The debut panel of this new “Biff” showed that our hero had swapped a football uniform for a flight suit, complete with goggles and parachute.īut while this incarnation of the military “Biff” carried on in the comics in newspapers in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Florida, and other places, the next incarnation of “Biff” stopped being earthbound at all!īeginning in January 1942, and emanating from WGRC out of Louisville, Kentucky, “Biff Baker” came to daily radio as the star of his very own, daily, afternoon, kid-friendly radio series. In very early 1942, “Biff Baker” was relaunched within the comic pages, this time with the strip far more focused on Biff’s aviation and military exploits. The kind of hero every American boy would like to be-and every girl would like to date!”īut, like many young men in the US of A at that time, “Biff’s” gilded collegiate career came to a sudden, swift end. He’s All-American from the word ‘Go’-college senior, football star, skilled flyer. The text next to the comic describes the soon-to-launch comic, and its lead character as: “typify the best there is in young American manhood. On both sides of his drawn figure, Biff is flanked by two comely looking co-eds, perhaps his own Betty and Veronica. In its debut panel, “Biff,” drawn by Henry Lee, was depicted as a young football star, depicted in mid-pose after (no doubt) making the winning catch. The comic strip “Biff Baker,” began in August 1941 and was a weekly Sunday strip that seemed to have been a blend of the “Archie” comics (begun, 1939) and radio’s “Jack Armstrong, All-American Boy” (begun, 1933). But even this series-now easily viewable via a couple DVD sets put out by and in an assortment of episodes on Youtube-is not without its own unique history and, at times, confusing elements.Įxcluding any men with the last name “Baker” that got inexplicably nicknamed “Biff” sometime during their lifetime, the world’s first “ Biff Baker” was found in the comic pages.
#BIFF BAKER SERIES#
Though none of history’s many “Biff’s” has too much currency within the popular culture these days, today, the best known “Biff Baker” is probably the 1952-53 TV series starring a pre-“Gilligan’s Island” Alan Hale, Jr.
What’s in a name? Well, if you have the name “Biff Baker,” you then have a long, convoluted, somewhat confusing, medium jumping pop-culture legacy.
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