NEW COMIC BOOK DAY 10/14/26

Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Might Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour TPB, Miraculous Ladybug Chibi vol. 7, Power Rangers Unlimited #4, & X-Men '97 Season 2 #5.

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EDSON SILVA DEAD AT 88

 

You can read the announcement here.

He provided the Brazilian Portuguese dubs for Hawkman in Aquaman (1967); Klaw and additional voices in Fantastic Four (1967); Curly Joe, Stan Laruel, Geese Ausbie, a Ghost Pirate, Ben Bing/ Viking in The New Scooby-Doo Movies; and Solomon Grundy in Challenge of the Super Friends. 

NEW COMIC BOOK DAY 10/7/26

Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Ben 10 Creator Files #1 & Jem and the Holograms Book 1 TPB.

Visit comicshoplocator.com to find a shop near you.

MARTIN MYSTERY

 

MARTIN MYSTERY
(YTV, Discovery Kids October 1, 2003-March 27, 2006)
 
Marathon Animation, Rai Fiction, Image Entertainment Corporation, Merchandising Media GmbH (season 1-2)

  

            Martin Mystère is an Italian comic book created by Alfredo Castelli and Giancarlo Alessandrini, first published by Segio Bonelli Editore in 1982. The titular Martin is an art historian, archaeologist, anthropologist, adventurer, writer, television producer and collector of unusual objects living in New York City; although most of his education and adventures take place in Italy. Following the death of his parents in a plane crash, Martin devoted himself to studying the most enigmatic places and events in human history. Accompanying him on his adventures is Java, a mute Neanderthal man he discovered in a hidden city of Neanderthals. His long-time fiancée and eventual wife is Diana Lombard, a social worker that often gets annoyed with his taking off on his adventures on a whim and being surrounded by beautiful women. Although Martin often comes up against unscrupulous men and secret agencies, he occasionally found himself facing more fantastical beings such as Morgan le Fay, Loki, and Merlin.

Java, Martin, Billy and Diana, on the case.

            The comic was very loosely adapted into a French/Canadian animated series: Martin Mystery. Created by Vincent Chalvon-Demersay and David Michel and developed by them with Séverine Villaume, the show reimagined Martin (Sam Vincent & Alexis Tomassian) and Diana (Kelly Sheridan & Dorothée Pousséo) as 16-year-old Canadian stepsiblings attending Torrington Academy; a boarding school located in Sherbrooke, Quebec. They worked for a secret organization known as “The Center” that covertly protected Earth from extraterrestrial and supernatural threats. Martin’s vast knowledge of the supernatural and his overall intuition made him a valuable member of The Center; however, his hyperactive nature, huge ego and clumsiness tended to get in the way. Working alongside them was Martin’s best friend, Billy (also Vincent & Yann le Madic), a small, green-skinned alien, and Java (Dale Wilson & Sylvain Lemarié), a super-strong and simple-speaking caveman from 200,000 years ago that worked as a janitor at Torrington as a cover. Serving as their supervisor was M.O.M. (Teryl Rothery & Laurence Dourlens); a super-serious former agent that was an expert in hand-to-hand combat. A planned 4^th season would have revealed that M.O.M. was Diana’s mother who had her memories of her family removed and stored so that she could run The Center without distractions.

Martin suffering a slight case of vampirism.

            Martin Mystery debuted on YTV and Discovery Kids (later Nickelodeon) in English and Vrak in French on October 1, 2003, running for 3 seasons across 66 episodes. In May and June of 2004, the series began airing in the United States on the FoxBox Saturday morning programming block. After 7 episodes it was removed and the series was later picked up and aired by Nickelodeon before eventually moving to Nicktoons Network from 2005-08. Because the series was produced by Marathon Animation (now Zodiak Kids & Family France) and Image Entertainment Corporation, Martin Mystery characters have appeared in their other productions; including a  crossover with Totally Spies! In the years since, Martin Mystery has garnered a cult following, despite Alessandrini disavowing the series in 2011 as “very ugly”. While it has had a very limited home media release, episodes can be found on video hosting sites like YouTube. In 2023, Powerkids Entertainment Ltd. and Boneli Entertainment, the production arm of Sergio Bonneli Editore, announced a new 3D computer-animated series based on the comic that seemed to maintain the youthful versions of the characters. However, as of this writing, it has yet to be released.

DENNIS HASKINS DEAD AT 75

 

You can read the full story here.

Best known as Principal Richard Belding from the Saved by the Bell franchise; which he had reprised in an official and unofficial capacity across various projects over the years.

NEW COMIC BOOK DAY 9/30/26

Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle Power Pack vol. 4.

Visit comicshoplocator.com to find a shop near you.

NEW COMIC BOOK DAY 9/23/26

Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Biker Mice From Mars: Scorch #2, Power Rangers Compact Comics TPB vol. 1, Power Rangers: Green #1 2nd print & #2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #41 (final issue), & Toxic Crusaders TPB.

Visit comicshoplocator.com to find a shop near you.

GERRIT GRAHAM DEAD AT 77

 

You can read the full story here.

He played Cat R. Waul in Fievel’s American Tails; Milo in an episode of The Tick (1994); General Blackout, Sign Man, a trooper and Melvin in Dumb and Dumber: The Animated Series; and Guardian in Gargoyles.

NEW COMIC BOOK DAY 9/16/26

Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Gargoyles #2, Power Rangers Unlimited #3, Space Ghost vs. The Herculoids #1, Street Sharks: Jawsome Justice TPB, & Thundarr the Barbarian Ashcan Edition #1.

Visit comicshoplocator.com to find a shop near you.

CROC FILES

 

CROC FILES
(Animal Planet, June 28, 1999-January 6, 2001)
 
Discovery Kids, Australia Zoo Productions Pty. Ltd.

 

       Steve Irwin, known as “The Crocodile Hunter”, was an Australian conservationist, environmentalist, zookeeper and television personality. His parents began what is now known as Australia Zoo, which he took over in 1991 and ran with his wife, Terri, until his death in 2006. She was later joined by their children, Bindi and Robert, when they got older. Seeking to educate people about animals and encourage the preservation of their lives and homelands, the Irwins began making the in 1992 during their honeymoon, with the resulting series, The Crocodile Hunter, airing on Animal Planet from 1996-2004. Rather than preach, Steve chose to share his enthusiasm for nature with the audience with an unconventional presenting style. Along with other documentaries and a feature film, the Irwins produced several spin-offs to The Crocodile Hunter. One of those was Croc Files.

Steve Irwin introducing a snake to the audience.

            Also known as The Crocodile Hunter’s Croc Files, the series was geared more towards children. While similar to The Crocodile Hunter with a lot of on location footage taken both inside and outside of Australia Zoo, Croc Files spent a lot of time with Steve and Terri in a shack full of exploration supplies, scientific models of animals and some animal skulls speaking directly to the audience. The connective tissue of the show lay with the titular “files”. Segments were labeled with animations of the tops of file folders; additional facts were presented over a background of collected news clippings and notes like you would find in a file; and the show’s title itself was placed on the front of an animated filing cabinet. It also featured an animated intro of Steve and Terri leaving the aforementioned shack and encountering animals throughout the Australian wilderness using cutout animation. Sharon Gordon, Leanne Forbes, Ben Hartnett and Jayson Price were credited as animators on the series.

Irwin explaining the construction of a crocodile's skull.

            Croc Files debuted on Animal Planet on June 28, 1999; a co-production of Discovery Kids and Australia Zoo Productions. The theme was composed by Greville Patterson, while additional music was composed by Gary Smith, Scott Lloyd Shelly and “Mr. Jones”. After concluding its run on January 6, 2001, it moved to NBC Saturday mornings the following year as one of the debut programs of the Discovery Kids on NBC programming block. It also aired on ITV in the United Kingdom and Network Ten in Australia. A DVD containing four episodes was released by Family Home Entertainment in 2000.

CARLA JEFFREY DEAD AT 33

 

You can read the full story here.

Best known for starring as Bree in Disney’s Zombies franchise, she also voiced Mania in an episode of Marvel’s Spider-Man. 

NEW COMIC BOOK DAY 9/2

Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Ben 10 #5, The Loud House vol. 28, and X-Men '97 Season 2 #4.

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THE ROAD RUNNER SHOW

 

THE ROAD RUNNER SHOW
(CBS, September 10, 1966-September 7, 1968,
ABC, September 4, 1971-September 2, 1972)
 
Warner Bros. Television, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises

 

 

MAIN CAST:
Paul Julian – Road Runner
Mel Blanc – Sylvester, Tweety
June Foray - Granny
 

For the history of Looney Tunes, check out the post here.

           

        With the rise of television and the changing habits of moviegoers, the shorts business was no longer as profitable for Warner Bros.; especially not when they’ve found success licensing their back catalog for television broadcast with The Bugs Bunny Show. They made the decision to shut down their animation division in 1962, with their last project being the animated sequences of the 1964 film The Incredible Mr. Limpet. In its place arose DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (DFE), which was formed by former WB director/composer/producer Friz Freleng and former head of WB animation David H. DePatie and ended up being populated by many former WB animators. As a gesture from the studio—where DePatie’s father, Edmond, was a vice president and general manager—DFE was allowed to rent the former animation studio and use all of its equipment very cheaply. After dabbling in commercials and industrial films, DFE soon found theatrical success by producing the animated titles for The Pink Panther and the resulting series of shorts from United Artists.

David DePatie and Friz Freleng with the character that put their studio on the map, The Pink Panther.

            WB, however, found itself with a new problem: their supply of shorts would soon fall short of the demand on television. WB proceeded to contract DFE to produce new Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts; the majority of which saw Daffy Duck paired up against Speedy Gonzales. Freleng would direct the initial batch, and veteran director Robert McKimson would handle the remaining ones. Not having enough manpower to handle their current workload, DFE would subcontract animation studio Format Productions to produce a new series of shorts starring The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.

Wile E. Coyote riding a rocket to get his mitts on Road Runner.

            The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote were created by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese for the 1949 short Fast and Furry-ous. Their shorts typically depicted the efforts of the devious and hungry Coyote attempting more and more elaborate schemes—usually with gadgets supplied by the Acme Corporation—to capture the speedy Road Runner and make him into dinner. However, those schemes often failed; resulting in the coyote experiencing some kind of painful comeuppance. Jones created them as a parody of MGM’s Tom and Jerry series, and as a result the characters almost never speak beyond the Road Runner’s “beep beep!” sound provided by background artist Paul Julian after he imitated a car horn. The adventures typically took place in desert scenery inspired by the Southwestern United States.

Wile E. shoots up his plane's prop in "Just Plane Beep".

            The Format shorts were directed by Rudy Larriva, who had worked under Jones at WB, while McKimson directed an additional two shorts in the series with DFE. Known as the “Larriva Eleven”, the Format shorts were notable for being of poorer quality when compared to the DFE shorts; characterized by constantly reused animation and pre-composed music cues rather than a dynamic score, as well as ignoring Jones’ rules for the series.

Wile E. gives chase on a giant robot he constructed in "The Solid Tin Coyote".

            In 1966, WB launched their third anthology series on television: The Road Runner Show. This series would feature primarily the shorts starring the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. To help round out the half-hour, shorts from series starring other characters were used. The most featured Sylvester Cat and Tweety Bird, which had a similar theme set in a domestic setting, and were often the second short shown during each half hour. The third short starred a rotating cast of characters, including the love-crazed skunk Pepé Le Pew; speedy mouse Speedy Gonzales; rivals Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog; and southern loudmouthed rooster Foghorn Leghorn. Despite appearing on title cards, no shorts featuring Yosemite Sam were ever included. Additionally, since they had their own shows, none featuring Bugs Bunny or Porky Pig were included either.

