Archive for the 'Cartoons' Category

Disney aims for boys with Disney XD

08/7/08

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Corporate behemoth Disney has got the girls glued to their seats with fare like High School Musical and Hannah Montana, but tweener boys prefer Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, it seems. Thus Disney is rebranding its Toon Disney channel as Disney XD, with such Wheaties-fueled fare as reruns of Batman: The Animated Series. The LA Times has more:

Animation, traditionally a draw for boys, has been a struggle for Disney Channel, although its newest series, “Phineas and Ferb,” appears to be building a strong male following.

But so far, the network has failed to produce a blockbuster to compete with Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants;” or match the guy-centric focus of Cartoon Network, which one ad buyer described as the ESPN of animation.

“You’re fighting the brand perception, the very, very strong brand equity that’s been in the marketplace for many, many years,” Kahn said of Disney Channel. “It would almost require a completely separate effort to reach tween boys, with a completely different name somehow associated with the Disney property, to reach these tween males.”


The article doesn’t go into much detail on the actual content of the revamped channel — marketing goals apparently being equal to content in Tinseltown — but the shows they do mention are high on the usual suspects: superheroes and manga-themed fare.


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Diversion: Hewlett’s Olympic Monkey

08/5/08

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Sometime cartoonist Jamie Hewlett (and his Gorillaz cohort Damon Albarn) have created an animated Monkey character to serve as the BBC’s mascot for their Olympic coverage. You can watch the cartoon here and learn more about it here. As far as we can tell, the 2 minute video is about 23 times better than the the new MUMMY movie, so we say go for it.

Watch WATCHMEN on iTunes

07/21/08

Back blogging at Newsarama, Paul Levitz runs down DC’s digital strategy, “Motion Comics” — which takes comics art and animates it. First up: WATCHMEN.

Last summer, I traveled to London with Warner Premiere President Diane Nelson to show Dave Gibbons a first test of a new digital format. Diane’s team and WATCHMEN director Zack Snyder passionately wanted to take the original WATCHMEN graphic novel, put the artwork into motion, add a soundtrack, and create a new, multi-format digital version while keeping all of the original literary and art material. We spent hours with Dave, discussing the inherent challenges, the proven power of WATCHMEN to convert people to the “new” format of graphic novels, and how that might happen again if we did this new project well. Unsurprisingly, Dave had important insights into how the artwork could be digitally manipulated to best effect, and ended up becoming a vital part of the process, working directly with Zack and the producers over the last year. This first chapter of the first “Motion Comic” went live as a free download from iTunes on the ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY site last night, and production is moving steadily towards releasing the rest of the monumental work that is WATCHMEN in multiple formats for computers and cell phones between now and the movie’s premiere.

SD08: Cartoon Network (#3645) and Adult Swim (#4151)

07/18/08

Cartoon Network and Adult Swim will host a number of panels and special events, such as signings, during Comic-Con International in San Diego, Calif., Friday, July 26 - Sunday, July 28, 2008. There’s even a picnic with Tim & Eric so you can say “Good job!” All details (many of them) in the jump.

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SD08: The Search for Carl

07/17/08

Adult Swim has warned us of an ATHF promotion to find a Carl look-alike–things could get ugly.

One “lucky” real person to star as Carl in first-ever live action episode Adult Swim today announced the nationwide search for a Carl look-alike to appear in the first-ever live action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

The search will begin Saturday, July 26, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., at the Omni Hotel in San Diego during this year’s Comic-Con convention, what some consider to be the epicenter of Carl-like men. Aqua Teen Hunger Force, one of Adult Swim’s most popular animated action-adventure, comedy-dramas, follows the strange everyday lives of three human-sized food products who live in New Jersey. Their next-door neighbor is Carl, a simple man who’s endearingly sweaty, hairy, lewd, fashion-challenged, horny, nasty and
oftentimes annoying. All men remotely fitting that description are encouraged to show up. It would also help to be bald, have a mustache and wear a dirty white tank top, sweat pants and flip-flops. For background, video of Carl’s awesomeness can be seen at AdultSwim.com.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force co-creator, Dave Wills, who is also the voice of Carl, will be on site at the San Diego search. Aqua Teen Hunger Force is created by Matt Maiellaro (12 oz. Mouse) and Dave Willis (Squidbillies).

Spirit of the season

07/4/08


Shatner + Cartoon + Joe Jackson + Pulp = Joy

06/26/08



[Link via Troy]

Planet Hulk direct to DVD?

