I've always loved legendary comedian Bob Hope on television, be it his regularly aired specials or his movies - especially those with Bing Crosby - but, for reasons unknown, I've not gotten into his comic books until relatively recently.
Said lack turned out to be my misfortune, as the BOB HOPE title, published by DC Comics (1950-1968), has turned out to be an utter joy!
Written by Cal Howard and drawn by Owen Fitzgerald for the majority of its run, the comic centered on Hope as a down-on-his-luck former actor, now living in a tiny New York apartment wondering where his next meal will come from, and avoiding his strong-willed old landlady, Mrs. Peabody, whenever the rent is due!
Each issue, fast-talking Bob would would outsmart himself, by getting into various situations way over his head, most often in pursuit of some beautiful gal.
...Sounds a lot like the "Movie Bob Hope" to me!
Some of the comics even reference a former partnership with Bing Crosby - in which, characteristically, Crosby fared far more successfully!
As the 1950s rolled-on into the 1960s, Bob Hope's comic book adventures began to reflect more of that special type of 1960s intrigue that helped define the decade in pop culture - though still motivated by the (...all together now) beautiful gal!
THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE # 76 (1962) - Art by Mort Drucker.
Finally, as the 1960s actually BECAME "The 1960s We Know And Love", DC Comics ushered-in its memorably-infamous "GO-GO-CHECKS" era!
And, with it, Bob Hope found his title given over to a wonderfully odd melange of teenagers (...One super powered, courtesy of a "magic guitar"!) and monsters!
These issues were written by the great and wildly imaginative Arnold Drake - who also wrote the STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER feature that (at more or less this same time) took over THE FOX AND THE CROW!
Watch them slowly take over, folks! Let this be a lesson to you! Never invite a MONSTER into your own eponymous comic book! They'll take it over every time!
The art for this unusual run - that could ONLY have occurred in (...all together now) "The 1960s We Know And Love", was by Bob Oksner...
...With the legendary Neal Adams (to my mind, one of the greatest of all time) sneaking in there toward the very end!
Imagine the co-creator of Batman's arch-foe Ra's Al Ghul also drawing a "Monster Baby Contest"! But, that's why we love the sixties, right?
History lesson over! We're here to discuss THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE # 7 (DC Comics, Cover Date: February/March, 1951)
The issue trumpets its "52 BIG PAGES"...
...But, let's look at that a little more closely - both literally and figuratively (below)!
There are 48 interior pages to this comic! Some would say that, including the heavier-stock sheet that forms the cover-wrap, the book would be 52 PAGES!
I DO NOT! Sorry... It is 48 PAGES, plus a cover wrap!
When one examines a HARDCOVER BOOK, does one regard the FRONT COVER as "PAGE ONE"? The inside front cover as Page Two? The BACK COVER as the final page?
No, one does not! So, why should we imply this page-count-increasing fallacy to the lowly comic book? Most likely so a publisher can give you the impression you're getting more for your "one-thin-dime" than is actually the case.
If THIS isn't PAGE ONE...
...Why should THIS be?
This sort of labeling was a common practice back in the 1950s, and has its vestiges today, when 32-page modern comic books are touted as being 36 pages!
Now, that's not to say that THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE # 7 doesn't give you a lot of great entertainment for that thin-dime - because it certainly does!
We lead with a 30 PAGE Bob Hope story, spread over three chapters, where Bob gets thrown out of his apartment yet again (...and this is only ISSUE SEVEN!)...
...And takes up with the circus!
Despite dredging-up the old "Character thinks he's going to face a guy in a lion-costume, but is facing the REAL lion instead" bit...
...Which was HOARY even in 1951...
...A good time is still had by the reader!
In a slight twist, the actual lion is not merely substituted for the costumed phony, but the LION ITSELF is INSIDE the LION COSTUME! Look closely and you can see that the lion costume is DRAPED-OVER the actual lion!
So, let's give props to artist Owen Fitzgerald for the unenviable task of having to draw a REAL lion BENEATH the COSTUME of a lion! Check out the snout, inside the blank-eyed costume's snout!
That's pretty impressive cartooning, if you think about it - and not something I feel just anyone could easily pull-off!
But, as much fun as this story might be, it's only 30 PAGES, while the issue touts (...all together now) "52 BIG PAGES"!
Now, even if you decide that it's only "48 REGULAR-SIZED PAGES", rather then the stated "52 BIG PAGES", that's still only 30 PAGES of Bob Hope content... unless you count the FRONT COVER and call it 31!
