CBR Live! Archive
365 Reasons to Love Comics #306
It's All Souls' Day, and to celebrate the dearly departed, we might as well discuss the coolest soul brother in comics. (Archive.)
11/2/07
306. Spooky, the Tuff Little Ghost
Who did you think I meant?
I just realized I haven't touched on Harvey Comics all year (except for Jigsaw), and that's a damn shame. I love Harvey Comics! They're cute and fun and wacky and great for kids-- and I miss them. Richie, Wendy, Hot Stuff-- hells yeah!
For a ghost-centric Harvey entry, you'd think I'd go for Casper the Friendly Ghost (or, as Lisa Simpson would have you believe, the ghost of Richie Rich), but I have to say his sometimes pal, sometimes rival Spooky is much cooler.
I'm not sure who created Spooky, but his first appearance was in Casper #10, making Spooky a character who first appeared in comics-- though my sources differ on that, too. Are there no tried-and-true Spooky experts out there in internet fandom? Dang. He later got his own series, however, which lasted quite a while. Actually, he had a few series, and appearances throughout multiple Casper cartoons.
What makes Spooky cooler than Casper? Well, as we all know, Casper's something of a pushover. He's a nice guy, but audiences respond better to jackasses. Spooky is a little bit Casper, and a little bit Ghostly Trio, giving him a balancing act between hero and antagonist. While he tries to be a scary ghost, he quite often seems ineffective, or is scared himself. As you can see from the covers in this post, Spooky can easily scare watermelon seeds or induce heart attacks in the elderly, but monkeys and haunted houses pose problems for him. But what truly scares Spooky? Why, dirty hippies, of course.
Spooky was easily the richest of Casper's supporting cast. His take-no-crap attitude and hilarious Brooklyn accent made him cool enough, but it's the derby hat (or "doiby," as he'd say) that sells the entire character to me. And then there was his girlfriend Poil Pearl. I hope those two crazy ghost kids made it.
Maybe Spooky and the rest of the Harvey gang have dropped off the radar in recent years. Much like the South, I'm sure they shall rise again!
For more on Spooky, visit Toonopedia or the Harveyville Fun Times.
- Posted on November 2, 2007 @ 03:39 PM
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13 Comments
The Mutt
November 2, 2007 at 7:39 pm
I can't remember which comedian pointed out that Caspar was a dead baby, but I've never been able to look at him the same way since.
MarkAndrew
November 2, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Oh jesus. Thanks a LOT, dude.
Omar Karindu
November 3, 2007 at 7:19 am
I always preferred he Simpsons take, which was that he was Richie Rich's ghost.
the poser
November 3, 2007 at 11:12 am
"I can’t remember which comedian pointed out that Caspar was a dead baby, but I’ve never been able to look at him the same way since."
...Dammit!
JG
November 3, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Ya got me. I was definitely expecting a Brother Voodoo post.
Richard
November 3, 2007 at 2:57 pm
“I can’t remember which comedian pointed out that Caspar was a dead baby, but I’ve never been able to look at him the same way since.â€
I've not seen it, but evidently the Casper movie comes off as being rather creepy for exactly that reason.
Bill Reed
November 3, 2007 at 5:49 pm
He had his turn back in February.
Chris Griswold
November 3, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Spooky is far greater than Casper, but Hot Stuff is the best.
Are they still making anything with these characters, other than high-end Hot Stuff statues and things?
Richard
November 3, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I was a fan of Sad Sack, myself.
km
November 4, 2007 at 9:11 am
Well, that and Bill Pullman. [rimshot]
I've never been a big fan of the Harvey 'Ghosties' for mostly the same reasons - I mean, right from the opening moments of the original animated Casper cartoon, the whole 'dead kid' scenario is a little hard to avoid.
It doesn't affect the cartoons so much (they're played for as much pathos as funnie) but as a backdrop for cutesey slapstick comics, that gets weird.
avengers63
November 5, 2007 at 7:13 am
Hervey was great! They did kid's comics the way they were meant to be. Granted, I never read Disney's comics, but I always saw D as more of a marketing giant than anything else, so I avoided their stuff. (Yes, I was a cynic as a kid too). Harvey comics WERE cute, accessable, and one-offs, just like Archie. Both were absolutely great.
Comics Should Be Good! » 365 Reasons to Love Comics Archive
November 6, 2007 at 5:02 pm
[...] 306. Spooky, the Tuff Little Ghost [...]
Mary Warner
September 8, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Marvel's Crazy Magazine printed a story in the mid-70s called 'Kaspar the Dead Baby'. It wasn't very good, but there's a link to it in some more recent 'Comics Should Be Good' page. I forget where.