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<DIV>Joe Torcivia wrote:</DIV>
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<DIV>> I'd also point out that there was a time <BR>> in comic books where the publishers seemed to "create" new titles for <BR>> existing characters just by tacking on another pleasant sounding or otherwise <BR>> appropriate word. "Parade" is such a word, as it conjures up good feelings <BR>> though, as Barry indicated, no parade actually occurred in its pages. <BR>> In the early days of Gold Key, there were such titles as "Hanna-Barbera Band <BR>> Wagon". Though the characters were depicted marching with instruments on the <BR>> cover of #1, and actually PULLING a band wagon on #2, the cover of #3 had a <BR>> skating/skiing theme, and none of the interior stories were about <BR>> marching/playing music/pulling wagons/etc. It was just a pleasant sounding <BR>> word/name that helped sell the book. <BR>> There was also "Bugs Bunny Showtime", where the "put on a show", "have a <BR>> ball" type of images were reflected on the covers, but t!
he stor
ies were mainly <BR>> typical of the Warner Bros. comics of the time. <BR>> No publisher was better -- or at least more prolific at this -- than Harvey <BR>> Comics, where things like "Casper's Ghostland", "Little Dot's Dotland", and <BR>> "Richie Rich Dollars and Cents" would sprout wildly to accompany the characters' <BR>> "regular" titles on the newsstands of the 1960s-1970s. <BR></DIV>
<DIV>The big difference, I think, between Harvey's approach to this sort of thing and that of Western Publishing was that the Harvey "subsidiary titles" usually had something to do with the <STRONG>specific character featured in the title.</STRONG> "Little Dot's Uncles and Aunts," for example, did not include a mention of Dot's dot obsession but DID focus on another key aspect of her "universe" that was repeatedly featured in Dot stories. Ditto all the Richie Rich money-themed and Sad Sack Army-themed titles. The Western "Parade", "Band Wagon", "Fun-In", "Showtime" etc. titles were all omnibus titles and didn't necessarily (as you yourself noted) reflect anything in particular about the specific characters inside. It would be interesting to speculate on WHY a particular omnibus "umbrella" title was chosen. Why not "Bugs Bunny Band Wagon," for instance -- to take advantage of the alliteration?</DIV>
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<DIV>Chris</DIV>
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