Let's stick with 48 PAGES, as that comprises the issue's interior, and figure that there are 18 ...er, um, "Hopeless Pages"!
I suppose that's no SO bad, given the normal advertising considerations that sometimes glutted DC Comics of the period and beyond... but consider that the issue's LAST "Bob Hope Content Page", is interior page 36!
That means that, even regarding the issue as 48 PAGES, rather than 52, there are still TWELVE (count 'em - 12) consecutive pages at the end of the issue... with er, um... "No Hope!"
So, what filled those remaining 12 interior pages, you might ask?
There was ADVERTISING - with, or without, DC's standard "little filler strips" to balance out the page. [Click to Enlarge All Illustrations!]
"A Bit of DISC and DATA" - a two-page text feature discussing music recordings of the day. Look for the names of Nat "King" Cole and his wife Maria, Duke Ellington, Gordon MacRae, Kay Starr, David Rose (who I knew while growing up as the composer for BONANZA and the orchestra leader for THE RED SKELTON HOUR), Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Louis Armstrong (incorrectly nicknamed as "Satcho"), Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Jordan, Richard Hayes, Tex Beneke, Eydie Gorme, Dennis Day (who I knew as a mainstay of THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM), Eddie Fisher, and many others!
You'll also find words like "Spin", Flip-Side", and "Platter" sprinkled throughout the jargon - and talk of that new-fangled invention... the 45 RPM Record! ...Yes, really!
Gosh! The Fifties REALLY WERE a LONG TIME AGO, weren't they?
Finally, in a spot of humorous irony for a BOB HOPE comic, there's also a blurb touting a famous BING CROSBY recording...
...Not to mention a certain DC COMIC BOOK! How's that for cross-promotion!
This issue would have been on sale at the same time as THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE # 7!
Getting back to those "last twelve pages", we have a DC House Ad for TOMAHAWK and a mandatory magazine circulation statement. Oh, and file TOMAHAWK away for a little later in the post!
...Somehow, I don't think we'd see TOMAHAWK in comics today! At least not with that particular ad copy. ...Just a hunch.
A five-page story, "Miss Beverly Hills of Hollywood", drawn by Bob Oksner in a style just a tad too reminiscent of those straight-laced "romance comics" to effectively carry the tale's humorous conclusion and punchline.
Hey, at least Bob Hope's NAME is at the top of the page, so we don't forget it's his book!
More advertising is interspersed throughout these twelve pages, until we get to the last page... and a very interesting and unusual DC Comics "Public Service Announcement"!
DC Comics regularly lent their properties to front "PSA"s - from Superman to Peter Porkchops - but this triumvirate of Tomahawk, Green Arrow, and The Shining Knight, is unprecedented to say the least!
See? I TOLD YA to "file Tomahawk away" for later! Literacy in the 1950s could depend on him!
Attaboy, TOMMY! Keep those kids out of fifties street gangs - you and Harlan Ellison!
"Greenie" and "Shiny" pitch in too!
I already have a Library Card, but this makes me wanna get THREE MORE! One for each Champion of Literacy!
Seriously, that IS quite clever on the part of DC - appealing to kids drawn to certain types of heroic characters (Frontiersman, Archer, Knight) and spreading the idea that such concepts exist - and do so grandly - outside of comic books and movies! ...And certainly a "good message" to send during the fanatically unfair anti-comic-book-political-crusades of the period!
GOOD FOR YOU, DC! Sincerely!
But, what of Bob?
Well, he simply did not appear in any way, shape, or form over the last twelve pages of THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE # 7!
For more, we'd have to wait two months until the next issue! And, since the me of "Alternate-1950s-Type-Earth" does not own a copy of THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE # 8 (nor does *This 2018 Me*, for that matter)…
...I guess I'd have to wait longer still! And that's the story of THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE # 7 - and why "...In the End There Was No Hope!"
...And I ain't LION!
19 comments:
That story should've featured a tiger instead of a lion, in keeping with that "rrrrowl" tiger growl that Bob liked to make in the older films.
This comic was probably the "last hurrah" for regular doses of the "classic" version of Hope, before he settled into being the guy who hosted award shows, traveled with a golf club, TV specials with Brooke Shields and introduced football draft picks. Pre-50's Bob was more entertaining.
‘Rehab:
I never really thought about it in terms of a "last hurrah", having enjoyed his frequent TV specials (from childhood, well into adulthood – under 10 to over 30), and seeing him perform in person in the late 1970s… but, YEAH!
