Four Color #374

Against a sunny yellow background, Woody Woodpecker grins with his trademark mischief as he hauls a rope tied around a very unhappy, squirming Buzz Buzzard in the back of a motorboat — Dell's bright, energetic house style making every feather and grimace pop right off the page. Dan Gormley's cover art captures the gleeful chaos that made Walter Lantz's animated troublemaker such a perfect fit for the funny-animal comics Dell was publishing in 1952. At just ten cents, this is a cheerful snapshot of mid-century all-ages comics at their most playful.