Hanna-Barbera Comics

[Dell Comics Fan]

As you may have noticed, Hanna-Barbera characters have appeared in comics
published by every major company (and some minor ones), over the years:
Dell, Gold Key, Charlton, Marvel, Harvey, Archie, DC, and others. (Of course, the quality varied. The Dells and Gold Keys were arguably the best; the
Charltons the worst--and yet Harvey inexplicably opted to reprint the inferior Charltons; go figure!) I'm somewhat surprised that there was never an attempt by Hanna-Barbera to publish their own line of comics (as Disney once did). After all, H-B had their own record label at one time. With their track record of a whole stable of popular characters, such an enterprise would appear to be a sure winner. Or was it just easier to license the characters to existing publishers?

[Bugs Bunny]

The
Charltons the worst--and yet Harvey inexplicably opted to reprint the inferior Charltons; go figure!) I'm somewhat surprised that there was never an attempt by Hanna-Barbera to publish their own line of comics (as Disney once did). After all, H-B had their own record label at one time. With their track record of a whole stable of popular characters, such an enterprise would appear to be a sure winner. Or was it just easier to license the characters to existing publishers?

I definetly agree with you that Charltons were the worst. A couple a days ago this guy was selling some golden age comics. He gave some of them free to me.I bougt two issues of "Top Cat" and one issue of "The Flinstones". The art for "Top Cat" is horrible. Top Cat wears a t-shirt just like "The Brain" and his hat is ripped up. It doesn't look like Charlton followed the modelsheets for "Top Cat". When Dell and Gold Key were publishing "Hanna Barbera" comics before the art looked much better.

[Dell Comics Fan]

Speaking of Top Cat's buddy "The Brain": it always bugged me that most of
the TOP CAT comics (from various publishers, incl. Dell and Gold Key) depicted
Brain as the smart one--when he was actually the dumb one. Apparently, the
writers of those stories hadn't seen the actual cartoons or they would have
seen the irony of his name instead of taking it literally. I think the only
publisher that got Brain's personality correct was Archie (in HANNA-BARBERA
ALL-STARS #4).

Re the Dells and Gold Keys: Harvey Eisenberg (one of my favorite artists) did most of the H-B covers (and many of the stories). A former animator on the Tom & Jerry cartoons (and the main artist on the T & J comics), his drawings of the H-B characters was, I think, actually even better than Ed Benedict's original model sheets for the animated cartoons! He took those simple drawings and refined them so that Huck, Yogi, Quick Draw and Fred Flintstone looked better in print than they did on the screen (in my
opinion)!

[Dave Bennett]

Harvey Eisenberg (one of my favorite artists) did most of the H-B covers (and many of the stories). A former animator on the Tom & Jerry cartoons (and the main artist on the T & J comics), his drawings of the H-B characters was, I think, actually even better than Ed Benedict's original model sheets for the animated cartoons! He took those simple drawings and refined them so that Huck, Yogi, Quick Draw and Fred Flintstone looked better in print than they did on the screen (in my
opinion)!
I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of Harvey Eisenberg's amazing talent for making characters look so darn appealing !!

Perhaps you have some direct evidence, but I have never heard that Eisenberg actually animated on Tom and Jerry -- he became the premiere layout artist for the series, and because his character pose drawings were so great, they were adopted into model sheet form.

That's why you can see so many of his characteristic poses in the shorts - - including that classic "pouting lip" on Tom when he's angry!!

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[Dell Comics Fan]

Sorry. I meant to say "layout artist." I just remembered reading in Leonard
Maltin's book OF MICE AND MAGIC that he had worked at the M-G-M studio's
animation department. Of course, not everyone who works in the animation
department is necessarily an "animator." Thanks for the correction.

Trivia note: according to THE COMIC READER columnist Mike Tiefenbacher,
the Gold Key movie comic HEY THERE, IT'S YOGI BEAR was Eisenberg's last
work in comic books (if my memory serves me correctly).

[Dave Bennett]

Trivia note: according to THE COMIC READER columnist Mike Tiefenbacher,
the Gold Key movie comic HEY THERE, IT'S YOGI BEAR was Eisenberg's last
work in comic books (if my memory serves me correctly).
I didn't know that! -- I may search out a copy of that title to 'bookend' my Harvey Eisenberg accumulation (I can't really use the word collection, because I haven't actively sought out every comic that carries his art).

