Squeaky Clean Television

The fine folks at Comics Should Be Good head into the weekend with a note about Archie, a 1964 pilot for a failed television series. Based on the characters appearing in Archie Comics, the show features John Simpson as Archie Andrews, Cheryl Holdridge as Betty Cooper, Mikki Jamison as Veronica Lodge, Jerry Brite as Jughead Jones, Wayne Adams as Reggie Mantel, Roland Winters as Mr. Weatherbee, William Schallert as Fred Andrews (Archie’s dad), Jean Vander Pyl as Mary Andrews (Archie’s mom), and Mary Grace Canfield as Miss Grundy.

(Image: John Simpson as Archie Andrews)

Shameless Plug Of The Day

Illustrator, art instructor, and our friend Karen Luk has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Steampunk ABC, a children’s alphabet book with a futuristic, Victorian era design.

(Image: cover art for Steampunk ABC, Karen Luk)

A Dredd-ful Score

Digital Spy provides a listen to the Dredd soundtrack by Paul Leonard-Morgan.

(Image: Karl Urban as Judge Dredd, Lionsgate)

Career Opportunities

With Labor Day weekend approaching, the gang over at Comics Should Be Good considers other potential job choices for some familiar superheroes and villains.

(Image: Ghost Rider as a pizza delivery guy, Brendan Tobin)

Coming Attractions

Miramax Films released The Crow: City of Angels, a sequel to the 1994 Brandon Lee blockbuster The Crow, on this date in 1996. Directed by Tim Pope and based on the comic book created by James O’Barr, the film features Vincent Pérez, Mia Kirshner, Richard Brooks, Vincent Castellanos, Iggy Pop, Thomas Jane, Thuy Trang, Ian Dury, and Tracey Ellis.

Hollywood's Streaming Difficulty

David Pogue wonders why the major studios and online outlets continue to make it difficult for consumers to access their favorite flicks:

“For Example, when you rent the digital version, you often have only 24 hours to finish watching it, which makes no sense. Do these companies really expect us to rent the same movie again tomorrow night if we can’t finish it tonight? In the DVD days, a Blockbuster rental was three days.”

(Shout-out: The Dish)

From Fan To Producer

Michael Ulsan, a producer of both the Swamp Thing and Batman film franchises, recalls his childhood passion for comics and reflects on the current state of the industry.

(Image: Heath Ledger as the Joker, The Dark Knight (2008), Warner Bros. Pictures; Uslan served as an executive producer on the film.)

Long Live The King

Today would have been artist Jack Kirby’s 95th birthday. The impact that this “short, little feisty guy with a thick New York accent” has had on comics, and pop culture as a whole, can make your head spin. Many of the characters that he co-created—the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the Avengers, the X-Men—have become icons and the basis for several blockbuster film franchises. But it was his art by which many fans crowned him the King of Comics.

(Image: cover of Fantastic Four #1, November 1961, Jack Kirby, Marvel Comics)

Coming Attractions

Universal Studios released Dudley Do-Right, based on the cartoon character created by Alex Anderson, on this date in 1999. Directed by Hugh Wilson, the movie stars Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alfred Molina. Other cast members include Corey Burton, Eric Idle, Robert Prosky, Regis Philbin, and Kathie Lee Gifford. Grammy and Emmy Award-nominated songwriter Steve Dorff provided the film score. Previous coverage of Fraser in George of the Jungle here.

Typesfaces

Graphic designer Matthew Olin employs fonts and glyphs to create a series of superhero portraits.

(Shout-out: Wired)

(Image: Cyclops in Linotype Franosch Pro Medium, Matthew Olin)

Zap! Clank! Boff!

To kick off the weekend, Jest serves up an hearty helping of 1960s Batman fisticuffs.

(Shout-out: Screen Junkies)

(Image: Batman bed sheets, Bloody Well Write)

Discussing The Dead

The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman provides a nice 10-minute overview of the differences between the television series and the comic book that inspired it.

(Image: Robert Kirkman and friends, Scott Garfield/TWD Productions LLC)

Slowing Things Down

Stereographer Vincent Leo and other members of the Dredd 3D production team discuss creating the effects of the drug Slo-Mo.

Undocumented Aliens (And Gods And Mutants)

Artist Neil Rivas calls attention to immigration issues in the United States with a series of ‘wanted’ posters focused on comic book characters:

“If humans can be considered illegal according to our immigration laws, then that must be applied to superheroes as well.”

(Shout-out: Bleeding Cool)

(Image: illegal superhero poster of the Marvel Comics Greek-born ninja Elektra, Neil Rivas)

Picture Day

Entertainment Weekly provides an early look at some of the characters, both old and new, that will be appearing in the upcoming season of The Walking Dead when the show returns on October 14.

