''The Adventures of Bob Hope'' is an American

celebrity comics Celebrity comics are comics based on the fame and popularity of a celebrity.De Weyer, Geert, "België gestript",Standaard Uitgeverij, 2014. They are a byproduct of merchandising around a certain media star or franchise and have existed since the ma ...

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series that was published by

National Periodical Publications National Comics Publications (NCP; later known as National Periodical Publications Inc. or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company. It was the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics. History The corporation was origin ...

(an imprint of DC Comics). The series featured stories based on

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

, as well as assorted other humorous stories. The series ran for 109 issues from 1950 through 1968.

Publication history

As 1950 neared, sales for superhero themed comics were declining. National Periodical Publications wanted to diversify its titles and so began licensing the right to use celebrity images, including

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian, with a career spanning seven decades in film, stage, television and radio. Famously nicknamed as "Th ...

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...

Alan Ladd Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake in ...

, and

. Issue #1 (cover dated February–March 1950) set the tone for most of the 1950s. The lead story would feature Hope in a misadventure similar to his film roles; the back up stories tended to revolve around movie-related themes or characters. For example, issue #1 had a story on Rhonda Fleming, Hope's co-star in the 1949 film '' The Great Lover''. By the 1960s, sales for the Hope series began to flag In the 1960's, Hope would acquire a talking dog named Harvard—Harvard; who became a recurring character. The editors attempted to add some contemporary humor by introducing the character Super-Hip in issue #95. Despite the changes, the series was canceled with issue #109 (March 1968).

Artists and writers

The first four issues featured photographs of Hope on the cover; subsequent covers were illustrated. Owen Fitzgerald was the original artist for the series. He was eventually replaced by

Bob Oksner Bob Oksner (October 14, 1916 – February 18, 2007) was an Americans, American comics artist known for both adventure comic strips and for superhero and humor comic books, primarily at DC Comics. Biography Oksner's early work includes creatin ...

, who provided the majority of the artwork for the run of the series. Oksner was replaced by

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a Creator ownership, creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and re ...

for the final four issues. There were no story credits, though some sources credit Cal Howard with writing some early scripts. Beginning with issue #88 (Sept. 1964),

Arnold Drake Arnold Drake (March 1, 1924 – March 12, 2007) was an American comic book writer and screenwriter best known for co-creating the DC Comics characters Deadman and the Doom Patrol, and the Marvel Comics characters the Guardians of the Galaxy, Hav ...

received a byline, and would go on to write most of the scripts for rest of the series run.Arnold Drake
at Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics. Last accessed 4 April 2007.

References

External links

''The Adventures of Bob Hope''
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information use ...

''The Adventures of Bob Hope''
at Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics - The DC Indexes {{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures of Bob Hope, The Comics magazines published in the United States 1950 comics debuts 1968 comics endings Humor comics Hope, Bob Hope, Bob Comics by Arnold Drake Comics by Neal Adams Defunct American comics Bob Hope

Publication history

Artists and writers

See also

References

External links