Sugar and Spike

Supercbbox| title = Sugar and Spike

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caption = Cover to "Sugar and Spike" #1. Art by Sheldon Mayer
schedule = Bimonthly
format = Standard
publisher = DC Comics
date = Apr/May 1956 - Oct/Nov 1971
issues = 98
main_char_team = Sugar Plumm
Cecil "Spike" Wilson
writers = Sheldon Mayer
artists = Sheldon Mayer
pencillers =
inkers =
colorists =
creative_team_month =
creative_team_year =
creators = Sheldon Mayer

"Sugar and Spike" is the name of a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1956 through 1992, and the names of the main protagonists. "Sugar and Spike" was created, written and drawn by Sheldon Mayer.

Publication history

The comic was published in the United States up through the early 1970s for 98 issues, when, either due to Mayer's failing eyesight that limited his drawing ability or due to market shifts, "Sugar and Spike" ceased to appear. Later, after cataract surgery restored his eyesight, Mayer returned to writing and drawing "Sugar and Spike" stories, continuing to do so until his death in 1992; these stories appeared in overseas markets and only a few have been reprinted in the United States. The American reprints appeared in digest-sized comics. In 1992, "Sugar and Spike" #99 was published as part of the DC Comics Silver Age Classics series; this featured two previously unpublished stories by Mayer.

Mayer had an agreement with DC that no-one else could write Sugar and Spike. However, they have occasionally made cameo appearances in modern comic books, as theme park characters in "Justice League Spectacular", being baby-sat by Cassie Sandsmark in "Wonder Woman" #113, and as teenagers on the crowded cover of "Legionnaires" #43. They were also spotted as decorations in the Alex Ross graphic novel, "Kingdom Come"

Featured characters

The comic featured the misadventures of two toddlers named Sugar Plumm and Cecil "Spike" Wilson, who possessed the ability to communicate (via "baby talk") with each other and to other infants, but not to adults. It was in many ways similar to the more recent cartoon "Rugrats", and shared ideas concerning baby-talk with P. L Travers' Mary Poppins novel; one notable feature was that "all" babies spoke the same baby-talk "language", allowing Sugar and Spike to speak with not only human infants, but baby animals as well. Another popular recurring feature was paper dolls of the two leads, with outfits based on designs submitted by readers. Mayer used his own children, Merrily and Lanney, as inspiration for the strip.

In addition to the toddlers and their parents, recurring characters included:
* Little Arthur, a "big boy" too old for baby-talk. A spoiled brat and bully, Arthur torments Sugar and Spike, but is invariably outwitted by them in the end.
* Sugar's Uncle Charley, a bachelor and police officer who is a stereotypical "fun uncle", often playing with the kids and giving them gifts when he comes to visit.
*Bernie the Brain, a child genius who, despite being the same age as Sugar and Spike, is an accomplished scientist and inventor who speaks and understands "grown-up talk". When he first encounters Sugar and Spike, he requires a translating device of his own invention to teach him their baby-talk (having already progressed past that stage, intellectually). He enjoys the chance to be a normal kid with Sugar and Spike, while the pair loves playing with Bernie's various inventions. The two often seek out Bernie when they encounter something they don't understand, particularly something involving grown-up behavior.

External links

* [http://www.toonopedia.com/sugspike.htm Toonopedia entry on Sugar and Spike]
* [http://members.tripod.com/sugar_and_spike/ Unofficial Sugar and Spike Fan site]
* [http://www.geocities.com/sm_scribbly/ Page about Sheldon Mayer with plenty of S&S stuff]