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129-467: Charles Alfred " Al " Taliaferro (August 29, 1905 – February 3, 1969), was an American Disney comics artist who produced Disney comic strips for King Features Syndicate . Taliaferro is best known for his work on the Donald Duck comic strip. Many of his strips were written by Bob Karp . The Taliaferros trace their origins to Northern Italy and were one of the early families who settled in

258-417: A Looney Tunes reboot film titled Acme , in development. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Jenny Slate was said to be on board as writer for the new film. Jeffrey Clifford, Harry Potter producer David Heyman , and Dark Shadows writers David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith were slated to produce the film. On August 27, 2014, writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz were hired to script

387-464: A topper Silly Symphony strip. Silly Symphony initially related the adventures of Bucky Bug , the first Disney character to originate in the comics. It went on to print more adaptations of Silly Symphony shorts, often using the characters and setting of the original shorts, but adding new plotlines and incidents. It also went on to print adaptations of the feature films, as well as periods of gag strips featuring Donald Duck and Pluto. By late 1935

516-606: A Disney comic strip department at the studio. Initially Floyd Gottfredson along with his responsibilities for the Mickey Mouse comic strip oversaw the Disney comic strip department from 1930 to 1945, then Frank Reilly was brought in to administer the burgeoning department from January 1946 to 1975. Greg Crosby headed the department from 1979 to 1989. The Mickey Mouse daily comic strip began on January 13, 1930, featuring Mickey as an optimistic, adventure-seeking young mouse. It

645-642: A Hat , such as Oliver Owl and the twin dogs Ham and Ex, were also given a sampling of shorts. Beans and Porky proved much more popular in comparison. Beans was later phased out when his popularity declined, leaving Porky as the only star of the Schlesinger studio. The debuts of other memorable Looney Tunes stars followed: Daffy Duck in Porky's Duck Hunt (1937), Elmer Fudd in the Merrie Melodies short Elmer's Candid Camera (1940), Bugs Bunny in

774-535: A black duck who was originally portrayed as a screwball , but later became greedy and egocentric; Porky Pig , a stuttering pig who often appears as the straight man to Daffy, and is the oldest of the franchise's recurring characters; Sylvester the Cat , his prey Tweety (a small canary), and their elderly owner Granny ; Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner , who routinely engage in high-speed chases in their home in

903-401: A boy, the only son of his family. He has 16 sisters. He departs the family home to see the world, eventually settles down in the city of insects called "Junktown", and marries a local girl, called June Bug. June is the daughter of the town's mayor . The city which Bucky inhabits was built on human garbage , every building or structure was once an item discarded by humans. Besides Bucky and June,

1032-465: A budget dispute with Schlesinger, they took with them all the rights of the characters they had created. A new character called Buddy became the only star of the Looney Tunes series for a couple of years. New directors including Tex Avery , Friz Freleng and Bob Clampett were brought in or promoted to work with animators in the Schlesinger studio, with Avery's unit housed in a bungalow which

1161-520: A comic strip version of Daisy Duck , as Donald's new neighbor and love interest, shortly after her film debut in Mr. Duck Steps Out (1940). This was Daisy's first appearance in comics, not counting her prototype, Donna Duck, who appeared earlier in the British comics and was later introduced by Taliaferro and Karp as Daisy's rival. Grandma Duck , Donald's grandmother, was introduced on September 27, 1943, and

1290-525: A few have gained theatrical releases with movies. In the 1970s through the early 1990s, several feature-film compilations and television specials were produced, mostly centering on Bugs Bunny and/or Daffy Duck, with a mixture of new and old footage. These releases include The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979), The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981), Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982), Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island (1983), and Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988). In 1976,

1419-588: A film that was in production at the time, Donald's Nephews . Taliaferro actually proposed the initial idea for the film, so that the studio would have duck counterparts to Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse , the nephews of Mickey Mouse. Gus Goose , the "lazy and gluttonous" cousin of Donald, was introduced on May 9, 1938, almost a year before Gus' film debut in Donald's Cousin Gus , that was still in early stages of production. On November 4, 1940, Taliaferro and Karp introduced

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1548-550: A new arrangement, by William Lava , of " The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down " which had first been used in the 1963 experimental short " Now Hear This " directed by Chuck Jones. In 1967, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts commissioned an animation studio in South Korea to redraw 79 black-and-white Looney Tunes produced from 1935 to 1943 in color which were syndicated to TV stations from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. The original Looney Tunes theatrical series ran from 1930's Sinkin' in

1677-490: A one-page Donald and Goofy gag based on No Sail in the latter. Two children's books with Disney characters he illustrated are Donald and His Cat Troubles (1948) and Donald Duck and the Hidden Gold (1951). In 2015, IDW Publishing began three series of hardcover reprints of Taliaferro's Disney comics under their imprint The Library of American Comics : Animation historian Jim Korkis noted that Taliaferro designed

1806-466: A show called Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon between 1988 and 1999. Initially, the Nickelodeon package included cartoons that were typically omitted from the higher-profile Saturday morning network and syndicated weekday packages, including black-and-white Bosko cartoons that had not aired in many years and cartoons from the late DePattie–Freling and Seven Arts eras. In January 1999, it was reported that

1935-420: A special daily strip with a holiday theme utilizing the Disney characters was offered each year through 1987. It generally ran for three to four weeks with the concluding strip appearing a day or two before Christmas, often promoting the latest Disney release or re-release. These were unique in that in some cases, they showcased the crossover of Disney characters that otherwise rarely interacted. The tradition

2064-514: A style reminiscent of the styles of Tex Avery , Bob Clampett , Chuck Jones , Friz Freleng and Robert McKimson . According to co-executive producer Peter Browngardt , "We're not doing guns, but we can do cartoony violence — TNT, the Acme stuff. All that was kind of grandfathered in." Sam Register , president of Warner Bros. Animation also served as a co-executive producer for the series. The series ended on July 27, 2023. On February 11, 2021, it

2193-549: A topper for the Mickey Mouse strip, but after the first few years, almost always appeared on its own. The previous comic strip adaptations of Disney films lasted for four or five months, but the Uncle Remus strip continued for almost thirty years, telling new stories of Br'er Rabbit and friends, until the strip was discontinued on December 31, 1972. In 1950, Disney distributed a limited-time Sunday strip adaptations of their new animated feature Cinderella , and followed

