by on

Louie Anderson & Matthew O’Callaghan (1994)

Sadly, Louie Anderson passed away on January 21, 2022. Louie Anderson has always reminded me of my childhood and spending time with my younger brothers in our first family home. When I heard of his passing a flood of memories came washing over me. Unfortunately, I was unable to post something in his honor on the day of his passing, but here’s something to remember Louie by and maybe your childhood too.

Life with Louie is an American animated television series. The show is based on the childhood of well-known stand-up comedian Louie Anderson, growing up with his family in the town of Cedar Knoll, Wisconsin during the early 1960s, although Anderson himself was actually from Saint Paul, Minnesota, also situated in midwestern US.

The first two episodes aired in primetime on Fox in late 1994, before moving to Saturday morning on Fox Kids from 1995 to 1998. Although not that popular in the U.S., Life with Louie achieved cult status in some countries in Eastern Europe where Fox Kids was a popular TV channel during the 1990s and early 2000s, most notably Romania and in Turkey.

Born one of 11 children in St. Paul, Minnesota, Anderson was a counselor for troubled children when he won a the first–place trophy at the 1981 Midwest Comedy Competition.

The host of the competition, legendary comedian Henny Youngman, was so impressed that he hired the young comic as a writer.

Anderson was soon basking in his own spotlight on comedy stages all over the country.Johnny Carson invited Anderson to make his national television debut on the “The Tonight Show” in 1984 and Anderson’s career took off.

Appearances with Jay Leno, David Letterman, “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” “Comic Relief,” as well as Showtime and HBO specials further cemented him as one of Hollywood’s top comedians.

Louie Anderson explains how his tough childhood led him to comedy (1989)

But it was hosting the beloved game show “Family Feud” in 1999 that made Anderson a household name and opened doors for him into acting.

by on

Jeremy Carver (2021)

Previously on Doom Patrol… with the crew’s fate seemingly doomed and all but sealed in wax, the future’s left in the hands of the powerful Dorothy the ape faced girl. Will she be able to single-handedly defeat the Candlemaker? Can Cliff be put together again? — Oh, and what’s the story with Crazy Jane and Miranda?

by on

Matt Peters (2021)

An unthinkable tragedy propels Superman into a dangerous new mindset, ultimately pitting Justice League members against each other in Injustice, an all-new DC Animated Movie. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Inspired by Injustice: Gods Among Us, NetherRealm Studios’ popular video game, and the best-selling DC graphic novel based on the video game, Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year One by Tom Taylor, the animated film Injustice finds an alternate world gone mad – where The Joker has duped Superman into killing Lois Lane, sending the Man of Steel on a deadly rampage. Unhinged, Superman decides to take control of the Earth for humanity’s own good. Determined to stop him, Batman creates a team of like-minded, freedom-fighting heroes. But when Superheroes go to war, can the world survive?

by on

Ethan Spaulding (2015)

Aquaman is forced to choose between the Justice League and Atlantis when Atlantean warriors invade Gotham City and Metropolis.

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is a 2015 animated superhero film featuring the DC Comics superhero team the Justice League, which is part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies and of DC Animated Movie Universe. The film is loosely based on the Throne of Atlantis story arc from The New 52 written by Geoff Johns and serves as a standalone sequel to 2014’s Justice League: War. In the film, Arthur Curry, a half-Atlantean prince, discovers his heritage and aids the Justice League in preventing his half-brother Ocean Master from taking over Metropolis.

by on

Ethan Spaulding (2014)

Batman learns he has a violent, unruly preteen son, secretly raised by the terrorist group the League of Assassins.

Son of Batman is an animated superhero film. It is the third film in the DC Animated Movie Universe. It is an adaptation of Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert’s 2006 Batman and Son storyline. The film was released in 2014.

Son of Batman is the third installment in the DC Animated Movie Universe. It was released in 2014. It’s the first installment of the Batman saga in the DCAMU. This is also the first film to include Damian Wayne’s character arc.

Batman learns he has a son, Damian. And to further complicate matters, the mother is Talia al Ghul, daughter of one of his most dreaded enemies, Ra’s al Ghul. When the odds quickly turn against Batman and Damian, Batman must become both father and mentor to the aggressive, agile new Robin. Together they form an uneasy alliance to try and thwart the criminal enterprise of Deathstroke and his army of Man-Bats before there are international consequences.

by on

Jeremy Carver (2021)

Doom Patrol was renewed for a third season on September 12, 2020. It will air exclusively on HBO Max, premiering on September 23, 2021 and will conclude on November 11, 2021.