Wile E. attempts to use hypnosis in "Boulder Wham!"

            The Road Runner Show debuted on CBS on September 10, 1966; scheduled against The Bugs Bunny Show on ABC. Each episode contained new bridging sequences between the shorts, showing further attempts of the Coyote failing to capture the Road Runner. They were animated by an uncredited McKimson and used Bill Lava’s stock music cues from the Format productions; as well as Julian’s archived Road Runner voice. The series’ theme was composed by Barbara Cameron, while the title cards used a shorter version of Lava’s rendition of the Looney Tunes theme, “The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down”. Clips from the shorts Chaser on the Rocks, Hip Hip-Hurry! and Wild About Hurry were featured in both the opening and closing title sequences of the show, but were not among the shorts included for broadcast.

Wile E. done in by shoddy tunnel construction in "Shot and Bothered".

            In 1968, CBS acquired the broadcast rights to The Bugs Bunny Show and decided to combine it with The Road Runner Show for an hour-long programming block. The new The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour (titled “Show” on-screen) debuted on September 14, 1968. It kept both shows’ original intros intact with a new bridging segment of Bugs (Mel Blanc) introducing the Road Runner, again animated by McKimson. The other new material from both shows were edited and combined to link the now seven shorts featured in each episode. By 1971, CBS decided to reduce the airtime dedicated to the Looney Tunes and excised all of The Road Runner Show components; restoring The Bugs Bunny Show to its original half-hour format.

Karate gone wrong in "Hairied and Hurried".

            With the shorts now available, ABC snatched up The Road Runner Show. It would debut on September 4, 1971 in a reassembled form with some edits made to remove the more mature material (smoking, some of the violence against the Coyote, adult-oriented comments, etc.). The revived series would run for a year before leaving ABC’s schedule for the 1972-73 season. After The Bugs Bunny Show returned to ABC for two years, it came back to CBS where it was again combined with The Road Runner Show in 1975 to form a new The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour. A half-hour The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show also aired on Tuesday nights from April through June in 1976. In 1977, the Saturday version adopted the Show title when it was expanded to 90 minutes. It expanded to two hours in 1982 to incorporate shorts from the recently-cancelled The Sylvester & Tweety, Daffy & Speedy Show before returning to 90 minutes in 1983. For its final year beginning in 1984, a new intro was created utilizing clips from the various cartoons in order to accompany the new theme song, “It’s Cartoon Gold”, written by John Klawitter and composed by Steve Zuckerman.

Road Runner gives chase in an old clunker in "Highway Runnery".

            ABC would regain the broadcast rights to Looney Tunes, where they would continue on until the end of the millennium as The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour and finally The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Bugs and the Road Runner would team up again in 1979 for the theatrically-released The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie; comprised of theatrical shorts directed by director Jones with new Bugs Bunny bridging sequences. The characters themselves would go on to appear as part of other Looney Tunes media, headlining several video games and the theatrical film Coyote vs. Acme. The first episode of the 1971 revival was included on the compilation DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Volume 2 in 2009, and again in 2018 as part of the complete collection of each volume in the series.

  

EPISODE GUIDE (season 1 & 2 info unknown):

New material:

“Pothole Roar” – Wile E. attempts to use a pothole to catch Road Runner, but ends up getting run down by a truck.

 

“Gun Trap” – Wile E. ends up blasted by his own gun when he investigates why it didn’t shoot after Road Runner passed.

 

“Grenade Tennis” – Wile E. attempts to launch a grenade at Road Runner with a tennis racket, but Road Runner uses his own to lob it right back at him.

 

“Motorcycle” – Wile E. attempts to catch Road Runner by riding a motorcycle.

 

“Role-Reversal” – Wile E. disguises himself as the Road Runner, only to end up becoming the prey when Road Runner shows up in a Wile E. costume.

