While everybody loves Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, I'll bet few have thought of him in terms of a comic book pitchman... or "pitch-rabbit", if you will.
But, take a gander at this ad from LOONEY TUNES AND MERRIE MELODIES COMICS #22 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: August, 1943), where Oswald steps up to plug his own Dell Comics title - NEW FUNNIES!
The ad is on the inside back cover and, because of that positioning, note how Oswald presumes that you have just finished reading this issue of LOONEY TUNES, with a direct reference to "the adventures of Bugs Bunny and his pals", before making his pitch!
We liked 'em just fine, Oswald! In fact, they were GREAT!
Oswald throws it to his NEW FUNNIES co-stars...
Then comes back for the clincher!
OH, MAN... I AM SOOOO THERE! (...or I would have been if I were around in 1943!)
Gotta love that early design on Woody Woodpecker!
I guess Oswald was chosen for this, so he could do a "rabbit segue" from Bugs...
...Leaving me to wonder if Bugs ever took control of the inside back cover of an issue of NEW FUNNIES for similar purposes!
After all, he CAN be a little "enthusiastic" at times...
For an ACTUAL example of a comic book subscription ad that Bugs invaded, look no further than HERE!
You get the feeling that Oswald, at least, did it with the proper permissions!
That's All [New Funnies] Folks!
2 comments:
12 issues for one dollar? Sign me up!
At the risk of repeating myself, I have to re-state that I love these fine tuning posts that spotlight details that might otherwise get overlooked.
Oswald had so many stages in his development. He is by this time long past the Disney era, the Mintz era, and the early Lantz era, but has not yet developed into the middle-class suburban adoptive father (although later on the adoptive part doesn't get much if any mention, kinda like with the Rubbles and Bamm-Bamm). Taking care of two kids, he takes on more or less the persona of Mickey Mouse with two nephews (and in the comics, one nephew) who mostly look and act alike. This early 40's Oswald (like his nearly-brother the 40's Mickey) is still evolving and has not yet reached that more mature stage. Though his character and personality are a little hard to pin down (and seem to change from episode to episode) he remains one of my favorite Lantz characters (though of course not an original Lantz creation).
I have only a handful of those early New Funnies issues, and probably not as far back as this particular issue is dated. But like WDC & S, what a grab bag of great characters and stories--all for a dime!
I can see I'm going to have to clip (no--make that copy) the coupon and send in my dollar...too good a deal to pass up! (Don't you just wish?)
Scarecrow:
“Fine Tuning?” Yeah, I guess that IS what I do.
Or, to employ another popular (to the extent of overuse) phrase, I “deep-dive” into things I find interesting, funny, or otherwise notable as I rummage delightfully through the collection, and try to share them with you all.
Oswald, as with many of the cartoon (and comic book) stars of his early era, was not “hatched whole-cloth” as most later creations would be. He had a slow evolution in animation (uniquely across different studios) as well as a slow-but-different evolution in comics, and you hit the high points nicely.
Indeed, the Lantz comics *themselves* have probably undergone more of an evolution than I’d ever imagined, from the early 1940s thru the late 1950s – where they finally settled into patterns and continuities that would serve them for the subsequent 2 ½ decades. I’ve made mention of a few of these “discoveries of evolution” at this Blog – and, for anyone seeking them, they can be found by clicking on the “Walter Lantz” label… among a lotta other Lantz fun-stuff.
I recently had occasion to read a very tattered but miraculously complete copy of NEW FUNNIES #65 (1942) – which is, for all intents and purposes, NEW FUNNIES #1, as it evolved (…I use that word A LOT in this comment, don’t I?) from 64 issues of a Dell series titled THE FUNNIES (carrying over some features, dropping others, and adding new ones). NEW FUNNIES #65 would have the SECOND comic book appearance of Oswald the Rabbit, carried over from THE FUNNIES #64.
The odd thing is that, in this installment, Oswald meets what would then be his “regular supporting comic-book cast” Toby Bear, Maggie Lou, and Native American caricature Hi-Yah Wahoo… but they are ALL BROKEN AND DISCARDED TOYS! (You can see them all in the ad!) The Lucky Rabbit gets the broken toys fixed up by old Dr. Raccoon, and finds each of them a home – not a “home as a toy” in some child’s nursery or the like, but “homes” as sentient living beings among the creatures of the forest… including a “crazy woodpecker”, Woody in his earliest design! No proof either way as to whether Oswald, Dr. Raccoon, or Woody are also toys!
Toby, at least, would continue on as Oswald’s pal for years to come, and was responsible for Oswald adopting Floyd and Lloyd – and his origins as a TOY were eventually forgotten. …HOW’S THAT FOR INFORMATION YOU WON’T GET ANYWHERE ELSE? …To be fair, though, even I didn’t have that information until a month ago!
…And, oh, wait… “Delayed Bombshell Alert”, NEW FUNNIES #65 also contains a one-page gag for (…can you imagine?) “Elmer and Bugs Bunny”!!! …Yes, really! Not an advertisement for the LOONEY TUNES AND MERRIE MELODIES TITLE (which was well underway at the time), but a legitimate one-page gag featuring the (then) Leon Schlesinger characters!
Finally, the GOOD NEWS is that you can still get “12 Full Issues” of NEW FUNNIES… the BAD NEWS is it’ll cost you A LOT MORE than one dollar! Especially if you start your “self-fulfilled subscription” with NEW FUNNIES #65!
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