“Yabba Dabba Doo!” is the exclamation of you-know-who. But in the weekend comics for quite some time, Fred Flintstones uttered the phrase “Abba Dabba Doo!” Why there was a difference, I don’t know, but from what I can tell, he finally got it right in the Sunday comics 50 years ago this month.
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The November 3rd comic features two gags. One is in the upper row that some newspapers didn’t print, the other in the lower. I like how, in the opening panel, Pebbles is sniffing Dino’s bone. The turtle-scale in the middle row is a unique concept.
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“Berry’s Lumber Company”?! Couldn’t anyone come up with “stone” or “rock” pun, like the ones that became increasingly contrived as the TV series wore on? For a minute, I thought the company was employing Dino in the November 10th comic. The bee with the triangular nose reminds me of a Dick Bickenbach character from an old Huckleberry Hound cartoon.
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Hanna-Barbera cartoons rarely had the luxury of angular perspective animation like in the old theatricals. But in the comics, all you need to do is make one drawing. So the November 17th comic opens with an attractive angle of Fred bowling. The end gag’s a variation of the old “noise-while-the-other-guy’s-golfing” routine in old cartoons. I like the dullard guy with the cigar in the second row. Note how the bowlers in that panel are all leaning a little differently. I suppose I shouldn’t ask where Fred got all the instruments.
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So if Uncle Buster and Aunt Marion can get their car out of a hilly driveway, why can’t Fred? Well, let’s set that question aside. The mangy cat in the November 24th comic is no Baby Puss, who seems to have completely vanished from the weekend comics. Even Dino doesn’t make an appearance in this one, though the gag set-up doesn’t need him. Dino only makes a brief appearance once this month. The opening panel is, again, nicely laid out, with some depth in the background to the right.
Click on any comic to enlarge it.
The November 3rd comic features two gags. One is in the upper row that some newspapers didn’t print, the other in the lower. I like how, in the opening panel, Pebbles is sniffing Dino’s bone. The turtle-scale in the middle row is a unique concept.
“Berry’s Lumber Company”?! Couldn’t anyone come up with “stone” or “rock” pun, like the ones that became increasingly contrived as the TV series wore on? For a minute, I thought the company was employing Dino in the November 10th comic. The bee with the triangular nose reminds me of a Dick Bickenbach character from an old Huckleberry Hound cartoon.
Hanna-Barbera cartoons rarely had the luxury of angular perspective animation like in the old theatricals. But in the comics, all you need to do is make one drawing. So the November 17th comic opens with an attractive angle of Fred bowling. The end gag’s a variation of the old “noise-while-the-other-guy’s-golfing” routine in old cartoons. I like the dullard guy with the cigar in the second row. Note how the bowlers in that panel are all leaning a little differently. I suppose I shouldn’t ask where Fred got all the instruments.
So if Uncle Buster and Aunt Marion can get their car out of a hilly driveway, why can’t Fred? Well, let’s set that question aside. The mangy cat in the November 24th comic is no Baby Puss, who seems to have completely vanished from the weekend comics. Even Dino doesn’t make an appearance in this one, though the gag set-up doesn’t need him. Dino only makes a brief appearance once this month. The opening panel is, again, nicely laid out, with some depth in the background to the right.
Click on any comic to enlarge it.