The Beef of Bagdad
LAFF-A-LYMPICS — Issue no. 8, July 1978
Book: Laff-a-Lympics
Issue No.: 8
Published: July 1978
Title: “The Beef of Bagdad”
Cover Price: 35¢
Format: Digital scan
The title of this issue, “The Beef of Bagdad,” is obviously a play on the title of the iconic 1940 fantasy film, The Thief of Bagdad. My theory is the writer, Mark Evanier, came up with a silly title and reverse engineered the story from there. And given that, and given that this is one of Marvel’s Hanna-Barbera books aimed at younger readers, I’d say he did a pretty good job.
Laff-a-Lympics is, in theory, about a bunch of Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and Scooby-Doo, to name a few) competing in athletic events. But this story just uses that premise to set up a quest adventure featuring Scooby’s gang of sleuths (Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, and Fred). Velma, Daphne, and Fred aren’t Laff-a-Lympics competitors, but Scooby and Shaggy are, and they call in their pals to go with them to Bagdad.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The dastardly magician Fondoo uses a genie to put a curse on Babu, who is also a genie. Fondoo does this because Babu is apparently an excellent high-jumper, and Fondoo’s Laff-a-Lympics team wants to prevent Babu from competing. The curse turns Babu into a large snail, which does indeed limit Babu’s leaping ability.
Scooby-Doo and Shaggy call in the gang to help them find the magic meat (the titular “Beef of Bagdad”) that is prophesied to reverse the snail curse. The group finds a burger restaurant hidden in a mysterious, allegedly haunted Bagdad cave. Yeah, it’s not a great location for a fast food operation.
After getting a to-go order, and catching a ride from their superhero pal the Blue Falcon, Scooby-Doo and company make it back to the ’Lympics just in time to restore Babu to his usual, high-jumping self.
This issue’s “Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera” article is titled “Cartoon Roots,” and it’s a quick who’s who of some of the characters featured in Laff-a-Lympics. Aside from teaching me a bit about about Wally Gator and Hokey Wolf, the article also reminded me there was a TV show (or maybe just a one-off special) called Yogi’s Ark that I had totally forgotten about.
Week 28 Wrap-Up
Laff-a-Lympics is one of the few books with incomplete info on the Fandom.com Marvel wiki. I’m not sure exactly which week of July 1978 it came out, so I’m going to include it in week 28 (the second week of July 1978). So that’s eight 35-cent books for the week (I skipped the Crazy magazine published during week 28 because it’s just not my thing). Total cover price is $2.80. Adjusted for 2023 inflation, that’s about thirteen dollars.
Next time — I’ll be traveling for the rest of the month, but hopefully I’ll find time next week to get into a book from week 29 of 1978!