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

News Update: April 16, 2011

NEWS UPDATE: April 16, 2011

The Muppets Vinylmation Series 2 were released yesterday at Disney Parks. Earlier this week images of the 9" figures from the set were released as well. The 9" figures include Gonzo and a 3" Camilla the Chicken, Sam the Eagle, Animal, and Muppet*Vision Kermit. Check out the pictures below! No release date is set for any of the 9" figures as of now.

In "who would've thunk it" news, The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora has been nominated for a Webby Award in the Comedy: Long Form or Series category! Angelo, Cat Cora, and those cooky Muppets are up against some fairly tough competition (30 Rock and The Office webisodes), so it's hard to say what their chances of winning are... but I like Muppets, so maybe other people will too. I would have rather seen the Webby nod go to "American Woman" or "Popcorn" but it's nice just to see the Muppets acknowledged! You can head on over to the Webby website (I know, right?) and cast your vote!

This past Wednesday, David Hoberman, producer of The Fighter, appeared at Suffolk University to give a talk. Now, normally, this wouldn't be a terribly exciting experience for us Muppet fans... except that David Hoberman is also the producer of The Muppets. Oh, and he brought Kermit the Frog (and some Steve Whitmire fellow) along with him. The fine (lucky) folks who were in attendance at Suffolk posted a great article about the appearance along with some fun quotes from Kermit and Boston.com, who broke the story, has an article with a little bit more information as well. (Thanks to our friends at ToughPigs.com for finding this and not caring when we steal it!)

Muppet fan and friend of the blog, Jonathan Melville, has a fantastic interview with Muppet producer Martin Baker on his blog Reel Scotland. It's a fun little interview, very informative, and provides a great preview for the upcoming Muppets, Music, and Magic event in England. Thanks to Johnathan for sharing this great interview with us!

Last week, we reported that Craig Ferguson and Joel McHale will be appearing in the upcoming Sesame Street Season 42. Well, there's even more celebrities lining up for Season 42 including basketball players Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, along with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Rico Rodriguez ("I filmed a segment for an episode of Sesame Street! I will post details & pictures very soon!"), and Sofia Vergara of Modern Family (that's like a third of the cast). E! Online also posted a fantastic video of Sofia Vergara hanging out with Elmo:









The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

The Muppets Move to Marvel - Another Viewpoint

In response to yesterday's post in which James Gannon gave his opinion on The Muppets' move to Marvel Comics where the first for issues of The Muppet Show Comic Book by Roger Langridge will be reprinted, repackaged, and resold. As we said, here at The Muppet Mindset we attempt to showcase both sides of the opinion spectrum so today we are happy to bring the opinions of one who finds the move to Marvel to be a good thing.

Ryan Dosier - I'd like to start off by saying that I am the last person to ever even attempt to make the claim that what BOOM! Studios did with the Muppets in the comic book form was nothing short of revolutionary. What the talented people at BOOM! did with The Muppet Show Comic Book and Muppet Classics was fantastic. It brought to the forefront the talent of numerous artists and writers all while inherently capturing the spirit of the Muppets on the printed page.

But, at the same time, I am also the first person to say that BOOM! comics are sometimes incredibly hard to find. Sure, you can find month-old copies of The Incredibles or Cars comics at Barnes and Noble, but how often do you find the latest copy of The Muppet Show Comic Book "Monster Mash" or Muppet Sherlock Holmes waiting for you in the comic book section of your local bookstore? Well... how often do you find X-Men, Spider-Man, in all their numerous incarnations, in said bookstore comic book sections? Quite a bit more often than Muppets, I should say.

Well, that's the beauty of synergy when Disney owns both Marvel Comics and The Muppets, it only makes sense to see the Muppets move to Marvel for a much wider exposure. I completely understand the dissatisfaction people have with not receiving new Muppet stories right away from this deal... but the four issues included in Roger Langridge's "Meet the Muppets" are some of the best, are they not? So it only makes sense to start off introducing a brand new, much wider audience of readers to these characters with these stories--that also conveniently act as introductions to who the four main characters are.

