In the beginning, there was a fellow named Dana Gabbard, who
published a fanzine called “The Duckburg Times”…
But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
In the beginning, there was a blank sheet of paper in high
school English class and a totally “blank mind” in the unfocused head of
yours truly, unable to produce a composition. I just couldn't come up with a thing to write about!
Then, with only a few minutes remaining in the class period before I’d find myself turning in that “blank sheet” and receiving a grade of ZERO... INSPIRATION STRUCK – and I began to furiously write something titled “Sir Snagglepuss and the Dragon”… which, as you might guess, was about the beloved pink Shakespeare-spouting Hanna-Barbera mountain lion in the role of a (brave?) knight forced into noble combat with a… well, you know!
Then, with only a few minutes remaining in the class period before I’d find myself turning in that “blank sheet” and receiving a grade of ZERO... INSPIRATION STRUCK – and I began to furiously write something titled “Sir Snagglepuss and the Dragon”… which, as you might guess, was about the beloved pink Shakespeare-spouting Hanna-Barbera mountain lion in the role of a (brave?) knight forced into noble combat with a… well, you know!
On
that day, I realized that I could write... Both well and funny enough to entertain and
delight myself… and hopefully others!
...Though I'm not sure that composition broke a grade of 70 - but *I* liked it!
STILL, I’m getting ahead of myself.
In the beginning, there was this very special first comic
book (that I still have) purchased for me by my maternal grandmother at some
long-gone candy store in the Williamsburg Section of Brooklyn, NY (…probably a
condemned structure in the 1970s and ‘80s, and now the site of some “trendy hipster
restaurant” or something)!
I could not read – much less even know what the heck TO DO with this unusual, fragile-yet-both attractive-and-compelling object. But Grandma Millie soon provided the answer when she began to read it to me!
I didn’t know it then, but I was hooked into something that
would last the rest of my life!
But, what I DID eventually “know”, once I learned to read
things for myself, was that Grandma Millie was not actually reading this comic
book to me – or any others that followed.
She simply “extrapolated something” from the panels – and that was “the story
she read” to me! …And if you think that
wasn’t the SWEETEST THING for an old Italian lady to do… think again!
Other comic books came along in rapid succession…
This is a sampling of comics I actually had brand new - and still do, even if (in a few cases) they are not my original copies anymore!
And, thanks to these and others I’ve mercifully (for you) omitted, I was reading - by myself - before I entered kindergarten! ...Don't worry, you'll see MANY more comics I've had over the years, before I'm through! Let's move on...
There were also some very special TV SHOWS that only served
to further my pre-school zeal for those comic books!
Later, there were other special comic books...
Then, there were other special TV shows…
Then, there were other special TV shows…
…And still other special comic books!
...Oh, and did I mention there were LOTS of special comics?
...And more...
...And still more...
...Not finished yet...
And that's just a mere cross-section, representative of the comics I had, read, and enjoyed so much, back in my sainted middle-sixties!
I missed some great stuff...
Don't worry! I got them all in later years!
But in 1980-1981, it all came roaring back with the quite
accidental discoveries of both comic conventions…
These were the first two comics I ever bought as "back issues" at a comics convention - in Spring, 1980!
Above and below... Some of the very first "new" comics I ever purchased in an actual comic book shop, vs. a candy story or newsstand, circa early 1980s.
It was at one of those comic conventions that someone gave me a copy of “The Duckburg Times” and another fanzine called “The Barks Collector”, and encouraged me to contact the persons who assembled them.
Yes, that's a cover by William Van Horn!
I did, and Dana Gabbard encouraged me to write for his fine
publication.
As those publications eventually dwindled and died, I found
myself in an “unofficial successor” to one of my original venues, where the various
contributors were more inclined to write poetry, or describe their latest
travel escapades… with little interest in (as my masthead still says) “The
Things That Interest Me”!
So, on August 14, 2008 – TEN YEARS AGO – TIAH Blog (short
for “The Issue At Hand” – which referred to “issues” of comic books) went
online, and the last print vestige of TIAH delivered its farewell not long thereafter.
…I doubt the poets and travelers missed it much!
But, it was the best decision I could have made – as the writing
I've enjoyed since “Sir Snagglepuss” came together with comic books and products
of animation, television, and film (courtesy of DVD)… and, despite myself, this Blog somehow
attracted the GREATEST GROUP OF READERS AND COMMENTERS I could ever hope to
have! …Even if you DO “write poetry or
travel” in your off hours!
I’d like to thank ALL OF YOU for making this such a great
place to gather and discuss those very “Things That Interest Me” – and that,
hopefully interest you all as well!
Thank you for every precious, fun moment of those ten
years! …Who’s up for another ten,
huh?
Finally, HERE is a link to my (now-uncharacteristically brief) opening post!
44 comments:
Congratulations, Joe! Here's to another ten years (and then another ten... and so on!).
Congratulations from The Mob of the Maroon Magpie! I hear the Horde of the Violet Hare recently reached their 10,000 member... (Say, perhaps we can steal their celebratory cake for you!)
But anyway... happy 10th anniversary!
“A very, merry un-unbirthday, to you!!!…”
Say, you know what'd be a swell thing to do for this anniversary? Publish Sir Snagglepuss, if you've still got it around somewhere.
Congratulations on ten years of terrific material!
Your experience writing a Snagglepuss story parallels mine as the first story I wrote in grade one was about the Pink Panther’s encounter with the Easter Bunny. It was special as I practiced the concept of writing a story with a begging, middle, and end. Talk about pink degrees of separation. I may have been influenced watching the short, “The Hand Is Pinkier Than the Eye, which was one of the shorts on the VHS, “Pink Panther Cartoon Festival Featuring Pink at First Sight”
The story of your grandmother describing what was happening in the panels is very sweet. Sometimes I wonder with the entertainment a child is exposed to if comic-books are relevant as they once were?
I was not as drawn to comic-books at an early age as you were, is that at my convenience I could watch Bugs Bunny, Pink Panther, and the Three Stooges on VHS. For you there was only a certain time where you could watch Huck, Quick Draw, and Rocky and His Friends. Comic-books were probably for you what video-cassettes were to me in the sense that you could see the characters you liked frequently.
It wasn’t until I had seen most episodes of the Classic DUCKTALES, when I eventually started Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge stories.
Great selection of comic book covers that were special during your formative years.
I’ll raise a glass for another ten, and even more of blog posts especially during the (all together now) "Horrifically Busy Periods".
George:
Thank you! I figure we'll keep this blogging thing going - one decade at a time!
Maroon Magpies:
Go, and steal with my blessing! …That’s what Magpies do anyway, right?
I’ll take a celebratory cake from ANYONE! I’m not particular!
Achille:
Nice out-of-the-box thinking – wishing ME a “merry un-unbirthday” on my Blog’s actual birthday!
*I* appreciate it… even if the BLOG feels somewhat slighted! :-)
Alas, “Sir Snagglepuss” is lost to the ages… and that may be a good thing where Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera, Michael Maltese, and Daws Butler are concerned. …Remember, I’m not sure it even broke a grade of 70!
But, it was a seminal moment for me in that, on that life-changing day, I decided that I LIKED to write! And, as long as the subject held interest for me, it was not the CHORE I regarded it as – one mere class-period prior!
So, “Sir Snagglepuss”, Grandma Millie, and Dana Gabbard are the reasons we are even here today! …I thank them all – constantly!
Adel:
Thank you! Grandma Millie (who’s been gone about 30 years) would appreciate that – as I do!
What I still find amazing to this day is that, with her presumed limited English reading skills, that she crafted loving tales of the characters for me (that differed from what I eventually came to realize was on the printed pages) just by following the progression of the panels!
So, one could say that, while she may not have actually taught me to “read” (at least to any serious degree), she taught me the conventions of “how to read comics”!
I only wish she could know that her loving efforts eventually led to me working on some of the very same comics she “read” to me in 1958-1959! And, that I read (in large part thanks to her) on my own by 1960!
The comics were far more “special” to someone of my generation precisely because (as you note) they were my only connection to these beloved characters when the weekly shows ended – and would not be seen again for another SEVEN WHOLE DAYS… an agonizingly LOOOONG period for a child, let’s not forget!
I don’t think such a thing could ever happen again in our age of “constant-media-OF-all-kinds-AT-all-times”! A Huckleberry Hound comic went a LONG WAY toward easing those pangs brought about by “seven-day-separation”!
But, no matter how nostalgic I may sound about those days, it’s far better now… even if the lowly comic book is less relevant! Because, for us (your generation included) they will always hold a special place in our collective hearts! …And that’s why this Blog exists – and thrives!
By the 60's, you really saw more of the Disney characters in print than in theaters or on TV. And until 1987, Uncle Scrooge was only in ONE film (and an educational one at that!). So I'm sure many kids got to know Mickey and the Ducks through print media more than on TV.
So true, Deb!
And this is something many folks don’t understand – and, in this age of “The Disney Channel” and its spinoffs, “Disney DVD”, unceasing theatrical releases, streaming, and what-have-you, many folks do not even remember how it used to be!
I once had a rather strong disagreement with someone on the predecessor to the “Feathery Society” boards where I said that Paul Murry and the comics he drew LITERALLY “kept Mickey Mouse alive” in the United States during the period discussed.
Bear in mind that this individual was NOT a resident of the United States – but, somehow, he actually “knew-better” of the situation that I HAD truly grown-up with. There are a lot of people like that on the Internet – but not here at this humble, ten-year-old Blog – I’m proud to say! …But, I digress!
Unlike Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, and Yogi Bear, Mickey was not on TV. Mickey was not in the movies. And, beyond the Gold Key comic books, Mickey was only marginally merchandised! If you didn’t go to one of the two theme parks – and, being a kid in New York, that wasn’t much of an option – you really didn’t get to know Mickey without Paul Murry, Tony Strobl, Jack Bradbury, or Jack Manning as his chaperone!
But, yes… You got it right on, Deb!
@Debbie:
Well, don't sell Scrooge quite so short. He was in more than one film prior to DuckTales. Not that many, but more than. There's Scrooge McDuck & Money, of course, which I guess is what you're referring to, but there's also Mickey's Christmas Carol which saw Alan Young's debut in the role, from 1983, and the debatably-good but definitely-extant Magic Kingdom Yuletide Special from 1985.
And if you want to get technicaly, there's his cameo in the opening credits of the Mickey Mouse Club and the proto-Scrooge hallucination from The Spirit of '43. Though that's pre-1960's, of course, and only tenuously counts as appearances.
Congratulations to 10 years and counting, Joe! On to the questions:
1) Which one was Flippity and which one was Flop?
2) Who worked on that issue of Donald Duck with "The Incredible Golden Iceberg"? I own a copy and was impressed at the level of ambition - pretty close to a Barks' story with Magica in construction and pacing.
3) I don't know if you followed that run of Batman comics written by Doug Moench closely, but it is funny how fans used to think those stories were NEVER going to be collected, ditto anything from Mike W. Barr's run.
Thank you, ’Rehab!
Flippity was the canary. Flop was the cat. And the dog, who got no billing – likely for no better reason than maintaining the punnish-quality of the title – was named Sam!
Flippity and Flop (…and Sam) also shared REAL SCREEN COMICS with “The Fox and the Crow” and “Tito and his Burrito”… though F&F (…&S) rarely, if ever, received cover billing!
This was a good, funny comic out of the “Fox and Crow” (same creators) and Harvey Eisenberg “Tom and Jerry comics” mold – where “someone often tries to outsmart someone else”… and there is never a consistent winner or loser! (Yes, even the CAT wins his share of the encounters – though not with a “canary-sandwich”!) I think that last thing is very important for a “battle of wits” type series!
