Book review: The Harvey Comics Companion
Harvey Comics had a broad base of characters that included those that also were featured in theatrical and TV cartoons (Casper the ghost, Baby Huey, Little Audrey), creative inspirations that were offbeat and surreal (Little Lotta, a heavyset girl who was always eating, or Little Dot who was obsessed with polka dots and saw them in everything), and those that are a part of history (Dick Tracy, Sad Sack). In this latest book, comics authority Mark Arnold covers them all in a massive study that offers historical documentation, sample comics, and critical analysis. It is, by all means, definitive.
Harvey Comics was started by Alfred Harvey in 1941, and its comics were not only the funny ones, but also extended to superheroes, war stories, and romance. Characters alike Joe Palooka, Blondie, and Dick Tracy extended to Sunday comic strips in newspapers across the country.
The author discusses in the text how the Comics Code Authority cracked down and imposed changes in the 1950s, making such Harvey Comics as “I Joined a Teenage Sex Club” (First Love Illustrated, 1951) no longer feasible. Harvey then acquired the publishing rights to the characters from Paramount Pictures’ Famous Studios animated cartoons, and that is when books featuring Casper, Baby Huey, and Little Audrey became part of their publications. Harvey eventually would fully own the rights to these characters.
From this period, Harvey extended to the aforementioned Lotta and Dot, and also created Casper’s rival Spooky, good witch Wendy, the “good li’l devil” Hot Stuff, and the wealthy Richie Rich, along with Stumbo the Giant and other such characters.
The details within the enormous text are many and fascinating, author Mark Arnold providing pages of fascinating information and sample comics that are discussed with knowledge and understanding. Those of us who grew up reading and enjoying these comics will find the over 700 pages of text to be fully enlightening and endlessly fascinating.
The book is available here.