DAFFY DUCK GAINS STAMP IMMORTALITY.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

Philatelic purists gasped two years ago when the U.S. Postal Service gave Warner Bros. icon Bugs Bunny his own stamp, but the idea has become a major hit with customers.

The Bugs stamp, the first honoring an animated cartoon character, was 1997's biggest seller at 378 million sold, including 12 percent of those saved in collections. The Sylvester and Tweety stamp, the second in the ``Looney Tunes'' series, led last year with 400 million printed and 9.5 percent saved.

Daffy Duck's turn comes today with a massive initial run of 427 million. The stamp, designed by Warner artist Ed Wleczyk, shows the big-mouthed bird standing at a mailbox with letters bearing the Bugs and Tweety stamps. One of the letters is addressed to Acme Ponds, taken from the ``Acme'' name used as a running gag in ``Looney Tunes'' cartoons.

First-day ceremonies have been scheduled for 10 a.m. at Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood with ``Seventh Heaven'' star David Gallagher and 200 fourth-graders wearing duck bills. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, will hold a promotional event Saturday with a collectible postmark and an array of Daffy Duck merchandise.

The Postal Service has insisted its goal with the Bugs Bunny stamp was to launch its ``Stampers'' campaign to entice young people to take up the hobby, and it has since signed up 2 million children for the program.

But some collectors assert the service had sold out its integrity in return for profits - generated from stamps that were saved rather than used - and as a payback to Time Warner Inc., the studio's parent and one of the nation's largest postal customers. Opponents also argued that use of corporate properties represents free advertising and violates Postal Service rules of not honoring commercial enterprises and products.

``I think the `Looney Tunes' stamps are totally inappropriate, and most of our readers back me up,'' said Michael Laurence, publisher of Linn's Stamp News. ``These stamps are commercial images that trivialize the idea that they should portray icons of our history.''

But other philatelists are unconcerned. ``I think the stamps are wonderful as long as people are just buying them for enjoyment,'' said Israel Bick, executive director of the Van Nuys-based International Stamp Collectors Society. ``This is strictly business for the Postal Service. As far as I'm concerned, it's OK for them to make money from stamps.''

Bick cautioned that the Daffy stamps will probably be a poor investment, particularly if they carry a postal cancellation. As for whether the appearance of Bugs and Daffy will spur a new generation of hobbyists, Bick said, ``We'll see in 10 years.''

Laurence said he doubted that the Looney Tunes stamps are making children interested in collecting. ``It's an adult hobby that's accessible to kids,'' he said. ``I would have run for the hills when I was a child if stamps had carried cartoon characters on them. I became interested in 1944 at the age of 5 partly because the president (Franklin Roosevelt) and the king of England were collectors.''

The Bugs stamp was such a hit, however, that the Postal Service was forced to go to a second printing for the first time since 1993, when it ordered an additional 200 million Elvis Presley stamps after an initial run of 300 million. Nearly one-fourth of the Elvis stamps - an astounding 124 million - were never canceled, generating $36 million in profit for the Postal Service.

Laurence decries the general trend toward placing entertainment celebrities such as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and movie monsters on postage stamps, a practice that had been previously limited to small nations looking for income. ``We shouldn't be imitating what Antigua does,'' he said.

Warner Bros. does not received any proceeds from the stamps but generates profits from gift items such as coffee mugs and framed posters sold at its network of more than 180 studio stores. Some of the Postal Service's 38,000 outlets will sell Daffy stationery items.

The Postal Service originally sought out Burbank-based Walt Disney Co., but agency officials have said its requirement of royalty-free use of Disney's characters precluded an agreement.

As for the year 2000, there's no specific plan as to which character will be chosen. Up to nine other ``Looney Tunes'' characters - including Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Pepe LePew, Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn and the Singing Frog - are reportedly under consideration. But the most likely are probably Porky Pig or a combo of the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote.

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PHOTO (Color) Daffy is the third ``Looney Tunes'' stamp.