Today in Comics History, January 18: Happy birthday, Oliver Hardy!

Born on this day in 1892: comedian and actor Oliver Hardy, the plump half of Laurel and Hardy!


from "Bobby" in Jumbo Comics #5 (Fiction House, January 1939); script, pencils, and inks by S.M. Iger


from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #162 (DC, February 2003); script by John Arcudi; pencils, inks, and letters by Roger Langridge; colors by James Sinclair, clor separations by Digital Chameleon



The bulk of Laurel & Hardy's most famous work in the '20s and early '30s predates comic books, but they remained comedy icons and were pictured within the pages of several books.


from "Olly of the Movies" in Famous Funnies #15 (Eastern Color, October 1935); script, pencils, and inks by Julian Ollendorff
Here's a cameo appearance in [a microfiche of] a 1940s Warner Brothers cartoon comic book:


from "Porky's Hollywood Sketch Book" in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies #3 (Dell, January 1942), creators uncredited and unknown
DC's short-lived Movie Comics adapted film using a combination or art drawn around painted stills of the actors!



from "A Chump at Oxford" in Movie Comics #6 (DC, October 1939), airbushes by Jack Adler and Emery Gondor The long-running weekly British comic magazine Film Fun cover (and back-covered) Stan and Oliver for many issues in densely plotted comedy strips:

from Film Fun (top) #1872 and 1931 (Amagamated, 3 December 1955 and 19 January 1957), creators unidentified
(Click each picture to Hardy-size) Gone fishin'!:


from "Movie Memos" in Wonder Comics #1 (Fox, May 1939), pencils and inks by Glenda Carol
Their fishing gags are referenced much later in comics as the iconic pair, anglin' in Metropolis, fall prey to Mxyzptlk:


from Adventures of Superman #496 (DC, November 1992); co-plot and script by Jerry Ordway; co-plot, pencils, and inks by Dennis Janke; colors by Glenn Whitmore; letters by Bill Pearson
Speaking of the DC Universe: an Al Hirschfeld-esque Laurel and Hardy hangs in the GOMA:



(top) from "The Joker's Utility Belt!" in Batman #73 (October 1952), script by David Vern, pencils by Dick Sprang, inks by Charles Paris, letters by Ira Schnapp, and
(bottom) Laurel and Hardy by Hirschfeld
Crooks in a future time disguise themselves as Laurel & Hardy (and Charlie Chaplin) in an attempt to throw off THE LAW, i.e. Judge Dredd:

from "[The Face-Change Crimes]" in 2000 AD prog 52 (IPC, 18 February 1978); script by John Howard; pencils, inks, and colors by Brian Bolland
(Click picture to Mega City-size)
Scream queen Elvira (and ghost pal Vincent Price) encounter a familiar couple of Sons of the Desert...


from Elvira Meets Vincent Price #3 (Dynamite, December 2021), script by David Avallone, pencils and inks by Juan Samu, colors by Walter Pereyra, letters by Taylor Esposito and Elizabeth Sharland
And even Reggie Mantle knows who Laurel and Hardy are!


from "Foiled Again" in Archie's Pals 'n' Gals Double Digest Magazine #109 (March 2007), script by George Gladir, pencils by Tim Kennedy, inks by Rudy Lapick, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida
Comics publisher St. John put out a short-lived, 3-issue Laurel & Hardy series in 1949 (and reprinted it in 1955).


cover of Laurel and Hardy (1949 series) #1 (St. John, March 1949), artist uncredited
But it wasn't until after former Bozo the Clown Larry Harmon bought the rights to Laurel & Hardy in 1961 and created a 1966 one-season animated TV show based on them. The show only ran one season, but Harmon was successful with comic book spin-offs, especially abroad.


A full-page gag strip that ran in the UK's TV Comic:


from TV Comic #1256 (Polystyle, 10 January 1976), creators uncredited and unknown
In the US, the Harmon version was featured in comics by Dell, and, in this (unplanned) one-shot, by DC. (The Grand Comicbook Database tells us "Other issues beyond #1, and a digest-sized companion series, were advertised but never published.")


cover of Larry Harmon's Laurel and Hardy #1 (DC, July 1972), pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Henry Scarpelli, letters by Joe Letterese
Sekowsky and Scarpelli drew the one new story original to DC in the comic (first image), but the other tales were reprints of foreign stories. Note the difference in word balloons in the second example.




Happy birthday, Stan Laurel!


from "Silly Saps at Sea!" in Larry Harmon's Laurel and Hardy #1, script by John Albano, pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Henry Scarpelli
And Stan Laurel, we'll see you on June 16 with much the same post!