Kids in these comics were almost never neutral. They were either syrupy nice or real jerks. We get a real jerk in the August 4th comic. The oddest thing is he grows in size in the last panel.
Yogi leads Ranger Smith on a wild goose chase for the sake of a corny pun on August 11th. I’m presuming this is a Harvey Eisenberg comic by the angular fir trees in the last panel and the cute little squirrel observing things in the first one. Note how Yogi’s gestures change from panel to panel. Somehow, Jellystone Park is high in the mountains, but also on the ocean, as there’s a guy with a surfboard.
Oh, Cindy Bear! Yogi is fooling around on the side yet he can’t help it, as the final panel of the August 18th comic shows. The gag fits Yogi’s character nicely. Lots of wavy lined-mouths and little tongues.
If I had to guess, I’d say Harvey Eisenberg also drew the August 25th comic with Yogi in a variety of nice poses. You can’t tell too well (Heh. A Yogi rhyme) from the lousy copy of this drawing that the Hanna-Barbera copyright notice is on the side of the Acme Transfer truck in the last panel. If anyone knows more about who drew what, please leave a note. It’s not exactly an area where I’m very knowledgeable.
You can click on each comic to try to get a better look. Again, I don’t have good newspaper source copies for these and these versions were the best I could find out of maybe a half dozen. You can see 2/3rds of each in colour, as usual, as at Mark Kausler’s blog.
I'd say Harvey Eisenberg drew all of these. And, as a big fan of his comic books, it's always great to see art of his that I haven't seen before.
ReplyDeleteI’ll also add that, if you only get to see ONE Yogi Bear comic book, make it this one. Eisenberg outdoes himself here.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.comics.org/issue/276464/
And, a similarly magnificent Eisenberg Flintstones would be this one.
http://www.comics.org/issue/227408/
More than the covers, the interiors are something to behold! Two of the best ever H-B comic books!
Eisenberg was REALLY doing great work, alas, just before he died.
Thanks for the info, Joe! And thanks again, Yowp, for posting these.
ReplyDeleteEisenberg really captures the personality of Yogi in his many quirky moods and poses. I enjoy the lovestruck expressions in the third comic, as well as the reaction to the slamming door in the fourth. Eisenberg can do a lot with body language and facial expression.
When did he pass away?
1965, when he seemed to be achieving a great new level of style as seen in those two comics, at age 54! Very sad!
DeleteAt that particular time, I felt he was even better and more innovative in his panel layouts than Carl Barks of the same time period.
Wasn't it around that time that Gold Key started relying heavily on reprints, mostly of Dell material? Could there be a slight connection?
ReplyDelete