SPANISH EDITION OF THREE LITTLE PIGS BOOK

Above image is of the cover of the Spanish edition of Blue Ribbon's Three Little Pig illustrated story book, adapted from the first cartoon featuring the Big Bad Wolf. The Spanish edition was first printed in October 1934 and saw four reprints till December 1935. Below is its title page:

Covers of the original American and various other editions can seen in the post on May 28th, 2008.

ITALIAN BIG BAD WOLF COMICS FROM THE 1970S

Even though local production of Disney comics in Italy is one of the most established and prolific in the whole world, Italian comics artists had very rarely made Big Bad Wolf comics. The first Italian Big Bad Wolf comics, published in the Albi d'oro series in 1956, would remain as an isolated case for many years. The next Italian-made Big Bad Wolf comics would appear only in 1972, in no. 881 of Topolino. Written by Rodolfo Cimino and drawn by veteran Italian Disney comics artist Giovan Batista Carpi (1927-99), one of the best Disney comics artists ever, this short (9 pages) but wildly imaginative and highly energetic delirious story has the three pigs residing in a medieval-looking castle. The wolf resorts to bizarre vehicles to get in, only to be repulsed by equally unexpected machinery devised by the Practical Pig:

Unfortunately, this marvelous comics has never been published outside of Italy, even though it has been twice reprinted in its home country in the 1990s. Cimino used the Big Bad Wolf in yet another story next year, published in Topolino no. 939. Titled as 'Conferenziere da Caccia' (Lecturer of Hunting), this 18 pages story is one of the longest Big Bad Wolf stories ever. This time, the wolf uses a mechanical pig to trick the three little pigs...

but his plan is, once again, foiled by the Practical Pig:

While lacking the crazy energy of the previous story, this one also rises considerably above the average by its pleasing artwork, this time by Sergio Asteriti, and its interesting plot. It has luckily been published in Germany and Norway as well.

Cimino's third Big Bad Wolf comics would come five years later, in no. 1165 of Topolino, but it doesn't rise to the standards of the previous efforts and hence the less said about it the better!

REDRAWN BIG BAD WOLF COMICS IN MICKEY MOUSE WEEKLY (1948)

Earlier in this blog, I had posted (on Nov.17th, 2008) about a short Big Bad Wolf comics published in Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly in 1950 which was in most likelihood produced by British artists. Two years before that, staff of MMW had first tried their hands on Big Bad Wolf by redrawing American-made comics. The comics serialized on the covers of Mickey Mouse (the magazine had temporarily dropped the word "weekly" from its title in those years) beginning with issue dated March 20th, 1948 is a redrawn and heavily abridged version of the Li'l Bad Wolf comics published in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories no. 77 from the previous year. The above scan is from the British version's fourth installement published in MM dated May 1st. The American original version includes 8 more panels in between these five panels redrawn in this installement.
And below is the American version of the first panel of the above scan.

BRITISH BIG BAD WOLF STORY AND PUZZLE FROM 1940'S

An annual-type obscure British Donald Duck book from the 1940s includes a six-page story with the Big Bad Wolf once again dressing in drag to catch the pigs, as he had frequently done in several cartoons and cartoon-derivative stories and comics from the 1930s.

One of the puzzles featured in the book also involves the Big Bad Wolf:

This 125-pages long book, which carries the tagline "Top-Score Fun" on its cover, was published by the British publisher Collins. It is unfortunately undated, but the copy I have has a pencilled inscription dated"Xmas 1949". Collins had published at least five Donald Duck annuals in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but the format of this book is different from the previous annuals in that it is not as thick as the customary annuals not to mention that the word "annual" does not appear anywhere in it, but its content is similar to annuals with a mixture of illustrated text stories, gag comics and games, etc and the last page carries the sign "More Next Year".

VINTAGE MONEY DEPOST TIN

This vintage money deposit tin was recently sold at an ebay auction for 142.5 US dlrs. It was described as a "made in Japan" product; note that the money bag in the illustration carries a British pound sign, so it was apparently produced for the British markets (it was auctioned by an Australia-based seller).

BIG BAD WOLF MODEL SHEET FROM 1939

The above item, which was recently offered on ebay, appears to be a model sheet of the Big Bad Wolf for the cartoon The Practical Pig (1939).
On the other hand, the below vintage tin box from a UK-based seller was recently sold at an ebay auction for 55 US dlrs. The rather ugly illustration on the lid appears to be modeled from the cover of the Blue Ribbon book Three Little Pigs (1933).

Another interesting item recently offered on ebay was the below framed calender sheet from 1942:

MISC. EBAY ITEMS

The above box (only the box!) of Big Bad Wolf figurine was recently sold at an ebay auction for 77 Us dlrs!.. Info on Seiberling Latex Products Co.'s Disney items can be found here: http://vintagedisneymemorabilia.blogspot.com/2008/01/seiberling-latex-company.html

Also being offered on ebay are the below "mat prints" of Big Bad Wolf illustrations; they are not vintage, but the illustrations are nice, esp. the first one:

GLOBE-TROTTING BIG BAD WOLF (AND OTHER EBAY STUFF)

Above image (click over to view it in larger size to better observe its details) is of a map offered as a premium as part of a bread merchandising campaign in the US circa 1936. The empty spaces at the bottom and top portions of the map are reserved to stick cards obtained by purchasing the bread from partipating bakeries.

