If you ask your average Disney fan who their favorite Disney character is, more than likely the answer will not be Bucky Bug. In late 1931, Walt Disney wanted to ramp up promotion for the Silly Symphonies cartoon series, but the series had no recurring characters, which bugged Walt since he needed an ad mascot. When the first color Silly Symphonies comic strip was published on this day in 1932, it was Bucky to the rescue! So while we take pause to remember the comic strip, we would be remiss to not mention the debut of Bucky Bug, one of Disney’s earliest characters created especially for print. The Silly Symphonies comic strip featured original stories and retellings of the cartoon featurettes. Over the next couple of years, Bucky and the inhabitants of Junkville appeared in a handful of Silly Symphonies comic strips and in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories until 1950. In 1988 Bucky made a triumphant return and in 2007, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories celebrated Bucky Bug’s 75th anniversary with a collection of new and classic Bucky Bug comics. So although many a Disney fan has never heard of Bucky Bug, he was far from a fly-by-night character.