2322-435: A tradition of publishing occasional "Disney Giants", plus-size comic books with more pages and a higher price. The first Giant was Walt Disney's Christmas Parade #1 (Nov 1949). This was a 132-page square-bound comic that sold for 25 cents, considerably higher than the typical 10-cent comics. Christmas Parade had a cover by Walt Kelly, and began with a Carl Barks-penned Donald Duck story, "Letter to Santa". Christmas Parade

2451-426: A tribute to the Looney Tunes sister shorts) which features the characters singing original songs, as well as CGI animated shorts starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (which were removed after the first season). The series was cancelled after its second season. Also, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner returned to the big screen in a series of 3-D shorts that preceded select Warner Bros. films. There were six in

2580-498: A vicious, brutal marsupial with an insatiable appetite; Pepé Le Pew , a French skunk who is always looking for love and romance; and Speedy Gonzales , the self-proclaimed "fastest mouse in all of Mexico". One additional major character was introduced in post-Golden Age Looney Tunes media (starting with Space Jam ): Lola Bunny , a female rabbit who is usually portrayed as Bugs' girlfriend. Due to content considered offensive, stereotyped or insensitive, in 1968 Warner Bros. removed

2709-534: Is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside the related series Merrie Melodies , during the golden age of American animation . Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters , including Bugs Bunny , Daffy Duck , and Porky Pig . The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to

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2838-463: The Silly Symphony short film series. The strip debuted on January 10, 1932, as a Sunday comic strip. It would appear on a weekly schedule, in full color. The original writer and penciller for the comic strip was Earl Duvall , with Taliaferro serving as his inker. In 1933, Duvall quit the strip and the Disney studio, as he was hired by Leon Schlesinger Productions . Taliaferro replaced him as

2967-519: The Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse series, a hardback collection of Gottfredson's run on the strip. A total of 14 volumes were published between 2011 and 2018, collecting the entirety of Gottfredson's Sunday color work (two volumes) and all of his serialized story-themed daily strips (12 volumes). The collection doesn't include any of Gottfredson's gag-oriented material from 1955 onwards. The Mickey Mouse Sunday strip started on January 10, 1932, with

3096-483: The Boomerang streaming service and HBO Max . Five dozen Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts from before December 1943 have lapsed into the public domain and are thus freely distributed through various unofficial releases. The major characters of the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series are Bugs Bunny , a clever and insouciant rabbit or hare who is portrayed as a trickster ; Daffy Duck ,

3225-629: The Colony of Virginia during the 17th century. The family name, originally Tagliaferro , literally means "Ironcutter" in the Italian language . After his family moved to Glendale, California , Taliaferro studied at the Art Institute of Los Angeles , California. Following his graduation, Taliaferro was hired as a designer for light fixtures . In January 1931, Taliaferro was hired by Walt Disney Studios as an animator, but soon transferred to

3354-522: The Disney adaptations of the characters, the strip was written by Don Ferguson and drawn by Richard Moore. In addition to the regular cast of characters, Ferguson and Moore also added a knight named Sir Brian, and his worrywart dragon. The strip lasted for almost ten years, ending on April 2, 1988. Other Disney strips distributed over the years included (chronologically by start date): A proposed Roger Rabbit strip underwent development but cancellation of

3483-516: The Donald Duck strip. As of 2019, five volumes of Donald Duck: The Complete Daily Newspaper Comics and two volumes of Donald Duck: The Complete Sunday Comics have been released. Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit was launched as a Sunday strip on October 14, 1945, as a preview of the upcoming 1946 film Song of the South . The Uncle Remus strip began, like Silly Symphony , as

3612-695: The Four Color one-shot series, beginning in issue #9 (Oct 1942). Carl Barks , the first great figure among Disney comic book creators, wrote all of his early long stories for the Donald Duck one-shots, including Donald Duck and the Mummy's Ring (1943), The Terror of the River! (1946), Volcano Valley (1947), The Ghost of the Grotto (1947), Christmas on Bear Mountain (1947), The Old Castle's Secret (1948), Sheriff of Bullet Valley (1948), Lost in

3741-527: The Looney Tunes characters made their way into the amusement park business when they became the mascots for Marriott's two Great America theme parks in Gurnee, Illinois, and Santa Clara, California. After the Gurnee park was sold to Six Flags in 1984, they also claimed the rights to use the characters at the other Six Flags parks, which continues to the present. (Warner Bros. parent company Time Warner would own

3870-407: The Merrie Melodies short A Wild Hare (1940), and Tweety in the Merrie Melodies short A Tale of Two Kitties (1942). Bugs initially starred in the color Merrie Melodies shorts following the success of 1940's A Wild Hare , and formally joined the Looney Tunes series with the release of Buckaroo Bugs in 1944. Schlesinger began to phase in the production of color Looney Tunes with

3999-426: The Merrie Melodies shorts of the early 1940s, Looney Tunes moved from black and white to color production, Merrie Melodies having already been in color since 1934. The two series gradually lost their distinctions, and shorts were assigned to each series arbitrarily. From 1942 to 1964, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were the most popular animated shorts in movie theaters. Looney Tunes has become one of

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4128-646: The Southwest American desert; Elmer Fudd , an unintelligent hunter who is Bugs' oldest nemesis; Yosemite Sam , a hot-tempered cowboy who is another of Bugs' archenemies; Foghorn Leghorn , a rooster who is known for his often excessive ranting; Marvin the Martian , an alien commander from the planet Mars , who aims to conquer the Earth; the Tasmanian Devil (often nicknamed "Taz" in later media),

4257-523: The highest-grossing media franchises of all time, spawning several television series, feature films, comic books, music albums, video games, and amusement park rides. Many of the characters have made and continue to make cameo appearances in television shows, films, and other media. Bugs Bunny, in particular, is regarded as a cultural icon and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Many Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies films are ranked among

4386-497: The production schedule for animated films was extended over a much longer period than for comic strips. On March 17, 1938, they introduced Bolivar , Donald's pet St. Bernard . The strip found humor in the fact that Bolivar rarely listens to his owner. Taliaferro's design was based on the St. Bernard in the 1936 Mickey Mouse film, Alpine Climbers . On October 17, 1937, Taliaferro and Osborne introduced Huey, Dewey, and Louie , based on

4515-535: The '313', or '1934 Belchfire Roustabout', was designed by Taliaferro on July 1, 1938, from a car that Donald drove in his first titular film, Don Donald (1937). The car has been associated with the character in comics ever since. Taliaferro retired from the daily comic strip on October 10, 1967. He kept working on the Sunday version of the strip until his death in February, 1969. Since 1967, Taliaferro's duties on

4644-500: The 1930s, the Silly Symphony film series was at the height of its popularity, due to its innovations in storytelling and professionalism in production methods. Other animation studios launched imitations with similar names, such as Looney Tunes , Merrie Melodies , and Happy Harmonies . Taliaferro and Ted Osborne started producing comic strip adaptations of specific short films, as a tie-in to whichever Silly Symphony

4773-611: The 1934 Disney short The Wise Little Hen (Sept. 16, 1934-Dec. 16, 1934). As Donald's popularity grew, he became the star of the Silly Symphony strip for an extended run (August 1936 to December 1937), and then got his own daily strip starting on February 7, 1938. A Donald Sunday strip premiered December 10, 1939. Carl Barks , known to fans as "The Duck Man," wrote at least 20 of the strips between 1938 and 1940. Donald Duck ran until May 2005, when it went into reprints. Starting in 2015, IDW Publishing 's Library of American Comics imprint has been publishing hardcover collections of

4902-537: The 1942 cartoon The Hep Cat . The final black-and-white Looney Tunes short was Puss n' Booty in 1943, directed by Frank Tashlin . The inspiration for the changeover was Warner's decision to re-release only the color cartoons in the Blue Ribbon Classics series of Merrie Melodies . Bugs made a cameo appearance in 1942 in the Avery/Clampett cartoon Crazy Cruise and also at the end of

5031-410: The 1990 spinoff series Tiny Toon Adventures , from executive producer Steven Spielberg , where they played teachers and mentors to a younger generation of cartoon characters ( Plucky Duck , Hamton J. Pig , Babs and Buster Bunny , etc.), plus occasional cameos in the later Warner Bros. shows such as Animaniacs (also from Spielberg) and Histeria! . Traditional cel animation was used to animate

5160-517: The 2009 Cartoon Network upfront , The Looney Tunes Show was announced. After several delays, the series premiered on May 3, 2011. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation , the series centers on Bugs and Daffy as they leave the woods and move to the suburbs with "colorful neighbors" including Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Yosemite Sam, etc. The series introduced the character Tina Russo , a duck who becomes Daffy's girlfriend. The show also features 2-minute music videos titled respectfully "Merrie Melodies" (as

5289-599: The Andes! (1949), Voodoo Hoodoo (1949) and Luck of the North (1949). The title received its own numbering system with issue #26 (1953) and ended with issue #388 (June 2017). Mickey Mouse (1943–2017) first appeared as part of the Four Color one-shot series, beginning in issue #27 (1943). It received its own numbering system with issue #28 (December 1952), and after many iterations with various publishers, ended with #330 (June 2017) from IDW Publishing . In 1949, Dell began

Al Taliaferro - Misplaced Pages Continue

5418-744: The Bathtub to 1969's Injun Trouble by Robert McKimson . A Cool Cat cartoon called "Stage Cat" was planned, about Cool Cat being in a stage production, but it was cancelled when Warner Bros.-Seven Arts shut down. The Looney Tunes series' popularity was further strengthened when it began airing on network and syndicated television in the 1950s under various titles and formats. The Looney Tunes shorts were broadcast with edits to remove scenes of violence (particularly suicidal gags and scenes of characters performing dangerous stunts that impressionable viewers could easily imitate), stereotypes, and alcohol consumption. Production of theatrical animated shorts

5547-477: The Bosko characters from Harman and Ising's estates. Meanwhile, the Schlesinger studio continued to make popular cartoons until 1944 when Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. Since then, Warner Bros. has owned all rights to all post-1933 characters created by Leon Schlesinger Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons, even after the rights to individual cartoons were placed in other hands. In 1955, Warner Bros. sold

5676-544: The Castaways (1962). In April 2018, it was announced that, due to the sales goal of the series not being met, the third volume may be the last one to be published. In 1955, the animated film Lady and the Tramp inspired a new comic strip based on an adorable, unnamed puppy glimpsed at the end of the movie. Scamp debuted in newspapers on October 31, 1955, and ran for more than 30 years, ending on June 25, 1988. The strip

5805-588: The Disney studio was trying to promote. In 1936, the comic strip started featuring the main cast of the hit short Three Little Pigs (1933). Taliaferro was the first artist to adapt Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs into comics, as characters of serial fiction. While in animation the characters soon faded away, in comics they had staying power. The Big Bad Wolf series would be continued by other artists, long after Taliaferro stopped producing new stories for it. In 1934, Taliaferro and Osborne adapted

5934-687: The Frank Tashlin 1943 cartoon Porky Pig's Feat , which marked Bugs' only official appearance in a black-and-white Looney Tunes short. Schlesinger sold his interest in the cartoon studio in 1944 to Warner Bros. and went into retirement; he died five years later. More popular Looney Tunes characters were created (most of which first appeared in Merrie Melodies cartoons), such as Pepé Le Pew (debuted in 1945's Odor-able Kitty ), Sylvester (debuted in 1945's Life with Feathers ), Yosemite Sam (debuted in 1945's Hare Trigger ), Foghorn Leghorn (debuted in 1946's Walky Talky Hawky ), Marvin

6063-531: The Martian (debuted in 1948's Haredevil Hare ), Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (debuted in 1949's Fast and Furry-ous ), Granny (debuted in 1950's Canary Row ), Speedy Gonzales (debuted in 1953's Cat Tails for Two ), the Tasmanian Devil (debuted in 1954's Devil May Hare ), and Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog (debuted in 1953's Don't Give Up the Sheep ). It was during this era that

6192-537: The North American theatrical distribution rights to the film. On December 31, 2022, 256 shorts were removed from HBO Max, including What's Opera, Doc? and Duck Amuck , though many were later re-added in March 2024 when the shorts on the service were rotated. In August 2024, it was announced that Warner Bros. was planning to relaunch the Looney Tunes theatrical film series in 2028. In October 2024, it

6321-488: The Pain , in 2014. In March 2000, it was revealed that the entire Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies library would be exclusive to Cartoon Network, starting with the fall of that year. Looney Tunes shorts were still airing on Disney's ABC as part of The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show at the time and the decision led to the show's cancellation. This decision would remain in effect for over 20 years until MeTV began airing

