Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Genuine Walt Disney Masks on Wheaties Boxes!

From the back cover of DAGWOOD COMICS #8 (Harvey Comics, Cover Date: July, 1951) comes this ad for the new "GENUINE WALT DISNEY MASKS ON WHEATIES BOXES!"!   

Lessee now... "No boxtop  to send... cut 'em right off the package"!  

That's right folks, they're asking you, or your kids, to... WEAR A LARGE PORTION OF THE BACK OF THE CEREAL BOX DIRECTLY OVER YOUR FACE!!! 

...And after its been on any number of conveyor belts, loaded onto well-worn wooden pallets, further loaded into the backs of (presumably grimy) trucks, off-loaded into supermarket storerooms, and eventually put on store shelves by clerks who probably didn't wear gloves (it was 1951, after all) and had hands as "presumably grimy" as the backs of the trucks from which they were off-loaded... etc., etc. 

Oh, the agony of being a kid in 1951... unless, of course, you got those Wheaties promotional Disney mini-comics which I wrote about HERE!  

And, just LOOK at these things! 

Donald with no sailor cap - and the boy's HAIR sticking out on top?  Really convincing, eh?  Just to compare, I had a Donald Duck Halloween costume as a kid. The mask was full-face, with a "forward beak", and the semblance of a HAT as part of it - so that no one saw my hair.  ...Of course, that was more than ten years later, so I'll give 'em a break! 

Cinderella as a redhead?  

Only one option for girls?  Why, even in 1951, Disney had its share of "princesses", or Minnie, or Daisy!  

And is that Brer Rabbit (as the ad says) or a mash-up with the March Hare?  

Finally, what if you wanted Mickey Mouse and all your local grocer had were Dumbo and Bambi?  And you'd only learned that disappointing news after turning around EVERY Wheaties box in the store?  

The things that passed for kid-fun... really!  I'd skip this and go directly to my local candy store and buy some DELL FOUR COLOR COMICS, and be all the happier for it! 

OH, YEAH!  THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

QUICK DRAW McGRAW is now on BLU-RAY... and my life is now COMPLETE!

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd get to write: QUICK DRAW McGRAW is now on BLU-RAY!!!

I've been waiting for this day for OVER TWENTY YEARS (...when it would have been on standard DVD, much less this magnificent set where colors pop as they do here!)

Our great friend Thad Komorowski gave me the honor of contributing to his review of this great set and, in gratitude, I further promote his very extensive and detailed review HERE!  

...Well, what are you waiting for... GO READ IT!  

Then come back to enjoy the multitude of animation disc delights we're now experiencing, after years of barren drought... such as these, to name a few!  

AND COMING SOON...

So, let's keep on enjoying this to the best extent we can!  Again, Big Thanks to Thad

I know I've been absent for too long a while... but can't think of a better way to return!  

Please welcome Quick Draw (and me) back in the Comments Section!  

THEY'RE BAAAACK! And are we glad of it!

If you think our LAST POST had an "UNEXPECTED" surprise... just take a look at THIS!  

https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/disney-legacy-comic-books/products/uncle-scrooge-legacy-468-the-curse-of-h-p-hatequack

Yes, this is just what it looks like - or NOT what it looks like, ya never know - Uncle Scrooge meets Duckburg's analog to H.P. LOVECRAFT!!!  

And, since *I* "LOVE" my "CRAFT" so very much, you can bet I did a lot of research on matters Lovecraftian before writing my first line of dialogue!  It all may not be apparent to the reader, but that effort was certainly there - and well beyond my usual diligence!  

But this was a GREAT STORY long before it crossed (or "double-crossed") my crooked path!  VERY UNUSUAL and VERY AMAZING!  ...And if ya don't believe me, just ask guest star Ludwig Von Drake!  

https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/disney-legacy-comic-books/products/donald-duck-legacy-392-the-three-caballeros-christmas-quest

And who could not love receiving The Three Caballeros as a Christmas gift!  What a great cover! Haven't read that one yet, myself... But somehow, I KNOW it's gonna be a Christmastime Keeper! 

...Oh, and don't worry, folks... Mickey's coming back a month later - with all kinds of great stuff!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: More "Unexpected" Than Usual!

When you open a copy of DC's horror title UNEXPECTED, you... you... well, you expect the unexpected from an issue of UNEXPECTED!

