Friday, October 18, 2013
Witch Hazel Gets Around
When a witch was needed in Disney comics, the creators most often turned to Magica DeSpell (good idea) or the so-called Wicked Witch from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (bad idea), so it's a treat to see Witch Hazel from Walt Disney's Trick or Treat (1953) and the Carl Barks comic book adapation of the same name used in this issue (below) of The Beagle Boys. I guess the Beagle Boys were not as "terrible" as Uncle Scrooge thought for this issue, No. 2 cover dated November 1965 (and so would have been on the stands for Halloween) as this was the second issue in a row in which the look-alike thieves called upon a witch to help them in their crooked schemes. (Their first witchy accomplice was Mad Madam Mim in Issue No. 1.) For some reason, Witch Hazel is referred to as Wanda Witch in this story, but no matter, it's most definitely Hazel. The Halloween-like cover was drawn by frequent Duck artist Tony Strobl, as is the story which was written by Vic Lockman. This witchy (whether Wanda or Hazel) comic is part of the Countdown to Halloween 2013, all this October here at Tulgey Wood.
Jim:
ReplyDeleteWe’ll never truly know, of course, but despite what any other source might say… given the time period and other intuitive factors gleaned from my years of study, I’d guess to credit this story to Bob Ogle, rather than Vic Lockman. Though, most other Beagle Boys issues most certainly appear to be written by Lockman.
It’s both sad and (oddly) fun to think that we’ll never know many of these things, and they will always be up for debate. Keep up the great stuff!
Joe.
Joe, thank you as always for your informed addition to our Disney comics knowledge. I will (at some point) put an additional note in the post. If you think it's Bob Ogle, I say it's Bob Ogle! Thanks again for reading and commenting. Your blog is awesome and I hope to be a more active commenter in the future.
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