Honoring Marmaduke's Maker

We missed this earlier, but Marmaduke creator Brad Anderson was honored last month by Portland, New York, a town near where he grew up. The long-running comic strip centered around a clumsy, but lovable Great Dane served as the basis for a 2010 live-action film featuring the voices of Owen Wilson, Emma Stone, George Lopez, Kiefer Sutherland, Fergie, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

(Shout-out: Andrew Farago)

(Image: Marmaduke, April 11, 2009, Brad Anderson, United Features)

Super Marketing

Rob Salkowitz touches on five ways in which the comics industry can serve as a model for savvy marketers.

(Shout-out: Jennifer de Guzman)

Shameless Plug of the Day

Sketchtravel has launched a Kickstarter campaign to develop a museum exhibition to be showcased in San Francisco and Tokyo. The original project began when illustrators Gerald Guerlais and Dice Tsutsumi passed a red sketchbook from one fellow artist to another as part of an international charity effort. For over four and a half years, the book traveled to 12 countries and was filled with works by 71 artists, including Hayao Miyazaki, Enrico Casarosa, and Glen Keane, before being auctioned off last October in support of Room to Read.

(Image: Sketchtravel contribution by Bob MacKenzie)

Fury's Flying Fortress

The S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier appears to be on patrol over Russian soil.

Coming Atttractions

New Line Cinema released the superhero horror movie Blade, based on the Marvel Comics character created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, on this date in 1998. Directed by Stephen Norrington, the film stars Wesley Snipes, N’Bushe Wright, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson, Donal Logue, Udo Kier, and Traci Lords.

Earth's Funniest Heroes

Flubs, flops, and complete misses on the set of The Avengers.

(Shout-out: Bonnie Burton)

May We Quote You?

“I don’t really go back and look at the movies but her performance in that was one of my favorite performances of anything by anyone in any movie that I’ve worked on.” – Tim Burton on Michelle Pfeiffer’s portrayal of Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992).

Military Display

Through Septmber 3, the First Division Museum at Cantigny in Wheaton, Illinois, presents “Drawing Fire: Bill Mauldin and the World War II GI.” More than 40 of the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist’s works, which inspired two live-action movies, are paired with various wartime uniforms and equipment from the museum’s collection. Previous CBC salute to Mauldin here. 

(Image: Bill Mauldin, 1944, Bill Mauldin Estate)

Shameless Plug Of The Day

On August 21, the San Francisco branch of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School presents an evening devoted to Catwoman, where models pose as Batman’s feline nemesis for your drawing pleasure. More details here.

(Shout-out: Cartoon Art Museum)

(Image: Julie Newmar as Catwoman from the 1960s Batman television series, 20th Century Fox)

Made In Japan

Trent over at Out of Our System gets right to the point with five manga-inspired movies he considers to be “worth a damn.”

The Clothes Make The Spider-Man

Spencer Perry reviews five decades of Spidey’s wardrobe.

(Image: The Scarlet Spider by Steven Butler, ca. 1994, Marvel Comics)

Coming Attractions

Warner Bros. released Steel, based on the DC Comics character John Henry Irons, on this date in 1997. Directed by Kenneth Johnson and produced by Quincy Jones, the film (which tanked at the box office) starred Shaquille O’Neal, Annabeth Gish, Richard Roundtree, Judd Nelson, and Ray J.

Sandman For Sale

Feast your eyes on production art created by Jill Thompson for a film based Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman that never materialized.

(Shout-out: Comicbookmovie.com)

Dredd-ful Designs

Several of Gianni Versace’s original costume sketches for the 1995 science fiction movie Judge Dredd have recently surfaced, though reaction to what they reveal has been somewhat amusing.

Back To School

Animator Uli Meyer has launched a blog chronicling efforts to produce an animated feature based on the female hellions of St. Trinian’s boarding school created by British cartoonist Ronald Searle. The cartoons, which first appeared in 1941, employed dark comedic humor to skewer the notion of a proper educational institution and later served as the basis for seven live-action films beginning in 1954 with The Belles of St. Trinian’s up to the 2009 release St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold.

(Shout-out: European Cartoon Center)

Coming Attractions

Universal Pictures released director Edgar Wright’s comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World in the U.S. on this date in 2010. Based on the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, the film stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Ellen Wong, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Webber, Alison Pill, Johnny Simmons, Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Mae Whitman, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, and Aubrey Plaza.

An Animated Homage

Canadian artist Ïve Bastrash pays tribute to iconic science fiction, action, and horror film posters such as Hellboy (above) and Batman Returns (below) by giving them a cartoon treatment. More of Bastrash’s work here and here.

