Adventures in Comic-Boxing: The Case of the Migrating Penguin!

When it comes to PENGUINS, Warner Bros. Looney Tunes has a pretty memorable one that twice co-starred with Bugs Bunny...

Walter Lantz had a pretty memorable one of his own... CHILLY WILLY! 

But there must have been a brief period during Chilly's tenure at Lantz when he may have become dissatisfied with his contract... and briefly defected to Warner Bros.

Otherwise, how would you explain THIS?!    

WALTER LANTZ NEW FUNNIES #278 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: July-August, 1960) 

...Yes, really! Let's dolly in for a closer look... 

Maybe he was tired of working with SMEDLEY?  

...Or lower-tier players like Homer Pigeon?  

...And taking SECOND BILLING, NO LESS!  The unhappiness of that experience even caused him to put on TOO MUCH WEIGHT!   

The GOOD SCRIPTS, like "The Legend of Rockabye Point" (possibly the single funniest cartoon of all time)... 

...And "I'm Cold" stopped coming, much to the little guy's displeasure.  

Or maybe he just wanted to work with "that Oscar-Winning Rabbit, Bugs Bunny!" Or the rabbit's renowned animation director Chuck Jones?  

Ya, know... like that OTHER penguin did!  

But, alas, Chilly's experiences at Warner Bros. were not good... 

...Being a PENGUIN and all, they cast him in a BATMAN movie, as a "hench-peng" to THIS GUY!  

Chilly didn't like that AT ALL!  

Coincidently, at that time, Walter Lantz decided to lure him back with the promise of working with THEIR top star, Woody Woodpecker...

...And so, he once again became "Walter Lantz Chilly Willy"! 

...And remained happily so (though still "chilly") ever after! 

...OR... COULD IT HAVE BEEN MUCH SIMPLER THAN ALL THAT?  

Could it have possibly been nothing more than a... PRINTING ERROR?!  

Could THIS...

...Have been erroneously run in place of... THIS?   

                                         

...Eeeh, COULD BE!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery-Guests!

As we approach Halloween, it's only right that we turn our attentions to the great Boris Karloff - an actor synonymous with horror in movies, television... and even comic books!   

Below is BORIS KARLOFF THRILLER # 1 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: October, 1962) and based upon the THRILLER television series pictured above.  

And this is BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY # 23 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: September, 1968), the long-running title that succeeded BORIS KARLOFF THRILLER once the TV series was cancelled.  How long did it run?  Therein lies a "kinda-eerie tale" that I wrote about HERE!  

BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY # 23 reprinted the magnificent photo cover and most of its interior stories from BORIS KARLOFF THRILLER # 1. 

Like Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock, back in the days of my sainted sixties, Boris Karloff's anthology drama/horror TV series featured a great many famous and "would-soon-be-famous" guest stars performing in its episodes each week.  

William Shatner, Robert Vaughn, Alan Napier, Russell Johnson, Richard Anderson, Cloris Leachman, James Gregory,  Richard Kiel, Marlo Thomas, Jeanette Nolan, Marion Ross, Natalie Schafer, Victor Buono, Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York (in separate episodes), John Carradine, Mary Tyler Moore, and so on... 

And, if you're as insanely fannish for that period of television (and comics) as I am, you might even find yourself reading an issue BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY or Gold Key's TWILIGHT ZONE series and imagine the 1960s-era actors who might be "playing the roles" alongside the story intros and outros of Four-Color-Karloff-and-Serling - and "hearing all their voices" as you read!  ...Aw go on... Admit it!  I do it often!  ...But, I digress.  

A Four-Color-Karloff outro!

BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY # 23 had two single-panel cameo "guest stars" that didn't require a similar imaginative effort from me!  Alas, they were silent, so no "voices" got to kick-in - in fact one of 'em wasn't even real!  

...But, there they were nonetheless - one such cameo is absolutely indisputable, and the other I'll "defend to the death", because I'm such a crazy '60s fan!  

The story "Past and Present Danger" involves a young woman's first trip to New Orleans in time for (...you guessed it) Mardi Gras, and her encounter with a handsome, charming stranger who, while just as "charming" as advertised, also leaves both our protagonist and the reader feeling just a tad... uneasy. 

Here's a page from that story...

(Click to Enlarge)

In keeping with my aforementioned imagining the 1960s-era actors who might be "playing the roles", I envision these two as Martin Milner and Yvonne Craig, and "hear" their voices as I read the story.  It's an added dimension of fun that only serves to enhance the comics-reading experience.  Try it sometime. 

But, to those two single-panel cameo "guest stars" that I promised, take a gander at this...

One's easy to spot, the other's not! 

There's no denying the presence of DONALD DUCK, even if only as a festive balloon! 

Yeah, I know Gold Key published the DONALD DUCK comic book at the time, but still... How'd they get away with this?  

The issue of Gold Key's DONALD DUCK (#120) that was already on-sale when BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY # 23 was released.  (...note the cover price increase over that one month)

So, on one far side of the panel, we have Donald Duck, but who do we have on the opposite far side?  

Look closely now... 

Why, it's a cameo by Lost in Space "Special Guest Star" Jonathan Harris (as Napoleon, rather than Doctor Smith!) 

GO ON... TELL ME IT'S NOT!  

"Odd! I have the strangest feeling that I've just been to Mardi Gras, back on Earth! ...And, with Martin Milner and Yvonne Craig, of all people!  ...Bah! Must be some alien trick!" 

And so we kick off our run-up to Halloween with Boris Karloff and some unusual guest stars!

We hope to "carry-on with Karloff" and his wonderful "Tales of Mystery" between now and then but, for now, keep watching the sides of those panels... You never know WHO you might find!

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Watching Too Much TV Can Be Hazardous to Your Health!

Here's a little gem hidden away behind the main Batman story of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD # 88 (DC Comics, Cover Date February-March, 1970 - cover below)...

...Aptly titled "Death Turns the Dial!"

Written by the issue's editor Murray Boltinoff, and drawn by George Tuska.  We'll break it down by panels.

Henry gets lost in TV, as some of us tend to do in these trying days.

But, it gets to be "too much" for Henry - just as the relentless onslaught of cable news is getting to be for me.

Henry pays the price... and I don't mean his cable bill!

But, at least he was watching a western - and not a daily parade of federal officials being forced to act "optimistically" and to minimize the scope of this tragedy while people (that could include you and me) are dying in horrific numbers every day!  If given a choice between the two, I'd prefer to die to the western any day!

The last line is TRULY magnificent!

You might "hear" that line being spoken by Rod Serling... And, if so, you wouldn't be off one bit!

But I hear it as being better delivered by Alfred Hitchcock, as he might have done on ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS!

I read it aloud in my best impression of Hitchcock (which some of you have actually heard), and it's perfect!  Not my impression (which is still pretty good), but the combination of the line and the (imagined) voice of Hitchcock!

Finally, in the true spirit of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, we present the following closing bit - as it might have been read by Hitchcock... 

Perhaps Henry would still be alive...

...If he had chosen to watch THE FLINTSTONES instead!  

Good... Eee..ven..ing!