The Daily Cartoonist

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Bazooka Joe is gone. And that’s fine. Really.

Alan Gardner191 mins

From Business Insider:

As a part of Bazooka Gum’s new makeover ? and first advertising campaign in five years ? the company is getting rid of its beloved comic strip.
So while you’ll start seeing the gum on the shelves of Target, 7-Eleven, and other stores that haven’t stocked it in years, it will be missing your favorite part: corny Bazooka Joe comics.

A lot of social media “oh no!” over the end of the Bazooka Joe comic in the Bazooka Bubble Gum. Let me ask you. When was the last time you purchased a pack of Bazooka Bubble Gum – much less because it had a comic in it?

19 thoughts on “Bazooka Joe is gone. And that’s fine. Really.”

  1. They ran a small piece on this on CBS’ Sunday Morning program – essentially, they will no longer be producing the comic strip, but the character “Bazooka Joe” will be in puzzles or games included with the gum. So, no more jokes; instead… sudoku?

  4. I mentioned Bazooka Joe’s demise over dinner at home the other night. My seven-year-old son later walked up and handed me a strip he’d extracted from a piece of the gum in his halloween bag (yes, there’s still candy to be found there). He said he was sorry the strip was ending and wanted me to have it.

  5. I only ever purchased Bazooka Joe because it had comics in it. It’s not the most delicious of gums. Those purchases have become less and less in recent years, but it’s a shame that my kids won’t be able to have the same corny fun I did.

    Luckily I’m already full of corny jokes and am a cartoonist, so I’ll just make my own for them.

    b

  6. I wonder if my Bazooka Joe bobble head doll will become rare and valuable now?

    In all fairness those strips were aimed at young children, and I enjoyed them as such.

  7. I’d say there’s much worse places having your comic strip appear than around a piece of gum.

    I’ve never chewed a piece of Bazooka Bubble Gum that I didn’t read the Bazooka Joe comic.

    Great distribution, marketing and it’s probably printed larger than the comics in today’s newspapers.

  8. The last time I bought Bazooka, I also purchased wax lips and chalky candy cigarettes – so a few years back. I only bought the gum for the comic, or to blow bubbles, but definitely not for the taste, so they can go to hell as far as I’m concerned.

  9. ….in the words of Bob Dylan,”and the times they are a chang’n”…games is kool,and now that I am old,can’t do bubble gum,…no teeth…but I will buy it for the games or what ever the suits decide to wrap it with….

  11. The strip had been revamped in recent years and was being produced by the Craig Yoe Studio. My brother Luke did the art for them, the same Luke McDonnell who drew comic books for Marvel, DC, etc. in the ’80’s & ’90’s. I believe they did a total run of 75 new Bazooka Joe strips.

  18. When they came out with soft Bazooka gum, I couldn’t get enough of it. I never got it for the comic, but I know I bought it all the time when Donkey Kong was a big hit at the 7-Eleven.

    That was just a few years ago, right?

  19. I got some last weekend at crackle barrel and it had comics. They have old fashioned stuff there like soda ect. It tasted really good and I loved the comics they had they were funny.

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