6450-561: The Phantom Blot was colored, reformatted into comic form and released as issue #16 (1941). In 1941, Four Color published the two earliest Disney comic book stories, based on new Disney films. Issue #13 featured an adaptation of The Reluctant Dragon , and a Dumbo adaptation was the focus of issue #17. Both of these stories were assembled by using a film-editing machine called the Moviola , and having artist Irving Tripp trace

6579-588: The Pigs. Li'l Bad Wolf's adventures began in issue #52 (Jan 1945), and he made regular appearances until almost the end of the comic's original run, issue #259 (April 1962). Finally, Little Hiawatha had his own monthly story for two years, from issue #143 (Aug 1952) to #168 (September 1954). The complete strip has been reprinted in four hardcover collections, Silly Symphonies: The Complete Disney Classics , published by IDW Publishing 's Library of American Comics imprint. The first volume, published in 2016, includes all of

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6708-551: The Pooh strips as part of a "classics" package and posts the current strip on its site (without archiving). Domestically the strips have 20-30 clients at any one time; they also appear in many newspapers outside the United States (exact number unknown). Mickey Mouse Magazine (1933–1940) was the first Disney comics publication, and preceded the popular 1940 anthology comic book Walt Disney's Comics and Stories . The concept

6837-543: The Pooh , and others. With more than 700 issues, Walt Disney's Comics & Stories is the longest-running Disney comic book in the United States. By the mid-1950s, WDC&S was the best selling comic book in America, with a circulation hovering around three million a month (with the highest level reached being 3,038,000 for the Sept. 1953 issue). It is regarded as one of the best-selling comic books of all time. The book

6966-592: The Rose (1953) and Kidnapped (1960) to comedies like The Shaggy Dog (1959) and The Parent Trap (1961). In 2016, IDW Publishing and their imprint The Library of American Comics (LoAC) began to collect all the Treasury of Classic Tales stories in a definitive hardcover reprint series . As of 2019, three volumes have been published, reprinting all the stories from Robin Hood (1952) through In Search of

7095-467: The Six Flags chain in whole or part form most of the 1990s.) In 1988, several Looney Tunes characters appeared in cameo roles in the Disney film Who Framed Roger Rabbit . The more significant cameos featured Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Tweety, and Yosemite Sam. It is the only time in which Looney Tunes characters have shared screen time with their rivals at Disney (producers of the film)—particularly in

7224-845: The Stone (1963) and The Jungle Book (1968). Classic Tales also featured animated shorts, including Lambert the Sheepish Lion (1956) and Ben and Me (1953), and featurettes like Peter & The Wolf (1954) and Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966). The 1979-80 adaptation of The Black Hole was particularly notable for featuring pencil art by comics icon Jack Kirby , with Mike Royer inking. Treasury of Classic Tales also adapted live-action films like Old Yeller (1957–58), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Mary Poppins (1964) and The Love Bug (1969). The strip transitioned from historical dramas like The Sword and

7353-464: The TV distribution rights to the black and white cartoons. In 1956, Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) acquired television distribution rights to most of Warner Bros.' pre-1950 library, including all Merrie Melodies (except for those sold to Guild and Lady, Play Your Mandolin! ) and color Looney Tunes shorts that were released prior to August 1948, while Warner still owned the copyright to all of

7482-462: The a.a.p. library to WB. Since then, Warner Home Video (now Warner Bros. Home Entertainment ) has held the video rights to the entire Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies animated output by virtue of Warner Bros.' ownership of Turner Entertainment. Starting in 1960, the cartoons were repackaged into several different TV programs that remained popular for several decades before being purchased by Turner Broadcasting System. Turner's Cartoon Network reran

7611-672: The actual frames of the film to make up each panel. Each issue also had additional short back-up features—the Reluctant Dragon issue included comic adaptations of the 1941 shorts Old MacDonald Duck and Goofy's How to Ride a Horse , and Dumbo of the Circus had an illustrated text adaptation of the Donald Duck short The Village Smithy , as well as some filler comic strips from Silly Symphony and Mickey Mouse . The next story specifically created for Disney comic books

7740-509: The adaptation into a British comic strip by William A. Ward (in 1937), and the adaptation of Donald into a full-length Italian comic book by Federico Pedrocchi (in 1937). Between August 30, 1936, and December 5, 1937, Taliaferro and Osborne depicted Donald in gag-a-week comic strips for the Silly Symphony series. The strips were in pantomime style. Taliaferro came up with the idea of a solo comic strip for Donald Duck, but had trouble convincing his bosses to support his idea. He initially pitched

7869-459: The adventures of such characters as Bosko and Buddy . However, the shorts gained a higher profile upon the debuts of directors Tex Avery , Friz Freleng , Chuck Jones , Bob Clampett , and Robert McKimson , and voice actor Mel Blanc later in the decade. Porky Pig and Daffy Duck became the featured Looney Tunes characters, while Merrie Melodies featured one-shot cartoons and minor recurring characters. After Bugs Bunny became popular in

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7998-415: The animators dubbed " Termite Terrace ." In 1935, the first major Looney Tunes star debuted, Porky Pig . He first appeared along with Beans the Cat in the Merrie Melodies cartoon I Haven't Got a Hat , directed by Friz Freleng. Beans was the star of the next Porky/Beans cartoon, Gold Diggers of '49 , but it was Porky who emerged as the star instead of Beans. The ensemble characters of I Haven't Got

8127-608: The box office. A reboot of Tiny Toon Adventures titled Tiny Toons Looniversity premiered on September 8, 2023, on Max and then aired the following day on Cartoon Network. The Looney Tunes characters reprise their roles as the professors at Acme Looniversity in this series. In September 2021, it was reported that a film based on the Looney Tunes Cartoons , titled The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie and starring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig ,

8256-714: The cartoons from its launch in 1992 until 2004, again from 2009 until 2017, and making a temporary return in April 2023 to celebrate WB's 100th anniversary. The Looney Tunes Show (not to be confused with the 2010s animated series of the same name ), an early 2000s anthology produced by Warner Bros. Animation for the network, was broadcast from 2001 to 2004. The show featured shorts from the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical series. As of 2021, classic cartoons continue to air on CN's sister channel, Boomerang and MeTV . Differing curated collections of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies are available for streaming on both

8385-401: The cartoons shown on Nickelodeon would move to Cartoon Network in the fall of that year. To date, Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon is the longest-airing animated series on the network that was not a Nicktoon . In 1996, Space Jam , a live-action animated film , was released to theaters starring Bugs Bunny and basketball player Michael Jordan . Despite a mixed critical reception, the film

