Who Says Santa Isn't Black?

From December 1977: on this cover of the Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids comic book (Issue 22), William H. Crosby Jr.'s plus-sized character pays Santa a visit to give jolly Old St. Nick (who seems more distressed than jolly at this particular moment) his wish list, which undoubtedly includes a good number of sugar plums. Does anyone know who is the artist of this delicious cover? If so please leave your answer (or even an educated guess) in the comments.

Time For Some Summer Magic

Here is the cover of the Summer Magic comic book, published by Gold Key in 1963 to coincide with the release of the film. Though the cover boasts a photo of lively Hayley Mills, the interior art is by comic-book legend Russ Manning. To celebrate this "50 and Fabulous" film, D23.com has just posted today a new article written by me all about this Disney live-action classic starring Hayley, Burl Ives and those great Sherman Brothers songs. Check out "The Pink of Perfection: Walt Disney's Summer Magic" by Jim Fanning at D23.com. (This is a Member's only article, but it's easy to become a FREE D23 member at the website.)

The Lights Of Hollywood

For the past few nights, Hollywood has been wondering why the famous Hollywood sign has been lit for the first time in years.(Surprise: It was for a movie shoot.) It is the 90th anniversary of the iconic sign this year, which hasn't been lit since New Year’s Eve of 1999, when sign was aglow for a Millennial light and fireworks show that caused a major (major even for L.A.) traffic jam. For the story behind the world-famous landmark, let's turn to our gal in Hollywood in a "Minnie Mouse in Hollywood" report from issue 18 (December 1969) of Walt Disney Comics Digest. Come in, Minnie!

The Fllntsones Meet Frankenstein

The countdown is over and Halloween 2012 is here! I love cartoons and I love monsters so it would just go to follow how much I love cartoon monsters—so this Flintstones comic is a favorite of mine and I hope you find it a fun Halloween treat. It seems the one place you could count on meeting cartoonized ghouls and monsters was Bedrock, home to the Flintstones. Was there something about living in prehistoric times that meant one would meet monsters? After all, as mentioned here, the Flintstones lived near the Gruesomes.  (Samantha and Darren Stevens—Hanna-Barbera animated them for the famous Bewitched title sequence—also moved into Fred and Wilma's neighborhood in an episode aired on the close-to-Halloween date of October 22 1965—not that the bewtichingly beautiful Sam was a monster, but she was a witch, which certainly qualifies her honorable mention in this Halloween post.)  And in the Flintstones comic book, as seen in the images below, Fred and Wilma met Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman and the Mummy. In "The Flintstones Meet Frankenstein and Dracula" (from Issue 33, April, 1966 and written by Vic Lockman), the monsters accidentally time-travel to prehistoric Bedrock where Fred mistakes them for visiting cousins. Incredibly, Frankenstein and Dracula as seen in this comic are the Universal versions of these monsters (the Frankenstein monster certainly is), but there is no indication that official permission was obtained or an official licensing deal was arranged, so one wonders how Hanna-Barbera and/or Gold Key got away with this. Perhaps they were feeling monstrously audacious. (UPDATE: Gold Key comics expert Joe Torcivia informs me that Phil DeLara drew this Flintstones comic book.) This post marks the conclusion of the Countdown to Halloween 2012 blog-a-thon. Thank you to everyone who stopped by—be sure and come back often and discover even more madness here in Tulgey Wood.