As disappointing as it might be for some, the reprints of these comics are not exactly intended for us--the dedicated fans who have already purchased them. They are intended to grow the audience, spread the world of the Muppets to the masses, and entertain with them before a massive big-budget feature film comes out this fall. These Marvel reprints will be able to go places that BOOM! comics never could: Disney Store shelves, bookstore marquees, grocery store check-out lines... loads of places that loads of people look every day.

Reprinting The Muppet Show Comic Book is a way to provide a huge audience--the audience that is reached by Marvel Comics (one of the two largest comic companies in the world)--with cheap ($5.99 for 96 pages), quality, award-winning entertainment that has already proven itself to be a knockout hit. By ensuring that the Muppets can reach a wide audience--even in their comic form--Disney is essentially saying that they want these characters to be known and appreciated before they try to make it big with a feature film in November.

It is this Muppet fan's opinion that the Muppets' move to Marvel is essentially Disney saying that they do care about the dedicated fans like us--heck, they printed these comics for us in the first place--but they are extremely interested in finding a wider audience for these characters. If we want The Muppets to be a success this fall, it is widely-available, affordable, quality decisions like this that we have to expect--and appreciate--from the Mouse House.

They have to build their audience further before expanding it with new material. It's business, it's entertainment. There's no saying that this Marvel deal won't yield new material. No one has made that claim and I would say that there is quite a good chance of seeing new stuff down the line. We'll just have to wait and see.

On another note... how awesome are these Muppet comics, huh? I'm gonna go re-read all of mine now, I think.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

The Muppets Move to Marvel and James Gannon is Not Happy

The opinions of our friend James Gannon do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Muppet Mindset as a whole. As always, we attempt to showcase all sides of the spectrum, so we are happy to display James' thoughts on Marvel's republishing of The Muppet Show Comic Book.

James Gannon - Months ago, BOOM! Studios lost the license to and stopped publishing The Muppet Show Comic Book and the Muppet Classics series. Word of this broke glacier slow, giving fans faint and dying hope that the last four part story arc by Roger Langride, "The Four Seasons," would still be published at some point. The final nail in the coffin was an announcement Monday, which said Marvel would be publishing the Muppet Comics. However, instead of publishing the end of the series and new, future issues, the announcement was that the first four stories of the “Meet the Muppets” arc would be republished (for fourth time now) in a kiddy friendly magazine. To quote Charity Bazaar of the cartoon series Histeria!, “I’m not happy.” Really, if this wasn’t a family site, I’d let loose like a drunken sailor who dropped a large hammer on his foot. Let’s see if I can get through this rationally.

Sure, this is a boon to all of those who missed out on the first issues, the news stand reprints, and the graphic novel (and if you did, you’re either in another country, absolutely broke, or don’t care), but to someone like me who did everything he could to get every single issue since it was released, this couldn’t be a bigger insult.  Disney did announce the same fate with its Pixar titles, also previously published under BOOM!, cancelling the license and moving to Marvel to only reprint old stories--which makes me glad I didn’t get involved with The Incredibles comic like I wanted to (that ended mid-story). Now, I could put all the cute refercens to Mr. Spock saying “Highly illogical, Captain,” but this isn’t the time for sarcastic jokes (plus, I never even watched Star Trek). Why would anyone take the license away from a company that was doing a great job on all counts to bring the license to a company (granted, one they own) that has its own worldwide instantly recognizable characters they have to kill off and revive? Marvel couldn’t even spell Fozzie’s name right in the press release. Does that sound like they care the way BOOM! cared? Somehow, I’m suspicious that the Muppet and Pixar license was married to each other. Even then, BOOM! was doing great stuff with Pixar titles reprints in magazines can’t offer.

Now, I admit, I’ve moved on from the disappointing ending of Muppet comics (Muppet Sherlock Holmes, as decent as it was, was unsatisfying as the end of an era). I get the same excitement over their new Rescue Rangers and Darkwing Duck (a personal favorite cartoon) series, and I’m looking forward to their DuckTales series--I strongly suggest you all check these out--but the least Disney could have done, however, is to have granted BOOM! the extension (as something went down with Roger, and the comic was delayed) and had the last arc published before the magazine came out. I mean, I know it’s late and you want to close the restaurant, but come on! Let me order dessert first before you try to push me out the door. We would have all accepted the fact the comics were ending if we saw the end. 

