Hanna-Barbera TV Stars (1978) 1

Sixty-nine years after the fact, the United Nations general assembly declared November 21 World Television Day.

Invented in 1927, television became the primary medium for influencing public opinion in the 1950s. In 2013, 79 percent of the world’s households owned a television set.

In between, 1996, the UN chose to recognize the driving force of television by giving the invention its own day. To commemorate, the UN held the first World Television Forum. Media figures discussed the growing significance of television in the rapidly changing world. The UN recognized the device could bring awareness of events on a global basis in real time.

To recognize the day, we’re offering the Hanna-Barbera TV Stars comic book.

Hanna-Barbera were the darlings of Saturday morning television. Anyone growing up in the late 1960s through the 1970s and the Golden Age of Saturday morning television knows the brand.

It’s only fitting they partner with the comic book publishing powerhouse, Marvel, to offer a four-color format of their programming empire.

Hanna-Barbera TV Stars (1978) 1

The first of four bi-monthly comic books is cover dated August 1978. Featured are Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels and The Great Grape Ape.

Captain Caveman aired on ABC from 1977 through 1980. The animated mystery comedy bore more than a passing resemblance to another H-B creation, Scooby-Doo.

The premise involved a prehistoric caveman found by the Teen Angels, Brenda, Dee-Dee and Taffy. Together they traveled solving mysteries.

The Great Grape Ape debuted in 1975 as part of H-B’s ABC line up. Grape Ape was a 40-foot, purple gorilla who repeated his name over and over. Partnered with his furry friend, Beegle Beagle, the two inadvertently caused trouble, they had to fix before the animated short’s end.

In this first issue one, neither character deviates from their modus operandi.

Captain Caveman and his trio of Charlie’s Angels knock offs solve the case of the missing ships in The Shipping Magnet.

The Great Grape Ape and Beagly appear in The Big Meal Deal. The pair partner to raise $5 for an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Subsequent issues featured, The C.B. Bears, Undercover Elephant, the Herculoids, Dynomutt, Space Ghost, Clue Club and Top Cat.

To celebrate today, track down these blasts from the past or share a favorite television moment, hum your favorite show’s theme or binge on that show that takes you back.