And below images are from another vintage item, a children's plate, possibly from the 1930s:



Not necessarily as vintage, but the below ceramic figurine, reportedly of Mexican origin, was recently sold at ebay for a whooping price of 110 US dlrs!:

and below is a set of pvc figurines from Spain, also recently offered on ebay:

MY OTHER COMICS BLOG RE-ACTIVATED

It's got nothing to do with Big Bad Wolf nor Disney, but anyone interested in vintage comics in general are invited to take look at my oldest blog on pre-war and wartime comics, which I have recently re-activated after several months of inactivity there: http://kayaozkaracalar.blogspot.com/

Needless to say, I will also keep posting on this Big Bad Wolf blog as I still have many stuff to share re him!

BIG BAD WOLF IN MICKEY MOUSE MAGAZINE ISSUES FROM 1937

The vol. 2, no. 6 of Mickey Mouse Magazine, dated March 1937, features a very interesting 3 and a half pages long story titled 'Home, Sweet Home!'. The lead character is Little Red Riding Hood, who had also appeared in the cartoon short Big Bad Wolf (1934). The story kicks off with the little girl getting fed up with getting continuously scolded by her parents, which also includes getting a light slap on her face. When she protests that she doesn't like home anymore, her father literally tells her to pack her stuff and leave... Once on her own, she meets Big Bad Wolf who is surprisingly kind to her! Eventually, we are told (by her parents) that Mickey and the gang were secretly following the wolf and the reason of his kindness was that he was aware he was being watched... It is a very well-written story which enables the readers' to enter the mindset of the little girl completely. In addition, the unexpected behavior of the Big Bad Wolf does evoke a perfect aura of uncannines. This story would make a perfect subject for psychoanalitic scrunity. I will not go into it at length here, but cannot refrain from noting that the German (the native language of Freud, mind you) for 'uncanny' is umheimlich which literaly means home-like but not home. The behaviour of Big Bad Wolf whom she meets outside home is the polar opposite of Red Riding Hood's parents at home. He appears as everything she wants to see at home, but he is not of home. Anyway...
The same issue of MMM also includes this one-pag gag-comics with Big Bad Wolf, with inferior-quality art:


The subsequent issue, vol. 2 no. 7, dated April 1937, features even more material with the Big Bad Wolf, even though none are as interesting as the 'Home, Sweet Home!' story in the previous issue. The story titled '$500 Reward' is set in the wild west and has bounty hunter Mickey on the trail of the Big Bad Wolf.




'April Fool Candy' has Big Bad Wolf forcing the Busy Pig to invite him over to a party, only to have trick played on him.


'The Moo-Maid' is the best of the lot in this issue. Here, Clarabella Cow has been designated as the lifeguard of a beach frequented by the folk of Disneyville. The part where she spends so much time on taking care on how she looks before comingto the drowning Big Bad Wolf's rescue is hilarious.
In additon to the illustrated text stories, the Big Bad Wolf, together with his sons, also appear in the below gag:


The next Big Bad Wolf appearance among the MMM issues available in my collection is in vol. 2, no. 11, dated Aug. 1937, where his face (in an awful drawing) appears on a balloon in a piece titled 'Let's Have A Picnic':


With this long post, I round up my coverage of Big Bad Wolf appearances in Mickey Mouse Magazine till I get more issues to my collection. For coming posts, I intend to go back to covering post-war Li'l/Bad Wolf comics, so stay tuned on.

BIG BAD WOLF POEM AND OTHERS IN MICKEY MOUSE MAGAZINE FROM 1936

The above scan is of the first page of a two-page poem, titled 'A Tale of the Sea', published in vol.2 no.2 of Mickey Mouse Magazine, dated Nov. 1936. The same poem would also be published in UK's Mickey Mouse Weekly in 1939 albeit with different illustrations (see below post on Sept. 20 for a scan from the British edition). The plot of the poem is about the little pigs being kidnapped by the Big Bad Wolf and rescued by Mickey Mouse.
The same issue of Mickey Mouse Magazine also includes this gag-panel (with very inferior-quality art!) featuring the Big Bad Wolf:

In addition, the Big Bad Wolf is also mentioned in an illustrated text story titled 'Laugh, Hyena, Laugh' in which Donald Duck fights a hyena. The wolf is mentioned in the text as an associate of the hyena in question, but he is not depicted in any of the pictures illustrating the story.
On the other hand, Big Bad Wolf's sons are co-featured with Donald in this single-page irregular-format mini-comics in the same issue:

BIG BAD WOLF IN MICKEY'S PARTY (1939)

The above scan is from the first Donald Duck Annual published in the UK by Collins Clear-Type Press in 1939. It's the illustration of a two-page story titled 'Games to brighten a Party: The Thought Reader'. The Big Bad Wolf isn't mentioned in the text itself.

PS: In the coming days, I intend to cover Donald Duck Annual and other obscure annuals by Collins in my other blog at http://kayaozkaracalar3.blogspot.com/

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

The above page had been offered on ebay sometime ago as a "comic sheet." The seller didn't know the source of the publication it came from, but I think it is from the American magazine Good Housekeeping which had published illustrated story adaptions of Disney cartoons from 1934 onwards till early 1940s.

