The Business Typhoon!

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YOGI BEAR — Issue no. 7, August 1978

Book: Yogi Bear

Issue No.: 7

Published: August 8, 1978

Title: “The Business Typhoon!” (plus another story)

Cover Price: 35¢

Format: Digital scan

At this point I’ve covered several of Marvel’s licensed Hanna-Barbera comics of the late 1970s. And I think I might have been approaching these books unfairly. Since the Hanna-Barbera characters (including Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones, and Yogi Bear, the star of this book) originated in the TV animation world, I’ve been comparing the comic books to the cartoons.

And I do have a soft spot for Hanna-Barbera cartoons, especially Scooby-Doo Where Are You! and Jonny Quest. (Young Mister Quest, unfortunately, didn’t have a Marvel comic book.) But it probably makes more sense to compare these books to other comics based on cartoon characters. I am not an expert when it comes to this sub-genre of comics, but I read a few of them as a kid. And as an adult, I’m aware of Carl Barks’ iconic work on Uncle Scrooge comic books of the 1950s.

There are also some earlier Hanna-Barbera licensed comics I should check out from various publishers, along with classic Gold Key Bugs Bunny and Road Runner books.

I didn’t have time to dig into any of those books for this post, but I’m going to hopefully read a couple of those books before I cover my next Marvel Hanna-Barbera book.

A panel from this issue showing two guys chasing Snagglepuss the lion and Yogi Bear through a television studio. Snagglepuss says, “Agent, I suggest we exit stage left!” Yogi says, “I think we’ll have to play ‘hard-to-get’ with these guys! Let them come to us!!”

As for this issue of Yogi Bear, it contains two stories. In “The Business Typhoon,” Yogi trades places with a rich guy (comically named Filthy McLucre) and learns that age-old lesson — you can’t buy happiness. Yogi addes his own addendum to that adage — “you can’t even rent it!” The second story has Yogi stepping in as talent agent for guest star Snagglepuss (he’s a pink lion, don’t you know). No spoilers, but I’ll just say Yogi is better at forest shenanigans than he is at booking acting jobs for pink lions.

The highlight of the issue for me is, as usual, the “Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera” text piece. This one is titled “From T.E. to H.B.,” and it’s a one-page history of the animation industry. (“T.E.” is Thomas Edison, inventor and filmmaking pioneer, and “H.B.” is, of course, Hanna-Barbera.)

The artwork, courtesy of Dick Bickenbach and Lee Hooper, is solid and also very much on-brand — the characters all look just like you’d expect if you’re familiar with the cartoons. The lettering is good, too, so I was disappointed that the letterer for this issue wasn’t credited. (Because you know I love good lettering, and letterers deserve credit, too!)

Finally, there’s a two-page preview of the next issue of Marvel’s Flintstones book. This is the first time I thought to check, but after looking ahead at Flintstones issue no. 8, the preview pages aren’t pulled directly from that book. The preview is its own little prequel story.

Next time — An epic Silver Surfer story! (Maybe!)

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