Look out world here they come. Marvel Super Hero Squad, an animated series for the young ones based on the toy line. Marvel squad will spawn into many platforms as a way to introduce the characters to kids. There was a time when it was understood that comics were for kids. Seems the times have changed. We are lead to believe and the proof is in the pudding when you go to a comic shop, the clientele are mostly adult and not a kid is to be seen. Well Marvel needs the help of the kids to help the bottom line for the future. There is a notion that the survival of the company is to appeal to the young kids to sustain the industry. The actual numbers of kid readers is not clear. A gambling man would tell you they are not that big. This dumbing down of characters to kids is the wrong approach. Stumpy and cute is not the way to go.

There was a time in the natural course where it was understood that comics were for kids, but it became an industry that had to make amends with creators in using them as slave workers for many years and the companies raised the prices of books to compensate their staff. More elaborate stories laced with adult themes just chased away the kids from the shops. These are still your dad’s comics, and the torch was never passed.

Marvel seems to be gaining on DC Comics in the movie industry and promise great things with new movies. How much Super Hero movies can the general audience tolerate. Will the flood gates over flow with characters to the big screen and just kill the whole thing.  Word has it that either HHH or even Brad Pitt will play the role of Thor in the distant future, this sector seems to be taking flight. Marvel just wants to seed future generations with this new line of characters. With many spin-offs of the same characters, it will affect the continuity of stories and characters. The formula is working right now, this is a Super Hero boom of sorts. Let’s hope they steer it the right direction, the industry will all benefit at the end of the day.

Popeye & Friends Volume One

Warner Home Video has irked many folks with their over priced volumes of Popeye DVD collector’s editions. Taken away from the audience they were intended for, well now Warner made amends in my book with triumph good news of a new series of real affordable editions for the mass market, and in my opinion elegant looking art on the cover. This is relief news, and it might encourage others to buy the collector’s editions. A well done job for the studio, I am impressed that they are catering to the public. The only draw back is that the cartoons are from the 1978 CBS Saturday morning series. It’s as though the first cartoons are like minted gold and they don’t want to have them on a lower scale DVD package. Give the kids a little bit to see what an amazing cartoon it was in the early days of animation.

If you live along the 49th parallel, most likely you have seen the latest imp trash talking goalie from McDonald’s. This promotion commercial is a tie-in to their hockey mini sticks that they are selling at select McDonald’s across Canada. Reminiscent of "Slap Shot" a classic Paul Newman movie of the 70’s, this commercial is the latest rage across Canada.

It’s time for more crazy tricks and treats with your favorite feathered friend in The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2! 75 hilarious theatrical cartoons from creator Walter Lantz are presented completely uncut and digitally remastered including 3 Academy Award nominees. Enjoy the side-splitting fun and wacky adventures of Woody along with Chilly Willy, Andy Panda, Wally Walrus, Buzz Buzzard and Woody’s nephew and niece - Knothead and Splinter. Featuring rare Musical Miniature and Swing Symphony cartoons plus appearances by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Windy the Bear, Maggie and Sam and Inspector Willoughby, this outrageous collection is non-stop fun for fans of all ages!

At last every many false starts, volume 6 of this amazing set of cartoons, the Inspector will finally see it to DVD.

Originally released as a series of theatrical cartoons, the hilarious Inspector Clouseau and his trusty assistant Sergeant Duex-Deux gained millions of fans with their constant fumbling while solving crime after crime. From a creative staff that helped define the stylized "cool" of ’60’s/’70’s animation, The Inspector was produced by David DePatie features direction by Fritz Freleng ( Return To The Planet Of The Apes ), Chiniquy ( Transformers ), Robert McKimson ( Looney Tunes ) and George Singer ( The Bullwinkle Show ), with scripts by John W. Dunn ( Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters ) and others.


With a nose for clues, an eye for intrigue and a mind like a steel trap that’s jammed shut, The Inspector sets out to solve Paris’ most puzzling crime mysteries

Get some Smurfberry cake and sarsaparilla juice because the Smurfs are turning 50 this year. To most of North America, the Smurfs officially landed here in 1981. Long before that they were in print and in film in the rest of Europe. So 50 seems daunting to some and a bit of a surprise. Hanna-Barbera took a chance on the little blue imps and cashed in the residuals of their world fame. Not much is heard from them on this side of the world, but their popularity is still strong in the rest of the world. There will be many new projects for the Smurfs this year, so we have not heard the last of the little guys. So smurf-it up and join the celebrations.

Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie

Although the motion picture industry initially disparaged and feared television, by the late 1950s, studios saw the medium as a convenient dumping ground for thousands of films that had long been gathering dust in their vaults. As these films found their way to local TV stations, enterprising distributors grouped the titles by genre so programmers could showcase them accordingly. It was in this spirit that Chicago s tradition of horror TV movie shows was born. TV viewers couldn t get enough of the old monster movies everything from glossy Frankenstein and Dracula epics to low-budget cheapies featuring giant grasshoppers and teenage werewolves. Here in Chicago, these films were broadcast on such horror movie shows as Shock Theatre, Thrillerama, Creature Features, and Screaming Yellow Theater. Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie is the first comprehensive look at Chicago s horror movie programs, from their inception in 1957 to the present. Through career profiles of the Horror Hosts who provided comedic interludes between commercial breaks, discover which creepy presenter was one of the 12 reporters to travel around the country with the Beatles during their 1965 66 U.S. tour, and learn about the politics behind Channel 32’s sudden (and outrageous) switch from Svengoolie to the Ghoul. Also included are broadcast histories of such hostless programs as Creature Features, Thrillerama, The Big Show, The Early Show, The Science Fiction Theater, and Monster Rally, along with a guide to 100 fright films broadcast on Chicago television and a look at the Shock! horror library that started a TV craze. Filled with rare photographs and ever-before-published data, Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows celebrates a grand tradition in local television.

One of the most important children’s books has been adapted for the big screen for a release date of October 2009, yet for some strange reason it has flown under the radar since plans were erected to film the adaption of Maurice Sendak’s classic book, Where the Wild Things Are. Spike Jonze is the director of this mystery film that has only two pictures to show for any existence of any type of filming of this endeavor.

Warner Brothers is either keeping this movie under wraps, or maybe not much interest was garnished with lacklustre performances by the Dr. Seuss films in the past few years. It remains to be seen how you can turn a quick reading child’s book into a two hour movie. One can only guess. I think this movie might surprise a few people.

The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show - The Complete Series was the first spin-off of the Flintstones, as you figured Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are the main focus of the show. They are teenagers and had a motley collection of friends with names such as Moonrock, Penny, Wiggy, Cindy,Fabian, Schleprock, and a motorcycle gang called the Bronto Bunch (Bronto, Noodles, Stub and Zonk) The characters were created to cash in the hippie craze of the day in 1971. The show lasted only one season and 16 cartoons were produced and the voice of Pebbles was supplied by All in the Family’s Sally Struthers. There were six other cartoons created after the show was canned, but those remaining episodes were included in the third spin-off of the Flintstone franchise called, "The Flintstone’s Comedy Hour". Like all the spin-offs of the original show that followed, they never captured the original series which was created for prime-time. The other shows were Saturday fare and the censors were very stern to the content. The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show remains a popular demand for DVD production, as bad as the show was it has a few bright moments years after.