooge is telling) is the use of Carl Barks' "Dell Interior Logo 1", which has the name "Uncle Scrooge" in large straight letters reading on a diagonal from southwest-to-northeast with a series of nine coins falling about the logo. https://www.comics.org/feature_logo/625/

Each flashback sequence concludes with the "End" logo that was used during the Disney Comics (1990) era of a diagonal tilting "End" within an oval. Nice touch, but using the Western/Gold Key "The End" logo instead would have carried the retro feel further still.

 Coulda, shoulda been! 

Nevertheless, Dynamite Entertainment's DuckTales has now joined its Space Ghost and Jonny Quest titles on my comic shop reserve list, and I look forward to enjoying a good, long run. 

 ...And, hey... If you don't care for this particular cover, Dynamite offers a total of 31 (!) variant covers to choose from!  

We close with some wonderfully funny DuckTales #1 (2024) variant covers by our great friend Debbie Anne Perry!  ...Can we now claim 33 variant covers?  

GOTTA LOVE THESE!