New Funnies #76
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeNew Funnies #76 (Dell, June 1943) holds a firm place in Golden Age comic history as the issue containing Carl Barks's only known Andy Panda story — drawn while Barks was just beginning to find his footing as a comic book artist and only months after his very first Donald Duck work. Because the story requires Andy to converse with real lions and interact with human circus workers, it is one of the rare early Barks pieces to blend realistic human figures with talking animal protagonists, a storytelling mode he would largely abandon as his Disney career evolved. The issue also sits at a productive crossroads for the Walter Lantz characters in print: Andy Panda was still the undisputed star of the New Funnies anthology, and the soon-to-arrive sidekick Charlie Chicken — who would reshape Andy's comic-book identity by late 1943 — had not yet appeared, making this one of the last issues to capture Andy in his pre-Charlie, stand-alone form.
In "Saving a Lion Tamer," Andy uses his uncanny ability to communicate with animals to rescue a lion tamer in peril, earning a reward that he selflessly shares with a struggling family. Written by Gaylord Du Bois and brought to life with expressive art by Carl Barks—pencils, inks, and lettering all by the same hand—this 1943 Dell classic blends heart and adventure in a story that stands out for its empathy and quiet heroism. The cover by Carl Barks captures the moment’s tension with flair, making this issue a standout in the New Funnies series.
In "Saving a Lion Tamer," Andy, a quick-thinking animal handler, steps in when a lion tamer is in danger, using his rare ability to communicate with lions to calm the beasts and save the day. The grateful circus owner rewards Andy with a bag of money, which he quietly gives to a struggling family in need.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
New Funnies was produced through the Dell–Western Publishing partnership, with Oskar Lebeck serving as editor of record (confirmed via Michael Barrier's Funnybooks). The Andy Panda lead story's script is credited by Barrier to Gaylord Du Bois, Dell's most prolific staff writer and a regular contributor to the Lantz characters, though Barks himself recalled in a 1967 letter to Barrier that an L.A. division office staffer — possibly Eleanor Packer, who held an editorial role there — may have written it. Barks submitted the finished artwork on January 16, 1943, placing its creation squarely in the same months he was ramping up his Donald Duck output for Western Publishing, making it an illuminating cross-section of his early freelance period.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published June 1943 by Dell; 68 pages, full color; part of the ongoing New Funnies anthology series (formerly The Funnies, retitled with issue #65 in July 1942).
- Carl Barks drew the Andy Panda lead story — confirmed across Wikipedia (Carl Barks entry), the Andy Panda Wikipedia article, the Walter Lantz Wiki, the Grand Comics Database, and Lambiek's Comiclopedia — making it one of only a handful of non-Disney stories Barks produced during this period.
- The Barks-drawn Andy Panda story follows Andy saving a lion tamer's life by communicating with lions in their own language; the circus owner rewards him with money that Andy gives to a poor family (per GCD synopsis). The story notably depicts all non-animal characters as real human beings, atypical for the series.
- Barks's artwork for the story was submitted January 16, 1943, per GCD records sourced from Michael Barrier's Carl Barks and the Art of the Comic Book (M. Lilien, 1982).
- The issue's editor was Oskar Lebeck, per Michael Barrier's Funnybooks: The Improbable Glories of the Best American Comic Books. An earlier database credit had named Eleanor Packer, who was editor of Dell's L.A. division at the time.
- The script for the Andy Panda story is credited to Gaylord Du Bois in Barrier's Funnybooks; Du Bois was a prolific Dell writer whose early career included extensive Andy Panda and Raggedy Ann scripts.
- The issue's roster of characters includes Andy Panda (lead), with cameo appearances by Lil' Eight Ball, Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, Oswald the Rabbit, and Felix the Cat — reflecting the broad multi-licensor anthology format of New Funnies in 1943.
- The Barks Andy Panda story was later reprinted twice: in Barks Bear Book (Editions Enfin, France, 1979) and in The Unavailable Carl Barks (In Color) (Kim Weston, 2016), per Grand Comics Database records.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Barks Bear Book #[nn] (1979), The Unavailable Carl Barks (In Color) #[nn] (2016)
Key issues in New Funnies
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