Two Oklahomans are working on a weekly webcomic aimed at bibliophiles with a love for classical history. With a strip that aims to mix high and low culture in humorous ways, “Howling at the Gates” introduces a mad scientist, her boyfriend, and their time machine.

Writer Rob Vollmar, nominated for an Eisner award, the comics’ industry’s highest honor, is taking on a more humorous tone for this new strip. He’s working with artist Shayna Pond, a University of Oklahoma graduate with a degree in visual communications. She and Vollmar work at the University of Science and Arts in Chickasha.

“She was born in Texas but has recovered nicely since,” Vollmar said. “As I collaborated with her on university projects, I was blown away by her skills and design sense. Though ‘Howling’ is her first comics project, she’s absorbed the skills of visual storytelling at an amazing rate.”

Pond also trained for three years as an illustrator at Oklahoma State.

“In the past I’ve mostly done stand-alone illustrations for websites, posters, brochures, T-shirts — and I illustrated a children’s book two years ago,” Pond said. “Working on an ongoing project like this keeps me drawing every day. I can see myself dramatically improving and adapting my skills for the comics medium with every strip.”

Vollmar was motivated in part by the immediate gratification of working on a webcomic.

“After a decade of working on graphic novels that took years to bring to market, I wanted the opportunity to work on something with more immediacy to it,” Vollmar said. He started working on the ideas for “Howling” in August, and web publication began in November. The comic is being posted at the official blog for the strip, howlingatthegates.blogspot.com, as well as on LitStack.com.

“LitStack is a place for bookworms and bibliophiles to discuss classics and recent releases, check out cool stuff for readers and get the inside scoop from popular authors,” Vollmar said. “As they also publish original fiction, I approached them early on to see if they might be interested in running the strip. Their enthusiasm for Howling was one of the early factors in nurturing it into existence.”

Vollmar said it’s been noted to him that all of his graphic novels — including “Castaways,” “Bluesman” and “Inanna’s Tears” can be “a bit on the dour side.”

“I got my feet wet doing lighter material on my stint with ‘Tales from the Crypt,’ and this just felt like a good direction to extend on that,” Vollmar said. “There will be unexpected moments of seriousness in Howling, but the goal is mostly to have a good time.”

The cast will build slowly over time but starts out with Hypatia, the scientist, and her slacker boyfriend Grant.

“Despite the fact that he’s in a relationship with someone a thousand times smarter than he is, he serves as the populist voice in the strip, bringing common sense to bear on uncommon, nonsensical situations,” Vollmar said.

- By Matthew Price
WORD BALLOONS
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

Editorial cartoonist David Simpson has retired from the field after allegations of plagiarism surfaced last month.   The former Tulsa World cartoonist had been cartooning for Urban Tulsa Weekly, who announced his retirement in the Nov. 3-9 issue.

The Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame, housed at the Toy & Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley, has removed Simpson from the Hall of Fame.

The museum web site states:

Due to the recent revelation of another apparent incidence of plagiarism on the part of David Simpson, who had been inducted into the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame in 2005, before he had been terminated by the Tulsa World for plagiarizing another cartoonist’s work, the Oklahoma Cartoonists committee now hereby announces the formal retraction of that honor.

- Matt Price

Young Justice Season One, Vol. 2 DVD

Superheroic proteges get top billing in “Young Justice,” the Cartoon Network animated series featuring Robin, Superboy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Miss Martian and Artemis.

The second volume contains episodes 5-8 of season one. “Young Justice” focuses on teen superheroes who are trying to establish themselves to their mentors while at the same time dealing with some typical teen issues. They’re helped by the Justice League heroes, including Batman, Superman, Green Arrow, Red Tornado and Black Canary, who often provide insight or training to the young heroes.

In “Schooled,” Superman’s misunderstanding of Superboy (voiced by Nolan North) causes the Boy of Steel to try to take on a powerful villain alone.

Artemis (Stephanie Lemelin), whom Green Arrow introduces as his niece, makes her first appearance in “Infiltrator.”

Green Arrow’s former partner Red Arrow rescues a scientist building a high-tech hacking weapon for a group called the Shadows. He asks Young Justice to protect her so she can develop a virus to defeat her weapon.

Crispin Freeman brings a cool but serious vibe to Red Arrow, who has his suspicions about Artemis.

This episode provides some clever banter when the team is telepathically linked by Miss Martian (Danica McKellar), and each team member can overhear the others’ thoughts.

In “Denial,” the team is sent to rescue Kent Nelson, who in the past was mystic superhero Doctor Fate.

In the Aqualad-heavy episode “Downtime,” Batman (voiced by Bruce Greenwood) senses that Aqualad (Khary Payton) is distracted, and he fears his distraction could harm the team. He asks Aqualad to return to Atlantis, and determine whether he wants to stay there or to remain as the leader of Young Justice. Fans get information about Aqualad’s origins and find out about his reasons for wishing he had remained in Atlantis. Yuri Lowenthal voices Garth, who some will recognize as the original Aqualad in the comics.

The action is well-done, and the characters are developed well. Jason Spisak voices Wally West, aka Kid Flash, and Jesse McCartney provides the voice of Dick Grayson, aka Robin.

The release is bare bones, with the only extras being two trailers for other Warner products.

While you can argue with the release strategy of putting out the episodes on DVD four at a time, the content in “Season One, Vol. 2” is definitely worth watching for superhero fans.

— Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

Warner Bros. has announced that fans at Comic-Con can enter to win a replica of the Thundercats’ Sword of Omens at next week’s Comic-Con International in San Diego.

Here’s more info, from Warner Bros:

• Handcrafted by the artisan Dragon of Renegade Effects Group, this replica Sword of Omens is forged of aircraft aluminum (1/3 of what steel weighs – but just as tough!) and features a hand-carved eyepiece and ThunderCats logo.

• For a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the sword, click here:

www.thewb.com/comiccon/swordofomens

• Sword design taken directly from the drawings of the Warner Bros. Animation artists.

• Visit the Warner Bros. booth (#4545) to find out how you could win the Sword of Omens.

• In addition to this special prize, the Warner Bros. booth (#4545) will also be giving away free foam replicas of the Sword of Omens to fans on Friday, July 22, and Sunday, July 24.

• A world premiere screening of ThunderCats at Comic-Con will take place on Friday, July 22, at 3:30 p.m. in Room 6A. After the screening, join Larry Kenney (voice of Claudus, voice of Lion-O in the original series), Emmanuelle Chriqui (voice of Cheetara), producers Michael Jelenic and Ethan Spaulding, and art director Dan Norton will for a panel discussion on the series.

• ThunderCats roars onto TV screens with an hour-long special premiere event on Friday, July 29, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on Cartoon Network. Following the premiere, the show will air regularly on Cartoon Network Friday nights at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT, beginning August 5.

The official rules are available at TheWB.com.  You must be over 18 to enter.

Warner Bros. will update fans throughout Comic-Con at  www.thewb.com/comiccon and on Twitter @TheWBdotcom (hashtag #WBSDCC).

- Matt Price

Considered one of the world’s fastest cartoonists, Sergio Aragones and his team had plenty to choose from for his entry in the book series “Mad’s Greatest Artists.” “Sergio Aragones: Five Decades of His Finest Works” features cartoons from throughout the Mad Magazine artist’s career, dating back to the early 1960s.

“It was almost impossible to start choosing,” Aragones said in a recent phone interview. “I would have published it all … ‘The Complete Works,’ but since I’m still working for the magazine, that cannot be done.”

The 272-page book, published in late 2010, features cartoon stories such as “A Mad Look at the Olympics,” “A Mad Pictorial Look at the United States,” and “A Mad Look at UFOs.” The ongoing series “The Shadow Knows” featured characters whose true thoughts were revealed by the actions of their shadows.

“It was very interesting seeing the progress and the changes,” Aragones said, who was hired by the magazine at age 24, and continues to work there today.

Aragones is well-known for his wordless “marginals,” cartoons that run down the side of the magazine’s pages.

From “Sergio Aragones: Five Decades of His Finest Works”

It wasn’t common to see wordless cartoons in the United States at that time, but Aragones convinced the powers that be at Mad to give him a shot drawing the marginal cartoons, replacing topical jokes that once were on the page borders.

“They said, ‘Let’s run him until he runs out of ideas,’” he said. “That was it. I’m still coming up with them.”

Aragones, who lives and works in Ojai, Calif., also co-created the barbarian parody “Groo, the Wanderer” with writer Mark Evanier. The character has appeared in more than 100 comic books and plans are in the works for more.

“I’m still doing it,” Aragones said. “I’m working right now on one issue of a crossover with Conan and Groo, and I’m … also doing ‘The Simpsons.’”

When Mad went bimonthly, Aragones said he received a lot of calls about taking on new projects.

“Right now I’m very busy,” Aragones said.

Aragones said he still enjoys the process of creating cartoons, and at age 73, has no plans to retire.

“Every day, I think jokes and ideas. And that’s part of my life, the sitting there to create, to try to make people laugh,” Aragones said. “And then the other part is sitting and drawing it, which is very comfortable … and time just flies. You’re doing something you like, and time flies.”

“Sergio Aragones: Five Decades of His Finest Works,” published by Running Press, has a suggested retail price of $29.95.

- By Matthew Price
WORD BALLOONS
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

Rocky and Bullwinkle (Classic Media)

Jay Ward was around in television animation from the beginning: His “Crusader Rabbit,” co-created with Alex Anderson, was the first animated program created specifically for television. And his designs are still seen today; a version of the “Cap’n Crunch” character he created is still used to publicize the Quaker Oats cereal.

But the most perfect expression of the animation producer’s sense of humor lives on in “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.”

All five seasons of the show, which began airing in 1959, are now available on DVD. A boxed set of the five — the first two, originally released as “Rocky and His Friends” and the last three as “The Bullwinkle Show” — was released last month. Ward’s partner Bill Scott, who previously worked on “Gerald McBoingBoing,” became the voice and principal writer of Bullwinkle.

Rocky, aka Rocket J. Squirrel, and best friend Bullwinkle J. Moose, lived in Frostbite Falls, Minn., where they were often beset by Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, spy agents for the fictional nation of Pottsylvania.

“Rocky and Bullwinkle” was intended to work on two levels, says Tiffany Ward, daughter of Jay, who died in 1989. Tiffany Ward is now the president of Ward Productions.

