By their very nature, comic books have sported lots of FUNNY COVERS!
Archie even published a comic literally titled LAUGH...
...Which, alas, did not always live up to its name!
But many of them did, including this unlikely instance of Donald Duck doing the same gag as Mutt and Jeff!
Even such favorite characters as JUDGE DREDD and LOBO got into the act!
...And Lobo didn't even HAVE TO APPEAR ON THE COVER to pull off a good gag!
But, here's today's question? (Um... did we have one yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that? ...Help me out here... I'm DAFFY from "eight posts in eight days"!)
...NO, NOT YOU!!!
...Where were we? You know I'm doing all of these ON THE FLY (...and is it ever a STRAIN on that insect's back!), without my usual meticulous pre-planning - so, small wonder I'm so DAFFY!
Are we doin' THAT BIT again?! Scwam, you cwazy Duck!
Okay (finally), our QUESTION Of The DAY: "Have any comic book covers ever made you LAUGH OUT LOUD?"
If so, feel free to tell us in our Comments Section!
I can easily think of one offhand that DID make me laugh out loud when I first saw it... and STILL DOES on the rare occasions that I pull it out...
DONALD DUCK #167 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: November, 1975)! A slapstick gag I find SO FUNNY that it even OVERCOMES BEING DRAWN BY KAY WRIGHT!!!
...NOW, THAT *MUST* BE A FUNNY GAG!
Don't ask me how the guy responsible for THIS...
...And ESPECIALLY THIS...
...Could have brought out the amount of mirth he did in that one cover illustration.... but, somehow, it happened! GCD says that BILL WRIGHT (...who did amazing stuff like THIS)...
Larry Mayer was sometimes able to "save" Kay Wright's art into something remotely resembling respectability, but there's no sign or evidence that he was involved.
But, WHY is this gag so funny! I have an answer to that question but, with humor being as subjective as it can be, you may see it differently... OKAY, HERE GOES...
They certainly have a SCROOGE/DONALD or JETSON/SPACELY type of relationship! They may have even invented it!
There's also no known evidence that he was working off another artist's rough layouts, as he did with some of the JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS stories that were written (and sketched) by CARL BARKS in the early 1970s.
Despite all this, THE GAG REMAINS FUNNY! Which owes much more credit TO THE GAG ITSELF, than to the pencil artist!
It is the relative POSITIONS OF POWER between the two characters that makes it work!
The fact that Uncle Scrooge can exact CONSEQUENCES from the accidental indignity he suffers at the (literal) "hand" of Donald - accounting for Don's "almost afraid to look" expression - is what makes it funnier than if it occurred between two characters of EQUAL STATURE, or if the "power character" is the one inflicting the pain!
As an example of the latter, would it be as funny if BUGS BUNNY had done this to Elmer Fudd? Not really *as* funny, because you'd expect that from their dynamic.
...And it really wouldn't be funny at all, if Elmer were to do it do Bugs!
Just as Stan Laurel would be able to do it to Oliver Hardy, but not vice-versa!
An ad for a comic that never happened!
This is the type of gag that would work well for George Jetson and Mr. Spacely... (A Charlton panel illustration, of course! - Note that they (poorly) copied Gold Key's "The End" logo!
...But, oddly enough, not so much for Fred Flintstone and Mr. Slate - because their "relationship", such as it is, functions at a "less familiar" level and at a much greater distance!
That said, it would also work for the rarely-acknowledged-but true-nevertheless prototypes for George Jetson and Mr. Spacely - Dagwood Bumstead and his boss Mr. Dithers!
So, while I wonder what it might have been like if it had been drawn by Carl Barks, Don Rosa, or William Van Horn, let's hear it for Cover Number Eight (and the, Puff! Pant! halfway point of our 16th Anniversary marathon) DONALD DUCK # 167...
...One of those rare covers that makes me laugh out loud! And, despite its artistic shortcomings, manages to do its job well!
.....................................................
PS before I go: What I said about doing these 16th Anniversary posts "on the fly" is true (...okay, maybe not that part about the "insect's back").
Each morning I have NO IDEA of what I'm going to do (...that's kinda like every morning, whether I Blog or not! COFFEE, please!). Don't know which cover I'm going to select and don't know what I'm going to write about the cover that I don't know I'm going to select.