06/12/08

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Our good friend Nomad braved the security at the Marvel Booth at the Licensing Show to eke out news of all Marvel’s new animated projects:

Hulk: Gamma Corps:: Set to hit in 2009, provided the movie does the numbers required. Remember, there was a series planned the last time a Hulk movie hit and it never saw the light of day due to poor numbers at the box office. This series sees Hulk teaming with other Gamma powered individuals to fight the good fight. So..Hulk..She Hulk..Doc Samson…who else would be in there? I wasn’t aware there were that many Gamma powered people to form a group with. I’ll assume there will be some original creations in there. Fingers crossed, Marvel hopes for 26 episodes on the table, but nothing is in stone yet.


Also listed: Iron Man: Armored Adventures, a Planet Hulk DVD for Lionsgate and Marvel Superhero Squad and Marvel Extreme- Wolverine
[LInk via Blog@]

Yet more on Tokyopop

06/5/08

OEL creators are beginning to talk about what’s happening. Rikki Simons:
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I haven’t heard otherwise, so I am assuming that ShutterBox is not part of the cut. In fact, we signed our schedule for ShutterBox Book Six last month, which requires that we turn in the first 25 pages by July 5th of this year. This was only surprising to Tavisha and I because we usually aren’t given a schedule for a new book until a few months after we finish the previous book. This is the first time Tokyopop has rushed a schedule to us a full month before we turned in our current project. I suppose this means that this restructuring has been in the works for some time, and that if they were planning to cut our book, they wouldn’t have sent a schedule at all. So we’ll just do as the new schedule says, unless we’re told to stop.

In other news, Tavisha and I signed a two year agreement with GoComics to distribute our old Super Information Hijinks: Reality Check! digitally. The whole thing will be transferred to their site and they’ll also be setting it up for mobile phone distribution. I suppose I should say things like, “we are excited to announce” and the like, but I hate writing up that sort of bloat. I’m never excited about anything unless it’s cute and round and artificially intelligent or on the menu at a Cold Stone Creamery. So I’ll just say, “Should be neato! I hope!”

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Rivkah:

Honestly, I’m happy this happened. I was expecting bankruptcy by November 2007. Instead, for perhaps the first time ever, Tokyopop has made the right move by cutting back on how much spagetti they throw at the wall to see what sticks. I don’t doubt the turmoil will take several months to settle down and many of us creators will be cut, but from a business perspective, this means that in the long run, they could potentially be better off. They cut back also by deciding not to exhibit at San Diego or Anime Expo which means less time spent going to conventions and more time focusing on actual creative material; it’s the little things that count, and when employees run up a thousand dollar tab just on drinks, that hurts not just the company but the creators as well.

And not only that, but Stu Levy is no longer head of the book publishing division. Doth my heart dare leap for joy? I feel that part of the reason the actual PUBLISHING aspect of Tokyopop has suffered so is that he has his baby now (Princess Ai) to the affect of forgetting to pick up the step children after school. I feel often that we’ve been left on the side of the road in the hopes that we’ll either just disappear or somebody else will pick us up and adopt us.


She goes on to say that the third volume of STEADY BEAT is in the works (above), and she’ll get paid to finish it even if it doesn’t come out. If Tpop doesn’t publish it, she hopes to put it up on the web.

Joanna Estep:

Now, to be honest, I no longer work for Tokyopop. Roadsong is over with book 3 hot off the presses this month, and I’m involved in a new project with a new publisher. All’s well in paradise, you might say.

But you know, it still sort of hurts to see what feels like the entire comics industry heaping scorn on my former publisher, where a lot of my friends work or have projects. Especially when I’ve got no friendly word to defend them with. I’m no fan of the “pilot program” (or whatever it’s called), I’m not fond of the way they treat their creators, and seeing the astounding list of layoffs makes me wince. Oh yeah, and putting up with the constant “OEL/OGMs SUCK, THEY’RE NOT REAL MANGA, NON-JAPANESE LOSERS GO HOME” sentiment hasn’t been a picnic either. I’m tired of feeling like everyone must look down on me for working with Tokyopop. That ain’t the way it should be. I hate being made to feel ashamed of my own accomplishments.

But lemme just say that I’ve made a lot of friends through Tokyopop whom I really love, and it’s exhausting to see them have to deal with with all this crap, too.


