Number 46
Bats #1
Yeah, yeah…so this comic is from 1961...so that means it's a Silver Age comic, not Golden Age. It's Halloween, so I'm allowed to keep with a theme. Tales Calculated To Drive You Bats #1 was published to cash in on the popularity of Famous Monsters of Filmland and its imitators.
Longtime Archie writer George Gladir was the writer, and gag cartoonist Orlando Busino the artist.
The comic had a seven-issue run, although I think Busino departed early. I have only this issue of #1, which I bought off the stands about the same time I bought the first issue of The Fantastic Four.
Busino had a wonderful, clean style, perfect for this type of comic book. He used some techniques gleaned from Jack Davis. Notice the legs and shoes, especially. I'm including two pages from a section parodying advertising.
Of course, "Tales Calculated To…" is a rip-off of Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad , the Mad comic book version from just a few years previous. Archie had been well, mad at Mad for the juvenile delinquent parody of their main character as Starchie, but it didn't stop them from appropriating the Mad comics tagline.
I often think about "Bats" and Busino's solid art with nostalgic affection. Many of its themes were carried over into "Archie's Madhouse" once "Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats" was canceled.
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