If a comic book with a holiday cover has no Christmas related content inside, I call it a SCROOGE. And this January, 1955 dated issue is definitely a Scrooge. But I'm actually not too upset about it.
The first story stars Woody Woodpecker and his niece and nephew: Knothead and Splinter. Woody gets the impulse to sell his old house, buy a fix-er-upper and do some renovations. Unfortunately, Woody got swindled when he bought this massive money pit.
After that Andy Panda and a pal cross paths with some thieves while doing public service work in the park. Oswald Rabbit seeks a new music teacher for his tone deaf sons. Finally, Chilly Willy and Homer Pigeon must save Chilly's village after Waldo Walrus makes a play to steal their supply of winter fish.
All of these stories were good. But the Woody Woodpecker comic was probably my least favorite. Why? Woody just didn't seem to be himself in that story. In my experience, Woody is like a talking version of the Road Runner. Able to free himself from any conundrum while making a witty one-liner. In the money pit story, Woody is just too much like Homer Simpson. I've not really seen any of the Knothead and Splinter cartoons. So maybe Woody gets dumber when his relatives are involved?
There's a two-page prose story in this book. As with many comics of the era, in order to meet certain US Postal Service regulations, titles were required to publish 2 pages of written story. (This would later change to just 1 page and then eventually a provisional ruling for a letters page was allowed.) This story involved Woody being invited to spend time with his aunt. Only, Woody gets mixed up and ends up holidaying in the wrong place!
Now to why I am not so upset that there's no Christmas content to match the cover. It all boils down to the ads. There's 3 really cool advertisements. One is for readers to subscribe to Dell Comics as a Christmas present. I'm jealous of the price of 12 issues for only a buck. Then on the back cover is a holiday ad for a Red Ryder air gun! You know, the prized dream weapon of Ralphie from A Christmas Story. That was a really cool addition. Lastly on the back cover was an ad for a TV show called Super Circus. Well, actually it's for 2 paper puppets based on characters from the show that kids can get with 2 Snickers wrappers. I've never heard of the show. I was neat to learn about. The artwork was beautifully painted. And as a professional chef and food historian, I am amazed by how different a Snickers looked in 1955.
I think I would have been furious if not for these ads. I love the vintage ads in an old comic book. And they added to my enjoyment enough to forgive the lack of holiday content I feel I was promised. Barely. But enough to be happy with my purchase.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
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