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Western Publishing: Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom

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About This Series
Issues
Pictures



About This Series:

    This was a one-shot comic from 1965, given as a promotional item from Mutual of Omaha.  It's based on TV's nature program, "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom".  I'm truly surprised no attempt at a regular series was made, because "Wild Kingdom" translates very well to a comic book format.  They had a never-ending source of material from which to draw stories, and it would have been great non-fiction for all ages.  Heck, even if the adventures were fiction, the information on animals would have been fact.

    The publisher is not mentioned on or in the comic, but it's known to be Western Publishing.  The artwork was in a style that definitely matched what the Dell and Gold Key publishers were putting out at the time.  Dell gradually phased into Gold Key, which gradually phased into Whitman.  Whitman, of course, was a subsidiary of Western Publishing.  This basic style of comic art was around for over three decades!

Issues:

#1:  1965.  Although not actually numbered, I call it #1.  The first story has Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler catching a hippo.  The second story has the two catching a polar bear.  The inside front and back cover has many animal facts with illustrations.  The back cover features an article about the TV show.  This is a great item of memorabilia for fans of the TV series.  A must-have.

Pictures: