Substance Abusers in Comics

On today’s show we discuss Substance Abusers in Comics! You may think that the Hero always gets the bad guy, But did you know sometimes they go down a dark path like Heroin or Alcohol to cope with their own demons? Our own, sketch comedian Imran and special guest star J Hammond C are live and on the drawing boards.

Drug addiction is a tricky subject to deal with taste and accuracy in any kind of fictional narrative, much less mainstream comic books, which are meant to entertain with stories about people with powers mostly hitting things more than anything else. Having said that, addiction to substances is a real world problem, and if modern comics are going to reflect the human condition in any way, then addiction to substances is something that has to come up occasionally. Whether or not they do it well is a matter of taste, I suppose, but nevertheless, there are characters who have taken have battled substance addictions and won, and some who lost. 

Comic Legends: Did Marvel Try to Release a Daredevil Comic Sans-Code? – CBR Reports:

Marvel almost released the “Child’s Play” story without Comics Code approval, but editor Denny O’Neil objected.

What was going to be in Daredevil #167-168 originally was a special two-parter involving Daredevil and the Punisher called “Child’s Play,” that dealt with young people getting addicted to drugs. The Comics Code would not approve of the issue. However, after some changes to the Comics Code, the issues eventually saw publication (with some slight edits) in Daredevil #183-184…

However, what’s fascinating is that the comic book actually had TWO chances to still see publication before Daredevil #183-184!

First off, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter initially planned on just releasing the issues without Comic Code approval, like Marvel had famously done with the Amazing Spider-Man issues (#96-98) about drug abuse that Stan Lee had written years earlier at the behest of the federal government.

Denny O’Neil, editor of the series, said no. The whole point of the arc was to have it reach as wide an audience as possible, so he did not want the book to be just a specialty item. That turned out to be the right call, as the Code relaxed its drug standards and the issues ended up reaching a wide audience a couple of years later.

Super Hereos with Substance Abuse Issues

Tony Stark/Ironman

It’s hard to imagine that Tony Stark/Iron Man existed long before Robert Downey, Jr. Throughout the years, the super-rich genius/engineer battled countless threats and super-villains but in 1979, it was Stark’s own alcoholism that broke through his industrial-grade armor. The storyline, famously known as “Demon in a Bottle,” chronicles Stark’s descent into binge-drinking and losing his leadership over the Avengers. One of the covers is a classic, showing a sweaty, five o’clock-shadowed Tony Stark staring helplessly into the mirror. It’s less important in its stab at exploring alcoholism than it is a comic book taking a character flaw and turning it against the main character. While Stark’s troubles are conquered a bit too easily, it remains a bold statement about what comic book storytelling can accomplish.

Karen Page/Daredevil

Blind since birth, Matt Murdock/Daredevil has always lived in the dark—but there was no way for him to ever see the events of 1986’s “Apocalypse” coming. Murdock’s ex-girlfriend (and former secretary) Karen Page returns, turning his life inside-out. Karen’s revealed to have had minor success as an actress before becoming a junkie/porn star. Turns out, Karen has sold Matt’s secret identity for a fix which, in turn, gets sold to Daredevil’s nemesis The Kingpin. Over the course of subsequent issues, Murdock helps Karen beat her heroin addiction and rebuild their relationship.

Roy Harper/Speedy – Green Arrow/Lantern

With the limitations of the Comics Code and reluctance by comics publishers to tackle real-world issues, drug addiction wasn’t really ha

Prime Time Animation

On today’s show we discuss Primetime Animation! You may recognize some of these adult targeted cartoons but did you know that one hold a Guinness book of world’s record title? Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back live on the drawing boards.

At the top of the hour we mentioned Primetime Animation

The Flintstones was the first, and the longest running, animated situation comedy shown in prime-time television. Premiering on ABC on 30 September 1960, it gained high ratings in its first season, establishing animation as a viable prime time format. Produced by Hanna-Barbera (Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera), The Flintstones was patterned after Jackie Gleason’s The Honeymooners. Originally designed as a program for the entire family.

The Jetson’s as a Live Action Film?

In case you were too young to have known about “The Jetsons”, it was a Hanna-Barbera cartoon series from the early-’60s which took place in the future when everybody thought we would live in buildings high above the sky and would drive flying cars — AKA what everyone considered 2001 was going to be. (We have computers in our hands now that we can make phones calls with, so maybe they got something right.) The Jetsons are also a family, with father George, mother Jane, daughter Judy, and son Elroy. Warner Bros. has decided to bring back “The Jetsons” for the new generation that Hanna-Barbera thought would be living in this future, in the form of an animated feature film.