MEANWHILE, TP alumna Svetlana CHmakova is working on her own animated series:

My Life Me, a new animated series created by Svetlana Chmakova of Tokyopop’s Dramacon and animation vets JC Little and Cindy Filipenko, is going into production for an eventual fall 2009 release. Fifty-two 11-minute episodes are slated, along with 26 original shorts for mobile and VoD platforms. The target audience is kids 8-12.

BLACK FREIGHTER will save DVDs

05/27/08

Watchmen Move stillsWell, it’s not enough that comic book movies have saved the box office, now they are saving the DVD business, which fell 3.2% last year to a mere $15.9 billion. How? Well, using Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, of course. According to the NY Times, Warner is trying a bold new tactic in conjunction with the release of the WATCHMEN movie next year: a concurrent release of the animated TALES OF THE BLACK FREIGHTER as a direct-to-dvd movie.

The second film, tentatively called “Tales of the Black Freighter,” follows a side “Watchmen” storyline about a shipwreck and will arrive in stores five days after the main movie rolls out in theaters. The DVD will also include a documentary-style film called “Under the Hood” that will delve into the characters’ backstories.

Warner, the No. 1 distributor of DVDs, bills the effort as a way to renew retail excitement for little silver discs now that the once-booming market has matured.


The move is an investment in creating excitement for WATCHMEN, which is already a risky business as an R-rated, mature-themed superhero movie.

The immediate goal is for the parallel release to help start a potential new movie franchise. As television advertising becomes less effective because of declining TV viewership, movie studios need to reach a mass audience somehow, and having what amounts to ads sitting on store shelves is seen as a crucial antidote.

The effort is also a way for Warner to get more DVD bang for not many more bucks. The “Watchmen” film, Mr. Synder said, will probably generate at least three DVDs: “Tales of the Black Freighter,” followed about four months later by release of “Watchmen” itself, and then an “ultimate” edition in which the two are edited together into one megamovie.


You don’t say. Warner also plans to create a dozen 22- to 26-minute Webisodes of “The Watchmen Motion Comic” to help make the story more palatable to non-Watchmen initiates. This series, which will eventually be collected into DVD, will be “a panel-by-panel slide show of the graphic novel narrated by an actor.” So that’s at least FOUR dvds that we will have to buy then. Let’s hope Warner does a better job of marketing this movie than they did SPEED RACER!

Setting aside how positively thrilled Alan Moore must be over all this, we’re thrilled because dear, dear Gerard Butler is going to take time out from his busy schedule of being linked to Hollywood starlets to provide the main voice for Black Freighter! Win-win!

The Venture Bros. Shirt Club announced

05/27/08

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The Venture Bros. - The Amazing Shirt of the Week Club:
Venture Bros Season 3 arrives JUNE 1! And so does Shirt Club!

AT LAST!


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Quick entertainment updates

04/25/08


Quick Stop has the Season 3 teaser we’ve been hearing about. Does anyone know what that music at the start is?

• Gawker yells: Stop Adapting The Wrong Comics and has this idea for a LOVE AND ROCKETS movie:

Who should star and direct? Even the visual style of the Hernandez brothers fits King of the Hill creator Mike Judge, and instead he is wasting years of his life on movies like the Luke Wilson-Maya Rudolph comedy Idiocracy. Judge is laboring on another television show in the interim, and when he decides to come back to the big screen L & R should be the reason. Casting a bunch of total unknowns for this would be a stroke of genius. My office will bill your office, Mike.


• Vulture, however asks a different question: Which Superhero Movie Will Suck?:

Why Hellboy 2 might suck:
We’re a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro, but Hellboy creator Mike Mignola’s comments last week that the new movie represents Del Toro’s vision more than his own didn’t inspire a huge amount of confidence. Neither did the trailer, which is so overstuffed with Pan’s Labyrinthine creepy-crawlies that Hellboy’s trademark wit gets lost in the shuffle. Most of all, this is the superhero movie we’re most looking forward to this summer — which makes us all the more nervous that, in the tradition of past so-called sure things Hulk and Spider-Man 3, it’ll be lousy.
Odds it won’t be super? 3:1.


