Happy Easter 2024!

While Bugs (Easter) Bunny entertains you with his trapeze-Easter-egg-juggling-act, allow me to wish all of you and all of yours a Happy Easter 2024!   

From MARCH OF COMICS #273 (Western Publishing, 1965), cover by Ralph Heimdahl.  

...And here is why our Easter was so happy, even without a visit from Bugs (Easter) Bunny!  

Averi and Cici busily gather Easter Eggs, but stop long enough for a picture!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: If Looks Could Kill...

...Okay, well, maybe not kill... but perhaps just enough to "let 'em know you're really, really... REALLY annoyed!"  

Such is the case for Mighty Mouse on the cover of TERRY-TOONS COMICS #63 (St. John Comics, Cover Date: December, 1947), where we find the "Mouse of Tomorrow" having an uncharacteristically difficult day - made only more so by the unwelcome intrusion of Heckle and Jeckle! 

I think it's fair to say that Mighty Mouse (and, by extension, his creator Paul Terry) owe a great deal to both the character and concept of Superman. ...Flying, super strength, cape, tights, trunks, "powers far beyond those of mortal men" (...or mice), etc. 

But, one power Superman has, and that Mighty Mouse apparently lacks (at least in the comics I've read and the cartoons I've seen - which is not nearly all of them), is heat vision! 

Okay, okay... so the cover says "laser-vision", but you know what I mean - so let's move on!  

Judging by the look in his eyes, if Mighty Mouse had heat vision (...or "laser-vision", if you prefer) like Superman, he'd give those birds "a light" they'd never forget.

But he WON'T... because he's MIGHTY MOUSE!  And Mighty Mouse only helps people (...and anthropomorphic variants thereof).  

Say, there's almost a "Separation At Mirth" going on up there!  

Oh, about that "helping thing"... Weelll... maybe not CATS!  

...And, at least in this case... maybe not MAGPIES either! 

Happy Fourth, 2022!

Sometimes it's difficult to believe that we're even STILL AROUND, as both a people and as a nation, given that so much bad has happened in this unpleasantly  disappointing 21st Century.  ...(Sigh! I had such hopes!) 

But, for the past 22 years, it feels like this country - and much of the world, for that matter - is run by STOOGES!  

Thus, our rather suitable image for this post...

Happy Fourth! ...I'm betting MOE is responsible for the bandage on Larry's head! 

In Search of Ancient Bertrams # 2 "What’s Buzzin’, Bertram?"

 

One of a number of things I've become known for as a translator and dialogue writer/creator for European stories published in American Disney comic books is the use of the name "Bertram"! 
 

More is explained HERE! 

But where did my fondness for the name come from?  Well, it was first seen a comic from "my sainted sixties" of course - and, I'll identify it at some point - but for now "In Search of Ancient Bertrams" will spotlight various uses of "Bertram" in vintage comics that would eventually result in making the name a standard of my comics writing work!

Today's "Bertram" is courtesy of MARCH OF COMICS #81 (Western Publishing, 1952) Oswald the Rabbit!  Art by Lloyd White. 

Tired of the rabbit-routine, Oswald's adopted sons, Floyd and Lloyd, try living as birds.  Unfortunately, they still look like rabbits - and that attracts the hungry attentions of Bertram Buzzard, and his wife Beulah.  

 Look out kids, here comes "Big Bad Bertram"!

I'd venture to guess that Bertram might be a cousin (or something) to another, more famous Walter Lantz character... Woody Woodpecker's regular foe, Buzz Buzzard!  

Note the family resemblance!

Barely escaping, as all little comic book animals are wont to do (...and wouldn't we be sad if they didn't), Floyd and Lloyd do not fare well in the roles of fish or bears either! 

And, as expected, they resign themselves to being just plain rabbits, much to the relief of Poppa Oswald! 

Thanks in part to another "Ancient Bertram"... Bertram Buzzard! 

We've got a bounty of Bertrams in store for future installments of "In Search of Ancient Bertrams", so do come on back! 

...Come for the "Bertram"... Stay for the "Burgers"! 

Separated at Mirth: Pop (Up) Quiz

Today's "Pop (Up) Quiz": Which animated character was Bugs Bunny's closest successor, or "HARE apparent", if you will?  

If you ask me, I'd say it was The Pink Panther!  

Both were tall, slim, and handsome figures, with a theatrical bent.  

Both were profoundly influenced by animation legend Friz Freleng. 

 

Both confounded the heck out of smaller, often fiery, regular adversaries. 

And both were published by Gold Key Comics!

In fact the only thing missing might be... a SEPARATION AT MIRTH! 

Well, we're here to remedy THAT little bit of business right now... with LOONEY TUNES # 218 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: December, 1959)...

And MARCH OF COMICS # 376 (The Pink Panther) 1973.  Dell, Gold Key, and March of Comics all emanated from good old Western Publishing in Poughkeepsie, New York!  

Beyond the gag, even the layout is almost identical!  ...Screwdriver and all!  

And there you have the answer to our "Pop (Up Toaster) Quiz" - another electrically-powered jolt of SEPARATED AT MIRTH! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: This Can't End Well for Felix!

Sometimes ya just gotta let these darn fool cartoon and comics characters learn a lesson for themselves...

Consider MARCH OF COMICS #24 Felix the Cat (1949)...

It was winter and it was cold, I'll grant you... but, rather than stay up in New York and stick it out, Felix literally WALKS all the way down to Georgia - where (you guessed it), he finds it much too hot!  

Silly cat!  Maybe if you stopped somewhere around Virginia, you'd have saved yourself - and your FEET - lots of trouble.  But, you know how cats are... All or nothing!  

To his cat-credit, he stops complaining and does something about it...

But, what he does... OH, WHAT HE DOES!  

NO, FELIX! DON'T!  ...THINK IT THROUGH FIRST!  

THERE'S STILL TIME TO AVOID DISASTER!  

I CAN SEE IT COMING A MILE AWAY... CANT YOU?  

A LITTLE HEAT AND SUNBURN IS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT AWAITS YOU! 

LAST CHANCE!  I'M WARNING YOU! 

OH, WAIT... I'M SITTING HERE IN 2021, AND THIS COMIC WAS PUBLISHED IN 1949 - AND, TO MAKE MATTERS EVEN MORE DIFFICULT, IT REPRINTS THIS FELIX NEWSPAPER STRIP FROM 1932...

 HE CAN'T HEAR ME!  HE CAN'T HEAR ME!  

 FELIX!  FEEE-LIIIIX!  NOOOOOOO!  

I'M SORRY, OLD FRIEND... I CAN DO NAUGHT BUT WATCH IN HORROR, AS NATURE TAKES IT COURSE!  I'M SO SORRY!  

THIS IS IT! 

OOOHHHH!  I CAN'T LOOK! 

NOOOOOOO! 

OH, FELIX... BEING A CAT, I THOUGHT YOU'D KNOW A LITTLE MORE ABOUT BIRDS!  

BUT NO! YOU'RE IN FOR A RATHER RUDE AWAKNING!

IN FACT, YOU MAY EVEN WAKE UP "A CAT OF A DIFFERENT COLOR"! 

Any old CAR knows THAT! 

...It's SNOW on that car, folks... what do you think I am?  

While Felix is washing-off in a nearby creek, we'll end with a link to my GCD Index for this issue!