comic strips discussion

[EricJ]

It seems Nick executives decided the show was too 'girl-centric', with not enough appeal to boys.

...Wait a minute: A CABLE network cancelled a "girl-centric" cartoon with fangirl-ship overtones, because it wasn't "boyish" enough??

There may be hope yet for our dying cartoon generation.

[droosan]

The Comics Journal has a pretty in-depth interview with Dan Schkade, who relaunched the Flash Gordon newspaper comic strip 8 months ago.
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Schkade's take on the Flash Gordon mythos is very faithful to the spirit of the original Alex Raymond strips .. but is likewise informed by later incarnations of the strip and its various movie & animated adaptations, as well .. while still treading fresh storytelling ground with new 'ground-level' characters that help to view the world of Mongo from different perspectives than were possible before -- and also being unafraid to cast some of the classic secondary characters in an unsavory light.

Schkade's artwork is bold, stark, clean & stylized; very evocative of Batman: The Animated Series. Color, too, is used in a bold graphic way .. to convey emotion and atmosphere, almost apart from the lineart itself.
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The storylines move at a breathless pace, compared to most legacy newspaper strips .. but the storytelling is clear and concise enough both to follow day-by-day, and to keep a reader interested to return the next day (which is a concept that seems simple, but is actually very difficult to achieve, and rare to find done so consistently well).

As a bonus, each FG strip episode has an individual title -- something that most newspaper strips 'phased-out' in the 1950s! -- though a key difference is that those titles are given in the form of a brief caption, at the end of the previous strip.
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Sunday FG strips offer a recap/summation of the events in that week's six daily strips .. but always from the POV of a specific character (and it's not always the 'main' ones) .. which helps to keep even those 'recaps' feeling fresh.

Dan Schkade's Flash Gordon appears daily online on Comics Kingdom, which is King Features' archival website. The strip is archived from its beginning on October 22, 2023 .. but -- iirc -- non-subscribers to Comics Kingdom are limited in how far back they can access individual strips.

However, the strip is so well-done -- and seems (IMO!) to lend itself well to the 'graphic novel' format -- such that I assume a book collection of the strip will eventually be offered; so -- hopefully -- we'll hear of one, soon..!

[Randall]

While I like the art, it is such a big step away from the Raymond/Raboy/Barry/etc. style that it is hard to recognize it as Flash Gordon. That doesn't make it bad, of course. Just different. Very different.

And we have seen Flash (and other Golden Age classic characters) reinvented so many times... I'm tending to just fall back on the originals to enjoy them instead. Still, I can't argue against bringing back classic characters in new stories.

[droosan]

Since I've chronicled most every other milestone for this strip, in this thread .. Phoebe And Her Unicorn ended its newspaper run, today .. almost exactly ten years after it premiered in newspapers (and nearly twelve years after it'd begun as the 'online-only' strip Heavenly Nostrils).

However, P&HU will continue .. apparently both online, as a 'Sunday-only' strip (similar to what Doonesbury or Foxtrot have done) .. and in 'graphic novel' form, which allows longer narrative storylines without a daily pause for a gag.

Congrats -- and many thanks -- to creator Dana Simpson, for this charming and entertaining strip! Although I'll miss reading it daily, it's comforting to know this isn't necessarily "the end".

[Dacey]

Peanuts: 75th Anniversary Collection coming with 40 TV specials…

https://screen-connections.com/2025/07/ ... e-details/

No information on extras (if any), or a specific list of specials. Will this include the elusive It’s the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown? (Which doesn’t even, you know, have Charlie Brown in it)

[gaastra]

Of the 45 produced from 1965–2011, these are the five not included in this set:
- Snoopy: The Musical (1988)
- It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown (1988)
- You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown (1994)
- It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown (1997)
- It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown (2000)

Dang it of course red truck one of the rare specials is missing.

[Randall]

I can see the music rights preventing Snoopy The Musical. The Super Bowl one has rights issues with the NFL, and maybe ABC. Pied PIper is likely still owned by Paramount. Paramount may have also had a hand in Birthday. Girl was a poorly-received live action/animated hybrid that everyone seems to want to forget.

[Ben]

Basically, the all-important pre-80s ones are all accounted for!

[gaastra]

Ironic you say that as red truck is one of the most wanted specials in fact the blu ray forums many are upset it's not on there!

NFL has copyright trouble with--the NFL from what is said and as for snoopy the musical. Wonder if it has to do with just one person song as that song was later all over the muppets.

[Randall]

Ironic you say that as red truck is one of the most wanted specials in fact the blu ray forums many are upset it's not on there!

Sorry, I should clarify that all involved in its production want to forget it! Fans clamour for it, though, especially if they've never seen it. I haven't, and I'd love to see it sometime.

[Ben]

"Here ya go!" (as she keeps saying in the special), in all its smeary mid-80s NTSC glory…




Roger Rabbit has a lot to answer for! The performances are terrible — I have no recollection of Jill Schulz in Newhart, but nepotism plays a huge part here — and I found it hard not to skip through parts of this. Charlie and Snoopy are, essentially, not actually in it (just barely and, interestingly, the end credit doesn’t even include Charlie's name) and it’s just weird. The fact that it’s video based doesn’t help it either. Yeah, the Paramount logo is on there, too.

Like I said, all the important — and film-based original — shows that I at least think of as having that Peanuts aesthetic that I grew up with from the 60s and 70s, and being "true" to the Schulz strips, are in the new box, which is most comprehensive.

Rand will have the individual releases and be able to hopefully tell us what's missing in terms of extras, as there’s scant info on that…is this just the specials, which would still be Joe Cool, or is there anything of note "missing"?

[gaastra]

People are wanting a dvd or blu ray copy to replace the vhs copy same as any rare animation. Others want complete collections of the specials good or bad.

Yes, it's on youtube but people just want to have it legally on dvd good or bad.

It's like hanna barbera fans wanting some of hbs worst oddball cartoons as it is part of hanna barbera and they want to still own it on dvd.

[droosan]

40 out of 45 Peanuts TV specials in one boxed set is pretty darn great.

and even having this 'missing' special available to view on YouTube still counts as a 'win' IMO .. (but only while it's still there, of course).

[EricJ]

Of the 45 produced from 1965–2011, these are the five not included in this set:
- Snoopy: The Musical (1988)
- It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown (1988)
- You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown (1994)
- It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown (1997)
- It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown (2000)

Dang it of course red truck one of the rare specials is missing.

So…where is the published list, and how do we know You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown is on it, even if Snoopy: the Musical isn’t?

[Ben]

Gaastra…not saying the YT tape rip supplants a Blu…the link was provided so that Rand could at least see it! After doing so, anyone might find they don’t actually need a Blu of everything…a turd is still a turd after all, even in HD (when it becomes a very nice looking turd…but still a turd)!

Yeah, anything on YT is a win, just to see things and "audition" them for when hopefully better releases come along. And in case they vanish, you can always nab 'em before they do…