But, in the case of UNEXPECTED #202 (DC Comics, Cover Date: September 1980), there was more "unexpected" than usual!  

Yesterday (September 13, 2026), upon opening this comic for the first time to log it into my collection, between the cover and first page, I found THIS...

  ...Yes, really!   

Now, over the years, I've found many a stowaway tucked between the pages of a vintage comic book... strands of hair, cookie or cereal crumbs, and even the centerfold of a completely different comic!  

In the case of the hair and crumbs I simply brush them out, and with the unrelated centerfold I left it there in appreciation of the novelty, but what to do with a FOOTBALL WORD ASSOCIATION PUZZLE?  

The other finds are at least somehow part of the comics reading experience (eating while reading, for instance), but THIS?  

However, even this particular UNEXPECTED issue's inexplicably unexpected occurrence has an additional dose of the unexpected to it!  

What more unexpected about this could possibly be, you ask?  

Well I found that unexpected addition hiding in my copy of UNEXPECTED #202... (ready for it?)... on the FIRST SUNDAY of the 2026 NFL FOOTBALL SEASON!  

...And did so while simultaneously watching the NEW YORK JETS season opener - which (after only three wins in the 2025 season) the Jets ACTUALLY WON!!!  ...Talk about "unexpected"!  

Separated at Mirth: Leap... FROG?

Or, would that be "Leap 'MUNK", or "Leap BUNNY"?  With funny animal comics, you just never know!

As with CHIP 'N' DALE 78 (Whitman Comics, 1983)...

...And a TRIPLE... er, HEADER from BUGS BUNNY # 144 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: September, 1972)...

...BUGS BUNNY # 208 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: May, 1979)...

...And BUGS BUNNY # 237 (Whitman Comics, Cover Date: May, 1982)!  

I guess this means that Bugs is THREE TIMES THE PEST that Chip 'n' Dale are!  

Though Donald might disagree!

Either that, or bunnies are simply more inclined toward HOPPING!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: One Way OUR COMICS are Better than THEIRS!

When it comes to Disney comics, the European nations have it all over us six-ways-to-Sunday-Monday-Tuesday-and-Wednesday!   

To be sure, they DESERVE IT!  They support these things to an extent that we dullards in the USA, would never do!  

But, even as the dim, dogmatic, dictatorship-in-waiting that we've allowed ourselves to become in recent years, we still appear to have SOMETHING over those more-enlightened lands... OUR COVERS!

Just compare our cover of UNCLE SCROOGE #04/Legacy #464 Cover "B" (Fantagraphics [January 2026])...

...with that of Germany's MICKY MAUS #2019-19 (Ehapa Verlag, September 06, 2019)... 

...and compare for yourself!  

We get Kari Korhonen's full page of cover art without the distracting clutter, while they... they... they... aw th' heck with international diplomacy... they get way too much of it!  And too little of Kari's art to boot!

To be fair, the Scandinavian countries, where this storyline originated, also do the covers right...

...And they even get one on us, because they don't have the cover-image-perfection-spoiling UPC CODE BOX!  

At least Fantagraphics keeps it as small as possible!  And YAY for them! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: A Note in the Gutter!

Dear COLORIST of the final story in SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE #30 (DC Comics, Cover Date: November, 1980):

If you believe you've misplaced or lost a coloring instruction critical to the story, I've found a note to you from your editor... in, of all places, THE GUTTER... or MARGIN, if you prefer!  

See, it's over there to the right of the panel proper! 

Just LOOK UP and you'll see it!  

It's a rare occurrence when an internal note from an editor leaks out of the hallowed halls of a publisher and onto a printed page!  

As a fellow comics professional, I feel personally and professionally obliged to bring this unfortunate leak to your attention, before this cat/spilled-milk/genie gets too far out of the bag/bottle/lamp!  

As a 1980 comic, it's only been 46 years, and there's still time to shield this spillage from innocent civilian eyes not meant to see it!  

Don't thank me, Colorist... I'm merely respecting the "Comics Professional's Code" that keeps the "ordinaries" and "wanna-bees" from peeking too far behind our magic curtain!  

...Ulp! ...Heh!  Not that any of you reading this on my Blog, are "ordinaries" and "wanna-bees", heaven forfend!  ...Uh-oh!  I'm gonna need some help from another well-meaning comics professional to get me outta this! 

...HELP!