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

BUNNY "Yvoorg Nam"

We've presented several teen humor stories from Jetta and Tippy Teen...

...but this one has to be the wildest of all!

WTF?

If you're shaking your head in confusion, consider two things...

1) It was 1968 and "psychedelic" was IN!

2) This story, illustrated by Ernie Colon (though who wrote the tale is unknown), is from Bunny #4, Harvey Comics' 1960s attempt to expand their fanbase from pre-teens to 'tweens and teens...which has a fascinating back-story of it's own...

To most people today, the 'tween / teen comics scene begins and ends with the Archie Comics line.
Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, and the rest seem to be the only non-super powered teenagers in the four-color world!
But it wasn't always that way...
In the 1960s, when many comics companies flourished in the era of Pop Art and "Camp", every company had teen-age characters side-by-side with superheroes and spies!
Harvey Comics, had a teen line headed by a female lead, rather than a male.
She was a doll...literally!

In 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 in the same way the 1980s GI Joe 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!

However, before a single doll could roll out of the factory, the toy company collapsed!
The Harveys (three brothers who owned and ran the comic company), not wanting to let the already-prepared pages go to waste, decided to publish the comic anyway.
It sold well enough to keep going for several years and produce a spin-off title, Rock Happening, which serves as the basis for our own line of Bunny-themed goodies!

Next Week:

We don't know yet what we'll present, but we can guarantee...

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

(Things are really getting juicy...)

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