Joe Kubert 1926–2012

Eisner and Harvey Award-winning artist Joe Kubert has passed away at age 85. Along with being the co-creator of Sgt. Rock, a U.S. soldier serving in World War II, for DC Comics, his resume includes stints illustrating Hawkman, Tarzan, and the Unknown Soldier. In 1976, Kubert and his wife, Muriel, founded the Kubert School for cartoonists and comic book artists. 

(Image: cover of Star Spangled War Stories #187, May, 1975, Joe Kubert, DC Comics)

On A Mission Of Restoring Credit

NPR caught up with Marc Tyler Nobleman, author of Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, to discuss the legacy of comic book writer Bill Finger:

“His name never appeared on a Batman story in his lifetime, but he was responsible for just about everything enduring about Batman.”

May We Quote You?

“I have no plans to die today.” — Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Crown Prince of Asgard in director Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 superhero escapade Thor. The Australian actor was born in Melborne on this date in 1983.

(Image: Chris Hemworth as Thor, theatrical poster for The Avengers, 2012, Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Pictures)

An Amazing Run

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of Spider-Man (Amazing Fantasy #15). In honor of the occasion, Tom Spurgeon over at The Comics Reporter offers some marvelous insight on the first 150 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, “one of the few series in the pantheon of great comics”:

“I’m not all the way sure why the initial series holds together for as long as it did. I suspect it’s a combination of a great character, a great hook, a bunch of talented pros and the intent that it remain all of a piece”

(Image: cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #50, John Romite Sr., Marvel Comics)

Tweet Of The Moment

“Worked on a Ninja Turtles movie, TV show, comic or toy line? Want to be interviewed for my TMNT history/art book? Drop me a line! #TMNT” - @andrewfarago

Our friend (and curator of San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum) Andrew Farago is conducting research for his next book: a restrospective of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you can lend him a hand, let him know.

On This Date: August 9

1944: Actor Sam Elliott was born in Sacramento, California. Known for his rugged looks and deep Western drawl, he appeared as General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross in Hulk (2003), Carter Slade (a.k.a the Caretaker ) in Ghost Rider (2007), and provided the voice for Chupadogra in Marmaduke (2010).

1945: Cartoonist Posey Simmonds was born in Berkshire, England. Her weekly strip Tamara Drewe appeared in The Guardian from 2005 to 2007 and was later adapted into a 2010 film of the same name directed by Stephen Frears and featuring Gemma Arterton and Dominc Cooper.

1968: Eric Bana was born in Melbourne, Australia. He starred as Dr. Bruce Banner in director Ang Lee’s Hulk (2003).

1985: Anna Kendrick was born in Portland, Maine. She played Stacey Pilgrim in director Edgar Wright’s 2010 adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

(Image: Tamara Drewe by Posey Simmonds)

Superhero Hang-Ups

We’re suckers for funky poster art and the new line of prints from DC Collectibles only makes us wish we had more wall space to fill. Another CBC favorite after the jump.

Call Him Shirley

Writer John Shirley talks about his work on actor Brandon Lee’s final film The Crow (1994) and his recent involvement with IDW’s revival of the character.

(Image: cover of The Crow #1, Ashley Wood and Kyle Hotz, IDW)

We Hardly Knew Ya

It seems that for every successful television series (à la The Walking Dead), there is a pile of ash left over from those which were burned by nervous network executives and apathetic audiences. AtomicSam takes a look (parts I and II) at 10 live-action shows based on comics that couldn’t escape the latter.

Knighttime Attire

Lindy Hemming, costume designer for The Dark Knight Rises, discusses fashion trends in Gotham City with GQ. (Warning: spoilers ahead.)

(Shout-out: Comicbookmovie.com)

(Image: Bane, Ron Phillips/Warner Bros. Pictures)

MoCCA Moves On

As noted last month, the Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art (MoCCA) in Manhattan closed abruptly. Its fate remained a mystery until it was recently announced that the Society of Illustrators would be taking on the museum’s assets. Anelle Miller, executive director of the Society of Illustrators, shared her thoughts on the collection’s future with The Beat.

On This Date: August 7

1927: Carl Switzer was born in Paris, Illinois. Best known for his role as the crooner Alfalfa in the Our Gang (a.k.a. The Little Rascals) comedy shorts, he also appeared as Bump Hudson in Reg’lar Fellers (1941) based on the eponymous comic strip by Gene Byrnes.

1941: Columbia Pictures released Tillie the Toiler, the second live-action adaptation of Russ Westover’s eponymous comic strip. Directed by Sidney Salkow, the film featured Kay Harris, Williams Tracy, and George Watts.