When you think about it, Bob’s "last hurrah" actually occurred DURING the life of the comic, and not with its end in those very last days of 1967 (Issue # 109 Cover Date: Feb.-Mar. 1968).
It happened over the run of later issues, when Bob took a decided back-seat to teens and monsters (presumably, in an attempt to have a comic about an “old-school comedian” appeal to the young 1960s audience), and Hope's comics persona became more of a bystander to - or a HOST for - the admittedly funny goings-on!
Then again, that pretty much WAS Bob Hope from the 1960s-on… a HOST! So, the comics were amazingly accurate!
If the comic was as entertaining as it seems here, good, but the habit of making comics about real-life actors has always seemed endlessly odd to me. I mean, it was halfway-understandable for Charlie Chaplin or Laurel & Hardy, who already have a "simple", easily-cartoonified look to them, and a personality to match. But people like Bob Hope? Boris Karloff? I really don't get it.
Random thought, but if you want the opportunity for a crossover, maybe Mrs Peabody was not always so bitter and homely — maybe she's a retired archeologist, and her first name was Amelia… hey! The timeline fits!
Achille:
The BOB HOPE series, as I’ve discovered of late, is VERY entertaining. And, if there’s one thing we Americans can use more of right now, it some “very entertaining comics”!
As I see it, throughout the 1940s and 1950s, American comic book publishing tended to evolve in two or three specific directions, ultimately resulting in what we have today.
1: Original creations, like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Captain America, Human Torch, Captain Marvel (Shazam), etc.
2: Comics based on “what you saw in the movies”…
2a: Animated properties, such as Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Fox and Crow, etc.
2b: Live actors that you enjoyed on the screen, tending mostly toward comedy or westerns…
2ba: Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Three Stooges, etc.
2bb: John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, etc.
3: Newspaper comic strip reprints, like Mutt and Jeff, Dick Tracy, and hybrids of this and “2a” such as Mickey Mouse, Popeye, and Felix the Cat. This category became the least prevalent, and was subsumed by categories 1 and 2.
But there was a definite appetite for “what you saw in the movies” that carried over into the television age – witness live action and animation-based TV comics like The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Star Trek, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Wild Wild West, and so many more.
The BOB HOPE comic book was simply a part of that overall continuum – and a very enjoyable one, to boot.
What were the John Wayne comics like? Did they feature a character actually called John Wayne who existed in a Far West setting, or was it a medley of his movie character? (A not-too-serious Rooster Cogburn title could have been fun, if it doesn't exist already.)
Achille:
I don’t have any of the John Wayne comics, not because I don’t like John Wayne (quite the contrary), but because they tend to be expensive. Shoulda got ‘em back in the ‘80s and ‘90s when I coulda better afforded ‘em.
But, as you can see from THIS COVER GALLERY, they looked to be a variety of primarily westerns, supplemented by war and “plain old adventure” tales.
Then, there were also movie adaptions like “The Sons of Katie Elder” - a copy of which you can see in this linked post.
By the time I bought any Bob Hope comics some time around 1966-67, Hope had become the "host," or at best, a secondary character in his own comic. The focus seemed to be on his nerdy nephew Tad, who had a split personality, and could turn into the swinging Super Hip.
I read somewhere that DC cancelled the Hope and Jerry Lewis comics because the licensing fees to use the names had become too expensive. And that Arnold Drake suggested dropping the Hope and Lewis characters, changing the titles, and continuing the comics with the other characters. But the publisher did not believe that the comics would sell without the recognizable names.
Of course, if sales were declining, then it would have been even harder to justify paying the licensing fees.
Excerpts from Movie Comics: Page to Screen / Screen to Page by Blair Davis (2017):
Wayne appears as himself in [John Wayne Adventure Comics],("Name is Wayne - John Wayne," he announces when asked if he is new in the area) drifting from town to town. Since Wayne plays different characters in each of his films, his appearances in these comics might in turn be read the same way as Mickey Mouse's - with Wayne traveling around such states as Montana and Wyoming on horseback and finding adventure when he wasn't filming his latest movie.
The series did not offer adaptions of his films, but instead featured new stories in which Wayne regularly intervened in various murders and mysteries.
This...furthers the book's illusion that Wayne's offscreen exploits were as thrilling as his cinematic ones. He is not referred to as a movie star in the comic, nor are any of his films directly invoked in the stories, but various characters nevertheless recognize him and are star-struck. The series therefore serves to bolster Wayne's larger-than-life persona as "The Duke", offering readers tales of derring-do that support his screen image. (pgs. 159-161)
TC writes:
“I read somewhere that DC cancelled the Hope and Jerry Lewis comics because the licensing fees to use the names had become too expensive. And that Arnold Drake suggested dropping the Hope and Lewis characters, changing the titles, and continuing the comics with the other characters. But the publisher did not believe that the comics would sell without the recognizable names.”