Their stories averaged 6 pages, sometimes reaching 8. No long adventures, but plenty of fun stuffed into those few pages! Jim Davis (not the “Garfield Guy”) is a tragically underrated cartoonist who made those pages shine with animation-style quality!
One final note, from the recollections of my earliest days… If you survey ALL THE OTHER COMICS in the section of the post that contained FLIPPITY AND FLOP, I’d acquired many more of each title in the ensuing years. Some, thanks to IDW, I’m still accumulating to this day!
…But I never got another FLIPPITY AND FLOP back then, and I always wondered why – until many years later when my first Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide (which was a unbelievable “reference work” to comic books pre-Internet) revealed that MY issue ( # 46) was the next-to-last issue published!
"The Incredible Golden Iceberg" was, and remains, one of my favorite Donald Duck lead stories of the classic period. Especially so, when Carl Barks’ stories are excluded from consideration. Yes, indeed, it could “run with Barks” at the time it appeared!
Tony Strobl did the art but, to my knowledge, the writer remains unknown. If I had to speculate, I’d consider Bob Ogle (especially in view of the humorous ending) or Carl Fallberg (always a good-go-to). Maybe even Cecil Beard, or Del Connell. …Just based on extrapolating other known credits.
I *LOVED* the Doug Moench / Mike W. Barr period for Batman! That’s why those comics are pictured in the “new comic shop” section! Those two issues marked my return to “mainstream DC”! (Which more-or-less-ended with “New 52”!) …And, no! Neither Moench nor Barr got the respect they deserved as notable Batman writers, and if they’re being collected now – that’s great!
If there's anything a comic book fan loves is a good origin story. :) Congrats Joe!
I find I prefer Barr's take over Moench, but both of their takes on who Batman is are very similar. Half of the Moench run - the stories illustrated by Gene Colan - is being collected in hardcover, and there are already two volumes of hardcover editions collecting the 90's Batman stories he wrote with art by Kelly Jones. I find his Batman to be rather chatty compared to modern takes, whereas Barr is more closer to being on the same track that leads to Grant Morrison's work but there are some good moments Moench.
As for Barr, hardcover volumes of "Batman: Year Two" and the "Batman and The Outsiders" comics are available..and his work on "Detective Comics" was just collected in trade paperback.
Joe:
Happy 10th anniversary!!! If you don’t mind me saying, the sense of community and acceptance you have created on this blog is, in my opinion, your greatest fandom-realted accomplishment.
In a time where everyone seems to have a problem with everyone this site is a rare digital gathering place where people can amicably discuss, entertain and learn from one another.
For that I would like to sincerely thank you Joe! And, I’d also like to thank your Grandmother along with ALL parental figures, like my own mom, who read to their children when they are young
Now onto the things from this post that interested ME (as in my self, NOT mark evanier)! It’s too bad your first pink-plotted epic is lost. Do you remember the general plot of the paper? Even if it was a C- or lower? After all even Shakesphere’s work was unfairly judged by the critics of his time.
I’m also curious to hear the story of how you accidentally discovered comic conventions and stores! I feel like you may have made a post on this subject before but I can’t remember
Joecab writes:
“If there's anything a comic book fan loves is a good origin story. :) Congrats Joe!”
Thanks! I *like* that!
Well, ya got MY origin story! KInda dull, ain’t it?
No distant planets exploding. No radioactive insect bites. Not even a BUNDLE OF COMIC BOOKS crashing through the window of my study – for me to declare as “AN OMEN!”
That’s the problem with “real life”… No interesting origins!
‘Rehab:
For me, in that ‘80s – ‘90s period, DC could do no wrong! Oh, they did PLENTY WRONG afterward, but I won’t start on that!
One of the most awesome things of its time was the “Killer Croc / Swamp Thing” story in 1995’s BATMAN # 521 and BATMAN # 522 by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones!
That was one amazing two-issue story in an era of blazing multi-issue, multi-title, mega-epics! It should have been the final appearance of Croc… but NOOOOO!
To bring this full-circle, I even wrote about it in the paper/fanzine edition of THE ISSUE AT HAND!
Happy Birthday, dear TIAH, Happy Birthday to You! Ten is a fine age--just ask Huey, Dewey and Louie! They've been ten for decades!
All props to Grandma Millie, who showed us that you don't need perfect language skills to enjoy a comic book story *and* that comic book stories are one of the best ways to lure a child to read. That remains true today, which is why we need more comics appropriate for young children, especially comics with a rich vocabulary, like the Disney Duck comics. When a child is reading a regular book and comes to a word she doesn't recognize, that just stops her in her tracks. But when a child is reading a comic book and comes to a word she doesn't recognize, the pictures both carry her past the word so she can keep on reading without a sense of failure and give her a vague idea of what the word might mean. A great help to an early reader!
So kids today may not need comics to tide them over until the next broadcast of the regularly scheduled TV cartoon show, but they still need comics to make reading easier and more attractive.
One girl I know with learning issues amazed her testers when she was 11 by spontaneously using and correctly defining the word "doppelganger"! Well, of course she knew that word, Scrooge has a doppelganger.
Thanks to Grandma Millie also for laying the foundation stone in the groundwork for the American translations of "The Wonderful Wishing Crown," "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold...Again!" and "Duckburg 100" (Captain Retro-Duck!) and so many more. Not to mention, the groundwork for this blog, with its civil and entertaining conversation! Because Grandma Millie knew that the best thing to do with a comic book is to use it to connect positively with another human being. May her name be blessed.
Clapton:
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your kind words on the nature of this humble Blog… But, I CAN (and will) repeat them here to preface my following remarks:
“Happy 10th anniversary!!! If you don’t mind me saying, the sense of community and acceptance you have created on this blog is, in my opinion, your greatest fandom-realted accomplishment. In a time where everyone seems to have a problem with everyone this site is a rare digital gathering place where people can amicably discuss, entertain and learn from one another. ”
I have recently wound-up a 35-year career in a reasonably lucrative – but very unsatisfying – field.
The comics translation/writing I’ve done for the past 11-12 years is entering a state of uncertainty.
So, perhaps my longest-lasting legacy just might be this Blog, and the fanzine and APA material that preceded it. I am VERY PROUD of the way we have all conducted ourselves here – and you are ALL part of that feeling of satisfaction I never achieved in my 35 year former career.
I actually chronicled my discovery of Comic Conventions and Comic Book Shops in the old “hardcopy” version – as part of my “Personal History of-and-with Comics” from the beginning thru the 1980s. Some of that overlaps what you’ve read in this post – but I should consider dusting that off for re-use, one day!
“Sir Snagglepuss” may be lost to the ages, but I still remember enough of it for a shot at reconstruction – so here goes:
Sleeping Sir Snagglepuss is awakened by a large, loud alarm bell hanging over his wood-and-straw bed, indicating a fearsome dragon is roaming the countryside. He slides down a “firehouse pole”, into the bottom-half of his waiting armor. The top-half is dropped onto him via a pulley.
Off he trudges quoting the works of his favorite poet. He has no horse, because each one eventually gets sick of the poetry and quits. He is eventually cornered by the Dragon, facing a doom of fiery breath.
As a final gesture, he whips-out his book of poetry for some last words. As he reads, the Dragon registers some recognition…
“Say, Bud… Would that happen to be “I Loathe Reptiles!”, by William Snakefear?”, asks the Dragon.
“The very same, m’ hot-lipped lord! The very same! Did you know he wrote this poem because he was “bored in Avon”?, replies Sir Snag with a sense of coming comradery.
As they are both huge fans of the poet – not to mention theatrically inclined – they put aside their differences to open an outdoor theatre dedicated to the collected works of William Snakefear! …With the Dragon providing the heat for the popcorn concession!
THAT’S IT! As best as I can reconstruct it with 1971-recollections (that are still amazingly sharp today!)
This is where I first entertained myself with my own writing, and acquired the notion that I might actually entertain others as well.
Looking back on it now, I think (with a CONSIDERABLE BIT of polishing and expansion) it would actually have made a descent Snagglepuss cartoon, circa 1961. Perhaps it can STILL make a passable comic book story someday!
I mean, William Snakefear is a pretty damn funny pun, especially considering your age.
Elaine:
As I was hard-at-work reconstructing “Sir Snagglepuss”, your lovely comment arrived. I sincerely thank you, on behalf of myself – and Grandma Millie!
I scarcely realized myself the full extent of all the many wonderful things Grandma Millie was directly – or indirectly – responsible for, until you put it so nicely in perspective!
There are SO MANY people just like her, who are responsible for so many great things – that nobody ever knows about! I’m so glad to have given her due – and delight in your own appreciation of her, as well.
Achillie writes: “ I mean, William Snakefear is a pretty damn funny pun, especially considering your age.”
Thank you, but I *was* 16 at the time – not a young as all that, perhaps. The mind was gearing up for this future-of-unceasing-puns even back then!
“No Honor Among Thebes”, which I mentally-envisioned for the Batman TV Villain “King Tut”, and eventually found its way into UNCLE SCROOGE’s “Mummy Fearest”, also dated from around that time!
…And the “Phantom Blot Capture Gag” in SHOWCASE # 6, was five years older than that!
My mind always worked in this strange way… I’m just glad I’ve had the opportunity to harness it for good – and not evil!
Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, Joe! Some of your story I knew, much of it I lived, only on the West Coast instead of the East. Several of those Gold Keys I had as hand-me-downs, while the Dells I purchased much later as a collector. I just can't get enough of looking at vintage and not-so-vintage comic book covers, but especially the Dell and early Gold Key comics.
In my early twenties, I attempted to write from memory a short story based on "The Blessed Event" episode from "The Flintstones." I never showed it to anyone, and now I fear the notebook is lost, but I was quite proud of it at the time.
Love the Snagglepuss story, and yes, it would make a good cartoon for either then or now.
During the early 70's the "retro Mickey" of the 30's became popular on T-shirts, sweatshirts, bumper stickers, etc. and I would venture that to the non-comics reading public that was probably the main venue for exposure of Mickey during that time. So while comics were keeping him in evidence on a monthly basis or so, he also had a renewed life as a 70's icon. Yet overall there was truly not much Disney available in the 70's and early 80's--apart from the monthly comics. That's one thing that has improved over the years--the presence of classic Disney animation.
Congratulations to you and the blog for reaching another milestone! May there be many more yet to come!
Scarecrow:
Thanks very much for the kind words. Yes, from various communications and in these respects, it DOES seem like we’ve lived parallel lives on opposite coasts. My gosh! I wrote a “Lost Snagglepuss”, and you wrote a “Lost Flintstones”? Our “origins” are kinda like Batman and Green Arrow (…but without that “parent and/or fortune losing stuff”)! But, my “Batmobile” can beat your “Arrow Car” any day! Nyaaah!
As I seem to recall it, the “old style Mickey” that was a kind of “icon” of the ‘70s grew out of the Counterculture of the late ‘60s thru early-mid ‘70s. It was… um, “…those kind of shops” that were first to offer such merchandise – presumably unauthorized, back when you could actually get away with that stuff.
Pure speculation on my part – but seems very logical – would be that this sort of merchandise rose as a result of the infamous “Air Pirates Funnies” of 1971. The link will explain why the “thirties-look”. Also my pure speculation, but characters of this style were just “a few steps off” from those like “Mr. Natural” and that ilk, most likely explaining the appeal to Counterculture consumers!