If this sounds oddly familiar to you, it would be because Warner Bros. had spoke about transforming this film into a live-action feature way back in the far off past of 2012. Somewhere along the lines, WB decided that live-action wasn’t the right market and decided to bring The Jetsons back to their animated roots. The switch could be because WB has realized that cartoons are where it’s at. I mean, I won’t lie, I marathon “Adventure Time” and everything I can find for free on the YouTube channel Cartoon Hangover, like “Bravest Warriors” and “Bee and Puppycat” (trust me, just check them out). Even Seth Rogen is taking his stab at a cartoon feature film with the adult-oriented film Sausage Party, due out in June 2016.

WB has commissioned screenwriter Matt Lieberman to write it, while he is also writing the Short Circuit reboot, he sounds like the man for the job.

From Bedrock to Springfield

As anyone who has ever animated will tell you: cartoons are not merely kid’s stuff. The process of animating is tedious beyond tedium. We take it for granted now that animated features frequently play in major theaters, but Disney was the laughing stock of Hollywood during the three years that his production company spent developing Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs.  After the film came out, and it was Disney who enjoyed the last laugh.

But when it came to animating for television, production companies couldn’t take three years to get a project going. Television  demanded a different production model, one that favored expedience, and placed more emphasis on the writing and repartee between characters than it did on the sleekness of the animation itself.

Creation

Crusader Rabbit

One of the true pioneers of limited animation television programming was producer Jay Ward. Ward, and animator Alex Anderson, pioneered methods of “limited animation.” To briefly explain what this means: traditional animation (such as the classic Disney shorts) would be animated at 24 frames a second. In some instances, this would mean that a second of footage was comprised of 24 unique images. With limited animation, there are about half as many drawings, and there are several other technical shortcuts employed. For example, letting the dialogue drives the narrative. One of the first limited animation programs that Jay Ward sold was called Crusader Rabbit, and it aired on various NBC affiliates from 1948 to 1951. The show was crucial in establishing the foundation of TV animation

Rocky

Captain America

On today’s show we discuss Captain America! You may recognize him as the patriotic super soldier that fights off evil armed with his indestructible shield, But did you know he also possesses the power to wield Thor’s Hammer? Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back live on the drawing boards.

Captain America is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (cover dated March 1941) from Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics.

Breakdown of Captain America’s new suit in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ – Fanside Reports:

While the poster for ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ did give us our first look at Captain America’s new suit, post-Civil War, it’s difficult to tell if the new suit is a version of the Nomad costume, or The Captain.

To be clear, it’s been some time since the poster for Avengers: Infinity War was released. It was unveiled by Marvel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, driving fans crazy the moment it dropped. The poster had fans going wild for many reasons, but the most pertinent being the character reveals.

War Machine and Bucky Barnes back in action were probably the most surprising, but Captain America’s appearance on the corner of the poster definitely got more people interested in the suit Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is going to be wearing, now that he’s no longer going by the Captain America alias.

BackStory

Steven Rogers was born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, in 1925 to poor Irish immigrants, Sarah and Joseph Rogers.Joseph died when Steve was a child, and Sarah died of pneumonia while Steve was a teen. By early 1940, before America’s entry into World War II, Rogers is a tall, scrawny fine arts student specializing in illustration and a comic book writer and artist.

Disturbed by the rise of the Third Reich, Rogers attempts to enlist but is rejected due to his frail body. His resolution attracts the notice of U.S. Army General Chester Phillips and “Project: Rebirth”. Rogers is used as a test subject for the Super-Soldier project, receiving a special serum made by “Dr. Josef Reinstein”,later retroactively changed to a code name for the scientist Abraham Erskine.

The serum is a success and transforms Steve Rogers into a nearly perfect human being with peak strength, agility, stamina, and intelligence. The success of the program leaves Erskine wondering about replicating the experiment on other human beings. The process itself has been inconsistently detailed: While in the original material Rogers is shown receiving injections of the Super-Serum, when the origin was retold in the 1960s, the Comic Code Authority had already put a veto over graphic description of drug intake and abuse, and thus the Super-Serum was changed into an oral formula.

Creation

1940 Joe Simon conceived the idea for Captain America and made a sketch of the character in costume. “I wrote the name ‘Super American’ at the bottom of the page,” Simon said in his autobiography, and then considered:

“No, it didn’t work. There were too many “Supers” around. “Captain America” had a good sound to it. There weren’t a lot of captains in comics. It was as easy as that.” The boy companion was simply named Bucky, after my friend Bucky Pierson, a star on our high school basketball team.

Simon recalled in his autobiography that Timely Comics publisher Martin Goodman gave him the go-ahead and directed that a Captain America solo comic book series be published as soon as possible. Needing to fill a full comic with primarily one character’s stories, Simon did not believe that his regular creative partner, artist Jack Kirby, could handle the workload alone

Golden Age

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). Cover art by Joe Simon (inks and pencils) and Jack Kirby (pencils).