That’s really the worst part. They have the prime opportunity to finally print that, and they blow it to try to “re-introduce” the characters before the movie for kids. That’s the only bright spot in this whole mess, at LEAST it can help out the movie a little.

Meanwhile, there’s a Phineas and Ferb magazine that runs original comics. New stories, new material. Who here wouldn’t rather see new Muppet stories and art being produced instead of just getting the same stuff in a different format? That’s what the TV series and movies on DVD are for. The only advantage I can see is not getting more fingerprints on the comics if I want to reread them. I bet the only extras will be simple kid’s word searches or something. That’s no improvement. And even if these do lead to further magazines, if this is quarterly, it will take them two years to get to the unpublished arc.

Over all, other than consolidation and going around the middle man as far as licensing goes, there is NO real advantage to pulling the license from BOOM! when they were doing a MUCH better job with it. The Muppet Show Comic Book got me back into caring about comic books again. Thanks for taking that away.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Weekly Muppet Wednesdays: Waldo C. Graphic

WALDO C. GRAPHIC

Performed by...
Steve Whitmire

First appearance...
The Jim Henson Hour Episode 101 "Science Fiction" (1989) 

Most recent appearance...
Muppet*Vision 3-D (1991) 

Best known role...
The spirit of 3-D, shape-shifter, general nuisance, Mickey Mouse impersonator. 

WHO (or what) IS WALDO C. GRAPHIC?
Waldo C. Graphic was first developed by Jim Henson for The Jim Henson Hour in order to demonstrate the new technology of the Waldo, a machine for puppetry which allowed puppeteers to remotely control Muppet characters without physically moving a puppet. The technology had been used in the past to operate such characters as the Doozers and Gorgs from Fraggle Rock. However, Waldo marked the first time that a character was developed utilizing the technology to create an entirely digital character--the first of its kind to be operated in real-time.

Waldo's main appeal as a character was his ability to shape-shift into almost anything imaginable to suit the mood or make a good visual pun. In The Jim Henson Hour his shapes morphed from a doctor, a hat, a power saw, a dinosaur, a teenage girl, a book, a clown, and a cowboy.

Although he debuted on The Jim Henson Hour, Waldo's biggest and most well-known role was in Muppet*Vision 3-D in Walt Disney World. In the film, he is created by Dr. Bunsen Honeydew in Muppet Labs to demonstrate Muppet-Vision technology by creating the first living 3-D element. Waldo proceeds to bounce on people's heads and generally wreak havoc. Throughout the film he became a knapsack, a firework, a taxi cab, a duck, a regular car, and, perhaps his most famous role, Mickey Mouse ("They'll never recognize me now!").

Waldo has not appeared since Muppet*Vision 3-D, but he continues to entertain tons of people everyday as the film shows in Walt Disney World and Disneyland. The first merchandise representation of Waldo C. Graphic will be included in The Muppets Vinylmation Series 2, where Waldo will be available as the chaser figure of the line.

WHY DO THE MUPPETS NEED WALDO C. GRAPHIC?
It's hard to come up with a reason that the Muppets might need Waldo in today's entertainment business. In The Jim Henson Hour he was a character used to showcase new technology and in in Muppet*Vision 3-D he was merely a tool for fun 3-D tricks. However, in today's world there are countless films made every year with 3-D creatures interacting with real people so the technological newness is gone from Waldo's appeal... and 3-D tricks aren't really needed in a lot of Muppet projects nowadays.

Unfortunately, because of the short run of The Jim Henson Hour, Waldo was never really given the chance to develop much as a character. However, due to his nature as a shape-shifter there is a lot of room for growth with the character (identity crisis, anyone?). I guess the Muppets don't really need Waldo... but it would be neat to see him return as a character sometime and fleshed out a bit more.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

The New York Times Talks "The Muppets"

Ryan Dosier - As well all know, The Muppets, the new theatrical effort from Disney, Jason Segel, Nick Stoller, and, well, the Muppets is due in theaters in the United States on November 23rd, 2011. As most of us also know, the Muppets have been owned by The Walt Disney Company since 2004, and in the past seven years the characters have gone through all sorts of turmoil being bandied around Disney departments. It was finally last year that we Muppet fans could finally breathe a sigh of relief as all reports of filming The Muppets, a huge, star-studded, Muppetational, big-screen feature film were extremely positive and showed that maybe, just maybe, the people directing the Muppets finally knew what they were doing.

I still firmly believe this to be the case--but I'm easily convinced. The New York Times, with a new article entitled "Disney Reviving Muppets Franchise With Movie This Fall," needs a little bit more convincing, so they decided to take a look at the Muppets' history; both prior to and during Disney ownership. The article is interesting (as surely most New York Times articles are) but, as our good friends over at ToughPigs pointed out, it doesn't really say too much that we didn't already know as obsessed Muppet fans.

The article talks about how the Muppets haven't had a financially successful film effort since The Muppet Movie, which we all know just isn't true, as our friend James Carroll was kind enough to break down for us:

FILM: ORIGINAL BOX OFFICE / 2011 ADJUSTED

The Muppet Movie: $ 65,200,000 / $ 208,068,526

The Great Muppet Caper: $ 31,206,251 / $ 89,914,414

The Muppets Take Manhattan: $ 25,534,703 / $ 60,872,908

The Muppet Christmas Carol: $ 27,281,507 / $ 52,656,595

Muppet Treasure Island:   $ 34,327,391 / $ 62,208,688

Muppets From Space:  $ 16,625,807 /  $ 26,215,101

TOTAL: $ 200,175,659 / $ 499,936,232

(based on 2011 over-all average ticket price of $8.01)

Yes, even by today's lofty standards a half-billion dollars is nothing to sneeze at. (Who would sneeze on half a billion dollars anyway?!) True, as the article says, the collective Muppet movies are no Toy Story 3 money-making wise, but there are only eight other movies ever made that are. It's incredibly hard to justify this comparison... and even harder to call any of these films (except maybe Muppets From Space) flops. But I guess that's why I'm not a writer for The New York Times.

The article also confirms cameo appearances from Ricky Gervais, Emily Blunt, Zach Galifianakis, Jack Black, Whoopi Goldberg, James Carville, Neil Patrick Harris, Judd Hirsch (new!), and Selena Gomez all adding up to "about two dozen or so" celebrity cameos in the movie, which is both good and shocking--but hopefully awesome

But despite its (quite a few) faults, I still found this article to be a very interesting read with some bright spots here and there to provide more optimism for this upcoming project. This optimism comes in many forms... be it quotes from the movie's producers and Lisa Henson or just the fact that The New York Times is writing about the Muppets at all... there is a sense of cautious but extremely hopeful optimism with this piece. In fact, the first two paragraphs were enough to make me thrilled all over again:

KERMIT THE FROG, perched on a log inside a soundstage here a few weeks ago, was pouring on the charm. None of those smart-mouthed, skewering asides. No prickly dismissals of Miss Piggy’s unwanted love. 

The Green One was simply strumming his banjo in a digitally engineered rainstorm, crooning the words of his dreamy signature song — “someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection ” — as if his professional life depended on it.

So many things scream greatness from this. The fact that the writer acknowledges Kermit's recent somewhat out of character behaviors (skewering asides, dismissals of Miss Piggy) and shows off the charming frog we all know and love is wonderful. The imagery of Kermit strumming his banjo and playing "Rainbow Connection" in a rainstorm is beautiful (in my mind)... just a frog waiting for his rainbow connection to come around. Awesome. And finally, these two paragraphs brilliantly set the stage for discussion of just what is at stake with this upcoming movie: Kermit the Frog's professional life and livelihood.

No, it wouldn't be accurate to say that this movies failure would mean it would be the last we would ever see of Kermit... but it would be accurate to say that this movie's success will determine how much and in what capacity we see Kermit and friends in the future. A big box-office success would allow for future feature film endeavors by the Muppets along with merchandising, television programing, and goodness knows what else from the Disney team. So, needless to say, there's quite a bit at stake on November 23rd and the weeks following it.

This obviously begs the question... Will The Muppets be a success? Well, if you ask Leslie B. Stern (referred to as "a Disney stalwart...given oversight for rejuvenating the Muppets), Todd Lieberman (producer of The Muppets), David Hoberman (another producer), or Lisa Henson (daughter of Jim Henson and CEO of The Jim Henson Company), the answer seems to be a resounding, albeit semi-cautious, yes. The quotes from these individuals are what make me the most excited, hopeful, and confident about the quality of this movie. Here are a few of the best ones, which we'll discuss:

"You have to walk a careful line between respectful and reverential. Make it feel contemporary, but do it in a way that preserves what made these characters so engaging and endearing in the first place." ~ Leslie B. Stern

From the sound of it, The Muppets is looking at the characters in the exact opposite way that critical and financial failures such as Muppets From Space did. These engaging and endearing characters are finally being respected and revered, all while being brought into contemporary times--which is exactly what The Muppet Movie did. Jerry Juhl's script did not toy with the characters, but at the same time brought them into the world, making them all the more real to their audience. This is what a good Muppet feature does, and according to Mr. Stern this is what The Muppets will do.

"People started to forget that the Muppets were never designed as children’s entertainment." ~ Paul Lieberman


The fact that the Muppets are finally being treated as adult-geared characters once again for the first time in years (Pepe being the only notable exception) by one of the film's main producers, I think, is a wonderful testament to how Disney is viewing the characters. Not exclusively as children's entertainment, but once again as something the whole world can enjoy. If this film connects with everyone even half as much as Toy Story 3 did, then we're in for a magnificent treat.

"This is the first Muppet production of any size that is really being spearheaded by fans instead of hard-core Muppet professionals." ~ Lisa Henson

This is one of the more interesting quotes, I think. Not only because the writer of this article bothered to talk to Lisa Henson (I don't get it either), but because Lisa Henson states outright that it's the first project made by fans--by people like us (albeit people like us with a lot more money than us). Later on in the article it also says, "Ms. Henson said the family, at long last, likes the direction Disney is going. 'We hoped they would be willing to make a really expensive, major-movie-star Muppet movie,' she said." Knowing that the Henson family is finally satisfied--and knowing that they share my satisfaction--is good enough for me.

"We are aware of the responsibility here. We are appealing to everyone, young and old." ~ David Hoberman

I really just wanted to end with this quote... because I think it's the best commentary on Disney's approach to this film and these characters. They know there is a huge responsibility here to carry on a legacy... they understand the Muppets' wide-reaching appeal... and they are appealing to everyone. Based on this quote the producers of this film, and presumably everyone working on The Muppets are hoping to please old fans (read: us) while cultivating new ones (read: everyone else) by making a movie that respects, reveres, and breathes new life into a 56-year-old frog, his funny friends, and their over-arching appeal to the masses.

Well... there it is. So The New York Times may not know too much about the Muppets... but Disney--or at least the producers of the film being made my Disney--sure seem to know what they're doing at this point. I sure as shoot hope I'm right!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Comic Mondays: ToughPigs Fraggle #3 Preview and Muppets Going Marvel

Please forgive the lack of excitement in today's article due to limited internet connectivity and issues therein at the house of Ryan.

Our good friends over at ToughPigs (so called because they don't seem to mind us piggy-backing off them) have posted an exclusive preview of the upcoming third issue of the Fraggle Rock Comic Book Volume 2. Check out the awesome preview for this issue which includes contributions from Katie Cook (one of our favorites), Paul Morrissey, and Nichol Ashworth. Plus, Cantus is on the B-Cover. It doesn't get much better than that! The Fraggle Rock Comic Book Volume 2 Issue #3 will be available this Wednesday, April 13th at comic book stores near you!

Other big news in the world of comic books was revealed today as Newsarama revealed that Marvel Comics (owned by Disney) will be reprinting issues of The Muppet Show Comic Book by Roger Langridge, starting with the first four issues ("Meet the Muppets") under the new title Disney • Muppets Present: Meet the Muppets. Since BOOM! Studios lost the Muppet license (and most of its other Disney licenses), the idea of Muppets going to Marvel has been tossed around more than once as a viable option. Oddly enough, the collection will be packaged in a "Giant-Sized" comic with dimensions of 8" x 10 3/4", much different from the size of BOOM!'s comics. It is unknown at this time which, if any, of the other Muppet comics Marvel will reprint or if new comic stories will be written under the Marvel banner. Only time will tell! The new Marvel compilation will be released in July.

Be sure to check back later this week when our own James Gannon writes to us with his thoughts on the Muppets' move to Marvel.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier