MORE BIG BAD WOLF COVERS FROM BELGIUM (1951-58)

Earlier in this blog (on March 8th), I had posted the scan of my all-time favorite Big Bad Wolf cover, which was from Belgium's French-language Mickey Magazine and promised to post the scans of other BBW covers from the same magazine. Above is the first BBW cover of MM, no. 51 from 1951. The art is by an unknown artist who seems to have drawn only a few covers in 1951, at least i this rather unusual painting style. Below are the remaining BBW covers of MM: no.'s 186, 194, 198, 209, 211, 226, 230, 249, 295, 401 and 412. The artist of the first three covers below is known to be Tenas. It seems BBW was most popular in 1954 as six of the total of 13 BBW covers from MM's run in the 1950s is from that year. Most of the illustrations are derived from situations depicted in comics.

LATEST BIG BAD WOLF COMICS

The above image (taken from the outducks archive) is of the first page of the latest Big Bad Wolf comics, published in no. 2010-14 (dated Apr. 9, 2010) of Netherlands' Donald Duck comics magazine. The script is credited to Jan Kruse.

BRITISH-MADE LI'L/BIG BAD WOLF COMICS (1948)

A series of Li'l Wolf gag comics were briefly run in Britain's Mickey Mouse comics magazine in 1948. The above scan, featuring the Big Bad Wolf alongside his son, is from no. 468, dated June 26th.
This apparently British-made gag series had been preceeded by the serialization of a redraw Li'l Wolf comics of America origin (see post dated Nov. 5th, 2009 in this blog).

BIG BAD WOLF IN BRITAIN'S MICKEY MOUSE (1947)

The above scan is of the cover of no. 448 (dated Sept. 20th, 1947) of Britain's Mickey Mouse magazine and marks the first-ever cover appearance of Li'l Wolf anywhere in the world, as well as the first re-appearance of Big Bad Wolf in the cover of a British publication in the post-war era.
In 1947, the Big Bad Wolf also appeared in some illustrated text stories in Mickey Mouse. The first one, titled as 'The Mystery of the Missing Pig' and published in 431, is very interesting due to its un-typicality. One of the pigs is missing and Mickey and the gang take the Big Bad Wolf to Disneyville's police as the usual suspect for interrogation where he is cleared of blame.

Eventually, it turns out that the Practical Pig himself had unknowingly locked up his own brother in a coal shed!.. The Big Bad Wolf also appears in 'Sergeat Duck, Sir' published in no. 450 where he takes part in war games organized on Mickey's birthday:

MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE BIG BAD WOLF COVER

In most covers, the Big Bad Wolf is shown either being outsmarted by the pigs or his son or in cunning poses. This one of the very few covers in which he is shown in a dignified manner. Not only is his pose defiant, but in a very cool way. The amazed looks on the faces of the Li'l Wolf ad the Br'er Bear is also priceless. The bear is exposed as the bully he is while the Li'l Wolf is reduced to a spectatorship role.
It is the cover of no. 173 (dated Jan. 29th, 1954) of Belgium's French-language Mickey Magazine -which I have framed in my living room. The art is attributed to Ténas (Louis Santel), who also acted as the editor of the magazine.
The Big Bad Wolf appeared in about a dozen more covers of Mickey Magazine throughout the 1950s, which will collectively be the subject of the next post in this blog.

THE LATEST BIG BAD WOLF COMICS

Above image (from the outducks archive) is of the first page of the most recent Big Bad Wolf comics, published in no. 2010-02 (Jan. 15th, 2010) of Netherland's Donald Duck comics magazine. Note that Big Bad Wolf nowadays has a refrigerator at home! This 3-page Big Bad Wolf comics was scripted by Herman Roozen, but the artist is unknown. I find the artwork pleasing and more than decent enough.

HENNY PENNY AND THE BIG BAD WOLF (1978)

I recently acquired this children's book published by Random House, as part of the 'Disney's Wonderful World of Reading' series, which happens to be the US edition of a Danish book titled Honsine og himlen der faldt ned published by Gutenberghus of Copenhagen (writer and artist unknown). It is an adaptation of the fable 'The Sky Is Falling' in which the cunning fox's role is taken by the Big Bad Wolf:

In the original fable, the fox does get to devour the chicken!.., as was the case in the Disney cartoon short adaptation Chicken Little (1943).

VINTAGE BIG BAD WOLF BOARD GAME AND OTHER EBAY ITEMS

This interesting looking and somewhat rare board game, manifactured by Boston-based Marks Brothers Co., with license from WD Enterprises, was recently offered on ebay.


