Mr. Popnecker drags the reluctant Herbie to the movies just to see Frank and Dino.

Hey pallies, likes as we have often said 'round these here Dino-parts, likes you just never ever know where our most beloved Dino is goin' to show up next.  Likes,on Monday of this particular Dino-week, we shared that our main man was front and center in a short fictional story scribed by  a youthful lady author, Miss Tejaswini Apte-Rahm, as part of her first published anthology book tagged "These Circuses That Sweep The Landscape."   Well, likes today we move from our Dino in a recent work of fiction to our Dino accented in a comic book circa 1964!  And, likes we thinks this is just so so completely cool, 'cause as most of youse Dino-holics knows, our Dino loved, loved, loved to read comic books!

So, we takes youse to the coolest of cool comic book blog tagged "BULLY SAYS: Comics Oughta Be Fun!" where "Bully's" post "365 Days of Celebrities in Comics, Day 6: Herbie, The Love God" shares prose and selected comic panels from  "Herbie, Boy 'Beetle!'" in Herbie #5 (American Comics Group, October-November 1964).  Tryin' to explain who Herbie is and how our Dino...and his bestest of best pallie, Mr. Frank Sinatra" are found within the pages of  this comic woulda takes more time then simply havin' you read "Bully's" fun efforts below.

Likes, of course, we knew that our Dino and Mr. Jerry Lewis had their own comic book series (and we will soon feature 'nother post from "Bully" accentin' that) we had not known that our Dino had been found in other comics of that era, so we are powerfully pumped to be sharin' this particular post with you to awesomely add to your Dino-edification.

We sez our thoughtful thanks to our newest pallie "Bully" for this fantastically fun blog post which has simply made our Dino-day!  To checks this out in it's original source, simply clicks on the tag of this here Dino-message.  And, likes stay tuned for find out where our Dino will turn up next!

We remain,

Yours in Dino,

Dino Martin Peters

FRIDAY, JANUARY 06, 2017

365 Days of Celebrities in Comics, Day 6: Herbie, The Love God

Whenever those periodic questions about "who would beat whom?" come up in the superhero community, I always pick one of two possible champions: Bugs Bunny or Herbie Popnecker. They've never, ever been defeated, whether fighting Hitler or Yosemite Sam. But Herbie has a slight edge over the wabbit in at least one area. Bugs may have his attention diverted by a beautiful lady rabbit (or, indeed, a robot or witch dressed as a lady rabbit), but Herbie is the perfect asexual creature. We can only hope one day that he reproduces using mitosis.

That's why it's always surprising to see girls go gaga over the Uncanny Herbie. Why, even Jughead pretty much has only Ethel chasing after him. But it's what happens when the cruel, cruel Mr. Popnecker drags the reluctant Herbie to the movies just to see Frank and Dino. Ni, not Frank Flinstone and Dino the Dinosaur, as A Man Called Flintstone would not be released to the silver screen until 1966. Also: his name isn't Frank, no matter what Wilma says.


Panels from "Herbie, Boy 'Beetle!'" in Herbie #5 (American Comics Group, October-November 1964), script by Richard E. Hughes as Shane O'Shea, pencils and inks by Ogden Whitney, letters by Ed Hamilton
Okay, in between those panels and these next ones a whole lotta weird stuff happens (as it does in Herbie comics) involving a theatre saboteur with a big red clown nose doping up movie popcorn to make you whistle through your ears, and that's not just because of the size of a "large" popcorn being even to feed a family of four over a period of six days. No, let's just skip to Herbie trying to escape a ramaging mob by putting a mop on his head while meanwhile the "Beetles" play their hit song that has all the gals swooning in the aisles and peeing their 1960s capri pants.


Now, even though Ogden Whitney has delivered a near photo-perfect depiction of the actual Beatles, I'm not counting them as today's celebrity of the day as they are clearly a parody named "The Beetles." Over in England, Brian Epstein curses and waves his fist at American Comics Group because he cannot sue them, as they have cunningly disguised their target of tomfoolery so well by changing a vowel.


Oh, and teens come runnin' for the great taste of Herbie Popnecker.


Tracking down the Man with the Red Nose (oh yeah! I already forgot about him!) pop sensation Herbie, now calling himself Eibreh Rekcenpop, crashes (literally! look, it's right there in the sound effects) into the dressing room of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, who you can tell are today's guest celebrities because I've put their names in bold. I challenge the idea of Dino and Frankie sharing. a dressing room, as no one single dressing room could possibly contain Frank's mafia connections and Dean's drinks, but comics are sometimes forced to take a storytelling shortcut, so let's give it an official TV Tropes-style handwave and get on with the story.


Frank and Dean immediately snap into action and do what they do best: attacking Herbie. Ouch! That's gotta hurt...well, you know, it looks like invincible Herbie wasn't thrown off by that at all. As Robert Evans might say, the kid stays in the picture ARHGHHH (gets dragged off stage by giant hook)


Herbie has Martin and Sinatra (Marnatra?) lead him to the Man with the Red Nose (oh yeah! That guy!) but they're too intimidated to face off against him themselves. Chickens! Frank Sinatra is a big chicken! Dean Martin goes cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck! Buck buck buck buck buck! (is ushered offtage by a pair of burly goons telling me Mr. Sinatra would like to have a few words with me)


Then Herbie tosses the Man with the Red Nose (oh, don't tell me you've forgotten about him already) into a giant movie theater corn-popper, where he is then sold in giant buckets to the Alt-Right (aka Nazis) protesting Rogue One by buying tickets, entering the theater, buying popcorn, throwing away the popcorn, not going into the movie and going home. That'll show those precious snowflakes! (Precious Snowflakes Figurines™ is actually a registered copyright of Hallmark).


So all's well that ends with a guy being smothered to death in a popcorn popper, and without the moptop wig, Herbie's sexual attractiveness to the opposite sex is transferred back over to Dean and Frank, who spend the next six months in traction after being trampled by teens. Then, Herbie's dad adds yet another folder full of information to the case of Child Services v. Popnecker. Seriously, that guy is so emotionally abusive to his son, Bruce Banner's father looks up at him as a role model.


Look, Mr. Popnecker is just a jerk, that's what I'm saying.