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.
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...
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...
Fifty years!!! My bones just creaked a wee bit more.
ReplyDeleteThat 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
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
ReplyDeleteOh, and Gunilla Hutton! Nurse Goodbody, lol! She and "Doc" Archie Campbell had some fun skits!
DeleteHow can you forget Lisa Todd doing the weather wow. Also Cutie Cathy Baker.
DeleteHad seven of these titles! I was mainly a Marvel superhero/monster guy. But still bought Superman and Bernie Wrightson horror/ghost story titles too.
ReplyDeleteLove 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.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Chris A.
The Hee Haw comic? Don't tell me there was a Lawrence Welk comic, too!
ReplyDeleteNot my bag.
- Neil
A Lawrence Welk comic. The mind boggles! (Or bubbles?)
DeleteYou wanted to see a Lawrence Welk comic? This 3 pager from Juke Box Comics #5 in 1948 should do the trick:
Deletehttps://blog.wfmu.org/.a/6a00d83451c29169e201bb08577c89970d-pi
https://blog.wfmu.org/.a/6a00d83451c29169e201b8d13cd454970c-pi
https://blog.wfmu.org/.a/6a00d83451c29169e201bb08577cb2970d-pi
You just won the Groovy Age Merit Badge of Dubious Honor! Hoo-ha!
DeleteHave to admit I got some laughs from Hee Haw back in the day. But those excerpts from the comic- ehhhhhhhhh......
ReplyDeleteThat Destructor splash is cool. Forgot that Ditko pencilled, and that Wood inked. Might have to find a copy.
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!
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteOf 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
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!
DeleteWhen 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:
Deletehttp://photos1.blogger.com/hello/225/3516/1024/rgk%20tarzen%20ex.jpg
Regards,
Chris A.
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.
ReplyDeleteDoes 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
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."
DeleteGene Poole
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.
DeleteNeal 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.
DeleteGene Poole
Here's the cover and one of the story pages:
Deletehttps://pencilink.blogspot.com/2008/02/house-of-mystery-178-neal-adams-art.html?m=1
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.
DeleteRegards,
Chris A.
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.
ReplyDeleteMakes 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?
In my childhood comic like Hee Haw would have definitely been set aside for Silly Putty experiments.
Delete- Neil
Correction: a comic
DeleteHey, 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:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xssnp7R51A
Best,
John