But there’s more to life than money. Tom Spurgeon reminds us that the film wouldn’t exist without the contributions of many creators. His recognition of the men behind the movie provides short profiles of the comic artists and writers who came up with these characters and their team combinations.

The Bryan Hitch-drawn Ultimates served as inspiration for the movie version of the Avengers.

Tom Spurgeon also checked in with two charities benefiting from fan giving in connection with the film. The Hero Initiative has taken in almost $3000, while the Jack Kirby Museum received $1300 last week.

Meanwhile, in KC’s latest Westfield column, he praises the film for getting the blend of humor and action right. KC also looks back at some other superhero movies that weren’t quite so successful, descending instead into silly.

His favorite pick is Walter Simonson’s Judas Coin, an amazing graphic novel that wanders through DC continuity, including appearances of the Viking Prince, Bat Lash, Manhunter 2070, and Batman (with Two-Face).

He also makes sure you know about the Captain Marvel relaunch from Kelly Sue DeConnick and Dexter Soy and an Alan Davis/ClanDestine crossover event, as well as some great reprint collections due out over the summer.

Shazzan was one of my favorite childhood cartoon shows. It first aired on CBS in the fall of 1967, as part of the wave of shows drifting away from the funny animal characters of earlier years. These cartoons were slightly more mature and provided more heroic adventure series (some superheroic and some not). Some of these other shows included Space Ghost, the semi-lighthearted Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles, and The Herculoids (which originally aired just before Shazzan on Saturday mornings). Many of my peers were probably watching The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man — which aired at the same time on ABC — but I hadn’t encountered the Marvel characters yet, because of Marvel’s erratic distribution of their comic books at the time.

As a 10-year-old viewer, I liked Shazzan plenty, initially, but as the show went on, I started to realize that all the cartoons were pretty similar, except for different bad guys. So when the show went into reruns (most Saturday morning cartoon series only produced 13 or so new episodes every season, with most repeating episodes three or four times over a year), it was easy to switch over to watching Spidey and the “other” Fab Four. (The “real” Fab Four — The Beatles — also had their own cartoon series during this era.) So, for Marvel, I saw the cartoons first, and then got into the comic books later.

Waiting for the Collection

Much later, I discovered that the legendary comic book artist Alex Toth had provided the designs for Shazzan (and for many other Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the era — most notably Space Ghost and The Herculoids). I wanted to see those Shazzan cartoons again, but they were long gone from television by then, unless you were lucky enough to live near a big city that was syndicating the old HB cartoons. (I wasn’t.) Later, I always just missed their sporadic appearances on Cartoon Network or Boomerang. When Hanna-Barbera was eventually absorbed into Time Warner, Warner Brothers finally started assembling DVD season sets featuring HB’s heroic adventure era. After they first released the more popular Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and Jetsons sets beginning in 2004, I was hoping that Shazzan would ultimately be a part of that.

Unfortunately, the economy decreed otherwise. When it took a turn for the worst, sales of old Saturday morning animation went into a tailspin, causing WB/HB to “postpone” many of the projects that they were planning. Only now, years later, are those projects finally reaching fruition through the wonderful Warner Archives “by demand” program.

Warner Archives Comes Through!

Now, all 18 episodes of Shazzan (36 individual cartoons) are available as a two-DVD set. It also includes “The Power of Shazzan” featurette that previously appeared on the WB Saturday Morning Cartoons: The 1970s Volume 2 DVD set.

As usual for the Warner Archives releases, the cartoons are “as is” (i.e. no remastering), but other than a few minor color shifts from age and a few audio anomalies — one of which is an audible “stretching” defect in the opening credits that repeats throughout the series — this collection of 45-year-old cartoons is much nicer than you’d expect it to be. There are nine episodes per disc, and each is fully chapter stopped, in case you want to skip directly to the second cartoon in each episode, or skip the opening, the introductory segment (which explains the show’s premise), or the end credits — which get rapidly repetitive in “play all” mode.

Show Notes

The show is called Shazzan (for obvious reasons), but the series is based on the adventures of two teenage siblings, Chuck and Nancy. (Their surname is never given.) As the introduction to each episode tells us, the kids find a mysterious pair of rings which, when joined together, form the magic word Shazzan. After the first time they try this, they are magically transported to the fabled land of the Arabian Knights (otherwise not specifically identified), where they meet their magic genie, Shazzan.

Like most magic genies, Shazzan is giant-sized (like 50 feet tall, or taller), immediately presenting a challenge to the animators trying to get all three characters in the same shot. Generally, Shazzan picks the siblings up in his giant hand, leading to lots of long shots of the giant Shazzan holding two tiny specks, or close-up shots of the kids in Shazzan’s huge hand with the big giant head of Shazzan looking on. Get used to these shots — you’ll be seeing them over and over (and over) throughout this DVD set.

Shazzan explains the “rules” of the ring to the kids. He will do whatever they ask of him (none of that “only three wishes” stuff). However, the one thing he cannot do is take them home, until they deliver the rings to their rightful owner — whoever that is. Shazzan never tells them, although you would think that he knows, being his former “master(s)” and all…

Shazzan also gives the kids a flying camel to help them get around. (Maybe so they don’t have to bother him about that.) The camel’s name is Kaboobie — and he is one of my favorites of a long line of cowardly HB animals. Kaboobie also talks (sorta), although he doesn’t actually speak understandable words. In fact, it’s voice actor Don Messick doing a proto-Scooby Doo voice — two years before Scooby made his debut. Hearing it today, Kaboobie often sounds like a drunken (or stoned?) Scooby Doo, getting so close to actual words, but just falling short. I never noticed as a kid, but this cracked me up as an adult — whenever Nancy was riding Kaboobie, she always demurely rode him sidesaddle.

Because both Chuck and Nancy each wear one of the magic Shazzan-summoning rings, a recurring formula of the series is to figure out new ways to keep the twins separated, thus heightening the suspense and delaying the inevitable appearance of Shazzan — which as kids, we were impatiently waiting for.

What Is Judy Jetson Doing in the Desert?

Shazzan was voiced by the late Barney Phillips, a film and TV actor best known for recurring roles on the original Dragnet and Twelve O’Clock High, and for a featured role in the Twilight Zone episode “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” For Hanna-Barbera, Phillips was the voice of Porthos on The Three Musketeers cartoon shown on The Banana Splits Show.

Chuck was voiced by Jerry Dexter, a voice actor who specialized in young men, including Aqualad, Alan M. on Josie and the Pussycats, and Ted on Goober and the Ghost Chasers, among many others. The very recognizable voice of Janet Waldo (Judy Jetson, Penelope Pitstop, Josie in Josie and the Pussycats) was the voice of Nancy. And as previously mentioned, Don Messick was the voice of Kaboobie, as well as various bad guys on the series. You can hear a little of everyone in this clip:

One other piece of audio trivia: Many of the music cues and unique sound effects heard in Shazzan were first created for the original Jonny Quest show, and later recycled (as virtually everything at HB was) for other shows, including Shazzan. Listen for them!

Um… Wait a Minute…

Shazzan is one of those series that only kids can really love because they don’t care about background or motivations or unanswered questions — which this series revels in — and ultimately nothing is resolved. (Spoiler Alert: the series doesn’t have a final episode. The kids never get home — or at least we never see it.) There are other disturbing elements to this series that are never explored. We don’t know much about how the kids live when Shazzan is not around. In one cartoon, we’re shown that the kids summon him when they need to eat, and he provides a feast. But what about shelter? The same episode shows the kids sleeping on the floor of a cave. Can Shazzan not conjure up a place for them to live? Or do they have to ask him first?

