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Fleer Funnies
| Dubble Bubble gum was the home to Pud and his pals. In their own way, these comics are every bit as fascinating
as Bazooka Joe, and they've been around much longer actually! Fleer Funnies has a rich history dating back to the 1930's.
If not the first, they were certainly one of the first to include comics with their gum, Dubble Bubble. Their first
series of comics featured original characters, 'Dub and Bub'. Another early series of comics featured stick people.
Eventually, Fleer developed a winning cast of characters for it's comics including their icon, Pud. Originally, Pud
was much more rotund than the slimmed down version we see in the 1960s and later.
The early comics were especially large and colorful. They included Fleer Fortunes and Dubble Bubble Facts. They were also sequentially numbered which makes collecting them easy. They are not dated though, so it's difficult to know the exact year of release. By the late 1950s, early 1960s, Fleer Funnies shrank to the small size most people remember. Last time I looked, you could still find comics with the gum. Pud has been slightly redesigned and the comics are printed blue ink on white instead of full color. More than 1,002 comics have been released over the years. Collect them all! |
The first comics to be wrapped around bubblegum that I'm aware of was Dub and Bub in the very early 1930s. It's unknown (to me) how many different there are. They are scarce and looked something like this:
Sometime after 'Dub and Bub', Fleer introduced this series of comics featuring stick people. The comics are printed on thin, tissue type paper and are fragile. They seem to be from the 1930s and there are 130 different comics. Here are a few samples:
 17 |
 59 |
 69 |
 76 |
 101 |
 128 |
Below is the series that featured Pud's debut. I don't know the exact date but it looks late 1930s, early 1940s to me. The numbering starts at #131, as it directly follows the previous 'stick figure' series. Enjoy the samples!
 138 |
 205 |
 221 |
 224 |
 237 |
 244 |
 258 |
 282 |
 332 |
 341 |
 347 |
 400 |
Here's a sample of some of the 1960's comics to whet your appetite:
 410 |
 411 |
 412 |
 413 |
 414 |
 415 |
 416 |
 417 |
 418 |
 419 |
 420 |
 421 |
 422 |
 423 |
 424 |
 425 |
 426 |
 427 |
 428 |
 429 |
The above table gives you a better idea of what I may want to eventually accomplish: An image of every comic ever wrapped around a slab of gum! Wish me luck.
Intro
Bazooka Joe
Tommy Swell
Archie
Here's a fun link: Victory Sweets