Here it is, my first entry to this blog! Today we look at a Richie Rich story published in Richie Rich Millions #55 (dated Sept. 1972) titled "Camp Much-A-Money". Richie is none too thrilled when he is forced by his mother to spend the summer at an exclusive (and expensive) summer camp. Not being one to disappoint his mother, he tells her he'll "give it a try." Will he have Bill Murray as a camp counselor? Probably not! Will he have the time of his life or will he sneak out of his dorm in search of a phone begging his parents to come pick him up? Read on and see!
Geez, Mrs. Rich, what's the matter with you? You don't even have time to meet with the people in charge of Camp Much-A-Money? You just drop Richie off and barrel down the road in your limo! Yeah, like the saying goes, just because you have money don't mean you have class!
And Richie, how can you come to the conclusion that the place is dull? You just got there! Give it a chance! Besides, the guard did say that "you can have anything you wish." ANYTHING??? Hmmmm! Why don't you ask Jeeves there for a harem to be flown in? Not gonna happen, though; this IS a Harvey comic...
OK, so after a couple of hours of fishing with no luck (yeah, I skipped a page), Richie gets back in time to sneer at a couple of fellow rich kids just lounging around getting waited on hand and foot. Well, why not? It's nice to be pampered, at least every now and then. Then again, the guys in the shade probably never have to lift a finger at their mansions, either! I see FAT CAMP in their not-too-distant future!
And at the driving range, I'm with Richie on this one! As frustrating a game as golf is sometimes, I'd rather use a plain old golf ball than one that can guarantee a hole-in-one just by breathing on it! The kid who hit that ball seemed proud of the fact that he's no Happy Gilmore!
At this point, Richie has had enough of this place and is determined to make his escape! Unfortunately he's stopped dead in his tracks by a talking parking meter! What, no wall? No gun turrets placed strategically around the camp? Nope, just a pole ordering him to return or he'll be hunted down like a dog!
Then the guard informs him that "a boy stays here the allotted time!" What is this place, a summer camp or a JDC? So far, I'm getting the impression that this place is a mashup of juvy hall and Club Med.
And immediately after he's told NOT to go off by himself, guess what? Yep, he's off in another direction and making his way towards the Guides Dorm. GUIDES??? Let's call them what they really are; prison guards!!!
And then Richie gets the idea to slip past the guards by borrowing a uniform that just happened to be hanging around in the Guides Dorm. Um...is no one standing guard at the front of the dormitory??? Looks like no one is even in the building! Pretty sloppy there, guards!
You would think the first question out of the gate guard's mouth would be "Hey, kid! What are you doing wearing one of my uniforms?" Evidently this guard is about as clueless as Clark Kent's co-workers at the Daily Planet. For a camp that obviously receives enormous cash flow from their high-end clientele, their HR department drops the ball when it comes to hiring guides/guards. Still, though, Richie's plan is thwarted by a simple request for a password. Fortunately for people who actually work at such a place today, they don't actually have to be confined if they forget the password; a photo ID badge or retina scan is enough to secure a bit of freedom.
Yes, I skipped another page in the interest of keeping the posts relatively short, but Richie's plan to escape by hiding in a laundry truck strikes out when he discovers the camp has it's own on-site laundry. So he attempts to pole vault over the electric beam and gives up on that plan (which looks like it could have worked!) when he hits one single soft spot! Does he attempt another vault on more solid ground? Nooooo! He takes inspiration from actual prison escapees before him and starts tunneling his way below the electric beams! Will he make it? Or will the tunnel collapse on him, dirt filling his lungs and smothering him? Just scroll down a bit to find out!
Yes, Richie is FREEEEE! And almost immediately, he puts himself in danger again by trying to hitch a ride! Bad form there, Rich! You should know better, especially being as high-profile as you are! Stranger danger, stranger danger!!!
Fortunately, the first car that comes along just happens to be occupied by his parents! They've come to take him home because it's, you know, the last day of camp! LAST DAY??? Exactly how much time has elapsed since he was dropped off! There's not a single panel showing nightfall anywhere in this story! A 12-hour summer camp. REALLY???
And in the last panel, he bemoans the fact that he'll be returning next year! Hey, suck it up, Richie! You won't even be there an entire day if this story is any indication!
Sooooo...did you like this first entry? Feel free to post comments below and subscribe to this blog! I'll try to have new posts at least a couple of times a week! Plenty more in store, so stay tuned!
Yowza! This is really, really weird. A country-club rich-kids camp that's actually an internment camp! It's so stressful that one of the kids has gone prematurely gray! What the heck is Cadbury, or a Cadbury-clone, doing as a prison camp guard? So Richie's determined to escape and sneaks into the guard's- oops, guides dormitory and manages to find a uniform and a hat that fits him! In the previous page, check out the size of Richie's head in proportion to the guard's. His head is easily 2x.
ReplyDeleteNow we can get to the uniforms... since Richie body proportions are so radically different from an adult human's, there's no way that rolling up a pants cuff and sleeves will make the uniform fit. The story is missing a few panels where Richie spends the next 8 hours slaving over a sewing machine to re-tailor it.
The rest of the story takes considerable inspiration from the Steve McQueen movie, "The Great Escape", including an attempt to escape in a laundry truck, and an attempt at digging a mole tunnel, missing only the thrilling McQueen motorcycle chase! Now that Richie Rich has reminded me of how great a movie "The Great Escape" is, I guess I'll need to pop in the DVD now.