Friday, October 31, 2003

Letters, We Get Letters...

I am informed by (so far) "Garrett," Pierce Askegren, Ryan Mead, Mike Zeidler, Merlin Haas, Craig Wiener, Jim Guida, Hurricane Heeran, Ed Coyote, Don Porges, Johnny Achziger and some guy named Marv Wolfman that once upon a time, a Three Musketeers bar consisted of three sections of nougat — one chocolate, one strawberry, one vanilla. The "musketeer" connection to such a confection was that in advertising, three musketeers would use their expert swordsmanship to trisect the candy bar so that each could have the section with his favorite flavor. Over the years, the bar turned into one chocolate-filled lump but the name remained. I don't understand why you change a product that much and don't rename it but, hey, there are plenty of things in this world I don't understand. Like all these people who claim they like candy corn.

Speaking of candy corn, several of you sent me links to this article over at The Onion. That's only part of it.

• Posted at 9:17 PM · LINK

Of Mice and Musketeers

My friend Carolyn was just reading this here weblog and she pointed out a funny typo that I made which I'm not going to correct. In this message, I referred to a certain candy bar as "Three Mouseketeers." That's wrong. Actually, the candy bar I never liked was named "Three Musketeers" — and by the way, I never understood why they called it that. What in the name of Douglas Fairbanks do musketeers have to do with "whipped, fluffy chocolate nougat covered in rich milk chocolate?" The name "Three Mouseketeers" is stuck in my head because it was a wonderful little comic book feature, written and drawn by the great Sheldon Mayer. It debuted in 1944 in a DC comic called Funny Stuff and it wasn't until 1956 that the three mice — Patsy, Fatsy and Minus — received their own book. It was, like everything else Mr. Mayer did, a very funny funnybook.

At the time, Mr. Disney's Mickey Mouse Club was the number one kids' show on television and one wonders if someone at DC decided to launch the comic figuring that the name "Mouseketeers" (which was what they called Annette and Cubby and all the rest) now had some extra appeal in the marketplace. By then, Mayer was doing his acclaimed comic, Sugar and Spike, and for a while, he attempted to do both books. Eventually though, the workload was too much for him and he reluctantly gave up the Mouseketeers as it was less of a personal work — though it is said he still felt like he was giving up one of his children. An artist named Rube Grossman handled the mice thereafter, sometimes writing his own stories, sometimes drawing scripts by Sy Reit. I thought they did an adequate job of aping and occasionally equalling Mayer's work but the readers apparently sensed the difference as sales promptly plunged to cancellation levels. Years later, DC revived the title with Mayer reprints but it got lost amidst a line of super-hero and war comics. That was a shame because it was a good comic book — and a much better treat than that awful candy bar.

• Posted at 1:16 PM · LINK

This Morning

I have 18 messages from people who claim they love candy corn. These people lie.

• Posted at 11:20 AM · LINK

Halloween Humbug

At the risk of coming off like the Ebeneezer Scrooge of a different holiday, I have to say: I really don't like Halloween and never have. Even as a kid, the idea of dressing up and going from house to house to collect candy struck me as enormously unpleasant. I did it a few times when I was young because it seemed to be expected of me...but I never enjoyed it. I felt stupid in the costume and when I got home, I had a bag of "goodies" I didn't want to eat. In my neighborhood, you got a lot of licorice and Three Mousketeers bars and Jordan Almonds, none of which I liked.

And of course, absolutely no one likes candy corn. Don't write to me and tell me you do because I'll just have to write back and call you a liar. No one likes candy corn. No one, do you hear me?

My trick-or-treating years were before there were a lot of scares about people putting razor blades or poison into Halloween candy. Even then, I wound up throwing out just about everything except those little Hershey bars. So it was wasteful, and I also didn't like the dress-up part of it with everyone trying to look maimed or bloody. I've never understood why anyone thinks that's fun to do or fun to see.

I wonder if anyone's ever done any polling to find out what percentage of Halloween candy that is purchased and handed-out is ever eaten. And I wonder how many kids would rather not dress up or disfigure themselves for an evening if anyone told them they had a choice. Where I live, they seem to have decided against it. Each year, I stock up and no one comes. For a while there, I wound up eating a couple bags of leftover candy myself. The last few Halloweens, I've switched to little boxes of Sun-Maid Raisins, which are a lot healthier if I get stuck with them. Maybe I ought to switch to candy corn. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about anyone eating it. And if no one comes, I could just keep it around and not give it out again next year.

• Posted at 2:33 AM · LINK

How I Became A Young, Zingy With-It Guy

In 1970, I worked for a while for an outfit called Marvelmania International, which was selling posters and decals and other merchandise of the Marvel characters. It was a crummy company that didn't pay but there was one perk: Working there got me my second mention in Stan Lee's Marvel Bullpen Bulletins, appearing in all Marvel comics one month. I wrote up the experience for this weblog some time ago and it appeared in this space. But for boring reasons, I've moved it over to another section of this website — the section known as NOTES from me.

• Posted at 12:00 AM · LINK

Filipino Funnybook Artists

Over at Comic Book Resources, Budjette Tan is beginning a series on the Filipino comic book artists who flooded into the U.S. industry in the seventies. Here's a link to Part One.

• Posted at 12:00 AM · LINK