Friday, July 31, 2026

Hey, they went to series! I'm sure that'll turn out for them.

I don't think I noticed this said "One of Six" on the cover until I got to the "to be continued" at the end: from 2017, the Ruff and Reddy Show #1, "Ruff and Reddy: A Cautionary Tale in Six Parts, part one" Written by Howard Chaykin, art by Mac Rey. Cover by Howard Chaykin.
We were re-introduced to the titular duo in the back-up story in Green Lantern/Space Ghost Special #1, but this issue follows them from their 50's heyday, to their inevitable breakup: despite being the bottom rung of the entertainment ladder, as living cartoon "celimates," they had been briefly beloved and successful, even though they largely couldn't stand each other. Backtalking each other durning a Thanksgiving parade, they are undone when deaf kids are able to read their rather foulmouthed lips. (This being Chaykin, there's a rather risque joke about Superman's trunks!)
Ruff, the cat, would go on to moderate success in a Law & Order style show; while the dog Reddy would stumble into alcoholism and obscurity. Neither had worked in some time, but a young talent agent is tasked with bringing them back together...Yes, I'm sure that will go swimmingly, until it doesn't.
DC had a smattering of Hanna-Barbera books going for a minute--some, like this or Dastardly & Muttley were fairly obscure but had talent on 'em, like Garth Ennis! The Flintstones was pretty great, and Exit Stage Left: the Snagglepuss Chronicles was supposed to be as well. This particular one might just be Chaykin hitting his usual interests (see also: Satellite Sam) but he can do that pretty darn well.

2 comments:

Mr. Morbid said...

I think if Chaykin was able to, he could make an animated Ruff & Ready show work for DC. Definitely as an Adult Swim show for sure, but it definitely go over well with the AS viewers.

H said...

I think Future Quest and its spin-offs were the best of the Hanna-Barbera books from that era. Most of the DC/HB crossovers didn’t work me actually- they did better with Looney Tunes for that.

Flintstones started off nice but got too heavy-handed about halfway through, and I’ve only read snippets of the rest of them. Nothing really struck me, although I remember the Jetsons being decent. I think DC’s best Hanna-Barbera comics were the 90’s Cartoon Network books, the ones with the Go-Go Checks. They hadn’t moved the classics to Boomerang yet, so everyone was fair game.