“He said he wasn’t going to write down for children,” Ward said of her father. “He was writing humor for adults, and his belief would be that little kids would like the show because of the cute characters and the great voices of the moose and squirrel, and Boris and Natasha. And the middle-level kids he figured would really work harder to get the inside jokes because their parents would be laughing. And I believe he was right, and I believe that’s why, 51 years later, we’re still here and producing things that people still want to see.”

Ward said her father and Scott were among the first to really popularize irreverent humor in television animation.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

Ward now oversees the use of the characters from the show, including “Mr. Peabody and Sherman,” who are set to come to theaters in 2014 in a DreamWorks animated film starring Robert Downey Jr.

“We’re very excited about a movie we’re doing, an animated movie we’re doing with DreamWorks, should be March of 2014, on the Sherman and Peabody characters,” Ward said. “That’s in the works, and Rob Minkoff, who did ‘Lion King,’ is our director, and so that’s a lot of excitement now, and that’s a thing to look forward to in the next few years.”

Mixing the various animated sequences throughout “Bullwinkle” was intended by her father to help keep the show fresh, Ward said.

“He liked the idea that there would be a Rocky and Bullwinkle episode at the beginning and end of each half an hour,” she said in a recent interview. “And that he would mix up the remaining episodes that would be in the middle. So he liked the idea that kids would tune in and not know exactly what they were seeing.”

Other segments in the show included “Dudley Do-right,” “Aesop and Son,” “Fractured Fairy Tales” and “Mr. Know It All” and “Bullwinkle’s Corner.”

The complete archives of all of these are available in the DVD set. And fortunately, much of the work of restoring the material had already been done.

“Years ago, in the ’90s … the materials were all over the place, and they were in horrible shape,” Ward said. “We did a remastering that took three years and a lot of money to do. So since then, the materials have been very well-organized.”

So translating the episodes to DVD was less difficult than it could have been. Still, Tiffany Ward wanted to make sure fans got new material on the DVD set.

“For each DVD, we tried to find special materials that the public hadn’t seen before,” she said. “Luckily, my father kept everything, so I had something like 20 file cabinets filled with what I call absolute treasures. So this particular one has all of those five years of production and some remaining materials that hadn’t been seen by the public before, pretty much, out of the files.”

- By Matthew Price
From Wednesday’s The Oklahoman

Yuri Lowenthal

Versatile live-action and voice actor Yuri Lowenthal comes in at No. 7 on Nerdage’s list of actors with geek appeal.    It’s not just one role that lands Lowenthal this high on the geek appeal list: It’s a boatload of them.

Lowenthal voiced Ben Tennyson aka Ben 10 in “Ben 10: Alien Force” and “Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.”  He’s also been the voice of Superman in “Legion of Super-Heroes.” Adding to his superhero resume, he portrays Iceman in the current “Wolverine and the X-Men” animated series and voiced Mister Miracle on “Batman: The Brave and the Bold.”

Lowenthal has provided many voices in anime; notably in “Naruto” he voiced ninja-in-training Sasuke Uchiha.

In live-action television in 2009, he appeared in a two-part series of episodes in “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.”

With wife Tara Platt, he’s written a book on voice-over called “Voice-Over Voice Actor: What It’s Like Behind the Mic.”

So it’s clear Lowenthal stays busy; he also does video-game voice acting, for games including “Watchmen: The End is Nigh” and “Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.” Lowenthal talked about voice-over acting in a 2009 interview with NewsOK:

“It’s all voice acting whether you’re doing an animated series or a video game, or any of those kind of jobs,” Lowenthal said. “They all have their different techniques. For video games, you’re in a booth, by yourself. Only on one or two occasions ever have I gotten to record with other actors at the same time for a video game. I guess it’s just more efficient for them to do one character at a time.”

Coming up for Lowenthal are the films “The Arcadian” and “A Guy, A Girl, A Space Helmet.”

- Matt Price

Saturday Morning Cartoons of the 1980s vol. 1

Warner Home Video’s “Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1980s, Vol. 1” makes me want to pour a big bowl of sugary cereal and sit down for a few hours of relaxation through questionable animation.

The shows included on the DVD aren’t the best of the 1980s, though they are nostalgic fun for those who grew up in the era. Included are 11 episodes of mostly short-lived cartoons:

“The Biskitts”: These were the Smurfs of CBS (though not nearly as successful) as cute, tiny dogs attempted to keep the king’s treasures safe from the king of a rival land.

“The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley”: Based on Martin Short’s “Saturday Night Live” character, the dorky Ed Grimley had a 13-episode animated run in 1988.

“Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos”: This 1986 five-episode run inspired a comic-book series and an action-figure line. Oklahoma-born Norris introduced each episode in a live-action segment, then wrapped it up at the end.

“Dragon’s Lair”: Based on the fantasy video game that featured art by former Disney animator Don Bluth.

“The Flintstone Kids”: Like the Muppet Babies, only here it’s the Flintstones as kids.

“Goldie Gold and Action Jack”: A socialite and reporter have adventures.

“The Kwicky Koala Show”: One of the final shows directed by Tex Avery.

“Mister T”: An animated version of the “A-Team” star coached a gymnastics team and solved mysteries. The live-action Mr. T provided introductions and wrap-ups.

“Monchichis”: Cute monkey-like creatures starred in this show based on the Mattel toy line imported from Japan.

“Thundarr the Barbarian”: Popular with comic-book fans, as the show was created by Steve Gerber (“Howard the Duck”) and featured production design from Jack Kirby and Alex Toth. Thundarr was a Conan-inspired adventurer in a post-apocalyptic world.

There’s also a bonus featurette in the DVD set called “Lords of Light!: Thundarr the Barbarian.”

— Matthew Price

According to the Heat Vision blog, Mike Finch and Alex Litvak, who wrote the script for the “Predators” reboot, will write the “Masters of the Universe” script for Columbia.

“Masters of the Universe” featured He-Man, Skeletor and other highly muscled sword-and-sorcery characters in the land of Eternia.  Warner Bros. departed from the project after being unable to come to agreement with Mattel on the direction of the property, according to Heat Vision.

According to a 2009 MovieTickets.com poll, He-Man was the most desirable 1980s animated property to be re-made into a film.

- Matt Price

Check out other He-Man stories, including interviews with Dean Stefan of the 2000s cartoon series, from Nerdage.

The Oklahoman‘s David Zizzo recapped the career of World War II cartoonist Bill Mauldin, who will be honored on a U.S. postage stamp in March, in this NewsOK article.

“Bill Mauldin’s cartoons during the war were a major source of morale enhancement,”  Mike Gonzales told Zizzo. Gonzales, As curator of the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City, sent photos to the Postal Service, one of which was used to create the stamp.

Gonzales recounted the popularity of Mauldin among the troops.

“Everybody knew that nobody touched the Bill Mauldin cartoon until everybody had a chance to read it,” Gonzales said. “There were some guys who didn’t read anything in the paper except the cartoon.

“‘Willie and Joe’ were of tremendous significance to soldiers over there.”

Check out the entire article at NewsOK.

- Matt Price

EW reports that in “Truth or Square,” a one hour Nickelodeon special airing at 8 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 6, will feature SpongeBob SquarePants getting married to Sandy Cheeks the squirrel.

The episode will be narrated by Ricky Gervais and guest-stars a host of celebrities: Rosario Dawson, Craig Ferguson, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, LeBron James, Pink, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Robin Williams.

The wedding is a flashback as SpongeBob and pals are trapped in the Krusty Krab freezer during the “eleventy seventh” birthday of the Krusty Krab, EW reports.

First Archie, now SpongeBob?  Maybe marriage is big this year.   Sorry, Spider-Man.

Check out Entertainment Weekly for the video.

- Matt Price

Husband and wife voice actors Yuri Lowenthal (Superman in “Legion of Superheroes”) and Tara Platt (Wonder Woman in “DC Vs Mortal Kombat”) took a few minutes to talk to me at Comic-Con International about their upcoming book, Voice-Over Voice Actor, available for pre-order at BugBotPress.com.

- Matt Price

Actress Tara Platt. (c)2008 John Phillips. Used with permission.

Oklahoma-raised Tara Platt has voiced superheroes, starred in movies and written a book.

Platt is maybe best known as the voice of Temari on the anime hit “Naruto,” but she has also portrayed superheroes Dream Girl (on “Legion of Superheroes”) and Wonder Woman (on the “DC vs. Mortal Kombat” game). She’s also appeared on “Charmed” and “Gilmore Girls.” But it all got started in Oklahoma, where Platt lived from age 7 to 11.

Dream Girl from Legion of Superheroes.

“I remember we went to see ‘Annie Get Your Gun,’ and there were a bunch of kids my age in the chorus,” Platt said. “They were dressed up in fun costumes and singing and seemed to be having a blast. After the show, I turned to my mom and said, ‘I wanna do that.’”

Platt’s mother told her that it takes lots of skill, time and energy to become an actress, but didn’t discourage her.

“She said that if I read the paper and came across an audition listing, that she would take me,” Platt said. “A few months later I saw an ad for the Jewel Box Theatre’s production of ‘Wait Until Dark’ with a role for a 9-year-old girl. I auditioned and got Gloria, and I haven’t looked back since!”

Wonder Woman from DC Vs. Mortal Kombat

Platt lived in Oklahoma while her father attended the University of Oklahoma’s medical school. She said her overall memories of the state are wonderful.

“I ended up going to elementary school there at Wiley Post Elementary,” Platt said. “We did the Sooners’ Run where we pretended we were pioneers and got to run across the school yard and stake out land with our red wagons and toy guns.”

That imagination is still in play today.

“A definite draw to (voice-over acting) is the ability to not be constrained by looks or age or gender,” Platt said. “Anywhere your imagination can take you, you have the possibility of working as a voice actor.”

Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal. Photo (c) Boris Kievsky, used with permission

In the English dub of Naruto, Platt voices Temari, the eldest of the Sand Siblings, who bears an iron fan. Naruto is a Japanese show based on the manga of the same name. The show, about a young ninja who seeks to become the greatest ninja of all, has a large fan base in Japan and the United States.

“There are such strong characters, and really so many that there is a character for everyone,” Platt said. “They deal with real issues; it isn’t just a ‘kids show.’ There are major conflicts that Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and the various other characters … are all dealing with that parallel many things we all must deal with: disappointment, rejection, family conflict, life and death, love, loss and many other important things. I think that is one of the reasons that Naruto is a fan favorite. That and the ninjas, of course!”

Platt’s sharing her knowledge of the voice-over world in an upcoming book. With husband Yuri Lowenthal, also a voice actor, Platt has written “Voice-Over Voice Actor: What It’s Like Behind the Mic,” which comes out this fall and is available to pre-order at BugBotPress.com.

Voice-Over Voice Actor, from Bug Bot Press

“There are tips, exercises and practice copy in addition to the nuts and bolts about the business,” Platt said.

In addition to frequent voice work, Platt takes on other roles in front of and behind the camera. Platt’s film production company with Lowenthal, Monkey Kingdom Productions, recently finished the psychological thriller “Tumbling After.” They’re also working on a documentary about the world of voice-over with director and documentarian Boris Kievsky.

Platt will be in front of the camera in some upcoming commercials and in a live-action sci-fi romantic comedy feature starting next month.

By Matthew Price
From Tuesday’s The Oklahoman

According to TV Shows on DVD, the 1988 Ruby-Spears Superman cartoon will come to DVD this November. In addition to the Superman adventure show, this series contained mini-segments called “Superman’s Family Album,” about growing up in Smallville.

The release will contain 13 episodes on two discs, and a special feature about the rise of LexCorp, the 1980s corporate housing of Lex Luthor, who, prior to the 1980s, had been more mad scientist than corporate raider.

- Matt Price

Five more episodes of the “Wolverine and the X-Men” cartoon series come to DVD with “Deadly Enemies.” Logan still is attempting to re-form the X-Men after an attack left Professor Xavier in a coma.

Fortunately for Wolverine, Xavier now can communicate with him from the future. Xavier’s future gives Wolverine hints to events he must stop with his X-Men crew.

In “Overflow,” the Shadow King takes over the mind of Storm, and the X-Men must prevent the destruction of Africa by the powerful mutant. Cajun mutant Gambit makes his first appearance in “Thieves’ Gambit,” in which he’s hired by an anti-mutant group to steal a power-inhibiting device. And the blue, elfin mutant Nightcrawler comes to the forefront in the swashbuckling episode “X-Calibre,” which pays tribute to comic-book writer Warren Ellis’ take on the character. Bruce Banner and his alter ego guest-star in “Wolverine vs. The Hulk.” Finally, the team must work together to stop a dangerous, exploding mutant in “Time Bomb,” an episode that again brings the X-Men into conflict with the Brotherhood of Mutants.

“Wolverine and the X-Men” pays homage to classic X-Men tales like “Days of Future Past” while making a cartoon modern audiences also can enjoy.

- Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

After playing Spider-Man’s friend Harry Osborn in “Spider-Man” video games, Keaton was excited to get the nod to play Spidey himself.

“I actually auditioned for Harry Osborn, and for Eddie Brock and Venom,” Keaton said in a phone interview. “I’m quite happy I got picked as Spider-Man. I love the other characters, but I mean, it’s Spider-Man!”

As a fan, Keaton appreciates the feel of “Spectacular Spider-Man,” which often harks back to the earliest stories by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, who created the character.

“Those are the stories that pretty much defined who Spider-Man was going to be,” Keaton said. “Granted, there’s some great stories that came later on, but they were all taken from that source material. They were all a twist that were given to the original story.”

“Spectacular Spider-Man” has been credited for developing the humorous side of the Spider-Man mythos. In the original stories, Spider-Man often taunted his villains with wisecracks as he was defeating them.

“That’s what I really wanted to do my best to bring back to Spidey, was the
wisecracks and the humor,” Keaton said. “I know there’s a trend to get really dark and brooding, and there’s a time and place for that; however, it can’t be forgotten that one of the big things that defines Spidey is his sense of humor.”

Keaton also likes some of Spider-Man’s serious story lines, including the “Master Planner” plot that will be part of Season 2. Could something such as “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” which featured a despondent supervillain capturing Spider-Man, eventually become part of “Spectacular Spider-Man” lore?

“I’m really hopeful that we’ll get five seasons, and after that start doing some direct-to-DVD movies where we’ll explore some of the more mature-themed Spidey stories,” Keaton said.

Another bonus of becoming Spider-Man is to have action figures based on your performances.

“I have all of the toys. I’m actually looking at them right now,” Keaton said. “I have all of the Spider-Man toys from McDonalds, and they’re sitting next to my 12-inch wisecracking Spider-Man talking doll that does this,” Keaton said, and then a doll with his voice said: “Oh, what’s a poor Web-head to do?”

Laughing, Keaton said, “I’m a huge geek. I love this stuff.”

- By Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 7″

Season 7 of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” featuring the heroic, anthropomorphic turtles who battle evil with their ninja skills, is being released in four parts, or “slices.” There are 27 episodes in the season.

Paying homage to the Turtles’ fondness for pizza, the season is broken down into the Leonardo slice (part 1), the Michelangelo slice (part 2), the Donatello slice (part 3) and the Raphael slice (part 4). Each slice contains a small action figure of the selected turtle.

Season 7 is the last of “Turtles” cartoons with the original intro. Starting with Season 8, perhaps inspired by “Batman: The Animated Series,” the Turtles became more action-oriented. There are hints of that here, as in the 14th episode, “Night of the Dark Turtle,” in which Donatello becomes a caped avenger.

The first 13 episodes on these DVDs feature the Turtles visiting different locations in Europe. In the episode “Ring of Fire,” Turtle foes Krang and Shredder make some meta-commentary, as Shredder states he doesn’t need to see the map to Lisbon, Portugal.

“It’s not for you; this is the educational portion of the show,” Krang replies.

- Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

“Jim Lange was not only one of the greatest political cartoonists Oklahoma ever produced, he was one of the most outstanding cartoonists in the history of American journalism,” said David Boren, University of Oklahoma president. “Jim had the remarkable ability to produce cartoons that were fully understood by the public and expressed the feelings of rank and file Americans. He truly loved this state and our country, and those patriotic feelings were constantly communicated through his work. His life’s work was a gift to all of us, and I will personally miss his friendship and wonderful sense of humor.”

- Matt Price

I’m watching “Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1942,” the official release of the war-era “Superman” cartoons that were a giant leap forward in animation. You can get a sense of what the official releases look like in the YouTube embeds above from Warner Bros.
I’ll have a full review in The Oklahoman at some point, but my early thoughts while watching these episodes are, these are really nice editions of the cartoons. I believe they are the same remastered editions from the Superman I and II special editions from 2006, so if you have those, this might be a repeat purchase, save for the extras. But these are really nice, and all together in one place.
It’s also worth noting that the DVD is marked “not for children – for adult collectors,” which I assume has to do with the racial stereotypes that were commonplace in 1941 and 1942 but are glaring now.
Bruce Timm talks about these cartoons’ influence on “Batman: The Animated Series” in a special feature, but even if he didn’t, it would likely be obvious to anyone who watched both cartoons. The Fleischer “Superman” cartoons are even more fluid, however.
While these cartoons have been available in public-domain collections in the past, this is the best edition of them — far superior to the random markdown bin versions, and even somewhat better than the two classier versions — the “Ultimate Collection” and the “Diamond Anniversary Edition.”

- Matt Price

“The Spectacular Spider-Man” is moving to a new network, but the show’s co-creator says the new episodes will retain the same contemporary but classic feel of the first season.

The animated series “The Spectacular Spider-Man” will move to Disney XD (151 on Cox Digital Cable, 174 on Dish Network, 292 on DirecTV).  New episodes will debut on the network in summer 2009.

“The Spectacular Spider-Man” animated series is based on the Marvel Comics superhero “Spider-Man,” and is set during his junior year of high school. Spider-Man was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko in 1962.

Greg Weisman, the supervising producer of the series, talked about Season Two of “Spectacular Spider-Man,” and the inspirations for the series, in a recent phone interview with The Oklahoman.

“When I first got the job, I went back and bought all the big, ‘Essential Spider-Man’ volumes and reread all the Lee-Ditko and Lee-(John) Romita Sr. issues,” Weisman said. “It wasn’t that I hadn’t read them before, but I wanted to have them all fresh in my mind.”

Weisman wanted to take those original tales and make them resonate for a modern audience.

“What we were going to try to do is take 1962 and reboot it in 2008,” Weisman said. “And really try and capture the magic of the character, the thing that had made us fall in love with Spider-Man when we were kids.”

In Season Two, new villains will be introduced from the pages of the comic book, including Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter. And Weisman hopes there’s more to come.

“For a big-time geek like me, this is a dream job,” he said. “I have been working as a professional superhero writer since 1983, when I was a sophomore in college.”

Weisman said he and his team on “Spectacular” want to get to the core of the “Spider-Man” character and do something definitive for this generation.

“I hope we’re doing this for another decade, because I’ve got 10 years worth of stories to tell; there’s just that much material. And I’m loving it.”

– Matthew Price
A version of this story ran in Friday’s The Oklahoman

He can’t fly or bend steel with his bare hands, but actor Yuri Lowenthal has an affinity for superheroes.

The actor, who voiced the Prince of Persia in video games and will guest-star on “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” tonight, says one of his most satisfying roles was portraying Superman in the animated series “Legion of Superheroes.”

“As an actor, I audition for jobs every day,” Lowenthal said. “When it gets to be one of ‘those’ jobs, because I’m a huge comic book nerd, and have been since I was a kid … that always really gets me going because that’s my stuff.”

“Legion of Superheroes” features a young Superman who goes to the 31st century to aid a group of young superheroes in their battles with the villains the Fatal Five.

After his first audition, Lowenthal was called back to read for two members of the Legion of Superheroes: Lightning Lad and Brainiac 5. He also was called back to read for the Man of Steel himself.

Upon arriving at the callback, he read the “sides,” or script, for Superman and Brainiac 5 before the producers asked him to stop.

“I was too nervous to say, ‘Hey, what about Lightning Lad?’”

Lowenthal thought he’d blown it but decided to try to forget about it and move on. A few weeks later, he got a call from his agent.

“You’re Superman,” she told Lowenthal.

“I started screaming … and jumping around the apartment,” Lowenthal said.

Much later, the director revealed to Lowenthal that he wasn’t asked to continue because he had the Superman role locked up.

“The reason we sent you home after reading just two of the three characters we called you back for,” Lowenthal recalled the director telling him, “is that we realized that, ‘Here’s our Superman,’ and we didn’t need to have you read anything else.”

Lowenthal also voices the superheroes Iceman in “Wolverine and the X-Men” and Ben 10 in “Ben 10: Alien Force.”

“Hero characters suit me, I think,” Lowenthal said. “I always wanted to be a superhero when I was a kid, and I really haven’t stopped.”

Three DVDs featuring the “Legion of Superheroes” are available, and episodes are available for download online at iTunes and Amazon.com.

– Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

The Mother Nature Network, www.mnn.com, has brought back “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.”

The world’s first eco-superhero is featured in classic online episodes, along with special bonus footage, trivia and photos.

“Captain Planet and the Planeteers” aired from 1990 to 1996 in more than 50 countries and featured voices including Whoopi Goldberg, Sting, Meg Ryan, Martin Sheen, Ed Asner, James Coburn, Ed Begley, Jr., LeVar Burton, Tim Curry, Dean Stockwell, Helen Hunt and Jeff Goldblum.

– Matt Price

The kid-friendly Cartoon Network series “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” is based on the comic book of the same name that teamed Batman up with other DC Comics characters.  In the most recent episode, “Journey to the Center of the Bat,” the Atom and Aquaman must miniaturize themselves to save Batman from a disease.
The TV-G rated series has the goofy charm of the 1960s “Batman,” and has introduced more than a dozen DC Comics characters in its first nine episodes.   The original Batman team-up “Brave and Bold” comics are available in three black-and-white “Showcase” editions from DC. The first comic book based on the “Brave and the Bold” cartoon was released this week.
If you or a youngster are enjoying “Brave and Bold,” here’s more information about some of the included characters, and comic-book collections to seek out for further reading.

AQUAMAN
The cartoon’s version of Aquaman is somewhat arrogant, but in a fun way.  While this version is an amalgam of the various ways Aquaman’s been portrayed throughout the years, if you’re looking for goofy retro fun, check out the two “Showcase” reprint volumes.  If you’d prefer a more modern take, Peter David’s “Aquaman: Time and Tide” recaps the character’s origin.

THE ATOM
The shrinking scientist Ray Palmer has two “Showcase” volumes.  Science-fiction meets sword-and-sorcery in the “Sword of the Atom” collection.  And Palmer’s successor, Ryan Choi, is introduced in “The All-New Atom: My Life in Miniature.”  This Atom is showcased in “Journey to the Center of the Bat!”

BLUE BEETLE
Hispanic teen Jaime Reyes is  the current Blue Beetle; four volumes of his current adventures are available.  The episode “The Fall of the Blue Beetle” introduces his predecessor, Ted Kord, and the best place to find his stories are in the “Justice League International” collections.

GREEN ARROW
The “Brave and the Bold” version is the clean-shaven Batman rival, not the goateed political activist.  Your best bet to find representative stories is the “Showcase Presents Green Arrow” volume.

PLASTIC MAN
When hood Eel O’Brien receives the power to stretch and mold himself as if made of plastic, he retreats from his life of crime and becomes a costumed hero.  The eight “Archive” editions by DC collect Jack Cole’s masterwork.  If the $49.99 price tag for those is too steep, two recent collections by Kyle Baker — “On the Lam” and “Rubber Bandits” — are excellent comics in their own right.

Other characters showcased thus far on “The Brave and the Bold” include the android Red Tornado, the cocky Green Lantern Guy Gardner, the aging pugilist The Wildcat, the super-team The Outsiders, the ghostly Deadman and Kamandi, the last boy on Earth.

by Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

WORD BALLOONS

Wolverine, the clawed Canadian who is the most recognizable member of the X-Men, is at the forefront of “Wolverine and the X-Men,” an animated series premiering at 7 tonight on Nicktoons.

It’s part of a big year for the mutant, who will appear in a live-action film, an animated series, a direct-to-DVD film and scores of comic books in 2009.

“Wolverine and the X-Men” features Wolverine re-forming the X-Men a year after a mysterious explosion destroyed the Xavier Institute and broke up the X-Men. With Professor X and Jean Grey missing, it’s up to Wolverine to get the X-Men back together to prevent a nightmarish future. Included in this “X-Men” roster are Cyclops, Storm, the White Queen, Beast, Rogue and Nightcrawler.

Wolverine will make his big-screen debut as a solo star in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” with Hugh Jackman reprising his role from the “X-Men” films. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is scheduled to debut May 1.

And Wolverine comes to DVD on Tuesday, as part of the “Hulk Vs.” DVD. Hulk fights Thor and Wolverine in separate portions of the direct-to-DVD feature. Co-writer Christopher Yost said at Comic-Con International in San Diego that the creative team was given a lot of leeway in developing “Hulk Vs. Wolverine.”

“The only thing was, Hulk had to be in it and Wolverine had to be in it,” Yost said. “We really had a chance to delve into the two characters, like Wolverine’s entire past and rogues’ gallery. We tried to bring the comic book to life. Everything the fans like about the comic books, the action and the edge, we tried to put it in there. You’ll see a lot of things directly from the comic books.”

And of course, Marvel Comics has big plans for Wolverine in the comic books in 2009, including a Free Comic Book Day release, an omnibus edition of nearly 1,000 pages; new editions of “Origin” and Barry Windsor-Smith’s “Weapon X,” and a new ongoing series written by Jason Aaron (“Ghost Rider”).

Aaron’s series, “Wolverine: Weapon X” launches in April. The art is by former “Captain America” artist Ron Garney. Aaron said he hoped his Wolverine series would appeal both to fans and neophytes.

“This is a Wolverine series for people who’ve never read the character’s adventures, who don’t know anything about his long and complicated history,” Aaron told Comic Book Resources. “But hopefully it’s something that will also appeal to hardcore fans who want to see Logan in less of a superhero setting.”