The story in this particular page is an adaptation of the cartoon Big Bad Wolf (1934) which had also spawned two books, one hardcover, the other softcover, in the same year. A close analysis of the illustrations in the magazine page and the books show that they feature revised forms of the same art material (by Tom Wood). For example, the figures on the illustrations on the middle row are identical to the two illustrations in the books, albeit being decouped from their backgrounds:

More interestingly, the first picture on the first row is composited together from three illustrations from the book (or vice versa?):

On the other hand, while the first picture on the third row of the sheet is similar to but not identical to one of the illustrations from the book, the remaining two pictures of the sheet do not have their matches in the book.

NEW BLOG RE DISNEY COMICS AND BOOKS IN GENERAL

Please note that I've started a new blog on Disney comics and books at http://kayaozkaracalar3.blogspot.com/

Needlessly to say, I will also continue this blog on Big Bad Wolf, I've got still a lot to share re him.

CAN YOU FIND THE THREE PIGS BEFORE BIG BAD WOLF DOES?

The above scan is from the vol. 4 no. 7 of Mickey Mouse Magazine dated March 1939. Honestly, I myself can not spot any of the pigs in the picture... If you do, please tell us where!

The same issue also featured the poster of the cartoon short The Practical Pig, which was released in the previous month, on its back cover:

BRITISH BIG BAD WOLF GAG COMICS FROM 1950

The popularity of the 'Li'l Bad Wolf' comics initiated in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories would soon tempt the editors and artists of Disney comics magazines around the world to produce their own Li'l / Big Bad Wolf comics themselves in addition to the imported American material. One of the first (if not the first) to do so appear to be the staff of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly, as exemplifed in the above scan of the cover of issue dated Oct. 14, 1950. As far as I can ascertain, it does not appear to be a redrawn version of an American gag and hence possibly an original British production (If anyone knows otherwise, please correct me). The artist is unknown to me, but likely candidates are Ernest Richardson, Ronald Neilson and Basil Reynolds who are known to have worked at MMW in that era. Incidentally, the idea for this gag would later be used in a Donald Duck daily strip in the US in 1962.

Other non-American Big Bad Wolf comics will eventually be also covered in this blog, so please stay tuned on..

PS: I am sorry to have neglected this blog for some time; this time around, the unfortunate reason is the world-wide economic recession which has began to hit the shores here as well, prompting me to spend some of my extra time in trying to find ways to make ends meet in the face of devaluation of our currency.

BIG BAD WOLF AS DONALD'S OBJECT OF ART

This cross-word puzzle was published in vol.5 no. 1 of Mickey Mouse Magazine dated Oct. 1939. The illustration of accompanying the puzzle was actually a modified version of one of the illustrations in the School Days in Disneyville book published by Heath in the same year:

The same issue of Mickey Mouse Magazine also utilized one other illustration featuring the Thee Little Pigs from the same book in its contents page. Aside from appearing in Donald's drawing, Big Bad Wolf himself also makes several appearances in person in School Days in Disneyville, as covered in an earlier post in this blog on May 28th.

VINTAGE BIG BAD WOLF GLASS

A vintage glass set featuring illustrations of the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs was recently sold at an ebay auction for 104 US dlrs.

The precise production year of the set is unknown, but it is believed to date from circa mid-1930's. From a flyer published in a Tomart's Disneyana Update magazine, we learn that this set (together with an Elmer Elephant glass) was manifactured as give-away to promote dairy products.

BIG BAD WOLF MASK

These photos of Big Bad Wolf full-head latex masks were kindly e-mailed to me by blog reader Daniel. He says it was manufactured by Don Post Studios in 1992. At his suggestion, I am posting them on occassion of Halloween.

Thanks again, Daniel..

UNUSUAL BIG BAD WOLF BEER GLASS

I don't quite understand the context of the image on this beer glass, but it is interesting simply because it is unusual. A web search shows that the same image/logo was also used on a 2006 pin (that's probably where it originated from) as well as on t-shirts. If anyone knows more about it, please let us know.

TURKISH BIG BAD BROTHER SQUEEZE ON TURKISH BLOGGERS

While it is true that I had myself slowed down my rate of making new posts on this blog since August (that is since I began to devote some of my spare time to indexing my Disney comics collection), the fact that no new posts at all were made in the past 10 days has got nothing to do with me... For the past week, all blogspot/blogger access to Turkey was halted due to a Turkish court order! The case was apparently instigated by a Turkish tv channel (Digitürk) who had license to broadcast some soccer matches and was dismayed by video streamlining of the games in question at some blogs. Hence, for some reason unfathomable by neither me nor countless Turkish bloggers, all blogspot/blogger access was ordered shut down in a draconian manner...
Anyway, the ban is suspended as of now, so I am back. Of course, there is always the option of using proxys, but they are slower and of questionable safety and I hope I won't have to resort to that backdoor in the future.

BIG BAD WOLF IN FICTIONAL ACCOUNT OF DISNEY'S FIRST TV TEST

The above scan is of the illustration of a one-page story about Disney's first tv test, in which the Big Bad Wolf makes a last moment appearance, published in vol. 4 no. 8 of Mickey Mouse Magazine, dated May 1939. This short story is very interesting for being a relic of a precise moment in history where this new medium was still largely unknown to the larger portion of the population and yet was on the verge of kick-off.