But I do have some of his very earliest, if not first, comic book work == complete runs of "Foxy Fagan" and "Red Rabbit"!!

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[Dell Comics Fan]

This is by no means a complete Harvey Eisenberg index (but is as complete as
I have): PEBBLES FLINTSTONE #1;CHARLIE McCARTHY; RUFF & REDDY; TOM
& JERRY; QUICK DRAW McGRAW; THE FLINTSTONES; Walt Disney's THE RELUCTANT DRAGON; SILLY SYMPHONIES #3, 7; AROUND THE WORLD WITH
HUCKLEBERRY & HIS FRIENDS; YOGI BEAR; HEY THERE, IT'S YOGI BEAR;
MARCH OF COMICS (Tom & Jerry); COMIC ALBUM (The Flintstones); CAVE KIDS; PIXIE, DIXIE & MR. JINKS; SNAGGLEPUSS; GOLDEN PICTURE STORY
BOOK ST-1 (1961; Huckleberry Hound Chuckleberry Time; treasury size);
THE FLINTSTONES ON THE ROCKS (1961; trade paperback); HUCK & YOGI
JAMBOREE (1961; trade paperback); HUCKLEBERRY HOUND; HUCKLEBERRY
HOUND FOR PRESIDENT; SPIKE & TYKE; CHIP 'N' DALE; MICKEY MOUSE. (I
haven't seen a Mickey Mouse story by Eisenberg myself, but it is listed
among his credits on the website www.lambiek.net (http://www.lambiek.net), a great source for
artist credits. About 7,000 different artists are listed there.)
The GOLDEN PICTURE STORY BOOK is interesting. It appeared in stores BEFORE the first Gold Key comic books but has the same style as those early Gold Keys (i.e., borderless panels, square balloons, etc.), but in a treasury-sized format. The trade paperbacks of Huck & Yogi and The Flintstones are scarce, too. I don't recall seeing them in stores. I found my copies of the GOLDEN PICTURE STORY BOOK and the trade paperbacks on eBay. I also found one of the rare hardcover Whitman comic books (AUGIE DOGGIE & LOOPY DeLOOP) there. It's amazing how many different sizes of comics Dell/Gold Key/Whitman published over the years. Of course, Whitman also published the popular Big Little Books and juvenile hardcover books (not to mention coloring books).

[Alf]

Dell Comics Fan: There is at least one Mickey Mouse story drawn by Eisenberg, the adaptation of MICKEY AND THE BENASTALK (Four Color # 157, 1947).

[Dell Comics Fan]

I knew about that one. But someone it was inadvertently omitted from my
index. Thanks!!

[Mark Evanier]

Hanna-Barbera did once investigate starting their own comic book company. In 1975, they were unhappy with what Charlton had done with their licenses so an exec at H-B drew up plans for their own line. They quickly found out that the folks who controlled comic book distribution (mainly DC and Marvel) were not about to let a new player into the marketplace. So instead, they made a deal where they produced their own comics out of an editorial office in the studio and they were published by Marvel. Chase Craig was the first editor there and I was the second. The books did rather well but there was a problem with the Marvel folks and the line was discontinued.

As for why Harvey reprinted Charlton material...apparently, the film (including color separations) for the Charlton material was easily available for almost no money. To reprint anything else, Harvey would have had to locate stats of the old artwork, have it recolored, make new color separations, etc. So they simply went for the cheapest alternative.

[David Gerstein]

Dell Comics Fan, you can find more Eisenberg Disney credits on the Inducks (http://coa.inducks.org/comp2.php?code=&showimage=on&imageVisu=&keyw=&keywt=i&exactpg=&pg1=&pg2=&bro2=&pagel=l&pagelx=n&hero=&xapp=&xa2=&creat=HEi&art=&ink=&writ=&plot=&pub1=&pub2=&part=&ser=&xref=&xrefd=&repabb=&repabbc=au&vpages=on&vtitle=on&vhero=on&vart=on&vpubdate=on&vdesc2=on&vdesc=uk&vus=on&sort1=auto&sort2=none) site. (I'm a Dell comics fan, too.)

[Dell Comics Fan]

Thanks, David.:mickey::donald::goof: