Road Runner Cartoons Make My Stomach Churn

Road Runner Cartoons Make My Stomach Churn

by Gordon Mood

The issue of “cartoon violence” was a big one in the 1970s, which is probably why it worried my mother when I watched Road Runner cartoons on TV.You know the ones.They feature a rail-thin Wile E. Coyote chasing after the peppy Road Runner in an endless quest to make a meal of the speedy bird. They end with the predator falling off a cliff, running into a mesa, being crushed under a boulder, or exploding when the Acme brand gadget he has mail-ordered (such as explosive tennis balls) backfires on him.Those cartoons were extremely violent, no question. But Mom needn’t have fretted. I didn’t grow up to be a violent adult. Decades later, I understand the difference between make-believe mayhem and the real deal. In fact, those cartoons had the opposite effect: They increased, rather than impaired, my empathy.I watched those Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies animated shorts so often that at some point the constant unhappy endings began to wear on me. I started to grow uncomfortable. Contrary to what the creators intended, I began to feel for the hapless Coyote.Pretty soon, every time one of the cartoons came on, I would feel nauseous seeing the poor Coyote blown up, run over, or plunging to the canyon floor. It didn’t matter to me that he wasn’t real, and he always came back in the next episode unscathed. Perhaps I kept watching hoping against hope the Coyote would finally triumph. As a kid I didn’t have the vocabulary to express my feelings, but it struck me that something terribly unjust was happening on The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour. You mean to tell me, he’s doomed to always get mangled and burned, and he never once gets the Road Runner? Young boy though I was, that message didn’t strike me as a positive one.So it won’t surprise you when I say I don’t think I ever read a single issue of the Gold Key Comic Beep Beep The Road Runner, which had a sizable enough readership that it lasted from 1966 to 1984. I did, however, have high hopes for the movie Coyote vs. Acme.Based on a 1990 New Yorker humour piece of the same name, it promised to bring a measure of justice to the Road Runnerverse.The movie follows in the footsteps of 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit by using a combination of animated and live-action elements. Will Forte plays a down-on-his-luck attorney who takes the Wile E. Coyote’s case against Acme Corporation, which has been supplying him with defective products for years, foiling his repeated attempts to get an honest dinner.As smarter people than me have pointed out, it’s a classic David-against-Goliath story. John Cena, no stranger to big-screen comic adaptations, stars as Forte's opponent in the courtroom.If you haven’t heard of this motion picture, that’s because it was suppressed before it even got released – Warner Bros. shelved the film last year in order to claim a tax writeoff, according to multiple media reports. (It got replaced in last summer’s release schedule by a little picture called Barbie.)Coyote vs. Acme was in the news this month because Forte finally got to see the finished product, which he said is “incredible.” (I’m assuming he got a private screening.)“Super-funny throughout, visually stunning, sweet, sincere and emotionally resonant in a very earned way,” he posted on social media. “As the credits rolled, I just sat there thinking how lucky I was to be part of something so special. That quickly turned to confusion and frustration. This was the movie they’re not going to release?”Yes, it’s too bad Coyote vs. Acme will never see the light of day. I would have loved it. I bet it would even have calmed my gut.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.

Why Ban TikTok? It’s Comics That Are Turning Our Children Into Delinquents!

Why Ban TikTok? It’s Comics That Are Turning Our Children Into Delinquents!

by Gordon Mood

By Dan BrownWhat do TikTok and comic books have in common?They are both part of a long list of evils the U.S. government has considered banning.TikTok, as you may have heard, is the subject of legislation that cleared the U,S, House of Representatives last week. It’s not clear when the Senate will take up the bill, but President Joe Biden has already said he will sign it into law.From the coverage I’ve read and seen, the legislation would outlaw TikTok in the U.S.A. unless its Chinese parent company divests itself of the video-sharing utility.American lawmakers have cited security concerns as their justification for outlawing TikTok, which is used south of the border by 170 million people.If the panic over TikTok seems familiar, that’s because it’s not the first time the feds have considered taking action to crush a perceived threat to the nation. Not so long ago, in the 1990s, it was video games that were fingered as the threat to the nation’s innocent young people..The decade before, it was heavy-metal music that was corrupting young fans as it made eardrums bleed.Before that, Dungeons & Dragons was turning children into Satan worshippers.Before the days of role-playing games, it was rock ‘n’ rollers like Elvis Presley, with his gyrating hips, who were leading teens astray.Before that . . . comic books were the scourge of the nation.Yep. Comics. You read that correctly.Silly, right?Yet as hard as it may be hard to believe today, in 1954 there were actual Congressional hearings by the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency on how comic books were polluting young minds. Actual witnesses testified, and the accompanying moral panic turned the comic industry on its ear.If you want an informative and compelling account of how it all went down, it’s worth hunting down a copy of David Hajdu’s 2008 book The 10-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America. Those who opposed comics – which were a mass medium read by millions back then – argued the monthly publications sensationalized crime, luring otherwise decent children into conflict with the law. Among the detractors was Fredric Wertham, a psychiatrist whose book Seduction of the Innocent gave the anti-comics crowd the pseudo-scientific cover it needed (I’ve not read it, but I do know his claims have been debunked in the intervening decades, like how Batman and Robin were turning boys gay).Hajdu, as part of documenting the scare, tracked down people who were involved in comic burnings as kids. That’s right, there were actual comic burnings in America. The people he interviewed spoke about how they were pressured into taking part by their parents or other adults.The squeeze put on the comics industry led to the demise of several popular titles. In the face of threats from the feds, comics publishers opted for self-censorship, the result being the creation of the Comics Code Authority, the seal of which appeared on approved comics from 1954 to 2010. Publishers like Marvel and DC eventually withdrew from the industry monitor, setting up their own ratings systems for comic content.What does all of this augur for TikTok? The lesson is that even if the folks in Washington don’t pass anything, threats by legislators can crater an industry that’s been targeted.Canadian authorities have said they are monitoring what the U.S. does with TikTok. As far as I know, it’s still illegal here in Canada to publish comics that depict crime, although I stand to be corrected. That’s right – back in the day, Canadian parliamentarians went even further than their American counterparts in the case of comic books. So TikTok’s future in this country might not be looking so bright right now.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.

This one has it all: Vote for D.S. Barrick! Hidden comic treasures! Crucial dates!

This one has it all: Vote for D.S. Barrick! Hidden comic treasures! Crucial dates!

by Gordon Mood

By Dan BrownThis week’s column is a grab bag of comic news and notes!D.S. BARRICK NEEDS YOUR HELPYou may recall I reviewed London comic creator D.S. Barrick’s Murgatroyd & Nepenthe in this space last summer.The graphic novel is a surrealistic travelogue through a magical landscape that reminds me of the play Waiting for Godot. It is utterly original. It rocked my world.As it turns out, my mind wasn’t the only one that was blown by the book. Word on the street is Barrick has been nominated for two Sequential Magazine Awards.He is up for prizes in the categories of “graphic novel of the year” and “favourite letterer”.What does this have to do with you? Everything. The awards are given out based on an internet vote, so I urge you to take the time to support this local creator.Heck, you could even pick up a copy of Murgatroyd & Nepenthe!This is how Sequential describes the graphic novel: “Follow Murgatroyd, an overwhelmed Everyman, and Nepenthe, a mysterious oracle, as they traverse the hinterlands of the imagination and meet many bizarre beings along the way. Murgatroyd & Nepenthe is inspired by a love of classic cartoons and comic strips, and a fascination with random processes like the cut-up technique, Eno and Schmidt’s Oblique Strategies, and Noah Wall’s Grotesque Tables II.” You can vote here.LONG LIVE THE BARGAIN BIN!There’s no better feeling than finding an unexpected treasure in the bargain bin at L.A. Mood.I recently came across We3, a graphic novel I knew nothing about.I grabbed the 2005 Vertigo trade paperback solely because of the cover, which features a dog, cat and bunny in futuristic battle suits. How could I resist?I finally got around to reading the book – from writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, the same team behind the much-lauded All-Star Superman – and found it to be a minor masterpiece.It follows three regular pets who are abducted by evil government scientists before being transformed into cybernetic assassins. As you can imagine, all hell breaks loose when orders come down to decommission the trio.Maybe you remember the basement of the old L.A. Mood on Richmond Street, where many a wonder could be found. I am happy to report that that sense of unpredictability and wonder is still alive at 100 Kellogg Lane!SAVE THE DATESAs spring approaches, now is a good time to jot down some important dates that are coming up fast.May 4 – Free Comic Book Day this year falls on May the Fourth, the day set aside in the Geek Calendar to celebrate all things Star Wars, so anything could happen at your local comic store. It always feel great to see Forest City comic fans and cosplayers celebrating their love for whatever fandom they belong to! April 16-May 18 – The Ting Comic and Graphic Arts Festival returns to the TAP Centre for Creativity on Dundas Street. Tingfest celebrates the local artists who were inspired by late London Free Press editorial cartoonist Merle Tingley, known for his trademark cartoon worm. Tingfest is the baby of local graphic novelist Diana Tamblyn.June 16 – Forest City Comicon celebrates its 10th anniversary! The celebration of nerd and geek culture like no other returns to Centennial Hall, this time on a Sunday. Can’t wait to see the creative cosplay that will be on display! The best part of the show, now a staple of London events, is the chill vibe.I’ll have more info on all of these occasions as details become available. In the meantime, mark your calendars!Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.

Somebody Please Adapt the Jason Lutes Graphic Novel Berlin

Somebody Please Adapt the Jason Lutes Graphic Novel Berlin

by Gordon Mood Graphic novel, graphic novels, Jason Lutes, Movies, television

By Dan BrownThere’s no law saying a comic has to be anything other than a comic, but every fan has a dream project they would like to see adapted for the big or small screen.For me, it’s the Jason Lutes graphic novel Berlin. Clocking in at nearly 600 pages, the sprawling epic is ripe for the plucking as a multi-season series on a streaming service like Netflix. It is, to borrow a term from comic scholar Andrew Deman, preposterously cinematic.The book depicts life in the German city between the First and Second World Wars. Even though the reader knows how the story will turn out, it’s a vivid portrait of a changing society and the individuals who are driving that change, or find themselves caught up in it.It’s a historical epic, a portrait of the Jazz Age, a romance, a journey of self-discovery, and so much more.I did a quick Google search but didn’t find anything saying Lutes has sold the rights. I would be shocked if he hasn’t been approached by producers.The story was originally serialized over 20 years, then collected as one volume in 2018. Berlin was one of the selections last year for the L.A. Mood’ Graphic Novel Group book club. When I finished reading the hefty tome, I immediately flipped back to the front to start reading again. I don’t do that with many graphic novels.My first impression was how Berlin reminded me of HBO’s The Wire. It follows a large cast of characters, most of them fictional but with some real-life historical figures mixed in. Different characters rise to prominence at different points in the story.There are proto-Nazis, communists, social climbers. jazz musicians. Jewish families, unemployed labourers, confused children, and a young woman looking for her future. And, best of all for this reader, the central character is a disillusioned journalist.Someone who’s in the background in an early scene will return later as a lead character. Different places around the city become important at different moments. Seemingly isolated incidents ripple outwards, affecting everyone..Apart from catching the spirit of the times, the zeitgeist, the triumph of Berlin is how it shows Hitler’s rise wasn’t inevitable. Germany could very well have gone in another direction.The challenge for anyone who adapts the book would be in capturing that sense of how between-the-wars Germany was up for grabs. In that historical moment, there were many possible future fatherlands.It would be challenging to capture that sense of uncertainty on the small screen, but Lutes has already provided the storyboards in the form of this book. How about it, Hollywood?Do you have any comics or graphic novels you would like to see adapted? I’d love to hear about them in the comment section below.And yes, just because Lutes may have had offers to adapt his masterwork, that doesn’t mean he has to accept. He might be content just letting it remain a comic. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.

Sympathy for the Joker

Sympathy for the Joker

by Gordon Mood Batman, Joker, Movies

By Dan BrownAs diehard comic fans already know, a new Joker film – the second focusing on Batman’s nemesis – arrives in theatres October 4.Call me crazy, but I don’t remember this level of interest in the Clown Prince of Crime when I was a boy falling in love with comics in the 1970s.What my buddies and I wanted was a Batman movie, not one about the Joker.And when we finally did get a big-screen version of the Dark Knight’s story in 1989, it was as much about Bats as Mr. J (and Jack Nicholson was a way bigger star than Michael Keaton).All of which is just another way of saying: Supervillains have never been as compelling as they are in 2024.We all know what heroes do: They restore order, they bind the wounded, they bring justice to the world.Villains, on the other hand, get to kick ass and take names.Would you rather be stuck in an elevator with a boring costumed do-gooder or a way-cool badass who makes his or her own rules? Who has the better theme song – Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader? Who gets all the hot girls, crossing guards or outlaw bikers?It’s true, a good guy is only admirable to the extent he can overcome the traps laid for him by the enemy, which is why you’ll see online memes asking, “Which superhero has the best rogues’ gallery?”Back in those early days as a comic lover, the answer for me was the Fantastic Four – who fought the likes of Galactus, Annihilus, and Doctor Doom. Even minor villains like Thundra were cool in their own way. But as an adult comic fan, I have to give it to Dick Tracy, whose long list of foes includes Big Boy, the Mole, the Brow, Oodles, Flyface, Measles, Hairy, No Face, Smokes, Mumbles, and Pruneface.So what changed so that villains became respectable? Somewhere along the way there was a shift in the way they were depicted; criminals went from being anti-social monsters to real people to the coolest cats around.In my lifetime, I don’t think it was a comic innovation that sparked the change in how villains are perceived. It was a movie, namely the 1972 motion picture The Godfather, with its famous portrayal of the Corleone crime family. Hard to believe, but the notion criminals were regular family men was a scandalous one at the time. I remember adults being shocked by it. It turns out baddies love their children, enjoy Sunday dinners, get frustrated at work, and do everything else the rest of us do. They aren’t insane misanthropes after all, just maybe a little misguided.The Godfather was made possible by the abolishing of Hollywood’s Production Code in 1968. No longer did filmmakers have to show crime doesn’t pay.The end result: In pop culture, the divide between good and bad shrank.Fast-forward to today (comics no longer have an industry censor, either) and what you have are criminals who are relatable. They have understandable motives. And the heroes who square off against them are morally grey – think the Watchmen, Hancock, the Boys.One of my favourite portrayals of a supervillain came in 1987’s Superman No. 2, in which comic creator John Byrne absolutely nailed one of comicdom’s great scofflaws, Lex LuthorThe premise: Luthor had commissioned the invention of a supercomputer to crack the mystery of Superman’s secret identity. With this knowledge, the bald crook intended to crush his adversary.Fully programmed, the machine spits out its answer at the end of the issue: Clark Kent is Superman. Simple, right?Yet Luthor can’t bring himself to believe a being with the powers of a god would choose to live among mere mortals as one of them. Byrne was right on the money. If Luthor was a real person, he WOULD be brilliant enough to create a device that could unmask Superman. And Luthor WOULD be arrogant enough to think he knows better. Luthor’s tragedy is that he’s sure Superman thinks the same way he does. He can’t stomach the idea of someone being able to submerge their own ego – because he’s ego-driven. It’s a failure of empathy, which is the true root of all evil.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.

The Fantastic Four, The Thing, and Lou Reed

The Fantastic Four, The Thing, and Lou Reed

by Gordon Mood Fantastic Four, Lou Reed, Pedro Pascal, Reed Richards, The Thing

By Dan BrownIt’s official: Pedro Pascal will play Reed Richards, also known as Mister Fantastic, in the upcoming Fantastic Four adaptation, expected in 2025.But this column isn’t about Pascal. It’s about another Thing entirely.As Hollywood history shows, the Fantastic Four property is easy to screw up, hard to get right. Considering recent signs Marvel’s superhero offerings are wearing out their welcome on both the big and small screens, the studio is taking a big risk. Also announced last week was Ebon Moss-Bachrach, a performer not known to me, will play Ben Grimm.I don’t have any brilliant suggestions for Marvel Studios beyond the obvious: The FF are a family, not just another team of superheroes. That’s what makes them different from the Avengers.I do, however, have a dream sequence in mind. All I humbly ask from Marvel’s big brains is they include what I describe below. No biggie.By dream sequence I don’t mean an actual dream, I mean it’s been playing in my mind for years in anticipation of another FF movie. I don’t much care about the rest of it, so long as I get a scene of the ever-loving and always-clobbering Thing walking down a crummy and litter-strewn Yancy Street in New York.That may not sound like gripping cinema, so let me explain.The first thing you need to know is how, according to online rumours, the FF movie is going to be a period piece set in the 1960s, which makes sense since the first FF comic ushered in the Marvel Age when it came out in 1961. Another rumour has it the film’s story unfolds in dual storylines, past and present.Given that, and given the FF making the Big Apple their home, this is what I would like to see.It’s later in the film. Ben Grimm has come to a level of acceptance of his fate: He will never be human again, he is destined to be a monstrous pile of orange rocks after the team’s disastrous experimental flight into space. He leaves the Baxter Building. He is wearing a trench coat and pulls his hat down as low as it will go – he’s still self-conscious about his appearance.He shuffles his bulk along the sidewalk. Maybe he lights a stogie. Then the strains of Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side start to play. The song, Reed’s ode to sexual freakery, came out in 1972, so it just fits in the timeline of the film and is the soundtrack to this scene.As Grimm lumbers in his childhood neighbourhood, we see people outside shops, pedestrians walking the other way, families sitting on stoops. Close up on the crowd. We see faces of different races and ethnicities. We see a spikey-haired punk rocker with a safety pin in her nose. We see a drag queen strutting proudly. Weirdo after weirdo.Then a call back to Frankenstein: A ball crosses Grimm’s path. He picks it up and tosses it back to an Asian child playing with his Black friend. The kid smiles. Grimm smiles back.Viewers get the point: This is where Grimm belongs. He isn’t as singular as he has come to think. He is just one more freak in a metropolis populated by freaks.In fact, New York is the only place he could belong: Grimm thinks he’s ugly and deformed, but in the hyper-diverse Lower East Side of Manhattan, it doesn’t matter.Such a scene would mark an important transition for the Thing, who is probably my favourite superhero. Do I think director Matt Shakman will actually borrow my brilliant idea? Naw, but a fan can dream.And judging by the many failed attempts to translate the Fantastic Four story into motion-picture form, he’s going to need a lot of help.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.

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