Alas, Richard Holliss did not have a colour version of the September 3rd comic in his collection. This shaky-scanned black and white version will have to do. Pterodactyl Airlines is apparently out of business; perhaps it violated safety laws. It’s too bad the first panel in the second row isn’t more readable. Note the silhouette ptero in the hanger in the background. And Fred suffers from Instant Watch Syndrome, where a character wears a watch only as needed in the plot and then it disappears again. As Pebbles might say: “Mekle zaba da!”
A visual pun ends the September 10th comic. Tsk. And no child car seat. How did kids in unmotor vehicles survive in the Stone Age? I like the dinosaur that seemingly likes to squat on roads.
Someone should tell Wilma that one of the ideas behind a strike is to get better pay. Regardless, Fred (who is wearing blue this month) is insistent until he hears about linoleum in the bathroom (Linoleum? In the Stone Age?) and having to entertain Wilma’s mother. The September 17th comic features the only appearance of Barney Rubble this month. Pebbles gets the week off. Too bad the union local isn’t 839.
This story is my favourite of the money. The expressions are really good, especially the Fred yell and the “I can’t win” one at the end. Note the scurrying Pebbles. Any more dialogue would have hurt the comic. This is from September 24th.
Click on any of the comics to make them larger.
The late 1960s was probably the height of both public and private sector strikes in large areas around the U.S. The publicity about those is probably why the story line showed up in Bedrock 50 years ago this month.
ReplyDeleteI like the nod to the opening to the Flintstones TV show with Fred sliding down the dinosaur's tail and punching out in the 9/24 comic. Seems like the comic strip folks enjoyed using different colors for the characters than what were used in the TV cartoons, both here and sometimes in Yogi Bear's Sunday strips as well. But I believe Fred's outfit was originally orange because it was some kind of spotted animal pelt. I DO like the blue change-up, but what kind of beast has BLUE fur? Perhaps they are extinct...
ReplyDeleteThe Huckleberry Houndasaurus.
DeleteGene Hazelton also made the revival of the opening from the Flintstones TV series in a Flintstones Sunday page from January 28, 1979.
DeleteThis Flintstones Sunday page which I quoted is included in the Comicrazys blog (http://comicrazys.wordpress.com). Enjoy to give a peek on it.
Have you seen in the Flintstones Sunday page from September 24, 1967 (drawn by Gene Hazelton), in the scene in which Fred took the bus, in the middle of that crowd, it had a black-haired girl who looks like Marlo Thomas from the sitcom That Girl (Desilu Productions/Paramount Pictures, 1966-71)?
ReplyDelete+YOWP, I apologize for writing things off-topic, but have you considered making a joint review of two similar ''Flintstone'' episodes? For example, ''Flintstone of Prinstone'' and ''High School Fred'' both have a similar premise, yet are executed in different. ways. The first one is essentially a Fred torture porn, while the latter is funnier, the kids like him, there is conflict, because Wilma doesn't know what kind of school it is, and unlike the first one, Fred gets his diploma in the end.
ReplyDeleteThat giant bird/pterosaur "airplane" reminds me of a giant bird in an Abbott and Costello cartoon episode that looked just like a pterosaur, but shed some feathers in one scene.
ReplyDeleteLook at the Fred's smile in the Flintstones Sunday page from September 10, 1967 (drawn by the legendary Gene Hazelton).
ReplyDeleteDoesn't he look like Jerry Lewis?