8514-530: The cartoons. Unlike the previous TV package, this package had the Warner titles kept intact and an "Associated Artists Productions presents" title inserted at the head of each reel (as a result, each Merrie Melodies cartoon had the song " Merrily We Roll Along " playing twice). Two years later, United Artists bought a.a.p. (which had also bought Paramount's Popeye films) who merged the company into its television division, United Artists Television . In 1981, UA

8643-514: The characters for Looney Tunes' cartoons until 1999 when it was replaced with digital ink and paint animation . In 1979, Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol premiered. After The Chocolate Chase , there would not be another short released for seven years. In 1990, it was made so there would be about one short per year until 1998. In 2003, there would be seven shorts produced to promote Looney Tunes: Back in Action . The first of these to be released

8772-520: The characters themselves. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were initially produced by Leon Schlesinger and animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising from 1930 to 1933. Schlesinger assumed full production from 1933 until he sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, after which it was renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons . The Looney Tunes title was inspired by that of Walt Disney 's Silly Symphonies . The shorts initially showcased musical compositions owned by Warner's music publishing interests through

8901-488: The classic Warner Bros. cartoons (along with MGM and Paramount's library) in January 2021. In 2003, another feature film was released, this time in an attempt to recapture the spirit of the original shorts: the live-action/animated Looney Tunes: Back in Action . Although the film was not financially successful, it was met with mixed-to-positive reviews from film critics and has been argued by animation historians and fans as

9030-608: The comic book form. This was common for comic books at the time. Dell also had an anthology series, Four Color , which started in 1939 as a series of "one-shot" specials, each focused on a particular character. In the early days, Four Color mostly featured comic strip reprints of Dick Tracy , Little Orphan Annie , Terry and the Pirates and others. The first series included two issues of Disney comic strips -- Donald Duck strips were reprinted in issue #4 (Feb 1940), and Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse serial Mickey Mouse Outwits

9159-567: The comic strip department. At the time, Disney comics were limited to the Mickey Mouse comic strip , with Floyd Gottfredson as its main artist. Taliaferro was hired as an inker for Gottfredson's drawings. Taliaferro also served as the inker for a model sheet for the Mickey Mouse character. The model sheet would later be featured in Disney merchandising. Disney soon launched a Silly Symphony comic strip (1932–1939), based on

9288-747: The comic strip had mostly been handled by Frank Grundeed, who replaced Taliaferro as the main artist upon his retirement and death. Bob Karp remained the strip's main writer until his retirement in 1974. The Donald Duck comic strip continued with new writers and artists over the following decades: Greg Crosby (writer, 1974–1979), Frank Smith (artist, 1976–1986), Bob Foster (writer, 1980–1989), Jim Franzen (artist, 1986), Daan Jippes (artist, 1986–1987), Ulrich Schröder (artist, 1986), Jorgen Klubien (artist, 1986), Tony Strobl (artist, 1986–1987), Bill Langley (artist, 1987), Pete Alvarado (artist, 1987–1989), Larry Mayer (artist, 1987–1989), and finally Larry Knighton (artist, 1990–1995). In 1995, King Features decided to end

9417-425: The comic strip included Karl Karpé, Dick Moores , George Waiss, and Bill Wright. Taliaferro also relied on a number of assistant artists, including Ellis Eringer, Frank Grundeen, Al Hubbard, and Kay Wright. While the Mickey Mouse comic strip was an adventure series, the Donald Duck comic strip continued to be a daily comedy series. Each episode featured Donald dealing with problems and humorous situations. Most of

9546-427: The comic strip's penciller. The new main writer of the comic strip was Ted Osborne , but the comic strip also featured a number of stories written by Merrill De Maris . The comic strip had started by introducing a new character, not based on any previous Disney animated short. The character was Bucky Bug , an anthropomorphic insect whose creation is credited to Duvall and Taliaferro. Bucky Bug would continue to be

9675-445: The comic. Starting in the 1950s, Gottfredson and writer Bill Walsh were instructed to drop the storylines and do only daily gags. Gottfredson continued illustrating the daily strip until he retired on October 1, 1975. After Gottfredson retired, the strip was written and drawn by many other creators. The Sunday page went into reprints in February 1992, and the daily strip ended on July 29, 1995. In 2011, Fantagraphics Books began

9804-511: The film, directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa were in talks to direct the film, while actor Steve Carell was rumored to be starring in a lead role. Despite this, the film never entered production. At the 2014 Cartoon Network upfront , another series titled Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production (later New Looney Tunes ) was announced. Starring Bugs Bunny, the series premiered on both Cartoon Network and its sister channel Boomerang in late 2015. The series had an unusually slow rollout, with

9933-663: The final volume of the Golden Collection was released. Then, from 2010 until 2013, the company released the Looney Tunes Super Stars DVDs. There have been numerous complaints regarding the Super Stars releases, however (particularly the first two), having the post-1953 shorts in a 16:9 widescreen format. The last DVD in the Super Stars series was Sylvester and Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem , released on April 23, 2013. 2010 and 2011 saw

10062-535: The finest original feature-length appearance of the cartoon characters. In 2006, Warner Home Video released a new and Christmas-themed Looney Tunes direct-to-video film called Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas , a parody of Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol . Other Looney Tunes TV series made during this time were Baby Looney Tunes (2001–2006), Duck Dodgers (2003–2005) and Loonatics Unleashed (2005–2007). On October 22, 2007, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons became available for

10191-509: The first American newsstand publication with Disney comics, launched in 1935. In 1940, Western Publishing launched the long-running flagship comic book, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories , which reached 750 issues in September 2019. Uncle Scrooge , launched in 1952, reached issue #450 in June 2019. In recent decades, Disney comics have seen a decline of popularity in the United States. In

10320-705: The first time in High-definition via Microsoft 's Xbox Live service, including some in Spanish. From February 29 – May 18, 2008, many Looney Tunes artifacts, including original animation cels and concept drawings, were on display at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio , just off the campus of Youngstown State University , near where the Warners lived early in life. At

10449-498: The first titled Daffy's Rhapsody with Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, the next being I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat with Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny. Daffy's Rhapsody was to precede the film Happy Feet Two , until the studio decided to premiere I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat instead. Daffy's Rhapsody instead premiered in 2012, preceding Journey 2: The Mysterious Island . All five shorts were directed by Matthew O'Callaghan . In 2012, several announcements were made about