Sketching Comedy Presents:  Underdogs!

On today’s show we discuss The Underdogs in Comics! You may recognize many titles and artists out there, But did you know that there are more to graphic novels than just super heroes? Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back live on the drawing boards.

Today we are discussing a couple of underdog comics that Phil & Imran wanted to bring to your attention, the first Phil is going to discuss is THE HUMANS which the series focuses on the Humans outlaw biker gang based in an alternate 1970s Bakersfield, California, described as “a high-octane, no-holds-barred, ape-biker-gang chopper cruise back into ’70s exploitation genre bliss,” where the dominant species are anthropomorphic apes, and humans (called “Skins”) are used as pets or slaves, similar and Spiritual Successor to Planet of the Apes.

 The Humans – by Tom Neely & Keenan Marshall Keller

Tom Neely is an artist living in Los Angeles. He is best known for the cult-hit indie comic book Henry & Glenn Forever, which he created with his artist collective The Igloo Tornado.

Neely’s art has been featured in galleries in California and New York, in magazines, literary journals and on album covers for bands like Isis, Melvins, Groovie Ghoulies and Green Day. His debut graphic novel, The Blot, earned him an Ignatz Award and made it onto several of the industry’s Best of 2007 lists as well as The Comics Journal’s Best Graphic Novels of the decade 2000-10.

Chew by Jon Layman & Rob Guillroy

The next in our Underdog episode, Imran is going to tell us all about “Chew” which is an American comic book series about a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agent who solves crimes by receiving psychic impressions from food, including people.

Once an editor for Wildstorm, a branch of DC Comics, Layman turned to writing comics full-time in 2002, mainly for Marvel Comics.  He also worked on several comic books based on licensed properties, such as Xena: Warrior Princess and ThunderCats, as well as crossovers like Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness.

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Sketching Comedy Presents:  Ms. Marvel

On today’s show we discuss Ms. Marvel! You may recognize her  as the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. But did you know that former President Obama is a huge fan?

This week we took to Facebook Live and created a fun show for our viewers and listeners.  Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back live on the drawing boards.. so tune in to this special Sketching Comedy.

Forget ‘Captain Marvel,’ What We Really Need Is A Ms. Marvel Movie – Movie Pilot Reports:

It’s fair to say that the success of #WonderWoman has paved the way for other female superheroes to make their way to the big screen. With so many of their female characters being used by Sony and Fox ─ #Disney owned Marvel studios are pretty far behind in making badass female superhero films. However, the studio is planning to release their highly anticipated Captain Marvel film starring Brie Larson in 2019.

More female superhero films are, of course, always welcome, but one has to wonder if Captain Marvel really is what Marvel should begin its foray into superheroine films with, especially since Marvel owns such popular and critically acclaimed properties such as 2014’s Ms. Marvel series.

A Kamala Khan-centered movie will give Marvel two of the most successful trends of this summer: female superheroes and YA heroes. The success of Wonder Woman and #SpiderManHomecoming has proven that both topics can work wonders, and Ms. Marvel easily provides the best of both worlds. A Ms. Marvel movie in the same universe as our teenage Peter Parker would allow for some fun moments, especially since the duo has proved so popular in the comics. Additionally, introducing Ms. Marvel to the world will make explaining the #Inhumans (and the Terrigenesis process) easier, and could pave the way for further exploration of Inhuman characters.

A Captain Marvel film, aside from putting more women in the forefront, really has no purpose. Carol Danvers is a beautiful, blonde superhero who’s inherently perfect and whose biggest problem in life is her quest for identity as a female Avenger. While all that is great, it still stands to reason that Ms. Marvel — who has always felt (and been) different — would be a much better role model for children.

Ms. Marvel’s role in TV or films has been teased by veteran comicbook writer and ex-CCO of Marvel Entertainment Joe Quesada. By forgoing Ms. Marvel in favor of character with more sex appeal (and less personality), Marvel’s really missed an opportunity to showcase a vibrant, three-dimensional character unlike anything else on the screen. Still, until then, we can keep our fingers crossed that this brazen superhero somehow cameos in the upcoming Captain Marvel film.

Ms. Marvel On Wiki

Creating Ms. Marvel

Khan is Marvel’s first Muslim character to headline her own comic book. However, Noelene Clark of the Los Angeles Times noted that Khan is not the first Muslim character in comic books, which include Simon Baz, Dust and M.

The conception of Kamala Khan came about during a conversation between Marvel editors Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker. Sana said, “I was telling [Stephen} some crazy anecdote about my childhood, growing up as a Muslim-American and he found it hilarious.

Sana stated that Khan’s costume was influenced by the Shalwar Kameez. They wanted the costume to represent her cultural identity, but did not want her to wear a hijab. Sana also stated that they wanted the character to look “less like a sex siren” to appeal to a more vocal female readership.

Marvel knew that they wanted a young Muslim girl, but stated that she could be from any place of origin and have any background. Wilson initially considered making her an Arab girl from Dearborn, Michigan but ultimately chose to create a Desi “Desi” is a loose term for the people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinen

Mouse Guard!

Sketching Comedy presents, “Mouse Guard, ” by David Petersen

On today’s show we discuss David Petersen!  You may recognize him as an American comic book creator best known for the series Mouse Guard. But did you know that a lot of his animals are based on real people and places from the state of Michigan?

David Petersen surprises the crew by stopping by for a live interview and some secrets behind the Mouse Guard story and it’s upcoming feature film.  Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back live on the drawing boards.. so tune in to this very special Sketching Comedy.

You can watch the show live right here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asQBdhkKuTo

Follow David Petersen at:

@Mouseguard

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Connect with us!

Facebook| Twitter| Email| Blazing Caribou Studios

Sketching Comedy is a live podcast weekly on YouTube that showcases Illustrators, comics and comedians from around the world.  Kari Simms hosts with professional artists Imran Javed and Phil Rood every Wednesday at 8/7c.  Draw with the creators and learn in depth about artists like, Todd McFarlane, Fiona Staples, even Bob Ross!

Seinfeld!

Sketching Comedy presents, “Seinfeld”

On today’s show we discuss Jerry Seinfeld! You may recognize him as an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and director. He is best known as playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the sitcom “Seinfeld”.  But did you know his first appearance was a recurring role on the TV show Benson?  Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back live on the drawing boards. Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back on the drawing boards today. Their sketches that are produced live are available to our Patrons at Patreon.com/blazingcariboustudios

SUBSCRIBE on iTunes at Sketching Comedy, iTunes

Connect with us!

Facebook| Twitter| Email| Blazing Caribou Studios

Sketching Comedy is a live podcast weekly on YouTube that showcases Illustrators, comics and comedians from around the world.  Kari Simms hosts with professional artists Imran Javed and Phil Rood every Wednesday at 8/7c.  Draw with the creators and learn in depth about artists like, Todd McFarlane, Fiona Staples, even Bob Ross!

Walt Disney!

Sketching Comedy presents, “Walt Disney”

On today’s show we discuss Walt Disney! You may recognize him as an American entrepreneur, animator, voice actor and film producer. He pioneered the American animation industry, introducing several developments in the production of cartoons.  But did you know he has a planet named after him, and no it isn’t Pluto? Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back on the drawing boards today. Their sketches that are produced live are available to our Patrons at Patreon.com/blazingcariboustudios

SUBSCRIBE on iTunes at Sketching Comedy, iTunes

Connect with us!

Facebook| Twitter| Email| Blazing Caribou Studios

Sketching Comedy is a live podcast weekly on YouTube that showcases Illustrators, comics and comedians from around the world.  Kari Simms hosts with professional artists Imran Javed and Phil Rood every Wednesday at 8/7c.  Draw with the creators and learn in depth about artists like, Todd McFarlane, Fiona Staples, even Bob Ross!

Jack Kirby!

Sketching Comedy presents, “Jack Kirby”

On today’s show we discuss Jack “The King” Kirby! You may recognize him as one of the most influential and prolific artists in comics. He co-created such enduring characters as Captain America, the Fantastic Four, X-Men and the Hulk. But did you know he was in a street gang in New York? Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back on the drawing boards today. Their sketches that are produced live are available to Patrons at Patreon.com/blazingcariboustudios

SUBSCRIBE on iTunes at Sketching Comedy, iTunes

Connect with us!

Facebook| Twitter| Email| Blazing Caribou Studios

Sketching Comedy is a live podcast weekly on YouTube that showcases Illustrators, comics and comedians from around the world.  Kari Simms hosts with professional artists Imran Javed and Phil Rood every Wednesday at 8/7c.  Draw with the creators and learn in depth about artists like, Todd McFarlane, Fiona Staples, even Bob Ross!

Wonder Woman!

Sketching Comedy presents, “Wonder Woman”

On today’s show we discuss all things WONDER WOMAN! You may recognize her as a strong female superhero from DC comics and part of the Justice League.  The release on June 1st of her new movie simply titled ‘Wonder Woman’, may be one of this summers biggest blockbusters. But did you know her creator was an American Psychologist?. Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back on the drawing boards today. Their sketches that are produced live are available to Patrons at Patreon.com/blazingcariboustudios

SUBSCRIBE on iTunes at Sketching Comedy, iTunes

Connect with us!

Facebook| Twitter| Email| Blazing Caribou Studios