Strictly for the Birds

One of the reasons the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon appealed to adults as well as kids was the topical and cultural humor that was mixed in with the slapstick and absurdist humor. For its Gold Key comic book adaptation, which began three years after the cartoon hit the airwaves, the satire was dropped, concentrating on just the slapstick and absurdities.

And that's okay. At the time, comic books were read almost entirely by kids. so a subtle jab at the Cold War wasn't likely to be notice. As long as the stories were funny and the characterizations correct, then there was no reason Bullwinkle couldn't be really, really funny.


Moose and Squirrel  had a few appearances in Four Color. The first issue of their own comic (November 1962) contained two Bullwinkle stories, along with one each featuring Dudley Do-Right, Mr. Peabody and the Fractured Fairy Tales. All the stories were possibly written and drawn by Al Kilgore. Kilgore definitly drew the cover, but there seems to be some doubt among comic book historians if he drew the interior art.

The first story, "Strictly for the Birds," shows that the writer (whomever he was) had a great sense of humor and understood the characters, though you can argue he has Bullwinkle figuring stuff out a little more quickly than the dimwitted moose normally was normally capable of.

Someone is stealing birds from the zoo. That someone is Boris Badenov, who cross-breeds the bird to make a super-bird who could then pull off all sorts of spy missions.

This might seem like a silly plan, but by golly, it works. There's no arguing with success.

Bullwinkle, who is a self-professed bird lover, is out looking for the missing birds when the super-bird steals some military secrets. Why the military keeps its secrets in a store-front operation in Frostbite Falls isn't discussed.

 Bullwinkle succeeds in annoying the bird, who grabs him and takes him back to Boris and Natasha.

 Boris is delighted to have "Moose" in his power and orders the bird to finish off Bullwinkle. But the moose quickly points out that if the bird is part eagle, then he ought to be working for AMERICA!

Naturally, that argument works. The bird switches sides, capturing the spies and tossing them in jail. The missing birds are all returned to the zoo--except for a woodpecker that Boris is now using to peck a hole in his jail cell.

The panels I'm sharing here don't do the story complete justice, as it is full of truly funny single panel gags throughout, with a few laugh-out-loud moments on each page, while the silly plot effectively drives us from one joke to another. It's too bad this particular story regulates Rocky to the side-lines and the absense of adult-aimed satire does need to be noted. But, despite being aimed at children, Bullwinkle gave us a story that grown-ups can easily enjoy as well.

Next week, we'll visit the African jungle to learn the origin of Cave Girl.