Have No Fear!

Underdog is here...at long last.  At least part of what would have been the twenty-fourth issue of Underdog hits the stands, a mere thirty-nine years after it was originally supposed to drop. A company called American Mythology has picked up the Underdog title. 

It is based of course on the venerable and memorable cartoon series by Total TeleVision (the same folks that brought you Tennessee Tuxedo, Tooter Turtle, Commander McBragg and Cocoa Puffs commercials). Underdog debuted as cartoon in 1964 but didn't become a comic book until 1970 when Charlton Comics picked it up. 

After that lapsed in 1972 Gold Key eventually took up the character with a new number one in 1975 and the series ran for a good four years ending with the twenty-third issue. Harvey Comics have produced a few issues over the years, as have a few smaller publishers,  but for the most part it's been a world bereft of Underdog. (I'm not going to mention the movie from a few years back which was clever but never very good really.) 

But now he's back in a new series. I'm not so much interested in the new material, but I do have a soft spot for the vintage stuff in this comic titled Underdog 1975 which is credited to Steve Skeates and artist extraordinaire and former editor of Charlton Comics George Wildman. What we have in this volume are two stories by the above team intended for the never-to-be-released twenty-fourth issue. 

To fill out the comic we also have reprints of stories from the last published twenty-third issue. It's all dandy! I see an ad in the comic that more reprints might be coming and I have to say I'm on board. 

Here are some alternate covers for this issue. 

Have No Fear, Underdog is Here...it just took an exceedingly long time. 

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