• What is it like inside the LOST writer’s room? Noted fan magazine Popular Mechanics tells us:

CC: The writer’s room is a very lively place where every story point is debated and kicked around. We break the stories in their totality in the writer’s room down to really the very very kind of minute details of scenes, so, you know, you’re kind of harnessing the brain power of eight people in there, and that mind hive is very helpful in problem solving. And different people know more about various subjects, so, you know, one of our favorite pastimes in the room is we play this game…ah, what’s the actual title…? It’s Geek versus Jock.
DL: We have one writer, Brian K. Vaughn, who writes comic books, and then another writer, Adam Horowitz, who’s like a die-hard sports fan.
CC: Yankees fan. He used to sell hot dogs at Yankees Stadium.
DL: We’ll ask Vaughn an easy sports question, like how many innings are there in a baseball game…
CC: Or what is the color of the Carolina Panthers or what sport do the Carolina Panthers play…
DL: And then we’ll ask Horowitz to name two of the Avengers. And they will face off, and it’s fun to watch them, you know, try to answer questions outside of their specific area of expertise.

Cartoon: Sita Sings the Blues

04/24/08

Some of your out there may remember Nina Paley, an indie cartooner who went on to create the syndicated Fluff, but has lately been pretty much absent from comics pages. That’s because she’s become an animator and her SITA SINGS THE BLUES is playing at this week’s Tribeca Film Festival. Friday’s premiere is already sold out, but tickets are still available for subsequent showings. The film has garnered praise from NPR and the like for its whimsical retelling of the Ramayana interspersed with a contemporary story of a woman following her husband to India, all told with animated shadow puppets, Busby Berkeley-style Bollywood musical numbers and other multimedia effects. Paley animated the whole thing herself. The trailer is above, but here are some stills.
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Sitasings Still02 Web-01 Low

So obviously the new Beatles…

04/22/08


Venturebrospanel

Click for more.

RIP: Ollie Johnston 1912 - 2008

04/15/08

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Ollie Johnston, the last of Disney “nine Old Men” animators, and one half of the famed “Frank ‘n’ Ollie” duo has died, taking with him another piece of history.

The “Nine Old Men” were Les Clark, Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Eric Larson, Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. As animators and directors they worked on all the significant Disney films from Snow White on to The Rescuers and gave life to such characters as Malificient, Shere Khan, Cruella de Vil, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Brer Rabbit and so on.

Johnston was the last surviving member, and with his frequent partner Thomas authored several classic book on aniation, including The Illusion of Life.

Mark Evanier has some remembrances here and Jim Hill here. Although Hill attempts to remember the train-loving Johnston as a real person and not just the symbol of an end of an era…well…it is the end of an era. The Disney animated film classics stand as one one of the most prolonged achievements of 20th century imagination and are arguably the greatest single achievement of corporate creativity ever. Johnston was an integral part of that and you’ll be seeing lots of tributes to this consummate craftsman, artist and teacher over the next few days. Cartoon Brew has many many links including a tribute from John Canemaker:

Ollie was a survivor, a wonderful combination of inner strength and outer gentleness. He could be practical, thoughtful and tough in making life decisions, such as buying property or cutting down a favorite old tree when it loomed dangerously. But he was also a passionate man, full of emotions that found the perfect outlet in his soft, blue pencil lines that, as Glen Keane said, “coaxed into being” the most sensitive of character relationships. “I seem to have a kind of reservoir of feelings about how people felt in certain situations,” Ollie once explained.


Miyazaki’s LITTLE NEMO

04/12/08



Sob sob. Cartoon Brew on what might have been.

Bob Clampett’s JOHN CARTER OF MARS

04/10/08



Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter books have had a long bumpy road to the screen. While Pixar is now on track to make an animated John Carter movie, this isn’t the first attempt. Back in the 30s, legendary animator Bob Clampett and ERB teamed up on an animated version:

With such a hot property, one might expect it to have been adapted to film. Well, the Mars books weren’t quite as popular as the Tarzan books, but that didn’t stop Burroughs from trying when the opportunity arose. That opportunity came in the early 1930’s from animation pioneer Bob Clampett, who had recently earned his animation stripes at Warner Bros. studios. Clampett approached Burroughs with an idea for an animated film about one of his favorite characters: John Carter.


The surviving footage of the fabled team-up is shown in the above YouTube clip, and one can only imagine what a swashbuckling mind bender this would have been, equalling the Fleischer Superman for fantasy rooted in heightened naturalism.

Disney likes toons!

04/9/08

Disney is bullish on animation as a full slate of animated films for the next few years has been announced, including Cars 2; Bolt, starring Miley Cyrus and John Travola; Toy Story 3, set for June 18, 2010; The Princess and the Frog from John Musker and Ron Clements; Rapunzel, directed by Glen Keane and Dean Wellins; Pixar’s Newt and The Bear and the Bow; and King of the Elves, based on a story by Philip K. Dick.

Also revealed: all films will henceforth be released in digital 3D.

Many more details in the link, but just to repeat:

DISNEY DOES PHILIP K. DICK.


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Ralph Bakshi interview and appearances

04/8/08

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Legendary animator Ralph Bakshi is one of those few creator who really deserve the “legendary” before his name. Besides just directing the first x-rated cartoon movie (FRITZ THE CAT), he pioneered animation as an adult medium with movies like COONSKIN, HEAVY TRAFFIC and the fantasies WIZARDS and the first LORD OF THE RINGS adaptation. Sadly, he gave up movies after the controversial COOL WORLD. Black Book has a new and meaty interview with Bakshi that fills in some of the picture:

BB: How do you think Fritz the Cat would have turned out if the studio heads at Warner Bros. had gotten their way?

RB: There’s a picture called The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, the sequel to my movie. If you want to see how Fritz would have turned out, look at that. It would have been this cat that, once in a while, said something hip, and then falls in love with some girl and chases her all over town. [Laughs.] You should have seen their faces in the screening room when I first screened a bit of Fritz. I’ll remember their faces until I die. One of them left the room. Holy hell, you should have seen his face. “Shut up, Frank! This is not the movie you’re allowed to make!” And I said, Bullshit, I just made it.

Bakshi will also be making three upcoming appearances in New York, including NYCC 08 in conjunction with a new book on his work:

Ralph Bakshi will be appearing in person in New York City at the following events! Also you will find the co-authors of Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi Jon M. Gibson and Chris McDonnell and copies of the book at each event.

Thursday, April 17th:
Animazing Gallery Exhibition and Book signing.
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
416 Broome Street
New York, NY 10013
RSVP at their site.

Friday, April 18th
New York Comic Con Panel Talk & Book Signing
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
IGN Theater
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
655 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001
Presented by MoCCA.

Saturday, April 19th
Anthology Film Archives Author Q&A, Book Signing & Film Screenings
7:00 PM Heavy Traffic
9:00 PM Coonskin (on a restored 35mm print)
32 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003
Tickets $8 at the door, good for one or both features.

It’s a good thing THE BEAT has been cleaning

04/7/08

It looks like room will need to be made at Stately Beat Manor …

ADULT SWIM toys!

ytoyz

From the Kidrobot Discussion Board:

Adult Swim - Mini Figures
We’ve teamed up with Adult Swim to bring your late night to life. From Robot Chicken and Mad Scientist to Assy McGee, Carl and the Mooninites, ridiculous-ness in a box can be yours for just $7.95 a piece. 18 characters in all, including two secret chases. Badass!

Posted by Mark Coale

June 1st we laugh once more

04/4/08

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After a long radio silence, Jackson Publick runs an update on Venture Bros. Season 3 and confirms that the new season will debut on June 1st, 2008. Can we hold out that long? Can it really have been a long, long 20 months since we saw the Venture Brothers? ALMOST TWO YEARS???? It can.

He also reports that on 4/1 Adult swim showed a “workprint” of the first 10 minutes of the season debut. There’s a very very bad YouTube video of a video of a TV screen of this, and out of respect to Jackson and the show we shan’t link to it, but it can probably be found if you want to see that kind of thing. We’re keeping ourselves pristine.

Batman: the Brave and the Bold toon on the way

04/4/08

 Images Articles Batman Brave Bold 150At their upfronts yesterday, the Cartoon network revealed a new Batman cartoon called Batman: The Brave and the Bold for the 2008-09 season:

Few details of the new Batman series were unveiled with the announcement. The show will carry on the Dark Knight’s crime-fighting crusade following the recent series finale of the Emmy-winning The Batman.

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South Park Studios launches

03/25/08

You say you would like a site with streaming video of every South Park episode ever? M-kay. South Park Studios has launched. And you can search and embed clips. Like this one, in which the valiant Lesbos take on the Persians.

Oh hell…one more…

LEMMIWINKS!

Publick, Hammer at NYCC

03/20/08

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Tons o’ guests have been recently announced for this year’s New York Comic-Con, including Gail Simone, Orson Scott Card and now =…the Venture Bros. crew of Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer will be on hand. REMINDER: ONLY THREE MONTHS TO GO! Season 3 debuts this June. It’s been a long lonely year (!) without the Ventures, and we’ve had to make do with beautiful concept art on Stephen De Stefano’s blog to keep us going. WE haven’t been running much NYCC PR, but these creator bios are a welcome reminder of why we can’t wait to go adventuring with Team Venture once again!

