Before Daffy Duck became sidekick and foil for Bugs in the Warner Bros. cartoons, he was a force of intense chaos and pure insanity. These two stories from Four Color No. 536, March 1954 at the least allow the duck a starring role sans bunny. But first, let’s enjoy a swell cover by Tony Strobl.
Script for this first story, Daffy Meets Crusoe, was supplied by Don R. Christensen (GCD); and he makes a grand attempt to keep Daffy’s original lunacy in place. Art is by Phil De Lara; who worked in Chuck Jones’ animation unit at Warner until drafted in WWII. De Lara worked for Western Publishing for years, doing excellent work on Warner characters put on pulp paper.
In New House, we find the duck as belligerent bully; a little quacker with a huge ego – another Daffy persona. As always, De Lara makes viewing a pleasure.
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And lastly but not leastly, a Dell B&W inside front cover by De Lara. I love these pages!
Great stuff as always.
ReplyDeleteStill loving that new banner of yours too!
These are superfantastic. that last b&w comic makes me sad because there are no plastic toys in Cracker Jacks anymore. Just little paper things. Cereal doesn't have prizes anymore either. I wonder if they're afraid kids will choke on the toys. They can just as easily choke on the food part of it.
ReplyDeleteJeff: I'm still loving it, too!
ReplyDeleteKW: That's so true.
-- Mykal (and thanks, guys!)
I much prefer the daffy, Daffy Duck to the later, greedy Daffy Duck.
ReplyDeleteGhost: I'm torn. I laugh every time when Daffy goes into his "it's mine mine mine all mine!" bit, diving into the pile of rubies and jewels in Ala Baba Bunny. Most folks that love animation agree with you, though. -- Mykal
ReplyDeleteWell, I think it's like this: In the later Daffys he's not just less daffy and zany... the whole dynamic has changed.
ReplyDeleteThe earlier Daffy is like Bugs in that he is the trickster... whereas in the later cartoons he became the stooge; a foil to Bugs who has completely relinquished his lunatic edge... lol
I too think both are funny, but I have to go with the earlier incarnation just because I LOVE it when Mel Blanc gets to rip into that inimitable and certifiably INSANE laugh he did for the duck alone.
That was magic!
P.S. This one was a big thumbs up for the kids on easter morning ;)
Albie: As I say, I'm torn - the earlier, crazy Daffy I appreciate as a brilliant piece of character design, voice characterization, and great animation - but darn it, the stooge, greedy Daffy makes me laugh harder!
ReplyDeleteAlways a thrill to imagine making kids happy with this blog -- Mykal
Albie: PS: if you have a comic book reader, make sure you download the stories from this blog. It makes them so much nicer to read. If you don't have a comic reader, here's the one I use. it's free and good! Just click HERE - Mykal
ReplyDeletePhil De Lara had a recognizable style and he was pretty damn good. For some reason, I think of him as the Daffy Duck artist, although I'm sure there are better names he's been called. Nice selection.
ReplyDeleteGary: I too think of him as the Daffy Guy (and I am sure the artist has been called better things than that! Although most recgonizable at times are De Lara's human characters. I love that b&W page - that one shot of the full head in panel looking straight at the reader is classic De Lara!
ReplyDeleteThanks for looking in. -- Mykal
So this is where you've been hiding!
ReplyDelete(I like Daffy Duck too, but didn't know of any of this stuff. Really good!)
Matthew! Here I am. I have a few other blogs for comics as well! Second childhood, or maybe something about seeking enthusiasm of youth. -- Mykal
ReplyDelete