Author: Robert Greenberger

As one would have expected, Marvel revisited the animated adventures of their merry mutants to capitalize on the anticipated success of the [[[Wolverine]]] feature film. As a result, the fourth iteration is named [[[Wolverine and the X-Men]]] and the first season aired throughout 2009 on Nicktoons. Lionsgate has been dutifully collected handfuls of episodes for single-disc collections with the fourth volume, containing five episodes, being released Tuesday.

While the [[[X-Men]]], their friends and foes are familiar, this has no bearing on the previous animated series or the comic book source material, As a result, we’re getting yet another look at familiar themes and storylines such as the Days of Future Past and Genosha. Unlike the immensely popular 1990s Fox series, this has fewer sub-plots that require episode to episode viewing. On the other hand, there are plenty of sub-plots running through the 26 episodes comprising the first season. There are also dozens of characters to meet and recall and often they arrive unnamed or their powers unspecified. As a result, you’re required to watch knowing which version of the x-verse you’re paying attention to. The only other animated series this ties to is the Hulk Vs. direct-to-DVD as noted when Nick Fury asks Wolverine to have a rematch against the jade giant.

This disc contains “Stolen Lives”, “Hunting Grounds”, “Badlands”, “Code of Conduct” and “Backlash”. Having not seen any of the previous episodes, I would have appreciated a “Previously” recap at the beginning but I quickly figured things out. The first episode focuses on Kristie, the young mutant daughter of Maverick and introduces us to X-23.

The second story skips Wolverine for the most part, focusing instead on the odd friendship of Scarlet Witch and Nightcrawler as they work together to escape Mojo’s World. It also introduces us to Magneto’s other daughter, Polaris. After that, we skip ahead to the devastating future as the descendant and survivors fight the Sentinels for survival. The just-introduced Polaris is revealed to be the sole survivor of Genosha and wanders around wearing dad’s helmet. The storyline is picked up again in the fifth episode, which has the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and the X-Men trying to destroy the Master Mold, to prevent the horrific future from happening.

In between, Wolverine’s backstory is explored in a tale that introduces viewers to the Silver Samurai and Mariko. The battle for control and honor takes up much of the episode and apparently was deemed inappropriate to air in the UK.

Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, who graduated from Marvel Animation to fine comic book writers, are back and their expertise helps a lot. They’re ably abetted by Greg Johnson, a writer I’m less familiar with. As a result, the stories are strong in the Marvel flavor, heavy on the anti-mutant theme, and replete with characters with some genuine personality. They come across as teens or adults, experienced or tyro.

The animation design is leaner than previous version but they come across inconsistent in size. In some cases, Wolverine is taller than Mystique but still called a runt. Everyone is a little too lean but the overall animation direction is reasonably strong. The best part of the technical side is that the voice cast is sharply superior to the 1990s version.

Other than some commentary, the disc has no extras but does have plenty of trailers including an intriguing glimpse of next year’s [[[Thor: Tales of Asgard]]] direct-to-DVD feature.

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[[[Copper]]]
By Kazu Kibuishi
96 pages, Scholastic Graphix, $16.99

It’s often illuminating to look at a creator’s earlier works to see how they inspire and influence the later, better known works. Such is the case with Kazu Kibuishi’s Copper, now in a single volume collection from Scholastic. This webcomic, launched in 2002, was the first serious work the artist produced on a sustained basis and in his introduction; he talks about how this helped put him on a career path.

Copper is a young boy, accompanied by his dog Fred who is his best friend and constant companion. The classic duo, unlike [[[Red & Rover]]], go on fantastical adventures that in reading them reminded me of [[[Calvin & Hobbes]]] mixed with [[[Little Nemo’s]]] inventive page design. I was pleased to see that Kibuishi cites both in a recent Newsarama interview. There are few recurring characters beyond these two, other than the girl in the bubble, who appears as Cooper’s unreachable object of desire (think Little Red-haired Girl).

The artist began producing the feature as a large format comic strip with numerous panels and designs which The New York Times criticized as forcing the reader to scroll up and down to follow each strip. The 9”x 9” book solves that problem and collects every strip and story. He worked on the feature sporadically as his career began to take off and he began his [[[Amulet]]] series (which we reviewed here) and edited the [[[Flight]]] anthologies to showcase his friends’ work and where longer Copper stories ran.

The strip has been largely placed on hiatus while Kibuishi focused on the Amulet series and other projects. Reading this book, though, shows his growing sense of pacing and storytelling, without losing the sense of whimsy. Often the strips feature one or the complaining about the journey until the goal is reached and the real fun begins. The longer stories, including the 18-page “[[[Maiden Voyage]]]” show a wonderful sense of design and detail, along with a strong command of composition and color.

Copper is all about warmth and friendship, taking the universal theme of a boy and his dog and unleashing them into a borderless world of imagination. Taken as a whole, these are entertaining stories that demonstrate that if you apply yourself, and create from the heart, magic can happen.

The book concludes with a detailed feature on how Kibuishi creates a Copper strip which is a marvelous How To for would-be real world Coppers just now discovering comics.

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[[[Peanuts]]] has proven exceptionally enduring and adaptable as Charles Schulz expanded his cast of characters to reflect the times and changing fascination with different players. The strip debuted in 1950 and within a decade the characters were used as spokesmen for commercial products. In 1965, though, the horizons expanded dramatically with the successful Christmas special.

Not only did that that give us Vince Guaraldi’s score and decades of specials, but it inspired others. In 1967, Clark Gesner unexpectedly showed up with a series of songs which he envisioned as being brought to the stage. Taken Off-Broadway, the songs were kept but the story was evolved. That initial version of [[[You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown]]] was best known for spotlight Gary Burghoff as Charlie Brown, just a few years before we met him as Radar O’Reilly. That first cast also included actor/director Bob Balaban as Linus.

A different cast took the show to Broadway in 1971 and it became a high school staple for years ever after. In 1985, the play based on the comic strip was finally adapted as an animated television special. And now for the first time, Warner Home Video will release the cartoon Tuesday on a remastered DVD.

As stated above, as characters rose and fell in popularity, their prominence in the comics altered. Schulz decided for this adaptation to replace Patty and Violet with Sally and Marcie. It also presents the first time on television Snoopy had a human voice.

Overall, the breezy series of vignettes that make up the show works as a Peanuts sampler. Unlike the more successful of the television specials, there’s no one element to act as a spine so we drift from event to event, much like black out comedy. Taken as individual elements, they’re engaging enough but as a 48 minute viewing experience, it’s rather disjointed and honestly, not very funny.

The songs range from the unmemorable to the okay to the one hit, “Happiness”. Perhaps the most successful character-based song is “The Book Report”. And the audio voices do a fine job with the material but are thoroughly adequate as opposed to stirring or amusing.

The animated feature is accompanied with[[[ Animating a Charlie Brown Musical]]], a 14 minute look at the origins of the show and the process of adapting the strip to the stage and then from the stage to the television screen. Nothing is said of the 1999 revival which reworked existing songs and added additional numbers.

Overall, this is a Must Have for Peanuts fanatics only.

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