All part of the surreal goings-on of our favorite morbidly obese comic book character, chronicled in Herbie #6 (1964). “Space-Age Herbie” is written by ACG editor Richard E. Hughes, using his pseudonym Shane O'Shea, and drawn by Ogden Whitney.
I showed the first story from this issue, featuring Ticklepuss, the cavegirl with a crush on Herbie, in 2013. See the link below.
Here is the other crazy story from Herbie #6. Just click on the thumbnail.
Lots of good gags in this one, I especially like the too young/too old/just right gag. Very funny! The story in Herbie comics are usually just vehicles for the gags. Characters come in and out of the stories to service whatever joke the writer has imagined up.
ReplyDeleteI do kind of feel sorry for Herbie the way his father treats him, but then again, Herbie could easily demonstrate his usefulness and doesn't, regardless of the excuse. But the comic wouldn't work otherwise!
First second comment ever (as confusing as that sounds) -- I was re-reading some older Herbie stories on this blog and noticed I wasn't as kind to Herbie a while ago. Still not a big fan, but they have grown on me.
ReplyDeleteYou see, Pappy, you are having a real impact on people :)
Brian, Ha! Impact Pappy has being you like Herbie comics or I bop you with this here lollipop!
ReplyDeleteYes, Herbie does just kind of grow on you. I was there buying Forbidden Worlds when Herbie was introduced, and then when an occasional Herbie story would appear, and the sales figures leading up to the decision to give Herbie his own title. There was definitely a case to be made that the readers loved that absurdist humor.
I agree with you that characters move in and out of the stories to serve the story's needs, but writer/editor Hughes used world and political figures, not to mention movie stars, to possibly make the stories more pertinent to their audience. (The big hit for me was having the Beatles show up in a story.) Or maybe it was just to show off Ogden Whitney's ability to draw likenesses of real people.