Cue Theme Music: Snoopy Will Dance on the Big Screen

Sure, everyone has heard by now that Ben Affleck is the new Batman…And that Avengers 2 is coming. With the deluge of superhero movies by the big 2, it is easy to forget the little guys. But fear not! One beagle and his owner are returning to take over the silver screen!

The blockhead Charlie Brown first appeared in the Li’l Folks comic strip in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Charles M. Schulz then started a different strip starring Charlie Brown, his dog Snoopy and the Peanuts gang. It ran daily for 50 years from 1950-2000. Fantagraphics Books is currently publishing the all-encompassing collection  The Complete Peanuts. Boom Studios is also publishing a monthly Peanuts comic book.

Fantagraphics Books

Snoopy and Charlie Brown and the Peanuts are some of the best known characters worldwide, and for good reason. Charlie Brown has been a staple among television specials, the most notable being: A Charlie Brown Christmas(1965), It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown(1966), and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving(1973) all still played annually on ABC. Snoopy and the gang are mascots of MetLife insurance. They have stared in not one but two musicals: “Snoopy” and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”, both still popular and performed around the world. In 2015, Blue Sky will produce the fifth movie in the franchise. A Boy Named Charlie Brown(1969), Snoopy, Come Home (1972), Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown(1977) and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown(and Don’t Come Back!!)(1980) were all traditionally animated but Peanuts(2015) will be done in CGI. Blue Sky has a very good track record with CGI animation with Rio, Ice Age, Epic and Robots under their belt. Take a look at the trailer below. Peanuts will be released in theatres November 6, 2015. 

Girls Gone Archie: Celebrities Take the Comic Book Stage.

The Acadamy Awards aired last night, celebrating the best of the the big screen. But did you know many screenwriters,musicians and actors have dabbled in comics?

Archie Comics has recently been famous for pairing their characters with stars: Obama, Kiss, the cast of Glee, George Takei…now HBO’s Girls creator Lena Dunham has signed on to pen four issues of Archie debuting next year. 

Archie Comics

“I was an avid Archie collector as a child — conventions, first editions that l kept in plastic sleeves, the whole shebang. It has so much cultural significance but also so much personal significance, and to get to play with these beloved characters is a wild creative opportunity,” Dunham said in the press release.

Recently Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, writer of the critically acclaimed Afterlife With Archie, was internally promoted to Chief Creative Officer. “Roberto is the ideal person for the CCO role, and why this is the next logical step in Archie’s evolution as a real pop culture company — a place where the strongest, most unique voices can come and contribute to Archie’s world. The best part is — we’re just getting started.” CEO John Goldwater stated.

This follows the trend of celebrities flexing their writing talents…in comic book form. Actors Rosario Dawson and Tyrese Gibson have written for Image Comics in their own miniseries(Occult Crimes Taskforce and Mayhem!, respectively). Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader and Seth Meyers tagteamed on a Spider-Man parody one shot: The Short Halloween(parodying the successful Batman:The Long Halloween). Longtime voice of the Joker and Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill wrote The Black Pearl for Dark Horse. Jennifer Love Hewitt conducted a miniseries, Music Box at IDW. Nick Fury(aka Samuel L Jackson) wrote Cold Space for Boom Studios. Jada Pinket Smith wrote Menace for Awesome Comics. Patton Oswalt wrote for JLA(DC) and Kevin Smith has written for Daredevil(Marvel). Orchestrator of the Marvel cinematic universe, Joss Whedon wrote a definitive era for the X-Men in their Astonishing X-Men series.

See cover images and a more complete list compiled by Jason on Listal.


One of the factors behind DC’s cross country move to Los Angeles is for the publisher ties in this. It is rumored that they would like to tap the Hollywood screenwriters for potential comic book writers.

"Based on _________" Comics as a Second Medium

Licensed comic books are nothing new. Take a popular movie, TV show, toy line or even video game and try to sell a comic based off it.Often less long lasting than in house publications, licensed properties add an  extra, and more complicated step-owner approval. Rarely making required reading lists, it is an uphill battle.

IDW, Boom Studios,Dark Horse and Archie have been recent masters of expanding on the source material, rather than strictly portraying the story they are adapting. IDW has GI Joe, My Little Pony, Transformers(all owned by Hasbro) ,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Nickelodeon/Viacom) and the Cartoon Network properties. Boom Studios’ Kaboom imprint has Peanuts, Adventure Time, Garfield, and Regular Show. Dark Horse just lost Star Wars but still has Avatar: The Last Airbender, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Planet of the Apes and Alien among others.  Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog(Sega) series has outlasted all the redesigns and is currently releasing its 256^th issue and Mega Man is on issue 30.

DC Comics

In the past few years, DC and Marvel have been finding a new audience in TV viewers. DC released a Vampire Diaries digital first series last year. Marvel released a graphic novel based on the popular Disney’s Once Upon A Time. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, DC is continuing Batman Beyond and Smallville.  DC made headlines last year when they revived Batman ’66, a new take on the pop culture phenomenon staring Adam West and Burt Ward. This capitalizes on fans who enjoy the shows and want more of it and may not be regulars at the comic book store. The instant gratification of digital gives the comics less risk, buy and try for 99 cents.

