Leave It to Binky #30
Leave It to Binky #30 is a mid-run entry from the original Golden Age volume of DC's flagship teen-humor title — a series that Sheldon Mayer and Bob Oksner launched at a moment when the post-WWII 'teenager' was emerging as a distinct cultural identity, and DC was competing directly with Archie Comics for that readership. The issue deploys the full ensemble of the Biggs household — Binky, his parents Alice and Bertram, his siblings Lucy and Allergy, girlfriend Peggy Baxter, and rival Sherwood — demonstrating how thoroughly Mayer had built out a self-contained suburban world around its protagonist by issue thirty. Notably, at least one story from this issue was later recycled into the series' Silver Age revival (#61, 1968), with art updates to reflect changed fashions, confirming that the Golden Age material was considered sturdy enough to reprint more than fifteen years later.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The series was conceived by Sheldon Mayer, who had already explored the boy-cartoonist archetype with his earlier Scribbly strip; as artist Bob Oksner recalled, Binky was essentially a slightly older, more conventionally teenage iteration of Scribbly, built for a market that had suddenly opened up around the new postwar concept of the 'teenager.' Oksner drew the series from its first issue in 1948 straight through to its cancellation with #60 in 1958, making him the consistent visual voice of the feature throughout the Golden Age run; the credited editor in the indicia was Whitney Ellsworth, though Larry Nadle functioned as the working editor on the ground during this stretch. By the time issue #30 appeared in January 1953, the title was a well-established fixture of DC's humor output, published eight times a year by National Comics Publications.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: January 1953 (January–February 1953 per GCD on-sale dating), published by National Comics Publications / DC Comics.
- The lead story 'Costume Question' centers on a masquerade-party scenario in which Peggy and her friends keep their costumes secret, forcing the boys to guess their dates' identities.
- Full supporting cast deployed across the issue's multiple stories includes Binky Biggs, Alice Biggs (mother), Bertram Biggs (father), Lucy Biggs (sister), Allergy Biggs (younger brother), Peggy Baxter (girlfriend), and Sherwood (rival).
- At least one story from this issue — an Allergy-and-Soozie comedic vignette — was reprinted in Leave It to Binky #61 (1968) with art revisions updating the characters' hairstyles to contemporary 1960s fashions.
- Art throughout the issue is by Bob Oksner, who served as the series' primary penciler and inker for the entirety of the original 1948–1958 run.
- The series was created by Sheldon Mayer (concept and characters) and Bob Oksner (visual design), with Larry Nadle as the functioning editor and Whitney Ellsworth as the credited indicia editor.
- Leave It to Binky was DC's direct entry into the post-Archie teen-humor genre; it holds the distinction of being the first DC character to headline his own title without a prior anthology tryout.
- The original run of the series (issues #1–#60) spanned 1948 to 1958; a Silver Age revival began with Showcase #70 in 1967 and continued through a renamed Binky title, eventually reaching issue #82 in 1977.
Cast · 9 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Uncle Snootly challenges the Biggs children to a contest to see which of them will run his insurance company. They decide not to compete, because their father really deserves to succeed Uncle Snootly, but Binky accidentally wins the contest anyway, feeling bad until their uncle admits that their father will, of course, be next in line, followed by Binky.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).