JOE MESSERLI - INKER & LETTERER ON FLINTSTONES STRIPS

I received a nice e-mail from cartoonist JOE MESSERLI today. Here's what JOE had to say --

Nice site. For most of the 60s I inked and lettered
the FLINTSTONE daily and Sunday strips for Gene
Hazelton at Hanna-Barbera on a freelance basis.
On Tuesdays, I would go into the H-B Studio; Gene
would also go in. We'd go into a little room. I'd deliver
finishes, Gene would check them over and give me
new pencil drawings (with scripts). Gene always drew
the FLINTSTONE DAILIES. Dick Bickenbach penciled
the FLINTSTONE Sunday (occasionally Gene did).
Harvey Eisenberg penciled the YOGI BEAR daily panel
and the Sunday page . . . until he died. Then, Harvey's
son Jerry Eisenberg took over. I inked and lettered Yogi
for quite a while.

Joe is going to provide me with more information about his work on the FLINTSTONES strips soon. Love your inking and lettering on the strips! Joe is currently living in Connecticut. Great to hear from you, Joe! Click on the FLINTSTONES strip for a larger view!

YOGI BEAR & THE BEATLES - 1965 COMIC STRIP

I love the BEATLES reference in this 1965 YOGI BEAR Sunday comic strip! We all know this strip was not written and illustrated by BILL HANNA and JOE BARBERA. I don't know who wrote it, but it looks like the art may have been done by DICK BICKENBACH or HARVEY EISENBERG. Anyone know for sure? I have quite a few of these YOGI BEAR strips in my Hanna-Barbera files for future postings. Keep checking back! Click on the image for a larger view!

UPDATE - Blog reader CHRIS ALLARD (from Woburn, MA) tells me that the above YOGI BEAR strip was indeed illustrated by HARVEY EISENBERG and written by FRED TREADGOLD. Thanks for the info, Chris!

RICOCHET RABBIT - EARLY DESIGN

Here's an early design of Hanna-Barbera's RICOCHET RABBIT. This design was done by DICK BICKENBACH. I took a print-out of the pencil art and colored it with markers, then inked it with a brush. I've been watching a lot of classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons lately. The classic H-B cartoons are some of my all-time favorite 1960s TV cartoons. Click on the image for a larger view! E-mail me at powsley@flash.net for details on how you can own this piece. Thanks! -- Patrick Owsley