Archaia to Republish Classic Fraggle Rock Comics

James Gannon - Word broke out last week that Archaia Comics, the studio behind various adaptions of Jim Henson properties, is going to reprint the old 1980’s Marvel comics Fraggle Rock series into graphic novels.

Among the stories being reprinted are “The Magic Time Machine,” “The Trouble With Being #1,” “The Monster That Could Be Anything” and “The Doozer Who Wanted to Be a Fraggle.” All those and more will be bound in a softcover book retailing for $9.95. Fraggle Rock Classics vol. 1 will be available on August 31, 2011. (via ToughPigs)

 

While I admit the 80’s Marvel Fraggle comics weren’t the greatest thing, I still find this a great boon to fankind! Here’s why:

1)      These have been long out of print, and finding them at comic stores is a roll of the dice. I was lucky enough to find one issue (reprint of #5, "The Mean Genie" episode adaptation) for a buck a few years back, but it’s safe to assume you’re probably NOT going to walk into your local comic shop and find them. And if you do, they’re probably not going to be in good condition or have the complete collection. 

2)      Speaking of bad condition, these comics will be digitally remastered, recolored, and nice and polished.  Anyone who has early 80’s comics can vouch for me, they tend to deteriorate. They had to use newsprint stock paper and very greasy ink that would bleed through the paper and make the artwork look muddy and murky. And that’s even before the paper yellowed and the ink rubbed off onto other pages. Marie Severin’s Fraggle Rock comic art is spectacular, and needs to shine. The cleanup will do it worlds of good. Face it, the digitally printed, glossy stock of today’s comics spoiled us. And for good reason.

3)      Above all, HEY! It’s Fraggle Rock! What Muppet collector wouldn’t want more Fraggle stuff to collect? And at a reasonable 10 bucks too!

This is what I’ve been calling for since the Great Muppet Comic explosion. Graphic novel reprints of long lost, hard to find material, all remastered to look all sparkling clean and beautiful. I wish that Marvel/Disney takes the hint and clean up and rerelease the Muppet Babies comics in due time. If nothing else, I could see Archaia reprinting the Dark Crystal and Labyrinth comic adaptions published by Marvel as well. I also hope this means that the Fraggles will be a staple of the Jim Henson Company/Archaia Publishing license that they’ll revisit in time with new stories and issues. Having the old comics is great, but having new comics is even better.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

Muppet Comic Mondays: Fraggle Rock Volume 2 - Issue 3

 
James Gannon - What comic can come out a month early the second issue, and a month late the third and let it not detract at all from its super-coolness? Why, Archaia’s Fraggle Rock Volume 2 - Issue 3 of course! Okay... you find a way to address that without sounding like it matters.

The issue leads off with “My Gift is My Song” by Katie Cook. She usually handles the cute little craft activities at the end, and this is her first story since Volume 1 - Issue 1, and her first lead over all. Much like Langridge made the Muppet designs completely his own, so does Katie, giving them a fresh, bubbly, cute but not sickeningly so look that completely fits the characters. I especially like how she handled the Trash Heap, bringing out the character’s inner sweetness. She does look quite a bit different, but there’s something so unique about the design, yet keeping with the character (though, she does tend to move around a bit more, almost slug-like). Story-wise, we get Boober, worrying as always. This time, he wants to give a gift that comes from deep within him to Mokey... and someone else decided to give her socks. The title... well, aside from being an Elton John reference, kinda acts as a spoiler, but we finally get the first comic appearance of Cantus and his wandering band of Minstrels. Everyone from Storyteller Fraggle to Convincin’ John appeared before, but this is the first (and hopefully not only) time we got to see Cantus grace the pages of this fine publication.

Another great Traveling Matt postcard gets read by Gobo in “Shopping with Silly Creatures” (Katie Strickland/Lindsay Cibos ). Matt, curious about the Silly Creatures’ shopping habits infiltrates a Laundromat, and misunderstands things only the way he can. There’s a great aside by Boober to make sure the Fraggles misunderstand the point, as it should be. These are so close to the show, I can’t help but hear the familiar background music that accompanies the show segments as I read.

Finally, my favorite of the already amazing bunch, “Red’s Chomp-a-Thon” (Paul Morrissey/Nichol Ashworth). Being jealous of a Doozer winning a Doozer construction competition, and therefore not being the center of attention, Red Fraggle comes up with another cockamamie contest for to win for herself. A Doozer stick eating contest, mutually benefiting Red and the Doozers (who have to construct things for them to eat).  Red, being Red, makes sure to pick the weakest competition (her friends, who each have a different problem with the game) so she’s bound to win. Only there’s one Fraggle who she purposely ignored as a contestant, Large Marvin. I swear, Large Marvin has been in more comics than episodes of the show at this point. Hilarity ensues when the World’s Oldest Fraggle is the judge. Above all, a madcap, Fraggley end to an amazing volume.

