It's been a VERY long time since I bought a comic with the name of Huckleberry Hound on the cover!
I'd like to tell you that it was this one... The very last Gold Key Issue (1970)...
But, it was actually one of (Ugh!) these (1971)...
Where Huck looked like THIS (Ugh, again!)...
Instead of THIS (Ooooh!)...
It's also been a while, though a MUCH SHORTER WHILE, since I bought an issue of GREEN LANTERN...
...When they looked like THIS...
...Or THIS...
...But, not something unrecognizable like THIS!
Nevertheless, lapsed involuntarily as with Huck, or voluntarily as with GL, I was ripe 'n' ready - as opposed to RUFF AND REDDY...
...For a comic like this!
After all, Green Lantern was one of my most favorite "superhero franchises" before the changes of the early 2000s morphed it into (...all together now) something unrecognizable - and Huckleberry Hound is one of my all-time favorite animated characters and, in my view, perhaps the very best made-for-TV cartoon in terms of its enjoyment factor and groundbreaking historical status!
And, despite some of what I'm about to say, I really did enjoy the issue very much. But, for reasons that will soon become clear, I'd thought I would have enjoyed it quite a bit more!
Later in its original run, GREEN LANTERN was one of the first comics to get "socially relevant"! See two of the most famous such images above!
It was also unique for introducing ALTERNATE "human Green Lanterns", such as Guy Gardner...
...And John Stewart!
And the story found in GREEN LANTERN / HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SPECIAL happens to be a very good "John Stewart story" - set smack-dab in the center of one of the most turbulent periods in modern US history: 1968-1972!
Stewart's story is a powerful one, both as a civilian (above), and a member of the planet-protecting Green Lantern Corps (below)!
The problem, especially for someone like me, is that Huckleberry Hound is not in any way a significant part of what is otherwise a very good story!
He's just some guy in a bar, with whom John Stewart trades "hard life stories"!
What's Huck been up to? Walll, now... It seems that he dabbled in some li'l ole types o' "political humor" during the Vietnam War in 1968 - and, as The Smothers Brothers would eventually be - was taken off TV! Shuckins!
From the "On Purpose, or Happy Accident?" Department I: The original run of THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW came to an end during 1968! I distinctly recall it still being on at the start of the 1967-1968 television season - but not by the end.
As unusual as Huck's story might be - especially for those of us who are accustomed to seeing him like this...
...There are at least two downsides to it.
ONE: The "Has-Been TV Cartoon Celebrity Bit" was already explored in DC's RUFF AND REDDY SHOW mini-series earlier this year!
TWO: Huck's tail ...er, tale does not contribute anything to the plot, beyond "period-based atmosphere"! Such as watching Walter Cronkite report on Watergate!
From the "On Purpose, or Happy Accident?" Department II: In many markets (including mine) the original run of THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW was on opposite THE CBS EVENING NEWS WITH WALTER CRONKITE!
...And we all knew that "The Most Trusted Man in America" outlasted "That Oh So Merry Chuckleberry" by a number of years!
Huck DOES get to be present at the climax, but his presence in the story is ultimately inconsequential. This could just as easily have been a John Stewart Green Lantern story, without the hound!
But, take heart, Huck fans... there's one small good thing... and one great big wonderful thing to be found in GREEN LANTERN / HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SPECIAL!
SMALL BUT GOOD: The HUCKLEBERRY HOUND logo used on the cover is the original "Title Card Logo" for the Huckleberry Hound cartoons!
THE ONE GREAT BIG WONDERFUL THING: Oh, and did I mention awesome and amazing?
Among the things Huck is forced to do, to eke-out a living during his has-been days, was to "do signings" at comic book conventions!
AND JUST LOOK AT THE BOOKS HE'S SIGNING!!!
DELL FOUR COLOR # 990 (1959) - The first HUCKLEBERRY HOUND comic book!
And Gold Key's HUCKLEBERRY HOUND # 41 (1970)!
Yes, really! How wonderful, awesome, and amazing is THAT?! Especially for a Dell and Gold Key Kid like me, who had both of those comics as they were originally released! ...Though my Grandma Millie had to buy me the Dell issue, as I couldn't quite "count my change" for the 10-cent cover price back then!
Check out the little GOLD KEY LOGO on the HUCKLEBERRY HOUND # 41!
BONUS HISTORICAL CONTEXT ADDITION: Here's a AD for HUCKLEBERRY HOUND # 41, with the cover illustration, that appeared in Gold Key Comics released in December, 1969!
The trailing ad for VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA is there to show just how all-encompassing a publisher Gold Key was - and because I like it! :-)
It's a pity that this series of DC / Hanna-Barbera crossover titles did not feature a humorous "cartoony-styled" backup, as did the DC / Looney Tunes series - as THIS ONE DID!
Instead, they opted for four chapters of Secret Squirrel, as seen in the SCOOBY APOCALYPSE title!
I feel the issue could have been completely redeemed of its Huck-centric shortcomings if there HAD been a cartoon-like Huckleberry Hound backup!
Can't you see Huck as a Green Lantern Trainee? Why not? He's been just about everything else!
I'd call it "Blue Dog - Green Intern"! Do a bunch of "training gags" as in the cartoon "Knight School", where Huck reluctantly trains to be a knight, and have Killowog as his trainer!
Then have him go up against Lobo as his first assignment - a la Powerful Pierre or Dinky Dalton!
"Ya know whut? That there Lobo-feller's got a right KEEN sense o' humor!"
I've even got the ending worked out, where "Green Intern Huck" drives-off Lobo with the help of an unexpected "guest star"! But, since no one's paying me to write it, it'll just have to stay in my head!
That said, I really did enjoy GREEN LANTERN / HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SPECIAL (DC Comics: Cover Date: December, 2018)! Again, it was "very good"!
However, for one that is ACTUALLY GREAT, we must turn to the unlikely pairing of DEATHSTROKE and YOGI BEAR!
Yes, really!
You'd THINK it would be far easier to integrate an all-purpose character like Huckleberry Hound into the world of the Green Lantern Corps and its intrepid members - but, quite brilliantly, the corresponding DEATHSTROKE / YOGI BEAR SPECIAL brings the "more ruthless then the average mercenary" together with the "smarter than the average bear" far more effortlessly than in GREEN LANTERN / HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SPECIAL!
I hope to review DEATHSTROKE / YOGI BEAR SPECIAL soon!
Meanwhile, get 'em both! Ya won't find very much else like 'em out there! ...For Hound, or Bear! Hey-hey-hey!
18 comments:
I know very little about either of these things, but this still looks curious and intriguing, as most of theses crossovers do (who started this trend, I wonder?). It's a little odd that the story would acknowledge that Huckleberry was a cartoon actor — which would make one presumes he is a Toon, a la Roger Rabbit — and yet draws him with "realistic" proportions, as if he were of flesh and blood. Does the story clarify his nature? Are any other cartoon-people featured?
Achille:
My belief (with no actual basis in fact) is that the initial “Martian Manhunter / Marvin the Martian Special” of 2017 sold better than anyone thought it would! So I was told by 2 or 3 comics retailers. Because of this, it very likely begat other and similar projects.
So, in short order, came a DC / Hanna-Barbera Adventure Characters crossover series, another DC / Looney Tunes series (IMHO featuring the funniest TWEETY has been since the “Bob Clampett days”), and this series of DC / Hanna-Barbera Funny Animal Character crossovers.
The featured H-B characters are Yogi Bear (a really great one), Huckleberry Hound (very good, despite a Huck-lack), Top Cat (also great, but not up to Yogi Bear, with Top Cat coming across as if he were “Howard the Duck – Trapped in a World He Never Made”), and Magilla Gorilla (which I have not read yet)!
