Lucy! Youve got some splaining to do! Like, How did you wind up in a bunch of comic books? Well, thats an easy one, sure to soothe even hot-tempered Ricky Ricardo. Lucy wound up in a bunch of comic books because she was the star of I Love Lucy a perennial hit since the earliest days of television. And, like many of her contemporaries on the tube, Lucys popularity meant a transition to comics. During the Golden Age of Television, from the 1950s into the 1960s and beyond, you can bet your bottom dollar that if there was a TV show, a comic book was sure to follow. If you were a TV star, you knew youd really made it when your character became immortalized in a comic book cover. All the all-stars were there, from The Lone Ranger and Dr. Kildare to the entire gang from McHales Navy. Flipper and The Flying Nun had their own comics. So did the casts of Bonanza and Maverick. Even animated shows like Rocky & Bullwinkle and The Flintstones, already pretty comic-book-like on the small screen, made the leap to print. Of course, you didnt always have to be tops in the Nielsen Ratings to rate a comic book. Cases in point: Its About Time, Garrisons Gorillas, and The Troubleshooters. None made the list of must-see TV, but their limited runs live on, thanks to the comics released to promote them. This was a reversal of the trend of characters originating in comic books being brought to three-dimensional life on television. Dennis the Menace, for instance, began as a comic strip in 1951, expanding to comic books in 1953. In 1959, Dennis shenanigans arrived on TV. While Jay North as televisions Dennis the Menace didnt look much like the squat little fellow created by cartoonist Hank Ketcham, who cared? Now his legions of followers could see a live-action Dennis annoying Mr. Wilson, terrorizing Margaret, and exasperating his parents. Acceptance didnt always work in reverse. Long before playing Ducky on NCIS, David McCallum achieved fame as Illya Kuryakin on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. However, the square-jawed, carefully coiffed comic-book Illya bore only a passing resemblance to baby-faced McCallum, noted for his chopped-off blonde bangs. Fans werent pleased. Series producers embraced the comic book renditions as a means of keeping top shows at the top, building audiences for new shows, and (hopefully) coming to the rescue of shows with flagging appeal (were lookin at you, Its About Time). Comics could also hawk show-related products. One unlikely pair-up: the back cover of the December 1961 Tales of Wells Fargo features an ad for the Official Huckleberry Hound Club. Membership perks included your lifetime membership card, a personal letter from Huck, and pictures of Huck and Yogi Bear to decorate your room or clubhouse! All that for just 15 cents and one box top from Kelloggs Corn Flakes. Comic books could also feature special effects well beyond the budgets of a TV series. Sure, The Man From Atlantis was already pretty action-packed, but just imagine Mark Harris (that would be the man), almost getting chomped by an enormous whale! Or The Flying Nun using her winged coronet to attract a lightning bolt and explode a boatful of burglars! Comic book adventures like these may not have turned up on your TV set each week, but they sure kept you tuning in, just in case. Prominent licensees for comic books based on TV series were Dell and Gold Key. Original prices crept from 10 cents all the way up to those $1 Giant Spectaculars. Nowadays, most vintage TV comics average well under $20. (But, if youre a really optimistic collector, be on the lookout for Star Trek #1 published in 1967 by Gold Key. One of those sold for over $40,000!) Now if youll excuse me, theres a copy of Its About Time just begging to be paged through. Photo Associate: Hank Kuhlmann. All photos by Donald-Brian Johnson. Donald-Brian Johnson is the co-author of numerous books on design and collectibles, including Postwar Pop, a collection of his columns. Please address inquiries to: donaldbrian@msn.com.