That's What I Call "Being in Good Company"

If you really are "judged by the company you keep", then freeze-dry and bury me RIGHT HERE!  

IDW's DONALD AND MICKEY # 4 (on sale August 08, 2018) gave me quite the lift... and I don't mean the only by the great cover illustration for Casty's "Terrifying World of Tutor"!

Check out the line-up of creator names at the top...

"Castellan, Torcivia, Van Horn, Barks, Lustig, Jippes"! 

  
Um, folks... That's... Ya know, like... Andrea "Casty" Castellan, William Van Horn, the great Mr. Carl Barks, John Lustig, and Daan Jippes!  

Let alone the name of Walt Disney directly following this almost mythical gathering!  

...I feel like a pebble on this "Disney Comics Mt. Rushmore"!  

Yes, I know Mt. Rushmore honors FOUR US Presidents, and there are FIVE legendary Disney comics creators lumped together on that cover with li'l old me... but just "go with the bit"!  I'm on a roll, here!  

Or, if it were the REAL Mt. Rushmore, I would feel like a rock formation that, by some puckish design of nature, took the form of a nose hair on George Washington!  

I don't really know, but I suspect the algorithm employed by IDW for creator billing is something like "Original Writer, Artist, Translator" for the lead-story, followed by the same for backups - in order of story appearance in the issue!  

Given this issue's lead-story, Casty's "Terrifying World of Tutor"(translated and dialogued by yours truly), that WOULD put me in the # 2 position overall, but still...  

...I'll take it!  At least until someone comes along with some stone-cutting nose hair trimmers!  

Huckleberry Hound Meets J. Evil Scientist!

Over at the YOWP Hanna-Barbera-centric Blog, there was a discussion on the character Hokey Wolf. On the HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW (1958-1962), Hokey replaced now-superstar Yogi Bear, who was spun off into his own series!

Among the various topics, was the notion of a J. Evil Scientist ongoing series becoming the third component of THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW, after the departure of Yogi Bear in 1961.  

Amid other comments, I contributed the bit you will see below.  I liked it so much that I'd "additionally-purpose" it for my own Blog.  I hope you enjoy it!  

The HUCK SHOW, as with other H-B shows of the time, had interstitial segments for the purpose of introducing the other "component features" of the show - such as Yogi Bear, Pixie and Dixie, and Hokey Wolf.     

This is what a Huck/J. Evil Scientist interstitial would be like…

Per thrifty Bill Hanna, Mrs. J. Evil would be absent so as not to pay Jean Van Der Pyl.  If Junior’s “GWAAWP!” sound was done by someone other than Daws Butler, Junior would either be silent, or previously recorded “GWAAWPs” would be used. 

Huck walks into a ghastly NURSERY SCENE, from left, where J. Evil is reading Junior a bedtime story. 

HUCK:

Howdy, J. Evil Scientist. Readin’ Junior some nursery rhymes?

J. EVIL:

Yes, this is one of his favorites.

JUNIOR:

GWAAWP!

Huck is bemused, as J. Evil begins to read.

J. EVIL:

Little Miss Muffet, Sat on a tuffet , Eating her curds and whey…

J. EVIL (continues):

…Along came a SPIDER…

A GIANT SPIDER enters frame from right. Huck leap-exits out of frame left.  

HUCK:

YIKES!

J. EVIL (addresses audience):

Too bad. I was hoping he’d stay for the next J. Evil Scientist cartoon… It’s delightfully GRUESOME!

FADE OUT.

So, cast your vote!  Hokey Wolf or J. Evil Scientist to play off Huck!  The polls are open! 

Yes, the show would have been DIFFERENT with J. Evil, but I think little single-digit-age me would have liked it anyway!   

"Hey, what's the big idea? I was expecting Hokey Wolf... Loopy De Loop, even!" 

 

…And yes-again, I’d LOVE to be able to write this stuff for comics! 

Hey, DC Comics!  Write me! Call me! Text me! ...I'll even accommodate Carrier Pigeons!  Okay, huh? 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: "HIGH There, Foxie!"

...Or, it's a matter of perspective!  

Just look at the PERSPECTIVE in this opening splash panel of a FOX AND CROW story in REAL SCREEN COMICS # 33 (DC Comics, December 1950)!  

You're actually UP HIGH!  Higher, even, than Crawford Crow - looking down on both him and the visitor still further below, from a tree-tops view!  

The angle on Fauntleroy Fox's HOUSE (at left) really sells it!  

That's something you didn't see every day, especially in a "funny-animal" comic!  I'm a writer, not an artist, so I really can't properly explain it any better than this - but, WOW! 

Kudos to artist Jim Davis for taking what should have merely been "ordinary", and making it "extraordinary"!  

But, that's not all in the "extraordinary" department, as REAL SCREEN COMICS # 33 is also home to an amazing META story, in which Fox and Crow squabble over "Top Billing", resulting in Fauntleroy Fox LEAVING THE FEATURE, and being replaced by a "Fox Hound"!  

But the "magnificence of THIS meta" is hardly limited to just concept, but dives deep into the VISUALS as well!

Cast your eyes upon what appears to be a WOODEN PLANK, suspended across, and somehow attached-to, the top of the splash panel - bearing their billing and names!  

And, as seen below, it's REALLY HANGING THERE, to the extent that Crawford can PROP A LADDER AGAINST IT, and start ripping-down its lettering!  

Why, there's even more of that great "Jim Davis Perspective" in the above illustration's lower-left panel!  ...That thing's just really up in the air!  

THE FOX AND THE CROW, and its related series, are known for incorporating more meta-antics into their stories than the conventional-by-contrast Disney comics and other contemporary comics from Dell - but this one really deserves a prize for sheer audacity!  

