IT'S HOWDEY DOODY TIME....NOT! 1 1

[I am not Glenda]

Just picked up some clean DC 1940s MUTT & JEFF & WESTERNS and I can't give them away  at the store, Got me thinking what one-time major GA genre or characters time has come and gone & 10 yrs will really have little to no fan interest in your opinion? 

Edited January 20, 2019 by Frank Mozz

[Cat-Man_America]

10 hours ago, Frank Mozz said:

Just picked up some clean DC 1940s MUTT & JEFF & WESTERNS and I can't give them away  at the store, Got me thinking what one-time major GA genre or characters time has come and gone & 10 yrs will really have little to no fan interest in your opinion? 

Prediction: Expect a knock on your message door from MrBedrock. 

[jimbo_7071]

14 hours ago, Frank Mozz said:

Just picked up some clean DC 1940s MUTT & JEFF & WESTERNS and I can't give them away  at the store, Got me thinking what one-time major GA genre or characters time has come and gone & 10 yrs will really have little to no fan interest in your opinion? 

There may be too many to list, unfortunately. I sometimes mention comic strip or cartoon characters to my students and am met with blank stares. Most of them have never heard of Popeye, Felix the Cat, Woody Woodpecker, etc. But here's my final answer: the other day I mentioned Bugs Bunny to a group of students, and only one of them was familiar with that character.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

10 minutes ago, jimbo_7071 said:

There may be too many to list, unfortunately. I sometimes mention comic strip or cartoon characters to my students and am met with blank stares. Most of them have never heard of Popeye, Felix the Cat, Woody Woodpecker, etc. But here's my final answer: the other day I mentioned Bugs Bunny to a group of students, and only one of them was familiar with that character.

That is shocking

[jimbo_7071]

2 minutes ago, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

That is shocking

Warner Brothers could revive Bugs and the gang, but it seems like the company has made a strategic decision to let the Looney Tunes characters fade into oblivion, possibly because many of the old cartoons are politically incorrect by today's standards.

[Readcomix]

9 minutes ago, jimbo_7071 said:

There may be too many to list, unfortunately. I sometimes mention comic strip or cartoon characters to my students and am met with blank stares. Most of them have never heard of Popeye, Felix the Cat, Woody Woodpecker, etc. But here's my final answer: the other day I mentioned Bugs Bunny to a group of students, and only one of them was familiar with that character.

Now that's interesting; I thought Warner Bros (along with whoever owns Scooby Doo these days) was doing a better job of keeping their old funny animals alive. I've felt for a long time that the Dianey characters have become more like logos than characters; not much content featuring them. While funny animals as a concept remain popular with little kids, 1) it's easy enough  to create new ones and 2) comic books are not the medium in which they are delivered. (Though I am intrigued that Marvel has a Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal book coming.)

That said, if the owners of those characters keep them alive in other media, I suppose the old comics have some shot at remaining collectible. More so than most westerns or funny humans books, I think. 

With westerns, I think the few that remain collectible are driven by facts other than their primary genre (eg Frazetta Art, GGA, pch-style covers, early Marvel style stories, etc)

Of course, there's not a lot of distinguishable keys among funny animals, other than among the Ducks books. I would bet against the vast majority of funny animals with the caveat that they are most easily recyclable. But I'd still much rather have a Scooby Doo #1 than a Roy Rogers #1 (or his 1st appearance in Four Color) both from a sentiment perspective and if I had to bet on which of the two is more likely to hold its value and liquidity as a collectible.

[Readcomix]

12 minutes ago, jimbo_7071 said:

Warner Brothers could revive Bugs and the gang, but it seems like the company has made a strategic decision to let the Looney Tunes characters fade into oblivion, possibly because many of the old cartoons are politically incorrect by today's standards.

Amateurs! Sell 'em to Disney! Yosemite Sam would become Brooklyn Neckbeard Sam, with a food truck instead of a shotgun. Fixed.

Seriously, I thought I heard they were doing another Space Jam movie? I thought the fade had more to do with creative ineptitude, but you may be right that it's a choice.

[jimbo_7071]

On 1/21/2019 at 7:58 AM, Readcomix said:

Amateurs! Sell 'em to Disney! Yosemite Sam would become Brooklyn Neckbeard Sam, with a food truck instead of a shotgun. Fixed.

Seriously, I thought I heard they were doing another Space Jam movie? I thought the fade had more to do with creative ineptitude, but you may be right that it's a choice.

Aside from Yosemite Sam, you have Porky Pig's stutter; Elmer Fudd's speech impediment; Bugs Bunny's tag line, "What a maroon!"; Daffy Duck's homicidal rantings; and Wylie Coyote's planting of roadside bombs. Warner Brothers probably wants to steer clear of the potential PR minefield. (They've already taken some heat for "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs," after all.)

The situation seems similar to the way Disney has suppressed "Song of the South," which is quite inoffensive, especially compared to some of the Warner Bros.' material.

