Yosemite Sam

English

Genre: humor; anthropomorphic-funny animals

Created in: 1945

Notes:
Mean, short-tempered, impulsive, and the ultimate patsy for Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam first appeared in the 1945 Bugs Bunny theatrical short "Hare Trigger" as a western bad guy and train robber. Over the ensuing years Sam appeared as a pirate, bank robber, desert bandit; Roman centurion, evil knight, castaway; horn-helmeted invader, king's cook, mountain climber; broke laird of a castle, and even an alien ("Yosemite Sam of Outer Space"). Most often in animation he was a western bad guy or a pirate.

Primarily handled by Warner Bros. animation director Friz Freleng, Yosemite Sam is said to be a caricature of his director - short and fiery.

In comic books, Yosemite Sam is usually portrayed as a pirate (or retired pirate) and, to a lesser extent, a westerner.

After many years of guesting in Dell and Gold Key's Looney Tunes, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig titles, Yosemite Sam was given his own Gold Key/Whitman title in 1970 running for 81 issues thru 1983.

Since then, he has appeared in DC Comics' Looney Tunes title, and shared a "genre-crossover" title with Jonah Hex in 2017.

First comic book appearance: Four Color (Dell, 1942 Series) #187 – Bugs Bunny and the Dreadful Dragon
(April 1948) where he appears both as a pirate and a western gunslinger in separate stories.

Keywords
animation 1945; Bugs Bunny; comic books 1948; Warner Bros.


Feature Logos

Logo Name Year Began Year Ended
Yosemite Sam [Western Solo Logo 2] ? 1984
Yosemite Sam [Western Solo Logo] ? 1984
Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny [Western Logo] 1970 1983
Yosemite Sam and Daffy Duck [Western Logo] 1972 1983

Feature Relations

as feature in other language: Yosemite Sam (Dutch)