The landmark congressional hearings on the obscenity of children's comic books in the 1950s lead to Fredric Wertham's famous book "Seduction of the Innocent." Well, how about Deception of the Innocent? Examples of knock-off imitations all produced by cheapskates Carelton Comics here give an indication of the lengths companies will go to infringe on successful characters without incurring copyright violations. I give you Timmy the Timid Ghost (Not Caspar) Goofy Rabbit (Not Bugs) and Atom the Cat (Not Sylvester) All from ONE ISSUE! In a brilliant preemptive legal maneuver, they prominently placed the letter "T" on Timmy's pale chest lest there be no mistaking him for any other well-established cute flying ghosts.
Also shown here are notable knock-off Charleton characters including the legendary Masked Ranger (not Lone) and Li'l Genius (who isn't a menace named Dennis) and Freddy...basically "Archie" with one girlfriend instead of two, and neither as hot as Betty or Veronica. Want more? Charlton's "Son of Vulcan" was a fake Thor and "Pudgy Pig" who I can only assume was "related" to Porky. I am sure there were more.
I once tried to trick my nephew into eating yogurt by claiming it was ice cream. He was three years old and couldn't even count, but he COULD shout "That's not ice cream, it's YOGURT" I Iearned my lesson. So did Charleton...they went out of business in 1985.
Cheap Imitations by Charleton, all from "Timmy the Timid Ghost" special issue for R & S Shoe Store 1960 Collection Jim Linderman
Funny.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a "Beetles" album that a childhood friend had -- awful knock off.
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