ETA: I almost forgot about Pepe LePew, the Harvey Weinstein of the cartoon world.

Edited January 28, 2019 by jimbo_7071

[telerites]

7 hours ago, jimbo_7071 said:

There may be too many to list, unfortunately. I sometimes mention comic strip or cartoon characters to my students and am met with blank stares. Most of them have never heard of Popeye, Felix the Cat, Woody Woodpecker, etc. But here's my final answer: the other day I mentioned Bugs Bunny to a group of students, and only one of them was familiar with that character.

NOOOOO!  Bugs (and Warner Bros Looneys) are iconic but in context I couldn't name nor have heard of too many animated series since the mid 90s to early 00s that I watched when my daughter was growing up so generationally it is fair.  

As far as Frank's initial post, maybe detective type comics? Western and detective television shows dominated TV in the 50s.  Outside of books that may have cool covers or a desirable artist, do they do well?  I know my mom bought and read lots of romance books in the 50s too.  Lots of titles.  Is Gangbusters desirable by a broad group of collectors?  Again the ones with covers and artists are desirable.

I bought a copy of the book below for my daughter who loves old films and Barbara Stanwyck is one of her favorite actresses,  How many of jimbo's students I wonder have heard of her?  

 

[Readcomix]

5 hours ago, jimbo_7071 said:

Aside from Yosemite Sam, you have Porky Pig's stutter; Elmer Fudd's speech impediment; Bugs Bunny's tag line, "What a maroon!"; Daffy Duck's homicidal rantings; and Wylie Coyote's planting of roadside bombs. Warner Brothers probably wants to steer clear of the potential PR minefield. (They've already taken some heat for "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs," after all.)

The situation seems similar to the way Disney has suppressed "Song of the South," which is quite inoffensive, especially compared to some of the Warner Bros.'s material.

ETA: I almost forgot about Pepe LePew, the Harvey Weinstein of the cartoon world.

Oh, I know what you're getting at. I was just kidding around, envisioning a "remade" Warner lineup. That said, I love them for their zaniness, but they would not fly today without a major overhaul.

And I agree about Song of the South; Uncle Remus is very much a heroic character but the positives get suppressed too. 

ETA: Did not mean to take us away from the OP's topic, and I guess funny animals despite hurdles we've enumerated seem to me to have a better shot at reinvention than many other dead/dying genres.

I know they still have a fan base among collectors, but what is going to drive new collectors as they age to old-school war books? Like westerns, it will be the outliers, the most graphic and egregious depictions of a different time, that make select back issues collectible. But I don't see new collectors stacking old runs for pure enjoyment. 

Edited January 21, 2019 by Readcomix
Additional info

[Dr. Love]

8 hours ago, jimbo_7071 said:

 politically incorrect by today's standards.

speaking of which

[MrBedrock]

Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos

[MrBedrock]

Superboy

[Robot Man]

I sold the last two Howdy Doody items I had to an older gentleman on Saturday. He wanted a few bucks off. I pretended I was thinking about it but in my mind I was really thinking "Thank you God!". I'm done buying stuff like that now matter how cool or how cheap anymore...

[Readcomix]

2 hours ago, Dr. Love said:

speaking of which

Tom Mix 6! 

[Readcomix]

4 hours ago, MrBedrock said:

Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos

Ooooo! I'm tellin' Mr. Parker on you! @Straw-Man 

[rjpb]

These days any GA genre will sell if there's a buxom babe on the cover. 

[Straw-Man]

9 hours ago, Readcomix said:

Ooooo! I'm tellin' Mr. Parker on you! @Straw-Man 

just let those cheap 9.8's keep fallin' my way!  

[I am not Glenda]

On 1/21/2019 at 7:28 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

There may be too many to list, unfortunately. I sometimes mention comic strip or cartoon characters to my students and am met with blank stares. Most of them have never heard of Popeye, Felix the Cat, Woody Woodpecker, etc. But here's my final answer: the other day I mentioned Bugs Bunny to a group of students, and only one of them was familiar with that character.

Its so funny you say that I mention Lone Ranger to my class a few years ago and they just looked at me like I was talking in Russian

[I am not Glenda]

Its hard to believe  that so many of the characters we grew up with are on there way out, I think the only reason kids know who the Flintstones are is because of the cereal, but here's the thing from the hey I grew up with Westerns, Looney Tunes ect & I love them and I can now buy these cheaper then they were 20 yrs ago point of view that's great  but from a hey you think I might even break even on these in 10 yrs point of view it sucks knowing your buying into a fading genre. I guess its part of getting older but I have to admit I never would have thought some of these iconic characters would someday be all but forgotten. I mean dude the real Lone Ranger was badass, Bugs Bunny will run circles around Pokemon any day. Ahhhh I think I might watch some Johhny Carson reruns today and pretend its 1975

Edited January 22, 2019 by Frank Mozz