Plus, Shazzan often deals with all of the various evil genies/ monsters/ giants/ thieves that the kids encounter in violent and somewhat sadistic ways. All the while banishing foes, he is cheerfully chuckling “Ho-ho-ho-HO!” to himself. This eventually led to two things: Shazzan was one of the prime shows under attack by parents’ groups against violence on TV in children’s programming, and secondly, it was memorably, and viciously, parodied (as “Shazzang”) by Robert Smigel as part of his Saturday TV Funhouse series, which originally aired on Saturday Night Live. (It’s also on the SNL: Best of Saturday TV Funhouse DVD.)

Shazzan has also appeared on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (but what old HB character hasn’t?). Here’s a fun one — Kaboobie the camel cameoed on Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Where? Here’s a hint: B’wana Beast was riding him (and not sidesaddle!).

The Outro

Shazzan is not one of the classic Hanna-Barbera series, although it is fondly remembered by those who saw it as kids for its adventure and exotic locale. Plus, the Alex Toth connection makes this a series for serious reevaluation just for that alone, although the animation isn’t up to the strength of Toth’s designs. The writing also leaves something to be desired. (Both the animation and writing are mocked in “The Power of Shazzan” featurette — by animators and animation historians yet!)

Re-watching the series as an adult, it’s difficult to watch these episodes marathon-style, as all the shortcomings and oddities are quickly brought to light. I’d recommend watching not more than a couple episodes at a time. Strangely, I would recommend Shazzan for kids, providing that adults watch along. (There will be questions.)

Let’s let the kids — Chuck and Nancy — have the final say:

NANCY: Isn’t Shazzan a wonderful genie?!
CHUCK: No kid should be without one!

(The studio provided a review copy.)

(NOTE: This article is best read AFTER reading my column at Westfield Comics where I discuss the recently passed Josie DeCarlo’s inspiration and influence on her husband Dan DeCarlo’s work and how she came to be credited at Archie Comics decades before Dan got an official credit for his work.)

Dan and Josie DeCarlo’s twin sons Dan Jr. and James were born in 1947 and grew up following their father’s footsteps, becoming comic book artists for Archie Comics. Dan Jr. was a talented penciller — it’s very difficult to differentiate art style between father and son — and he grew up assisting his father on Betty and Veronica. Later, he became the main artist on the Archie title, beginning in the early 1980s.

James learned how to ink directly from his father. Dan was an excellent teacher — he frequently taught other artists from the Archie offices. Many sessions were reportably filmed and sent to freelancers too far away to travel. (I’d love to see those videos.) James inked pages by both his father and brother.

Both sons also have “Suggested By” acknowledgements on several Archie pin-ups first published in the early 1960s — and drawn by their dad. They received these credits as young teenagers (and ironically received an official Archie credit long before their father did). Here are some of Dan Jr. and James’ early “contributions”. I wonder if seeing their names in print was influential in their decision to eventually become comics pros? (Click images to make bigger.)

Future Archie penciller Dan J. has Betty fall for him (and thoughtful Archie happened to bring a pillow, for just such accidents). From Archie Giant Series #10 (Archie’s Christmas Stocking), Jan. 1961.

Dan Jr. rolls up the rug so that Betty and Veronica can demonstrate the 1960s' biggest dance craze. From Archie’s Girls, Betty and Veronica #78, June 1962.

Future Archie inker James DeCarlo dreams up a sporty Betty. From Archie’s Girls, Betty and Veronica #69, Sept. 1961.

James also comes up with a Betty idea worth wading for! (Sorry, old and frequently repeated gag from many Archie Comics covers.) From Archie Giant Series #13 (Betty and Veronica Summer Fun), Oct. 1961.

Dan Jr. and James were also inadvertently responsible for assisting their father with keeping up-to-date on current teenage fashion — both for girls and guys. When the sons started dating as teenagers, their girlfrineds were frequently at the DeCarlo house. According to Dan, there was a lot of talk about teenage fashion, much of it absorbed by Dan and subsequently appearing on the printed page worn by Betty, Veronica, or Josie. One of Dan Jr.’s girlfriends, Ginger, became a friend of the family and used to give Dan advice on what girls were currently wearing.

Dan was very big on keeping the fashions current, especially for the girls. Those who have studied Dan’s art have noticed this most in the mid-60s, as more adult-styled outfits gave way to the new youth-oriented styles coming out of England’s Carnaby Street. Josie DeCarlo also was influential on Dan’s fashion sense for his comic work.

Sadly, both sons predeceased Dan and Josie. Dan Jr. passed away in 1990 of stomach cancer, and James died in 1991 from complications from a stroke. Earlier, in 1967, Dan’s brother Vincent died of lung cancer. Vincent was Dan’s long-time inker (exclusively for Dan’s Archie work in the early 1960s, including the pieces showcased here), and many DeCarlo fans feel that Vince was Dan’s best inker.

The mysterious Tony DeCarlo provided the gag for this pin-up. From Archie’s Girls, Betty and Veronica #86, Feb. 1963.

I’m not sure who Tony DeCarlo was, but the New Rochelle, New York, address is probably too much of a coincidence to not be part of the artistic DeCarlo family. (Dan was born and died there.) Anybody out there know for sure who he is/was?

Hope you enjoyed this look at the DeCarlo family as contributors to the stories of America’s favorite teenagers!

A NOTE ON SOURCES: The issues listed as sources for these pages are where I found them, which may — or may not — be the original source. Pin-ups and fashion pages were frequently reprinted in other Archie publications in that era, and much later in the digests. Frequently, when later reprinted, the names and addresses of the contributors were removed.

As many of you know, MAD Magazine didn’t start out being the bane of American institutions like the government, entertainment, and just plain stupidity that it’s known and loved for being today — itself becoming quite the “stupid” institution, as well as often holding the role of a child’s right of passage into snark and realization that not everything is what it appears to be.

MAD was first conceived in 1952 as a four-color comic book by editor/writer/artist Harvey Kurtzman (you’ve probably seen his name on comic awards — and for good reason) and publisher William M. Gaines. Gaines was best known at that time for his fan-favorite line of EC Comics. Their horror, crime, and even sci-fi and military titles were coming under fire by crazed government officials, psychiatrists, and parents in the 1950s. After all of the other EC Comics titles had been canceled (forced out by the creation of the Comics Code Authority and then blackballed by most distributors), MAD was the sole surviving EC publication. And for it to survive, it was decided to turn it into the magazine (therefore bypassing CCA restrictions) that we know and love today.

The Sincerest Form of Parody

MAD (the comic book) ran for 23 issues before the format change in 1955. Here’s a couple of things about MAD that you might not know.

MAD-Fact #1: All of the early issues lost money. When it began, MAD was literally the first of its type — the first regular satire/parody comic book. According to John Benson’s informative (and detailed) essay that wraps up this volume, no one knew how to rack MAD on the comic racks. There was nothing else like it to set it next to. And it came out in a boom year for comic books; a whopping 643 different comics were issued in 1952 (a record never topped until the modern era), so it was bound to be lost in the shuffle. The only promotion it ever got was house ads in the other EC Comics titles.

MAD-Fact #2: Despite this, MAD quickly became a huge hit, and by 1954, it had spawned more than a dozen imitators, with names like Panic (also published by EC), Whack, Eh!, Crazy, Wild, Riot, Get Lost!, Nuts!, Madhouse, Bughouse, Flip, and Unsane (my favorite). None of them lasted more than seven issues. Several were one-and-done!

These wonderfully “unsane” comics are the basis of this new 208-page full-color softcover book, The Sincerest Form of Parody: The Best 1950s MAD-Inspired Satirical Comics. It’s edited by comics historian John Benson (Romance Without Tears, original EC Library: Mad), with a highly educational and entertaining 26-page “Notes” section (actually a long, illustrated essay), and a short introduction by underground legend Jay Lynch (Bijou Funnies, Wacky Packages). The rest is filled with wonderful selections of these early parody comics, by some of the best in the industry at the time.

MAD was primarily known for the work of its “main” artists: Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Wally Wood, John Severin, and the king of “chicken fat” art, Will Elder. Elder created the term in reference to soup production, as it “enhances the flavor of the soup”. In practice, it’s the addition of lots of background elements to a comic book story — funny background characters and business, gags, graffiti, and “sub-jokes” (as Kurtzman once described them). Elder was a master of the technique, and it became a regular component of the comic book parody format, as frequently seen throughout this book and absolutely inspired by Elder.

Since this work was all produced in an era before widespread exclusive contracts, a couple of the classic EC artists are also represented in The Sincerest Form of Parody, including Elder and Davis, as well as many other giants of the era — Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Bill Everett, Norman Maurer, Carl Hubble, Dick Ayers, Al Hartley, Jay Disbrow, Howard Nostrand, Bob Powell, and the team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. There’s even a page by Archie artist Dan DeCarlo (although he signed it “Jock Brown”).

All of the stories included here were scanned directly from the comics, for that “authentic” pulp look. Yet the book is printed on high-quality, off-white, thick paper (so no bleed-through). It’s another in a long line of high-quality Fantagraphics productions.

Over 30 stories parodying then-current movies (From Here to Eternity), TV shows (What’s My Line), comic strips (Rex Morgan, M.D.), novels (I, the Jury), and even commercial products (Reingold Beer!) are represented, as well as several simply goofy humor stories. It’s the kind of book best read slow — maybe only a couple of stories a night — to savior the insanity. Although I know that these stories are probably the cream of the crop, I’m already ready for a Volume 2.

The Sincerest Form of Parody: The Best 1950s MAD-Inspired Satirical Comics is a wonderful book collecting the best stories of the beginnings of a favorite comic book genre — and I can’t emphasize this enough — it’s put together by people who know what they’re doing. Plus, it’s designed to fit on your bookshelf right next to your MAD Archives volumes.

I can’t believe that you haven’t already picked this up! Are you unsane?!? (The publisher provided a review copy.)

Shout! Factory’s Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales: The Complete Collection is another major archeological animation excavation and reclamation. First airing on CBS from 1963 to 1966, the show was the second major production from Total TeleVision (TTV) and a big stepping stone in quality to their third, Underdog. Shout! Factory’s new collection is a 6-DVD set including all 70 episodes of Tennessee Tuxedo, 38 episodes of The King and Odie, 12 episodes of Tooter Turtle, 35 episodes of The Hunter, and 5 episodes of Klondike Kat — although some of the episodes are not the same as what is listed in the accompanying program guide. (Yes, sadly, there are some technical and quality control issues with this set. I write about this in more depth in the final section below.) For material of this age, however, and considering that the show was never stored properly after the cartoons first aired (and the masters were once thought “lost”), we’re very lucky to get this much. There’s a total of 16 hours of classic television animation on this set, all at a very reasonable price.

Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales

The special features lead off with a 26-minute documentary, “Tennessee Tuxedo Never Fails!”, with interviews with TTV creative director and writer Buck Biggers, voice actors Larry Storch and Bradley Bolke, and TTV historian Mark Arnold, who also wrote the set’s accompanying 16-page booklet and was a consultant on the box set. Episode commentaries are provided by all four of the above, plus current voice actor Wally Wingert. Some (but not all — they could not be found) of the short “Riddles” segments from the original network broadcasts of the show are included. Plus, there’s a feature collecting many of the show’s interstitial, credit, and opening sequences, most all from inferior sources because the originals are either long gone or misplaced.

I’ve previously covered the animation history of TTV, as well as a description of the Tooter Turtle and Klondike Cat series, so no need to repeat those here. Also, many original viewers might remember that The World of Commander McBragg was also occasionally a part of Tennessee Tuxedo and His Pals. It was, but all those cartoons have been collected on Shout! Factory’s Underdog collection. Let’s take a look at some other TTV stars.

“Uh… Gee, Tennessee…”

Most young viewers at the time of its original 1963 broadcast (like me) didn’t realize that the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons were educational. Pretty much every TT cartoon began when TT and his lovable, but dumb, walrus pal Chumley encountered some problem that they couldn’t solve at the Megapolis Zoo where they lived or ran into something when they frequently escaped. So they would visit their pal, a college professor named Phineas J. Whoopee (one of the great cartoon names of all time), a “Man with All the Answers”, who would help them with their questions with the aid of the Three Dimensional Blackboard (or 3DBB for short). This was the 1960s version of the iPad — except expandable to about four by six feet simply by pulling on the edges. I want one of those.

Later, armed with knowledge, TT would always thank the professor by saying, “Phineas J. Whoopee, you’re the greatest!”

Watching these cartoons today — almost 50 years after they were made — adds an entirely new level of comedy (at least for adults), as much of what Mr. Whoopee is teaching is seriously out of date, especially most everything science and technology-related. Today’s parents who are sharing these cartoons with their kids should expect strange looks, odd questions, or a lot of “That’s not right!” from today’s young brainiacs.

Tennessee and Chumley visit the Professor

The characters’ “origin story” is quite odd in that it was actually Chumley that zoo director Stanley Livingston (and his assistant Flunky) wanted, as he was a rare South Pole walrus. Tennessee simply accompanied his friend to the zoo. Something that I had forgotten, that greatly amused me — In the early episodes, Chumley frequently walked around with a big bag labeled “Oysters”, munching on them and talking at the same time. (As if he didn’t have enough trouble being understood…) Tennessee was very strong-minded (and somewhat ego-driven), constantly shouting his catchphrase “Tennessee Tuxedo will not fail!” — usually as he was just about to fail and needed Mr. Whoopee’s help.

Other recurring characters in the cartoons include Tennessee and Chumley’s zoo pals, Yakkety Yak and Baldy the Eagle, as well as Tennessee’s rival Jerboa Jump, a kangaroo rat, and his henchman, the boxing Tiger Tornado. They also ran afoul of a machine gun-toting gangster named Rocky Maninoff, who often referred to them as “bo-bo’s”.

If you loved corny puns and bad humor, Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales was your show — starting with the pun in the title. (“Tuxedo and tails”, get it?) It was probably funnier back then, when more people actually wore tuxedos other than for prom. There were a lot more bad jokes on the show, many used as interstitials (show transitions) between the cartoons, and a few of these are also on the DVD.

“Would You Believe…?”

Don Adams

Probably the most memorable thing about Tennessee Tuxedo was his voice, provided by comedian Don Adams shortly before his starring role as Maxwell Smart on Get Smart in 1965. Adams was also another famous animation voice — that of Inspector Gadget. Amazingly, he pretty much used the same voice on all three shows, which Adams claimed was an exaggeration of The Thin Man actor William Powell’s voice. Between these three shows and his popular stand-up (and recording) career, Adams must have set some sort of record for voicing the largest number of memorable catch-phrases in entertainment history. Go-Go-Gadget Catchphrase!

Larry Storch was the other famous voice on Tennessee Tuxedo, voicing Professor Phineas J. Whoopee. Said to be an imitation of actor Frank Morgan (the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz), Storch’s voice for Whoopee sounds nothing like the real Larry, better known as Sgt. Agarn on F-Troop, in films like The Great Race, and dozens of guest appearances on sitcoms, variety shows, and movies. His other animation voices include The Joker (The Batman/Superman Hour) — the first actor to do so — and the near-forgotten Warner Bros. character Cool Cat, star of the very last WB theatrical cartoon in the classic era. Storch is also to “blame” for Cary Grant being associated with the phrase “Judy, Judy, Judy”, something that Grant never said. Storch used the phrase when he impersonated Grant in his stand-up performances.