Every one of these series is worth a peek though, as with anything, some are always better than others. No total duds yet – but I haven’t read ‘em all!
Per this specific story, it would seem that Huckleberry Hound was an anthropomorphic dog comedian and actor, who had a very successful cartoon based on him. …But, that’s just MY interpretation.
No other cartoon characters appear in this story – but the Deathstroke / Yogi Bear issue has MORE than you could ever hope for! It’s definitely on my “now-liberated-list” of things to do!
Hm. Don't you think the long-lasting Scooby-Doo Team-Up series had anything to do with it? It, of course, goes back to animated specials along the same lines several decades old.
Achille:
Oh, I’m pretty sure that the success of SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP (presently the most “Clever and Funny” ™ title on the US market, as I see it) has something to do with it.
But, SDTU is sort of the “reverse” of the main stories in these issues – or the entirety of issues like GREEN LANTERN / HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SPECIAL – in that the animated characters exist in the Hanna Barbera Animated “home world” of SDTU, with other animated characters like Yogi Bear or Dick Dastardly guest starring, and DC Universe characters – from Batman to Jonah Hex – drop by in an “animated form”!
In the various DC / Looney Tunes or Hanna-Barbera crossover series, certain short backups excepted, quasi-realistic versions of the animated characters inhabit the “DC Universe” – as you can see with Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear in this post. (Hopefully, that made SOME sense to folks not familiar with the various ins-and-outs of these series!)
But, yeah… Ultimately one begets the other! …And, aren’t we glad for that!
Also, as I noted when I first wrote about SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP some years back, it all goes back to the TV series THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES where they met Batman, Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Don Knotts, etc. This “Great Dane” has quite a “pedigree”!
It’s really apparent you should be writing these and not these fucking morons.
Thank you, Thad!
I have ALWAYS wanted to write Huckleberry Hound! He's a character you can truly DO ANYTHING with!
...Up to and including being inconsequential in a "Green Lantern story"!
Pity he somehow got "left behind" in the pantheon of "Hanna-Barbera stars"!
I think DC is just trying their luck, since these books appear to be selling well...the "Batman & Elmer Fudd" book was nominated for an Eisner, "Scooby Apocalypse" is still going strong..I don't hear much about how well the other books have been received, although I find Howard Chakin's approach to scripting Ruff & Reddy works better for his "Hey Kids! Comics!" mini-series for Image, though maybe because he has more "dirt" to play with there. I would like to see the "Secret Squirrel" stuff collected in one book, not have to buy issues of SA because the main feature doesn't interest me.
I liked the Aquaman & Jabberjaw book - nice art by Batgirl artist Paul Pelletier and nice script by Dan Abnett. I can recommend that one. Also, the backup featuring Captain Caveman was nice.
I'm still rooting for the following upcoming team-ups: Batgirl & Penelope Pitstop, Shazam & Shazan, Mister Miracle & Wally Gator, The Outsiders & The Impossibles, Clue Club & The Question, Sugar & Spike and Tom & Jerry, Space Cabbie & The Jetsons, AND Strange Sports Stories & Laff-A-Lympics.
“Strange Sports Stories & Laff-A-Lympics” has got to be one of the greatest combination ideas since chocolate and peanut butter! Bring it on!
And, for a brief moment, I wondered why “Mister Miracle & Wally Gator”? But, oh yeah… Escape Artists! Good one!
Two more random thoughts that occurred to me as I pondered about these crossovers:
• So how exactly do the central Marvel and DC authorities handle their existence in our brave new era of rigid canons and obsessive timelines? Do they acknowledge that, yeah, there canonically was a blue dog-like humanoid mutant who had a television show called Huckleberry Hound, and he did in fact cross paths with the Green Lantern cast? Are the crossovers considered akin to "Elseworlds"/"What-ifs"/"Unbounds"/whatever they're calling it these days? Are all of them shoved into one canon? I'm morbidly curious.
