Harlem Globetrotters Comic Book

Submitted by Douglas Wood March 31st, 2010
Certifikitsch Winner

This Gold Key comic book is a tie-in to the Hanna-Barbera/CBS Saturday morning cartoon series, The Harlem Globetrotters, which featured animated versions of players from the comic basketball team alongside their fictional bus driver and manager, Granny (!) and Dribbles, their dog mascot.

According to Wikipedia, “Harlem Globetrotters has a place in history as being the first Saturday morning cartoon to feature African-American male characters. (Hanna-Barbera’s other 1970 series, Josie and the Pussycats, which premiered 30 minutes earlier on the same day and network, was the first Saturday morning cartoon to feature an African-American character with the appearance of Valerie Brown.)”

In the comic book, the team is stranded in the Himalayas when their tour bus is damaged in a landslide. They discover the secret Utopia of Langri Sha but soon learn it’s a front for a gold-mining operation. And get this– the bad guys want to force our Globetrotting heroes into slavery!

2 Responses to “Harlem Globetrotters Comic Book”

  1. Allee Willis

    I have a few of these comic books (though not this one) as well as a Harlem Globetrotter coloring book. A former Globetrotter also recently friended me on Facebook after discovering I wrote some of his favorite Earth Wind & Fire songs. He promised me he’d do a basketball routine to “Boogie Wonderland”. Now THAT’S the best part of being a songwriter!

    I can’t believe the story in this issue is about slaves….

    Do you know how many issues of these were put out? I snap them up whenever I find them cheap. I love the graphics, the colors and, especially, the Globetrotters.

  2. Douglas Wood

    Harlem Globetrotters-Boogie Wonderland-Comic Books-Slaves! The AWMOK is an amazing collision of pop culture.

    Don’t know how many issues of these were made. This is actually the first time I’ve come across one. In fact, I didn’t even know there was a cartoon series until I researched this.