Funny Business
For those of you who, like me, love illustrated puzzles, it’s time to celebrate because May 5th is National Cartoonists Day! On this day in 1895 readers of the New York World opened their paper to discover a colorful new feature in their paper - the first comic strip, Hogan’s Alley (which became The Yellow Kid) created by Richard Outcault. When I was young, I’d arm-wrestle my sister for first go at the Sunday funnies, would plonk down in front of the TV set for hours watching cartoons, and now that I’m grown, my shelves are groaning with cartoon puzzles. I guess I’m still a big kid at heart!
Hands down, my favorite cartoon puzzles, such as this 1000-piece Doodle Rainbow, are made by Heye.
In this one, NY-based, British artist John Burgerman’s illustrations, which he describes as “vivid expressions of abstracted cartoon forms,” had me smirking throughout the build, with creatures in an array of shapes like hotdogs, pencils and “cat-stronauts” to name a few! The puzzle is busy, but the gradient style made it easier to sort what went where and it was a delight to build.
Another favorite of mine are the Doodle Town puzzles by Cobble Hill. As with all in this series, there were lots of surprises to discover in Farmyard Folly! Ducks wearing floaties in the pond, a chicken contemplating crossing the road, a sheep knitting a sweater from her own wool, and many more.
Botanical Mushrooms Luxe by Lang
My copy was 500 pieces, but it also comes in a 350-piece family-friendly edition with different size pieces for varying ages to work on together.
There were questions as I chose puzzles for this blog. Should I include a comic, since technically, they are not cartoons? They do, however, feature cartoon illustrations, so I did include one here. When I was young, one of my favorite comics was The Fantastic Four, as I was in love with Johnny Storm, the Human Torch! Sadly, I couldn’t find a Fantastic Four puzzle, so I completed a different Marvel comic with another character named Storm - the X-Men by Buffalo Games. This was surprisingly challenging for 300 pieces, due to all of the yellows and blues, but pops of color like the pink sunbursts, saved the day! Speaking of comic book character’s names, it seems they’ve always been unique, starting back when the first one, called “The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck,” was published back in 1837.
I got to relive my childhood through several other puzzles I completed for this blog, starting with this 1000-piece Dr. Seuss Books by a new-to-me brand, USAopoly. I was impressed with the quality of the colorful pieces, which had snug fits, but no false ones. Assembly came together quickly due to it being like 9 mini-puzzles in one and the familiarity I had with the books. As well-known as Dr. Seuss is though, I was surprised to learn I’ve been pronouncing his name wrong my whole life! The author, Theodor Seuss Geisel (who was not a doctor) actually pronounced it “soice” (rhyming with voice)!
The next one that had me trotting down memory lane was this 500-piece Hanna-Barbera – Jetsons puzzle by MasterPieces. I watched this cartoon religiously growing up. In my remembrance, there were many episodes. So imagine my shock upon discovering the show I watched only ran for one year with just 24 episodes (51 more episodes were made starting in 1985). Despite being made in 1962, many of their “far-out” ideas have since come true – Apple watches, video calls, voice-assisted smart homes. What else will come true by the year of 2062 it’s set in? Send me a Rosie, stat!
In my opinion, ALL puzzle boxes should be this size, so my poor shelves would stop groaning! The trade-off of course is a smaller piece size, but they weren’t too tiny or difficult to work with at all. In fact, I enjoyed the Jetsons puzzle so much, I shouted, “Yabba, Dabba, Doo!” when a friend passed along their Flintstones puzzle for me to do next!
As I can see Disneyworld’s fireworks from my house every night, I couldn’t possibly write a blog about cartoon puzzles without including at least one Disney puzzle! I’m not a huge fan of newer Disney characters, but vintage Disney gets my vote every time, so I picked this 1500-piece Mickey Vintage Posters by Ceaco. Apparently, Mickey gets lots of people’s votes…did you know he is the most popular write-in candidate on ballots? Something to keep in mind if you’re still undecided come November…
Mickey Vintage Posters by Ceaco
Time to move forward to newer cartoons! I have no children, so watching cartoons isn’t something I do very often anymore. But apparently, I’d be in good company if I watched SpongeBob SquarePants, as 25% of their viewers are adults with no kids! In all honesty, I was just drawn to the colorful cast of characters on this 1000-piece SpongeBob SquarePants Cast by Aquarius. I enjoyed the artwork and the amazingly tight hold. And while the lack of a poster made me squint hard at the box throughout, it went swimmingly! Aquarius features many cartoon character puzzles including Garfield Comics, which is on my shelf, and Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny, which is on my wish list.
SpongeBob SquarePants Cast by Aquarius
Other newer cartoon character puzzles I was drawn to included 1) Pokemon Partners Grass, Fire & Water by Buffalo Games, a 100-piece snack puzzle that I had done in minutes. A nice break and/or perfect if you have kids!
Pokemon Partners Grass, Fire & Water by Buffalo Games
And 2) Gudetama Amazing Egg-venture, my second USAopoly ever. This one was a tough egg due to panels being doubled and tripled. Working off the world’s tiniest poster, seen here in this photo, would have fried my brain, so I definitely recommend using the box! Some of the duplicated panels had different backgrounds, but others were identical, which had me scrambling. There were no false fits though, making it a rewarding challenge. I’d never heard of Gudetama before, a Sanrio character whose name means “lazy egg,” but I was drawn to the soft palette and quirkiness of the character.
Gudetama Amazing Egg-venture by USAopoly
Who is your favorite cartoon character? There are a whole cast of others I’m fond of that I’d happily add to my stash, including these 1000-piece puzzles: Cast of Characters - Peanuts by RoseArt, Scooby Doo Classic Monsters by Paper House Productions and Tom & Jerry Hall of Fame by Ravensburger. But for now I’ll have to say, “That’s all folks!”
– Lisa @lisalovespuzzles
Wonderful, fun blog. Love the puzzles you chose. Have my eye on a few of them now.
Once again Lisa you have knocked this Blog piece out of the park!! I already have my cart full at Puzzle Warehouse!!
Love this blog. We have similar taste and I like your recommendations and your humorous look at things.
Great blog, thank you!
Great blog! I always learn something fun when I read your blogs.
