Bazooka Joe is a

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

character featured on small comics included in individually wrapped pieces of

Bazooka Bazooka () is the common name for a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among the ...

bubble gum Bubble gum or bubblegum is a type of chewing gum, designed to be inflated out of the mouth as a bubble. Bubble gum flavor While there is a bubble gum "flavor" – which various artificial flavorings including esters are mixed to obtain – i ...

. He wears a black

eyepatch An eyepatch is a small patch that is worn in front of one eye. It may be a cloth patch attached around the head by an elastic band or by a string, an adhesive bandage, or a plastic device which is clipped to a pair of glasses. It is often worn ...

, lending him a distinctive appearance. He is one of the more recognizable American advertising characters of the 20th century, due to worldwide distribution, and one of the few associated with a candy. With sales of Bazooka bubble gum down, Bazooka Candy Brands announced in November 2012 that they would no longer include the comic strip in their packaging. The new wrapper would include

brain teaser A brain teaser is a form of puzzle that requires thought to solve. It often requires thinking in unconventional ways with given constraints in mind; sometimes it also involves lateral thinking. Logic puzzles and riddles are specific types of ...

s, instructions, and

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

s that could be used to unlock videos and video games. The company stated that Bazooka Joe and other characters would occasionally appear on the new packaging.

Characters and story

Bazooka Joe is joined in his various misadventures by a motley crew of characters, who came from the tradition of syndicated kid gang

s such as

Gene Byrnes Eugene Francis Byrnes (March 18, 1889 – July 26, 1974) created the long-running comic strip '' Reg'lar Fellers'', which he signed Gene Byrnes. His humorous look at suburban children (who nevertheless spoke like New York street kids) was syndic ...

' ''

Reg'lar Fellers ''Reg'lar Fellers'' is a long-running newspaper comic strip adapted into a feature film, a radio series on the NBC Red Network, and two animated cartoons. Created by Gene Byrnes (1889–1974), the comic strip offered a humorous look at a gang of ...

'' and

Ad Carter August Daniel Carter (1895–1957) was an American comic strip cartoonist who created the long-running ''Just Kids'' strip. He was known as Ad Carter, the signature he used on his strips. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Carter was 11 years old wh ...

's ''Just Kids''. The group includes: *Pesty (formerly Orville), Joe's younger brother, with a 1950s

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaqu ...

sombrero A sombrero (Spanish , ) is a type of wide-brimmed Mexican men's hat used to shield the face and eyes from the sun. It usually has a high pointed crown, an extra-wide brim (broad enough to cast a shadow over the head, neck and shoulders of the w ...

*Mort, a gangly boy who always wears his red turtleneck sweater pulled up over his mouth *Hungry Herman, Joe's tubby pal *Jane, Joe's girlfriend *Tuffy, a streetwise type who wears a sailor hat *Walkie Talkie, a neighborhood mutt The comics generally consist of soft, child-friendly jokes, as well as small advertisements for

kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation wi ...

y merchandise one could obtain in exchange for comics and a few cents or dollars. From the very beginning in 1954, the bottom of the comics included "fortunes" similar to those one would find in a

fortune cookie A fortune cookie is a crisp and sugary cookie wafer usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil with a piece of paper inside, a "fortune", usually an aphorism, or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chine ...

, sometimes with a comedic bent.

Development

Sometime between 1952 and 1954,

Woody Gelman Woodrow Gelman (1915 – February 9, 1978) was a publisher, cartoonist, novelist and an artist-writer for both animation and comic books. As the publisher of Nostalgia Press, he pioneered the reprinting of vintage comic strips in quality hardcove ...

and Ben Solomon, heads of Product Development at

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, soccer, a ...

, approached cartoonist

Wesley Morse Wesley Morse (June 17, 1897 – June 20, 1963) was an American cartoonist who is most famous for his creation of the '' Bazooka Joe'' comic strip for the bubble gum company Topps in 1953. He also created the Copa girl, which was the basis fo ...

to create ''Bazooka Joe and his Gang''. The character was named after a contest was held asking for suggestions. Morse was the original artist on ''Bazooka Joe''. In ''Heroes of the Comics: Portraits Of The Pioneering Legends of Comic Books'', Drew Friedman wrote: "Gelman, along with his friend and former co-animator Ben Solomon, created Popsicle Pete, who appeared in ads and packages for Popsicle ice pops for decades. Popsicle Pete caught the eye of president of the Topps Company, Arthur Shorin, who hired Gelman and Solomon to work for him full time in Brooklyn. Gelman worked as an editor and writer for Topps, and Solomon became its art director. Gelman soon became head of the new product development department, where he developed the Bazooka Joe mini-comics (drawn by Wesley Morse) and had his hand in many successful innovations for trading cards and other products." ''Bazooka Joe'''s style changed with the times, as with almost all 20th-century advertising characters with any sort of longevity. By the 1990s, Joe had adopted a more contemporary look, including low-slung, baggy jeans. From 1967 to 1990, the main writer was cartoonist

Jay Lynch Jay Patrick Lynch (January 7, 1945 – March 5, 2017) was an American cartoonist who played a key role in the underground comix movement with his ''Bijou Funnies'' and other titles. He is best known for his comic strip ''Nard n' Pat'' and the r ...

. Bazooka Joe comics were localized or translated for sale in other countries. For example, the Canadian version featured bilingual (simultaneous English and French) text balloons.

References

{{reflist

External links

History of Bazooka Joe Comics

Bazooka Joe Turns 50

Bazooka Joe's Patch Explained

Official Website
1954 comics debuts 2012 comics endings American comics characters Chewing gum Child characters in comics Comics characters introduced in 1954 Mascots introduced in 1954 Food advertising characters Gag-a-day comics Male characters in comics Male characters in advertising Child characters in advertising Fictional characters missing an eye Topps franchises