Sunday, June 27, 2010

1937-38 Hank Porter Comic Strip

Distributed by King Features Syndicate, this Snow White Sunday newspaper comic strip ran for twenty weeks, from December 12, 1937 to April 24, 1938. It actually began nine days prior to the film's colossal premiere at the Cathay Circle Theatre on December 21, 1937 and a whopping month and a half or more before the movie's general public release in February 1938. By the time the film actually appeared in theaters, devoted readers would have already been familiar with the princess, prince and queen. They'd also have had a silhouetted glimpse of the dwarfs marching home from their diamond mine.


-December 12, 1937 - week one...



- December 19, 1937 - week two...



- December 26, 1937 - week three...



- January 2, 1938 - week four...



- January 9, 1938 - week five...



- January 16, 1938 - week six...



- January 23, 1938 - week seven...



- January 30, 1938 - week eight...



- February 6, 1938 - week nine...



- February 13, 1938 - week ten...



- February 20, 1938 - week eleven...



- February 27, 1938 - week twelve...



- March 6, 1938 - week thirteen...



- March 13, 1938 - week fourteen...



- March 20, 1938 - week fifteen...



- March 27, 1938 - week sixteen...



- April 3, 1938 - week seventeen...



- April 10, 1938 - week eighteen...



- April 17, 1938 - week nineteen...



- April 24, 1938 - week twenty...

Comics illustrations and text copyright Disney. Posted here for historical documentation purposes only.
Images courtesy of the Thom Buchanan collection via The Pictorial Arts blog.


The strip was illustrated by Hank Porter, a very talented artist, though maybe lesser-known than some of the other Studio names. Hank worked in the Disney Publicity Art Department from 1936 until 1950. The comic strip was inked by Bob Grant. The story was authored by Merrill de Maris, one of several writers credited with the Snow White screenplay.
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22 comments:

  1. Operator_99June 28, 2010 at 3:37 PM

    So great that this has been preserved. Thom has a nice blog for those interested in classic illustration, but never saw this on there. Thanks for posting. It nice to be able to see old strips and comics preserved digitally. I no longer have to hide under the covers with a flashlight. :-)

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  2. Venus on the half shellJune 29, 2010 at 2:45 AM

    These are fantastic! Thank you for sharing them with us!

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  3. Snow White ArchiveJune 29, 2010 at 9:37 PM

    Yes, I think it's fantastic how the web can actually be used in a positive way to digitally preserve (and share) such wonderful "artifacts" as this.

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  4. AlexandreMay 15, 2011 at 9:22 AM

    Thank you so much, I always wanted to read this comic, thank you so so much !!

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  5. Snow White ArchiveMay 16, 2011 at 11:29 AM

    Alexandre-- I'm so glad you liked it.

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  6. jolinDecember 26, 2012 at 2:14 AM

    thank u --- like this so much --

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  7. VladDecember 26, 2012 at 3:47 PM

    It's so awesome that you found this treasure! I also have a digital comic book of Snow White on my iPhone, from Disney Comics. It's much more faithful to the film than this one (mainly because the Prince doesn't play such a big part). If you want it, I can e-mail it to you. :D

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    1. Snow White ArchiveDecember 26, 2012 at 4:01 PM

      That would be great! Thanks Vlad!!

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    2. VladDecember 27, 2012 at 9:57 AM

      I sent it, check your e-mail. :) hope I got the e-mail address right.

      Delete
    3. Snow White ArchiveDecember 27, 2012 at 12:52 PM

      Vlad, Yes the files arrived successfully. I see what you mean about the updated illustrations. Do you know when this digital version was produced? And where it was sold? Any details will help if I do a future post about it. Much appreciated!

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    4. VladDecember 27, 2012 at 5:49 PM

      From what I know, it was produced in 2001, when the Platinum Edition DVD was released. I saw it when I was in Germany, in a newly released collection. The illustrations are the same, but Snow White's face is a bit different at times.

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    5. Snow White ArchiveDecember 28, 2012 at 12:46 AM

      Cool! Thanks again Vlad. :)

      Delete
  8. VladDecember 29, 2012 at 4:41 AM

    You're very welcome.

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  9. R Shay HarrisJune 24, 2013 at 2:59 AM

    Prince Buckethead is now my actual favorite piece of Snow White trivia. Thank you so much for sharing this.

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  10. JayMarch 30, 2014 at 6:44 PM

    My dad had a couple collected print editions of this: an oversize one by Gladstone and a standard comic book by Marvel, both with the panels re-set into a comic book format. I'd seen it a few times and when I saw the movie, I was a little disappointed that the Prince's role was so different as he actually has something to do during the plot in this version, and it explains why he comes looking for Snow White in the woods rather than just searching for the girl he saw one day and finally finding her again. Of course, the film works fine on its own, but this extra dimension for the Prince is much appreciated.

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    1. Snow White ArchiveMarch 30, 2014 at 9:57 PM

      That's cool that your dad had those collector editions. Yeah, I find it interesting how the comic deviates from the film. But of course, the movie did have to be cut in quite a few places to get it into the tight finished form that was released in 1937. And numerous original concept ideas never even made it to the animation stage. Thanks for your comment Jared.

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  11. AnonymousJuly 18, 2015 at 1:04 AM

    Awesome reading through your blog! Hank Porter is my grandfather! My mom is Diane the youngest of the three kids! I'm doing my ancestry tree and the Porter family goes way back to the 1600's. Pretty need to see his skills. He died the same year that I was born. Thanks for sharing, great stuff!

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    Replies
    1. Snow White ArchiveJuly 18, 2015 at 10:15 AM

      Hi William, Glad you found the Snow White Archive and thanks for the nice comment.Hank was quite the artist! A rare talent for sure.

      Delete
  12. UnknownAugust 9, 2018 at 7:43 AM

    I had this when I was a kid. It was a read-along book with a cassette tape. It's funny, I suddenly remembered it yesterday.

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  13. YasminJanuary 21, 2022 at 4:34 AM

    I wish the movie was like this comic...

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