Very interesting, TC! I did not know this, but I can certainly imagine it happening, considering that’s exactly what happened with THE FOX AND THE CROW, which introduced Arnold Drake’s “Stanley and His Monster” with Issue # 95, pretty much around the same time things were changing for Hope and (presumably) Lewis!
There was sort of a similar takeover of THE FOX AND THE CROW by “Stanley and His Monster”, as happened to BOB HOPE with “Super Hip” and the Monster characters, except that “Stanley and His Monster” remained a SEPARATE FEATURE within the pages of THE FOX AND THE CROW, while the new characters became the FOCUS of BOB HOPE!
When F&C was cancelled with Issue # 108 (Cover Date: February/March, 1968), “Stanley and His Monster” ACTUALLY DID continue on as its own series, retaining the numbering of THE FOX AND THE CROW for four issues!
I suspect, licensing fees (to Columbia Pictures, or whoever held the rights to the Fox and Crow characters at that time) are why we never saw them again, even when DC would occasionally reprint or otherwise celebrate its “funny comics”!
WHEW! That was a lotta links just to make a point! …And you already know this, TC! More for our other readers!
TCJ:
I’m getting nothing but very interesting news today! That’s really great stuff about the JOHN WAYNE comic book!
“(‘Name is Wayne - John Wayne,’ he announces when asked if he is new in the area)”
Way to presage James Bond, Duke!
“The series did not offer adaptions of his films, but instead featured new stories in which Wayne regularly intervened in various murders and mysteries. This...furthers the book's illusion that Wayne's offscreen exploits were as thrilling as his cinematic ones. ”
And isn’t that the way we’d ALL like to imagine John Wayne? Oh, you’re gonna make me want to start collecting these – and my wife’s gonna be angry at BOTH of us!
My, my! A false number? How strange/
That number, surely, should've been changed!/
That's one thing that we're sure of/
In the Society of the Rhyming Dove!
This comment is for/
Those “Rhyming” invaders/
You think that you’re big/
But you’re just small po-taters!
Fluffy and Mervin/
Wherever you are/
Return Debbie’s phone/
To her house or her car!
Though, if a hoax it not be/
And “Rhyming Doves” are for real/
I’d like them to know/
The terms of the deal!
Fly Doves! Fly home/
And cease your attacks/
Or suffer my “Legendary/
Su-per Pick-ax”!
Alright, Joe/
We shall go/
And cease our attacks/
But Joe, we promise, we will be back/
For you've not yet seen the last of/
The Society of the Rhyming Dove
I went back and flipped thru my copy of the aforementioned "Movie Comics", and gleaned this interesting tidbit: Bob Hope devoted an ENTIRE broadcast of his radio show to promote his comic book's April 1950 debut! Can you imagine? I'll bet his material for the show was similar to the following-
"That's right, folks - Now that I star in my own comic book, all of you can lie in bed every night and laugh at me...Just like my wife, Dolores!"
"I wanna tell ya - Some modifications had to be made to make me presentable for the funnybooks...The artists originally drew my nose the correct size, and my first book turned into a double issue!"
"Advance word has been great. DC is already receiving requests to reprint my comic book stories...The Scott and Charmin toilet paper companies are in a bidding war as I speak!"
"DC is considering using other celebrities as subjects for future comics. One proposed title would team up Marilyn Monroe and Marjorie Main. They're gonna call it 'The Foxy and the Crone'!"
"There's also plans for a crossover with Wonder Woman...Rowwwwwrrr! You know, the dame with the lariat? Gee, I hope she doesn't run off with my wallet and clothes like the last woman that tied me up!"
It is not unusual for the lead feature in an anthology comic to take over the whole book, with the title being changed accordingly: Journey Into Mystery became Thor, Our Army at War became Sgt. Rock, My Greatest Adventure became Doom Patrol, and Strange Suspense Stories became Captain Atom. It probably IS unusual for a secondary feature to take over the whole comic, and for the lead feature to be dropped.
Although something similar happened with the Legion of Super Heroes, first in Adventure Comics and later in Superboy's self-titled comic.
