Tuesday, 25 December 2012

A Huckleberry Christmas

Huckleberry Hound never celebrated Christmas on his cartoon show. Seasonal shows were never found in syndication back then. But Christmas could certainly be a plot line in comic books, designed to be bought and not recycled at inappropriate times of the year. So Huck was featured in a holiday season comic that seems to have come out in 1962.

I have no idea who the artist is, and can’t explain the incongruous cover, but I love the Christmas tree drawing. Billie Towzer, our roaming correspondent, sent this last Boxing Day and I’ve been waiting since then for the right time to post it.

Whitman had a series of eight hardback comics. Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny were featured in two of them, the rest had Hanna-Barbera characters (Yogi; Pixie, Dixie and Jinks; Snooper and Blabber and Quick Draw; the Flintstones and Augie Doggie with Loopy De Loop). You can see the covers on the last page. Whether the stories were originally published in Gold Key comics, I don’t know. People well-versed in the comic book world, I’m sure, can add insights.

So I hope you enjoy these 50-year-old Huck stories and are having an enjoyable holiday season. Click to enlarge each picture. My thanks again to Billie for this Christmas gift to you.










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14 comments:

  1. Joe Torcivia25 December 2012 at 15:44

    The Bugs Bunny issue consisted of reprints from the Dell Bugs Bunny comic book.

    The Donald Duck issue consisted of reprints from Dell’s Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. Meaning, you had Carl Barks’ Donald Duck 10-pagers, Paul Murry’s Mickey Mouse serials, Chip ‘n’ Dale, etc.

    The H-B issues, the stories in which did not appear in either Dell or Gold Key comic books, may have been British stories packaged specifically for this use. (I recall hearing that somewhere along the line, but cannot truly confirm). They sure do look like Dell or Gold Key comics, but the rigid four-page structure and odd opening splash panels indicate that they are not. Western/ Whitman did many strange things around the time of their split with Dell. This was one of them.

    BTW, my grandmother bought all of these books for me off a department store’s toy department rack at the time of their release, and I still have them today. Glad to see you spotlight a truly unusual H-B item.

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  2. Joe Torcivia25 December 2012 at 15:45

    Also, if I had to guess (and, often, all you can do is “guess” with this stuff), I’d say the “Mailman Story” was drawn by Kay Wright, and the “Store Santa Story” was by John Carey – both of whom drew Huck for the regular Dell and Gold Key comics. That’s why it’s not difficult to assume these stories might have originated in those comics, though they did not.


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  3. Greg Chenoweth25 December 2012 at 15:46

    I have all the Huckleberry Hound comic books and this story does not appear in any of them. I have never purchased this hardback book, so thank you, Yowp, for posting this. What a great Christmas present!

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  4. RJFW25 December 2012 at 15:46


    Yes, Thanx Don - it's good to see these!

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  5. Pokey25 December 2012 at 18:25

    LIked reading..instead of the supposed Hoyt CUritn music that started apperaring, I played the Phil Green cartoon music while reaidng the article (EM_=107 LIGHT MOVEMENTMerry Xmas..BTW you'
    re wrong as syndicated carotons then did mentoon Christmas, but thanbks.

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  6. Howard Fein26 December 2012 at 06:47

    I had all the H-B collections, except the Flintstones. By that time the Loopy deLoop theatrical series had ended, and the cartoons were never rerun in NYC-area syndication. So I was very confused as to who this character was.

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  7. Joe Torcivia26 December 2012 at 08:12

    I always thought Loopy was another "created for the comics" character, like the Cave Kids and even Scrooge McDuck and Gyro Gearloose, until reading books about theatrical cartoons in the '80s.

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  8. Pokey26 December 2012 at 23:14

    "Seasonal shows were never found i syndicsation back then" Gumby's "Scrooge Loose" and "Santsa Witch" might change your mind, unless they were made in 1964 or on NBC....

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  9. Yowp26 December 2012 at 23:36

    Steve, "Santa Witch" is not a seasonal show. It's a stop-motion short that's part of a longer programme. Half hour Christmas shows were not put in syndication packages in the '60s because syndicators didn't want them seen in, say, July; the attitude changed later.

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  10. rodineisilveira27 December 2012 at 14:22

    These Compact Comics from Whitman (Dell/Gold Key) had a format similar to that one which Editorial Bruguera did in Spain and Latin America (including Brazil).


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    Replies
    1. Nilson Perissé1 January 2013 at 06:37

      HI, I am a Huck Hound brazilian fan, and would like to get in contact with Rodinei Silveira to change informations about the blue dog.Is it possible to publish my email here? nilsonperisse@hotmail.com . Thanks!

      Delete
  11. Pokey27 December 2012 at 23:07

    Oh..you were refering to Seasonal half hours. I definitely agree there.Steve

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  12. Joe Torcivia29 December 2012 at 15:49

    I just realized that the cover image of scientist Huck is clearly based on his appearance in “Spud Dud”!

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  13. Alfons Moline30 December 2012 at 01:55

    The H-B issues from the Whitman Comic Books collection featured indeed British reprints from Huckleberry Hound Weekly. This comic ran from 1960 to 1967 and, rather than reprinting Dell/Gold Key material, offered all-new stories with the H-B characters, drawn by both British and American artists. You can read online an issue of HH Weekly here: http://superitch.com/?p=29710

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