• This is fresh from my reading of Uncle Scrooge's Money Rocket, of course, but — considering Rebo's background as the realistically-drawn villain of a non-Disney science-fiction strip licensed to the same publisher as the Italian Disney books — does that not make his encounter with Donald the grandaddy of all these wacky serious-vs-cartoon crossover books? (…"Serious-vs-cartoon" is a terrible name. Does this bizarre and wonderful trend of books have an established name? If not, I say you should create one right now, Joe. I don't think any blog has covered them with the same love and regularity as you have, and you do have a history of coming up with catchy fandom-names…)
Achille:
I *had* thought about it on occasion, but didn’t fully realize it until I began writing this reply… but I’m not sure the "rigid canons and obsessive timelines” for Marvel and DC Comics truly exist anymore – at least not in the good ol’ impenetrable way we once knew and loved (or hated) them!
My view – and this is ONLY my view (if I don’t “speak for IDW”, I certainly don’t speak for Marvel and DC) – is that this sort of thing probably reached its height in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and has been eroding, to one degree or another, ever since!
What with all the big-budget movies, animated series, video games, and even “Out-Of” or “Alternate” Continuity comics that have appeared since, it doesn’t seem possible that any single continuity can be strictly adhered to anymore!
Indeed, what’s actually happened (and I’ll reference DC, only because I’m much more familiar with its properties and their histories) is that there is (let’s call it) “Mainstream Comics Continuity” (which changes with each “Big Event Series” – but IS consistent, at least until the NEXT “Big Event Series”), “Feature Film Continuity” (the Superman films of the ‘70s and ‘80s vs. now, and the Batman films of 1989-‘90s vs. now).
I know little and care nothing about video games, but aren’t the “Arkham Asylum” video games a continuity of their own? With their own version of The Joker? The direct-to-video “Batman: Assault on Arkham” was based on the video games, more than any comics or animated continuity. Anyone, ComicBookRehab”? wanna step in and correct me, if I’m wrong on this!
And, even not considering anything produced before the 1990s (like the Filmation series, or “Super Friends”), there are different ANIMATED continuities for “Batman the Animated Series”, “The Batman”, “Batman the Brave and the Bold”, “Beware the Batman”, etc. I place SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP as an offshoot of “Batman the Brave and the Bold” and “The New Scooby-Doo Movies” TV series.
Perhaps the (wait for it) “ana-mainstream” (Like it?) crossovers are also in a bubble of their own! The SUPERMAN / TOP CAT one references another such story, so who knows.
Even within DC, this sort of thing is not entirely new. Superman and Teen Titans' Changeling crossed over with CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW in that book’s original ‘80s run. And, much later, there was the SUPERMAN AND BUGS BUNNY mini-series. HOWARD THE DUCK may have even been Marvel’s early attempt at “ana-mainstream” before Howard waddled his way INTO Marvel’s mainstream. And, of course, Howard was not a pre-existing animated character (...just BASED ON ONE) – so, again, who knows!
Then, there was DC’s version of POPEYE called “Captain Strong” seen HERE, HERE, and HERE!
And even ASTERIX !
But, the “Rebo-thing”, which I didn’t even know about when I was translating and dialoguing the story, would probably make that one of, if not THE first of this type of story! …Unless DC did it before then with “The Fox and the Crow”, or something!
“(…"Serious-vs-cartoon" is a terrible name. Does this bizarre and wonderful trend of books have an established name? If not, I say you should create one right now, Joe. I don't think any blog has covered them with the same love and regularity as you have, and you do have a history of coming up with catchy fandom-names…)”
So, any votes for “Ana-mainstream”?
Oh, indeed, from one continuity the trend has exploded to a billion; but the point is that there are a billion universes and one should always be clear which story/film/video-game takes place where in the multiverse. Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-616, etc. for Marvel. The entire point of the new continuity tangles is "wait, that issue, did it take place in Continuity X or continuity Y?".