– by Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

PAULS VALLEY – Oklahoma cartoonists and famous toy lines were among the honorees Saturday as the Toy and Action Figure Museum, 111 S. Chickasaw, celebrated its third anniversary.

Joining the museum’s action figure Hall of Fame were two action-figure lines that took the 1980s by storm: Masters of the Universe and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.

Masters of the Universe were supremely muscled characters who lived on the planet Eternia. The star of this line was He-Man, who gained his strength when he held aloft his magic sword and repeated the phrase “by the power of Grayskull.”

“G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” was a 1980s update of the classic Joe action figure, which had been a 12-inch figure. “A Real American Hero” was in the 3 and ¾-inch size and introduced G.I. Joe, a special missions force for the U.S. military, who defended freedom against Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. Rather than just one “G.I. Joe,” the brand now introduced a line full of characters, developed by comics and animation writer Larry Hama, including the ninja Snake-Eyes, leader Duke and counter-intelligence specialist Scarlett.

Introduced into the Oklahoma Cartoonists Collection Hall of Fame were four cartoonists – and it came as a surprise to one of them. Museum curator Kevin Stark, creator of the comic strip and comic book “Geezer,” was named to the Hall of Fame. “Geezer” ran for seven years in the Pauls Valley Daily Democrat, and further comic books are in development.

Also honored:

Russell Myers, the creator of “Broom Hilda,” who was raised and attended college in Tulsa.

George Storm, who created adventure strips “Phil Hardy” in 1925 and “Bobby Thatcher” in 1927. He co-created The Hangman for MLJ and drew Bugs Bunny for Dell. He died in 1976.

Terry Tidwell, who was born and raised in Claremore. He worked on “The Green Hornet” and “Conan.” Tidwell, who was in attendance at the ceremony, also co-created the Tulsa-based hero “The Twilight Avenger.”

– Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

I hope you’ll see a major writeup about this in The Oklahoman tomorrow, but I wanted to share my take on one of the great Oklahoma cartoonists. 

I saw the end of an era today.  Jim Lange, editorial cartoonist since 1950 at The Oklahoman, turned in his final cartoon.

I’ve just returned from his retirement party, where Lange, still funny 58 years into his OPUBCO career, had the crowd rolling, and drew a standing ovation.

Lange was one of the inauguaral honorees of the Oklahoma Cartoonists Collection in 2005, and is a member of the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame.

Comic-book writer and historian Michael Vance wrote of Lange, accurately:  ”Lange’s minimalist style also features a master’s instinct on what is visually needed and not needed to make his point with each incredibly smooth and visually attractive line.”

Lange drew more than 17,000 cartoons over his career.  As mentioned at Lange’s retirement, some of his frequent “victims” were his biggest fans, often calling Lange at the paper after a cartoon ran to see if they could acquire a copy, or the original drawing.

You can see the 2007 and 2008 cartoons of Jim Lange at the Voices page on NewsOK.com.

– Matt Price

Newsarama talks to David Boreanaz, Kyle MacLachlan, Brooke Shields and Jeremy Sisto about their roles in the animated “Justice League: The New Frontier.”

Executive producer Bruce Timm talks about the rationale in choosing MacLachlan for Superman:

“Kyle MacLachlan is the perfect example – he sounds exactly like what you’d think a ‘50s era Superman would sound like,” said executive producer Bruce Timm. “He’s very righteous and good, but still very natural. We didn’t want the sound of Superman in 2008, and Kyle gave such a great, stylized performance in capturing that mid-50s feel.”

MacLachlan had long been in the running for the George Reeves role in the film that ended up being ”Hollywoodland,” and I thought he brought a perfect 1950s Superman inflection to this role.

Scroll down at Supermantv.net to see a MacLachlan as George Reeves, as compared to Ben Affleck as Reeves and Reeves himself.  MacLachlan looks the part, and I say that as someone who thought Affleck nailed the role in the finished film.  

– Matt Price

 - Matt Price

Many of you in your 30s will remember the TV show “Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends,” which featured Spidey teaming up with Firestar and Iceman in an animated Saturday morning cartoon.

Sean McKeever revisited the Amazing Friends in an issue of Spider-Man Family not too long ago, and now writer Brian Michael Bendis is doing the same in “Ultimate Spider-Man.”

Bendis said this idea has been building for a while in an interview at Marvel.com:

Marvel.com: Spidey and some of his pals are coming to town. Is “Amazing Friends” something that you have wanted to do for a while?

Brian Michael Bendis: Absolutely. Literally, when it became clear that [ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN] was gonna do [well], and it was going to be an ongoing and I wasn’t going to get fired, [I made my] wish list of stuff [I would] love to do. I wrote down “Amazing Friends” and I looked at the idea, and I was like, “How do you get Iceman in the book?”

Keep in mind that ULTIMATE X-MEN hadn’t even started yet, so how do you make it organic and not just a goofball team up? But if Kitty [Pryde] joins the book on an ongoing basis, that gets Iceman into the book organically. It’s been building since like the second year, so yeah, I’ve been waiting a long time to get this done.

—

The team-up takes place in “Ultimate Spider-Man” No. 118, slated for a Feb. 6 release.

Meanwhile, to revisit the original cartoon, visit Spider-Friends.com, or check out the intro on YouTube (complete with den that transforms into crazy Batcave-like lair with supercomputers).

– Matt Price