Leave It To Binky #68

Leave It To Binky #68 (On Sale: June 10, 1969) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli.

This issue has four Binky stories: "X Marks the Spot," "The Dance Lesson," "The Fortune Teller" and "Binky Slept Here." I have no credits for story details on any of these, though I am assuming they were all new stories and not touched-up reprints from the book's earlier incarnation.

In 1948, DC was already publishing Buzzy a comic about a "hep cat," and decided to go more directly at there competition at MLJ (now Archie Comics), launching a brand-new character in his own comic. Leave It to Binky #1, introduced us to teenager Bertram "Binky" Biggs, and was written and drawn by Hal Seeger and Bob Oksner.

Leave It to Binky's original run ended in October, 1958, with its 60th issue just as the popularity of superheroes was once again expanding. By the mid '60s, some at DC thought superheroes might be losing their hold over the public, and the era of DC experimentation began.

DC first launched a similar set of characters in Swing With Scooter then brought Binky and crew back with Showcase #70 (October, 1967) in a book of reprints of earlier exploits. I don't own the book, but I figure it was handled like the Willy and Windy book, where a previous series (in that case Dobie Gillis) was reworked for a new generation.

From there, Binky moved back into his own comic; Leave It to Binky #61 went on sale April 11, 1968. Later changed to just plain Binky, the book ran off and on till issue #82 (Spring, 1977). In 1969 and '70, it even had a short-lived companion title, Binky's Buddies.

Edited by Joe Orlando.