This is, incidentally, the scheme I have copied onto the Scrooge McDuck Wiki for our coverage of DuckTales 2017, which now officially takes place in an alterate timeline we have dubbed "the 2017 Continuum".
As The Flash once said: "Things like this make my head hurt!" :-)
Interesting write up on Huckleberry Hound and the crossovers with DC. I haven’t read any of these, hopefully at a comic show in a back issue bin cheap I’ll find some, but wouldn’t mind doing so even though I find the premise odd. I also find it interesting your choice of bad Green Lantern comics as Johns’ run is one of my favorites. I’ve enjoyed his GL, Flash, and Justice Society runs and essentially buy/read everything he writes. It is true what they say about another mans garbage.
And, you dropped a Captain Carrot reference. I love this place. One of my favorite series and one I had custom bound into a HC. I need to reread that series plus the Oz-Wonderland War again soon. Their are so many good, fun stories to go back and reread.
Jim:
A premise can be both “odd”, which this one certainly is – and enjoyable, which this one ALSO certainly is! Perhaps more toward the “odd” end of the spectrum because Green Lantern John Stewart is presented very well, and also presented as I might expect him to be… and Huckleberry Hound is decidedly not. …But it really is great, and worth reading!
And the SUPERMAN / TOP CAT and (especially!) the DEATHSTROKE / YOGI BEAR issues are all the more so! Still gotta find time to read NIGHTWING / MAGILLA GORILLA (…you know, that “Horrifically Busy” thing I’m always going on about), but I have no doubt I’ll enjoy that one too!
I am quite certain that, barring some completely unexpected time-consuming turn of events, you will see DEATHSTROKE / YOGI BEAR reviewed here! It’s just TOO GOOD not to! If I had my way (…and maybe I will, ya never know), I’d like to post on all four of them!
Reviewing my comments in the post, I don’t believe I’ve said that Geoff Johns’ run on (or guidance of) the various GREEN LANTERN titles was “bad”. It’s just that to me, as a longtime fan of the franchise, I now find it “unrecognizable”.
There were the Guardians with their “Green Energy”, and Sinestro with his “Yellow Energy”. That was good! Now, there is Energy (and corresponding Lanterns) for every color, every virtue, and every vice! Not “bad”, but “unrecognizable” - and bewildering for any “legacy reader” like myself, who may choose to enter without a scorecard. Hope that explains things.
CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW was a wonderful and unique series that SHOULD have continued far longer than it did! If anything, it came along “ahead of its time”, and might very well have found a larger audience had it occurred in the 1990s. But, then came the 2000s and, with them, changes at DC that were simply not to my liking – a “Marvel / Image” attitude toward things like story, more so with art, rock-star creators – and even slipshod scheduling (Thank you for making that LAST ONE an industry norm, Image!) The modern Green Lantern illustration in the post is representative of that.
And, with all that, what they ultimately did with Captain Carrot a few years back was a crime! But, HARLEY QUINN excepted, there’s not very much room for a series at DC with any sort of humorous bent anymore… at least that’s how I see it. …Bring back “The Real LOBO” in his own series, please!
Finally, for what it’s worth, my FIRST published “Comic Book Letter of Comment”, of which there eventually totaled over 300, was in CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW # 16 (Cover Date: June, 1983)!
Anyone possessing that issue, please don’t try to write me at that address (Could you imagine a day when comic books published a person’s HOME ADDRESS?!), that was 20 addresses and at least two completely different lives ago! …I typed it on my brand spanking new Smith-Carona Correction Cartridge Typewriter, and sent it to DC through the mail – envelope, stamp, the whole magilla (not gorilla)!
Finally, to bring it full circle, check out the “Blue Dog Character” on Page 22 of CAPTAIN CARROT # 16 (especially when he’s wearing a baseball cap, and not drawn with “exposed hair”)! He looks somewhat similar to the version of Huckleberry Hound in GREEN LANTERN / HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SPECIAL, wouldn’t you say?
