Three of the four comics published in weekend newspapers 50 years ago this month involve snow and cold. Boo Boo makes a reappearance finally after a number of weeks off.
Two of the sources I was using for these Yogi comics don’t have Sunday editions on-line after 1967. So you’ll have to deal with not-so-good copies from Google News (the Flintstones are even more difficult to find readable versions with even two columns). Richard Holliss supplied the colour comic from his archive.
Chuckle, chuckle. Art Linkletter knew it. Kids say the darndest things! Yogi learns that in the January 7th comic. There are birdies in the tree branch in the second panel. They didn’t fly south for the winter. Ranger Smith’s jeep has a license number of “3400.” What was the address of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio again?
Why is Yogi complaining in the January 14th comic? He got his food, didn’t he? Hey bear, wait for it to thaw, then say hurrah. The use of space in the Yogi silhouette panel (second row) is very good. Apparently some evergreen trees are so hot, they keep the snow off.
After reading the January 21st comic, I wonder what it is Yogi was trying to win. (I’d ask where he got the horse, but we’ll just accept that). The horse is very proud in the final panel.
Flipped panels were used sparingly in the Yogi comics, but there’s one to communicate the punch line in the January 28th comic. He’s waving his large butt around in the middle panel, third row. There’s only one rhyme and Yogi stretches it out over two panels (the first two). And we have those southern-hating birds on a snowy branch again in this comic (second panel).
We’ll have a bigger percentage of colour Yogis next month.
Love the last two comics. It's too bad you couldn't find better copies of them. Still, better to see them as they are than to not see them at all.
ReplyDeleteI especially love the last panel in the January 28th comic. The "sideways" perspective gives the reader a really good sense of the fear and disorientation Yogi is feeling.
Thanks again, Yowp and Richard!
The two 1st Yogi Bear Sunday pages from January 1968 were drawn by the legendary Gene Hazelton; and the two last Sunday pages from this same month were drawn by Pete Alvarado.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. They are both fine "funny animal"artists/storytellers."
DeleteFixing: the 1st Yogi Bear Sunday page was drawn by Gene Hazelton; the 2nd and the 4th Sunday pages were drawn by Iwao Takamoto; and the 3rd Sunday page was drawn by Jerry Eisenberg.
DeleteJerry Eisenberg and Iwao Takamoto, at this year (1968) would be involved with the character designs from the new Hanna-Barbera series which would premiere in the USA in September from this same year (and afterwards, in the rest of the world): Wacky Races (whose character designs were made by both) and The Adventures of Gulliver (where Iwao Takamoto made the designs of the Liliputians and of the incidental characters from this series).
The last panel in the January 7th one is priceless-Allen's funny and innocent comment about the ice and Yogi's facial expression. His expression "says" 'Kids say the darndest things!'
ReplyDeleteI sympathize with Yogi in the January 14th one. Anyone's who's had to dig thru snow and ice should understand!☺
Yes, the last panel does effectively and humorously express Yogi's state of mind. This is not just due to the panel's position but also to Yogi's funny comment.
What if the kid (December 7) slipped on the "plastic" ice?XD
ReplyDelete