A #ComicBookMystery

When was the first time the Harlem Globetrotters were in a comic book?

I know what you are thinking. I grew up watching the Harlem Globetrotters on TV, sometimes as Hanna Barbera cartoon versions.

So, it must be Gold Key's 1972 series right?

Its off the backboard, but can you get the rebound?

Before that, the Globetrotters starred in an issue of Hanna Barbera Fun-in in July of 1971. "The Great Geese Goof-Up"

So, is this the first time the Harlem Globetrotters were in a comic book?

Oh, sorry, but you win seats to the next Washington Generals game...

Before that, the Globetrotters were featured in an ad for their Saturday Morning show on CBS, back in the Fall of 1970. One issue that appears in is this Archie Joke Book.

And yes, that is Archie and @GailSimone in a home movie

So, surely that advertisement for the Harlem Globetrotters Saturday morning cartoon must the their first appearance in a comic book.

Well...
(and I hope I didn't end up tagging Gail for the rest of this thread. I hear she's a bear when she's angry)

It turns out that back in September of 1957 the Harlem Globetrotters were on the cover and in a text story called Langbeinte Kurvballkunstnere in the Norwegian comic book, Skippern.

Would I make that up? Possibly, but wait, that's still not their first appearance in a comic book