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Review: The Complete Peanuts, 1967 to 1968 by Charles M. Shulz

peanuts67-3642515

The Complete Peanuts, 1967-1968
By Charles M. Schulz; foreword by John Waters
Fantagraphics, February 2008, $28.95

By 1967, [[[Peanuts]]] wasn’t just another comic strip in the local newspaper, it was a media phenomenon. The first TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, had won an Emmy amid universal acclaim two years earlier, and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown was about to open on Broadway. It was the epitome of mainstream entertainment – on May 24th, California Governor Ronald Reagan and the state legislature even proclaimed it “Charles Schulz Day.” The strip hadn’t quite hit its ‘70s mega-merchandising heyday, but it was getting there.

At the same time, not all that far from Schulz’s Santa Rosa home, Berkley was roiling with anti-war fervor and the Summer of Love had hit San Francisco. Peanuts had been seen as an edgy, almost countercultural strip in the early 1950s, but those days were long past, and Peanuts was the Establishment. In those days, you were with the pigs or with the longhairs, right? And where did Peanuts stand?

From the evidence here, Peanuts stood where it had always stood: on its own, only rarely commenting on specific issues of the day (such as the “bird-hippie” who would become Woodstock in another year or two), but talking around those issues in ways that most of America could laugh at… some more uncomfortably than others. Schulz was never one to declare himself on one side of an issue or the other; he’d just write and draw his cartoons, and let others make their interpretations.

(more…)

Random Video: Iron Man, Hulk and Spider-Man vs. Giant Robots

While I realize I’m a bit late happening upon this video, I can’t help posting it here anyways — just in case I’m not the only person who missed it. To be honest, I’m not entirely certain what this "Iron Man’s Adventure" video is intended to promote. It looks like a cinematic from a videogame, but with a cast of Spider-Man, Iron Man and Hulk, I can’t help but assume it’s tied to some sort of film promotion. Feel free to post a comment if you have any additional information about it.

Nevertheless, it features the three characters I mentioned, as well as some big honkin’ robots and some really superb CG animation. The dialogue is a bit "meh" (Spider-Man is spot-on, but Iron Man and Hulk don’t sound quite right, in my humble opinion) but the action is worth the price of, well… just check it out.

You can also watch a larger, high-res version at Marvel.com. 

 


 

 

 

Real-Life Versions of Cartoon Characters

Most digital art websites always remind me how little I know about Photoshop. For example, even if I spent the next full week with my nose in a copy of Photoshop for Dummies, I couldn’t begin to create anything like Pixeloo’s "Untooned" image of cartoon  and videogame characters.

Seen at right is Pixeloo’s "Untooned" version of Stewie Griffin from the animated television series Family Guy. Creepy, eh?

Wait until you see Homer Simpson… shudder

Head over to Pixeloo to view so-big-they’re-terrifying images of Stewie and Homer, as well as Mario (of the Mario Bros. videogame franchise) and Jessica Rabbit (of Who Framed Roger Rabbit fame). There are even a few animated versions of the images that successfuly up the creep-me-out ante.

Oh, and if you decide you want to see more of this type of "Untooned" image editing, check out the gallery of "Reality Cartoons" submitted to Worth1000.com as part of a recent contest. The images include a pair of real-life versions of Tycho and Gabe, the main characters from the Penny Arcade webcomic.

Now if we could only get an "Untooned" image of GrimJack.

Happy Birthday: Ralph Dibny

Born in Waymore, Nebraska, Randolph William “Ralph” Dibny grew up admiring escape artists and contortionists. He desperately wished he could emulate their agility and flexibility.

When he learned that many of his idols favored a soda called Gingold, which contained the juice of the rare Gingold fruit, Ralph’s natural skill at deduction kicked in. He taught himself chemistry and developed a concentrated Gingo fruit extract which, when he drank it, transformed him, giving his entire body super-elasticity.

Delighted with his new prowess, Ralph moved to Central City, donned a colorful costume, and became the superhero Elongated Man. He joined the Justice League of America a short time later. R

alph later revealed his true identity and married his sweetheart Sue Dearbon. They lived happily for many years, and though Ralph’s powers were never a match for the more powerful heroes, his cheerful demeanor and his sharp mind—he is usually considered the finest superhero detective after Batman—made him a respected, admired, and loved member of the superhero community.

Sadly, Sue was brutally murdered by a deranged friend, and her death and later events drove Ralph mad. He recovered, however, and sacrificed his own life to trap the villain Felix Faust and the demon Neron, who had tried to trick him into surrendering his soul. Happily, Ralph and Sue are now reunited, and have a new existence as ghost detectives.

Simon Pegg Takes Role as ‘Comic Book Geek’ in New Film

  • Uncategorized
  • May 26, 2008

After the success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, it would seem there’s little actor Simon Pegg could do to further endear himself to fans.

But now comes word from IGN that Pegg is working on a film with Nick Frost called Paul, which would have the pair as a couple of devoted comic book fans in an adventure across America.

The Affable Brit said: "I just finished a script with my writing partner Nick Frost and that is called Paul and we’re going to shoot it later this year or early next year. It’s a road movie set in America about two British comic book geeks that get into an adventure across America. Write what you know as they say."

He said he had a director in mind, but wouldn’t let slip who it was, merely saying: "It’s someone really cool."

Pegg’s director on his last two films, Edgar Wright, is currently working on the Scott Pilgrim film, Pegg said, and after that wraps they’ll start work with Frost on their third collaboration, called World’s End.

Interview: Ivory Madison on ‘Huntress: Year One’

huntress-year-one-1-4841045It’s no small feet for a comic book character to last over 60 years — but that’s exactly what the Huntress has done. 

Debuting in the ‘40s as a villain for Wildcat, she was recreated for the Silver Age as Helena Wayne, the daughter of the Batman and Catwoman of Earth-2, which was an alternate universe established in the early 1960s as the world where DC’s Golden Age stories took place. However, following DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries in 1985, the Helena Wayne version of the Huntress was removed from continuity.

In 1989, due to the popularity of the character, DC introduced a new version of the Huntress. She had the same first name and a similar costume, but an entirely different back-story and personality. The Modern Age Huntress, Helena Rosa Bertinelli is the daughter of one of Gotham’s mafia bosses. After seeing her entire family murdered by a mob hit, she vows revenge for her slain relatives. In Huntress: Cry For Blood by Greg Rucka, Huntress’ origin was revised. Originally, Helena believed that Franco Bertinelli was her father. She came to discover that her father was actually Santo Cassamento, the don of a rival mafia family, who was carrying on an affair with Helena’s mother, Maria.

The Huntress has been a member of the JLA, the Outsiders and most recently the Birds Of Prey. Not to mention, she had a recurring role on the animated hit Justice League Unlimited and a staring role in the WB’s failed television series, Birds Of Prey. Proving that her character is strong enough to survive many years and several makeovers, she returned this month in her own miniseries.

Huntress: Year One looks at the early days of Helena Bertinelli’s crime fighting career. Written by comic book newcomer Ivory Madison, the book promises to give fans of the character some real insight to her beginnings and what makes Helena the hero she is today.

I had the opportunity to speak to Madison about the new book, her love for all things Bat-related and her multifaceted career.

COMICMIX: How did you end up working on Huntress: Year One for DC?

IVORY MADISON: I’ve always wanted to write comics. I’m a DC Comics person and I’ve always been obsessed with Batman and anything Gotham-related.

It all started when I tried pitching a reintroduction of Batwoman and they said they were already doing it. I was briefly thrown, and had to shift gears or lose my momentum. I wrote a Batman one-shot, which they bought, and that got me the opportunity to pitch something for Huntress. That led them to step back and say, “Hey, we need a foundation for this character. We need a Year One.” I was very lucky to walk into that. (more…)

The Ghost of Wertham, by Mike Gold

As comics fans, we should always be on the frontlines of the war to protect freedom of expression.