Chumley the Walrus was voiced by Bradley Bolke (pronounced “Bowl-kee”). He was not the original Chumley voice, as that voice actor was replaced by Bolke after six episodes. He later “looped” his voice into those episodes, but there’s a few places in episode three (“The Lamplighters”) where you can hear the original voice. Bolke’s career as a voice artist was brief, but he also voiced Jangle the Elf in Rankin-Bass’ The Year Without a Santa Claus.

The King and I

The King and Odie continued from the first TTV show, King Leonardo and His Short Subjects (1960). When that show went off the air in 1963, the series continued (as The King and Odie) on Tennessee Tuxedo.

Leonardo was the goodhearted but inept king of Bongo Congo, a small fictional African nation. His mild-mannered, but very effective, assistant was a skunk named Odie Cologne, a bad pun on Eau de Cologne. The King and Odie were surrounded by misguided (or downright bad) folks who caused plenty of trouble and frequently attempted to take over Bongo Congo by overthrowing Leonardo. Primary in this was Leonardo’s ne’re-do-well (and incompetent) brother, Itchy. He was usually referred to as “Itchy Brother” and frequently teamed with a gangster rat named Biggie Rat. (I remember that the “bad” kids in my neighborhood were referred to as “Biggie Rats” for a number of years, even by some parents.) Biggie employed an evil German scientist/ inventor named Professor Messer (German for large knife or sword) and occasionally got help from the flirtatious Carlotta, who just happened to be Odie’s sister.

In the new cartoons produced for the Tennessee Tuxedo show, Biggie Rat and Itchy Brother were employees of Mr. Mad, a mad scientist with a weird echo-y voice and a domineering personality. Even Biggie Rat deferred to him.

As the first TTV cartoon show, King Leonardo established a TTV trend for having voices that were impersonations of popular actors and/or comedians. Jackson Beck (best known for Bluto in the Popeye cartoons, but he also narrated sketches on the early Saturday Night Live) voiced King Leonardo, imitating film actor Eugene Pallette (My Man Godfrey, The Adventures of Robin Hood). Jackson Beck also voiced Biggie Rat as an impersonation of Edgar G. Robinson.

And Now, an Aside From Our Sponsor…

Interestingly, a number of sources incorrectly indicate that TV actor/producer Sheldon Leonard is the source of Leonardo’s voice. I think this may be due to the fact that Leonard actually performed the title voice in a different, but contemporary, animated show, Linus the Lionhearted. Linus the Lionhearted is often mistaken for a TTV show, as it was also sponsored by ubiquitous cereal manufacturer General Foods’ Post Cereals. In fact, all the characters on the show were based on the characters pictured on the cereal boxes — Sugar Bear/Sugar Crisps, Lovable Truly (a postman)/Alpha Bits, and Linus the Lionhearted/Crispy Critters.

The voice cast on the show was amazing: Besides Leonard, Carl Reiner, Ruth Buzzi, Jonathan Winters, Jesse White (the Maytag repairman), Jerry Stiller and Ann Meara, and veteran voice actor Bob McFadden all provided regular voices. This was one of my favorite shows on Saturday morning at the time — and we will probably never see it again (except on YouTube). In 1969, the FCC decided that characters on cartoon shows shouldn’t also be hawking products (cereal, toys, etc.) on the same show, and Linus the Lionhearted (often said to be the main source for this ruling) disappeared from TV forever.

More trivia: The two male lead characters on The Big Bang Theory (Sheldon and Leonard) are named after Sheldon Leonard as the show’s writers are big fans of his work. Another bar trivia game won! You’re welcome.

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Odie was voiced by frequent TTV voice actor Allen Swift (Riff Raff, Simon Bar Sinister), imitating actor Ronald Coleman. Swift also voiced Itchy Brother, who just sounded itchy.

King Leonardo never achieved the popularity of other TTV shows, mostly because it wasn’t syndicated as much or frequently shown, despite the fact there were a total of 104 different segments produced. Interestingly, it was shown in 2006 for about a year on the now-defunct Black Family Channel (BFC) Kids TV programming block. During its original run, there was an eight-issue comic book series by Dell/Gold Key, and several well-read issues are still in my collection.

One other note about King Leonardo: For its initial run in 1960, it was originally broadcast in black & white, despite being produced in color. By the time Tennessee Tuxedo began airing, there were more color televisions in America, so by then most Saturday morning cartoons were broadcast in color. That’s how old this series is…

The Hunter was a fairly nondescript series of cartoons that originally aired on the King Leonardo show and continued on Tennessee Tuxedo (although I think those episodes were all reruns by then). The Hunter was actually a bloodhound detective, who generally fought an evil fox, cleverly named The Fox. The Hunter also worked for a policeman unfortunately named Officer Flim Flanagan. Really, the only thing this series had going for it was that Kenny Delmar provided the humorous Southern-accented voice of The Hunter, based on Delmar’s radio character Senator Claghorn on the Fred Allen Show, which in turn inspired the creation of Warner Bros.’ popular Foghorn Leghorn character. So, somewhere in Animation Land, The Hunter and Foghorn are first cousins, which I guess makes The Hunter not so bad.

You May Have Problems Adjusting Your Set

Despite the cornucopia of great almost-lost early television animation in Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales: The Complete Collection, there are some (mostly minor) problems with the set, many of which will be invisible to the average consumer and inconsequential (or acceptable) to those animation fans who know how rare this stuff actually is.

As with the previous Underdog set, some (five) of the listed cartoons are not actually on the set but have been replaced with other cartoons from the same series. After the packaging and booklet were printed, it was discovered that the audio was missing for these cartoons. On-screen disclaimers explain their absence.

Which leads to a few minor quality control issues with the set, in that some animation fans (in reviews at Amazon.com) have indicated that the titles listed on the packaging in some cases are not the same as the actual titles of the cartoons. I’m not so sure about this one, since 1) many of the original title cards for the cartoons are long-missing (cut away and misplaced when the cartoons went into syndication decades ago), and 2) my own research indicates that many reference sources (both online and in print) are also pretty sketchy on details to begin with, especially about TTV shows. So who really knows? Even TTV biographer Mark Arnold doesn’t really know for sure. (He says so in his book Created and Produced by Total TeleVision Productions: The Story of Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo, and the Rest.) Sometimes information gets lost to the mists of time and failing memories.

One episode, “Monster from Another Planet”, on Season 2, Disc 2, is obviously incomplete. It’s shorter than other episodes and cuts off just as Tennessee and Chumley are going to visit Mr. Whoopee, eliminating the last couple minutes of the cartoon. This is a very unfortunate mistake.

Finally, sharp-eyed animation aficionados (also on the Amazon page) are saying that the image-enhancing digital video noise reduction (DVNR) process was used to extremes on this set. This is also probably true, as there is evidence of some blurring and even some black outlines breaking up. DVNR is controversial with many hardcore animation buffs, and situations like this have popped up on other DVD animation collections, most notably the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 — for which Warners actually went back and fixed the problem and offered disc exchanges.

Here’s my two cents on this subject: Just because you can achieve perfection with digital technologies like DVD and Blu-ray on new projects, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to get that perfection on material that is 30 to 70 (or more) years old. Let’s be real. If you have millions of dollars to throw at a restoration project as folks like Lucas or Spielberg or Warner Bros. can, you can get close to perfect on older material. But most animation reclamation projects are done by smaller companies (like Shout! Factory) who just don’t have the resources (or subsequent sales — animation fans need to realize that their purchases for quirky “cult” projects like the TTV shows, are indeed “cult” sales — not mass market like Disney features and Warner Bros. go-to characters Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry, and Scooby Doo) to actually make animation sets as good as they would like to. Especially when elements are long missing and occasionally have to be pulled from bootleg sources.