The story starts with Walt Disney calling on all the Disney characters to attend a "television test". Mickey is clueless as to what that means and Minnie even speculates that they are being summoned to a check-up of their eyes! However, Clara Cluck who had "picked up no end of gossip" clears up the "mystery":

"Why haven't you heard," she clucked. "Everyone is talking about this wonderful machine. It takes your picture just like a camera, a movie camera, only it travels through the air."

A short overview of the history of television in the US is necessary for putting this story in perspective. While limited television service had technically started in the US as early as 1928, these low-def broadcasts had not become widespread beyond experimental stations run by universities. Only after 1936, when hi-def broadcast became possible, did the new medium really began to get kick-off. NBC, which had began regularly scheduled broadcasts on April 30th, 1939, aired Donald's Cousin Gus on May 19th, making it the first film cartoon to be televised in the US. Hence, the short story covered in this blog post was published on the eve of this historic event.

Source on history of tv in the US: wikipedia

BIG BAD WOLF IN DRAG

In the cartoons of the 1930s, Big Bad Wolf was portrayed as a master of disguises and his attempts to capture the three pigs quite frequently involved female impersonations as well. In the last pigs vs wolf cartoon, titled Practical Pig (1939), he would even cross-dress as a mermaid... A four-page illustrated story adaptation of this cartoon was published in vol. 4 no. 8 of Mickey Mouse Magazine in May 1939 and the mermaid scene made its cover (*):


Below are scans of the wolf-ish illustrations from this story:



It should also be noted that the plot (and title) of the same cartoon had also formed the basis of a Sunday newspaper comics continuity serialized in 1938 before the cartoon's release. In the Sunday comics version, Big Bad Wolf cross-dresses as a female gypsy rather than a mermaid and that scene had made the cover of an Italian comics album in the same year:

And below is the cover of a 1939 French edition of Practical Pig:

In the US, there also appeared three different editions of Practical Pig books in 1939-40, none which I have seen myself so far, but one (according to A. Beccatini) appears to be based on the comics version and hence presumably replaces the mermaid scene with the gypsy scene.

(*) I am sorry for the poor condition of the cover I had scanned, but MMM issues are very expensive items in the collectors market and I could afford only a "fair-condition" copy of this issue.. :-(

BIG BAD WOLF IN ITALIAN HORROR COMICS

Above scan is of the cover of the Turkish edition of an Italian horror comics titled Dylan Dog. The Big Bad Wolf does indeed appear in the story featured in that issue, but, alas, only revealed as a hallucination. The cover art is by Angelo Stano and the story by Tziano Sclavi, the original creator of Dylan Dog, a private detective often dealing with the supernatural (note his face is modeled on actor Rupert Everet).

Note: While this story was printed as no.20 in the series' latest Turkish edition as seen in the scan, its original number in Italy was 56, first published in 1991.

BIG BAD WOLF MEETS MICKEY MOUSE

In earlier posts from previous weeks, I had noted that artist Gil Turner had introduced well-known Disney characters as guest stars into a succession of 'Li'l Bad Wolf' stories in 1950. The first of such encounters had come in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories no. 112 (dated Jan. 1950). In this Christmas story, Li'l Bad Wolf had requested Santa Claus to bring him a puppy as a present:

Big Bad Wolf's attitude in the above panel is a very good depiction of his dismissiveness towards what he apparently deems as loftiness. And yet, fate plays a trick on him as a stray Pluto, chasing a cat, falls down the chimney:

The Big BadWolf is understandably upset with this turn of events:

However, he eventually realizes this is the lost dog of Mickey Mouse who had set up a reward for him:

Nevertheless, as always, the cunning Practical Pig is determined to spoil it all for the Big Bad Wolf in the end...

I am uneasy with these kind of stories where Big Bad Wolf seeks monetary gains which seem to me to to be not very compatible with his overall persona. However, the story is very memorable for Turner's rendering of Mickey Mouse is excellent, on par with the best Mickey artists in my opinion.

BIG BAD WOLF POSTCARD FROM DENMARK

The artwork on this postcard from Belgium, which was recently offered on ebay, is quite lousy, but I find it mildly noteworthy for the presence of Li'l Bad Wolf.

MAGAZINE FROM 1933 WITH BIG BAD WOLF COVER ART

This magazine was recently offered on ebay. It came to my notice from this blog post:
http://disneybooks.blogspot.com/search/label/Ebay

BIG BAD WOLF FOOTBALL GAG STRIP FROM 1939

The above scan (click on the image to view it in larger size) is from Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly no.202. I find the pig's facial expression in the first two pictures as priceless. Also, the fact that the wolf is depicted with its gaze turned towards the readers is very interesting -and in line with a feature frequently seen in his appearances in Sunday comics in the pre-war era.

BIG BAD WOLF POEM SERIAL FROM 1939

Above scan is of the illustration accompanying the last installement of a three-part poem-story published in Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly in 1939. The story is about the pigs being kidnapped by the wolf ona sea voyage and then being rescued.

Update from Dec. 7th: I have now realized this poem was earlier published in Mickey Mouse Magazine of the US in 1936 albeit with different illustrations; see post above on Dec. 7th for scan of the original American edition.

