Yogi Bear Weekend Comics, September 1970

Bill Hanna was a huge supporter of the Boy Scouts (of America) his entire life, so you have to wonder whether it’s a coincidence—or CONSPIRACY!!!!—that Cub Scouts appeared periodically in the Yogi Bear weekend comic strips.

They did 50 years ago this month and again 48 years ago this month.

Richard Holliss has, once again, kindly dug into his archive to let you read Yogi’s adventures. Unfortunately, he has only one comic from September 1968. He’s passed along all of them for September 1970, though the paper they came from only used a red colour (and out of register on one of them). Boo Boo shows up only once and we get one of those natives that seem to live on a reserve at Jellystone Park. At least the little Indian boy doesn’t talk like a stereotype, though the end gag in the comic is one.



September 22, 1968: For shame, Bill. One of your Scouts aiding and abetting crime! This is another comic where I can hear Dick Beals’ voice coming out of the forlorn little boy. The top row has an amusing self-contained gag and the bottom panel is nicely composed. The Yogi comics made good use of layers of depth.



September 6, 1970: Setting aside the sign-up propaganda and the annoying mis-colouring, I like Yogi’s expression at the end. Ranger Smith has huge eyes in that last panel in the second row.



September 13, 1970: The carving panel in the previous comic was pretty nice and there are two good long panels in this one. Again, look how Gene Hazelton’s layout (I’m presuming he did the original sketch) uses foreground, background and the distance in between. Yogi skips the rhymes this time. That had better not be junk food Mrs. Smith is giving to that little deer.



September 20, 1970: About all I’ll remark is, coincidentally, Hanna-Barbera’s long-gestating We’ll Take Manhattan finally aired in 1967 (it was a live-action show with Dwayne Hickman about the island being reclaimed by natives).



September 27, 1970: “Ecology” is one of those 1960s/70s words. Who uses it today? Ranger Smith effects one of those George Nicholas squiggle-mouths in the end gag. Mrs. Smith has decided to change her hair colour. Ranger Smith is “Bill” again. He seems to alternate between “Bill” and “Joe.”

You can click on any of the comics to blow them up.