To me, having something is infinitely better than having nothing at all. There are still a lot of amazing animation out there that may be “lost” forever because a) it’s not popular enough for mass sales to have it properly restored, or b) can’t be restored enough to perfection to keep the “hardcore” animation fans from complaining about it.

Is there too much DVNR on Tennessee Tuxedo? Probably. But 80-90% of casual fans won’t even notice. They’re just happy that they can now own episodes of a childhood favorite for a reasonable price, in as nice a package as can be presented at this time. One wishes that Shout! Factory would print their packaging after they finalize what’s on the actual discs, but sometimes you can’t have everything.

Much thanks to Shout! Factory for their never-ending goal of resurrecting great old stuff — not just animation, but classic live-action television and forgotten music. I believe their next major vintage animation project (tentatively scheduled for June) is the theatrical UPA Mr. Magoo, now unedited (unlike its previous presentation from another company). And sometimes, they just collect stuff that should be collected. (You should really check out their amazing Ernie Kovacs collection.)

Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales: The Complete Collection is a slightly flawed but essential piece of animation history. Anyone who loves old television cartoons needs to see it. Always remember, Tennessee Tuxedo does not fail!

(The studio provided a review copy.)

Following up on my piece about the complete Underdog box set, here’s some more information on the other cartoons that ran with Underdog, produced by Total TeleVision as back-up features. In each half-hour episode, Underdog occupied two of the four cartoon slots. The primary back-ups were Go Go Gophers and The World of Commander McBragg.

Go Go Gophers was set in the late 19th Century in the American West. U.S. Army Colonel Kit Coyote and his Sergeant (named Okey Homa, but his name was seldom mentioned in the cartoons) are tasked with securing the town of Gopher Gultch by wiping out the last two (very clever) surviving Gopher Indians: Ruffled Feathers and Running Board. Ruffled Feathers was the brains of the operation, although he only spoke faux “Indian” (mostly it sounded like gibberish).

Go Go Gophers was blessed with a real earworm of a theme song (“Go Go Gophers, watch ‘em Go Go Go…”), and the series was popular enough that it was spun out into its own series in 1968. Reportedly, it was, at least in part, based on the comedy/western F Troop, staring Ken Berry, Forrest Tucker, and Larry Storch. If you’ve ever seen the show, it was about as close as a live-action show could get to a cartoon. (Well, that and The Great Race.)

The World of Commander McBragg was a very short cartoon (usually lasting all of 90 seconds). McBragg was a pompous braggart (good name, huh?), and the cartoons were pure formula, consisting of McBragg cornering a member of his gentleman’s club and relating a far-fetched or impossible adventure, always concluding with an unlikely escape (and a terrible pun from the listener). Many of McBragg’s stories were inspired by the tales of Baron Münchhausen. McBragg also cameos in a 2006 episode of the Simpsons, “The Seemingly Never-Ending Story.”

Klondike Kat first appeared on the third season of Underdog. (I think… There’s a lot of confusion and misleading information about TTV’s secondary characters floating around, so it’s hard to know what to believe.) Klondike Kat was a Canadian Mountie (leading to speculation that he was a parody of Jay Ward’s Dudley Do-Right), but the real star of the cartoon was the sly and mischievous Savoir-Faire, a French-Canadian mouse thief with the wonderful catchphrase “Savoir-Faire is everywhere!” As a viewer, you always wanted to root for the spunky mouse, but somehow the bumbling Klondike Kat would “always gets his mouse”, which usually meant an unsatisfying ending.

Tooter Turtle was a repeat segment on Underdog, as the series was originally created in 1960 and originally aired on King Leonardo. He was kind of a dimwitted character, who would always call on his friend Mr. Wizard (a lizard) with “another favor to ask” — usually a desire to be transported to some other destiny. Mr. Wizard would always oblige, things wouldn’t work out, and Mr. Wizard would always have to return him, with the magic catchphrase “Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome; time for this one to come home.”

What was bizarre about Tooter Turtle was his impact on popular culture, with references to him (or the cartoons’ many catchphrases — most of which were big hits on childhood playgrounds back in the day) in such places as The Matrix, The Replacements’ album Tim (in which Mr. Wizard’s incantation is a part of a song lyric), a reference in the novel Bright Lights Big City, and an episode of Lost. The cartoon obviously also made an big impact on Tom Servo of Mystery Science Theatre 3000, as he would frequently quote the cartoon’s catchphrases (especially “Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome”).

Underdog v. Rocky and Bullwinkle

I have one last misconception to dispel, this time about Total TeleVision in general. Many people thought that the TTV group and the cartoons of Jay Ward (Rocky and Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Hoppity Hooper, George of the Jungle) were all part of the same production company. A lot of this was based on how all these shows had a similar sense of writing style and humor (slapstick for kids, inside jokes for the adults) and a very similar animation style (deceptively crude to many adults, but kids didn’t care). The production studios were, in fact, completely separate, but both companies had their animation done at the Mexican studio Gamma Productions, which explains why all the shows look very similar.

The other major connection is that most all of the shows (especially the early ones) shared the same sponsor, General Mills cereal. Since General Mills was footing the bill for many of these shows, they technically “owned” them (or at least controlled them). After many of the shows were no longer first-run on Saturday (or Sunday) morning, they entered the syndication process, And since General Foods controlled both the TTV and Jay Ward shows, they occasionally “mixed and matched” elements between the two animation companies. A Commander McBragg (TTV) segment might air alongside a Rocky and Bullwinkle (Jay Ward) adventure, or a Fractured Fairy Tale or Bullwinkle’s Corner (Ward) segment might appear on the TTV Underdog show, leading viewers to believe there was a connection between the two companies when there was not.

Interestingly, Underdog includes an inside joke about the similarities of the animation between TTV and Jay Ward shows. At the end of most of the four-part Underdog stories, the townspeople would look up in the sky and say (just like in Superman), “Look up in the sky!” “It’s a bird!” “It’s a plane!” Then an old woman would say “It’s a frog!” And another guy would look at her funny and say “A frog?!?” Then Underdog would charmingly chime in with, “Not bird, nor plane, nor even frog, It’s just little old me… (and then Underdog would clumsily crash into something before finishing, sheepishly) “…Underdog.”

According to Mark Arnold, the frog in question was Jay Ward’s Hoppity Hooper, which debuted shortly before Underdog in fall 1964. Another animation mystery solved. I’ve waited 48 years to find that one out.

More on the Way

There’s more on the way! Also out now from Shout! Factory is a six-DVD collection of Tennessee Tuxedo and His Pals: The Complete Collection. And I’ll be back to review it — just as soon as Mr. Wizard brings me back home… Drizzle, drazzle…

One of the more interesting things about Underdog is the number of misconceptions many people have about him.

Misconception #1: Many people think the the very popular Underdog balloon is still a part of the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

It’s not. The balloon was retired in 1984 — after debuting in 1965, just one year after the debut of the cartoon show on NBC. There was even a special episode of the TV series that originally aired right after the parade in 1965.

Underdog: The Complete Collector’s Edition

The reasons that people think the Underdog balloon is still active are likely twofold. First, there was an entire episode of Friends that featured the balloon, although it was never seen, except in stock footage. (Episode #9, “The One Where Underdog Gets Away”, originally aired on November 17, 1994, ten years after the balloon was retired.) Second — and more recent — is the great 2008 Coca-Cola ad (first aired on the Super Bowl) where the Underdog balloon battles the Family Guy’s Stewie balloon over a frosty Coke balloon in the skies over NYC. (This commercial, of course, was all done with CGI.)