BIG BAD WOLF WAR INSIGNIA (1943)

The below set of war insignia from the 2nd World War era, one of which feature the Big Bad Wolf 's as above, were published in no. 30 (dated March 1943) of Walt Disney's Comics & Stories.

By the way, readers interested in comics'/cartoons' role in the war effort in WW2 are urged to chech out this blog: http://toonsatwar.blogspot.com/

BIG BAD WOLF IN MICKEY MOUSE MAGAZINE (1937)

The forerunner of Walt Disney's Comics & Stories was Mickey Mouse Magazine published between 1935-40. Besides non-comics material, it largely reprinted US newspaper daily and Sunday comics. Today, this is a relatively rare publication and is yet sparsely indexed. Via ebay, it has come to my notice that 1936's 'Silly Symphony' Sunday comics serial which featured Big Bad Wolf's first appearance in the comics medium had been reprinted in Mickey Mouse Magazine in 1937, albeit in a reformatted manner to fit standart magazine page format.

Note that, in a series of posts in previous months in this blog, I had provided a detailed overview of this Silly Symphony continuity, with extensive scans from its reprint in Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly which had ran it in a form identical to its original format.

BIG BAD WOLF MEETS DONALD DUCK

In a below post in late August, I had noted that artist Gil Turner had introduced well-known Disney characters as guest stars into a succession of 'Li'l Bad Wolf' stories in 1950. In this post, I will cover Big Bad Wolf's encounter with Disney comics' arguably most celebrated star, Donald Duck in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories no. 115 (dated April 1950).
The plot of the story involves Donald Duck taking up an offer of the pigs to swap their country house with his city house for one month. Consequently, Big Bad Wolf unintentionaly kidnaps Donald.

Turner's take on Donald Duck seems inspired by the hot-tempered Donald of cartoons and of newspaper gag strips. Big Bad Wolf's initial reaction to meeting such a personality is very interesting. When faced with someone he is unfamiliar with and especially someone who stands up to him, he initially backs off, which is perhaps somehow typical of (the popular conceptions regarding) the humble attitude of 'the country folks' towards 'the city people'. The realization that he could prey on him as well comes only gradually.
The wolf then enlists yet another one of his disguise tricks to re-capture Donald, unaware that his son had already tipped the duck of his plans..

Note that the very last panel is reminiscent of the finale of the cartoon short Three Little Pigs (1933).
In the coming days, I will post more on Gil Turner's works, so stay tuned on...

BIG BAD WOLF PRODUCTION DRAWING FROM 1934

The above production drawing for the cartoon Big Bad Wolf (1934) was recently sold at an ebay auction for 177.5 US dlrs. Below is that particular scene as it appeared in the cartoon:

BIG BAD WOLF MEETS PINOCCHIO

I have always been very fond of Disney stories where characters of disparate origin interact, such as Donald Duck accompanying Mickey Mouse and Goofy in early US newspaper strips and subsequently in some post-war Italian comics, or those X-mas/New Year's stories where everyone comes together around one table. In similar vein, Gil Turner introduced well-known Disney characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, as guest stars into a succession of 'Li'l Bad Wolf' stories in 1950. I do not yet have the issues with Mickey appearing in 'Li' Bad Wolf', but here is an extensive coverage of the encounter of the Big Bad Wolf with Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories no. 118.
This story starts with the Big Bad Wolf failing miserably in an attempt to swipe chicken and grunting in his customary manner:


Li'l Bad Wolf's despair is depicted in such a wonderful panel:


Subsequently...



Jiminy's above reaction to his new duty is soon justified:


The following plot point takes its cue from the 1934 short cartoon where the Big Bad Wolf goes drag as a fairy to catch the Red Riding Hood:



Jiminy's new tactic turns out to be..

WHEN THE BIG BAD WOLF REALLY MEANS TO BE GOOD...

There have been a few instances where the Big Bad Wolf has went out of his character and acted nicely towards the Three Little Pigs, but, in most cases, these were either due to a spell or some other involuntary situation. In one story from the early works of Gil Turner, however, he really means to be nice, 'though his good intentions do not last very long.
In Walt Disney's Comics & Stories no. 100 (dated Jan. 1949), to the suprise of his son who knows his father's aversion to Christmas, the Big Bad Wolf, for some inexplicable reason, finds himself caught up with the "Christmas spirit". After a few funny instances where forest animals are equally amazed at the Big Bad Wolf's good manners, he even....

The real strength of this story (scripted by artist Turner himself) with a simple plot lies in its wonderfully worded lines written for the wolf, as in the above panel with phrases like "joyous yuletide season", which, arguably, hint at the phony nature of the nice manners that the Big Bad Wolf usually represents the other of.
Despite his good intentions, the pigs do not welcome him, and the wolf quickly gets over the Christmas spirit. However, in the meantime, Li'l Bad Wolf persuades the Practical Pig that his dad had meant no harm -and hence:


PS: This post with scans of images with a snowy setting was written with the hope of feeling a refreshment in this burning-hot summer day..

