Four Color #1166
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFour Color #1166 is the third Dell comic book outing for Rocky and Bullwinkle, appearing under the 'Rocky and His Friends' banner that directly mirrored the then-current ABC animated television series. By 1961, Jay Ward's show had already demonstrated that animated comedy could be layered with satire aimed squarely at adults, and this issue — drawn entirely by Al Kilgore — carried that irreverent sensibility into print, helping establish the characters as a viable ongoing comic book franchise. The issue also exemplifies how Dell's Four Color try-out system worked in practice: multiple issues under the same title would build audience familiarity before Dell or its successor Gold Key committed to a dedicated series. Featuring historical figures such as George Washington as supporting players in Mr. Peabody's Improbable History-style stories, the issue showcases the show's signature trick of using satire and time-travel parody to smuggle genuine cultural awareness into an ostensibly children's format.
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All stories, interior art, and the cover of Four Color #1166 are credited to Al Kilgore, the cartoonist who also produced the Rocky and Bullwinkle syndicated newspaper comic strip beginning in 1962. The issue was published in May 1961 by Dell in partnership with Western Publishing, under license from Jay Ward's P.A.T.-Ward Productions, Inc. — the same production company whose copyright notice appears on the related Four Color #1270. It sits between Four Color #1152 (the second Rocky and His Friends issue) and the later Four Color #1270 retitled 'Bullwinkle and Rocky,' reflecting a deliberate, incremental publishing strategy by Dell rather than an immediate ongoing series launch. Kilgore's concurrent commitments to the newspaper strip beginning in 1962 have been noted by GCD annotators as a likely factor in the uneven art quality visible across these early Dell issues.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published May 1961 by Dell Comics under the indicia title 'Rocky and His Friends,' carrying the Four Color series number 1166.
- This is the third 'Rocky and His Friends' issue in Dell's Four Color run, preceded by #1128 (first comic appearance of Rocky and Bullwinkle) and #1152.
- All stories, cover, and interior art are credited to Al Kilgore, the same artist-writer who produced the official Rocky and Bullwinkle syndicated newspaper comic strip starting in 1962.
- The issue is 36 pages, full color, and features the main stories 'Short Wave Moose,' 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh,' 'Them Thar Hills,' and 'Incredible Shrinking Moose,' plus shorter one-pagers including 'George Did It' and 'Happy Medium.'
- Characters appearing in the issue include Bullwinkle J. Moose, Rocky (Rocket J. Squirrel), Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, Mr. Peabody, Sherman, King Henry the Eighth, and George Washington — the last two as guest figures in the Peabody's Improbable History-style segments.
- The issue is based on the 1959–1964 Jay Ward television series that aired under two different titles: 'Rocky and His Friends' (ABC) and 'The Bullwinkle Show' (NBC), now collectively known as 'The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends.'
- Dell's Four Color series served as a try-out platform; the Rocky and His Friends issues led directly to a dedicated 'Bullwinkle' ongoing series and then a Gold Key continuation after Western Publishing split from Dell in 1962.
- George Washington appears in this issue as a supporting character in a comedic historical segment, consistent with the show's recurring Mr. Peabody's Improbable History format in which famous historical figures appeared in anachronistic, satirical contexts.
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