She's NOT Barbie! She's BUNNY!

 Harvey's female teen character, Bunny, was a doll...literally!

1n 1966, a toy company wanted to launch a line of Barbie-type dolls, with the added kick of a comic book tie-in to boost public awareness!
Much like the way the 1980s GI Joe comic series was co-conceived by Hasbro and Marvel, Harvey's writers and artists worked with the toy company's staff on character development and storylines for the comic and toys.
Like most Harvey characters, Bunny had an ongoing obsession--in this case with teen fads and trends...clothing, dances, hairstyles, etc!
Presumably, this was to encourage doll buyers to pick up the newest clothing and accessories the manufacturer could produce after seeing them in the comic!
The proposed Bunny line also had what would have been the first African-American fashion doll character, her best friend Marcy, beating out Barbie's "Colored" Francie by a year!
Marcy was a major part of the comic series, including performing in an all-Black band called SOULar System which had it's own backup strip!
However, before a single doll could roll out of the factory, the toy company collapsed!
The Harvey family, deciding not to let the already-written and drawn pages go to waste, decided to publish the comic anyway.
It sold well enough to keep going for twenty 68-page issues from 1966 to 1971 and produce a one-shot spin-off, Harvey Pop Hits: Rock Happening, featuring the various musical groups introduced in the series!

Here's Bunny's never-reprinted "origin" tale from Harvey's Bunny #1 (1966).

Written by Warren Harvey (yes, one of the Harvey family who owned Harvey Comics), illustrated by Hy Eisman.

We previously ran a later Bunny story HERE, which, with its' thinly-masked drug references, was obviously not one of the original batch of pages done to tie-in with the proposed doll!

Next Month

We're going to spend August Having

FUN!

FUN!

FUN!

But not quite the way you think!

Be Here Next Week to Find Out!

And, Remember, You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

BARBIE Foreign Magazines and Current Comics

Though Barbie's publishing history in America is somewhat irregular...

...in Europe there has almost always been some periodical starring the fashion doll who was, in fact, based on a European fashion doll!

The magazines tend to feature materials about the dolls and related products along with teen lifestyle articles and fumetti starring the dolls themselves...

I don't remember American Barbies having spacesuits (or ray guns) like these, so they may have been European market exclusives, or custom-produced for the fumetti!

Note that while these pages are in sequence, they're not consecutive.

BTW, that last word means "end" in Swedish, not what it means in English!

(Get your minds out of the gutter!)

Meanwhile, in America, Barbie's been in a publishing revival since around 2015, with an interesting twist...

The character, as portrayed in current comics, is younger than the 18-25 year old adult previously-shown...

...and her adventures are far more fantastical!
And speaking of "fantastical"...

See Barbie when it opens in theatres this weekend!

Next Week:

The Story of a Rival 1960s Fashion Doll Who Had Her Own Long-Running Comic Book Series!

(and yes, there's a surprise twist to the tale!)

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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Barbie and Ruth

The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her

BARBIE "Designing Woman"

In 1991, Marvel/Star (the "young readers" line) introduced two titles about Barbie...

Barbie (without Ken in the title as the first comic had done)...

...and Barbie Fashion!
(Both covers by John Romita Sr)

Unlike the 1960s Dell comic, these books didn't use the concept that Barbie was a doll whom little fan club girls told tales about, but portrayed her and her friends and relatives (including Ken, Christie, Midge, and little sister Skipper) as straightforward comic book characters.
Both titles had healthy half-decade runs, but have never been reprinted.
Here's a tale from #10 (1991), which includes some rather pointed insights into haute couture, written by Lisa Trusiani, penciled by James Brock and inked by Roy Richardson...

Next Week:

Another Never-Reprinted Story About Barbie!

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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Barbie and Ruth

The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her

BARBIE "See You Later, Christmas Gator" Part 2: Special Delivery & Part 3: The Present

When Last We Left the World's Most Famous Fashion Doll...

 ...on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus runs into trouble when he's forced down over Florida by a tropical storm!
Luckily, Barbie is nearby...

