1990s Harvey TOM & JERRY comics

[Jon Cooke]

I have recently bought some of Harvey's TOM & JERRY comics from the early 1990s. I wasn't expecting much from them but have been pleasently surprised. They contain a good amount of Oscar Martin (http://www.oscarmartin.net/oscar_eng/tom.htm) 's foreign stories (sloppily translated, but I really like his artwork) and loads of old Dell reprints (including some Carl Barks Barney Bear stories). They are pretty cheap on eBay.

However, is there some sort of guide to what exactly Harvey put out. There seems to be at least three different T&J titles: TOM & JERRY, TOM & JERRY AND FRIENDS, and TOM & JERRY ADVENTURES. Plus, TOM & JERRY BIG BOOK and TOM & JERRY GIANT SIZE. It is kind of confusing.

Looking through these books, it seems Harvey was releasing a LOT of licensed comics in the early 1990s --- including Woody, Popeye, Hanna-Barbera, Pink Panther, Underdog, Felix, Muppet Babies, Alvin & The Chipmunks, Beetle Bailey. Did anyone keep track of this stuff?

[Thad]

The Tom & Jerry books are the only ones worth getting from the "Harvey Explosion". The other characters (Woody Woodpecker, Pink Panther, Popeye) they licensed they just ran the worst of.

[TomJerry79]

Wow Oscar Martin's stuff is fantastic - better looking than ANYTHING anyone has done with these characters since the late 40s. Did he do any T&J stories without dialogue? Thats the true test of one's understanding of the visual nature of these characters.

[Thad]

I don't think Martin ever did a story sans dialog... I actually don't think there's ever been a 'silent' comic with the characters, other than one-page gags.

I prefer Harvey Eisenberg to Oscar Martin, but both are absolutely great.

[David Gerstein]

Martin is a great artist, but IMHO many of his more recent stories (unpublished by Harvey) commit the sin of humanizing Tom too completely—so that he wears clothes and frequently drives a car. Eisenberg did this too once in awhile, but never to the same degree.
Also, I can't praise the character dialogue enough in Eisenberg's stories, whether it was the work of Eisenberg himself or another hand. Tom talks like a downtrodden stiff who thinks he's smart, while Jerry and Tuffy talk like cynical postwar teenagers. It doesn't sound good until you read it; but then you discover that Tom and Jerry really can talk a lot and still come across as themselves.
Somehow, I don't think anyone but an MGM staffer could have pulled it off so consistently, which is why I suspect Eisenberg at least initiated the trend.Is there some sort of guide to what exactly Harvey put out? There seems to be at least three different T&J titles: TOM & JERRY, TOM & JERRY AND FRIENDS, and TOM & JERRY ADVENTURES. Plus, TOM & JERRY BIG BOOK and TOM & JERRY GIANT SIZE. It is kind of confusing.No kidding!
Harvey discovered around 1990 that the longer their books were on the newsstands, the more time they'd have to sell. So they produced a mixture of bimonthlies, quarterlies, and annuals with each character rather than a single monthly title. With some characters, the number of different titles was a nightmare to keep track of.
I suspect the only person who knows exactly what they released is Harvey expert Mark Arnold (http://home.att.net/%7Ethft/index.html).

[TomJerry79]

What does Eisenberg's stuff look like?

[Thad]

What does Eisenberg's stuff look like?

http://funnies.goldenagecartoons.com/doubletrouble/

The story that follows also features the most "official" Mammy face ever! :twoshoes:

[JPox]

I have a bunch of those books as well!
I always thought that the artwork was from somewhere other then North America. I always thought that the art resembled the artwork of Asterik.
Great art, it really captures the look of the 1940 shorts.
Did you see the annivesary issue? Painful gag with Jerry lighting Tom's hand on fire....