ABOUT JACKSON PUBLICK:
Jackson Publick III was born in 1971. The only son of Jackson Publick, Jr., author of the popular Rusty Venture series of boys’ adventure novels, he forsook his literary birthright to pursue comic books and a degree in the liberal arts. He was successful at neither, and after a period of sky country hoboing and soul-searching, he decided to put his limited skill-set to use in the Creative Warfare department of the Marine Corps; Psi-Ops division. His most notable achievements during his short tenure were designs for something called “The Mindcopter,” and a squadron of giant, flying metal lions which, when reconfigured and joined together via electrical current, formed a giant, flying metal man. Neither project was ever put into production and, upon learning that he had plagiarized the latter, the Marine Corps discharged Publick summarily, but honorably. It was to be the most important day ever. Drawing on the powers and influence of his amazing Bilderberg Group superpals, he then made up The Venture Bros.

ABOUT DOC HAMMER:
Doc Hammer was born in 1626 in Hamar, Norway under the name Erik VonHamer. Being the son of a humble cobbler, not much was expected of the young man other than to cobble, and to not complain about all the cobbling. But Doc was destined for greater things. “Greater things” being not cobbling. At seventeen, with nothing more than really well made shoes and a dream, he made his way to Antwerp to study oil painting under the great Rubens. Within a year the two were at odds. Rubens spoke (infrequently) of Doc as “that creepy skinny kid,” and Doc spoke of Rubens’s work as “kinda unattractive if you really look at it.” By 1648, Doc had relocated to Leiden, where he found his master in Rembrandt. It was there, in his 23rd year, that Doc met “She Who Was To Deliver The Kiss Of Eternal Youth.” After a spicy courtship, “She Who Was To Deliver The Kiss Of Eternal Youth” and Doc were married. By 1650, Doc had grown weary of immortality and committed an unsuccessful suicide by burying his never-corpse in the basement of a Dutch cottage. In 1870, Doc again resurfaced. Using the name Vilhelm Hammershoi, Doc resumed his painting career with mild success. After thanking his bride for “the immortality thing” and nicely reminding her that he had “heard every one of her stories like a billion times,” “She Who Was To Deliver The Kiss Of Eternal Youth” and Doc split up in 1916. Again, Doc literally went underground ’til the 1920’s, when Doc (now using the name Armond Hammer) resurfaced and made a whole mess of money selling overpriced meds to the Russians. Sick of all the baking soda jokes, Doc faked his death yet again. Biding his time ’til the MC Hammer thing had blown over, Doc again resurfaced as “Doc Hammer.” Today, Doc still paints in oils and writes, voices, and does other menial tasks for The Venture Bros. (A show you can watch on cable TV, were you to have cable TV.)

French toon movie news

03/20/08

 Kraken Vids Persepolis
• The English language version of the PERSEPOLIS animated film will be released on April 11.

This version features the voices of Chiara Mastroianni as Marjane; Sean Penn as Marjane’s father, Ebi; Catherine Deneuve as Marjane’s mother, Tadji; Gena Rowlands as Marjane’s grandmother; Iggy Pop as Uncle Anouche; and Amethyste Frezignac as young Marjane. It was recorded under the direction of Satrapi and Paronnaud as the French-language version of the film was being completed.


• Another story in The Hollywood Reporter mentions a pact between French production, distribution and international sales company MK2 and publisher Emmanuel Proust. This is of some interest to us because Proust specializes in graphic novels.

MK2 is hoping the collaboration will allow the producer to bring more books to the big screen and vice versa. MK2 is currently in production on Pascal Herold and Jerome Deschamps’ animated tale “The True Story of Puss ‘n Boots,” which Proust will adapt into a comic book. MK2 hopes to draw from Proust’s more than 120 titles and 30-40 future projects to be released per year by the publisher.


Maybe it’s just the movie trade papers picking up more on foreign film deals, but it seems like there’s been a teeny tiny move towards Euro-comics getting the kind of attention from movie studios that American comics have been receiving. First there was David Fincher being attached to Matz THE KILLER, then yesterday’s bit about James Mangold taking on CYCLOPES. Not to mention ancillary news like the TINTIN movies and Marvel’s publishing deal with Soleil. Not a landslide of activity, but it’s worth noting.

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