Four Color #1141
Four Color #1141 — subtitled 'Huckleberry Hound for President' — is a standout Silver Age Dell one-shot that brought virtually the entire early Hanna-Barbera television universe together under a single cover, assembling Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Boo Boo, Pixie, Dixie, Mr. Jinks, Quick Draw McGraw, Augie Doggie, Doggie Daddy, and Snooper and Blabs at a moment when the studio's cartoon empire was still young. Its election-themed framing gives it a wry topicality — published in October 1960, right in the thick of a U.S. presidential campaign season — making it a small cultural time capsule of how Dell and Hanna-Barbera chose to engage young readers with civic humor. As a Dell Four Color special outside the regular numbered Huckleberry Hound run, it demonstrated that the anthology format could serve as a showcase event issue, foreshadowing the crossover team-up specials that would become a staple of the medium.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Dell Publishing produced the issue under license from Hanna-Barbera Productions, the partnership of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera whose animated series had launched on television in 1958. Artist Harvey Eisenberg, the primary cartoonist on Dell's Hanna-Barbera titles during this period, is credited with the art and lettering. The issue sits outside the core Huckleberry Hound numbered run — Dell had retroactively counted Four Color #990 and #1050 as issues #1 and #2 of that ongoing series — placing #1141 in the tradition of Dell's occasional themed specials within the long-running Four Color umbrella.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Dell Comics, October 1960, as part of the long-running Four Color anthology series (issue #1141); titled 'Huckleberry Hound for President' on the cover.
- The issue is a themed special/one-shot sitting outside the regular numbered Huckleberry Hound series; Dell had counted Four Color #990 and #1050 as the first two issues of that ongoing title.
- All major characters cataloged here — Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Boo Boo Bear, Pixie, Dixie, and Mr. Jinks — made their first comic book appearances earlier, in Four Color #990 (May–July 1959), not in this issue.
- The cast assembled in this special is unusually broad for a Dell Hanna-Barbera title, gathering characters from multiple concurrent TV segments: Pixie, Dixie & Mr. Jinks; Yogi Bear & Boo Boo; Quick Draw McGraw; Augie Doggie & Doggie Daddy; and Snooper & Blabs.
- Yogi Bear was created by Hanna-Barbera for The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958, originally as a supporting character who ultimately eclipsed the show's namesake star in popularity, earning his own series in 1961.
- Harvey Eisenberg served as artist and letterer on this issue, consistent with his role as the principal cartoonist on Dell's early Hanna-Barbera comics throughout this era.
- The issue carries a 10-cent cover price, standard for Dell Silver Age comics of this format.
- The Hanna-Barbera characters featured here went on to be published continuously under Dell and then Gold Key/Western Publishing from 1959 through 1970, with Huckleberry Hound alone running 43 issues across those imprints.