Missing Toons

Dell Comics Fan · #1 11-25-2005, 10:30 AM

Did you ever notice ...?
There were several Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters who
never appeared in the Dell/Gold Key comic books? I'm talking about supporting characters like Marvin the Martian, Hippety Hopper, Witch Hazel, the Goofy
Gophers (Mac 'n' Tosh), gangsters Rocky & Muggsy. Their first appearances
were in the recent DC Comics. By the same token, such H-B characters as
Snuffles, Bigelow Mouse, Alfy Gator, Major Minor and others have either never
appeared in comics or only in recent comics published by Archie or DC. The
exception seems to be Mr. & Mrs. J. Evil Scientist, who not only appeared in
HANNA-BARBERA BANDWAGON and THE FLINTSTONES but also in their own
title. My guess is the reason for this is that the studios did not provide model
sheets for these characters to the publishers. Maybe they didn't think they
would translate well to the printed media or just didn't think they were popular
enough. Does anyone else have any thoughts about this?

Thad · #2 11-25-2005, 10:57 AM

Hippety Hopper appeared in LOONEY TUNES & MERRIE MELODIES 82 (1948), as Bugs Bunny's latest boxing opponent.

Though not called it by that actual name, one Goofy Gopher appeared as a sidekick to Bugs in a few 1948-49 issues as 'Garry Gopher'.

-Thad

Dell Comics Fan · #3 11-25-2005, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad Komorowski

Hippety Hopper appeared in LOONEY TUNES & MERRIE MELODIES 82 (1948), as Bugs Bunny's latest boxing opponent.

Though not called it by that actual name, one Goofy Gopher appeared as a sidekick to Bugs in a few 1948-49 issues as 'Garry Gopher'.

-Thad

Interesting. Thanks!

Dave Bennett · #4 11-25-2005, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dell Comics Fan

<<< My guess is the reason for this is that the studios did not provide model sheets for these characters to the publishers. >>>

Well, it probably wasn't because model sheets didn't exist ---- I just finished working on "A Looney Tunes Christmas Special", which tried to utilize as many characters from the WB cartoons as possible.

We were given incredibly lovely model sheets for characters like The Three Bears, Gossamer, Claude Cat, Sam the Sheepdog, Hubie and Bertie, Timothy Turtle, Marc Anthony, the little penguin, etc., etc. -- all 'minor' characters, but obviously Warner Bros. 'back in the day' took a lot of pride in making these model sheets and really defining how the characters could emote!

Dell Comics Fan · #5 11-26-2005, 02:35 PM

Thanks for the info.

Alf · #6 12-17-2005, 10:04 AM

There were also those Hanna-Barbera characters who appeared only in comic books and not in animation at all. The best known example of this are the CAVE KIDS (Rocky Ranger et al.) who appeared as a back-up feature in the Gold Key FLINSTONES comic book and in their own GK book.

Another more obscure of such characters is LEON, THE TEENSY-WEENSY LION, an African lion cub who befriended a little boy named Lester. This appeared in the late 50´s/early 60´s as a back-up feature in the Dell RUFF AND REDDY comic book (I have one R´n´R comic, issue #4, with a LEON story). Any other H-B comic book characters who never made it into animation?

Dave Bennett · #7 12-17-2005, 11:59 AM

I don't think the character was a Hanna-Barbera creation . . . but what was the story behind "Baby Snoots", the little elephant that only showed up in Gold Key comics and nowhere else?