Uncharacteristic of me, I truly WING IT, often fighting back sleepiness as I end up doing these late at night.
It makes for a more rambling - but organic - type of post! Don't know if I like that approach as a general rule, but I think its sorta fun for this special occasion! What do you all think?
4 comments:
Yes, there have been covers that made me laugh out loud.
Two that come to mind:
1. Looney Tunes # 93 (DC). This was the first comic book I ever bought. I mean, how can you NOT buy it after reading Wile E. Coyote's entreaty? What about this cover made me laugh? Its meta humor, of course!
You can view this cover here: https://www.comics.org/issue/129101/cover/4/
2. "Superman and Bugs Bunny" # 3 (DC). I love Superman's and Batman's incredulity at Batduck. And Bugs's reply to Superman is one of the rare cases of the obligatory DC cover dialogue that's actually pretty funny.
https://www.comics.org/issue/65374/cover/4/
3. "Os Jetsons" # 2 (Editora Abril). Unlike the two issues I discuss above, I've never read this Brazilian issue. But I'm very familiar with its cover, thanks to an ad for it, which appeared in Pernalonga (Bugs Bunny) # 7. A classic case of technological malfunction, which we can relate to!
You can view this cover here: https://www.seboreinoso.com.br/MLB-4505850484-os-jetsons-n-2-editora-abril-1976-estado-regular-_JM
And here's the comic in which I encounted that cover: https://www.comics.org/issue/1442039/
The cover of Pernalonga # 7 is also funny. That's certainly an unorthodox way to swipe carrots from Elmer Fudd's carrot patch, though the humor is blunted by the fact that the gag isn't all that plausible. I doubt any vacuum cleaner would have enough suction to rip carrots loose from the ground.
Also, for a long time, I was too distracted by Bugs's apparent blue fur to appreciate the gag.
However, on Facebook a few years ago, someone set me straight: Bugs's fur on that cover is actually dark grey. I suppose it is, but it's too dark, in my opinion.
You know, I should probably finish indexing that issue one of these days... I started to do it, made a lot of progress, but became "horrifically busy" and never got back to it...
To answer your other question, I personally have greatly enjoyed the organic approach to the posts in this series. I wouldn't mind seeing you continue to use this approach.
Sergio (you write):
“To answer your other question, I personally have greatly enjoyed the organic approach to the posts in this series. I wouldn't mind seeing you continue to use this approach.”
Purely unintentional, and originally unplanned, the “organic approach” (as you so perfectly put it) came about just as do so many other things in my life… from being (…all together now) Horrifically Busy!
Once I’d suckered myself into this admittedly grueling challenge of 16 posts in 16 days, I soon found that the only time I had to devote to this task was late at night! And, while I’ve never been an “early to bed, early to rise” person – quite the contrary – I will concede that the later at night it gets, the more difficult it is to summon up “creative output”.
In my joyous retirement, I normally go to bed somewhere in between the late 1AM hour and the early 2AM hour. By such a time, it is far easier to “take-in” viewing and reading than it is to “put-out” things that require a certain level of alert creative energy.
So, to make a long story only slightly less long, getting into the necessary groove of writing these anywhere around 11PM to either side of midnight, injected a more “loopy” quality to my writing that made me feel like Vic Lockman on a high-speed whirling ride! (…And I mean that in a COMPLEMENTARY SENSE, referring to his singular uniqueness in writing style that I so enjoy…and sometimes even emulate!)
Adding to the fun and loopy-ness, is my purposeful approach in NOT planning-out these posts in advance! I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do one day to the next… and, at times, even one SENTENCE to the next! Sometimes, even *I* am surprised by what emerges!
I don’t believe I’m going to continue this approach, once “The Challenge” ends in three more days (…Will he make it to the finish line with his dignity and reputation intact?), but I’m glad you enjoy it! I’m actually liking the uncharacteristically free-wheeling style myself! …Though, I hope it is but a temporary infatuation!
…And, you’ll no doubt notice if and when I ever do it again!
To your links:
LOONEY TUNES (DC) #93
SUPERMAN & BUGS BUNNY #3
I remember BOTH of those very fondly! I’m quite certain that I even wrote about LOONEY TUNES #93, back when TIAH was still a hardcopy printed page column!
