Friday, May 8, 2020

Fanciful Facts, Fun, and Foolishness for Friend and Foe Alike!

Hey, Kids! Comics from 50 Years Ago!
May 5 & 7, 1970








Groovy Age Splash Page of the Week




Groovy Age Spotlight On...
Hee Haw, the Comicbook!
Ol' Groove can't remember when an, um... not so good comic has gotten as much discussion as the cover pic of Hee Haw #1 did last week! Now, as I've said in last week's comments section, I really dug the show. The comic, though...well... at least Charlton tried. Here are a few pages from issues 3 and 5 (October 1970 and February 1971) where the Boys from Derby at least TRIED to capture some of the cornpone humor and actual content of the show. Oh, and you'll notice that Charlton also published (for a short time, natch) a Hee Haw magazine, as well. 


Was someone at Chick-fil-A a Hee Haw comic fan?
Hoo-boy. Y'all had a lot to chew the fat about based on just the cover last week. I'm curious as a tom cat in a new barn to see what y'all have to say about this (Junior) sampling...

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25 comments:

  1. Rip JaggerMay 8, 2020 at 5:11 AM

    Fifty years!!! My bones just creaked a wee bit more.

    That Destructor splash is iconic, one of the most potent images from Atlas-Seaboard's tiny run of lustrous comics. Goodwin, Ditko, and Wood all together for greatness with a splash of Lieber let free to boot. Damn fine comic (Spidey if published by Warren perhaps), and where in the hell are the reprints of these not-forgotten but oft-ignored classics?

    Pardon me while I go sip some Geritol!

    Rip Off

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kevin LakeMay 8, 2020 at 7:57 AM

    I wasn't a big Hee Haw fan (never really cared for country music) but my dad loved it and watched it every week. I will admit to paying more attention when Misty Rowe and Barbi Benton were on lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Groovy AgentMay 8, 2020 at 8:29 AM

      Oh, and Gunilla Hutton! Nurse Goodbody, lol! She and "Doc" Archie Campbell had some fun skits!

      Delete
    2. VeightSeptember 29, 2022 at 1:46 PM

      How can you forget Lisa Todd doing the weather wow. Also Cutie Cathy Baker.

      Delete
  3. Mike MikulovskyMay 8, 2020 at 2:57 PM

    Had seven of these titles! I was mainly a Marvel superhero/monster guy. But still bought Superman and Bernie Wrightson horror/ghost story titles too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 8, 2020 at 5:31 PM

    Love the House of Mystery #180 cover by Neal Adams. I believe it coincides with a story about a fox hunt and an ailing, newlywed redhead. She and the fox seemed to be parallel souls, but once the animal is bagged by her husband the Hunter she also dies. Beautifully drawn by Alex Toth.

    Regards,

    Chris A.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMay 8, 2020 at 6:40 PM

    The Hee Haw comic? Don't tell me there was a Lawrence Welk comic, too!

    Not my bag.

    - Neil

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Groovy AgentMay 9, 2020 at 7:08 AM

      A Lawrence Welk comic. The mind boggles! (Or bubbles?)

      Delete
    2. AnonymousMay 10, 2020 at 3:05 PM

      You wanted to see a Lawrence Welk comic? This 3 pager from Juke Box Comics #5 in 1948 should do the trick:

      https://blog.wfmu.org/.a/6a00d83451c29169e201bb08577c89970d-pi

      https://blog.wfmu.org/.a/6a00d83451c29169e201b8d13cd454970c-pi

      https://blog.wfmu.org/.a/6a00d83451c29169e201bb08577cb2970d-pi

      Delete
    3. The Groovy AgentMay 12, 2020 at 7:11 AM

      You just won the Groovy Age Merit Badge of Dubious Honor! Hoo-ha!

      Delete
  6. RedartzMay 8, 2020 at 10:59 PM

    Have to admit I got some laughs from Hee Haw back in the day. But those excerpts from the comic- ehhhhhhhhh......

    That Destructor splash is cool. Forgot that Ditko pencilled, and that Wood inked. Might have to find a copy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Groovy AgentMay 9, 2020 at 7:10 AM

      And that was about the best I could find in the three issues of the comics I have. Like I said, "They tried." I'll stick widda show! And yeah, the Destructor mag is pretty cool. I have all the Atlas/Seaboard mags except Vicki and the romance mags. Some are great, some not so great--but they're ALL better than the Hee Haw comic!

      Delete
  7. AnonymousMay 9, 2020 at 5:10 AM

    I see you posted a 1970 Gold Key Tarzan cover. Two years later DC acquired the license to the character from the Burroughs estate, but with the odd stipulation that the issue numbering, already in the 200s, remain. When Marvel finally got a hold of Tarzan, with John Buscema drawing it, the issues restarted with number one.

