From the justly-forgotten corner -- Dell's TV and movie comics

Back in the age of the spinner rack, before every town had a comic book store and even your local library found room for a graphic novel section, pickings were often limited to a few grocery store and drug store displays. What was even worse, many of these displays would only carry 'wholesome' comics -- Harvey, Gold Key, Dell.

For comic book historians, Dell will undoubtedly be remembered for publishing three of the unquestioned giants of the medium (Walt Kelly, Carl Barks and John Stanley) but for a kid holding a week's allowance with one hand and turning a picked-over spinner rack with the other, Dell often meant settling for a cheesy TV or movie adaptation.

These shows generally made for boring comics, particularly given the realistic but crude house style of the line. Not only would the characters in the comics not look much like the actors they portrayed, they would differ from the actor in different ways from panel to panel (check out Patrick McGoohan and Tim Conway).

Here, for the sake of completeness, is a










And just in case you thought the classics of American cinema were safe...