<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3132" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV>Niels asked: <BR></DIV>
<DIV>"Is the word "parade" to be taken literally (as in a "circus parade"), or
does it simply mean a "series" of comic book stories?"<BR></DIV>
<DIV>And Barry answered: <BR></DIV>
<DIV>"I never really took the word literally as a parade with floats and bands
etc.<BR>We have lots of words in English that don't always mean what they
should.<BR>There is a magazine just called "Parade" and it is likely Disney
adapted the <BR>word with Vacation and Christmas which in both cases the comics
are just a <BR>series of stories and activities (Puzzles and mazes,
etc.)."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In addition to Barry's fine answer, I'd also point out that there was a
time in comic books where the publishers seemed to "create" new titles for
existing characters just by tacking on another pleasant sounding or otherwise
appropriate word. "Parade" is such a word, as it conjures up good feelings
though, as Barry indicated, no parade actually occurred in its pages.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In the early days of Gold Key, there were such titles as "Hanna-Barbera
Band Wagon". Though the characters were depicted marching with instruments
on the cover of #1, and actually PULLING a band wagon on #2, the cover of
#3 had a skating/skiing theme, and none of the interior stories were about
marching/playing music/pulling wagons/etc. It was just a pleasant sounding
word/name that helped sell the book. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There was also "Bugs Bunny Showtime", where the "put on a show", "have a
ball" type of images were reflected on the covers, but the stories were mainly
typical of the Warner Bros. comics of the time. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>No publisher was better -- or at least more prolific at this -- than Harvey
Comics, where things like Casper's Ghostland", "Little Dot's Dotland", and
"Richie Rich Dollars and Cents" would sprout wildly to accompany the characters'
"regular" titles on the newsstands of the 1960s-1970s. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The idea is largely gone today, unless you count concurrent titles like
Gladstone's "Uncle Scrooge" and "Uncle Scrooge Adventures" and the like -- and
such variations in super-hero titles like "Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight"
and "Superman: the Man of Steel", where the "tacked on" words and phrases are
more "heroic" than "pleasant". ...And the title characters actually
had "adventures", were "legends", and were (figuratively) made of "steel".
If nothing else, we gained some accuracy in advertising! </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Joe Torcivia </DIV>
<DIV><BR> </DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's free at <A title="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" href="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" target="_blank">AOL.com</A>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>