On This Day, 8th September 1965, small ads in Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter attracted 437 young men interested in forming the world’s first manufactured boy band, “The Monkees.”
Three were chosen – Mickey Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork – with British actor-singer Davy Jones already cast.
A global success, a regular strip ran as part of Lady Penelope comic. It’s never been reprinted in its entirety in the UK, or associated annuals.
The Monkees made their debut in Issue 35, cover dated 17th September 1966, which ran an interview with the supposedly struggling band, some three months in advance of their TV series hitting the British screens.
The related comic strip, launched the following week, was initially drawn by Tom Kerr, with Mike Nesmith presented as “Wool Hat”, his character name in the series pilot.
The likenesses were, shall we say “liberal” in the extreme, but Kerr’s additional sight gags but make the strip a real gem, surely up there with some of the best of MAD magazine parodies.
Later artists on the strip included Harry Lindfield and Jim Baikie so. The storylines were still bizarre, and some very definitely “of their time”, given the portrayal of, in one instance, island natives, that is totally out of step with society today, so it’s perhaps not surprising they haven’t been reprinted.
“Tom Kerr drew ‘The Monkees’ in black and white for Lady Penelope at first but was soon superceded by Harry Lindfield, who drew it in colour,” comic archivist Shaqui Le Vesconte notes. “Writer Angus Allan wasn’t keen on Kerr’s art but felt Lindfield did a far superior job. Kerr then moved to draw most of the strips for the first two Monkees annuals.
“A number of the weekly colour strips were reprinted in Holland in TV Century 21 and Lady Penelope‘s Dutch counterpart, TV2000. An abridged edition of the first Monkees annual was also reprinted in Holland, with most of the supplementary humour features taken out, as they would not have translated so well.”
There were other The Monkees comics too, of course, in particular US publisher Dell Comics 17-issue series, launched in December 1966, the first issue written by Don J. Arneson, who passed in 2018, penciled by Mo Marcus, confirmed here by his son, Jerry, and inked by Dick Giordano, Sal Trapani, and Frank McLaughlin.
Subsequent issues were drawn by Jose Delbo in a cartoony style echoing the UK strips, with equally bizarre storylines. Some of his panels from the comic featured in a promotional video for The Monkees Good Times collection, released in 2016.
Intriguingly, back then, there was little oversight on the creation of the strip, which would not be the same situation today on a licensed title. Interviewed in 2016, DJ Arneson said there was no approval, on any aspect of their strips.
“We had the license to do it and there was no approval by the licensor. We did the comic and I don’t recall ever a licensor getting back to us. It all would have been after the fact as the book would have already been published.”
Presumably, the same applied on the British strips.
Three Monkees paperbacks from another US publisher, Popular Library, feature black-and-white comics stories written by Howard Liss and illustrated by Gene Fawcette, issued in 1966 on the heels of the TV show’s premiere.
As with the Lady Penelope-published strip, the writer and artist were working from the series’ earliest available materials, most notably the pilot episode, with Mike Nesmith also being called “Wool Hat”.
Charlton Comics also published a “The Monkees” strip in 1967, in one of its song lyrics magazines. Teen Tunes and Pin-Ups #3 featured a two-page, black-and-white Monkees strip written by Steve Skeates, drawn by future Batman artist Jim Aparo. Issues #4 and 5 of the mag also featured Monkees stories by Skeates and Aparo, and all three Charlton short stories bore the title of a Monkees tune.
More recently, The Monkees guest starred in the fourth issue of The Archies, published by Archie Comics in 2018, written by Alex Segura and Matthew Rosenberg, with art from Joe Eisma, coloured by Matt Herms and lettered by Jack Morelli.
The plot centred on Archie who, during a gig with his band, gets knocked out and dreams about an adventure with The Monkees.
For Mark Pinkus, president of Rhino Entertainment — which acquired the rights to The Monkees name, logo and back catalogue in 1994 — the guest appearance was a chance to introduce the group to an all-new demographic. “It’s exciting to see these two icons of pop culture finally cross paths,” he told Hollywood Reporter. “What a great opportunity to expose a whole new audience to the classic music and antics of The Monkees. I look forward to seeing Micky, Davy, Mike, and Peter in Riverdale!”
• Lady Penelope: a good grounding for a Girls’ comic by Martin Crookall
• Lady Penelope – Cover Gallery
• Follow The Art of Tom Kerr on Facebook
• RIP Don J. Arneson – a tribute by Mark Evanier
• Michael Eury’s book Hero-A-Go-Go! (AmazonUK Affiliate Link), released in 2017, features a sizeable section on the Monkees’ publication history
• Daydream Believing: The Hidden History of The Monkees in [US] Comics
• Dell Comics The Monkees – Bedetheque Guide (in French)
The longest running web site for The Monkees since 1994
The Monkees ©️ Rhino Records
- About the Author
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Other Worlds, Television
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