A Rich New Year's Eve

Is it really such a big deal if you miss watching the second hand on a clock strike midnight? Apparently it is to Richie Rich and his friend Jackie Jokers, as you'll see in this story.

from RICHIE RICH & JACKIE JOKERS #25, February 1978







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HEMBECK DOES HAWKMAN

by Fred Hembeck
from HEMBECK 1980, February 1980

As promised in the title of this post, here's Hembeck's take on Hawkman:




Even Mr. Hembeck himself freely admits that he is not afraid of running a gag into the ground (how many Brother Voodoo spoofs did he do at Marvel?). He takes a second shot at Hawkman & Hawkgirl in this same issue, throwing in a few Marvel characters as well:






There were a lot of good parodies in this book, but I'm going to finish off with this crazy look at the many different Spidermans, and what would happen if they all had to catch the same bus:



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Also check out this link:

Neil Polowin's collection of Hembeck comic strips
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Richie Rich And The Expert

With the economy the way it is, stories of layoffs and downsizing aren't so funny anymore. But there's just enough wacky weirdness in this short feature to merit me posting it. And check out the sci-fi ending: where did that come from?

Seriously, the Harvey staff would use any (and I do mean any) gag they could come up with.

from RICHIE RICH RELICS #2, May 1988






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And for those of you who haven't heard yet, APE COMICS is reviving Richie Rich (Yay!), with a totally modernized version of the character.
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STAR BORES

Jackie Jokers is one of the relatively unknown Harvey characters. He wasn't introduced until the mid '70s, making him one of the last new characters to be introduced. Since he rarely appeared outside of his own comic (or the follow up series as partner to Richie Rich), even fans that collected Harvey Comics barely remember him.
His gimmick was that he was a famous Hollywood entertainer. Besides using this as an excuse for him to use painfully bad puns and tell old vaudeville jokes as often as possible, it was also used as a reason to do TV and movie parodies in each issue.
While these were never quite as hilarious as the spoofs that you'd see in MAD, CRACKED, or even CRAZY, they were entertaining.
In this one, they take on the original Star Wars (you know, the good one).

from RICHIE RICH & JACKIE JOKERS #26, April 1978











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Original art scans from Jackie Jokers comics HERE
Harvey character fan art at deviantART
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13 Days Of Xmas #5: Richie Rich

If Christmas is about giving instead of receiving, then Richie Rich has it all down pat. Also, keep your eyes open for the surprise guest star at the end (guess who).

from RICHIE RICH #42, February 1966





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TWO TALES OF XMAS

The Simpsons now officially hold the record for the longest running animated series on television. Matt Groening originally created the characters for a series of short films on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987.
Their comic series didn't start until 1993.
from SIMPSONS WINTER WING DING #1, 2006






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Why Richie Rich paired with the Simpsons? Because Richie was revealed to be Bart's stand-in in the episode "Behind The Laughter" (season 11, #22).
from RICHIE RICH BILLIONS #2, February 1975






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RICHIE RICH and the GOLDEN CALLER

From his humble beginnings as a back-up strip in the Little Dot comics, Richie Rich grew into Harvey Comics' most recognizable character during the 1960s-1970s. He never quite abandoned his funnybook roots as a humor character, but evolved into an action/adventure hero before the Harvey line was ended in the mid-1980s.
Today's tale is a fair example of what the typical adventure would consist of; an easily solved mystery, a disposable villain, and a whimsically childish blend of sci-fi and fantasy that's rarely seen anymore.












from RICHIE RICH VAULT OF MYSTERY #3, March 1975

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