Joe, you are correct. I read that incorrectly, I’m sorry.
Oh my yes it certainly does look like Huckleberry Hound was in Captain Carrot. As a result of reading your response I went and looked at Captain Carrot again. I found your letter and hadn’t thought of Pegleg Pete as Fatkat. I do think of Fatkat as very similar to the Rescue Rangers villian Fat Cat and even think of him in that voice.
As a kid I stumbled on Captain Carrot and that series stuck with me as I hunted down the back issues not knowing the Oz-Wonderland War existed for a long time afterwards. I loved the team-up with the Just’a Lotta Animals and the Crisis on Earth-C. I had an artist friend of mine make me an original drawing of a mash-up between Darkwing Duck and Captain Carrot. It’s a great piece.
I unfortunately have to agree with you on the travesty that was the Geoff Johns Captain Carrot appearances in Teen Titans and then Morrison’s usage in Multiversity. As much as I liked seeing those characters they just aren’t the same. It’s also unfortunate that humor has mostly disappeared. We’ve talked about Scooby-Doo Team-Up of course. I miss things like Brave and the Bold and Batman/Superman Adventures. Tiny Titans while good was skewed way younger then me though my daughter enjoyed them.
I was reading through Walt Disney Comics 690 tonight and came upon the letter page. Their on the inside back cover is what I believe to be one of your 300 letters printed in comics. It was on a story involving birthday parties for the boys and their wish to be unique. If it was yours it will be fun to start trying to find more. I would say I definitely won in getting these for $1 each and the Donald was the original Donald issue. It’s in F+ and for $1 was a nice find for me.
Going to Batman: Brave and the Bold I found your reviews and never found Season 2 part 2 or season 3. Are their any plans to go back and officially review these? I’d like to read what you thought of the rest of the series.
Jim:
Ah, but remember that the marvelous “Sydney Greenstreet-like” “Fat Cat” of CHIP ‘N’ DALE’S RESCUE RANGERS would be a number of years AFTER CAPTAIN CARROT… and, the success of CDRR and other such things that would come later, is why I felt that CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW would have met with greater success in the 1990s, rather than the early-mid 1980s! In the ‘90s, there would probably have been an animated series – but that would not have been possible given where animation was in the early ‘80s.
So, as far as plus-sized cat villains went, Pete was the obvious choice for comparison.
I have (unfortunately) read Johns’ version, but have not yet read Morrison’s (will at some point). It’s a shame that two of the most brilliant creative minds in modern comics couldn’t have “more room for humorous-type characters” in their respective bags of tricks. At the time CAPTAIN CARROT was cancelled, I was envisioning a revival by Mark Evanier and Jack Manning! …That would have been fun. Manning would, alas, pass away in 1986 – but I didn’t know that at the time.
I *do* remember writing a letter about that particular story! You’ll find me quite often in Gemstone comics - as a regular letter-writer and later as a dialogue contributor!
Those BRAVE AND THE BOLD reviews were, as I recall, quite labor intensive… watching the episodes while taking notes, looking up lots of references, and copiously illustrating the posts. While I’ll never say “never”, it’s probably doubtful that I would do any more under my present set of circumstances. But, again… let’s never say “never”! Spoiler Alert: I LOVED THE SERIES ALL THE WAY TO THE END!
The obvious villain for a Green Lantern Huckleberry Hound story should be the Phantom Phink, Huck and Yogi's nemesis from Yogi's Space Race.
Maybe he'd have a Yellow Ring as the Phink and a Green Ring as Captain Good?
Jose:
You know, I’ve never actually seen “Yogi's Space Race”! While I am a HUGE classic-era Hanna-Barbera fan, I am less so of their product of the mid-to-later 1970s. Fair or not, I’ve lumped it together with everything else from that period.
I actually have an unopened DVD of “Yogi's Space Race” sitting on the shelf. Perhaps I should give it a look.
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