GIL TURNER'S FIRST TAKE ON BIG BAD WOLF (1947)

Gil Turner was the most durable artist responsible for the 'Li'l Bad Wolf' comics series in the main US Disney comics magazine Walt Disney's Comics & Stories. For a period of ten years (1947-57), he drew around one hundred comics featuring the Big Bad Wolf. The above scan is of the first panel depicting the Big Bad Wolf in his first take on the series, published in no. 85 of WDC&S.
Over the course of the years, his art would evolve and the wolf's features become relatively more sedate (as will be seen in future posts in this blog), but here the Big Bad Wolf is depicted in a markedly 'toothy' manner in this initial take, as seen in the below sample:

This is an interesting story (writter unknown) where Big Bad Wolf compels his well-meaning son to join him in robbing an eagle's nest, an attempt visualized by Turner with a dynamic panel format:

While the story seems to end in the banal twist of 'it was all a nightmare of Li'l Bad Wolf', there is a further and genuinely unexpected second twist in the very last panel where it is revealed that...

... the Big Bad Wolf had also seen the same nightmare!

60TH ANNIVERSARY FIGURINE

This porcelain figurine, issued to mark the 60th anniversary of the short cartoon Three Little Pigs (1933), was recenty sold at an ebay auction for an amazing price of 266 US dlrs!..

MISC. LI'L BAD WOLF COMICS FROM 1946-47

After Carl Buettner, the first artist on Li'l Bad Wolf comics at Walt Disney's Comics & Stories, left the series in 1946, several different artist tried their hand on it for about a year before Gil Turner became the main artist of the series. George Waiss was one of these artists who temporarily worked on Li'l Bad Wolf in the post-Buettner/pre-Turner bracket era. Below are scans from his first try, published in no. 70 of WDC&S:

This is actually a very nice story (writer unknown). Li'l Bad Wolf reminds his pop his promise to get him a cat on his birthday, but the Big Bad Wolf refuses to honor his promise. Coincidentally, a witch turns him to a cat on the same day!, with the below consequences:

In the end, it fortunately turnes out to be..

The artwork of Waiss (who was the inker of Donald Duck newspaper comics at the time) is decent enough 'though not perfect. His rendering of Big Bad Wolf's face is OK, but the shape of the wolf's body is somewhat skewed with much narrow shoulders and a much wide waist.
Nothing can compare to ugliness in former animator Paul Murry's work on the series (who would later be a prolific artist on Mickey Mouse), as can be seen in the below scan from WDC&S no.84, his thankfully last before Turner took over:

Incidentally, the plot of this story (writer unknown), even though mediocre, carries an interesting self-referential joke in terms of Disney productions: Note how Big Bad Wolf reacts to his son promoting the book Jack and the Beanstalk, which happened to be the basis of a segment of the movie Fun and Fancy Tree that was released in the same month (Sept. 1947) this comics was published and promoted on its back cover:

ITALIAN 1970 RE-RELEASE OF THREE LITTLE PIGS

To mark the 40th anniversary of Mickey Mouse's debut, a special episode of Disneyland tv series was made and aired in 1968 in the US. Titled as 'Mickey Mouse Anniversary Show', it traced the history of Mickey Mouse on screen, presenting a sample of his cartoon shorts. This tv show was theatrically released in Europe in 1970. In Italy, it was titled as Topolino Story and the (non-Mickey) cartoon short Three Little Pigs (1933), in which the Big Bad Wolf had debutted, accompanied its screenings. Below is a full image of one of the publicity materials for Topolino Story, of which a scan of the detail of the notice regarding Three Little Pigs is above.

ITALIAN PLASTIC FIGURES OF BIG BAD WOLF WITH BRER BEAR

These plastic figures of characters from the post-war Li'l Bad Wolf comics series Li'l Bad Wolf are interesting because they show the Big Bad Wolf in various victimized positions.

The bully on the upper left and lower right corners is Brer Bear. Originally, he was one of the characters in the Disney feature Song of the South (1946), based on a collection of Afro-American folk tales, but, along with other animated characters from the movie, he eventually began appearing in the Li'l Bad Wolf comics. In Song of the South (which I haven't yet seen), he is reportedly featured as a moronic companion of the antagonist Brer Fox. However, in Li'l Bad Wolf comics, he doesn't seem to be associated with Brer Fox, but featured as a solitary chicken-raising figure who often clashes with Big Bad Wolf in the latter's attempts to "swipe" chicken.

OBSCURE VINTAGE BIG BAD WOLF CARD

I find the artwork in this obscure vintage card very interesting. The figure of the wolf is not very well drawn in the sense of being sub-standart of the Big Bad Wolf figure we are used to, but the overall design of the picture with its semi-abstract rendering of the background involving the window and the door is striking -and stricktly beyond the customary realist Disney style.
It is being offered by an ebay seller who can neither really identify nor date it. The seller refers to it as a "swap or play card" and says it carries no copyright notice and hence no date; the fine print at the bottom of the picture is said to refer to the cartoon short Three Little Pigs. The figure of the Big Bad Wolf itself is somewhat similar to those on some merchandise from 1933-34 capitalizing Three Little Pigs (1933); I myself haven't seen this kind of Big Bad Wolf figure on any product dated later than 1934.

