Casper The Friendly Ghost!

On that ancient information delivery system called the newsstand Harvey Comics was a juggernaut, at least that was the case when I frequented them in the 1970's. Marvel was might and DC was still a force to be reckoned with. Silver Age companies like ACG and Tower and others were long gone. Archie held steady and Charlton held a spot, but the outward signs as the decade wore on was evident weakness. Seemingly alone among these four-color pamphlets only Harvey seemed to grow and grow and grow. It wasn't widespread growth with only a tiny cadre of characters having seemingly countless titles it felt like any given spinner rack was crammed with Harvey titles full of ghosts, devils, and the ultimate poster child of the one percent. 

(St. Johns 1949)

The tentpole character was Casper the Friendly Ghost. Casper began as a cartoon from Paramount Pictures in their search for some characters of their own as opposed to the licensed projects such as Popeye the Sailor Man and Little Lulu. Beginning in the Noveltoon series in 1945 it would be years before a second Casper cartoon would be made, but eventually it was and and another and then another. Steadily Casper gained momentum and became a successful cartoon franchise which was turned into a comic book by St. Johns. After five issues the character was turned over to Harvey. Eventually Harvey gained control of the Paramount comic roster and the stage was set for comic rack domination. 

(Harvey 1952)

Harvey Comics Classics Volume One - Casper the Friendly Ghost details the demise and revival of the otherworldly spirit who just wanted a friend. Jerry Beck in a detailed introduction gives us the history of Casper and the stories selected by Leslie Cabarga offer a wonderful window into the yarns that made Casper a kid favorite for decades. Much of these art here is in black and white reproduced from something called "Silver Prints" made from the original plates. It's clean and handsome work. There are some color sections as well in the total of nearly five hundred pages. 

(Harvey Reboot 1958)

We follow the character as designed originally by his creator Sy Reit and Joe Orolio, then redesigned for comics by Steven Muffati and other Famous Studio artists who migrated over the comic to make it happen. The real jump to comic rack domination came when Warren Kremer touched up the character in the late 50's and editor Sid Jacobson emphasized the  Enchanted Forest with its many denizens and fantasy became the focus. Harvey created a new fairy tales landscape and kids couldn't get enough of it for many many years. 

More Harvey Comics tomorrow. 

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