Doom Patrol reimagines one of DC’s most beloved groups of superheroes: Robotman aka Cliff Steele, Negative Man aka Larry Trainor, Elasti-Girl aka Rita Farr, and Crazy Jane, all led by modern-day mad scientist Niles Caulder aka The Chief.  Each member of the Doom Patrol suffered a horrible accident that gave them superhuman abilities, but also left them scarred and disfigured. Part support group, part superhero team, the Doom Patrol is a band of superpower freaks who fight for a world that wants nothing to do with them. Season three opens on the culmination of Dorothy’s confrontation with the Candlemaker that leads to a devastating loss. The Doom Patrol is at a difficult crossroads and each member struggles to face who they are and who they want to be. And things get a whole lot more complicated when Madame Rouge arrives in a time machine with a very specific mission, if only she could remember it.

Doom Patrol is a superhero team from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 in 1963, and was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, along with artist Bruno Premiani. Doom Patrol has appeared in different incarnations in multiple comics, and have been adapted to other media. Although not one of the most popular superhero teams, they have never been out of print for more than a few years since their introduction. The series’ creator and fans have suspected that Marvel Comics copied the basic concept to create the X-Men, which debuted a few months later, but other fans also speculate that they share similarities with another Marvel superhero team, the Fantastic Four.

Doom Patrol are a group of super-powered misfits whose “gifts” caused them alienation and trauma. Dubbed the “world’s strangest heroes” by editor Murray Boltinoff, the original team included the Chief (Niles Caulder), Robotman (Cliff Steele), Elasti-Girl (Rita Farr), and Negative Man (Larry Trainor); Beast Boy (Garfield Logan) and Mento (Steve Dayton) joined soon after. The team remained the featured characters of My Greatest Adventure, which was re-titled Doom Patrol as of issue #86 in 1964. The original series was canceled in 1968 when Drake killed the team off in issue #121, last of that series. Since then, there have been six Doom Patrol series, with Robotman as the only character to appear in all of them.

by on

Jay Oliva (2013)

Flash tries to restore his original timeline when a ripple creates a fractured universe.

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is a 2013 direct-to-video animated film adaptation of the 2011 comic book crossover “Flashpoint” by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert. It is scripted by Jim Krieg and directed by Jay Oliva.

Based on the acclaimed miniseries by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox finds our world turned upside down as one of Earth’s greatest super heroes–the Flash–wakes up devoid of his super powers.

When time travel allows a past wrong to be righted for the Flash and his family, the event’s temporal ripples prove disastrous, creating a fractured, alternate reality where the Justice League never formed, and Superman is nowhere to be found. Amidst a new world being ravaged by a fierce war between Wonder Woman’s Amazons and Aquaman’s Atlanteans, Flash must team with a grittier, more violent Batman and government agent Cyborg to restore the continuity of Flash’s original timeline.

by on

Robert Smigel & J. J. Sedelmaier (2011)

Ace and Gary team up to fight crime in their usual, awkward fashion.

Bighead and his henchmen blast Ace and Gary with a flesh ray, transforming them from animated characters to live-action ones, in which they are portrayed by Jon Hamm and Jimmy Fallon, respectively. The gun malfunctions and “unanimates” everyone, with Ed Helms playing Half-Scary, Fred Armisen as Lizardo, Stephen Colbert as Dr. Brainio, and Steve Carell as Bighead.

The Ambiguously Gay Duo is an American animated comedy sketch that debuted on The Dana Carvey Show before moving to its permanent home on Saturday Night Live.

The Ambiguously Gay Duo follows the adventures of Ace and Gary, voiced by Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell, two superheroes whose sexual orientation is a matter of dispute, and a cavalcade of characters preoccupied with the question.

The Ambiguously Gay Duo is a parody of the stereotypical comic book superhero duo done in the style of Saturday morning cartoons like Super Friends. The characters are clad in matching pastel turquoise tights, dark blue domino masks, and bright yellow coordinated gauntlets, boots and shorts. The shorts were intended to satirize suggestions that early Batman comics implied a homosexual relationship between the eponymous title character and his field partner and protégé Robin, a charge most infamously leveled by Fredric Wertham in his 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent, the research methodology for which was later discredited.

The typical episode usually begins with the duo’s arch-nemesis Bighead, a criminal mastermind with an abnormally large cranium. Bighead is usually briefing his henchmen on a plot for some grandiose plan for world domination, interrupted by a debate as to whether or not Ace and Gary are gay. Once the crime is in process, the police commissioner calls on the superheroes to save the day, often engaging in similar debates with the chief of police.

Ace and Gary set out to foil the evil plan, but not before calling attention to themselves with outrageous antics and innuendo, and behaving in ways perceived by other characters to be stereotypically homosexual.

by on

John Branch (2021)

John Branch

John Branch is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Houston, Texas. A North Carolina native,  he was the editorial cartoonist for the San Antonio Express-News from 1981 until 2015.

    Currently drawing for the Rivard Report, John’s work is distributed nationally by King Features/North America Syndicate and has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Dallas Morning News,  Newsweek and many other publications. He is a member and former officer of the  Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and hosted the 2008 AAEC annual convention.

    John graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1976. He worked at The Daily Tar Heel and Chapel Hill Newspaper before moving to Texas.

