COMIC BOOK REVIEW! LOONEY TUNES #167 (Dell Comics, September 1955 issue)
Here's one I gotta admit I would have snatched outta any flea market pile during my avid comic book collecting days, not necessarily because I am a great fan of the various Looney Tune and Merrie Melodies characters as portrayed on the printed page, but because this book came out smack dab inna middle of that quite sainted decade we all know and love as the fifties. When I was approaching adolescence I thought the fifties were a great time, not because of any of the nostalgic drivel that was beginning to make its way into the media back then, but due to the fact that back when people knew better there weren't any creeps and general sickos lurking around to soil the purity of the mid-Ameigan experience. Not only that but the television programs that were hitting the rerun circuit sure came off way more entertaining and downright suburban ranch house smooth than the just pre-disco offal that one tended to be inundated with during those best/worst of times.
Nice li'l snat mag ya got there Chris, and although in NO WAY do the stories here capture the mad anarchy that you found in the animated cartoons they're still good enough to capture your attention. 'n yeah, alla the front line WB cartoon characters are here from Bugs and Daffy and Sylvester and Tweetie to Elmer and Porky getting into the usual Dell-approved mischief that made a whole load of parents heave a big sigh of relief at the idea that there kids weren't getting gored out by a buncha EC-styled mishaps. Kinda makes ya wonder how the folk of them times woulda reacted to GENDER QUEER : A MEMOIR but I wouldn't want any of them to die of sexual liberation shock.
One item did catch my attention and that was the "Mary Jane and Sniffles" tale, the series of which I had only heard about via various comics-related reading o'er the years. Sniffles was of course that little mouse of the classic early/mid-forties Warners era who did this rambling talkschpiel swiped from Florence Lake's character in the Edgar Kennedy comedies, and he (it?) was a rather entertaining character whose various cartoons (especially the Christmas one where he fights to stay awake in order to see Santa) still resonate in my slobbish being. By the mid-fifties the Sniffles shorts were long gone but the character did live on in the books, this time teamed up with a blond girl who not only is friends with the mouse but has some super powers allowing her to shrink to his size. Now that I've finally read one of these stories all I gotta say is that, well, I read one! Awww, actually they do have somewhat of a charm to 'em that is sorely missing in today's cyborg world.
Yeah, this is a nice book that'll keep ya busy for some time. And if you can find a copy with all sorts of weird stains, torn pages and a nice funky smell to it you might just be gettin' yourself a bargain next time you go to the flea market!
