For three consecutive years, several Gold Key and Whitman
comics included a “16-Page Fun Catalog” in the comic during the holidays. These 16-Page inserts were only included in
the December and January publications for the following three years:
·
Year 1: 12/72 and 1/73,
·
Year 2: 12/73 and 1/74, and
·
Year 3: 12/74 and 1/75.
Over these three years there were
62 titles published in 135 different issues (see Appendix for complete
listing). During these three time
periods there were an additional 51 Whitman issues published. Of the 135 different issues, 69 issues
included a 16-Page Fun Catalog. Of the
62 different titles published during these three time periods, 31 included the
16-Page Fun Catalog and 31 had no occurrence.
Examples of 16-Page Fun Catalog Banners for all Three
Years, Including the Corner Banner Variant Used on Some Issues during Year
Three
Examples of the banners on the four different types of
banners used to announce the 16 page fun catalogs (“16-Pagers”) are shown above. Each year there was as a slight
change to the banner style. Also, during
Year Three there was a corner banner variant used to announce the inclusion of
the 16-Page Fun Catalog. Ranking in the
minutia is the note that Years 1 and 2 included a hyphen between “16” and
“Page” and Year 3 did not.
Occurrence with titles
During each of the three time periods when the 16-Pagers
were inserted into the issue, it was inserted into all of the issues from that
title, with only two exceptions. Table
1 lists those titles that included 16-Pagers with the number of occurrences
of a 16-Pager and the number of opportunities that one could have been
inserted.
Table 1. Number of Occurrences of 16-Pagers by Title
Title
|
# Occurences
|
# Possible
|
Addams
Family
|
1
|
1
|
Aristokittens
|
1
|
1
|
Beagle
Boys
|
3
|
3
|
Beep
Beep, The Road Runner
|
3
|
3
|
Boris
Karloff
|
3
|
3
|
Bugs
Bunny
|
1
|
3
|
Bullwinkle
|
2
|
2
|
Daffy
Duck
|
3
|
3
|
Dagar
The Invincible
|
2
|
3
|
Dark
Shadows
|
3
|
3
|
Fun-In
(Hanna-Barbera ...)
|
1
|
1
|
Harlem
Globetrotters
|
3
|
3
|
Inspector
|
1
|
1
|
Jungle
Twins
|
3
|
3
|
Magnus
Robot Fighter
|
1
|
1
|
Mickey
Mouse
|
2
|
2
|
Moby
Duck
|
2
|
2
|
Mod
Wheels
|
3
|
3
|
Occult
Files of Dr. Spektor
|
2
|
2
|
O'Malley
and the Alley Cats
|
1
|
1
|
Porky
Pig
|
2
|
2
|
Ripley's
Believe It Or Not!
|
3
|
3
|
Scooby
Doo… Where Are You?
|
3
|
3
|
Space
Family Robinson
|
2
|
2
|
Super
Goof
|
1
|
1
|
Tom and
Jerry
|
3
|
3
|
Uncle
Scrooge
|
2
|
2
|
Wacky
Witch
|
3
|
3
|
Walt
Disney Showcase
|
3
|
3
|
Walt
Disney's Comics & Stories
|
3
|
3
|
Yosemite
Sam
|
3
|
3
|
The two exceptions, which are
emboldened in Table 1, are Bugs Bunny (BB) and Dagar the Invincible
(DI). There was one issue of Bugs Bunny,
BB146, that included the 16-Pager, but BB154 and BB161 did not. There were two issues of Dagar that included
the 16-Pager, DI02 and DI06, but DI10 did not.
It is difficult to infer why these two titles were not as consistent as
the other 29, and I am unable to offer a plausible explanation.
Titles without 16-Pagers
The remaining 31 titles that did not include any 16-Pagers
are listed below in Table 2.
Table 2. Titles that Did Not Include 16-Pagers
Title
|
Adam-12
|
Adventures
of Robin Hood
|
Boris
Karloff
|
Brothers
of the Spear
|
Chip
'N' Dale
|
Daisy
& Donald
|
Donald
Duck
|
Fat
Albert
|
Funky
Phantom
|
Grimm's
Ghost Stories
|
Huey,
Dewey, and Louie
|
Lidsville
|
Little
Monsters
|
Little
Stooges
|
Lone
Ranger
|
Marge's
Little Lulu
|
Mighty
Samson
|
Movie
Comics - Gay Purr-ee
|
New
Terrytoons
|
Pink
Panther
|
Raggedy
Ann and Andy
|
Scamp
|
Smokey
Bear
|
Star
Trek
|
Tom and
Jerry
|
Turok
|
Tweety
and Sylvester
|
Twilight
Zone
|
Wacky
Adventures of Cracky
|
Walt
Disney's Comics & Stories
|
Woody
Woodpecker
|
Issues With and Without 16-Pager
There are some titles that have been published with and
without the 16-Pagers included. The
variant issues where the “16-Page Fun Catalog” banner section does not include
a banner and is left blank, or with the one known case of the corner banner,
the banner is left off completely.
Examples of these 16-Pager variants are shown below.
MM146 – With Banner
|
MM14- Bannerless
|
BK58 – With Banner
|
There are currently 8 issues that have been confirmed that
are isses without 16-Pagers (Table 3).
With the exception of BK58, all of these issues included a blank
location at the top the comic with the banner missing like that shown for
MM146. It is possible that more of these
issues exist and their existence should be considered rare.
Table 3. Issues With
and Without 16-Pagers
Title
|
#
|
Date
Code
|
Date
|
Boris Karloff
|
58
|
412
|
12/74
|
Bullwinkle
|
10
|
401
|
01/74
|
Jungle Twins
|
12
|
501
|
01/75
|
Mickey Mouse
|
146
|
312
|
12/73
|
Mod Wheels
|
15
|
501
|
01/75
|
Ripley's Believe It
Or Not!
|
44
|
312
|
12/73
|
Scooby Doo… Where
Are You?
|
22
|
312
|
12/73
|
Uncle Scrooge
|
109
|
312
|
12/73
|
Corner Banners
During Years 1 and 2, all of the
16-Pagers used a top banner to announce the inclusion of the fun catalog. During Year 3, most of the 16-Pagers included
the top banner, but a few were published with the corner banner like that shown
above. The five
issues that were published with a corner banner are included below in Table
4.
Table 4. Issues With
a Corner Banner
Title
|
#
|
Date
Code
|
Date
|
Boris Karloff
|
58
|
412
|
12/74
|
Daffy Duck
|
91
|
412
|
12/74
|
Dark Shadows
|
29
|
412
|
12/74
|
Fun-In
(Hanna-Barbera ...)
|
15
|
412
|
12/74
|
Walt Disney Showcase
|
26
|
412
|
12/74
|
An Unusual Early Banner Variant
Although it does not fall within
the same date ranges as the 16-Pagers described herein, there is a variant
issue that involves a banner that is similar in nature. Figure 3 shows two versions of Fantastic
Voyage 2. One issue has the announcement
for the “SWEEPSTAKES” and a second version covers the announcement with a
banner saying “Civilian Miniaturized Defense Force.” It is theorized that the sweepstakes ended
and a second printing occurred that required the publisher to remove the
announcement.
|
|
Variant
Cover to Fantastic Voyage 2, With and Without “Sweepstakes” Announcement
