Leave It to Binky #4
Leave It to Binky #4 is an early installment of DC's flagship teen-humor experiment, a series Sheldon Mayer conceived in direct response to the post-war explosion of teenage identity and the commercial success of Archie Comics. As one of DC's first titles built entirely around slice-of-life comedy rather than superheroes, it helped establish the template DC would follow with its humor line for the next two decades. The issue's dense 52-page format, packed with multiple recurring backup strips and house advertisements for titles ranging from Captain Marvel to Peter Porkchops, also illustrates how Golden Age publishers used anthology comics as promotional vehicles across their entire line.
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The series was conceived by Sheldon Mayer — the same editor-writer who had created Scribbly the Boy Cartoonist and who famously helped rescue the Superman proposal from the rejection pile — and drawn from the outset by Bob Oksner, who recounted that Mayer originated the characters and concept while Oksner supplied the visual identity. Writer-scripter Hal Seegar co-wrote many of the early stories alongside Mayer. The series launched with issue #1 cover-dated March 1948, making issue #4 one of the very first quarterly installments, published while Mayer was simultaneously spinning up the standalone Scribbly comic title (which debuted in August 1948), meaning the two series ran in parallel during this period.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Leave It to Binky #4 is among the earliest issues of DC's teen-humor series, published in 1948 as part of the initial Golden Age run that would reach issue #60 before its first cancellation in 1958.
- The series was created by Sheldon Mayer (concept and characters) and drawn by Bob Oksner, with scripts co-written by Hal Seegar and Mayer — Oksner himself stated that Mayer originated all the characters and the concept.
- Binky Biggs (Bertram 'Binky' Biggs) was described by Oksner as 'a little older version of Scribbly, more of a teenage focus,' linking him directly to Mayer's earlier semi-autobiographical Boy Cartoonist strip.
- The 52-page issue includes multiple backup and humor features beyond the main Binky stories, including an 'Uncle Snootly's Picture starring Little Allergy' strip written and drawn entirely by Sheldon Mayer.
- A Captain Tootsie advertisement — drawn by C. C. Beck (the co-creator of Captain Marvel/Shazam) with inks by Pete Costanza — appeared in the early Binky issues; the character index for this issue includes Captain Tootsie and Captain Marvel (Billy Batson), reflecting both the ad content and DC's house-ad cross-promotion.
- The large character catalog for this issue — spanning Sam Spade, Red Ryder, Peter Porkchops, Fauntleroy Fox, Fennimore Frog, Nutsy Squirrel, Robotman, Ibis, and others — reflects the Golden Age anthology practice of filling pages with house advertisements promoting DC's wide range of simultaneous titles.
- Scribbly Jibbet and Snoony Jibbet appear in this issue's character index; Scribbly appeared as a backup feature in some Binky issues during this period, while Mayer was also preparing Scribbly's own standalone title (Scribbly #1, August 1948).
- Binky was later noted by DC's own wiki as the first DC character to receive his own comic title without first appearing in an anthology series — making the early issues of this run a genuine publishing landmark for the company's non-superhero output.