Saturday, July 06, 2013

Ten animal comics I grew up with

Off the top of my head, these are some of the animal comic books that I read as a kid, and still do, as one who has never really grown up. I've left out many such as Jughead's old English sheepdog, Hot Dog, which I don't recall reading as a separate comic. 

Then there is Tintin's terrier, Snowy, and Obelix's Gaulish dog, Dogmatix, in Asterix comics, but they didn't have comics of their own. Come to think of it, Dogmatix did have a small comic book of his own.

I have left out animals from comic strips like Fred Basset, Marmaduke, Hobbes, Garfield, and Dennis the Menace's Ruff, perhaps, in another post.

I can't help thinking I've left out some obvious names. If you can think of any, let me know.
















































































































































































































14 comments:

  1. Richie Rich was a favourite of mine (a very very very long time ago!)

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    1. Mystica, my "very very very long time ago!" was two days ago. I used to collect Richie Rich comics as a kid; now I read them online or download them and read wherever possible. Publishers Harvey has a whole lot of fascinating comic book characters.

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  2. I read a lot of animal stories in book form, particularly the Black Stallion series, and the dog books of Jim Kjelgaard. Some of my favorite memories of childhood.

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    1. Charles, I read BLACK STALLION as a kid and saw the film many times. It was one of the most beautiful children's films to come out at the time. However, I don't remember the dog books of Jim Kjelgaard. I'll definitely look them up.

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  3. I like all of these, but mostly I read the Disney ones when my son was younger. When I was younger it was Richie Rich and Little Lotta, and Lulu. Maybe Mighty Mouse comics?

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    1. Tracy, thanks for mentioning Mighty Mouse comics. I missed that one entirely, partly because I don't have any memories of the character. I didn't read it in my growing days. Richie Rich and Little Lotta and the other Harvey comic characters like Hot Stuff, Casper, Spooky, Little Dot and Little Audrey, Wendy and, of course, Sad Sack, delighted me no end. I held onto their comics for a long time.

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  4. Prashant, I never really spent much time with comics as a youngster, too busy playing football with my friends. My children did though, but I'd struggle to remember the titles,

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    1. Col, comic books including Asterix and Tintin, Enid Blyton, The Three Investigators, and the Hardy Boys were all that I read in my early youth. There are so many comic book titles I didn't know about then. The internet is a vast treasure trove of all kinds of comic books including those I ought to have been familiar with in my childhood.

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  5. Remember all of these but O'Malley.

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    1. Patti, my earliest memory of O'Malley and the Alley Cats is the 1970 film version called THE ARISTOCATS which I saw in an old rustic theatre called El Dorado in the coastal-tourist state of Goa where I grew up. The comics came soon after. Dogs have been a favourite among cartoonists and comic-book artists.

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  6. Prashant, Enid Blyton is my favorite till date

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    1. Mallika, thanks for visiting and commenting. I used to read Blyton in school and we still have a sizeable collection of her paperbacks and hardbacks. I grew up with the Hardy Boys, though.

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  7. Gosh, I loved some of these growing up.

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    1. Ryan, I miss these thin comics that were so much a part of our childhood. It's sad that many of these comics have disappeared while others have been replaced by serialised glossies with new and unrecognisable characters and graphic novels.

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