Newcomer Lion Forge Comics signed an exclusive deal with NBCUniversal last summer. Showcasing digital only stories based on Knight Rider and Airwolf(Miami Vice coming soon) the publisher is quickly churning out material, among in-house properties as well. The comics are mainly sold on Amazon for use on the Kindle, but can also be purchased on the apple iBooks store. The digital publisher announced plans for an all ages imprint: ROAR Comics, starting with Punky Brewster and Saved by the Bell available soon.

Lion Forge/NBCUniversal

Nostalgia is a huge business with today’s culture and comic book adaptions are here to stay, for better or worse. What properties would you like to see revived in comic books? 

Marvel Now! New 52! All new number 1! Collectible first issue!

Some argue that high numbered comic series ward off new customers, often with intricate plots and complex characters appearing and disappearing more often than your favorite soap opera. Comics become a commitment; miss a month and you are lost. How many Robins were there? Magneto dated who? It is intimidating.

For this reason, DC Comics decided that starting in September 2011, they would restart their whole line with 52 number one issues. Comics that had not been renumbered since they debuted in the 30’s had a fresh start…for better or worse. Action Comics (where Superman appeared in 1938) ended at 904, the Superman solo series ended with 714, Batman’s Alma mater Detective Comics: 881. Wonder Woman: 614 and Batman solo 713. Adventure Comics rounded off the high numbers with 529. Curiously enough, DC Comics celebrated Detective Comics would be 900th issue in April with volume 2’s issue 19. January’s highest issue number was 27.

DC Comic's Detective Comics 900

Marvel comics not far behind, followed suit with a Marvel.NOW initiative, slowly phasing out their series with new lineups, creative teams and story plots…yet keeping their history intact for the most part. Uncanny X-Men ended June 2011 with issue 544. Amazing Spider-Man ended with 700(2012), Captain America (and the Black Widow) ended with multiple money-grabbing name changes with its 640th issue. Invincible Iron Man= 527. Fantastic Four=611. They laid to rest their oldest series in October, Journey into Mystery was 655 issues long. Like DC, the publisher still has an eye for history when convenient and will celebrate Ultimate Spider-Man 200 in April, counting the series multiple volumes, one shots and miniseries with very confusing math. This month’s oldest series is Daredevil with 35 issues. Yet, it will not grow old as it is cancelled next month with issue 36; all new number one on the way!

Marvel Comic's Ultimate Spider-Man 200, out in April

Archie Comics is business as usual with this month’s Archie 652. Disney, a staple in children’s comics ended its partnership with Boom Studios in August 2011(due to buying out Marvel). Their highest number at the time was the 1940’s series Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories 720. Disney comics have been missing from the racks since.


Save for Disney, all of these comics were in house publications. The numbers game is a tricky one. Bad sales aside, the higher numbers stand the test of time, what they lack in new reader friendliness, they make up for in trust. “This comic lasted this long, it must be good”. With the absence of all the old comics, their history and three digit counts, the comic industry is uncertain. Will we reach 900 again without combining multiple series, changing names and adding decimal points? Let me know the answer in 75 years. Until then, keep buying the first issues just in case.


In Brazil, Turma da Monica(Monica’s Gang) have been only going forward and not stopping. Since the creation of the line of children stories Monica, Jimmy Five(Cebolinha), Chuck Billy(Chico Bento), Smudge(Cascão) and Maggy (Magali) have had residence in three notable publishers. Most recently sold in 2007 to Panini Comics, they are seeing their 85th issues this month. In 2011, Mauricio de Sousa Productions celebrated 500 issues of Monica, counting the previous series from past publishers( Abril and Globo). Monica’s main rival, Jimmy Five is going to hit 500 in February-expect a very special issue next month. The comics are 64 to 80 pages long, containing one to twenty page stories that are light on continuity(like most all ages books). Read the translated article below detailing Monica’s 500th.
Meanwhile , Pato Donald(Donald Duck) 2,427 is available on Brazilian newsstands this month by Abril. Yes, that is two thousand, four hundred and twenty seven.

Abril

Monica reaches 500 issues

Panini/ MSP

After 40 years, in which the character moved houses-going from three publishers- and appeared better, not fatter, than ever- Monica’s comic just achieved a historic 500 issues. Created by Mauricio de Sousa in 1963, the girl in the red dress with the blue bunny in her arms gained her own comic in 1970 by Abril editors.

Two hundred issues later, in 1987, she went on to be published by Globo publishers, who put out 246 editions of the comic book. And, in 2007, she moved to her current house, Panini, who is sending out it’s issue 54 this week-actually Monica’s 500th issue.

Mauricio’s character grew up over the years, the license adding an adolescent version of the character, dating her childhood neighbor, Cebolinha(Jimmy Five), But, aside from the success of “Monica Teen”, the classic version of the gang continues strong and solid with clever stories. That is what we can read in this special edition 500th issue.

There are two comic stories in the issue. In the first: Monica, Magali, Cebolinha(Jimmy Five) and Cascao(Smudge) and Jotalhao(Thunder) discover that all their tokens of these 40 years of adventure have disappeared from the memory room. With the help of the magic pencil of Marina, they head off in search of the treasure that we all keep inside of us. Pure poetry.

In the second story, staring Cebolinha (whose magazine will lag two years and two months to reach number 500, he complains), we discover that a different character took Monica’s place in the commemoration of the historical brand. What if she was never the most popular-and strongest- of the street? All it takes is a little time travel to try fix the past.

(Article written by Telio Nevaga on June 20th, 2011. Read the original article here)