Below is a puzzle by Jaymar, said to be from 1960s:


And this tea set piece is part of the set whose tray was the subject of post on Nov. 15th, 2009:

MCDONALDS BIG BAD WOLF FIGURINE

Above image is of the Big Bad Wolf figurine distributed as part of the set of 'Disney's 100 Years of Magic' Happy Meal giveaways by McDonalds in 2002.

BIG BAD WOLF IN JAIL!

The above scan is of a full-page illustration from the Brazilian comics Os Viloes [The Villains], the no. 52 (sept. 1980) of the 'Disney Especial' series published by Abril. The artist is unknown.

The scan was recently uploaded to outducks.org by outducks user Dagoberti.

SILVERPLATED BIG BAD WOLF

This silverplated Big Bad Wolf spoon, produced by Reed & Barton Silversmiths and distributed by New England Collectors Society in 1987, was recently offered on ebay.

THE FIRST KNOWN PRINT APPEARANCES OF THE BIG BAD WOLF IN TURKEY (1937-38)

The earliest known appearance of the Big Bad Wolf in a Turkish publication was in the serialization of the illustrated story adaptation of the Three Little Wolves (1936) cartoon short in the children's suplement of the Ulus newspaper in 1937. However, of the illustratios in this four-part story, he appears only in one, in the first part in no. 5, dated Dec. 11st, 1937 -and he is in drag in there!
Next, what appears to be a rendering of the Big Bad Wolf by an unknown Turkish illustrator was printed in the cover page of no. 23, dated Apr. 23rd, 1938, along with several other Disney characters:


In the central pages of the same issue, another figure of the Big Bad Wolf appears (again alongside other Disney characters):


Proper comics featuring the Big Bad Wolf would begin to be reprinted in Turkish comics magazines only in early 1950s.

BIG BAD WOLF IN WHEATIES GIVE-AWAYS (1950-51)

In a previous post on July 23rd, 2008 at this blog, I had covered Secret of the Woods, one of the four oblong-formatted mini-comics featuring the Big Bad Wolf and the Li'l Wolf, distributed as giveaways for the Wheaties label cereals in 1950-51. Since then, I managed to collect the rest, but was disappointed that none were nowhere as good as the marvelous Secret of the Woods. The only noteworthy point of Forest Ranger is that it features the first-ever appearance of Big Bad Wolf on the cover of a US publication, not counting the cover of a pre-war Mickey Mouse Magazine where he was seen in drag as a mermaid -and his pose in the cover of this 1950 mini-comic is not very flattering either!

For some reason, the title of Hollow Tree Hideout has a somewhat promising ring to it and I was most curious about this one, but the story turned out to be as mediocre as Forest Ranger and the less said about it, the better.

On the other hand, Fire Fighter is amusing and interesting on several counts. It starts with a modestly impressive splash panel:

Note that the Big Bad Wolf's costume is red and not blue as customary. It turns out that the fire the wolves see has wiped out Br'er Bear's chicken house. Big Bad Wolf's taunting of Br'er Bear on the occasion is superb:

And Br'er Bear's below complaint reflects a more mature humour in the script clearly intended for adults and not merely for kids:

The plot then unfolds as the task of being the fire warden falls on Li'l Wolf while his father fetches plans to get Br'er Bear's hens using false fire alarms..

The comics in the four Wheaties Li'l Bad Wolf books are by Gil Turner. On the other hand, the paternity of the cover arts is problematic in my opinion. Alberto Beccattini's Disney Index credits the cover arts of all Wheaties give-aways to Carl Buettner. However, while the covers of Hollow Tree Hideout and Fire Fighter does indeed look like the work of Buettner, the covers of the other two seem to be the work of a different artist, perhaps Turner. You be the judge by comparing the faces of Li'l Wolf especially with regards to his hair and mouth..

BIG BAD WOLF IN THE COVER ILLUSTRATION OF TURKISH MAGAZINE FROM 1938

The above scan is from the cover illustration the of third special issue of Turkish children's magazine Yavrutürk from 1938. The scan of the full cover is below:

The cover art seems to be a patch-up job. The central figure of Mickey Mouse has obviously been copied from the below illustration from the 'Shuffled Symphonies' page of no. 72 of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly:

..which itself has been copied from a panel of an American Mickey Mouse newspaper strip previously reprinted in MMW no. 8:

BIG BAD WOLF IN THE COVER ILLUSTRATION OF UK BOOK FROM 1940

Above image of the Big Bad Wolf is from the cover illustration of a British book titled The Disneyland Omnibus, published by Collins. However, neither the wolf nor the pigs appear in any of the stories featured in the book whose full cover is below:

The book is undated, but the presence of Pinocchio indicate a post-1939 date and hence, some online sources which date it at 1940 appear credible.