What more can I say that I haven’t said five other times already? The comic is great, the art is great, the stories are great... so much time and care went to making this, they did a good thing making this an anthology series, differencing it from The Muppet Show Comic Book and Muppet Classics line. The only thing I can add is that I really hope this isn’t the end completely. Archaia’s got big plans for The Dark Crystal and A Tale of Sand (resurrecting a long-lost Henson screenplay), but I hope they consider at least one more volume of Fraggle Amazingness. If nothing else, these wonderfully done, original stories and beautiful art should outnumber the slapdash, contractual obligation “Oh, it’s just merchandise” Marvel comics of the 1980’s (I don't have anything against Marvel, but the Muppet Babies series was far superior as you'll see sometime).  What an injustice that would be if they didn’t.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Comic Mondays: News Update

The great folks over at Archaia Comics made the announcement official on Thursday that the Fraggle Rock Comic Book series will be continuing with a second series. The second installment will be sticking with the same format as the first three issues--one long story and two shorter stories in one book, along with activity pages such as "Draw Your Own Fraggle." Click the link above to read a great interview Comic Book Resources conducted with Archaia's Editor-in-Chief Stephen Christy about the Fraggles.

Comic Book Resources also has coverage of the Muppets and Roger Langridge spotlight panel at Comic Con. Langridge talks about his beginnings with The Muppet Show Comic Book and Disney Adventure Magazine and sheds some light onto his creative process and what is to come from The Muppet Show Comic Book in the future. (And the article writer misspells Fozzie... but that's another story.)

In other comic news, friend of the blog Amy Mebberson, "Muppet Peter Pan" and "The Muppet Show: Family Reunion" artist, has some awesome pictures on her blog, My Blue Sky, from her time at Comic-Con--including she and Roger Langridge with homemade Kermit and Gonzo puppets!











The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

News Update: July 9, 2010

NEWS UPDATE: July 9, 2010

It was announced this morning that the Sesame Workshop special, "When Families Grieve" was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. The special that starred Katie Couric and Elmo, which showed families some coping mechanisms for dealing with the loss of a loved one, was nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Children's Program. Its only competition is Nick News with Linda Ellerbee, so there is a good chance that Sesame Workshop will be bringing home yet another shiny statue to put on the mantle.

If you're planning to attend the San Diego Comic Con this year, be sure to stop by Archaia Comics' booth. According to Comic Book Resources, Archaia will be hosting five panels at this year's convention, one of which, on Sunday, July 25th, is dedicated to their work with The Jim Henson Company. The panel is scheduled to discuss the Fraggle Rock comic series, what's next for Archaia's partnership with Henson, and upcoming work with the worlds of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Guests on the panel include some of the Fraggle Rock Comic Book team (including editor Tim Beedle) and Brian Froud, who worked with Jim Henson to develop The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. So if you're in the San Diego area and plan to attend Comic Con 2010, be sure to stop by Archaia's presentation!

Renowned Disney sculptor and artist Jim Shore is taking on The Muppets! The artist has sculpted stone resin figures of Animal, Statler and Waldorf, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, and Kermit, on sale now. The figures cost $40  each ($50 for Statler and Waldorf), plus shipping, and seem to be great quality and look pretty darn good too.

A new set of Vinylmation Disney pins is now available at the Disney Parks. The set includes Vinylmation pins of Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Statler, Waldorf, Bunsen, and Beaker, and a mystery pin that can be either Bean Bunny, Sweetums, Rowlf, Rizzo, or The Swedish Chef. These pins are not only a lot cheaper than buying the Vinylmation figures, but they're also a lot easier to find.

Muppet Comic Mondays: Fraggle Rock #1

Before we get started with the regularly scheduled comic book review, I have to point out something. Yesterday, our good friends at ToughPigs posted five page previews for both The Muppet Show Comic Book #5 and Muppet King Arthur #4.

\I would like to direct your attention to page 5 of the Muppet King Arthur preview. First frame. Lower right corner. See it? YES! It's Angus McGonagle the Argyle Gargoyle who Gargles Gershwin! As fans of the blog are well aware, Angus has become a sort of mascot for our interviews with Muppet comic artists and writers. Our good friend, the extremely talented James Silvani answered the call (which was a muffled gargle) and brought Angus to life in glorious 2D!

So anyway... James Silvani is awesome! He asked me to tell my readers to "pick up the issue on Wednesday and all of your gargling gargoyle dreams will be answered." Also, be sure to check out James' upcoming Darkwing Duck comic series, which is released in June from BOOM! Studios, as well!


We now return you to your regularly scheduled Muppet Comic Mondays article.

James Gannon - What a time to live in. Not only do we get a regular Muppet Show based comic (as well as 4 issue literary miniseries sides), but now we even have a Fraggle Rock comic as well.

There is a difference, though. While the Muppets have had comics, a comic strip, 2 hard bound storybook type comics, and a recurring series of parody comics in Muppet Magazine, they never had a real regular comic book series until now (I, of course, don’t count The Muppets Take Manhattan movie adaption, and Muppet Babies is something different entirely). The Fraggles have. An 8 issue Marvel comic series was printed in 1985. However, the writing was so lacking that they apparently decided to stick to the worst thing about outside media based comics… the dreaded adaptations of TV episodes. Not terrible for people without HBO who didn’t see the series, but a bother to people who have. For the record, I say Marie Severin’s artwork was leaps and bounds better than the writing. I’d actually compare the two, but there’s no contest.

