Adventures in Comic-Boxing: You Can Almost HEAR Them Say it!

Here's a great one-page gag from ABBOTT AND COSTELLO # 5 (Charlton Comics, Cover Date: November, 1968)!  Story: Steve Skeates.  Art: Henry Scarpelli. 

And here it is broken-out by panel for your reading pleasure! 

With all that back-and-forth dialogue, it's almost like watching them do one of their old routines, isn't it? 

 

Rocky Rocks, but Boris is Da Bomb!

Here are some wonderful sketches of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and his nemesis Boris Badenov by our great friend Debbie Anne Perry!  

Deb actually GETS how Rocky should look - proper cheeks and all - unlike the more modern designs like this!  

Yeah... THAT'S IT!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Christmas in... May?

As you might know, Saturday is often a day reserved for reading comics! 

But, Friday, May 24, 2019 was a PERFECT spring day, with a nice wafting breeze felt through the front bay window - at which I read NEW FUNNIES # 71 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: January, 1943 - the Christmas, 1942 issue)!

I had just received this comic the day before, and couldn't think of a better time or situation (the house was empty, quiet, and spring-breezy) to enjoy this bygone treasure!

Didn't matter that it was a CHRISTMAS ISSUE in May, I enjoyed it all the same! 

BACK COVER:  Say, aren't there supposed to be EIGHT reindeer?  Oh, wait... The other four are off reading NEW FUNNIES!  ...That must be it! 

And I KNOW Santa is supposed to be "magical", but how is his arm and wrist able to SLIP BEHIND THE PRINTING on the Gift Card? 

Then again, this wouldn't be the first feat of Christmas Magic he performed for an issue of NEW FUNNIES, would it? 

You can read about that little bit of Christmas in summer HERE! 

But, back to (AHEM!) The Issue At Hand...

Ya gotta love the "Little Andy" in the upper left corner... trying to call attention to the fact that A CANDLE IS SETTING THE LOGO ON FIRE! 

Hopefully, the outcome would be no more serious than Raggedy Ann and her "two Andys" merely being COATED WITH CANDLE WAX (as was the "case-times-two" HERE)! 

...After all, even though it's actually MAY, it's still "Christmas" - and nothing bad should ever happen on Christmas! 

RIGHT?  

RIGHT! 

Especially something as BAD as me playing around with images like this!  

I’m Not an Artist, But… A HUGE STOOGE Opportunity Lost!

I’m Not an Artist, But… I *AM* a writer!  And, as a writer... and, particularly as a writer of comic book material laced with gags, I must point out something I regard as a HUGE opportunity lost!  

Here is the cover to THE THREE STOOGES: ASTRO-NUTS (American Mythology Productions, Released: May 08, 2019).  

Okay, Stooge-O-Philes... I'll give you to the count of TEN to tell me what's wrong with this cover!

ONE... 

TWO...

THREE...

FOUR...

FIVE...

SIX...

SEVEN...  (Time's runnin' out, folks!)

EIGHT...

NINE...

Last chance...

TEN!  

Of ALL characters to do this gag with...  (The Three Stooges)

And, of ALL characters to SPEAK the line...  (Curly Howard)

Shouldn't he be saying: "MOE, LARRY... THE CHEESE!"

...Or, better yet, paraphrase Curly's famous line with something like: "Moe, Larry... IT'S CHEESE!" 

But, no... it's just "Cheese!", and a great big Stooge-Fan-In-Joke falls by the wayside!  

That said, I wish to say that American Mythology Productions does a great job with their various THREE STOOGES comics!

Each issue leads with a new story, backed by a Dell or Gold Key reprint, giving readers the best of both worlds!  

This issue's new story... 

...Is actually a sequel to THIS!  

...With a Dell reprint back-up story by Pete Alvarado!  

Continuing the classic comedy, they've just put out an issue of LAUREL AND HARDY...

...True to form, with a new lead story...  (Click to Enlarge) 

...And a 1960s Gold Key reprint by (once again) Pete Alvarado!

So, let's hear it for American Mythology Productions and the whole line of great comics (both old and new - in one issue, yet) that they produce... even ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE!

.

...But, they STILL shoulda referenced "Moe, Larry... The Cheese!"

Separated at Mirth: Candle "Whacks"!

Sometimes ya gotta feel sorry for "Disney's Little Guys".  

As seen on the back cover gag of DELL FOUR COLOR # 791 JIMINY CRICKET (1957) and the front cover of CHIP 'N' DALE # 28 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: July, 1974), they can't even settle-in to read a book, or just chill, by CANDLELIGHT without mishap!

Jiminy, it would seem, is an unfortunate victim of melting circumstances, while Chip suffers the unintended consequences of Dale leaning too far backward!

Either way, we are given a renewed appreciation for the electric light bulb, rather than...  "wax" too nostalgic for those bygone candlelit nights! 
   

Wax and wick, gives flame its birth... 

...With Jiminy and Chip 'n' Dale - "Separated at Mirth"! 

R.I.P. Tim Conway.

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of actor/comedian Tim Conway, on May 14, 2019, at the age of 85. 

Mr. Conway was a very funny man, who was in a great many things I liked - from McHALE'S NAVY...

...To THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW, where he truly became a comedy legend...

...With a few less than successful sit-coms in between!  But, I liked even them!  

In later years, he brought his talents to animation voicing as "Barnacle Boy" on SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS (with his former McHALE'S NAVY co-star, Ernest Borgnine, as "Mermaid Man")!

...And a personal favorite, The Joker's idol and inspiration "The Weeper" on BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD!  

HERE is Tim Conway's extensive list of credits at IMDB!  

Rest In Peace, Mr. Tim Conway... and thank you for decades of laughs and good times!