DCML Digest, Vol 52, Issue 24 ("Parade" etc.)

[kimba1962 at comcast.net]

Joe Torcivia wrote:

> 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. 
> 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. 
> 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. 
> 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. 

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 specific character featured in the title.  "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?

Chris

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