Four Color #16
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFour Color #16 (1942) is one of the earliest dedicated Bugs Bunny solo comic book vehicles, appearing in the very first year of Dell's long-running Four Color Series II just as the wisecracking rabbit was ascending to the top of Warner Bros.' animation roster. It sits at the front end of the 27-issue Bugs Bunny run within the Four Color series that Dell itself retroactively counted as the first 27 numbers of the standalone Bugs Bunny title — making these earliest issues the direct foundation of one of the longest-running funny-animal comic franchises in American publishing history. By gathering Bugs, Porky, Elmer, Petunia, and Sniffles in a single wartime-era publication, the issue also documents the moment when the full Looney Tunes ensemble was being codified on the comics page, translating the kinetic personality of theatrical cartoon shorts into a monthly-read format that would endure for decades.
In "Porky Pig and -Sh-h-h!!- Th' Secret of the Haunted House!", Porky and his pals send a desperate letter to millionaire Wilfred Crump seeking a loan to buy a gold mine—only for it to be intercepted by Beaky Buzzard, who, after a head injury from a wayward baseball, convinces himself he’s the rich man. Written and illustrated by Chase Craig, this 1942 Four Color adventure blends slapstick and mystery in a tale where mistaken identity leads to unexpected fortune. The cover by Chase Craig captures the zany tone, with Porky and Beaky locked in a moment of comedic suspense.
In this 1942 Western-frontier adventure from Four Color #16, Porky Pig and his friends send a desperate plea to millionaire Wilfred Crump for a loan to buy a gold mine—only for the letter to be intercepted by Beaky Buzzard. After a baseball plops him on the head, Beaky mistakes himself for the wealthy Crump and, in a series of misadventures, sets off a chain of events that might just get the gang their fortune.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Dell's Four Color Series II launched in 1942 as a one-shot tryout vehicle — each issue featured a different character or property, with no cover-printed publication dates on early issues, making precise dating reliant on internal story codes and Library of Congress copyright registrations. The Looney Tunes characters had received their first comic book appearances roughly a year earlier in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies #1 (1941), with art by Chase Craig and Win Smith; by 1942 Dell had secured enough confidence in Bugs Bunny's commercial draw to launch dedicated solo issues in the Four Color slot. Dell produced these early Looney Tunes comics in partnership with Western Publishing, the production house that handled most of Dell's licensed properties through the era.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Dell Comics in 1942 as part of Four Color Series II — the numbering restart that collectors and historians distinguish as 'Series II' or 'Second Series', separate from Dell's 1939 Four Color run.
- Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Petunia Pig, and Sniffles all made their first comic book appearances roughly one year earlier in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies #1 (Dell, 1941), with story and art by Chase Craig and Win Smith; Four Color #16 is among their earliest follow-up appearances in a dedicated format.
- Dell internally counted the 27 Bugs Bunny issues of Four Color Series II as the first 27 issues of the standalone Bugs Bunny comic series, meaning Four Color #16 is part of the direct lineage that became the long-running Bugs Bunny title.
- The Large Feature Comic Bugs Bunny one-shot (also 1942) is considered the first truly solo Bugs Bunny comic book; Four Color #16 is among the immediate successors, consolidating Bugs as the headline star of Dell's Looney Tunes output.
- Early issues of Four Color Series II — including #16 — carried the 'Four Color Comic' designation on the cover; Dell dropped this branding after issue #101.
- Because the early Four Color series functioned as one-shots rather than periodicals, no cover dates were printed; on-sale dates for issues in this era are established through Library of Congress copyright registration records and internal story codes.
- Dell's Looney Tunes comics were produced in partnership with Western Publishing; after Dell and Western ended their arrangement in 1962, Western continued the characters under the Gold Key Comics imprint.
- Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and other characters each accumulated 20–30 Four Color appearances before being spun off into their own dedicated ongoing titles, establishing the Four Color series as the primary testing ground for Dell's funny-animal franchise model.
Cast · 6 characters
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Key issues in Four Color
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