 

“Portrait” – A portrait of Wile E. and Road Runner as friends draws Road Runner in close to Wile E.’s clutches with curiosity.

 

“Water Cooler” – Wile E. attempts to distract Road Runner with a drink of water in order to drop a boulder on him.

 

“Space Rocket” – Wile E tries to use a rocket to catch Road Runner, only to end up with it turning back on himself.

 

“Bingo Cannon” – Wile E. doesn’t realize that Road Runner has already disabled his cannon by plugging it with a cork.

 

“Robot” – Wile E. builds a robot to help him capture Road Runner.

 

“Rocket Car” – Wile E.’s rocket car ends up burning a lot of fuel.

 

“Old Fashioned Trap” – Wile E. unknowingly digs his trap on a cliffside, falling through and landing on a train.

 

“Exploding Phone Booth” – Wile E. attempts to lure Road Runner into an exploding phone booth.

 

“Bridge Bomb” – Wile E. ends up the victim of his own trap after lining the road with TNT.

 

Season 1:

“Zip ‘n Snort / Hyde and Go Tweet / The Wild Chase” (9/10/66)

 

Season 2:

“Highway Runnery / Fowl Weather / Don’t Axe Me” (9/7/68)

 

Season 3:

“Zip ‘n Snort / The Jet Cage / The Wild Chase” (9/4/71)

 

“Beep Prepared / Putty Tat Trouble / Cats and Bruises” (9/11/71)

 

“Ready…Set…Zoom! / Hyde and Go Tweet / Weasel While You Work” (9/18/71)

 

“Zoom at the Top / Tree Cornered Tweety / Hoppy Daze” (9/25/71)

 

“War and Pieces / Tweety’s Circus / A Sheep in the Deep” (10/2/71)

 

“To Beep or Not to Beep / Trick or Tweet / Birds of a Father” (10/9/71)

 

“The Solid Tin Coyote / A Street Cat Named Sylvester / The Dixie Fryer” (10/16/71)

 

“There They Go-Go-Go! / Dog Pounded / Woolen Under Where” (10/23/71)

 

“Scrambled Aches / Hawaiian Aye Aye / Dr. Jerkyl’s Hide” (10/30/71)

 

“Sugar and Spies / A Bird in a Guilty Cage / Cannery Woe” (11/6/71)

 

“Whoa, Be-Gone! / Tweet Tweet Tweety / Don’t Axe Me” (11/13/71)

 

“Clippety Clobbered / Greedy for Tweety / Pop ‘im Pop!” (11/20/71)

 

“Hopalong Casualty / Tweet and Lovely / Wild Over You” (11/27/71)

 

“Hairied and Hurried / Tugboat Granny / Mother Was a Rooster” (12/4/71)

 

“Lickety-Splat / Tweet and Sour / Fish and Slips” (12/11/71)

 

“Tired and Feathered / Fowl Weather / A Mutt in a Rut” (12/18/71)

 

“Going! Going! Gosh! / Gift Wrapped / Mouse-Taken Identity” (12/25/71)

 

“Rushing Roulette / Ain’t She Tweet / The Mouse on 57^th Street” (1/1/72)

 

“Stop! Look! And Hasten! / Catty Cornered / Chili Weather” (1/8/72)

 

“Highway Runnery / A Pizza Tweety-Pie / Strangled Eggs” (1/15/72)

 

“Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z / Trip for Tat / What’s My Lion?” (1/22/72)

 

“Shot and Bothered / Muzzle Tough / Touché and Go” (1/29/72)

 

“Fast and Furry-ous / A Bird in a Bonnet / Claws in the Lease” (2/5/72)

 

“Out and Out Rout / Tweet Dreams / The Slick Chick” (2/12/72)

 

“Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner / Snow Business / To Itch His Own” (2/19/72)

 

“Boulder Wham! / Tweet Zoo / The Slap-Hoppy Mouse” (2/26/72)