The idea of "John Wayne" traveling around and having adventures was probably not unfamiliar to kids in the early 1950s. A lot of "B" western stars (Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Rex Allen, Bill Elliot) used their real names in their movies, and Autry often played a movie star or rodeo star. There was also a Tom Mix comic book and radio series. And several radio stars-Jack Benny, Phil Harris & Alice Faye, George Burns & Gracie Allen-played "themselves," as hosts or stars of their shows, and using their real names, but they were also playing characters in fictional sitcoms.
And in movie short subjects, some comedians (Laurel & Hardy, the Three Stooges) used their real names while playing what were really fictional characters.
More recently, Jerry Seinfeld's TV sitcom was a variation of the same premise.
Rhyming Doves:
Clear out, be gone/
Poetic Doves!/
If I see you again/
You’ll get more kicks and shoves!
I claim total victory/
Complete and so grand/
Though my “weapon” had failed me/
And you were routed by hand!
My “Pickax”, so worthless/
Was flushed down the pooper/
It may have been “Legendary”/
But it sure wasn’t “Super”!
TCJ:
How I would have loved to have heard Bob Hope’s radio broadcast about his comic!
That was GREAT material, too! Like many of the comic books, I could actually “hear” those lines in Hope’s voice! Well done!
I can but weakly offer this in return:
“I heard they wanted to give Crosby a comic book too… But “Tales from the Crypt” was already taken!”
TC:
You write: “ It is not unusual for the lead feature in an anthology comic to take over the whole book, with the title being changed accordingly: Journey Into Mystery became Thor, Our Army at War became Sgt. Rock, My Greatest Adventure became Doom Patrol, and Strange Suspense Stories became Captain Atom. It probably IS unusual for a secondary feature to take over the whole comic, and for the lead feature to be dropped.”
Exactly! Also, the titles you mention were “Anthology Titles”, and not named for a specific character or feature therein – as was “THE FOX AND THE CROW”!
If, just to throw out an example, WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES were to continue on as “DONALD DUCK” (as its most popular feature), it would be different than UNCLE SCROOGE becoming “GYRO GEARLOOSE” – continuing its numbering while eliminating Scrooge altogether!
Legion of Superheroes is probably the best example I can think of.
And “Jerry Seinfeld” is also a great example for that point – as would be the “Larry David” character in SEINFELD’S cousin-series CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM!
SILLY, SILLY ME!
How could I forget to cite one of the greatest – and earliest – examples of a component feature taking over the comic book series in which it appears, and making said series “its own”! …And having it REMAIN “its own” for several decades hence!
Of course, I’m referring to the “Tom and Jerry” feature taking over OUR GANG COMICS, and prompting it to become TOM AND JERRY COMICS!
You can see this happen in THREE STAGES (conveniently link-illustrated below):
STAGE ONE 1942-1947: It begins as OUR GANG COMICS, with Tom and/or Jerry included somewhere on the cover with the “Our Gang” characters and Barney Bear. Then, the “Our Gang” characters become the primary cover feature, but with Tom and Jerry sneaking in there somewhere – often as “blackboard chalk drawings”.
With Issue # 37, Tom and Jerry becomes the cover feature, but it remains OUR GANG COMICS – though the Tom and Jerry feature gets a supplementary cover logo of its own. Finally, with Issue # 39 the title becomes OUR GANG with TOM AND JERRY!
STAGE TWO 1947-1949: The title remains OUR GANG with TOM AND JERRY, with Tom and Jerry as the lone cover feature. The OUR GANG portion of the logo gets progressively smaller, as the TOM AND JERRY portion of the logo becomes progressively larger!
Over this period, Tom and Jerry becomes the lead feature, and Our Gang moves to the back of the book.
The final “Our Gang” story appears in Issue # 57 (of 59 such issues), though it continues as OUR GANG with TOM AND JERRY through Issue # 59!
This is best summed-up by my own notes, hand-written on the backboard of my copy of OUR GANG with TOM AND JERRY # 59:
“With no ‘Our Gang’ story, and with artists Harvey Eisenberg and Vivie Risto in place on their respective features [‘Tom and Jerry’ and ‘Wuff the Prairie Dog’] , this is a de-facto issue of TOM AND JERRY COMICS, as was Issue # 58”
…Yeah? So I keep obsessive notes like that! What of it? Lots of them are repurposed for “Adventures in Comic-Boxing” posts… So there!
STAGE THREE 1949-1984: TOM AND JERRY COMICS (later just TOM AND JERRY) continues on through Dell, Gold Key, and Whitman, until Western Publishing’s demise as a comic book publisher in 1984. Logos change, characters and creators may come and go, but the title is now set for a very long run!
…And, silly me for not remembering until now!
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