Hey, hey it’s ‘The Monkees,’ the mop-topped stars of today’s comic! It’s better than a red balloon! (Huh? If that comparison confuses you, don’t worry – the publisher of this funnybook was even more confused!)
[fieldinserts][issuetitle]Title: [subissuetitle]The Monkees[subissuetitle]
[issuetitle][issue]Issue: [subissue]No. 14[subissue]
[issue][publicationdate]Date: [subpublicationdate]August, 1968[subpublicationdate]
[publicationdate][publisher]Publisher: [subpublisher]Dell Publishing Co., Inc.[subpublisher]
[publisher][coverartists]Cover Artist(s): [subcoverartists]None[subcoverartists]
[coverartists][introtext]Hey, hey it’s ‘The Monkees,’ the mop-topped stars of today’s comic! It’s better than a red balloon! (Huh? If that comparison confuses you, don’t worry – the publisher of this funnybook was even more confused!)[introtext]
[fieldinserts]“Better than a red balloon”? Is that the best thing that Dell’s editors could come up with to say about THE MONKEES? No wonder poor Mickey Dolenz looks like he wants to get off of that comic book cover as fast as possible! (Judging by that “Out, out and awaay”, it’s I suppose that’s some sort of reference to the hit song “Up, Up And Away (In My Beautiful Balloon)” – except that song was recorded by The 5th Dimension, not the Monkees! So who’s monkeying with whom?)
The Monkees were (and are) was a commercial fabrication created for a TV show that, despite the efforts of its producers, became an actual musical band…only to eventually devolve back into a synthetic entity. Patterned after the Beatles’ A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, the show -- created by Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson -- cast two former child actors with musical training (Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones) and two musicians with comedic talent (Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith) as a quartet of aspiring rockers. (Reportedly, the show’s casting sessions saw over 400 applicants for the pseudo-band.) Calling themselves “The Monkees”, although performing as characters named after themselves, they starred in Screen Gems’ prime-time TV series of the same name, that premiered on NBC on September 12, 1966. Of course, playing the role of a band meant that they also had to actually perform music, which the boys did for their live concerts and personal appearances. (It really didn’t matter, since their music was nearly drowned out by their screaming female fans!) Although they primarily provided only vocals for THE MONKEES, their first album (which included the Top Forty mega-hit “Last Train To Clarksville”), but by their third LP, HEADQUARTERS, they eventually overthrew the stifling control of their musical producer/supervisor, Don (“Late Night Rock Concert”) Kirshner and began to write and perform their own music, much of which was quite good -- and even innovative! (Unfortunately, by that time, word had spread throughout the “serious” musical scene that the Monkees were the Milli Vanilli of their time; unfortunately, they never quite shook this inaccurate image.) After two seasons and 58 half-hour episodes (as well as two Emmy Awards), the series ended its original run on September 9, 1968, but after being moved to Saturday morning TV programming, found itself a whole new audience of fans. But the Monkees weren’t finished. Their 1968 Columbia feature film HEAD (co-written by Jack Nicholson – yes, that Jack Nicholson…while on LSD, no less!) may have been intended to destroy the group’s juvenile fan-base, but it remains a genuinely psychedelic classic, and even guest-stars Frank Zappa! The group also produced a pair of experimental TV specials, but by then it was a case of too little, too late. Although the Monkees soon withered to consist of only Dolenz and Jones, decades later (thanks to a top-rated “Pleasant Valley Sunday” marathon on MTV), they eventually re-formed (at least partially; Michael Nesmith only occasionally participated, having his own successful career as a solo musician and video producer/director) as the Monkees, with live “comeback” tours during the 1980s and 1990s. They even recorded two new CD albums, POOL IT (1987) and JUST US (1996) for Rhino Records.
Dell published a total of seventeen issues of THE MONKEES. Ironically, the final issue was a reprint of the first one.
Here’s a strange and unexpected pop-cultural side-effect of the Monkees. Believe it or not, the inclusion of the character of Ensign Chekov (portrayed by Walter Koenig) provided an unexpected link between THE MONKEES and STAR TREK! Check out this memo (from THE MAKING OF STAR TREK by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, Ballantine Books, pps. 249-250) from the desk of STAR TREK creator Gene Roddenberry:
DATE: September 22, 1966
TO: Joe D'Agosta
FROM: Gene Roddenberry
SUBJECT: Needed Crew TypeKeeping our teenage audience in mind, also keeping aware of current trends, let's watch for a young, irreverent, English-accent Beatle type to try on the show, possibly with an eye to him reoccurring. Like the smallish fellow who looks to be a hit on "The Monkees." Personally I find this type spirited and refreshing, and I think our episodes could use that kind of lift. Let's discuss.
(signed) Gene Roddenberry
Included in this issue of THE MONKEES are the stories and features:
ODDBALL Factoid – Monkee Mickey Dolenz – the son of actor George Dolenz -- also appeared in another comic book series, Dell’s FOUR COLOR adaptation of CIRCUS BOY (1956 – 1958), a network TV series starring young Mickey (billed as “Mickey Braddock”) as a blonde kid named “Corky”! He also provided voiceover work for such animated TV series as THE FUNKY PHANTOM and THE TICK as well as performing (with Davy Jones) in a live adaptation for the stage of Harry Nilsson’s animated classic THE POINT!
Bonus ODDBALL Factoid – Actor Henry Corden, who played the role of the Monkees’ apartment manager, Mr. Babbit, on THE MONKEES, since 1978, has also been the primary voiceover talent portraying Fred Flintstone!
Son Of Bonus ODDBALL Factoid – The covers for two Monkees CDs issued by Rhino Records – JUST US and BARREL FULL OF MONKEES – were designed and illustrated by “Mr. Oddball Comics” himself, Scott Shaw!
http://www.oddballcomics.com/article.php?story=archive2003-06-19