10578-521: The greatest animated cartoons of all time, and five of them have won Academy Awards . In 2013, TV Guide counted Looney Tunes as the third greatest television cartoon series of all time, behind The Simpsons and The Flintstones , the latter of which also featured the voice talents of Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet . Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were so named as a reference to Disney's Silly Symphonies and were initially developed to showcase tracks from Warner Bros.' extensive music library;

10707-421: The idea to Roy O. Disney , who rejected it. Taliaferro then produced three weeks-worth of episodes for a Donald Duck comic strip, brought them to Roy Disney, and asked him to offer the strip to King Features Syndicate for publication. King Features had syndicated all Disney comic strips up to this point. Roy Disney was not particularly interested in the project, but his brother Walt Disney could see potential in

10836-555: The mascot Litternaut in 1967 who adorned the public trash receptacles in Glendale into the 1970s and to this day is the official mascot of the Committee for a Clean & Beautiful Glendale . Taliaferro was posthumously honored with a Disney Legends award in 2003. Disney comics The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on, starting with the Mickey Mouse comic strip . Mickey Mouse Magazine ,

10965-476: The most prominent character of these stories was Bo Bug, Bucky's best friend and sidekick . Bo was depicted as a hobo and always wore a top hat . While Taliaferro did not draw more Bucky Bug stories after 1934, the Bucky Bug series would eventually be revived in comic book form by Western Publishing . Bucky and his supporting cast have since appeared in Disney magazines and newspapers in many countries. In

11094-501: The next year with Alice in Wonderland . Judged a success, the experiment was turned into an ongoing feature in 1952— Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales —beginning with The Story of Robin Hood . The Sunday strip ran for thirty-five years, from July 13, 1952, to February 15, 1987. The animated features adapted for the strip include Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1958), The Sword in

11223-648: The production of new episodes of the comic strip, and to start publishing reprints of older episodes. While many of Taliaferro's strips were reprinted in Disney comic books, in only a few instances did he do original artwork for comic books. Among these was the Cheerios Premium Giveaway Donald Duck: Counter Spy (1947) and the cover of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #107 (August 1949) plus two Bucky Bug stories in WDC&;S #39 (Dec. 1943) and #60 (Sept. 1945) and

11352-497: The project. Taliaferro's original sample stories were rejected due to having "weak gags". Taliaferro co-operated with writer Merrill De Maris to create new sample stories, but these were also rejected. Taliaferro then co-operated with writer Homer Brightman , and this time the sample stories were approved. Taliaferro's idea was greenlighted and the new Donald Duck comic strip was about to begin. On February 2, 1938, Donald Duck started appearing in daily newspapers. A Sunday version

11481-588: The releases of The Essential Bugs Bunny and The Essential Daffy Duck DVDs. In 2011, the shorts were released on Blu-ray Disc for the first time with the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection series. On September 19, 2017, Warner Home Video 's Warner Archive Collection released the five-disc Porky Pig 101 DVD-set. In 1933, Harman and Ising left, taking the rights to the Bosko characters with them. However, Warner Bros. retained

11610-458: The rest of the world Disney comics have remained very successful, especially in Europe, where weekly Disney comics magazines and monthly paperback digests are national best sellers. Disney comics have been the basis for academic theory, cultural criticism, and fan-created databases. The first Disney comics appeared in daily newspapers, syndicated by King Features with production done in-house by

11739-467: The rights to the cartoons and the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies brand names, leaving their former producer Leon Schlesinger to start his own animation studio to continue the Looney Tunes series. With their retained Bosko rights, Harman and Ising began making cartoons at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934 until they were fired in 1937 due to a lack of success. MGM proceeded to form their own studio to create its own cartoons. Time Warner eventually acquired

11868-476: The sales of sheet music and phonograph records. Warner made a deal with Leon Schlesinger to produce cartoons for them. Schlesinger hired Rudolf Ising and Hugh Harman to produce the first series of cartoons. Schlesinger was impressed by Harman's and Ising's 1929 pilot cartoon, Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid . The first Looney Tunes short was Sinkin' in the Bathtub starring Bosko , which was released in 1930. When Harman and Ising left Warner Bros. in 1933 over

11997-529: The scenes where Bugs and Mickey Mouse are skydiving , and when Daffy and Donald Duck are performing their "Dueling Pianos" sequence. On July 10, 1989, after a battle with heart problems, Mel Blanc died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of cardiovascular disease . A picture depicting the Looney Tunes characters entitled "Speechless" was released shortly after his death. Viacom-owned Nickelodeon aired Looney Tunes cartoons in

12126-531: The sequel led King Features to pass on it. The Disney comic strip department closed in January 1990. The last two strips, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck , continued to be supervised by King Features. The Donald strip was drawn by Larry Knighton with King Features staffers writing it. The Donald strip was discontinued in the mid-1990s. In this period the Mickey strip had Floyd Norman as the writer and art rotating between Rick Hoover and Alex Howell. Norman convinced

12255-671: The series being moved to the Boomerang streaming service in 2017, and was eventually cancelled on January 30, 2020. On June 11, 2018, another series, titled Looney Tunes Cartoons , was announced by Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered on May 27, 2020, on the streaming service HBO Max . The series features "1,000 minutes of new one-to-six minute cartoons featuring the brand's marquee characters", voiced by their current voice actors in "simple, gag-driven and visually vibrant stories" that are rendered by multiple artists employing "a visual style that will resonate with fans", most noticeably having

12384-414: The series won five Academy Awards : During the mid-late 1960s, the shorts were produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (and Format Productions ) (1964–1967) and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (1967–1969) after Warner Bros. shut down their animation studio. The shorts from this era can be identified by their different title sequence, featuring stylized limited animation and graphics on a black background and

12513-460: The short film The Wise Little Hen (1934) into comic strip form. Their adaptation was published in newspapers between 16 September and 16 December 1934. The most prominent character introduced in the film was Donald Duck , and Taliaferro was the first artist to depict him in comics. Taliaferro's depiction of Donald preceded Donald's appearances as a supporting character in the Mickey Mouse newspaper comic (under Floyd Gottfredson and Ted Osborne),

12642-408: The star of the comic strip until March 4, 1934. He was the second Disney character (after Mickey Mouse) to become the star of his own comic strip series. The Bucky Bug stories were typical for a talking animal series, though every character was either an insect or another type of invertebrate . The initial storyline of Taliaferro's comic strip was a coming-of-age story . Bucky Bug is introduced as