UB IWERKS' RIVAL BIG BAD WOLF CARTOON FROM 1936

The above screen-captures are from a rival Big Bad Wolf cartoon short made by Walt Disney's former partner and leading animator Ub Iwerks in 1936.
Ub Iwerks (1901-71) was Walt's partner and collague since their youth in Kansas where they founded together a commercial art venture. Later, when Walt moved to Hollywood, he followed and joined the Disney Studio as a junior partner holding 20 percent of the shares (semi-official Disney histories, eager to elevate Walt, downplay Iwerks as a mere employee, but that is incorrect). Iwerks was also the studio's leading animator, and it was he who co-created, with Walt, Mickey Mouse and single-handedly animated all the early Mouse cartoons. However, he was apparently frustrated with Walt bossing around, interfering with his art work, such as going over his sheets and re-timing the exposures at night after Iwerks had gone home. In January 1930, he left Disney Studios, selling off his rights for a mere sum of under 3,000 US dlrs, when he received a seemingly more lucrative offer to set up another studio. In the 1940s, he would return to Disney, this time indeed as an employee.
Iwerks' Big Bad Wolf (1936) cartoon short dates from this era when he was working outside Disney. Earlier, Disney Studios had made the phenomenally successful cartoon short Three Little Pigs (1933), where the Big Bad Wolf had debutted, and followed-up with the sequel Big Bad Wolf (1934). While Disney's Big Bad Wolf was based on the fable 'Little Red Riding Hood', Iwerks' cartoon of the exact same title was based on the nursery rhyme 'Little Bo Peep', both of which feature a wolf as a villain. In 1936, the year Iwerks made his Big Bad Wolf , Disney also produced Three Little Wolves, again featuring the Big Bad Wolf, but I couldn't establish which one of the two cartoons from the same year preceeded the other in terms of production. Nevertheless, both feature similar scenes of the Big Bad Wolf sharpening his knives..
I am sorry I couldn't manage better-looking screen captures from Iwerks' Big Bad Wolf, but the whole short can be viewed in its entirety from here: http://www.lulu.tv/?p=17522

VINTAGE BIG BAD WOLF POSTCARDS FROM FRANCE AND BELGIUM

The above images are from a series of postal cards depicting scenes from the cartoon short Big Bad Wolf (1934). They were issued by a Paris-based publisher who also issued other series of cards based on other Disney cartoons. Below is the image of the reverse side of the cards:

There are no copyright dates on the cards and the ebay seller offering them says they are from "circa 1950", but I've seen used cards from the same line of products which have been inscribed as early as 1941, so these might also be from early 1940s. The no. 10 above depicting Big Bad Wolf and the Practical Pig was sold at an ebay auction for 56.5 US dlrs while the other was sold for 13 dlrs.

Below image is of a French postal card (recently sold for 11.5 US dlrs at an ebay auction) issued by the Tobler chocolate company in the 1950s as part of its long-running series of cards featuring Disney characters.

Various online sources for collectors say that these cards were give-aways with chocolate packages. However, the notice on the reverse side of this card indicates the campaign involved a more intricate enterprise: "Buy the delicious Tobler chocolates and ask your supplier for a free album which will enable you to do yourself a film with true drawings of Walt Disney contained in the shelves and to receive a Tobler surprise-gift." If anyone knows what exactly this means, please let us know..


And below is a postcard from Belgium:

The artwork for the wolf is quite lousy compared to that of the pigs, but this is nevertheless tangentially interesting for featuring the Practical Pig in a dancing pose, which is somewhat out of line with his character. The reverse side of the card carries a permission notice from "Walt Disney Ltd". The ebay seller offering this item estimates its date as "circa 1945" 'though it's not clear on what this estimate is based on.

CALENDAR OF 1938

Above image is from a calendar of 1938 (which was sold at an ebay auction for 436.5 US dlrs!!!)with each month devoted to one Disney cartoon short from the Silly Symphonies series, May being covered by Three Little Wolves (1936). Below is the reverse side of the above leaf:

BIG BAD WOLF IN GLASS GIVE-AWAY BROCHURE FROM 1939

This item was sold at an ebay auction for 102.5 US dlrs!..

SECRET OF THE WOODS (1951)

Even though several issues of different series of comics magazines in Italy were being devoted exclusively to Li'l Bad Wolf comics with Big Bad Wolf and/or Li'l Bad Wolf appearing on their covers since 1949, it would take longer for the father&son wolves to have any comics magazine issue devoted to exclusively themselves in their home country, the USA. Their debut on comics covers in the US would come in the medium of give-away comics. In 1950-51, the Wheaties cereal company issued a total of 32 oblong-format mini-comics as give-away and four of these featured Li'l Bad Wolf, Secret of the Woods being one of them.

Secret of the Woods, whose writer is unknown but whose art is by Gil Turner, is an outstanding comics story. The plot kicks-off with Li'l Bad Wolf voicing speculation that someone must be casting spells on the woods since unexplainable happenings are being observed lately. The first act sets up an uneasy atmosphere, successfully conveying the protagonists' feeling of paranoia which spread with with word-of-mouth without any concrete proof. This is brilliantly achieved by simple devices of a few well-written lines of dialogue and expressive looks on the faces, as in the below successive panels:

In the second act, the usual wolf vs pigs antics are carried out against this background, without any clue to uncover the mystery being encountered but the characters carrying the burden of paranoia throughout.

The finale of the story is a genuine masterstroke and the final revelation of the mystery comes as a surprise not for what it is but for how sudden and unexpectedly it is revealed:



When Secret of the Woods was re-printed in no. 37 of Brazilian Mickey comics in 1955, the cover of the said issue was based on its finale:

Secret of the Woods is the only one of the Wheaties give-aways currently in my collection, but as soon as I get the others, I will also post about them. In the meantime, I will be posting a general overview of Gil Turner's career and works in the coming days, so stay tuned on..