With that success came similar marketing to “similarly dormant” Warner Bros. characters. Surely you remember shirts and patches - and even mud-flaps - of Yosemite Sam with guns drawn that said “BACK OFF!”. Let alone the infamous shirts, patches, etc. of Wile E. Coyote holding the Road Runner (by the neck?) that said “Beep-Beep Yer Ass!”. Can’t imagine Chuck Jones had anything to do with that!
Gold Key Comics of the seventies even used to run a full-page ad of such stuff that included such characters along with other Counterculture imagery. How many of you remember that? You can even SEE a portion of one of those ads, juxtaposed with a page of Paul Murry’s Mickey Mouse in THIS POST!
And, in the most amazing tangent a comment like this could possibly have, the phrase “Beep-Beep Yer Ass!” was actually parodied in a ‘70s issue of Gold Key’s TWEETY AND SYLVESTER, where Tweety suddenly became a “big-rig-trucker” (during the ‘70s “C.B. Radio” craze), as “Beep-Beep Your Puddy Tat!”!
I kid you not! This was one of the weirdest stories ever published by Gold Key, with Tweety actually producing his “big-rig-truck” from out of nowhere on-panel (as toons are wont to do), to go off and help a fellow trucker in distress! Sylvester surreptitiously follows with a meal on his mind – and a surprise Looney Tunes guest star turns up for the finale! I even wrote about this story in one of the Print Editions of THE ISSUE AT HAND – lest we stray too far from our Anniversary celebration!
I *WISH* I had the time and ability to look that issue up right now – to identify it for you! Anyone else ever see it?
But, back to Mickey… I still, and will always, maintain that the comics from Western Publishing literally kept the Mouse “alive” in the Unites States, as a character, during that unfortunate period of dormancy!
In my youngest days (in the 1970s), we had a subscription to some sort of Disney book club, with such titles as "The Mickey Mouse Magic Book", "The Mickey Mouse Make-It Book" and other storybooks featuring Mickey, Donald, Goofy and the rest. So that probably helped keep Mickey in kids' minds as well as comics, coloring books, Little Golden Books, children's records and occasional appearances on TV's "Wonderful World of Disney". "The Mouse Factory" and later "The New Mickey Mouse Club" would put Mickey on TV, but not in the same sort of "just dumping these old films to UHF stations" way as Popeye, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker and others. It wasn't until The Disney Channel came along in the 80s with shows like "Good Morning, Mickey", "Donald Duck Presents" and "Mousterpiece Theater" that the old cartoons got regular showings and timeslots. The VHS era also found a home for select Disney cartoons. And of course, when Gladstone's comics hit stands in 1986 and "DuckTales" hit local stations in 1987, it really helped put the characters back on the map again. I suspect that a good part of the seemingly renewed interest in these characters can be traced back to nostalgic Gladstone readers as well as Disney Afternoon fans.
Good grief, am I writing a book here? Sheesh!
Deb:
Of course, all that you describe was “the road back” for Mickey and the other classic Disney characters that lead them to more-or-less where they are today. But, in the more narrowly-defined fallow period for these characters I refer to, that was the mid-late 1960s thru early 1970s USA, there was merchandising such as story books, coloring books, and puzzles (…Also, I might add, courtesy of Western Publishing via its many branches!), but it was minimal compared with what had come before and would come again.
It was largely the ever-reliable, available-everywhere, monthly WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES, the regular MICKEY MOUSE title, and other offshoots like THE PHANTOM BLOT that really gave Mickey whatever “sense of character” he then-possessed (…something you couldn’t quite get from the pleasant-but-static imagery of a coloring book or a frame-tray puzzle), before the resurgence of the original shorts and new animated projects, along with a comic book renaissance for both classic and newer material, would eventually come to the fore.
I should also throw some credit in the direction of the Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip for keeping Mickey going. Though, by that time, it was a pale shadow of its former self and carried in fewer and fewer newspapers, it was still drawn by Floyd Gottfredson until about 1975 – and that’s gotta count for something.
And “writing books" is what this comment section is all about! We welcome that here!
The comic books did have a better handle on Mickey’s personality than the storybooks did. In those, Mickey goes on some pleasant adventure that ends in about 20 pages or less, and everyone is all smiles at the end.
During the mid-70s in the summers, my family made cross-country road trips and one of my personal missions was to discover the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck daily comic strips by checking out local newspapers in the various towns and cities where we stopped. My local Seattle newspaper carried the Sunday versions but not the dailies of these two--although the daily paper did include "True-Life Adventures" (not on the comics page) and "Merry Menagerie" (on the comics page).
I found only one paper that carried the daily Donald Duck strip, and it was an East coast paper. I'm thinking it was the Boston one, but that's only a guess by this time, so I could very possibly be proven wrong. And I know for sure that the Waterville Sentinel in Maine carried the Scamp daily strip.
NONE of the papers I checked out--and I checked out many--carried the Mickey Mouse daily comic strip. (I'm pretty sure I also never found a paper that carried the Flintstones daily comic strip, either.) This was during the era when Mickey was still being drawn by Gottfredson, and it was documented in some articles I had read, so I particularly wanted to find a sample of the contemporary daily strip.
It's a sad commentary on Disney and the times that not one major US city of the ones I checked out had a newspaper that carried the Mickey Mouse daily comic strip.
One plus that did happen in the 70's, however, was that our Seattle newspaper started around 1974 to carry the annual month-long Disney Christmas comic strip during November/December. Naturally I read and collected these avidly.
And this is a whole other tangent, but during the early to mid 70s the Disney characters were also brought to life in "Disney on Parade" a live stage show featuring the costumed Disney characters in re-creations of scenes and musical numbers from the various Disney animated features. There were a total of 4 annual editions of this show, each one different, and I got to see every one of them at the Coliseum in the Seattle Center. I still have the programs to prove it.