While you all ponder that, I'm going to step out my front door... and if I look up and see a huge wooden sign, across the sky directly above, that says "JOE AND ESTHER" - you'll never hear from me again!  

...Either because I DIED OF SHOCK right there on the spot, or Esther wanted "Top Billing", and replaced me with a dog!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Double Indicia for Scooby!

I've heard of "Double Indemnity"... but "Double Indicia"?  

Just when you think you've seen it all, something new always comes along to delight, puzzle, or in some way astound you... either in the "Oh, that's SO GREAT!" sense... or in the "How did THAT ever happen?" sense!

SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58 (DC Comics, 2010 Series, Cover Date: August, 2015) contains a definite example of the latter! 

Our recent post on SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 53 (HERE) shows a reprint of a previous issue's LEAD STORY - but with the original INDICIA REMOVED, leaving lots of "empty space" at the bottom of the page.  

If you can conceive of it, SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58 does this one better (...or, would that be "one WORSE"?)  Let's crack those covers, and see what awaits us inside... beyond the "phony disguised ghost for our Meddling Kids to unmask", that is!  

Here is the first page of SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58.  It is the cover story.  The NEW story of the book.  ...Looks normal enough.  (CLICK to ENLARGE all illustrations!) 

The second story in the issue is a REPRINT from SCOOBY-DOO # 49 (DC Comics, 1997 Series) from 2001.  Let's see if YOU can spot the problem before Velma and Fred beat you to it!  

Well, there's no shame in losing to Velma or Fred when it comes to detecting.  (Especially Velma!)  Daphne's got it too, so maybe I should help you out a little.  

Let's DOLLY-IN for more of a close-up...

Not yet?  Well, I'll not have any of my readers come in behind Shaggy and Scooby, when it comes to mystery-solving, so take a good look at THIS!  

Yeah, that's VERY SMALL!  Here's a better look!

OMG!  It is the ORIGINAL INDICIA from SCOOBY-DOO # 49 (August , 2001) NOT REMOVED from the story's reprint in SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58 (August, 2015)!!!! 

...And, THAT'S not even the WORST of it!

In more recent years, as opposed to 2001, DC Comics puts its indicia in the back of each issue - where, traditionally, most publishers (DC included) had once put it on PAGE ONE!  

So, HERE is the LAST PAGE of SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58...

...With its indicia at the BOTTOM OF that last page!

Closer look...

So, now we are left with the indicia for SCOOBY-DOO # 49 (August , 2001)...

...Actually PRECEDING the proper indicia for this issue - SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? # 58 (August, 2015)!

As I said... "Just when you think you've seen it all..." 

That's why we'll never run out of these "Adventures in Comic-Boxing" posts!  ...And ain't that a wonderful thing!  

BONUS FINAL LOOK AT THE PROMO FOR THIS ISSUE!  

...And, from that same promo page, don't we also miss the BATMAN '66 title!  ...I sure do!  

 

Separated at Mirth: Oil "Can-certo"

Given the direction of the Woody Woodpecker comics from the mid-1950s onward, where I can recall that version of Woody being described as "the poor man's Donald Duck" (what with adventures with a nephew and niece and domestic comedies), you'd think that Woody and Donald would have more cover gags in common than they actually do.

But, a nice example of "Mirth Separation" occurs with the covers of WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES # 363 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: December, 1970)...

...And WOODY WOODPECKER # 201 (Whitman Comics, Published in 1983).

Take your pick as to your preference... the indignant look of Donald, or the more sly and mischievous look of Woody!  

I think they're both great, but what puts the WOODY cover over the top for me is that Knothead HASN'T EVEN REALIZED that his violin has been appropriated - and he continues to bow, completely unaware of Woody's actions... while the DONALD gag is executed more typically in the traditional vein of covers for WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES! 

It's a nice little "action piece" for Knothead, well executed in the static medium of comics and, as a perfect final touch, Splinter is also in on the gag - stifling a laugh! 

Many extra points are due the WOODY cover, simply because it was a product of 1983, near the very end of the long history of the "Dell/Gold Key/Whitman" line of comics, when things were very rarely as good as they once were! 

Things to note:

In composition, the UNCLES and KIDS are switched... with Donald at an upper-left position on the cover and Woody at lower-right. 

Conversely, Dewey is more-or-less at lower-right, while Knothead is more-or-less at upper left. 

Donald's OIL seems to be thicker and gooier, by the way it spreads across Dewey's violin. 

Sheet music litters the floors in both cases. 

Donald appears to have no issue with Huey's trumpet or Louie's sax - unless he plans to stuff something in each of them after he's done with the oil can! 

WOODY WOODPECKER # 201 was the FINAL issue of that title to emerge from Western Publishing, ending a long line of great comic books that began with this issue from the DELL FOUR COLOR LINE...

...Through MARCH OF COMICS...

...The regular DELL Comics line...

...GOLD KEY Comics...

...And finally WHITMAN! 

Oh, there were some very sloppily-assembled WOODY WOODPECKER comics from Harvey Comics in the early '90s, but the less said about those - the better! 

I prefer to think of Woody ending his comics career with THIS ISSUE!  

Funny thing, with the early success of the IDW Disney comics line in 2015 - and the great things it did for Donald Duck...

...I had hopes that IDW might start a WOODY WOODPECKER title, consisting of DELL reprints, and the Woody comics done overseas.  I would have made myself first in line to translate and dialogue those! 

But, no... So let's just remember Woody's glory days in comics like these...

...And enjoy Donald Duck and Woody Woodpecker - now and for always - "Separated at Mirth"!