    Of Joe Kubert, who drew the DC Tarzan series, John Buscema said, "He was the perfect comics artist with just the right balance: not one line too many or too few."

    Kubert's Our Fighting Forces cover is a great one as well. Very interesting "camera angle" with the low horizon and the foreground character's face just out of view.

    Gene Poole

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Groovy AgentMay 9, 2020 at 7:14 AM

      I enjoyed Marvel's Tarzan a LOT. Roy Thomas and John Buscema's issues, especially. But I most definitely agree with Big John about Joe Kubert's Tarzan! The tabloid-sized reprints of his adaptations of Tarzan of the Apes and The Return of Tarzan are beyond amazing! And, while I have most of the original issues, I am so thankful to Dark Horse for collecting all of Kubert's issues into one handy tpb. It's a treasure!

      Delete
    2. AnonymousMay 9, 2020 at 1:04 PM

      When DC published Tarzan in 1972 there was a magnificent drawing at the top of the letter col. Years later I learned it was pencilled by Roy Krenkel and inked (on a separate layer of vellum) by Jeffrey Jones. You can see Roy's original pencil art here:

      http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/225/3516/1024/rgk%20tarzen%20ex.jpg

      Regards,

      Chris A.

      Delete
  8. AnonymousMay 11, 2020 at 4:06 PM

    Who knew Hee Haw would create such a stir, but I laughed out loud at the comment mention of Lawrence Welk--the other show my grandparents watched that would send me straight for my comic stack.

    Does anybody know if those "House of Mystery" kids that appeared on a number of the Neal Adams (and maybe other) covers over the years ever appeared inside? Were they like the HOM Scooby gang or what? -- Rob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Groovy AgentMay 12, 2020 at 7:17 AM

      Here's Gene Poole's reply (had a SNAFU, Gene, Ol' Groove apologizes): "Neal Adams often drew his own children in those days. For example, in HOM 186 he drew his daughter Kris in "Nightmare," published in 1970, and he drew his daughter Zeea in Superman 254 in "The Baby Who Walked Through Walls," published in 1972. His son Josh wasn't born until the 1980s, but Jason and Joel may have been old enough to draw for those late '60s HOM and HOS covers, but I'm not sure."

      Gene Poole

      Delete
    2. The Groovy AgentMay 12, 2020 at 7:19 AM

      I also remember reading that DC's editorial knew that "kids in danger" on covers sold comics, so many of the mystery titles featured "kids in danger" on their covers whether there were any kids in the actual stories or not.

      Delete
    3. AnonymousMay 12, 2020 at 1:49 PM

      Neal Adams drew a young boy as the protagonist on the cover and lead story of House of Mystery 178 in "The Game" in 1969. Some of the panels were left in pencil which produced a very interesting effect.

      Gene Poole

      Delete
    4. AnonymousMay 12, 2020 at 4:25 PM

      Here's the cover and one of the story pages:

      https://pencilink.blogspot.com/2008/02/house-of-mystery-178-neal-adams-art.html?m=1

      Delete
    5. AnonymousMay 13, 2020 at 7:16 AM

      I dare say that the children on the covers of those late '60s/early '70s DC mystery titles were supposed to be the target reading audience themselves, but by 1972 editor Joe Orlando realised that he was attracting a slightly older audience and adjusted the covers & interior content, coinciding with a more relaxed Comics Code.

      Regards,

      Chris A.

      Delete
  9. KilldumpsterMay 13, 2020 at 9:45 PM

    Thanks for showing the guts of a Hee Haw comic. While my father was a fan of the show, I don't think he would have made it cover-to-cover on this one. It would have ended up in the outhouse, to be put to better use.

    Makes me think that Dell or Charlton should have done a comics adaptation of Deliverance! Lol!

    Groove, how did you feel about the spin-off show, the Hee Haw Honeys?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousMay 14, 2020 at 8:58 AM

      In my childhood comic like Hee Haw would have definitely been set aside for Silly Putty experiments.

      - Neil

      Delete
    2. AnonymousMay 14, 2020 at 3:18 PM

      Correction: a comic

      Delete
  10. John LavinMay 14, 2020 at 5:35 PM

    Hey, just to share something fun, have any of you ever seen Roy Clark play guitar? The guy was a genius, and as a guitar player myself, I don't use that term lightly. I personally loathed Hee-Haw, and my parents did too, except when Roy Clark would play. He did a guest stint on the Odd Couple and played "The Malaguena" once-you owe it to yourself to watch it. Check it out here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xssnp7R51A

    Best,
    John

    ReplyDelete

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.

As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!