Four Color #1128
Dell's Four Color #1128 is the first comic book appearance of Rocky the flying squirrel, Bullwinkle J. Moose, and the supporting cast of Jay Ward's satirical television universe — making it the founding document of what would become one of the most enduring funny-animal franchises in American comics. The issue arrived less than a year after the animated series premiered on ABC, capturing the property at the peak of its early cultural momentum and proving that Ward's brand of sophisticated, Cold War-tinged satire could translate beyond the television screen. It launched a lineage of Rocky and Bullwinkle comics that would pass through Dell, Gold Key, Charlton, Whitman, Marvel/Star, IDW, and American Mythology over six decades — all traceable back to this single Dell one-shot. The show the issue adapted would later be ranked by TV Guide as the sixth-greatest television cartoon of all time, and the characters it introduced in print have never permanently left comics.
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The television series that inspired this issue was created by Jay Ward — with General Mills as a financial backer — originally syndicated as 'Rocky and His Friends' starting November 1959, before moving to NBC in prime time as 'The Bullwinkle Show.' Dell Publishing secured the comics license and slotted the characters into their long-running anthology title Four Color, which had served as a tryout and tie-in vehicle for licensed properties since 1942. The GCD credits writer Al Kilgore for the scripts based on Keith Scott's reference book *The Moose That Roared*, while interior pencils and inks are tentatively attributed to Ben De Nunez; a separate note in Bails's *Who's Who* raises the possibility that Jack Mendelsohn also contributed writing to this debut issue, leaving the precise creative division unresolved. The GCD also observes a minor production curiosity unique to this issue: Rocky's goggle headgear is rendered flat here, whereas every subsequent comic appearance (excluding reprints of this material) shows the goggles protruding — a subtle first-issue idiosyncrasy.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First comic book appearance of Bullwinkle J. Moose, Rocky (Rocket J. Squirrel), Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, Mr. Peabody, and Sherman — the entire core cast of Jay Ward's TV universe debuts in print here.
- Published August–October 1960 by Dell Publishing Co., Inc. under the Four Color umbrella title (Dell's long-running licensed-character anthology series), with the indicia title 'Rocky and His Friends.'
- The animated series that inspired the issue originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on ABC and NBC, produced by Jay Ward Productions; the comic arrived less than a year after the TV debut.
- Script credited to Al Kilgore (per Keith Scott's book *The Moose That Roared*); interior art tentatively attributed to Ben De Nunez; a separate source (Jerry Bails's *Who's Who*) suggests Jack Mendelsohn may have also contributed writing — credits remain disputed among researchers.
- Rocky's goggle headgear is depicted flat on the cover and interior of this issue; all subsequent Rocky and Bullwinkle comics (not counting reprints of this issue's material) show the goggles in their more familiar protruding style — a unique first-issue production detail noted by GCD researchers.
- Stories in the issue include a Bullwinkle-and-Rocky adventure involving moon men Cloyd and Gidney (recurring TV characters), alongside a Mr. Peabody and Sherman story featuring Captain Kidd.
- Interior stories from this issue were reprinted in Bullwinkle (Western/Gold Key series) #3 (April 1972) and #20 (April 1979), as well as in Gwandanaland Comics #664 (April 2017), extending the issue's reach across multiple publishing eras.
- This issue is the first of four Rocky and Bullwinkle appearances within Dell's Four Color series (the others being #1152, #1208, and #1270), before the franchise graduated to its own standalone ongoing title beginning in 1962.
Cast · 2 characters
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
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"Moon men, Cloyd and Gidney, have returned to Earth more determined than ever to carry Bullwinkle back to the Moon and his adoring fans, the moongirls..."
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).