Misconception #2: This one was primarily known only in animation circles. For a number of years, it was thought that all the Underdog cartoons were lost in a fire (as well as all the cartoons produced by Total TeleVision Productions (TTV), including King Leonardo, Tennessee Tuxedo, and Go Go Gophers).

Happily, this one is not true either, as the recent release of Shout! Factory’s nine-DVD Underdog: The Complete Collector’s Edition proves. Shout! Factory has conveniently divided up this set into three individually packaged DVD sets (by season), so it’s possible that they may sell them as individual season sets at some point in the future.

Underdog: The Complete Collector’s Edition contains

• all 124 Underdog “episodes” (episodes meaning the four-and-a-half-minute cartoons, two of which were shown as part of each show)
• all 48 episodes of Go Go Gophers
• all 48 episodes of The World of Commander McBragg
• the first 14 episodes of Klondike Kat (originally airing in Season 3; the rest would air on The Beagles)
• 12 episodes of Tooter Turtle, which originally aired on King Leonardo
• and 2 episodes of The Hunter, also both originally airing on King Leonardo.

One of the two Hunter episodes isn’t the one listed in the packaging, due to the discovery that the cartoon had no audio — made after the box and booklet went to press. It’s been replaced with another episode. (There are more Hunter episodes on the way on Shout! Factory’s Tennessee Tuxedo box set.) For those keeping score, this Underdog set contains about 21 (or more) hours of cartoon fun.

Rough Spots

Although most of the pieces of the original 1964 Underdog cartoon show have survived, some are in better condition than others, so there is an occasional difference in picture quality due to different sources for the footage. The original series was long ago cut up and rearranged when the series entered syndication, and some of the original material (mostly interstitial and credit sequences) were lost or misplaced for many years. Many of these are presented in a five-minute bonus feature, and it quickly becomes clear why they didn’t put them back into the regular episodes. Most of them are in terrible shape (some are only in black & white) — and watching them over and over again as part of the regular episodes would be very annoying. I am just happy to know that at least we get the opportunity to see them at all, in any condition.

It’s probably a small miracle that any of this footage still exists, in any form. The cartoons were saved individually by subject to be inserted and re-inserted into different syndication packages after the original run of the show. Most of the original bumpers and inserts have been lost in their original state and only exist via inferior sources. Mark Arnold, animation historian and consultant to this DVD set indicates (in comments for the box set on Amazon.com) that even the audio for some cartoons was lost, forcing them to pull alternate audio from bootlegs to match up with pristine (but silent) video prints.

This is the only downside to this collection, and it’s an incredibly minor one. The folks at Shout! Factory have done a fantastic job of reassembling all of the various pieces of the original Underdog to provide a viewing experience as close as humanly possible to seeing the show as it was originally broadcast on Saturday morning in the mid-1960s. As one of those original viewers, I can directly attest to how well they achieved their goals in producing this amazing missing piece of animation history. I had a lump in my throat as I watched — and remembered every word from that first episode I first saw as an eight-year-old in 1964. Granted, I probably saw that episode a lot. Underdog was on the air, bouncing back and forth from NBC to CBS, for an astounding nine-year run, 1964 though 1973 (less a two-year break, from 1970 to 1972). There were a lot of reruns, since the show stopped producing new episodes in March 1967.

Underdog Lore

That Underdog is so beloved is no accident. Despite its somewhat dubious origins — it dates from the era where a single sponsor (General Mills in this case) basically funded the entire show as a place to regularly show ads for their extensive line of sugary breakfast cereal — the show is utterly charming, with one of the best lead characters in TV animation history. As the opening narration reminds us in every episode, Shoeshine Boy (Underdog’s secret identity) is “humble and lovable”. He was. And enduringly sweet while almost always speaking in rhyme.

Underdog was your basic superhero story. He had a secret identity (Shoeshine Boy), a girlfriend (Sweet Polly Purebred), dozens of villains (Simon Bar Sinister, Riff Raff, Overcat), aliens (The Marbleheads, The Magnet Men), and a secret to his amazing powers (The Underdog Secret Energy Pill). That part was all for the kids. Underdog also worked as a parody and satire, not only mocking superheroes, but a large part of society as well. And that was for the adults. At this early stage of TV animation, only Underdog and the Jay Ward produced material — notably Rocky and Bullwinkle — were doing things on this dual level.

It’s also interesting to note that Underdog was around for more than a year before the debut of the live-action Adam West Batman TV show in 1966. Underdog also beat Superman (The New Adventures of Superman) to Saturday morning by two years. It seems only the Fleischer Superman theatrical cartoons of the 1940s, Mighty Mouse, and Popeye preceded Underdog in superheroic animation. Underdog‘s success may have inspired a flood of superheroes (some silly, some not) in the two years following his debut, including Atom Ant, The Mighty Heroes, Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles, Super 6, and Space Ghost.

Amazing Voice Work

Wally Cox

A large part of the character’s charm is due to the voice actor hired to perform as both Underdog and Shoeshine Boy — Wally Cox. Cox was one of the pioneers of early television, starring in the popular television show Mr. Peepers, which ran from 1952-1955. Mr. Peepers was a junior high school science teacher, as well as a bit of a nebbishy bumbler, traits which would carry over to the character of Underdog/Shoeshine Boy. Cox was a natural fit for the character as conceived.

The role of Underdog proved to be a good one for Cox, as it led to him being cast on the popular game show Hollywood Squares. Cox was one of the original “squares” (upper left) from the original pilot until his untimely death in 1973.

Norma MacMillian played Underdog’s girlfriend, Sweet Polly Purebread. She also performed the voice of Casper the Friendly Ghost, Goo in Gumby, and both Davey and Sally on Davey and Goliath. She was an on-screen actress with numerous roles on television shows, but she was probably best known for playing Aunt Martha on commercials for Kraft Foods mayonnaise in the 1980s.

Allen Swift was a former children’s television host before becoming a well-traveled voice actor for an incredible number of animation projects in a very long career. He’s best known as the voice for both Simon Bar Sinister and Riff-Raff, the two main villains on Underdog, although as a utility player for the show, Swift also voiced many of the minor villains, such as Batty-Man and Overcat, as well as many of the alien characters who appeared. Swift was a regular on TTV’s other programs, where he played Itchy Brother, Odie Colognie, and Tooter Turtle on King Leonardo and Tennessee Tuxedo; he was also Tubby and Scotty on The Beagles. Swift worked with Rankin/Bass on many of their projects, most notably as the majority of voices in Mad Monster Party, a 1967 full-length theatrical film (incidentally, co-written by Harvey Kurtzman with character designs by Jack Davis).

George S. Irving was better known as a Broadway character actor in numerous productions, including the original production of Oklahoma!. He’s best known for roles in Irene and Me and My Girl. But he also worked in animation, performing numerous villains and minor characters in Underdog, as well as acting as the show’s narrator. He was the Indian Running Board in Go Go Gophers (the one who talked in fake Indian language and said “Whoopee Doopee!” a lot), as well as minor roles in TTV’s other shows. Millions of people know him best as the voice of the embittered Heat Miser in Rankin/Bass’ The Year Without a Santa Claus.

The Origins of TTV

Total TeleVision was formed by four men: Buck Biggers, Chet Stover, Treadwell Covington, and artist Joe Harris. All four were former ad men. Biggers and Stover originally had the account for the General Mills food corporation, and their job was to create TV animation to sell their breakfast cereals. Around 1960, they all left their advertising jobs to create Total TeleVision (TTV) to produce the cartoon series that would “host” the General Mills commercials. (Usually, that’s the other way around. Back then, shows were created specifically to please sponsors.) TTV had four success stories in King Leonardo and His Short Subjects (1960), Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963), Underdog (1964), and The Beagles (1966). Underdog was by far the most popular of them all.

