Boys' and Girls' March of Comics #124 [Simplex Flexies]

(January 1955)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 1)

blank page(s) / 1 page (report information)

Synopsis

This page can be blank, or may contain an ad from the various businesses that offered the book as a premium. The "Poll-Parrot Shoes" variant carries an ad. Presumably, others do as well.

Indexer Notes

Inside front cover.

The Crook Catcher (Table of Contents: 2)

Woody Woodpecker / comic story / 20 pages (report information)

Script

Don R. Christensen

Pencils

John Carey

Inks

John Carey

Colors

Western Publishing Production Shop

Letters

John Carey

First Line of Dialogue or Text

My name's Woody... I'm a woodpecker!

Genre

anthropomorphic-funny animals

Characters

Woody Woodpecker; Slick Sam (crook); postman; newspaper hawker; two gas station attendants; three kids with slingshots; Jenks (police detective); uniformed police officer; various bad guys in waterfront dive; manicurist

Synopsis

Woody becomes an unwilling accomplice of a crook during the course of a robbery, then aids the police in apprehending the crook.

Keywords

break-in; burglary; frame-up; policework; undercover mission; waterfront; wrong-place-at-wrong-time

Indexer Notes

Opening narration is written in sort of a "Dragnet/Film Noir" style. While posing as a gangster, Woody refers to himself as "Edward G. Woodpecker" - a reference to Golden Age of Hollywood movie star Edward G. Robinson, famous for playing tough gangsters in such classic films as "Little Caesar" (1931) and "Key Largo" (1948).

Acting more as a woodpecker in this story, Woody both pecks telephone poles and can fly. Two tiers per page.

The Batty Baseballer (Table of Contents: 3)

Woody Woodpecker / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Don R. Christensen

Pencils

John Carey

Inks

John Carey

Colors

Western Publishing Production Shop

Letters

John Carey

First Line of Dialogue or Text

That's the old steam, Splinter! Right over the ol' plate!

Genre

anthropomorphic-funny animals

Characters

Woody Woodpecker; Knothead; Splinter; Wally Walrus; chemist; baseball team manager; various baseball players

Synopsis

Utterly failing to impress Knothead and Splinter with his pitching ability, a depressed Woody reluctantly tries his luck at batting. But the kids doctor the baseball giving Woody an abundance of confidence. He takes that confidence to the local baseball team, demanding a tryout.

Keywords

baseball; confidence; exaggerating one’s importance

Indexer Notes

Two tiers per page. Carrying over from the previous story, Woody can fly in this tale as well. Christensen's original title: "All Baseballed Up", from his notes.

Puppet Play (Table of Contents: 4)

Woody Woodpecker / activity / 3 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

Western Publishing Production Shop

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Mount the Woody Woodpecker puppet on cardboard and cut out.

Genre

anthropomorphic-funny animals

Characters

Woody Woodpecker

Synopsis

How to make a "puppet" (marionette, actually) of Woody Woodpecker.

Keywords

crafts; marionette; puppet

Indexer Notes

Page one contains the instructions, while pages two and three contain the different pieces to cut out and mount on cardboard to make the Woody Woodpecker puppet.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 5)

Woody Woodpecker / activity / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

Western Publishing Production Shop

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

The two little woodpeckers were in such a hurry to get to school on time that they forgot something important!

Genre

anthropomorphic-funny animals

Characters

Knothead; Splinter

Synopsis

Connect the dots to see what Knothead and Splinter forgot on their way to school.

Keywords

connect-the-dots

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 6)

blank page(s) / 1 page (report information)

Synopsis

This page can be blank, or may contain an ad from the various businesses that offered the book as a premium. The "Poll-Parrot Shoes" variant carries an ad. Presumably, others do as well.

Indexer Notes

Inside back cover.

[Back Cover] (Table of Contents: 7)

cover / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

?

Keywords

advertising; back cover

Indexer Notes

Generally, in this oblong format for March of Comics, two-thirds of the back cover is reserved for the logo and ad copy for whichever firm is distributing the issue as a giveaway premium. This space can be blank if no named sponsor. The remaining vertical third of the cover space (nearest to the binding) consists of an upper rectangle containing an illustration of the starring character(s) and a lower rectangle for the "March of Comics" logo.

The "Poll-Parrot Shoes" variant consists of a full-page Poll-Parrot ad. Other variants may carry similarly-formatted advertising.