OS JETSONS # 2 (…Hope this link works! Thanks to some changes by Google, I can no longer test HTML links before publishing the comment!)
This is a redrawing/reworking of the cover of THE JETSONS (Gold Key) #6 by Tony Strobl!
PERNALOMGA [BUGS BUNNY] #7! That one would seem to be an original, although Elmer does have the “bug-eyes” that Fred Abranz used to draw him with! …And why is Bugs wearing a TIE? If it were GREEN, could he be mistaken for Yogi Bear? It also looks like the tie was added-on later by the colorist… it has no pencil and ink lines!
And, Sergio, you old rascal… I didn’t know you were also an indexer for GCD! Now, there’s one more reason that it’s the best comics indexing site of them all!
If you ever have any questions that I can help you with – or something I can look up in my collection to further your indexing – please let me know!
Unfortunately, the link to "Os Jetsons #2" doesn't work.
Thanks for showing me the original cover by Tony Strobl.
The Brazilian version is a pretty drastic redrawing/reworking of the original. No Jane, Judy, or Astro, and Elroy's and George's poses are completely different.
I wonder why they went that route, instead of just reusing the original.
As for Bugs Bunny's tie on the Brazilian cover, it's a long story. The "colorist" who added the tie (or at least the red version thereof shown at GCD) was none other than my mother!
She obtained that book as a child in Portugal, and eventually passed it on to me.
Now, you may be asking, how is it that the tie looks professionally colored?
Well, when she passed the book on to me, its front cover was badly tattered, and its back cover was missing entirely. (She takes good care of her books, so that probably wasn't her responsibility. You see, shockingly, but happily for her and me, she originally found the book in a garbage can! Thanks to your blog, I've deduced that the back cover was missing because it was likely a "pin-up" designed to be removed and used as a poster).
When I first received the book, Bugs's tie was black, and the ink was clearly that from a Bic Cristal pen. I don't know if my mother added the tie or if it was already on the cover when she found the book. (Okay, okay, I also don't know that that was the make and model of the ballpoint pen used, but considering it was Portugal, I'd say that's quite likely).
To ensure the book would last many more years, she created a new hardback cover for it using computer software. In the process, she added some minor touches to the cover using said software. Among the touches were filling in the gaps from the tatters, brightening Bugs's eyes, and recoloring Bugs's Bic Cristal black tie red. Also, she turned an ad for another Bugs Bunny comic book on the inside front cover into the book's outside back cover).
Actually, it was you who inspired me to begin indexing. Hopefully, I'll soon finish indexing at least this book. Not sure if I'll index others, but if I do and have any questions, I'll be sure to take you up on your offer!
Sorry about the "Os Jetsons #2" link, Sergio! I really tried to get it to work but, an unfortunate combination of (A:) changes in how Google allows you to edit and process comments and (B:) changes in the HTML through which I process links within comments, conspired against my efforts.
I’m going to try something else right here, in the body of this comment, to see if it works. If it does, you’ll see the cover, if it doesn’t… well, nothing (mis-ad) ventured, nothing gained.
https://www.seboreinoso.com.br/MLB-4505850484-os-jetsons-n-2-editora-abril-1976-estado-regular-_JM
Did it work? We won’t know until I publish this comment! Cross your fingers and toes!
I’ve seen many such instances of an original American cover being redrawn for publication in other lands. Often re-staged, with different elements added or removed. In such cases, I doubt it’s mere coincidence because the images (and the gag itself) are too specifically close to the original. Maybe it’s less expensive than licensing the actual cover sketch… or (…heaven forfend) perhaps in some cases the drawing is just plain copied, and modified to varying degrees, to completely avoid whatever image-specific IP fees are necessary.
That is a WONDERFUL STORY about your mother! It makes me so glad to know that there are such persons in the world! It sounds as if she was a great influence on you! Treasure that memory, as I will this story!
GCD needs more indexers well versed in non-American comics (especially non-Disney “funny” comics) so, not only do I hope you’ll complete that one, but do many more in the future!
I find those indexes fascinating to see which stories I read in Dell and Gold Key comics are reprinted in other places, and how they are sometimes interspersed with original covers and stories from those places! So, do whatever you can and always feel free to ask for any assistance I might be able to provide.
Post a Comment