When I purchased #11 in March of 1965, I was delighted to find that it was a sequel to my favorite episode of the TV show, "It May Look Like a Walnut," which had aired two years earlier. I'm sure you recall how Rob had a nightmare and dreamed that Kolak, an alien from the planet Twylo who looked just like Danny Thomas but with four eyes, was conquering Earth by spreading around walnuts filled with absorbatron.
In this book-length story, "The Revenge of Kolak," Ritchie wants to go to a drive-in movie for his birthday, so Rob and Laura take him. All goes well until Laura finds out that the movie is The Revenge of Kolak, the sequel to the horror movie she and Rob watched in the original episode. Ritchie and Rob are eager to see the movie but Laura is scared and insists on napping in the back seat. There, she dreams of being pursued by Kolak, who I guess is supposed to look like Danny Thomas but actually resembles Edward G. Robinson.
He takes her off to Twylo in a space ship shaped like a walnut. Rob finds out and drives to Cape Canaveral in Florida where he "borrows" a rocket and goes after her.
Once he gets there, he finds that Kolak has seized control of his wife's mind. She has been transformed back into her alien identity of Lolak of Twylo. Buddy, Sally, Mel, Ritchie, Jerry, Millie and even Alan Brady are also present on Twylo, all transformed into alien zombies. (The funniest moment comes when Alien Alan, though hypnotized, still manages to tell Alien Mel to shut up.) Rob disguises himself as a Twyloite and manages to infiltrate and overhear Kolak's plan to conquer the universe with a giant walnut, three-feet high and filled with enough absorbatron to destroy the galaxy if it will not surrender to him.
Rob's cover is blown when Alien Mel mentions something about how he hopes that once they control the galaxy, Twylo scientists will find a way to grow hair. Alien Buddy says, "You'll grow thumbs before you grow hair, Baldy," and Rob laughs out loud. Instantly, Kolak yells, "Someone has a sense of humor! There must be an Earthling among us!" Rob flees for his life and a mad chase ensues through the tunnels and crannies of Twylo. Rob eventually doubles back and gets his hands on the huge, absorbatron-filled walnut. He threatens to dash it to the ground and destroy the universe unless Kolak follows his orders: Restore my friends' minds and give us a rocket to get back to Earth. Kolak has no choice but to agree. Laura, Ritchie and the rest are restored to human form and the rocket is readied. But as he walks towards it, still holding the giant walnut, Rob trips over a device that looks like an alien ottoman. He drops the walnut, the universe is destroyed and Laura wakes up screaming at the drive-in movie. She tells Rob and Ritchie what she dreamed and they both agree it's a much better story than the lousy movie but Rob says he's not so afraid that he's ready to go home.
Just then, there's a tap on the car window. It's a stranger who is supposed to look like Danny Thomas (I guess) but actually looks more like Edward G. Robinson. Rob screams, revs up the engine and zooms off, snapping the wire to the car speaker. The end.
The lead story in the twelfth and final issue put the spotlight again on Buddy, this time bringing his wife Pickles into the story. The tale was entitled, "Everybody Loves Some Buddy" and in it, an actress named Peaches gets a bit part on The Alan Brady Show and develops a huge crush on Buddy. Peaches just loves men who tell jokes.
This is a problem for two reasons, one being that Buddy is married and is faithful to Pickles, not Peaches. The second problem is that Peaches is the girl friend of a big, brawny weightlifter who comes to the office and threatens to break Buddy's legs if he so much as looks at Peaches. Buddy tries to lighten a tense situation by making some jokes and it turns out that the boy friend, Bruno, is a terrific audience. He thinks everything Buddy says is hysterical and practically falls down laughing. But before he leaves, he makes it clear that he means what he says.
With the help of Rob and Sally, Buddy spends the next few days avoiding Peaches and is successful. Unfortunately, when she comes around searching for the man who makes her laugh, she winds up getting her bracelet snagged on Rob's jacket. Bruno walks in as they're trying to get untangled, thinks Peaches is now carrying on with Rob, and takes off after him. Rob is chased out of the building and down the streets of New York. Sally grabs Buddy (who's coming back from lunch) and they hop in a cab and chase after them. They get there as Rob is cornered and Bruno is about to sock him all the way back to Danville, Illinois. Buddy begins telling jokes, Bruno starts laughing and Rob is able to get away.
The story ends with Bruno confessing that he's jealous of a guy who can tell jokes because Peaches loves them and he doesn't know any. So Buddy teaches some jokes to Bruno and he gets to be so good at it that not only does Peaches love him but he begins thinking of a career as a comedian. His motto, Rob muses, will probably be, "Laugh or I'll beat you up!"
The back-up story involved Laura and it was called "Double Bubble Trouble." One day, an odd little man comes to the door and offers Laura a free sample of his new detergent, Sudzo. She takes it and puts it in her washing machine and the next thing she knows, the soap suds are out of control, filling the laundry room, spilling into the kitchen and living room. It's like a flood, with items of furniture floating away in bubbles. Then suddenly, she and Millie are floating away in bubbles. They float up to the sky where the odd little man is the master of a kingdom in the clouds that enslaves gullible housewives. Rob gets a batch of helium balloons and floats to the rescue and, as you've probably guessed by now, it all turns out to be a dream. After Rob saves her and they're plunging back to Earth, Laura is awakened from her afternoon nap by the doorbell. It turns out to be the odd little man offering free detergent samples…and he can't understand why he gets the door slammed in his face so immediately. "Gee," he mutters as he walks away, "most people like free samples."
This concludes our coverage of the Dick Van Dyke Show comic book. I hope it jogged a lot of memories for those of you who recalled buying and reading this elusive comic when it first came out. [NOTE: An earlier version of this article on this blog made some assertions about an employee of Western Publishing Company who was involved in an odd way with the production of this comic. Though I believe my research was done in good faith, I was subsequently persuaded by the family of this individual and their attorneys to remove that account from this article. We regret any misunderstanding.]