Deb:
Your write: “The comic books did have a better handle on Mickey’s personality than the storybooks did. In those, Mickey goes on some pleasant adventure that ends in about 20 pages or less, and everyone is all smiles at the end.”
…And what could be better than that! …And, thanks to Casty and others, it’s STILL great today!
Scarecrow:
I can only speak for New York. The DONALD daily and Sunday, the MICKEY Sunday only, and daily and Sunday THIMBLE THEATRE/POPEYE were carried in the early 1960s by the “New York Journal American”. “The Long Island Press” carried POPEYE and MUTT AND JEFF. “Newsday” carried the FLINTSTONES daily and Sunday, and YOGI BEAR Sunday only!
The Journal American was gone in the early sixties. The Long Island Press lasted a bit longer, but still succumbed later. Newsday remains to this day, but dropped the FLINTSTONES and YOGI by about 1964-1965.
In response to SO MANY New York newspapers folding by the mid-‘60s, there came into being a “specialty Sunday paper” – first called “The New York Knickerbocker”, and then “The New York Column Knickerbocker”!
Although it carried no Disney strips – and the additional lack of POPEYE indicated that they did not deal with King Features Syndicate – this was a heavenly revelation! FLINTSTONES and YOGI, BUGS BUNNY (by Ralph Heimdahl) ARCHIE, and my introduction to two other strips I became very fond of – EEK AND MEEK and MOOSE MILLER!
While it presented only the SUNDAY strips, it became available on Saturday afternoon! And so, after the SatAM cartoons, it was off to get “The Knickerbocker”. And, if you found some NEW COMIC BOOKS, while picking up the Knickerbocker – well, it just didn’t get better than that! The Knickerbocker started in 1967, and ended about 1970-71.
There was also, for a very brief time in the late sixties, another Long Island paper called “The Suffolk Sun” (no Sunday edition), which carried the daily DONALD (still by Al Taliaferro) and FLINTSTONES. And printed their daily comics section in very rudimentary COLORS! It wasn’t much, but in the sixties, it sure was something.
None of these strips - FLINTSTONES and YOGI, BUGS BUNNY, POPEYE, DONALD, or MICKEY were available in New York at some point in the early ‘70s – and STILL AREN’T!
…But we sure have a lot of strips that look like “sloppy doodling” these days, don’t we!
Actually, I was referring to the storybooks, which in retrospect are about as exciting as room temperature vanilla yogurt (unless, of course, you’re Donald Duck, who has an affinity for vanilla, but I digress). The comic books do follow that pattern as well, but in an enjoyable way.
Hey! I like vanilla yogurt!
But room temperature vanilla yogurt... that doesn't sound so good.
Sounds yucky, actually! And, for some reason, I didn't realize Deb was referring to the STORYBOOKS, rather than the comics!
Those were like reading the "text stories" in the Dell and Gold Key comics... that most people skipped-over - including me!
I felt the same about those "text stories." As a kid, I regularly skipped them. Once in a while the illustration or title would catch my eye and I would read it over, or skim it, but never found them particularly satisfying. They did not even seem to capture the spirit of the book in which they appeared, even when dealing with the same characters. They generally seemed to be geared for much younger readers, like the Little Golden Books and other story books. The reasoning may have been that the stories were aimed at younger siblings of the comics readers.
Now, here's the weird part--as an adult re-reading these old comics, I endeavor to give myself the entire experience, and so I have been (gasp!) actually READING those text stories! Most of them are what you would expect--mediocre and banal, over before a proper climax can even be reached, resolved too easily within the last paragraph. But there are a few gems.
One place where the "text page" feature really shines is in the Dell/Gold Key "Flintstones." An early entry is about early man's use of fire. In issue #11 (yes, that momentous one) there is an article about the La Brea Tar Pits. There are a few Cave Kids stories from way back when the only Cave Kids were Sandy and Sally Stone, plus a few of Perry Gunnite's cases are chronicled--and quite effectively, I might add. But the real "gems" are the stories about Fred's nephew Rodney Rocktop, reconfigured as a beatnik. These stories are hip (for the times), tongue in cheek, and utterly hilarious! This is one instance where the writer is not "writing down" to his audience. While most of them are in the form of stories, one of the pages delves into Rodney's style of "beatnik talk" in an amusing send-up. Taken all together, the Rodney stories flesh out the character of Rodney Rocktop so that when he makes his appearance in an actual comic book story (once again, issue #11) he already has some dimension. It's interesting to note that during the period when Rodney was making his frequent visits to the Flintstone household, he was not featured in the text stories. But after his final "new" appearance in issue #20, reprints of his text stories continued. Later "Flintstones" issues reprinted stories about Touche Turtle or Yakky Doodle, and these were the usual so-so stuff (no offense to Peter Potamus' sidekick). But overall, the text stories in "The Flintstones" are a pretty rich mine and well worth the effort.
Scarecrow:
I am quite certain that I never read ANY of those text stories as a kid! Even when the subject-character was one in which I had an interest. In fact, I could not understand why they were even included, rather than an additional page of comics – until many years later, as an adult collector, I learned that they existed to fulfill some strange postal regulation applicable to mail subscriptions! (…Don’t get me started on the “Gold Key Comics Club”, that, beginning with issues released in January 1967, supplanted SIX WHOLE PAGES of comics – in addition to the one already taken-up by the text page!)
The postal regulation made perfect sense toward explaining the “mystery” of why titles NOT offered on a subscription basis like THE PHANTOM BLOT (…the subject of our next post) could run full 32-page stories! And why SUPER GOOF would also have a full 32 pages of comic material!
Other Gold Key titles not running text pages were the earliest mid-sixties all-reprint issues of PORKY PIG, TWEETY AND SYLVESTER, and BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER! Though, these Warner Bros. titles DID run them once they were eventually offered on a subscription basis. …Neat, how that all comes together, eh?
