Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Meet The Flagstones

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

I know I am not the only one on the web interested in the Flintstones comic strip or the only one showing samples, but I couldn't resist howing you the first couple of weeks of this strip when I came across them. It is said that the first weeks of this strip were drawn by Gene Hazelton himself, who was one of the artists involved inthe design of the characters and who also is believed to have overseen the production of all the Hanna Barbara newspaper strips, including Yogi Bear (which started about a year before The Flintstones). I actually have always felt that The Flinstones was a much better newspaper strip than Yogi Bear, but that may be due to the limitations of the character rather than the art. So who is the artist caricatured in the first strip?

Fun fact: The Flinstones were supposed to be called The Flagstones first, until the crew at Hnnah-Barbera remembered that there already was a family called The Flagstones in comics - his name was Hi and her name was Lois.

I also added two more Ketcham cartoons to yesterday's post.

Sunday Announcement Oct 1, 1961:


Daily Annoucement Oct 1, 1961:


Dailey Announcement Oct 2 and 3 1961:


First two weeks from Oct 2 1961:














8 comments:

Gary Fields said...

Hey Ger,
Thanks for posting these gems. I've loved Gene's stuff for years!! I agree the Flintstones was a stronger strip than Yogi, but from an artistic standpoint, they were both great. If you ever come across Yogi daily panel, you just gotta post'em!! Thanks.
Gary

THEBLUEKNIGHT said...

HI,MY NAME IS GREG MITCHELL,I AM A CRAZY FLINTSTONE FANATIC,& EVEN THE YOGI BEAR SUNDAYS,I ALWAYS LOVED THEM. IT IS GREAT THAT YOU ARE POSTING THE ART FROM THE SUNDAY PAPERS OF BACK THEN, WHEN THE FLINTSTONES FIRST CAME OUT.BORN A CHILD OF 1966,I MISSED THE EARLIER SUNDAY PAPER OF THE FLINTSTONE FROM THAT TIME,BUT I TOOK NOTICE OF THEM AROUND THE AGE OF 5 & 6 THEY ALWAYS FASINATED ME READING THEM IN THE NEWSPAPERS,NEVER COULD GET ENOUGH,WHERE I GOT TO THE POINT OF CUTTING THEM OUT AND SAVING THEM.I HAVE ALWAYS VIEWED THE LATER SUNDAY COMICS FROM 1973 AND UP IN THE LATER YEARS.BUT IT WAS ALWAYS ON MY MINDS OF THE ONES I MISSED SEEING THE EARLIER YEARS.I LOVE THIS SITE,AND I VERY MUCH WANT TO THANK YOU FOR POSTING SOME OF THE EARLIER COMICS OF THE FLINTSTONE.IM AT THE AGE OF 40 NOW BUT THIS FILL A VOID FOR UNSEEN PAST MEMORIES.IT WOULD BE GOOD IF THEY CAN SHOW THE DIFFERENT SUNDAY COMICS OF THE FLINTSTONES EACH WEEK FROM THE PAST,I BELIEVE THAT WOULD MAKE THE SITE MORE ENJOYABLE, AND ECSPECIALLY FOR THE NEWER GENERATION.THIS WAS JUST A QUESTION AT THE TOP OF MY MIND,I WAS WONDERING WHY DIDN'T HANNA-BARBERA DO A ANNUAL BOOK FOR THE YEARS PAST BASED ON THE SUNDAY COMICS OF THE FLINTSTONES PAST TO PRESENT,THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD BOOK TO OWN.I WILL SAY THE ARTIST ARE GREAT FROM THAT TIME AND THATS MISSING NOW TODAY.THE BEST CARTOON WAS FROM THAT ERA & NOTHING TODAY MEASURE UP TO THE CARTOON OF THE60'S THRU THE 80 WELL I WILL END THE WITH JUST ONE REQUEST,HOPE YOU WILL POST MORE OF THE FLINSTONE SUNDAY STRIP TO VIEW THAT WOULD MAKE MY DAY.THANK YOU

Inkydog said...

I was born on October 2, 1961 so this is fun stuff for me!

Regina Peyroton said...

Eu adorooooooooo The Flindstones!Recorda a minha infância.Muito legal!

rodineisilveira said...

Hi, Ger Apeldoorn!

This topic focuses the first Flintstones comic strips (and Sunday pages, too) from 1961, which all of them were drawn by the legendary Harvey Eisenberg (the "Carl Barks from Hanna-Barbera").

rodineisilveira said...

The two first Flintstones comic strips (from 1961) which appear being shown on this topic, were drawn by Walter Clinton (who was very characterized to draw great part of the human characters with the low ear in the Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the 50s and 60s).

rodineisilveira said...

The Flintstones daily strips from October 13 and 14, 1961 were drawn by Dick "Bick" Bickenbach.
Alias, in the Flintstones daily strip from Oct. 13, 1961, we have the presence of Mr. Slate (the Fred's boss).

rodineisilveira said...

Fixing: the two first Flintstones daily strips (from October 1961) were drawn by the legendary Gene Hazelton.