12771-545: The strip was a standalone half-page, not strictly a topper for the Mickey Sunday. The strip was initially titled Silly Symphonies ; after two years, the name was changed to Silly Symphony . The switch happened in the February 18, 1934, strip, just three weeks before Bucky Bug would be replaced with a new storyline, "Birds of a Feather". The complete rundown of Silly Symphony strips, from 1932 to 1945: The Silly Symphony Sunday strip ended on October 7, 1945, and

12900-412: The strips featured stand-alone gags, although some ongoing plots were introduced. The strips often lacked dialogue . Taliaferro and Karp started introducing supporting characters from the Donald Duck cartoons, where the duo became the first to portray a number of Donald Duck universe characters in the comics . These comic strip debuts often even preceded the new characters' first film appearances, as

13029-482: The strips from "Bucky Bug" (1932) to "Cookieland" (1935). Volume 2, published in 2017, includes "Three Little Kittens" (1935) to "Timid Elmer" (1939). Volume 3, published in 2018, includes "Pluto the Pup" (1939) to "Little Hiawatha" (1942). The fourth volume, published in 2019, concludes the series with "Bambi" (1942) through Panchito" (1945). Donald Duck made his first comics appearance in the Silly Symphony adaptation of

13158-424: The syndicate to allow him to drop the gag-a-day format in favor of adventure continuities of up to four weeks, much in the style of the classic Gottfredson era. By 1994 the strip was running in only 30 newspapers and by mutual agreement of Disney and King Features it ended. Both strips continued with reprints. In recent years Creators Syndicate has offered reprints of the Donald Duck , Mickey Mouse and Winnie

13287-451: The television distribution rights to 191 of its cartoons (which included the black-and-white Looney Tunes and the black-and-white Merrie Melodies made after Harman and Ising left) to Guild Films. The copyrights to those cartoons were assigned to Sunset Productions , an entity owned by Warner Bros. The cartoons were distributed by Guild Films until it went bankrupt and was bought by Seven Arts. Seven Arts bought WB in 1967, and WB regained

13416-614: The theme music for Looney Tunes was " The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down " by Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin , and the theme music for Merrie Melodies was an adaptation of " Merrily We Roll Along " by Charles Tobias , Murray Mencher and Eddie Cantor . In 1929, to compete against Walt Disney 's Mickey Mouse short cartoons , Warner Bros. became interested in developing a series of animated shorts to promote their music. They had recently acquired Brunswick Records along with four music publishers for US$ 28 million (equivalent to $ 511 million in 2024) and were eager to promote this material for

13545-440: The title as Disney Comics and Stories . IDW lost Disney comics rights in the 2020s and the comic book license for Disney properties passed to Marvel Comics . When Walt Disney's Comics and Stories launched in 1940 as a partnership between Dell Comics and Western Publishing , the comic only reprinted existing Mickey Mouse , Donald Duck and Silly Symphony comic strips, rather than creating original stories specifically for

13674-436: The title of the first Looney Tunes short, Sinkin' in the Bathtub (1930), is a pun on Singin' in the Bathtub . Between 1934 and 1943, Merrie Melodies were produced in color and Looney Tunes in black and white. After 1943, both series were produced in color and became virtually indistinguishable, varying only in their opening theme music and titles. Both series made use of the various Warner Bros. characters. By 1937,

13803-540: The works that began with the first short, Coyote Falls , that preceded the film Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore , which was released on July 30, 2010. On September 24, 2010, Fur of Flying preceded the film, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole , and on December 17, 2010, Rabid Rider preceded the film, Yogi Bear . On June 8, 2011, Warner Bros. Animation announced that there will be more Looney Tunes 3-D theatrical shorts;

13932-619: Was Pluto Saves the Ship , published in Dell Comics' Large Feature Comics #7 in July 1942. The story was written by Disney animators Carl Barks , Jack Hannah and Nick George; it was Barks's first comic book work. Four Color relaunched with a new numbering system in 1942, and in October, Dell published " Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold " as issue #9 of the second series. This 64-page story

14061-457: Was The Whizzard of Ow , which appeared on a DVD release of Back in Action that was sold exclusively at Wal-Mart stores. Only about half of the shorts were shown in theaters; the rest would not be made available until 2004, when all seven shorts were included on the general home video release of the film. In 2010, five computer-animated shorts would be released and directed by Matthew O'Callaghan , who would also direct another short, Flash in

14190-430: Was a major box-office success, grossing nearly $ 100 million in the U.S. alone, almost becoming the first non-Disney animated film to achieve that feat. For a two-year period, it was the highest grossing non-Disney animated film ever. The film also introduced the character Lola Bunny , who subsequently became another recurring member of the Looney Tunes cast, usually as a love interest for Bugs. In 1997, Bugs Bunny

14319-932: Was a success, and Dell followed up the next year with Walt Disney's Vacation Parade #1 (July 1950) and Christmas Parade #2 (Nov 1950). Dell also introduced Bugs Bunny's Christmas Funnies in 1950, and soon all of Dell's top-selling characters had regular annuals and giant issues. Christmas Parade ran for ten issues from 1949 to 1959, and was followed by Walt Disney's Merry Christmas (Dec 1960) and Donald Duck Merry Christmas (Dec 1961). Vacation Parade ran for five annual issues from 1950 to 1954, before being retitled Picnic Party from 1955 to 1957, Mickey Mouse Summer Fun (1958), Walt Disney's Summer Fun (1959), Daisy Duck and Uncle Scrooge Picnic Time (1960) and Mickey and Donald in Vacationland (1961). There were also six annual issues of Donald Duck Beach Party from 1954 to 1959. Looney Tunes Looney Tunes

14448-404: Was added on December 10, 1939. Taliaferro's was the strip's main penciller, while Homer Brightman was its writer and came up with the gags. But Brightman was mostly a screenwriter , and soon quit the comic strip and returned to writing plots for animated short films. Brightman was replaced by Bob Karp , who would serve as Taliaferro's main creative partner for the rest of his career. The inkers for

14577-474: Was announced for release on HBO Max and Cartoon Network. However, it was reported in August 2022 that the film would instead be shopped around to other streaming services. In October 2023, it was announced the film would instead be released in theaters, becoming the first animated non-compilation feature film in the franchise to do so. In early August 2024, it was announced that Ketchup Entertainment acquired

