Friday, February 25, 2011

YOGI BEAR No. 5, Oct.-Nov. 1961

The following cover and three stories (Yogi Bear, Yakky Doodle, and Snagglepuss) all come from Yogi Bear No. 5, Oct.-Nov. 1961. The artist is unknown (Harvey Eisenberg?).

I had the milk mug from the first ad when I was a kid. I wonder if my mother sent away for it? If so, good going, mom! Regarding the bike ad, some day I want to put together a coffee table book of comic book bicycle ads. They were always so beautifully cool.

17 comments:

  1. Great fun.

    Anyone remember a Yogi Bear comic where he found that Jellystone Park actually had jelly in the stones? I've been looking for that childhood gem for years.

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  2. I have to laugh at the name 'Jabberjaw.'
    I wonder why Snagglepuss is grey.

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  3. That's some great artwork, very pleasing to the eye

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  4. John: That one sounds great! I'm sorry I can't help, but perhaps someone else can.

    Yowp: As far as Snaglepuss' greyness, that's a good question. The scans are true to the comic. I wish I could give a good answer, but all would just be guesswork (perhaps a colorist wasn't sure or didn't know the character? Didn't know about his pinkness?).

    KW: I agree - very eye-pleasing!

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  5. Great comic! The Hanna-Barbera comics are always a great read. Those characters really translated well to print, unlike most of the Looney Tunes menagerie. Probably because limited animation designs vs full-animation designs.

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  6. CC: Yeah, the HB stuff seemed to make a smoother transition to comics than did the LT characters. The characters and stories seemed to stay closer to the cartoons in the HB stuff.

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  7. This is beautiful stuff. You don't see this level of craftsmanship nowadays. I can't ID the cover artist either. WHOIZZIT?!

    As for Snaggy being grey, the colorists on these comics probably were overworked folks who never got a color guide from HB, so they just went by the seat of their pants. You see a lot of color "mistakes" in comics from this era: Brown haired George Jetsons, purple Hucks, etc. There was a lot less interference from the license back then, I guess. Me? I never cared, the artwork is still great. I was watching the cartoons on a black and white TV anyway!

    BTW, just for the record, I like the later, "prettier" version of Cindy Bear better.

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  8. Bill: Thanks for the rundown on the gray Sags. I think it was something like that, too. What always amazes me is the level of artistry that went into this throwaway medium that was all about deadlines. You can see in the comic, and in the scans, hopefully, the guys trying to fudge it into a greaypurplepinkish color (that ended up looking gray anyway); just to cover all the bases.


    It's killing me I can't get this artist. the more I look, the less I see Eisenberg - it's a shade too "cartoony" (god I hate that expression). But, chances are, I've been studying it so much I can't really see it anymore - meaning, I see a little bit of every cartoonist that was around at the time.

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  9. It's somtimes hard to identify the artists on this era's stuff, for sure Mykal.

    I'm thinking (and if I'm wrong someone out there correct me!), that this IS Eisenberg, but with a lot of other hands contributing. Who knows, maybe there was a tight deadline, and he needed help? It could also be the work of some anonymous Eisenberg assistant/fan. We'll never know, but at least we can enjoy this great artwork!

    One thing that isn't talked about a lot is how clean and beautiful the inks on these pages are. Students: Take Note!

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  10. Bill: My problem here is that if I see HB, I really have a hard time not seeing HI - and them, like I said, if I look at a think too long, I begin to see everyone.

    Those inks are to die for.

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  11. Man, that is a beautiful issue! I wouldn't mind finding that hidden inside my "pick-a-nick" basket.

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  12. I don't think the Ranger's gonna like that, Yogi!

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  13. The pencil artist is Kay Wright. Not sure who inked it.

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  14. Kay Wright! Thanks, Mark. Beautiful stuff.

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  15. This is totally sweet, I just LOVE Hanna-Barbear stuff! It's interesting to see Cindy Bear being introduced for the first time(she looked a lot more like Yogi back then).

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    Replies
    1. The first version of Cindy Bear (who was looked like Yogi) had an appearance of a Southern lady.

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    2. iheart - I know! I totally agree. I have so many DVD sets of the HB cartoons - I pop one in if I am feeling blue, and the blues are gone!

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