As the song goes (link)... "If you're on a highway, and Crawford Crow goes BEEP-BEEP! ..."
NO! THAT'S NOT RIGHT! Try again...
"If you're on a highway, and ROAD RUNNER goes BEEP-BEEP! ..."
YES! That's more like it!
Things to Note:
Both issues are the TWENTY-THIRD ISSUE of their respective series! I seriously doubt we'll have any more "Mirth-Separations" like this!
Both "Beepers" are BIRDS, out to unnerve a member of the related species of a FOX and a COYOTE!
Both "Beeping-Birds" are coming-at their intended victims in a general "left-to-right" direction!
Cover Art for THE FOX AND THE CROW # 23 is by Jim Davis.
Cover Art for BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER # 23 is by Jack Manning.
...What's that you say? The CROW is RIDING, while the ROAD RUNNER is ON FOOT?
Oh, that "Mirth-Separation Gap" is easily filled-in by BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER # 15 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: December, 1969).
And, after so many covers like THESE...
...You'd think the CROW would be the "more aggressive Beeper", piling on to his initial aural assault!
GUESS AGAIN... as to who's sounding-off with multiple beeps in multiple modes?
In fact, for a while, I didn't realize these were TWO DIFFERENT ISSUES...
...And, by merely looking at the COVER of the latter, I'd just assumed I already had it!
Both pink backgrounds. Both ridiculously over-sized horns. Both action moving from left to right. Both drawn by Jack Manning!
So we also have a double "Separated at Mirth" between BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER # 23 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: April, 1971) - and BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER # 55 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: January, 1976).
It almost looks like a "Tex Avery-eqsue" sequence, where the Road Runner is going to keep coming back with larger and more noisy horns until some "fourth-wall-breaking-point" is reached!
And so we leave you with THE FOX AND THE CROW # 23 and BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER # 23...
...As well as BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER # 23 AND 55...
...Separated At Great Big Beeping Mirth!
4 comments:
Isn't it interesting how Coyote is, in terms of perspective, placed in front of the sound effect onomatopeia? How rare is that? Indeed, for a fourth-wall-breaking visual joke, you could read the Roadrunner version of the gag as the Coyote being physically pushed forward by the giant floating word "BEEP".
Achille:
Pushed forward by the physical manifestation of a sound effect?
That’s something I NEVER considered, and I’ve had that comic since its original release in 1971!
Well done! THIS is the main reason I put this stuff out there! Because such wonderful things so often come in return!
I wonder how much the dynamic of the cartoons would've changed if the Road Runner could speak..or what kind of voice Mel Blanc would've conjured up...
I’ve sometimes wondered that myself, ‘Rehab!
We know that he spoke (compulsively in RHYME, no less) in the Dell – Gold Key – Whitman comics version that you see in this post. …But, in the cartoons? I can’t imagine a fully-effective voice for him.
Also, if he WERE able to speak, he would come across as “less seemingly vulnerable”, and both the pace and humor of the cartoons would be diluted. …At least that’s as I see it.
I like having both versions!
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