After all, it was our medium that was forced into a severe case of arrested development for a decade. Beginning in late 1940s and led by mascot psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, the Saturday Evening Post and the Readers Digest, comic book creators became seen as nothing less than child molesters and the medium was pressured into “Comics Code Authority” censorship and became trapped in its “childish claptrap” image for a generation. Hundreds of cartoonists, publishers, editors, and engravers lost their jobs; those that were among the fortunate few who remained gainfully employed told their neighbors they were “commercial artists” or some such lest they be chased out of suburbia by an angry mob.

For the past 20 years we’ve had a dangerous clown in the Senate who, when he’s not trying to get our armed forces to blast every Moslem in the middle east into smithereens (yep; it’s Memorial Day, so let’s honor our brave men and women by bringing them home from Iraq) is busy trying to raise our nation’s children on behalf of their evidently incompetent parents. Sadly, I’m talking about one of my own senators,

“independent” Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, a man no more independent than Karl Rove or Dick Cheney.

Senator Joe has actually threatened artistic creators with government censorship if they do not bow to his whims. Yeah, I know, I already compared him to Rove and Cheney so telling you he wipes his ass with the Bill of Rights is kind of redundant. Joe’s spent the past two decades – and our tax money – intimidating the forces that produce video games, movies and music he doesn’t appreciate, all the time hiding under the Great Flag of Cowards, the one that reads “save the children!” Now, he’s turned his attention to YouTube. (more…)

Are Comic Books Hurting Movies?

ironman-9688286In about 355 BC, Aristotle laid down the ground rules of theater in Poetics, with the notable rule that “opsis,” or spectacle, is the least important element, and should never come before plot, character or theme. Nowadays, the summer movie season is all about spectacle. The bigger the better, with Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingodm of the Crystal Skull just the latest to bring excitement to the silver screen.

But not everyone’s pleased. Writing on the Huffington Post, Jack Donaldson says the rising influence of comics movies has been negative because of the explosion of computer animation in all types of films.

By their very nature these films rely on effects a lot, making them commonplace and just not that impressive. When you watch a computer generated Iron Man climb to the reaches of Outer Space, it’s not nearly as impressive as trying to figure out where Chris Cooper’s teeth went, or Gary Sinise’s legs. It’s not that I have a thing for missing limbs … I have a thing for special effects that make the real world seem a little more spectacular. What does a 100-foot wall of sand, with a face and fists, that is set on destruction in Spider Man 3, really do for anyone? It seems that more and more movies are made like last year’s Transformer’s, which showcased almost no action scenes that featured real actors, and I’m not impressed.

While I certainly understand the sentiment, I’d say it’s misplaced anger, as the use of CGI was already spread far and wide before comics movies gained traction. Really, it was the evolution of CGI that allowed for believable superhero movies.

And if you look at the best comic book movies, they excel because of quality stories (see Iron Man and the first two Spider-Man films), and the computer animation simply adds a little spectacle, just as Aristotle intended.

Happy Birthday: Kobra and Jason Burr

The Burrs were vacationing in India despite Mrs. Burr’s advanced pregnancy. Her condition attracted the attention of the Cobra Cult because the timing coincided with a prophecy about a man who would lead them into the Kali Yuga, the fourth age of the world. He would be one of a pair of Siamese twins, and Mrs. Burr was carrying such a pair.

When they were born and then separated on May 25, the cult stole one of the newborns (Jeffrey) and made it look as if he had died during the operation. Devastated, the Burrs took their remaining son, Jason, home with them.

Jeffrey was raised as Lord Naga, also known as Kobra, and began setting his plans for world domination in motion as soon as he was fully grown. Unfortunately for him, the twins retained a psychic link, and the authorities soon realized this—they recruited Jason and began using his link to foil his brother’s plans.

Kobra eventually killed Jason, but was killed himself by Black Adam and Atom Smasher years later.

 

 

ComicMix Columns for the Week Ending May 25, 2008

Hope everyone’s having a nice three-day weekend, and that we all remember that the real focus on Memorial Day ought to be putting an end to the sheer folly of war, so that someday we won’t have to mourn all those whose lives have been lost in its perpetuation.  Oh, and of course, outdoor grilling and summer movies and retail sales. 

Here’s what our columnists have been selling you — for free! — this past week:

Remember the barbecue sauce!

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