Blast From the Past: Harvey Comics

I love books!  They're my heroes, warding away the evils of boredom.  Through the years, I learned not to be so picky when it comes to authors or titles.  As long as it sounds (reads?  looks?) interesting to me, then I'd definitely buy a copy.

My love for reading, I guess, stems from the fact that my mom is a lover of books too.  That being said, it's no wonder that she used to buy the Bro and me tons of titles to read.  And although we were not as showered with toys much, I could clearly remember our childhood never being left for want of a good book.

Like most kids, we, too, started out reading story books and of course, comics -- specifically Archie comics and these pretty little wonders...

Sneak peek...

... Harvey Comics!!!

Harvey Comics Treasury from Dark Horse

Casper, Richie Rich, Wendy, Lil Dot, Lil Audrey -- these were just some of Harvey Comics' well-loved characters.  And although most of these comic stories were published in the 1950s to 70s, the tales of their rich characters always kept me mesmerized and truly entertained for hours on end.  It's simply timeless, in my opinion.

These, folks, are a whole world away from the serious comics we have now.  The stories in the Harvey children's line are always full of lessons, trying to show kids the meaning of good clean fun.  No cursing, no violence and definitely no sexual innuendos.  Just the perfect read for curious young minds just starting to love books.

It's a pity, though, that the popularity of Harvey Comics slowly started to wane in 1980s till they finally stopped producing stories altogether.  I, for one, was only able to learn about them due in thanks to my tito, who had quite a collection of these comic books; and from a brief reselling of titles in the 1990s at Booksale outlets and National Bookstores.

Nowadays, I get my Harvey Comics fix through the treasuries and compilation volumes published by Dark Horse (as what you can see in both photos above), and through the occasional find in 2nd hand bookstores, bazaars, and online stores. 

Recently I also found out that another media outfit called Ape Entertainment has been selling reprints of some of the original Richie Rich and Casper stories, along with new, more recent story lines.  Unfortunately, their work has still yet to reach the Philippines.

*Sigh*  This is me being nostalgic over the carefree, good old days.  I oftentimes shudder to think what type of so-called "children" or "preteen" book my Little One will be exposed to in the future.  I hope it will be something as harmless and innocent as these.

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To learn more about Harvey Comics, please visit their official website (Harvey Entertainment) or though the Harvey Comics Wikipedia page.