To learn more about John Branch and to see more of his work, visit: https://branchtoon.com/

by on

Bill Melendez & Charles M. Schulz (1972)

Snoopy Come Home is a 1972 American animated musical comedy-drama film directed by Bill Melendez and written by Charles M. Schulz based on the Peanuts comic strip. The film marks the on-screen debut of Woodstock, who had first appeared in the strip in 1967. It was the only Peanuts film during composer Vince Guaraldi’s lifetime that did not have a score composed by him. Its music was composed by the Sherman Brothers, who composed the music for various Disney films like Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. The film was released on August 9, 1972 by National General Pictures, produced by Lee Mendelson Films and Cinema Center Films.

Despite receiving largely positive reviews, the film was a box-office bomb.

by on

Geoff Dunbar & Paul McCartney (1984)

To mark the 100th birthday of Rupert The Bear, the animated music video for “We All Stand Together” has been remastered and upgraded to HD. The song was the focal point of Rupert and The Frog Song – a short animated film that Paul began work on in 1981 with animator Geoff Dunbar. Written and produced by Paul and directed by Geoff, Rupert and The Frog Song was eventually released in 1984.

Rupert and the Frog Song is a 1984 animated short film based on the comic strip character Rupert Bear, written and produced by Paul McCartney and directed by Geoff Dunbar. The making of Rupert and the Frog Song began in 1981 and ended in 1983. The film was released theatrically as an accompaniment to McCartney’s film Give My Regards to Broad Street. The song We All Stand Together from the film’s soundtrack reached No. 3 when released in the UK Singles Chart. It was released in 2004 as one of the segments of Paul McCartney: Music & Animation. In addition, the film was not produced by Nelvana and Ellipse just like the television series.

The frog chorus on the song We All Stand Together was provided by The King’s Singers and the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral. The flute-playing frog was Elena Durán. The B-side of the single contains a humming version of the song performed by McCartney and the Finchley Frogettes.

Although intended purely as a children’s song in the mould of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, the song We All Stand Together is often derided as an example of McCartney’s inconsequential songwriting. In a satirical cartoon by Stephen Collins of The Guardian in 2012, McCartney is shown recalling his creative partnership with John Lennon in the 1960s, before concluding: “It was a great time, y’know… And then I went on to do The Frog Song.”

Rupert Bear is a children’s comic strip character created by British artist Mary Tourtel and first appearing in the Daily Express newspaper on 8 November 1920. Rupert’s initial purpose was to win sales from the rival Daily Mail and Daily Mirror. In 1935, the stories were taken over by Alfred Bestall, who was previously an illustrator for Punch and other glossy magazines. Bestall proved to be successful in the field of children’s literature and worked on Rupert stories and artwork into his 90s. More recently, various other artists and writers have continued the series. About 50 million copies have been sold worldwide.

The comic strip was, and still is, published daily in the Daily Express, with many of these stories later being printed in books, and every year since 1936 a Rupert annual has also been released. Rupert Bear has become a well-known character in children’s culture in the United Kingdom, and the success of the Rupert stories has led to the creation of several television series based on the character. The character also has a large fan following, with such groups as The Followers of Rupert.

by on

Marc Hansen (2017-2019)

*Just a reminder to please vote today!

Here it is, fatheads…

I first found this comic book series as a child rummaging through the magazine rack of a gas station where I used to buy candy and soda down the road from the house I grew up in. Little did I know at the time that I had discovered a great source of inspiration that would help fuel my creativity as I grew into an artist and cartoonist myself.

Marc Hansen is a cartoonist and creator of Ralph Snart Adventures, Weird Melvin, and Doctor Gorpon. Hansen has done most of his work for NOW Comics, but has also done work for Marvel, Disney, Malibu Graphics, and Kitchen Sink Press.

Ralph Snart Adventures was published from 1986-1993 by now defunct NOW Comics, and was the longest running comic in the entire NOW catalog, selling an average of 50,000 copies a month during that nine year period. Over two million comics were published, and it was the first indy comic to receive the Comics Code.

Today, Marc Hansen publishes Ralph Snart Adventures as an ebook on a sporadic basis. Current issues are available on his webstore. Keep up with Ralph Snart on Twitter and Facebook.

The pages above are just excerpts from the Frump Trilogy. If you want to read the trilogy in its entirety or to learn more about Marc Hansen and his creations or to purchase comics online please visit: https://marchansenstuff.com/.

by on

Bill Plympton (2018)

*Just a reminder to please go out and vote by November 3rd!

A new series of short animated fantasies using actual Donald Trump audio clips as the basis of surreal animations that capture Trump’s paranoia, narcissism, and xenophobia.

Directed and animated by Bill Plympton, 2018. Produced for the Opinion section of The New York Times website by Billy Shebar and David Roberts of 110th Street Films.

Says filmmaker Bill Plympton: “This president has no censorship in his brain. He says whatever crazy exaggeration or lie serves his purpose in the moment, and most of it is on tape. So I don’t think we’ll ever run out of material.”