Special Features

Buck Biggers was the primary creative force of TTV, ultimately writing over 500 scripts, and composing all the theme songs — both words and music. Biggers contributes several commentaries on this Shout! Factory DVD set, as do voice actors George S. Irving and Wally Wingert (a current voice actor, best known as the voice of Jon on various Garfield series, and — my favorite — the voice of MODOK on The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes); Alison Arngrim (actress, best known for playing Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie — and also the daughter of Norma MacMillan, the voice of Sweet Polly Purebread); and Mark Arnold, writer of Created and Produced by Total TeleVision Productions, the definitive history of TTV, and also author of this box set’s informative liner notes on the history of Underdog.

Another TTV founder, Joe Harris, appears in a bonus feature, narrating (and providing simulated voices) for a never-before seen and wonderfully charming storyboard for Underdog. There’s also a new 30-minute documentary on the show — “There’s No Need To Fear… Underdog Is Here!” — featuring contributions from Biggers, Irving, Arngrim, and Arnold.

Not Without Controversy

Unfortunately, Underdog did not escape scrutiny by the parental groups determined to blanderize all cartoons with the goal of “protecting the children” by making sure that everything on Saturday morning was no longer funny or even made sense. Underdog originally got his powers by eating an energy vitamin pill. When taking one, he would always recite this rhyme: “The secret compartment of my ring I fill, with an Underdog super energy pill!” While there was no problem with these scenes during the show’s original run, for a while in the 1980s and ‘90s, these scenes were dropped for fear that children might associate them with drugs. These scenes have been restored for the Shout! Factory DVD release.

It’s so good to see Underdog brought back and reassembled (as best as can be) in a high-quality format such as DVD. Kudos to Shout! Factory for getting this out under what must have been occasionally trying circumstances. (Shout! Factory provided a copy for review.)

Do regular, consistent, long-running creative teams no longer matter in the modern era? Or are epic runs by creators (Fantastic Four by Lee and Kirby, Ultimate Spider-Man by Bendis and Bagley) a thing of the past? Discuss.

In contrast, KC also spotlights the various artist retrospective books being released soon.

While largely inconsequential, the Super-Hero Floating Poker Game stories have been very popular with readers, giving fans the opportunity to see their favorite characters in a behind-the-scenes situation. There was something inherently and poetically “human” about seeing these characters kicking back with a beer and some salty snacks after saving the universe (again). These days, with more and more godlike depictions of superheroic characters, there just aren’t enough poker stories.

KC’s latest Westfield column recommends Amazing Spider-Man as a good read, specifically, the “I Killed Tomorrow” story in issues #678 and 679 by Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, and Victor Olazaba.

KC praises the title for its “wonderfully unique identity — being true to the angsty “fun” and ever-changing relationships of the Lee/Ditko/Romita era, updated with powerful modern-era storytelling” and also compliments editor Steve Wacker. Find out more at the link.

I’m so happy to hear that Walter Simonson’s The Judas Coin graphic novel is done and has finally been scheduled for September release from DC Comics. As somebody who’s known about the project for years, it’s been hard not being able to talk about it. Especially since circumstances had me in the the right place at the wrong time, so that I’ve already had the opportunity to read over half of the 96-page graphic novel. Don’t worry — I’m not going to give anything important away…

A couple of years back, I was visiting the New York area, mostly to see old friends; to visit the “Art of Archie Comics” show at MOCCA; and to see my siblings-in-law’s new house in the area. As always, Walt & Weezie offered me a bed for a day or two at the Hotel Simonson, and I gratefully accepted. I set off to Mt. Simonson. (Yes, they live on a mountain. A small mountain, but a mountain, nonetheless. Occasionally, Walter goes out and throws thunderbolts at his unsuspecting neighbors. And on any given morning, there are probably deer foraging in the Simonson back yard. Now, that’s a place to create comic books!)

Unfortunately, I was trapped by icy conditions. (I got up the winding, tree-lined driveway but couldn’t get back down, since I didn’t have a 4-wheel drive vehicle.) Since I was going to be stuck there for a couple of days, Walter said, “So… do you want to read it?” I knew exactly what he was talking about. I think my answer was “Duh!” Next thing I knew, three chapters of The Judas Coin were sitting on the sofa next to me.

I never read anything so slowly in my life. It was so gorgeous. I think I read each page three or four times before proceeding to the next. I even found a couple of lettering typos (sorry, John Workman!), so I got to feel like I was editing again for a second or two. Mostly, I was just overwhelmed by what Walter was accomplishing.

I won’t go into details here, because I think the book will be more powerful as a surprise. What’s already known is that The Judas Coin consists of six chapters, each set in a different place in the DC timeline, starring a diverse selection of DC historical characters, some of whom haven’t been seen in decades. One chapter even provides some closure to an unfinished DC series from the 1970s. I won’t mention who all the characters are, but you can obviously figure out some of them from the recently released cover, shown here.

What hasn’t been announced (and maybe DC’s marketing folks aren’t even aware of this — or don’t think it’s important) is that Walter is using a different style of artwork for each different chapter/character. In some instances, he’s drawing in the style of the artist who originally drew the character, while for others, he applied a style of drawing that he admired and wanted to attempt. If nothing else, this makes The Judas Coin a fascinating artistic tour de force for Simonson and his legion of fans. The story is great, also. I still don’t know all the details, but I have been present a couple of times when Walter was discussing plot points with friends and other creators — all of whom reacted with some version of “That’s brilliant!” — including me.

I can’t wait for the post-mortem interviews with Walter, where all of the secrets of The Judas Coin can be revealed. September is a long way away.

By the way, I was stuck on Mt. Simonson for two days (a very pleasant place to get “stuck”), and when I wasn’t drooling on the original art for The Judas Coin, I was watching the weather reports showing that a blizzard was working its way up from the south — exactly the direction I had to drive to get home. Finally, the ice melted enough to give me a chance to get down the Simonsons’ driveway (provided I only went about 2 mph), giving me just a six-hour window to get home (so I missed seeing the new house and the MOCCA show). Of course, I got stuck in traffic in Washington D.C., so I had to drive the last hour or so in the blizzard. But the Simonsons (and NYC) had it worse. This was the storm that dumped about 20 inches of snow on the NYC area, effectively shutting it down for days. The Simonsons lost power several hours after I left and didn’t get it back for several days — making it very difficult to work at a drawing board without light.

Trust me, The Judas Coin will be worth the wait.

what does being sick have to do with comic books?

Only everything.

Chances are you might have been sick in bed when you read your first comic book. Or it might have been the first time you had the opportunity to re-read your stash of comics, all at once. (If you had measles or chicken pox, you weren’t going anywhere for a while. So, hope you had plenty of reading material!) Plus, inevitably, you got exposed to “new” comic reading experiences. Since you were too sick to go out and buy your own, you had to rely on mom or pop to get your comics — and sometimes they didn’t exactly follow instructions.

My favorite line talks about how Iron Man was “not as cool as Superman’s robots.”

Plus, you can learn all about the secret ashcan for Watchmen #12, in another untold tale of comic history.

KC’s latest Westfield column introduces his current reading project: catching up on the X-Men. He provides a brief history of the franchise, including key creators, recalls why he stopped reading the various series almost 20 years ago, and talks about finding a good restart point. I found it a wonderful capsule history of a significant comic brand that got me excited about reading the X-Men again myself.

