Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Bob Hope Meets Mad Madam Mim! ...Yes, Really!



PHANTOM BLOT # 4 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: October, 1965) 

Way back in 1965, Mickey Mouse's greatest adversary, The Phantom Blot, met "The Marvelous Mad Madam Mim", in a wonderful 32 page story written by Bob Ogle and drawn by Paul Murry! 


But, did you know that another famous comic book (not to mention stage and screen) personality may have crossed paths with Mim a year earlier? 

It appears to have happened in THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE #  87 (DC Comics, Cover Date: June / July, 1964), in a story written by (an uncredited) Arnold Drake and drawn by Mort Drucker! 


Check out these panels from BOB HOPE # 87 by Drucker and PHANTOM BLOT # 4 by Paul Murry!



Here's a full page of each!  Click to enlarge!  



And some larger images!  

A Two-Shot of each with her reluctant co-star...



...Followed by a Close-Up of each!


If that ISN'T "Our Mim" standing in for Dorothy Lamour with Bob, then she could at least act as Mim's STAND-IN!  

...Or Mim's STUNT DOUBLE for scenes like THIS!  


Walt Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" was released for Christmas, 1963 - and Madam Mim began appearing in comic books shortly thereafter.


Bob Hope # 87 had a Cover Date: June / July, 1964.  


So, it's entirely possible that Mort Drucker, who was well-known for drawing caricatures for MAD MAGAZINE, may have seen Mim's design and slightly modified it for his assignment on the BOB HOPE comic!  DC Comics worked on much tighter deadlines than did Western Publishing's Dell and Gold Key Comics, which would allow for this to happen.  

And, if there's any doubt about Drucker's being influenced by Mim, check out this creature, unrelated to Olga, that appears later in the story! 
 
Sure looks like one of Mim's transformations to me! 

But, Joe, you say... Bob Hope's "Madam Olga" used a crystal ball, and didn't Madam Mim cast spells?
 
Yes, quite true, but Mim also had a little storefront sideline, just like Olga!  


And Mim, too, was no stranger to a crystal ball!

Panels from UNCLE SCROOGE # 83 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: October, 1969)  Story by Vic Lockman.  Art by Tony Strobl. 

Finally, I guess it's only fair that Madam Olga looks like Madam Mim, in the hands of the great Mort Drucker....
 

...Since, in those same talented hands, Bob Hope fleetingly resembles Dick Tracy! ...Nose excepted!


Oh, the Adventures we do have, while rummaging through our Comic Boxes!  

10 comments:

Achille Talon said...

Hm. Now what to make of this on the Wiki, I wonder. Great find, anyway!

Joe Torcivia said...

I dunno! Maybe declare Madam Olga some sort of “unofficial cousin” of Madam Mim… from another (publishing) branch of the family!

If nothing else, you could give it MY personal sanction on the Wiki! My observations must still count for something, I hope.

After all, if Magica DeSpell could have relatives sprouting-up all over the place many years after her creation, why can’t Mim have just one?

Such “great finds” (and thank you for that) are the result of my once-and-for all-effort to finally organize my comic collection in some sort of true order… resulting in (…all together now) some wonderful “Adventures in Comic-Boxing”!

scarecrow33 said...

OK, the Chip'n'Dale-Wolverine thing was a bit of a reach--but THIS observation is spot-on! When I first read your headline, I was expecting something mind-bending, but it turns out to be for real! Yes, that likeness is more than coincidence--it is most definitely Bob Hope and Mad Madam Mim! It does happen, of course, that artists borrow from other artists, and some characters bear more than a passing resemblance to others. You can't tell me Foxy isn't Mickey Mouse with a very slight trans-species makeover. And that dragon in the moat is a ringer for the dragon that Mim transforms into in TSITS. There are coincidences that are not-so-coincidental.

I do feel sorry for the Blot in this adventure. He and Mim are an awkward fit to say the least. She blended better with the Beagle Boys. And having to subject to being called "Blotso"? Oh, please! This is probably his most un-dignified adventure in the brief run of his comic book.

The publishers seem to have been torn between making the Blot a sinister menace or a comic villain. I can understand why they didn't want to make him TOO frightening for the youngsters at whom the book was aimed, but for my money they took him too far in the comic villain direction. The first issue got it essentially right--the "Mysterious Mr. X" story. But the later issues seemed to move in a much lighter direction. The Blot is still the Blot, and the stories are engaging, but if the tendency toward the sinister menace had been maintained, the title would have been much stronger...might have lasted longer, too, although such is pure speculation at this late date.

I'm glad you've been able to track down so many of the Bob Hope issues. I find them elusive and expensive, although I do have at least 2 of the later issues. Now here's a question...did any of the Disney characters meet up with a Bob Hope clone in the pages of their own books?

Joe Torcivia said...

Scarecrow:

You write: “OK, the Chip'n'Dale-Wolverine thing was a bit of a reach--but THIS observation is spot-on!”

Well, that’s the FUN in visiting TIAH Blog! You never know what you’re going to get! Especially now that I’ve gone full-tilt “Adventuring” through my Comic Boxes in one great and protracted effort to organize “the unorganizable”!

As the great “Farnum B.” character from LOST IN SPACE would put it… “Sometimes my exhibits are a little… shall we say… humbug!”, as with Chip ‘n’ Dale meeting “Wolverine”! But just as often, they can also be the real deal! This post is an example of the latter!

…Just imagine how I must feel, as I FIND these things! “Oh, wow! It’s Madam Mim! In a Bob Hope comic!”… then it’s off to the scanner to pull some imagery examples, and write a Blog post around them!

The One-Page-Inside-Cover-Gags aside, I don’t think The Blot was really played all that much for laughs! Certainly not in PB # 5 “The Crown of Tasbah”! Or PB # 7 where he acted to start a WAR between two neighboring countries!

And, his “affair of the (black) heart” with Mim, his flying pirate ship, and even his bout of “western bad-guy envy” were just part of the wonderful weirdness of Silver Age comics in general!

Bob Ogle, who as best as I can determine wrote issues 3-6, was a master at combining wild adventure with outrageous humor! And he never lets us down here for a second!

The only instance I can recall of a “Bob Hope surrogate” crossing over into a funny-animal’s comic series was HERE!

Yes, issues of THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE can indeed be “elusive and expensive,” but beyond the earliest ones (which I don’t have very many of either), they fall to more reasonable prices for both a still-popular title character, and the time period of publication. Elusive too, because you simply don’t see them every day! But, keep at it and one day you’ll be “thanking” all those great old comics for “the memories”! …Sorry, couldn’t help it!

Achille Talon said...

Since we're speaking of playing the Blot for laughs, this seems like the perfect opportunity to self-plug me own blog, whose latest post was precisely about that, about how to do it wrong, and about how to do it right…

http://twains-random-reviews.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-woes-of-shopping-supervillain.html

Joe Torcivia said...

You’re always welcome to “self-plug [your] own blog” around here, Achille!

Everyone, go there… RIGHT NOW! You won’t be sorry! And do leave comments… there’s no charge for that!

So, what are you waiting for… GO!

In addition to all his other talents, Achille even COLORS a Black-and-White Phantom Blot inside-cover-gag for your viewing pleasure!

He’s got a future somewhere in this business, folks… But, I’m not sure I’d wish such an unpredictable, low-paying, and ill-appreciated profession on such a good guy! …Go study accounting, or something practical!

scarecrow33 said...

I second the endorsement. I actually came to THIS post after I had already perused THAT post, and I think consciously or unconsciously (it's hard to tell these days) some of my thoughts about the various interpretations of the Blot were inspired by Achille's delightful article. It's wonderful that so many of us can appreciate the many surprises and delights of the Gold Key/Western comics even in these times.

I had just ONE tantalizing glimpse of the Blot, in the final chapter of "Return of the Phantom Blot", which was the ONLY Blot story (just that last chapter) I had access to as a child. That issue of WDC&S contained one more tantalizing Blot reference in the advertisement for the first issue of the Phantom Blot comic book containing the "Mysterious Mr. X" story. By the time I "inherited" that issue, the Blot had long since left the news stands. Alas, that was all I was to know of the Blot (just the one chapter and the ad) until those wonderful 70's issues of Super Goof that brought the character back. Finally, when I was in college, Abbeville Press (I believe) brought out some over-sized volumes of Disney comic strip reprints and I was able to read the Gottfredson original.

The Blot sort of "disappeared" from comics (that is one of his abilities, after all!) during the mid to late 60's into the early 70's. I'm sure there must have been other kids like me who might have caught one glimpse of the 60's Blot revival and wanted more. It's so gratifying that the character is still being discussed and written about today...and that we all more or less have the same degree of enthusiasm about those stories.

Elaine said...

Not only that, but Mim's hair has actually been colored orange in some of her comics incarnations abroad. Of course, that happened somewhat later on. It would make the comparison even more striking, though. If you do an Inducks search for cover art featuring Mim, you will see her with orange hair on one (atypical) Brazilian cover, one Danish cover, two French covers, and a bunch of Italian covers. I own a tin box distributed in Disney World, made to look like a trolley car full of Disney comics characters and DuckTales '87 characters, and Mim (who is sharing a seat with Magica) has orange hair.

Love the Mim-ish dragon/lake monster!

Joe Torcivia said...

Scarecrow:

I bought all four installments of “The Return of the Phantom Blot” off the newsstands, and all seven issues of THE PHANTOM BLOT series (except for # 2, which I finally got as a back issue in the early ‘80s)… and I STILL WANTED MORE BLOT!

As detailed HERE, I looked in vain for the non-existent PHANTOM BLOT # 8 for a long time!

There actually WAS one Blot sighting in American comics between 1966’s PHANTOM BLOT # 7 and Mark Evanier and Roger Armstrong reviving him in 1975’s SUPER GOOF # 33… and that was on the final interior page of WALT DISNEY COMIC DIGEST # 14 (Cover Date: August, 1969), as part of an activity page titled “Mickey Mouse Villain Round Up”, in which you were given a written description of a villain, and had to associate that description with a “head shot” illustration OF that villain.

The (police) line-up consisted of (from left to right) Black (or “Peg-Leg”, or “Big Bad”, take your pick) Pete, Zeke Wolf, Captain Hook, The Beagle Boys, Emil Eagle, and The Phantom Blot!

As it was THREE YEARS since The Blot last appeared, and would be almost FIVE YEARS until he would appear again, I’m guessing that most of the kids only identified him by process of elimination!

For the record, the description for The Blot was: “When this dark menace is on the loose, even the other baddies are scared!”

For me it was a delight to see ANY indication of The Blot at all, by this time… even this!

I would not see The Blot again until 1978 and the magnificent (for the time) Abbeville Press hardcover “Mickey Mouse”, from which I learned of his 1939 origins – and it would not be until the early ‘80s (once I discovered “back-issues were a thing you could actually buy”) that I got his next chronological appearance in SUPER GOOF # 33!

Joe Torcivia said...

Elaine:

Sure enough, here’s Mim with ORANGE HAIR!

And, if you didn’t feel sorry for the poor Phantom Blot already, get a load of THIS!

The Mim-ish Monster is PERFECT! It seals the “connection-deal” for me! Great job by Mort Drucker!