Normally, we'd run Part 3 next week, but the chapters are so short, we're going to present it now...

Written by Angelo DeCesare, penciled by Mario Capaldi, and inked by John Lucas, this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Barbie #50 (1995) was typical of the kool flights of fancy the series specialized in.

Barbie, and its' sister title Barbie Fashion, were two secret success stories for Marvel in the 1990s.

Because they weren't superhero titles, the hardcore (mostly male) fans never even noticed them, but the two books ran an impressive 63 and 53 issues respectively at a time when many titles lasted 12 issues...or less!

Next Week:
O Henry's Classic Christmas Tale...

The Gift of the Magi!

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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True Love Comics Tales!

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

BARBIE "See You Later, Christmas Gator" Part 1: the Journey Begins

Ah, a world where Santa Claus is real...

...that's my kind of place!

Written by Angelo DeCesare, penciled by Mario Capaldi, and inked by John Lucas, this never reprinted tale from Marvel's Barbie #50 (1995) was typical of the kool flights of fancy the series specialized in.

Barbie, and its' sister title Barbie Fashion, were two secret success stories for Marvel in the 1990s.

Because they weren't superhero titles, hardcore, mostly male, fans never even noticed them, but the two books ran an impressive 63 and 53 issues respectively at a time when many titles lasted 12 issues or less!

Next Week:

The Poignant Conclusion to this Yuletide Tale!

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

And now a word from our sponsor...

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True Love Comics Tales!

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

BARBIE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL EDITION "Too Many Ghosts"

Our Halloweenfest continues with the world's most famous doll (literally)...

...in a cliched, but cute, tale!

Writer Trina Robbins and penciler Mary Wilshire certainly deliver "girl power" in this short, but sweet, All Hallows Eve tale in Marvel's Barbie Halloween Special #1b (1993) giveaway issued to comics stores for promotional purposes at Halloween.

NOTE: The giveaway "book" was just the 8-page story reprinted from Marvel's Barbie #11 (1991).

The other Halloween-themed story from that issue was re-purposed into Halloween Special #1a and also given out in 1993.
We presented it HERE last year!

Barbie, and its' sister title Barbie Fashion, were two secret success stories for Marvel in the 1990s.

Because they weren't superhero titles, hardcore, mostly male, fans never even noticed them, but the two books ran an impressive 63 and 53 issues respectively at a time when many titles lasted 12 issues or less!

Barbara Slate, who wrote 65 issues of the two series, told the tale...

In the 90s, Tom DeFalco, editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, started a girls’ line.

It was a courageous move because ‘girls don’t buy comics’ was the catch phrase whenever the subject was brought up.

But Tom boldly went where no man had gone before and got licenses for Barbie (Mattel) and then a few years later, Belle (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast) and Ariel (Disney’s Little Mermaid).

I wrote 65 Barbie comics. Every month Barbie would have a different profession.

She was an astronaut, a teacher, and a designer, to name a few of her seemingly endless career paths.

Barbie could do anything and live anywhere.

We won the Parents Choice Award two years in a row.

Even Ms. Magazine loved Barbie comics!

Her breasts were normal size.

Why?

Because under the keen eye of the marvelous Marvel editor, Hildy Mesnik, a team of women wrote, drew and adored Barbie.

We were all conscious of the fact that young girls would be reading our work and we wanted them to grow up to be strong, independent and successful women.

Of course our sales couldn’t compete with Spider-Man and other male dominated superheroes.

Comic book readers were, after all, 95% boys.

But every month our numbers increased.

To make a very sad story short, just as the girls’ line was getting traction, some a-hole who knew nothing about comics bought Marvel, looked at our monthly sales numbers, and eliminated the entire girls’ line while sending Marvel into bankruptcy. (Don’t get me started.)

From "Let the Girls Take the Lead", available HERE.

Next week...

Our Annual Halloween presentation of spooky,  sci-fi, and Gothic romance tales continues!

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!

(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)

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Barbie Halloween Witch Doll