1944: John Glover was born in Kingston, New York. He portrayed Lionel Luthor, father of Superman’s archenemy Lex Luthor, on the television series Smallville (2001–2011).

1944: David Rasche was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He played Agent X, head of the MIB in 1969, in the 2012 science fiction comedy Men in Black 3.

1963: Harold Perrineau was born in Brooklyn, New York. He appeared in the 2010 horror film 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, based on the comic book series created by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith.

1975: Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, Transvaal Province, South Africa. The Academy Award-winning actress starred in the title role in director Karyn Kusama’s 2005 outing Æon Flux, based on animated series that aired on MTV from 1991 to 1995.

1979: Eric Johnson was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He played Lana Lang’s boyfriend Whitney Fordman in 24 episodes of the series Smallville (2001–2011) and later starred in the lead role of the Sci Fi Channel series Flash Gordon (2007–2008).

(Image: lobby card for Tillie the Toiler, Columbia Pictures)

This Just In . . .

Filming of The Wolverine in Kurnell, New South Wales, made the local news last week. Twentieth Century Fox plans to release its sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) in July of next year.

“The Process Is Fraught With Peril”

CBR provides a recap of last month’s panel discussion with Daniel Clowes at the Oakland Museum of California, including his thoughts on adapting comics to film. Previous coverage of the museum’s Clowes retrospective here.

(Image: cover of Wilson by Daniel Clowes, Drawn and Quarterly. The graphic novel is currently being developed into a movie directed by Alexander Payne)

The Superest Actor Of All

Vaneta Rogers lets it be known why she believes that Christopher Reeve’s role as Clark Kent/Superman stands as the best performance in a comic book movie:

“Donner’s film still has Superman acting like a goody-two-shoes. Reeve’s portrayal still respected everything about the character that some fans like to call “boring.” Yet Reeve not only made the character one that audiences found interesting enough to inspire three sequels, but he portrayed a Superman that was downright beloved in American culture.”

(Image: Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent, Warner Bros. Pictures)

On This Date: August 3

1940: Martin Sheen was born in Dayton, Ohio. The prolific, Emmy Award-winning actor played Ben Parker in directer Marc Webb’s 2012 release The Amazing Spider-Man.


1951: Jay North was born in Hollywood, California. From 1959 to 1963, he portrayed the well intentioned but troublesome Dennis Mitchell on the television series Dennis the Menace, based on the eponymous comic strip by Hank Ketchum.


1983: Actress Carolyn Jones died in West Hollywood, California of colon cancer at the age of 53. In addition to her role as Morticia Addams on the 1960s series The Addams Family, she also appeared as Marsha, Queen of Diamonds on Batman as well as playing Queen Hippolyta on The New Adventures of Wonder Woman.


2007: Walt Disney Pictures released Underdog, based on the animated television series created by W. watts Biggers and Chet Stover that ran from 1964 to 1973. Directed by Frederick Du Chau, the film features Jason Lee as the voice of the beagle superhero as he goes up against Simon Bar Sinister (Peter Dinklage) and his henchman Cad Lacke (Patrick Warburton). The cast also includes Jim Belushi, Alex Neuberger, John Slattery, Amy Adams as the voice of ‘Sweet’ Polly Purebred, and Brad Garrett as the voice Riff Raff.

A Man With Guts

Special effects makeup artist Greg Nicotero reveals his plans to keep the zombies on The Walking Dead looking so, um, fresh.

(Image: a hungry onlooker from The Walking Dead, AMC)

Getting Off The Ground . . . Not!

Don’t expect to see Batman’s latest flying machine taking to the skies anytime soon. Earlier coverage on the Caped Crusader’s gliding abilities here.

(Image: the Bat, Warner Bros.)

Sounding Off About The Dark Knight Rises

SoundWorks Collection turns its microphone over to sound designer and editor Richard King and composer Hans Zimmer for their insights into the final installment of director Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

(Shout-out: Superherohype)

Reflections Of Dredd

With less than two months to go until the release of the new Judge Dredd movie, CBR talks with John Wagner about the character that he co-created 35 years ago.

(Image: Judge Dredd by Carlos Ezquerra, Rebellion Developments)

Coming Attractions

New Line Cinema released director Mark A.Z. Dippé’s Spawn on this date in 1997. Based on the eponymous Image Comics series created by Todd McFarlane, the film features Michael Jai White, John Leguizamo, Nicol Williamson, Theresa Randle, Melinda Clarke, and D.B. Sweeney. Earlier coverage on the character’s 20th anniversary here.