(Although I do disagree with KC calling Wolverine and the X-Men his “current favorite superhero comic.” I mean, I can’t tell him what his favorite is, and I do think it’s excellent, but for me, it’s second to Daredevil.)

KC ends up by pointing out that reading history has also made him more excited about current comic reading, and for some kinds of fans, this kind of backwards look will rejuvenate the appeal of the medium. Also, I wanted an excuse to run this cute, iconic “org chart” for the current teams, from Uncanny X-Men #1.

Just when you least expect it, a new season of Futurama pops up, like a bad uncle or a smelly penny. It’s the little show that refuses to die, while getting better and better as it scrapes its way back to television year after year. It’s great watching new episodes (and classic episodes) on Comedy Central, but it’s even better getting a new collection (available in both DVD and Blu-ray) of the most recent batch of shows, packed with Special Features for the uber-fan.

This new 13-episode, two-disc set is called Futurama: Volume 6, although what’s exactly on it is a little confusing, reflecting the history of the oft-neglected little show. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

Ok, we’ll go deliver this crate like professionals, and then we’ll go ride the bumper cars.

Futurama Volume 6

So, is all this confusion worth it? Absolutely. Futurama is one of the most intelligent, outrageously funny, and most honored shows on TV. Each episode of the show rewards the viewer on several different levels. On the surface, it’s just a funny cartoon, with wacky characters doing slap-sticky things, but the dirty little secret is that Futurama is actually an extremely clever (as in you usually don’t ever realize this) satire of everyday life, as filtered though a science-fiction-ish society a thousand years from today. It’s also a workplace comedy (one of the most popular characters is Scruffy, the janitor), albeit one filled with surreal humor. (The Hypnotoad made me say that.) Since it’s no longer on stodgy Fox, with the more liberal standards of Comedy Central, the humor in these new episodes is even more outrageous. Although, not everything the Futurama crew dreams of makes it to air — so don’t miss the generous portions of depravity in the Deleted Scenes on the disc extras.

Speaking of extras, Futurama Volume 6 has plenty! The best for long-time fans is the 11-minute Futurama F.A.Q. (Frequently Axed Questions), an irreverent Q&A with actual fan questions (as read by Bender) and answered (usually) in the most confounding way possible. The 17-minute Professor Farnsworth’s “Science of a Scene” takes a behind-the-scenes look at the episode “Overclockwise” and goes through the many steps involved in producing an episode from start to finish. “Reincarnation Explained” is a seven-minute look at the Season Finale “Reincarnation”. That’s easily one of the series’ best episodes, featuring three different vignettes using three different animation styles: old-school B&W animation (in the Fleischer Studios “bouncy” style), early low-res video game style (think Atari 2600), and anime. Brilliantly produced and funny, too!

I usually groan when I see TV box sets with commentary tracks for every episode (overkill!), but Futurama is the rare exception, because every Futurama commentary (like the show itself) functions on several different levels. If you’re a mega-nerd, you’re in good company, since the show is created by them, and they love to geek out over every minute detail. For those of us not paying complete attention to the episodes, the friendly geeks also love to point out where all the “hidden gags and secret messages” are. There’s usually a lot, and they’re incredibly happy to geek out over those, as well. But in case the commentary gets too nerd-centric, there’s usually a voice actor or two participating (occasionally having their characters comment) to provide a completely different level of anarchy in the recording booth. John DiMaggio (voice of Bender) is particularly good at this.

Interesting. No, wait, the other thing: tedious.

Besides those episodes previously mentioned, Futurama Season 6 offers up a good percentage of great episodes. “Yo Leela Leela” is an often biting parody of modern-day children’s programming (specifically some of Nickelodeon’s offerings), with a special voice cameo from Tom Kenny, the voice of some of Nick’s popular characters. “Möbius Dick” not only is based on the similarly titled literary masterpiece, it features a cameo from Doctor Who, incorporates concepts from Uncanny X-Men, confuses the Biblical story of Jonah with Pinocchio, and its “spaceship graveyard” sequence is the funniest thing I saw all year (especially since I’m such a big music fan). “Benderama” features not only guest voice Patton Oswalt, but also references grey goo, The Twilight Zone, and Newhart. “All the Presidents’ Heads” is a fun time-travel episode involving the preserved heads of the Presidents of the United States (including a few we don’t know about yet), as well as characters from Firefly, Amy Pond (from Doctor Who), and Owen Harper (from Torchwood). The Doctor himself shows up again, and there are references to Andy Warhol, Monty Python, Manchester United, and the XXII Winter Olympics. And in “The Tip of the Zoidberg”, we learn the secret relationship between Dr. Farnsworth and Zoidberg (and specifically why the latter still has a job).

AND NOW… MORE PROMISED INFORMATION

Curious about the strange broadcast history of Futurama? These next couple of paragraphs are for you! However, for those of you who are bored by numbers or explanations (and if you are, why are you watching Futurama?), please skip this section and move to the next heading.

And remember, don’t do anything that affects anything, unless it turns out you were supposed to, in which case, for the love of God, don’t not do it!

Futurama originally ran for several seasons on the Fox Network, beginning in 1999, although no one seems to know exactly how many because the show was frequently preempted by NFL Football. This kept happening because Fox deliberately scheduled it in a timeslot that was always preempted by football (at least in some time zones) — which shows you the high regard that the network had for the show. Eventually, Fox canceled Futurama. (Although some sources indicate that the series was never canceled at all — Fox just stopped ordering new episodes. (How rude.)) All the episodes that Fox showed (or didn’t show, depending on time zone you lived in) were collected into DVD collections called Volumes 1-4. Because of football, it took Fox five years to show four seasons of shows.

For a while, everybody thought that the show was gone forever. But something interesting happened. When Cartoon Network started running Futurama reruns in their Adult Swim block of programming, the ratings (relatively speaking) went through the roof. The show continued to do well on Cartoon Network, and again on Comedy Central when the CN agreement ran out. In 2007, production of four Futurama direct-to-DVD movies led to those being broken into 16 “new” episodes of the series, which are usually referred to (production-wise anyway) as Futurama Season 5. Then in June 2009, it was announced that Comedy Central had picked up the series for an additional series of 26 episodes (in production terms: Futurama Season 6). However, Comedy Central opted to show them in two separate batches of 13 episodes each in 2010 and 2011. And that’s how they’re being released on disc — as two different two-disc, 13-episode sets, confusingly called Volume 5 and Volume 6.

To make matters even more confusing, if you purchase and watch Futurama digitally, the group of shows on DVD/Blu-ray Volume 6 is called “Season 8” on iTunes and Amazon — and the episodes are listed in air date order there. As always, for the physical disc collections, the episodes are arranged in production order. If this is too confusing, we could probably call in Stephen Hawking (a frequent Futurama “guest”) to explain it better. But he’s probably too busy being on Futurama.

All in all, I had a pretty sweet life. How about we grab a six pack and watch the universe end.

Futurama Volume 6 features 13 complete episodes as a two-disc set. (As far as I can tell, the DVD and Blu-ray have identical contents.) It’s in eco-friendly packaging (at least the DVD is), although the box is highly crushable (the set’s only real drawback) — so you might want to purchase this one in a store, rather than having it crushed during shipping (if you care about such things). I really like the new, modern design of the set’s cover — very colorful and eye-catching.

And “good news, everyone!” Futurama will return to Comedy Central for 26 more episodes, with the first 13 to air in the summer of 2012, and the others in 2013. These will include a political episode — Nixon’s head is running for re-election in 3012. (I kinda hope he wins.) Also, Bender impregnates a soda machine, and, oh yeah, the end of the world is predicted for 3012.

Unless it actually ends in 2012… “Sweet zombie Jesus!” (The studio provided a review copy.)