Adventures in Comic-Boxing: What's So FUNNY?

What's so funny?  Well, any Silver Age comic featuring The Joker is bound to have some mirth (though, not necessarily of the "Separated at Mirth" variety) in the mix, and DETECTIVE COMICS #341 (DC Comics, Cover Date: July, 1965) is no exception. 

The cover copy proclaims "WHAT A SWITCH!" And, The Joker does indeed pull quite a switch on our baffled Boy Wonder!  

But that's nothing compared to the "switch" apparently pulled (perhaps BY The Joker?) in a DC house ad in this very issue...

Why, he MUST be responsible... Just look at him laughing at us! 

But, what's so... er, "FUNNY"?  Let's look a little closer... 

"For THE VERY BEST in FUNNY comics reading"...?  BATMAN and THE FLASH?!  

BATMAN and FLASH comics, especially in the Silver Age, have been known for many things...

...Many ODD things...

...Many, MANY odd things!  

But, being INTENTIONALLY FUNNY was not one of them... as you can plainly... uh, plainly... see? 

...AW, SKIP IT!  

Regardless of what you've just seen, I still maintain that this... 

...Was a TRICK by The Joker... or Mr. Mxyzptlk... or Bat-Mite...

...Or... maybe it was just a mistake by DC's Production Department!  Putting THIS... 

...Where, more likely, it should have been THIS!  

Yeah! That's more like it!  

THOSE comics are MUCH FUNNIER than Batman... Bat...Buh...Ba...

BAT-MITE... NOW CUT THAT OUT! 

Ba-Ba-Ba... BATS All Folks!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Good Junior Woodchucks Always Recycle!

Perhaps this is more of an example of "Adventures in Comic-BUYING" rather than "Boxing", but here's an unusual bit of good recycling for a comic I just received from ebay! 

Here is the FRONT of a nicely packaged copy of ADVENTURE COMICS #402 (DC Comics, Cover Date: February, 1971)...

...And here is the BACK...

In a detail that most folks buying this comic either wouldn't notice, or would quickly shrug off if they did, the backing board is marked "HD&L #70"!  

...As in THIS! 

It would be reasonable to assume that a copy of HUEY, DEWEY AND LOUIE JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS #70 (Whitman Comics, Cover Date: September, 1981) was, at one point in time, stored within that bag and backing board!  

And here's the evidence...

Wouldn't it be just like good Junior Woodchucks to recycle these materials?

 Yes! Yes, it would!  Merit badges all around, Boys! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Tom's Big Turn-Around!

As a follow-up to OUR LAST POST on those pesky (all together now) intrusive UPC Code boxes, we offer for your UPC amusement the cover of TOM AND JERRY #146 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: September, 1956)...

...The cover of TOM AND JERRY #236 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: June, 1967)...

...And finally the UPC-influenced cover of TOM AND JERRY #295 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: June, 1977) - ten years later, and into the intrusive UPC era!

It almost makes you want to play that old kids' game - "Which One of These Doesn't Belong?"... except that it's all too obvious which one doesn't!  

In the interest of efficiency (and laziness), I will reproduce the notes I prepared for my indexing of this cover at GCD:

"Image is flipped from its original printing in Tom and Jerry Comics (Dell, 1949 Series) #146 (September 1956) and its prior reprinting in Tom and Jerry (Western, 1962 Series) #236 (June 1967) which had Tom facing right, to Tom facing left - with all illustration elements flipped accordingly.

"This was most likely done to accommodate the UPC code box, which would have interfered with Jerry and Tuffy's fishing lines as previously rendered. Tom's fishing line is also shortened for the same reason resulting in a change in perspective.

"The separation of the water and sky (now more garishly colored) is delineated with a black inked line, where in the previous printings water and sky simply 'blended into one another'."

Here is the actual GCD link, for anyone that cares to see it! 

Of course, there have been many UPC-alterations performed over the years, but this, along with the two later variations of "Og's Iron Bed" are among the most extreme! 

But, at least everyone here is FACING THE SAME WAY as they were...

...And not looking into a garishly-reflective mirror!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Donald Duck's UPC Problems!

An unfortunate necessity that has, since its inception, marred all comic book covers seen thereafter is the intrusive UPC Code box! 

Publishers have learned to navigate around "that X@!>$@!X'ing rectangle" by allowing for its placement, when designing covers, as seen below.

Sometimes by crowding things around it...

...And sometimes by just leaving a big ol' awkward empty space!  

But what of covers that were designed BEFORE the coming of the UPC Code Box, and were REPRINTED once the lower left portion of the cover was no longer able to accommodate preexisting art or text?   

Well, that WAS a problem, which required a little extra work from the Art Department! 

Here are two examples of DONALD DUCK covers where that "little extra work" was applied! 

DONALD DUCK # 143 (1972)...

And DONALD DUCK # 209 (1979)! 

To accommodate the UPC Code Box, the TEXT had to be completely reconfigured, with that from the lower left now ADDED to that below the logo! 

The Title Logo had already changed independently of the addition of the UPC. 

But, it was not only TEXT that made way for the "bars", but sometimes ART as well...

...As seen in DONALD DUCK # 109 (1966), and it's reprints in...

DONALD DUCK # 198 (1978)...

...And DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS # 342 (2007)

As you can see, comics published since the late 1970s accommodate the unwanted but necessary UPC Code box.  But, it's interesting to see how reprinted covers, as those above, bend, twist, and gyrate to get the job done! 

Three Cheers for the Red, White... and Scoob!

Even though it's not exactly a Fourth-of-July image, how can you not love the cover of SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? #39 (DC Comics, Cover Date: January, 2014)?  

...Okay, maybe if you're a CAT LOVER!  But ya gotta admit that its American Flag motif makes for a nice image for our Fourth of July Post - 2023 Edition!  

Whoever you are, and wherever you are, in this troubled world of ours, let's all share in a little of Scooby's joy this day!  'Cause we can sure use it!  HAPPY FOURTH!