It was a tough time for the tourist hot-spots of Europe in 1966... as seen in our latest "Mirth (theft?) Separation" of SUPER GOOF # 4 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: September, 1966) and METAMORPHO THE ELEMENT MAN # 6 (DC Comics, Cover Date: May / June, 1966)!
Good golly! Was ANYTHING safe?
Well, at least we can be sure no one's going to make off with Big Ben!
Thanks, Batman!
15 comments:
Hey, we've got our own problems stateside, and I don't even mean that whole Independence Day thing. Way back in Marvel Team-Up #28, Hercules had to return Manhattan to the harbor by chaining himself to the island and towing it back in! And if you think that's implausible, the image clearly shows him pulling it in in back to front. Oops!
Great post! I love the juxtaposition of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower, and Big Ben.
1966 was a banner year for me personally. It was the first summer I could read! I had just won the first reading award in my first grade class, presumably for having been the fastest to master reading skills. That summer, my parents took us on a road trip into western Canada. Before we left Seattle, my mother let me pick out two comic books to take along. I chose the Super Goof issue pictured above, plus the giant-sized special "Woody Woodpecker's Summer Fun." Not yet the voracious reader I would shortly become, I contented myself on the entire trip with just those two, each of which I read over and over and over. (In later years, I would bring a small stack which would multiply many times over while we were on the road.)
"Super Goof meets Super Thief" held many "firsts" for me. It was the first comic book I read by myself without anyone reading it to me. It was the first issue of Super Goof I ever owned. (There had been another issue in a barber shop, which my father had read to me a few months earlier, so that's how I knew that Goofy had a super hero identity.) It was my first glimpse of Uncle Scrooge--although I did know that he was a regular Disney character, I had never read one of his stories. Imagine! It was my first discovery of the "romance" (such as it was) between Goofy and Clarabelle. It was the first time I understood about the "super goobers" that gave Goofy his powers. And it was my introduction to the landmarks in the story, but at the time I thought "Big Bim" was the REAL name and "Big Ben" was a made up one!
I'm afraid there isn't an English translation of it (yet?), but one of the most iconic Walter Melon long-form comic stories, in the same vein as Magnesia's Treasure, focused on foiling a South American dictator who had decided to make his country rich through tourism, and was blackmailing world leaders to send him the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty and more, in exchange for the lives of a plane of hostages. (On the plane of hostages were Walter's parents, with Papa Melon ending up taking control of the rebel guerilla movement through a series of improbable coincidences and overthrowing the dictator. Hence the title, Viva Papa.)
Achille:
That Walter Melon story sounds like one I would LOVE to read… and then do a Blog post on! Sounds exactly like all that great “sixties stuff” I enjoy so much.
But, that’s the richness of comics – and that there is SO MUCH of it that all of us will, regrettably, never read!
And, for anyone who may not remember my first brush with Walter Melon, you can check it out HERE! …Tell me that’s not great stuff!
JoeC:
You write: “…Hercules had to return Manhattan to the harbor by chaining himself to the island and towing it back in! ”
And that’s why Hercules is such a legend that he even had a TV show titled ”Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”, let alone survive an encounter with The Three Stooges!
And, if you think parallel parking a car is hard, try maneuvering Manhattan Island back into place, around Long Island (the Brooklyn and Queens borders), The Bronx (firmly part of the North American continent) and New Jersey (ditto)!
Perhaps this extraordinary feat occurred at the same time as Teen Titans # 52 (1977) in which Long Island was stolen (!!! You’d think I’d have remembered that, having been there, and all!) and pushed back into position by Aqualad’s pack of whales!
If so, Hercules would have had a much easier time restoring Manhattan to its proper place, without Long Island in his way, if Aqualad were polite enough to let him go first!
Scarecrow:
1966 was, and will likely always remain, my favorite year for popular culture… ALL comics were great, regardless of publisher, sci-fi and imaginative adventure was all over TV like never before… and I was at the perfect age to take it all in – and take it with me for the rest of my life! That’s why we’re so sixties-centric around here!
Isn’t it funny that we both have a “story” connected to SUPER GOOF # 4! Or, given the other “parallels” we’ve separately experienced in this wondrous journey, perhaps it was “to be expected”!
Strictly subsisting on an allowance that was (by my informal polling) decidedly below the norm, peer-wise, and having to work within the confines of said pittance (even by 1966 standards), I was faced with the choice of buying SUPER GOOF # 4 or THE FLINTSTONES # 35.
Lemme tell you, that is a choice NO kid should EVER have to make! The agonizing! Knowing that, whichever one I picked, the other one would most likely be gone forever, in those days before comic shops, conventions, and even mail order dealers.
Ultimately, I decided on THE FLINTSTONES # 35 – and SUPER GOOF # 4 did indeed become "gone forever"!
…Until I finally found a copy of it at a comic show in the early 1980s. I suppose it made me appreciate the book all the more, for the experience!
Oh, and I also got Woody Woodpecker Summer Fun around the same time – but earlier. As it was 25-cents, instead of 12-cents, I must have been a bit more “cash-rich” that week!
The first new “Seperated at Mirth” post that I’m around for! Pretty neat post, if I must say so! Keeps me occupied while I’m waiting on my latest shipment of Dell comics to arrive (I’ve decided to order a stack of Dell comics from various sources every other Saturday. That means that they’ll be at my home by the next Saturday, so I can spend my whole Saturday enjoying comics! Crafty, huh?)
Joe, as for your reply to Scarecrow, as a kid, did you generally like Flintstones more than Super Goof/Disney, or was this choice simply a matter of just having to choose between one of the two? IF you liked Flintstones more, then I would have loved you as a kid! I’ve always been anti-Disney (but that’s a story for another time....)
Austin:
Well, I hope you’ll be around for many more Separations at Mirth!
Bravo on the order of Dell comics! And, even more so for the logistical planning that would have you receive a shipment every Saturday…. Always the BEST day for comics reading, since I was back in grade school.
I hope that’s been working according to plan, because shipping has become much more variable of late. Of the last three comics packages I received…
A: Today, in fact, one arrived a day SOONER than scheduled. (I won’t open it for another two days or so, leaving it in the garage, safely in COVID-quarantine, as we do with all mail, packages, and anything else received from the “outside world”. You may wish to consider doing the same, but to each his or her own.)
B: One arrived THREE DAYS LATER than scheduled.
C: The package that was ordered AFTER Package “B”, arrived BEFORE Package “B” – but arrived right on-schedule!
…Maybe it’s better in Pittsburgh?
Ah, the decades-old question of “The Flintstones vs. Super Goof”… the mere fact that I can even recall that day in 1966 must indicate the childhood-trauma involved! :-)
As best I can recall my reasoning, I ultimately chose The Flintstones because I had many more of that title, rather than Super Goof, of which there were only THREE prior issues at the time – and I didn’t even have Issue # 2. So, even then, I suppose, I was thinking like a collector keeping a longer-running series intact at the expense of a shorter-running series. The fact that The Flintstones TV show was still in its final “first-run” season, also helped. Though it DID take its share of “distressed pondering” (I did a lot of that as a kid) to arrive at a decision!
And, while I was satisfied with my decision, Super Goof would factor into my life in certain ways well beyond the absence (and later acquisition) of that individual issue…
Some of my earliest '80s fanzine writings, in a notable (at the time, and perhaps even today) fan-run publication called “The Duckburg Times” were about Super Goof. That lead to becoming a comic-book letterhack, and becoming known by certain individuals in comics publishing, which led to…
My first professionally published writing – a text intro for an early ‘90s album-sized comic starring… Super Goof! Which, much further down the road, led to…
My first professional comics-writing credit, which was on (you guessed it)… Super Goof!
So, while I preferred The Flintstones, they didn’t to a thing to get me to the point of professional writer… So, thanks, Super Goof! :-)
I have been anti-Disney at specific times, and for specific reasons – like, for instance, the sad affair of the current IDW comics. In fact, you can find something about each and every time my feelings flipped somewhere in the near 12-year history of this Blog. Not, that I recommend anyone go look for that stuff, but it’s all there somewhere!
I’ve never been a fan of the animated movies – most especially of the ones done lately – and rank their classic-era animated theatrical shorts way behind, Warner Bros., MGM, and pre-1965 Hanna-Barbera TV stuff.
But the comics have always been special to me, save the present-day ones from IDW! The current series of “Disney Masters” hardcovers from Fantagraphics still prove how great those comics can be. So that’s my position.
I’m guessing no Dell issues of MICKEY MOUSE are in your next “Saturday Package” so, if you don’t mind sharing… What IS in it (generalities will do), and why the “Disney disdain”? …Just curious.
Ya gotta admit… No Blog gives you back as much as mine!
Joe:
My plan isn't as genius as I hoped it would be, since not every package comes when expected. My various comic dealers send me stuff at varying speeds. Jim Payette ships me stuff with Priority Mail, whereas Lone Star sends me stuff through that cheap economy mail stuff, which usually takes a few days longer. Even then, I still have plenty of comics that I brought with me from NYC, plenty that I was given for my recent birthday, and a few more are expected from a family member who sent me a late gift! Rumor has it that he is sending me a few Bugs Bunny's Christmas Funnies....in May, even! Can't complain, though, since I ordered Christmas Funnies #1 which should be here tomorrow!
(As for your package situation, why don't you open the package and have a fellow family member pull out the contents inside? Then, you wash your hands after touching the package? That's our protocol, anyways.)
Thanks, Super Goof indeed. Imagine what would have happened if you had chosen Super Goof, instead...would we be seeing your name in the credits of the 1994 Flintstones movie?
To be honest, my only reasoning is that I grew up watching Looney Tunes with my grandfather, and I grew up loving them just as much. Disney had no room there! Besides, with my sense of humor, Disney couldn't do me any good...I never loved Disney, and since I grew up loving the cartoons that rivaled them for the best animation studio in Hollywood for so long, I had to choose a side....so naturally, I chose Warners!
My most recent Saturday Package is gonna contain a few expensive (ish) issues of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, and of course, Bugs Bunny's Christmas Funnies #1! As for future packages, I may be buying strictly from Lone Star Comics (aka mycomicshop.com) and their stuff is the cheapest. I put myself on a strict budget of $70 a month, so I only spend about $35 every two weeks on comics! Oh well, I can't complain. Comics are the best. I just spent an hour basking in the sun while reading a little Daffy and Porky....doesn't get any better than that!
Joe, I posted a reply to your comment a few hours ago (Around 2). Did that ever go through? I’m not seeing it in the comments section...
Austin:
Regarding the comments, here’s how we work things around here…
I employ “Comment Moderation” for this Blog. Not all Blog’s do… but, in my opinion, all Blog’s SHOULD!
That means that a comment won’t immediately display upon the commenter’s submission, but will be deposited in a queue for my review before publishing. An e-mail will alert me to the existence of a new comment and, thus, I never miss one.
The advantages to this approach are: First, since I read each and every comment I receive – and respond in kind – I have the opportunity to know what’s waiting for my approval, and can best formulate an appropriate response. In this way, it’s a better read all around, as opposed to certain Blogs that just let a reader’s comment “hang out there” with no acknowledgement. …Such an approach makes me wonder if the host Blogger even reads most of the comments submitted.
The second reason is that, occasionally – but very rarely, there might be a comment that is unsuitable in content for publication at this “family-Blog”. If so, I have the opportunity to decline publishing the comment. Again, this is VERY rare (especially among the good people who gather here), and I’ve only had to invoke that option twice in almost 12 years of Blogging.
The final, and I daresay most practical, reason is to thwart spammers. Some spammers are obvious in that they just send an openly blatant advertisement for their enterprise to my Comments Section.
Others try to worm there way in with a rather pathetic approach where they say something to the effect of “I really found your post interesting” – but offer NO additional words that could possibly be specific to the post in question, or even the general topic at hand. They either offer a link of some kind (or maybe if you just click on their profile) and you will be taken to an ad for real estate deals or penis enlargement. Uh-Uh! Sorry! Besides, I already own a house and I already have a very large… desire to keep this Blog family friendly!
One of the more insidious things about spammers is when they target older posts – those that I may not revisit for months, or years, or ever! Their “real-penis” and “estate-enlargement” garbage could remain on my Blog indefinitely, for anyone to see – and likely get suckered by! I’d never stand for that – but I have seen it on other Blogs, exactly as I describe it!
And that is the long-and-round-about answer to your question! So never fret if I take a while to process a comment. I’d like to think we’re all the better for it in the end!
Oh, yeah, now to your original comments…
Joe:
Of course, I realize that you have to review comments before they're up. I thought that they would show up for me even if you hadn't approved it yet, which was where I got confused. That's all though. Thanks for responding with such a lengthy comment to such a simple question, however!
Austin:
Yes, alas… Shipping has probably not been as “variable” as it is today, since they stopped using ponies!
Lone Star ships exactly as you described, while Mile High and Nostalgia Zone might ship Priority Mail even when I exceed the order-total threshold and get free shipping. To each their own, I guess.
Since Lone Star does not offer free shipping under ANY circumstance, I always select the economy shipping.
Lone Star does SO MUCH RIGHT that I can’t figure why there is not a threshold amount for free shipping. An order can be 3 dollars or 3 hundred dollars, and I’ve still gotta pay the 4.95 for “Lone Star Economy”!
So, odd considering that they update their inventory far more than any competitor of whom I’m aware. Their pricing is always reasonable – except on “consignment items”, which I routinely ignore. Their grading is the best and most accurate – and when there is a dispute their customer service is very quick to rectify the situation. But, I guess no one can ever be totally perfect, so I’ll settle for giving them a grade in the very high ‘90s.
I have only one “family member” with me here… and Esther is even more cautious than I am. And, there’s nothing in the mails or packages that can’t wait a day or two.
“Thanks, Super Goof indeed. Imagine what would have happened if you had chosen Super Goof, instead...would we be seeing your name in the credits of the 1994 Flintstones movie?”
What a wonderful yet frightening thought! Outside of the greater amount of money I would have been paid, I’d much prefer to keep my name associated with Super Goof rather than that 1994 Flintstones movie! So, even greater thanks to Super Goof!
Though the desire to do a screenplay must be somewhere in my subconscious, or I’d have never come up with THIS!
I certainly get your preference for WB cartoons over Disney’s. Have you read many of the Disney comic books? Except for the current ones from IDW, and some of the earlier ones from Boom! Studios, they are in a completely different – and MUCH BETTER – universe. Try some of the ones I worked on for Gemstone, Boom!, and IDW (I wrote about many of them on the Blog under the label “Joe’s Comics Work”) … at least you won’t spend as much money on those as you would for Carl Barks! …Though Carl Barks is SOOO WORTH IT!
And, your final paragraph is just about the BEST way you can spend a Saturday afternoon! Enjoy them!
Joe:
Yes, Lone Star’s constant 4.95 shipping price has always annoyed me a little. I’ll be going along, putting stuff in my cart, until I remember that there’s an extra 4.95 that I have to pay! That always makes me miss out on a comic or two.
Hmm.....different than the DIsney universe? That would be nice. I’ve only seen a few of Disney’s shorts over the years, but every one has still made me want to drop dead. It seems like the cartoons were purposefully bad so people would either leave the theater and watch a Disney feature, or just so Walt could show off his high budgets and pretty animation. If the comics are in a different universe than that...maybe I should pick some up next Saturday. What would you suggest?
Austin:
And, now tacked-on to that 4.95, they now charge tax! Sometimes, I’ll wait for the books I want to be on their weekly codeword sale, just to lessen the amount of tax! With a large order, it *can* make a difference!
I would be very pleased to make recommendations but, for this, I’ll issue you the same invitation that I open to everyone who’s interested…
Send me a comment with your e-mail address! I will not publish that comment, but will respond, and you will have mine. We can pick up this discussion from that point.
See you on e-mail.
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