Tuesday 13 May 2014

Flintstones Weekend Comics, May 1964

Some nice gag set-ups highlight the world of the Flintstones in the Sunday comics (Saturday in Canada) 50 years ago this month, though one story bothers me.

In the May 17th comic (third below), Barney tricks Fred into putting himself in danger after Fred selflessly rescues him. Would Barney really do something like that?

Four of the five of the comics centre around Fred; the one published May 3rd (first below) epitomises the jerk version of Fred we all came to love in the first season of the cartoon series.

Pebbles was left out of the May 10th comic (second below). And there’s nothing like smoking volcanos (fourth below).

Click on any comic to make it larger.


May 3, 1964


May 10, 1964


May 17, 1964


May 24, 1964


May 31, 1964

3 comments:

  1. All these materials were drawn by Dick "Bick" Bickenbach.

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  2. Bickenbach certainly had the characters and settings down. Each one of these is a gem.

    And we have the three-tiered versions of all of them this month! (Yay!)

    I love the way Pebbles mimics Wilma's stance and expression in the second panel of the May 24th episode. And I see three strips that have smoking volcanoes in the background.

    The two kids silhouetted in the background on the back of the dinosaur in panel one of the May 3rd strip look like Sandy and Sally Stone from the Cave Kids. Could those be their never-seen parents riding up front?

    These feature a lot of elaborate artwork--great backgrounds, and on-model characters in the foreground. It creates a very consistent world. Nice gags, too--mainly visual ones this month. Three cheers for Mr. Bickenbach!

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  3. Gosh, I wonder who wrote those...? Hmmmmmm...

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