BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER

Beep Beep the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote made their debut on September 17, 1949 in "Fast and Furry-ous", a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoon.

In 1973, I was commissioned by Novaro Publishing Co., to write and draw The Road Runner comics for the Spanish language market. The first few years I had to submit my story ideas and pencil sketches to Zetta DeVoe, Del Connell and Chase Craig at Western Publishing Company and upon their approval, I could proceed with the inking and coloring for publication. Later on, as they gained confidence in my work, I was only required to submit the finished artwork for their approval, which, of course, saved me a lot of time.

Those were great days in my cartooning career.  I split my time between The Road Runner and The Pink Panther comics until 1986, when NOVARO closed and I was forced to look for a job somewhere else.

In all, I did 156 issues of Beep Beep The Road Runner.

Remembering those bygone days, here is my last unpublished cover for THE ROAD RUNNER.

More of my PINK PANTHER & ROAD RUNNER comic covers from Novaro Publishing Co.

I started working at Novaro Publishing co., (which was one of Western Publishing Company's licencees) back in 1972.  My creation, EL MAFIOSO NICK (Mobster Nick) appeared under the DOMINGOS ALEGRES (Happy Sundays) banner and was one of four weekly rotating titles.
It lasted just 6 issues and was replaced by something else, but it helped me get the job of filling out additional issues of THE PINK PANTHER and BEEP BEEP, THE ROAD RUNNER, created for the Hispanic market.  All in all, I wrote and did the artwork for 156 Pink Panther issues and about the same for the Road Runner until 1985, when Novaro abruptly shut down production and vanished.

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I've posted many of these covers before on this blog and here are a few more samples of my work during those golden years of comic book history.

                                                  BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER

                      

                         

                 

                        

                                                                  THE PINK PANTHER

                               

Pink Christmas Wishes from The Pink Panther

I spent most of my professional years as a cartoonist, drawing and writing stories for The Pink Panther comics that were designed for the overseas market. Thanks to The Pink Panther (and Beep Beep, the Road Runner),  I managed to make a living and raise a family, and consequently, I will always feel a certain amount of indebtedness to this character.
Over the years, I've tried to keep him alive in my life by doing some new little illustration featuring this funny feline every once in a while. 

Thank you, Friz Freleng, David H DePatie and Blake Edwards for creating him!

As a bonus, I'm sharing the classic Pink Panther Christmas TV Special, which first aired on ABC on December 7, 1978. It was directed by Bill Perez and produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.

                                          

(Another special, "A Very Pink Christmas", was produced in 2011 but the less said about it, the better).

The LAUREL & HARDY Comic Book Collection

Being a Laurel and Hardy fan since my early childhood, I was pleasantly surprised back in 1962 when I discovered Dell Publishing's first Laurel and Hardy comic book and immediately began to look for all their following issues. The names of the writers and artists on these are sadly unavailable.

Unfortunately, only four issues were produced before the title was discontinued.    

                                                     

 Later on, Gold Key comics took another shot at it and published two more Laurel and Hardy issues, in 1967. 



Again, in 1972, DC Comics tried one more time to promote a Laurel and Hardy comic with so much luck, they only came out with one lone issue.   

 
Today, thanks to the internet, it's very easy to track down most of the Laurel and Hardy back issues, even dating to the St. John comics from the late forties.


It is even possible to locate some rare foreign editions like these from England, Spain and Mexico.

                                                                                                                                                                 
                                 

Mel Crawford's LIDDLE WOLFGANG

A short story from THE MUNSTERS comic book #5. (Gold Key 1966)