Looney Tunes DC Comics Summer Roundup

We haven’t talked much about the Looney Tunes comic books lately, mainly since neither of us has gotten around to picking them up. Today I snagged the latest 3 issues, # 187-189.

# 187’s cover story is yet another “Duck Dodgers” adventure, written by Joey Cavalieri and drawn by Walter Carzon. It’s interesting that while the Duck Dodgers TV series these comic stories are based on has long since vanished, the comics themselves keep getting published and given the cover-story treatment. I speculate that the comic stories, which started showing up in the books at the time of the show’s run more than five years ago, were originally supposed to be given their own series of books. For some reason, that never came to pass, and the stories wound up being thrown into the main LT book because, well, they’re THAT good. No offense to the writers and animators of the “Duck Dodgers” TV show, which wasn’t bad at all, but the comic book stories are better. Perhaps someday these stories will wind up in a trade-paperback format compilation, because they really shine on their own.

The rest of the issue consists of two great reprints, both drawn by David Alvarez. Wile E. Coyote steals Marvin the Martian’s gadgets in “Chariots of the Clods”, and Henery Hawk goes after Sylvester and Tweety in “Brown Hawk Down”.





# 188 features a cover story involving Sylvester and Son. Taz and Hippety Hopper escape from an Australian attraction at a circus, leading Sylvester to mistake Hippety for a giant mouse (of course) and Jr. to think Taz is Sylvester. Strange as it sounds, Bill Matheny’s story and David Alvarez’s art are fantastic.

Reprints include “Tazzy Doo”, a “Scooby Doo” parody written by Jesse McCann and drawn by David Alvarez. Foghorn Leghorn plays Fred, Lola Bunny plays Daphne, Petunia Pig fills in for Velma, and Daffy Duck dons the guise of Shaggy, alongside “Tazzy” Doo. “Ragin’ Cage” (Craig Boldman/David Alvarez) is a crazy Sylvester/Tweety chase.


# 189 is, in short, lame. Sylvester and Tweety duke it out as movie critics in the cover story by Arie Kaplan and Walter Carzon. Reprints include a Lola Bunny adventure (By Sean Carolan and Jen Moore with art by Leo Batic) in the land of sea monkeys (don’t ask!) and a 1-page Roadrunner gag by Brett Koth and Mike Decarlo.

NOTE: Beginning with # 188, is seems DC has decided to print the LT books with glossy pages instead of newsprint pages.

Looney TV Spoofs from CN Latin America

We have showcased some of the clever spots created for Cartoon Network Latin America in the past. Here are two that poke fun at shows on other cable networks. First, a parody of the Discovery Channel's I Shouldn't Be Alive focusing on Wile E. Coyote:

I Shouldn't Be Alive "Wile E. Coyote" from Carlo Olivares Paganoni on Vimeo.

Next, a spoof of A&E's Biography (complete with faux Jack Perkins narration) spotlighting Speedy Gonzales. This is from around 2002:

Speedy Bio from Carlo Olivares Paganoni on Vimeo.

Both these spots were written by Carlo Olivares Paganoni (who posted them onto his Vimeo account) and animated by Hook-Up Animation. Thanks to Misce-Looney-Ous reader Andrés Sanhueza for pointing them out to us via e-mail!

Commentary: "Shamrock N' Roll" (1969)

I haven't done a commentary for a while, and for some reason I keep getting requests for later 1960's cartoons. To be honest, this isn't a great cartoon, but it's not horrible either. You be the judge!

The Ultimate Race

From Cartoon Network Latin America, a short piece featuring a "friendly" race between the Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales... and The Flash:

Daffy and Speedy - Reunited at Last

It's the reunion that nobody has been clamouring for... Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales team-up again for the cover story in the latest issue of DC Comics Looney Tunes, issue #185. "Hold the Cheese!" (written by Bill Matheny and art by Dave Alvarez) has Daffy buying up all the cheese in Mexico and stashes it away in a giant vault, for no reason other than he is a selfish jerk. It doesn't take long for Speedy and his hungry pals to knock on the door looking for some food.

SPEEDY: But, Senor Daffy, you can not eat all of that cheese by yourself.

DAFFY: I'm not eating any of it, bub. I'm lactose intolerant.

The story feels like a parody of the infamous '60s cartoons, plus we get a cameo by Sylvester. Rounding out the issue are reprints from issues #65 and #113. There are two one-page gags with Bugs, Daffy and Elmer titled "Whine and Dine" (Parts 1 and 2), "A Cheesy Afternoon" is a funny story where Hubie and Bertie decide there's nothing left to live for and try to convince Sylvester Junior to eat them (much to his father's dismay) and "Snore Loser" with Claude Cat and Frisky Puppy. Overall a pretty solid issue, especially if you don't have the older issues where the remaining stories originated. It's nice that the Looney Tunes comics are still around, even if we are down to just one new story per month.

Dodgers Dolls

Matthew reported about a line of new Looney Tunes claw machine plush dolls from a company called Sugar Loaf a few months ago. Recently, I had noticed Duck Dodgers dolls (based on the 2003 TV series) popping up in a couple of the claw machines around here and didn't think anything of it. I figured I was just looking at some leftover merchandise from a few years back. Nope. Those crazy guys at Sugar Loaf have just released a new-for-2010 line of Duck Dodgers plush... now available inside claw machines near you (or, if you don't want to spend all those quarters, there's always eBay).



As you can see, Sugar Loaf went as far as doing dolls of The Martian Queen and even Dr. IQ Hi!!? Not pictured: K-9 and an Instant Martian who are also part of this set.

Bugs and Daffy Presenting at the Academy Awards

Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck presented the Best Animated short Oscar in 1993. Joe Alaskey provided the voice of Daffy, Greg Burson voiced Bugs.