A funny (but, perhaps, not so surprising) thing is that, like you, I have been known to read an occasional one of these text stories in my adult years, when both time and inclination allow, and do so for the same reason! Also not surprising, is that I tend to agree with your general assessment of them.
But, I can’t say I’ve read any of the text stories from THE FLINTSTONES that you cite – though I DO recall that a number of them concerned the character of “Rodney Rocktop”, a character we first saw as a “child” and later as a “beatnik-type” in the comics stories. It would seem that Rodney’s “maturation” (…if, from an early 1960s viewpoint, once could consider becoming a “beatnik” as “maturing”) may have taken place in those very text pages! …For that alone, I should revisit some of them next time I re-read a FLINTSTONES from that period!
Another title that I did not read in those years but have come to thoroughly enjoy since, DC’s BOB HOPE, also had some interesting text pages that I DO read whenever I open an issue of that title.
Earlier issues, many before my birth, were about the “show-business” and vinyl record releases of the time (…one even touting those newfangled “45 RPM records”), always featuring an amazing array of names of celebrities from the period! Later issues, such as those I might have purchased during the sixties, offered “Bob Hope-style monologues” (meaning a series of the type of jokes you could imagine him telling) as the required text page!
I read those more consistently for their overall entertainment and, frankly, historical value! This will also be discussed in a pre-written post on the BOB HOPE title that will be coming soon!
It was so late that — oops, wrong blog post! Well, in any event, my comment is certainly very late, even more so than usual! I’ve been busy as a beaver lately, so I haven’t had time to convey my congratulations to you on this momentous feat. Better late than never, though, so congratulations.
I look forward to continuing to read your blog. In the past few years, you’ve played a decisive role in getting me far more interested in comic books in general (and Disney comics in particular) than I ever had been in the past. True story: last week at a meeting of my local Toastmasters (public speaking) club, I referenced “The Wonderful Wishing Crown,” written by Vito Stabile and translated by you! I did so during the “Table Topics” portion of the meeting, during which members must answer a question not known to them in advance in one to two minutes. The purpose to get members to practice thinking on their feet. Anyway, the question I was asked was, “If you could wish for anything in the world, what would it be?” While thinking of a concrete answer to the question, I began my two-minute monologue by musing that one should be careful what one wishes for, lest one get it. To give an example of this phenomenon, I cited Uncle Scrooge accidentally wishing that his nephews Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie would disappear! In the course of saying all of that, I managed to come up with a wish, but, frankly, I can’t recall what it was! I do recall talking about Uncle Scrooge, though. What better proof of my status as a bona fide fan than finding a way to work in a reference to Disney comics in a discussion of a totally unrelated topic?
One wish I that will not forget, however, because it comes from the bottom of my heart, is that you will blog for many, many more years to come!
I enjoyed hearing about how this blog came about. From reading your comments over the years, I was vaguely aware that it had its origins in a fanzine, but it was fascinating to learn more about how the fanzine came to be. Do you still have the articles for you wrote for The Issue at Hand magazine, The Duckburg Times, and the others? If so, I’d love to see them here in the future!
(to be continued)
(continued from previous comment)
I loved the story of your grandmother “reading” that Sylvester and Tweety comic book to you! I have a somewhat similar story. You know that Brazilian Bugs Bunny comic book I’ve blogged about, and even mentioned here a couple times? I may have told this story before, but that comic book once belonged to my mother, who as a little girl in Portugal found it in — oh, the horror — a trash can at (if I recall correctly) her cousin’s house! (Perhaps the book came from Brazil originally, but I think it’s more likely that Editora Abril had a contract with Western to publish Portuguese translations of their stuff and release them all over the Portuguese-speaking world, including Portugal). To her credit, she thought, “No way I am letting this treasure end up in a dump!” So, she scooped it up and enjoyed it. Years later, when we’re visiting my grandparents (her parents), my grandmother gets a stack of old books and says to my mom, “Hey, these books belonged to you. Do you want them?” She said yes. As nine- or ten-year-old me looked through the stack, I came across the Bugs Bunny comic book. My eyes lit up. “Can we take this book to America, mom? Huh, can we? Can we?” And the rest, as they say, was history. Anyway, back in America, it was my mom that read me the very first story in the book, in part to get me excited about reading stuff in Portuguese. I enjoyed it so much that I soon read the rest of the book by myself without her knowing, so that the next time she read me a story from it, I blurted out a spoiler, prompting her to give me a playful look of mock disapproval. “Ah, I see you’ve been reading ahead…”
I love “Sir Snagglepuss and the Dragon!” I’m sure it would have been better received by your teacher had you not thought it up at the very last minute. On the other hand, it’s worth remembering what Chuck Jones once said: “You must respect the impulsive thought and try to implement it. You cannot perform as a director by what you already know, you must depend on the flash of inspiration that you do not expect and do not know.” That’s true of any creative person, of course, and certainly of writers! So, who knows? Perhaps if you *hadn’t* thought it up at the very last minute, it wouldn’t have been as good in your eyes and wouldn’t have inspired you to become a writer. In any event, it’s great to hear that your dream (however inchoate it may have been at the time) came true!
Just out of curiosity, what do you mean when you say that “the comics translation/writing I’ve done for the past 11-12 years is entering a state of uncertainty?”
Once again, happy (belated) blogversary!
Sergio:
What a wonderful comment! Thank you!
Your comment does not, in any way, rival IDW’s UNCLE SCROOGE # 34 in terms of lateness! But, even if it did, it is very welcome and appreciated!
I love stories of persons applying what they read in comics, lessons-learned or inspiration otherwise derived from them, to other aspects of life! Our friend Adel Khan is particularly good at this – but we ALL have such moments, and I’m honored (as I’m certain Vito Stabile would also be) to have been a part of one of yours!
I’d like to salute your mother, right along with Grandma Millie, for her role in another of those “Forever Moments” that all lifetime comic book enthusiasts seem to have! Quite often, there is “someone to thank” in everyone’s past that allowed them to “end up here” – and, along with your mother and Grandma Millie, I’d like to honor each and every one of them with these words!