14706-535: Was announced two new series were in the works: Bugs Bunny Builders and Tweety Mysteries . Bugs Bunny Builders began airing on Cartoon Network as part of Cartoonito and HBO Max on July 25, 2022; Tweety Mysteries would also air on Cartoon Network . Bugs Bunny Builders is aimed towards preschoolers; while Tweety Mysteries is a live-action/animated hybrid. However, the latter was scrapped for unknown reasons. A sequel to Space Jam titled Space Jam: A New Legacy , starring basketball player LeBron James ,

14835-747: Was created by Kay Kamen , a Disney merchandiser. There were three versions of the title: two promotional giveaway magazines published from 1933 to 1935, and a newsstand magazine published from 1935 to 1940. The publication gradually evolved from a 16-page booklet of illustrated text stories and single-page comic panels into a 64-page comic book featuring reprints of the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comic strips. In October 1940, Western rebranded Mickey Mouse Magazine as Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, an anthology comic book series featuring an assortment of Disney characters, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck , Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale , Li'l Bad Wolf , Scamp , Bucky Bug , Grandma Duck , Brer Rabbit , Winnie

14964-582: Was created by Ward Greene , a King Features Syndicate editor who wrote the original magazine story, Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog, and Miss Patsy, the Beautiful Spaniel , which inspired the film. Greene and artist Dick Moores produced the strip for eight months as a continuing story. Starting in May 1956, other creators took over, and the strip moved to a gag-a-day format. Beginning in 1960,

15093-451: Was created for the comic strip by Taliaferro and Karp. Taliaferro based the design of the character on his mother-in-law and her old-fashioned ways. Taliaferro's version of Grandma is a hard-working farmer, but out of touch with the technological progress of the world surrounding her. Although not created by him, Scrooge McDuck joined the cast of the comic strip on February 13, 1951, and Ludwig Von Drake on September 25, 1961. Donald's car ,

15222-399: Was dormant from 1969 until 1979, when new shorts were made to introduce the Looney Tunes to a new generation of audiences. New shorts have been produced and released sporadically for theaters since then, though usually as promotional tie-ins with various family movies produced by Warner Bros. While many have been released in limited releases theatrically for Academy Award consideration, only

15351-425: Was featured on a U.S. 32 cent postage stamp, the first of five Looney Tunes themed stamps to be issued. The Looney Tunes also achieved success in the area of television during this era, with appearances in several originally produced series, including Taz-Mania (1991, starring Taz) and The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (1995, starring Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny). The gang also made frequent cameos in

15480-451: Was initially written by Walt Disney with art by Ub Iwerks and Win Smith. Beginning with the May 5, 1930, installment the art chores were taken up by Floyd Gottfredson (often aided by various inkers), who also either wrote or supervised the story continuities (relying on various writers to flesh out his plots). Gottfredson continued with the strip until 1975. By 1931, the Mickey Mouse strip

15609-457: Was issue #386 (March 1952). Scamp also began as a Four Color one-shot with issue #703 (May 1956), which turned into a series in 1958. When they each "graduated" to their own comic books, Dell continued their numbering as if they had been part of a series all along. There were many other Disney characters featured in issues of Four Color . This list shows the first issue for each character: Donald Duck (1942–2017) first appeared as part of

15738-428: Was originally published by Dell Comics (1940–1962), and there have been many revivals over the years, continuing the same legacy numbering. The revivals have been published by Gold Key Comics (1962–1984), Gladstone Publishing (1986–1990), Disney Comics (1990–1993), back to Gladstone Publishing (1993–1999), Gemstone Publishing (2003–2008), Boom! Studios (2009–2011) and IDW Publishing (2015–2020). IDW relaunched

15867-542: Was published in 60 newspapers in the United States, as well as papers in twenty other countries. From the beginning, the strips were parts of long continuing stories. These introduced characters such as the Phantom Blot , Eega Beeva , and the Bat Bandit , which Gottfredson created; Disney created Eli Squinch , Mickey's nephews, Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse , and Sylvester Shyster , which were also introduced in

15996-548: Was released in theaters and HBO Max on July 16, 2021, after a Los Angeles special screening on July 12, 2021. It is a film with a story of LeBron James' second son, Dom, who gets kidnapped by an evil AI named Al. G Rhythm ( Don Cheadle ), into the Warner Bros. server-verse. LeBron then assembles the Tune Squad to play against the algorithm and get his son back. It received generally negative reviews and underperformed at

16125-574: Was replaced by Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit . Three of the Silly Symphony stories inspired long-running features in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories . Original Bucky Bug stories first appeared in issue #39 (Dec 1943) and appeared every month for seven years, wrapping up with issue #120 (Sept 1950). "The Three Little Pigs" feature inspired the creation of Li'l Bad Wolf , the Big Bad Wolf's errant son, who wants to be friends with

16254-561: Was reported that Warner Bros. was working on a "super secret Looney Tunes project". In the 1980s, the shorts received VHS releases, with the pre-August 1948 shorts released by MGM/UA Home Video and the post-July 1948 shorts released by Warner Home Video . In 2003, Warner Home Video began releasing select shorts on DVD , aimed at collectors, in four-disc sets known as the Looney Tunes Golden Collection starting with Volume 1 . This continued until 2008, when

16383-513: Was revived in 1992 as Disney Holiday Story to publicize contemporary Disney feature animated films. In 2017, the Christmas stories were collected in a hardback volume, Disney's Christmas Classics , published by IDW Publishing . The collection includes all of the Christmas stories except for 1986's story based on Song of the South . Disney created a Winnie the Pooh comic strip for King Features Syndicate starting June 19, 1978. Based on

16512-479: Was sold to MGM, and five years later, Ted Turner acquired the pre-May 1986 MGM library, as well the rights to the a.a.p. library. In 1996, Turner's company, Turner Broadcasting System (whose Turner Entertainment division oversaw the film library), was purchased by Time Warner (now Warner Bros. Discovery ), which was also Warner Bros.' corporate parent. Then when MGM/UA terminated its distribution deal with Time Warner in 1999, it surrendered its home video rights to

16641-420: Was the first Donald Duck story drawn (but not yet written) by Barks. Four Color went on to produce more than 1,000 issues from 1942 to 1962, and the major ongoing Disney comics series were all launched as individual issues of the Four Color series. "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold" eventually became the first Donald Duck comic, Mickey Mouse began as issue #27 (1943), and the first Uncle Scrooge comic

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