Archaia Comics, the company behind the 2010 series of Fraggle comics, have brought their A game and made an ACTUAL comic featuring ACTUAL original stories. While Boom’s Muppet lineup features different artists and writers for its back up literary series (and the occasional “guest artists” for the main series), Fraggle Rock has several different writers and artists in a single issue. This is something I actually prefer in a comic based on outside media because you get to see different artistic interpretations of the characters. And what a variation we get. Jeff Stokely’s semi-realism that really gets the puppet look down (though, it seems a bit stiff in some places, especially when he is capable of some great movement and expression. I especially like his interpretation of the Trash Heap), Katie Cook’s cartoonification of the characters, giving them a nice flow of cartoony movement, and the woodcut like style of Jeffrey Brown. They all fit very nicely and none seem to be out of place for the writing as each compliment their stories nicely. Indeed, Katie and Jeffery wrote and illustrated their own stories here.

As for those stories, this is presented in an anthology style format. One longer story, two shorter ones. First up, Gobo gets dared by Red to spend one night out in the Gorg’s garden, after she loses it when Gobo brings up his uncle’s exploration. In the first short story, Red invents a new game when silly creature technology falls into the Rock (dropped by Junior Gorg, of course). The second short features Red quite literally struck by inspiration, and (with Cotterpin’s help) invents a device that will change the way Fraggles live (at least, to her). This really seems to be an issue that focuses on Red, so I’d say that subsequent issues might also focus on one character. Either that or the writers get that Red is the most outspoken and proactive of the group. The writing here is very true to character (very important in these sort of comics), even managing to sneak in Gobo’s Canadian “eh” in the first story. And you’ll see quite a few favorites in these stories.  Marjory (complete with Philo and Gunge) and Cotterpin, you can also expect Sprocket.  But even Large Marvin gets a small speaking role. 

Unlike The Muppet Show Comic Book, this doesn’t so much give the feel that you’re watching an episode of Fraggle Rock so much as you get the feel that you’re seeing smaller, more candid moments of the characters.  It doesn’t need all the same segments and structure that the show did to make it great, and there’s no attempt at trying to get musical number in. But the stories themselves FEEL like they’re right out of the show (sans the Doc framing devices and Uncle Matt’s Postcards), I can’t really remember Red being an inventor, but it works so well here I didn’t even notice.

Even the odd 8 x 8 shape (think those larger paperback Golden Books) gives the comics a nice feel. Though, as a comic book collector, it’s a pain in the neck to find something to protect it. The paper stock is very high quality too. It’s much sturdier than the average comic, and when you have something as kid friendly as this, that’s important. There’s even a better use of the inside covers than the Muppet comics; instead of just reusing art from the inside of the book, the inside back has a nice little activity. Now, I’m not really big on activities in comic books if they’re inside in place of a story, but the inside back cover seems like a great place for it. This time, we’re treated to Mokey (with Katie Cook as the Ghost-artist) giving a Doozer drawing lesson.

Archaia Comics are committed to only three issues at this point (plus the half comic that was given out for Free Comic Book Day on May 1^st), but I would definitely buy this every month if it becomes successful enough to go beyond the miniseries point (much like The Muppet Show Comic Book did).

These Muppet and Fraggle comics are exactly what comic book versions of outside media are SUPPOSED to be like.  Now who’s arm at Sesame Workshop do we have to twist to get a Sesame Street comic around here?

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

News Update: April 23, 2010

NEWS UPDATE: April 23, 2010
Disney Parks is coming out out with some neat new Star Wars pins of the Muppets to coincide with the Star Wars Weekends at Walt Disney World this summer. Rumor has it, the pins could be turned into another toy set. Somehow, Star Wars and Muppets are just a great combination.

The Muppet Pook-a-Looz, consisting of Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and Animal, are now available at Disneystore.com. For a limited time, two of these disfigured cuties are available for only $20, so pick out a couple (or more than a couple) and do some shopping.

If you happen to be in LA on May 1st, make sure to stop by Meltdown Comics to see Red Fraggle and Karen Prell LIVE (why is "live" always in capslock?) starting at 11 am PST. Fraggle Rock comic book writer Sam Humphries and artist Jeremy Love will also be there. More information is available at the Archaia Comics website!

If you're NOT in LA, but you are in New York... or, if you're really lucky and are in New York now and going to LA later... Anyway, if you're in New York any time from now until May 2nd, you should really go see the The Jim Henson Company's "Stuffed and Unstrung." Why? Two words: Bill Barretta. Oh, and during the second week, five words: Bill Barretta and Brian Henson. What more could you want?

The new Muppet movie got another announcement, this one in Associate Press and alongside the announcement of a sequel to "Monsters, Inc," which ain't bad company for our fine felt friends. No word yet on any affiliation between the Muppet monsters and Monsters, Inc.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier