SPECTACLED BIG BAD WOLF (1945)

Recently, I've began reading the earliest 'Li'l Wolf' comics in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories in chronological order. I was surprised to see the Big Bad Wolf in spectacles in one occasion, while reading a newspaper, in the first installement (no. 52, dated Jan. 1945). I am not sure if he was ever again portrayed wearing eyeglasses.

In any case, this story sets the pattern of the relation between the Big Bad Wolf and his son as the father urges him to be a 'bad wolf' just like himself rather than the benevolent kid the Li'l Wolf is. For this end, in this first story, he forces him to catch small forest animals for food. The ending is however somewhat unsatisfactory as the Big Bad Wolf himself is caught in a trap set up by Li'l Wolf and his forest friends and is oblidged to promise not to force his son to become a bad wolf. The three little pigs are nowhere to be seen in neither this story nor the next one in no. 53.

The first 13 'Li'l Wolf' comics in WDC&S were by Carl Buettner.

CHRISTMAS DECORATION LIGHTS WITH BIG BAD WOLF AND HIS SONS

This colorful christmas decoration lights set featuring characters from Disney's 'Silly Symphony' cartoon series was recently sold on ebay for 41 US dlrs. Note that the Big Bad Wolf's sons from the cartoon short Three Little Wolves (1936) are also featured.

Other characters featured include Elmer Elephant and Robber Kitten.

Besides this lights set, the same company also marketed a set of bells with a similar cast of characters:

THREE LITTLE PIGS REDRAWN AS BEAR CUBS ON TURKISH COVER FROM 1936

Above photo is of the cover of no. 79 (dated May 21st, 1936) of Turkish children's magazine Afacan. The cover illustration originates from the cover of no. 13 (dated May 2nd, 1936) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly (see below), but has been partially modified with the Three Little Pigs redrawn as bear cubs in an apparent self-censorship to appease Islamic sensibilities.

Nevertheless, the three little pigs would regularly be featured in Turkish Disney comics from early 1950s onwards.

BIG BAD WOLF ON THE COVER OF MMW ANNIVERSARY ISSUE (1957)

Above image is of the cover of no. 874 (dated Feb. 9th, 1957) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly. The "birthday" referred to in the illustration is not actually of Mickey Mouse himself but of MMW.

BIG BAD WOLF GAG ON THE COVER OF MMW (1940)

Above scan is of a detail featuring a British-made Big Bad Wolg gag from the cover of no. 234 (dated July 27th, 1940) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly. Below is the full picture of the cover:

THREE LITTLE PIGS RECORD AND BOOK FROM ITALY

While the date of the above record is unknown, the below book is from 1975:

THREE LITTLE PIGS ITALIAN RE-RELEASE

Above image is of the poster of an Italian Donald Duck compilation movie from 1971 which also includes Three Little Pigs (1933) as a bonus.

BRITISH-MADE BIG BAD WOLF GAG COMICS FROM 1958

Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly comics magazine had ceased publication late in 1957 and was replaced by a new (and similar) magazine titled Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse. This new magazine, which lasted for about a year, ran a series of apparently British-made Big Bad Wolf gag comics. Above scan is from no. 8 (dated Feb. 22nd, 1958).

RE-DRAWN BIG BAD WOLF COMICS FROM BRITAIN'S MICKEY MOUSE WEEKLY (1950)

The Big Bad Wolf full-page gag comics on the cover of no. 551 (dated Dec. 2nd, 1950) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly is actually a abridged and re-drawn version of an 8-pages long comics from no. 121 (dated Oct. 1950) of the US Walt Disney's Comics & Stories. The British version largely omits the first 7 pages of the original, adding one new splash panel and two new regular panels featuring the Wolf's attempts to capture the sheep using his Bo-Peep costume. In the American original, the Wolf considers using the same costume but drops the idea:

The subsequent panels of the British version, starting with the "But Later" tag, reproduce the material on the last page of the American version:

TIN BOX FROM BELGIUM WITH BIG BAD WOLF

This wonderful tin box is currently being offered on ebay. The Netherlands-based seller identifies it as being from Belgium and from the "1930s". Based on the characters depicted, a more precise estimate can be 'late 1930s'.

THREE LITTLE WOLVES ON GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Above image is of the illustrated text adaptation of the cartoon short Three Little Wolves (1936) from a compilation of similar adaptations originally published in the American magazine Good Housekeeping. The 12-page (including covers) compilation, titled simply as Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, was published by Whitman on linen-like paper.

THREE LITTLE PIGS RE-RELEASE POSTER

This poster, promoting an undated re-release of Three Little Pigs by Buena Vista, is currently on sale at ebay.

VINTAGE EUROPEAN MOVIE POSTERS

Among an amazing lot of vintage European movie posters currently on sale at ebay by a Spanish seller are three Silly Symphony posters with Big Bad Wolf. Perhaps the most interesting is the above Swedish poster. The seller dates it from 1933, but the illustration features characters from not only Three Little Pigs (1933), but also from The Wise Little Hen (1934) and The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934). It is being offered for 7,000 US dlrs!

The below French poster for "The Joyful Hour of Mickey Mouse" directly highlights The Three Little Pigs. It is incorrectly dated as 1930 by the seller. It was released in France in 1934. It is being offered for 21,000 Us dlrs!!!...

The below French poster features cartoons from the late 1930s, including The Practical Pig (1939). This compilation was released in France in 1940.

BIG BAD WOLF POCKET WATCH

This obscure Big Bad Wolf pocket watch (reportedly in semi-working condition) was recently sold on ebay for 300 US dlrs. The seller promoted it as being from 1934 and by Ingersoll, the clock company which had acquired a Disney license in 1933 and flooded the US market with watches with illustrations of major Disney characters. When questioned about the source of this date attribution, the seller said the estimate was provided by an antique watch expert.

While it is known that Ingersoll did produce an array of Big Bad Wolf & Three Little Pigs watches in 1933-34, this particular item with a solo image of the wolf is not listed in any sources. Based on the style of the illustration, it seems to me that it would more probably date from 1936 or onwards. I even doubt that it's an Ingersoll watch.

BIG BAD WOLF COVER ILLUSTRATION FROM 1939

Above scan is of the bottom-left corner of the cover of no. 161 (dated Mar. 4th, 1939) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly. Big Bad Wolf had been frequently featured on the covers of MMW in 1936, but this appears to be his first appearance after 1937.

RED RIDING HOOD CUTOUTS

Based on cartoon short Big Bad Wolf (1934), these cutouts were give-aways of a cereal.

RED RIDING HOOD BOARD GAME

This board game, manufactured by Salem-based Parker Brothers Inc. and based on the cartoon short Big Bad Wolf (1934), was recently sold on ebay for 47 US dlrs. The item was undated.

RE-LETTERED AND RE-WORDED BIG BAD WOLF

The above scan is from the color central pages of no. 525 (dated June 3rd, 1950) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly and features a reformatted edition of a Big Bad Wolf gag from the back cover of a one-shot 3 Little Pigs comics magazine (dated March 1949) from the US (below scan). Note that during the course of re-formatting of the British edition, speech balloons have been re-lettered with altered wordings of dialogue. The new lettering appears to be the work of British artist Basil Reynolds.

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).