Huckleberry Hound Comic Panel

Comic Book Panel of Huckleberry Hound from his first Comic Book appearance in Dell Four Color #990, drawn by Harvey Eisenberg.

Happy Turkey (?) Day!

Moose and Squirrel Day!

Happy Birthday to one of the funniest shows ever on television "Rocky and Bullwinkle".
It was on this date in 1959 that "Rocky and his Friends" debuted on ABC and introduced us to a heroic moose and flying squirrel as they fought those rotten no-goodniks Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. The show also featured "Fractured Fairy Tales", Peabody's Improbable History" and segments featuring Bullwinkle, "Mr. Know-It-All" and "Bullwinkle's Corner".
In 1961 the show moved to NBC and was retitled for it's new prime time slot, "The Bullwinkle Show". We got all our old friends plus two new features, "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties" and Aesop Fables".
In my opinion "Rocky and Bullwinkle" was one of the funniest shows ever written and this classic show has stood the test of time and will endure forever.

"And now, here's something we hope you'll really like!"

I do and it's "Rocky and Bullwinkle"!!!

DAWS BUTLER DAY!

Happy Birthday to the great voice artist, Daws Butler. Daws had a very prolific career working in radio, movies, comedy records, kids records, puppetry and where his talents are known the best, television.
He also had an acting workshop where he taught his trade to up and coming voice artists. Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson (and many of the shows other characters) is Butler's most famous student.
First working with Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera at MGM, Daws joined Bill and Joe at their newly formed animation studio that made cartoons for television. He was the voice of Reddy the Dog on Hanna-Barbera's first syndicate show, Ruff and Reddy.
With the success of this short run children's series, Bill and Joe produced and made the "Huckleberry Hound Show" for prime time TV. Daws was hired to speak for the shows blue-furred hound dog star, Mr. Jinks and Dixie Mouse of "Pixie and Dixie" and that smarter than average bear, Yogi.
Daws worked for Hanna-Barbera for the rest of his career and many other animation studios including The Jay Ward Studios (most famous for Rocky and Bullwinkle), Walter Lantz (Woody Woodpecker) and making comedy records with Stan Freberg.



Above is a sketch I did that I use as a birthday e-card that I send to my friends online. Seems appropriate to use this drawing to wish a Happy Birthday to the man who gave voice to Huck and Yogi.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAWS!

Veteran's Day

In honor of the brave men and women who have served in all the branches of America's military, I present Sgt. George Bakers classic comic strip soldier, Sad Sack.

Thank You for keeping us safe and preserving Liberty.

The First Cartoon Super Star!

Before Mickey there was Felix! Felix the Cat made his debut on this date (Nov. 9) back in 1919 in the Pat Sullivan Cartoon "Feline Follies".
Felix was the Silent Era's animation star famous for his imaginative adventures using his tail as anything from a gun to a bicycle and more. His famous walk was imitated by kids all over the world and in England a popular song was written about it.
Sullivan came up with the idea for the little black cat but the man who really breathed life into him was animator/director Otto Messmer. Messmer redesigned Felix to be more attractive and easier to animated using circles and "pipes", something other animations studios would soon adopt. Messmer also drew the Felix the Cat Comic Strip and later Comic Books long after the Felix cartoons were being made.
Felix didn't make it into the sound era of shorts but had a very successful career comeback in the early days of television. Felix's show centered on his adventures with his bag of magic tricks that he had to protect from The Professor, an evil scientist.
Felix the Cat is an animation icon and even though he was over shadowed by the introduction of Mickey Mouse, Felix was there first to pave the way!

Aunt May's Photo Album

From the Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-man Annual #3 1981, Aunt May Parker (our web-headed hero's ever faithful and loving surrogate mother) shares with us readers her Photo Album.
With a little help from Roger Stern, Marie Severin and John Romita, Aunt May shares her courting pictures with Ben Parker, their wedding day and a baby picture of their new born nephew, Peter (above).


Above are pictures of young Peter after he comes to live with his Aunt and Uncle after the untimely death of his parents.


Here we have pictures of Peter's High School Graduation, the ladies in Pete's life, his motorcycle and the day he moves out on his own.


Above are pictures of birthday parties, weddings and other events in the life of one of comics' most popular supporting characters.

Popeye gets Electric!

In 1987 "Electric Company Magazine" did a feature piece on our favorite Spinach-Eating Sailor. Published for kids, this magazine does a nice piece on Popeye through the years and features strips by Elzie Segar (of course) and also Bill Zaboly. The cover and activity page are by Bud Sagedorf.
I think it's cool that they centered on Popeye's comic strip career and not his animated career as most magazines do.

Spider-man's Origin in Electric Company Magazine

Above is a abbreviated version of the Origin of Spider-man that appeared in Electric Company magazine. There are no credits so it's anybody's guess who wrote it but that is definitely Sal Buscema's art work, just not sure if he inked himself. I'm going to venture a guess and say it might be inked by Mike Esposito.
I think it's interesting that they leave the death of Uncle Ben out of the story considering how important that plot point is to the story, but I guess for a children's magazine that might be to "disturbing" for it's intended audience. Hopefully this led the kids to read Spider-man's regular comics and there they could learn the great lesson of "With great power there must be great responsibility".