Author: artofthecartoon

Bootleg Classics: Justice League Unlimited “Question Authority”

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Watchmen week continues here at Art of the Cartoon…

The original “superheroes” that were supposed to be used for Watchmen were taken right from the pages of Charlton Comics. Charlton Comics was bought out, however, by a major comic studio named DC Comics in 1985. Since DC planned to incorporate the heroes from Charlton Comics into the DC Universe, Alan Moore, writer of Watchmen, along with Dave Gibbons, Artist/ Penciler of Watchmen, decided to create original characters for their soon to be classic book. Even though the new characters were original, they were still influenced by the Charlton Comics superheroes that were supposed to be in Watchmen.

Case and point, Rorschach was loosely based on The Question:

 

Question on the left, Rorschach on the right
Question on the left, Rorschach on the right

 

 

And Doctor Manhattan was loosely based on Captain Atom:

 

Capt. Atom on left, Dr. Manhattan on right
Capt. Atom on left, Dr. Manhattan on right

What would have happened had Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons been able to use the Charlton Comics superheroes for Watchmen? This intriguing question is somewhat answered in this Bootleg Classic.

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1000 HITS!

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It’s Watchmen Week! and guess what?…..

The Art of the Cartoon blog just passed the 1000 hit mark!

Many thanks to those who read this blog.  This inspires me to keep writing in this thing.  It only took a lil over 2 months, I never thought I would hit 1000 this fast, I figured people would get tired of my writing about cartoons and animation and stuff…

Anyway Watchmen Week…so enjoy this video…

WTF is Watchmen

Thanks Adam for the link!

IGN: The Ten Most Memorable Moments of Watchmen

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watchmen_smiley

It’s Watchmen week at Art of the Cartoon. Most posts this week will be about the comic book series and will end with a review of the new Watchmen live-action film which comes out on my birthday March 6. 

First off I would like to link to this IGN article which details the ten most memorable moments of Watchemen (IGN’s opinion, not mine!)

Hit the jump for the short list if you’re plain lazy (WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD, but honestly you should have already read this book):

Continue reading →

Sultan the Warrior…

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Check out this trailer for the upcoming Indian Animation (as in the Country India) Sultan the Warrior…

WHAT ….THE FU@K…WAS THAT!?

I can’t hate on the animation though (I sooo want to though…..). These are folks I might be working with in the future, I don’t want them saying, “why  you hating on our animation?”

You have to admit, it’s hilarious that the main dude’s facial expression never changes (I can watch this trailer over and over for the unintentional comedy that is the dude’s face). 

Oh and one last note, A.R. Rahman, the same dude who did the music to Slumdog Millionaire, did the music to this piece of…wonderful animation (grits teeth). Interesting….

This could all be just me though. Have a good laugh!

Review: La Maison en Petits Cubes

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La Maison en Petits Cubes (House of Small Cubes)/ created by Kunio Kato/ 2008 (Japan)

La Maison en Petits Cubes (House of Small Cubes) won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film this Year. Fresh off the heels of the best acceptance speech ever (sorry Geo, the Man on Wire disappearing coin was good, so was Sean Penn’s sentiments on Prop 8, and the Heath Ledger win was moving, but this dude thanked his pencil, and the domo arigato mr.roboto made more sense after I watched the short film, all acceptance speeches from now on should handled by Japanese men):

I decided I had to take some precious time off of work and school to give this short film a look and review.

Synopsis

La Maison en Petits Cubes tells the story of a man living in house surrounded by water. As the water rises he must build another level to his house to stay dry. One day, he loses his favorite pipe in the water. As he descends into the waters through different stories, he relives the scenes of his life.

The Review

Subtle and simplistic, yet oh so very powerful. I was riveted more by the 11 minutes of this short film than I have by some full length animated features…

(hit the jump to read the rest of my review, and the video of La Maison en Petit Cubes) Continue reading →

Bootleg Classics: The Simpsons “Homer at the Bat”

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Awww Yes… Players have reported to spring training and baseball season is about to begin. With Griffey Jr. returning to the Mariners, I thought it would be fitting to have this Bootleg Classic dedicated to one of Griffey’s greatest guest starring roles ever. Even though baseball is tainted at the moment, and because of the “steroid era” we’ll probably never feel the same about baseball ever again, this Bootleg Classic takes you back to a time when baseball seemed as genuine as Griffey’s smile on his Upper Deck rookie card.

The Simpsons “Homer at the Bat” 1992 (originally aired Feb. 20, 1992…17 years ago!)

homerathtebatBackground:

Do I really need to do a background on The Simpsons? It is one of the most influential animated programs in the history of cartoons. So influential that folks have written books on the Simpsons’ effect on society. So I am going to assume everyone knows about the misadventures of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson, as well as the other loveable townfolk of Springfield.

The Episode:

Homer and the other Power Plant workers sign up for their work’s softball team. Thanks to Homer’s homemade bat, the Power Plant goes undefeated and makes it to the championship game vs. the Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant. Mr. Burns (owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant) makes a million dollar bet with the owner of the Shelbyville Power Plant that his team will win. In order to secure victory, Mr. Burns hires 9 Major League players: Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey, Jr., Steve Sax, Ozzie Smith, José Canseco, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry and Mike Scioscia, so they can play for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team.

Hilarity ensues…

(Hit the Jump to find out what makes this episode a Bootleg Classic)

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Racist(?) Cartoon

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I feel like I have to say something about this:

delonas
New York Post, Feb. 18, 2009. Sean Delonas

So the article compared the The Killer Chimp from Stamford to the author of the new Stimulus Bill…

(sigh…) 

I can see the racial allusions…I really don’t think the artist meant anything, but that doesn’t excuse anything! 

(shakes head in disappointment)

I don’t really want to get into this, but I will say that there are a lot of folks that are mad about this and I don’t blame them. All over a little cartoon!

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the power and the Art of the Cartoon (see what I did there). 

This issue deserves a longer post (and rant) in the future… stay tuned…

He’s Back!

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Ken Griffey Jr. is returning to my hometown Seattle Mariners. I’m excited! I have a treat for folks tomorrow, but in the meantime, I present to you, what was, in my opinion, the best looking baseball video game in 1994. 

Welcome Back Junior!

Review: Coraline 3D

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Coraline/ dir. Henry Selick/ 2009

coraline-movie-poster-1Being an animation student has inspired me to see anything and almost everything animated. I’ve known about Coraline for a couple of months, and I really wanted to see it when it first came out on February 6. I mean how can you go wrong with the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and based on a novel by Neil Gaiman! Here’s the trailer that got me hooked:

Life gets in the way many times and I didn’t get a chance to see it that opening weekend. I heard that the box office numbers for that opening weekend weren’t as big as LAIKA (the animation studio that produced the film) hoped for. And that a dismal showing of this film could spell doom for this Portland , OR based company. I made it a point to see the film, even if I was by my lonesome. Luckily that didn’t happen. Many thanks to the cutest newlyweds in Seattle (maybe a lil too cute), Daps and Cherry, for a journey that started with brunch, went through Coraline and a trip to Fry’s Electronics, and ended with Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations: Philiippines. (BTW, “Best Pig Ever” according to Anthony Bourdain…that’s high praise). 

On to the actual review: WOW…(hit the jump to continue): Continue reading →