Clearly, “Sir Snagglepuss” was far more meaningful to and influential on ME than it was to the teacher! On the whole, I feel I’d rather have produced decades worth of generally well-received fanzine, blog, and professional writings – and received a grade of 70 – then have impressed the teacher for a day and lived-out the rest of my life in creative anonymity!
To digress, it was my distinct impression that, back in my high school and college days of the 1970s, creativity that was “outside of the instructor’s plan” was discouraged in both writing and art. I found myself particularly frustrated over this and went “creatively dormant” for quite a while because of it. I didn’t really snap out of it until the “fanzine days” rekindled my imagination again in the 1980s.
Speaking of the “fanzine days”… Yes, I still have a good deal of that stuff – and HAVE repurposed it for the Blog from time to time. I should do more of that! I know there’s one I’ve wanted to re-use for a long time, about one of my favorite Bugs Bunny comic book stories! Like everything else, it’ll happen sooner or later!
The “uncertainty” is simply that there looks to be less to do at IDW in the coming months, for reasons that have nothing to do with the high quality of the work that our translation-team and our superb “Archival Editor” David Gerstein have provided in service to these comics… but there looks to be more coming from Fantagraphics' "Disney Masters" project. That’s about all I’ll elaborate on for now, but I remain hopeful that things will eventually revert to their “normal state”. ...And that we KEEP the extra work from Fantagraphics!
No matter what, you’ll always have me at the Blog! That’s both a threat AND a promise!
My gateway into Disney comics-- and any comics in general-- came through the pocket book Donald Duck Adventures that Gemstone printed, which were blessedly in supply at my local library. From there, much like your grandmother, my mom pushed me along the way a couple of times. I moved from Donald Duck Adventures to WDC&S and Uncle Scrooge when I was home from school sick in bed and she brought me a WDC&S from the library (so really, the moral of this story is that Gemstone's pocket books and prestige format did wonders for me, as I don't think the library ever opted for flimsier comics I devoured that issue-- 649-- which I loved. (As a side note, this fostered an appreciation for William van Horn, as his trick-or-treat story "It's in the Bag!" stuck the most with me from the issue. Perhaps IDW's reprint in their Halloween Scream a couple of years ago hooked in some more kids who picked up the free issue.)
From that point on, I constantly checked out Gemstone issues. Not so much later in my childhood, my mom offered me a couple of Disney comics as a reward for something, and gave me two issues from the 90s in-house publication-- Goofy Adventures 11 and Uncle Scrooge 277. She had picked these up from some local comic shop that was still selling them; years later when I started collecting and even Gemstone was sparse in the vicinity, I have no idea which. I was initially shallowly disappointed; with no conception of any Disney comics outside of Gemstone, the comics seemed flimsy and underwhelming. "The Great Steamboat Race," included in US277, however, changed my mind.
I wore that poor comic book to death over time-- really, I kept it in decent condition, but it saw a lot of use. Then I left both of the issues out on the back porch, and it rained...
But this was actually a fortunate event, at least from my perspective, because that was what triggered my desire to acquire more, and led me to my steady acquisition of more and more back issues, throughout the dead zone before and after Boom (and really during Boom as well, as I mostly ignored their publications) and all the way through to the steady quality supply that IDW is now offering.
And here we are! Gemstone also brought me to this blog in the end, I believe, as I consistently read your offerings in the letters page and knew your name well.
So in the end, out of all the publishers, Disney in-house has something of a special place in my heart and Gemstone claims the pedestal. So much entertainment packed into those pages-- thanks to the library, the price didn't shut me down, and all the fantastic Barks stories were new to me alongside all the other variety of offerings.
Thanks, mom!
Abe:
Very pleased to see you back in our Comments Section!
That is a wonderful story, the type of which I LOVE to hear! I think that John Clark and David Gerstein would appreciate the significant part that their Gemstone comics played in your journey – just as Chase Craig’s late Dells and early Gold Keys played in mine! …This is something that can TRULY be generational!
Mark Evanier may have said something like… “Every comic is [or can be] someone’s first!”
To that, I add… “Every comic can also be someone’s most special!”
For instance, the various comic book price guides may not hold UNCLE SCROOGE # 277 in particularly high regard – or WDC&S # 284, for that matter – but they are KEY, if not life-changing, issues for you and I respectively!
I officially salute your mom for her loving efforts… and for, quite literally, making this exchange possible! “Thanks, mom!”, from me too!
And, I close requesting a “Moment of Silence” for the noble sacrifice of one intrepid copy each of GOOFY ADVENTURES # 11 and UNCLE SCROOGE # 277! …Though they may have seriously warped beyond reading condition – if not largely disintegrated – in that fateful rainstorm, their role in your evolution as a comic collector and fan is undeniable!
Joe! It's been so long! I was just thinking about you and decided to check out your blog, and I'm thrilled that you're still sharing your thoughts on pop culture with the world. Sorry I've been out of touch for so long! thanks
Thank you, Mark!
It may be a comfort (…or, perhaps, a discomfort) to know that I intend to ALWAYS “share my thoughts on pop culture” – at least those segments of it that interest me – for some time to come!
Glad you checked-out the Blog! I feel it’s the perfect successor to the old “hard copy” stuff I used to do… and, with it, I’ve found the exact audience I’d always been seeking.
I hope you’ve been reading the comics that David Gerstein, Jonathan Gray, Thad Komorowski, and I have been working on. I think you’d really find them enjoyable.
I’m still at the same old e-mail address, if you have further comment.
And that goes for everyone reading this, with whom I’m not presently in independent contact. As I say periodically – and now is as good a time as any to say it again – send a Comment to the Blog with your e-mail address. I will not publish that comment! I will respond as time and my (all together now) “Horrifically Busy” situations allow!
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