BIG BAD WOLF IN CARD GAME SET FROM 1946

Russel Mfg Co. of Leicester, Mass., which had picked up the license of Disney characters for card games, released a set of six miniature card game decks in 1946. Each deck headlined one major Disney character, but featured several other characters on its cards. The Big Bad Wolf appeared on the cards of three decks, those headlined by Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and, naturally, the Three Little Pigs. The above card is from the Donald Duck deck.

The Mickey Mouse deck featured an illustration of Big Bad Wolf in different combinations with all the other characters from that deck; the one pairing the wolf with Mickey is shown below:

The Three Little Pigs deck on the other hand featured four different illustrations of the Big Wolf:

The illustration on the lower left had also been previously used in a British card game from 1938. It goes without saying that Russel Mfg Co.'s Big Bad Wolf is clearly modeled on the pre-war short cartoons and not on his post-war revival in comics as father of Li'l Bad Wolf.

Russel Mfg Co. would release a new edition of the Three Little Pigs deck in 1965 with identical illustrations but in regular size with reduced number of cards.

BIG BAD WOLF AT THE CIRCUS (1949)

The above illustration (click over the image to view it in larger size) is from a mini-poster given away to new subscribers of Walt Disney's Comics & Stories in 1949; note the Big Bad Wolf lifting weights at the left. The below scan is of the back cover of Walt Disney's Comics & Stories no.100, dated Jan. 1949, promoting the give-away.

PRE-WAR LANTERN SLIDE SETS

I give a short break to my coverage of post-war Big Bad Wolf publications and temporarily revert back to the pre-war era with this post about British lantern slides. The above image is of the box of a set of slides with sequential images from the short cartoon Three Little Pigs (1933) in which the Big Bad Wolf had debutted. Below are the actual slides themselves; click on the image to view it in real size.

This set is one of the many slide sets based on Disney cartoons which were manifactured by the London-based Ensign Ltd. I cannot see any copyright date in the original box of the set in my collection, but it must date from the period 1933-40, possibly circa 1936. The first Three Little Pigs set by Ensign Ltd, which also happened to be their first set with color slides, reportedly came out in 1933, but that set is reported to feature only 14 slides while the set in my collection is from a later edition with 24 slides (as can be seen in the above images).

Among other sets released by Ensign is one based on Three Little Pigs's first sequel, The Big Bad Wolf (1934):

These sets were marketed either individually or in groups together with the lanterns themselves:

Below is a close-up of the wonderful illustration on the reverse side of the lid and further below is the same illustration on the worn-out front side of the lid:

The below advertisement is from no. 40 of British comics magazine Mickey Mouse Weekly, dated Nov. 7th, 1936 (the same advertisement was also published in several other issues of the said magazine in late 1936):

Tragedy befell Ensign Ltd during the 2nd World War as its facilities were hit and destroyed during the Nazi air bombardment of London in September 1940; as a result, the company had to cease its activities and got liquidated...

More info on Ensign can be found here: http://www.luikerwaal.com/newframe_uk.htm?/catalogus_ensign_uk.htm

THE WONDERFUL MAGIC LAMP (1949)

As noted in my previous post, the debut of Big Bad Wolf's benevolent son Li'l Bad Wolf in 1945 had not only marked a resurgence of the wolf vs pigs comics, but had also shifted the center of the attention to the wolves. However, there were occasional exceptions to this trend as well. A one-shot 3 Little Pigs comics from 1949 not only headlined the pigs, but the Li'l Bad Wolf was surprisingly missing altogether from the roster of characters featured in the main comics stories published in that issue. In 1968, it would be reprinted with new cover art, which is seen in the above scan (the cover of the 1949 edition features only the dancing pigs and not the wolf).
The headline comics story of 3 Little Pigs is the 16 pages long 'The Wonderful Magic Lamp', written by the same Chase Craig who had created Li'l Bad Wolf only four years ago then. Losing all hope that he can outsmart the Practical Pig, the Big Bad Wolf enlists the help of a witch to cast a spell on him. As a result, a few rather amusing instances where the Practical Pig becomes even more dumb than his silly brothers ensues. However, the Wolf's victory turns out to be pre-emptive as usual.

The artist on 'The Wonderful Magic Lamp' is Toby Strobl and his rendering of the Big Bad Wolf is unexpectedly sloppy, as can be seen in the above scans. This was one of Strobl's earliest works on Disney comics; eventually, he would turn out to be a prolific Ducks characters' artist (for more info on Strobl, see: http://art-bin.com/art/strobleng.html ).
The back-up comics story in 3 Little Pigs is the 12 pages long 'The Mounties', again written by Craig but this time with art by Gil Turner, who had taken over the art chores of the Li'l Bad Wolf comics in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories from the series' first artist Carl Buettner. Set in a deserted mining town complete with secret passages and underground tunnels and enlivened with ghostly appearances, this story - even though it also ends unhappily for the Big Bad Wolf as usual- entails two instances where he outsmarts the pigs, including the Practical Pig!

Turner would emerge as the definitive artist on Big Bad Wolf with a decade of tenure on this character and the coming post(s) in this blog will concentrate more on his works, so stay tuned on..