Issue 181 of Sad Sack dates back to September of 1966. It may look like a second rate rip off of Beetle Bailey, but Sad Sack debuted as a comic strip in 1942, while Beetle Bailey started in 1950. It has a 40’s aesthetic though. You know it’s bad if the props have to be labeled, as in the case with the skateboard. It says “loved by Millions” on the cover of this Harvey Comics publication, but the contents are pretty horrible inside. At least Beetle Bailey was sometimes actually funny. Full cover after the jump, and no skateboarding in the contents. I bought this on Ebay from a real skateboard historian, Scott Starr. I didn’t realize he was the seller until after I bought it.

Jughead got in on the skateboard craze too, possibly before Archie ever set foot on one. Issue 136 is dated November of 1965. In this illustration Jughead looks and dresses like a guy I went to college with in the 80’s. We called him Nest. (Hello Tom!)

July of 1967 and they are still trotting out skateboards for the cover gag on Archie comics. Archie looks a little like Greg Brady in this one, although I think Greg might have had better style. The Twist had it’s heyday in 1960, so it’s kind of funny that by 1967 it was already considered “old-fashioned” by girls in unhip comic books. Seriously. Who was the the audience for these? (Click through, you won’t be sorry.)

I never got Archie, even as a kid it just seemed boring. This is Archie Pal-N-Gals #36 that dates back to April of 1966, a full year after skateboarding supposedly died a violent and sudden death in 1965. Coincidentally, I just read an interview with in the Skateboarders Journal with Patti McGee who mentioned the same thing, conventional wisdom reports the death of skateboarding in ’65, but Patti said she was still touring and making public appearances in 1966. So that’s the most interesting thing about Archie. It sort of corroborates Patti’s story. There’s no further skateboarding in this issue of Gals-N-Pals except for the cover. View it after the jump.

Woodsy Owl was/is the mascot of the US Forest Service. He had his own comic book from 1973-1976. Here he is getting down with some 8 wheeled action in issue #4 from 1973. There are no other skateboard stores inn this issue. [Source: Retrogasm]

There’s more Dee Dee merch now than there ever was when he was alive. I don’t know who benefits from that, but some of it is pretty cool. On the left, Dee Dee as he appeared in Tank Girl: Skidmarks, shown as he might have appeared on a custom Bulldog board. On the right, Dee Dee as the Powell ripper. Ripper clones are a dime a dozen, but Dee Dee being actually dead, well that makes this one special. Source: DeeDeeRamone.com – Tank-Girl.com

Two of the best animated shows ever. What about Family Guy? Meh. It has its moments, but it’s not in the same class as these two. This is actually part of a panel from a Fururama comic book where the Futurama cast is trapped in a Simpson’s comic book by evil floating brains. I found this over at Insane Journal after getting sidetracked while doing an image search for Stella Stevens on a skateboard. It was a fruitless search, but I did find illustrations of Fry and Bart Simpson skateboarding together. There’s even a Back to the Future plug. Let’s analyze that. A real movie reference in a comic book that takes place inside the universe of a different comic book. Now if only there was a skateboard in The Venture Brothers.

This comes via MC’s Skate Comics Depository via Gentlemanly Conduct. It’s from an old Viz magazine, which is the UK’s version of Mad, only geared towards a more adult audience.

I found this picture by following a trackback from Sk8.net. It’s from tumblr user djmascotboy, and you can see it larger here. This Rocky kid has good taste in female companions and bad taste in knee pads. Actually, I think he’s sharing shirts with his girlfriend. Those look like Indy 215’s he’s sporting. Update: Checking back in over a decade later and I was able to figure out this is called Sukebo Rocky By Motoyuki Asai, and it translates to “Skateboard Rocky!”

I found this Mexican comic book, Los Super Juniors over at Weirdo Toys. And speaking of Mexican skateboarding, check out this video from Steven Bailey found at the Mercava Skateboards. It’s got spots from different states in Mexico, including the one where tipster John Aguilar learned to skate tranny when he was a Super Junior. It’s a super rough looking the banked ditch/half pipe thing in Mexico city behind the Corona beer brewery. Look for it at about 2:38 into the vid. 2023 Update: Follow me down a rabbit hole while I try to track down Mexican comic books.