Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett offers some suggestions for the U.S. launch of Tintin, plus thoughts on character revivals:

I know last year I said that this was going to be the year I was finally going to get to attend Comicon but with the complete sell out of tickets and economic conditions being what they are it appears that once again I'll be experiencing it the traditional way, via the Internet.  But there's always next year.

The delay in releasing The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicron in the U.S. makes sense, seeing as how popular the character is almost everywhere but here, but I hope the producers take this time to make a concerted effort to raise Tintin consciousness in America.  For starters I've a question I don't think has been asked; just how is the boy reporters name going to be pronounced in the movie?  As its spelled or "Tantan", which is the French pronunciation?  As our current Supreme Court nominee can tell us there are some Americans who just don't like it when foreign (to them) names are pronounced in foreign ways.

Now I'm no marketing wizard but I'd say that Job #1 for them would be getting the 1991 animated series The Adventures of Tintin a prominent timeslot on a tween skewing network like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney, etc.  After seeing it there would be a better chance kids would want to read the albums, if they can get access to them.  Of course they should be as widely distributed as possible and in America that means Wal-Mart so I'd suggest the producers' partner with Marvel who has the commercial clout to get them placed there.

I know Marvel may seem like an incongruous choice but they do have experience with both adapting European material and in publishing comic magazines, as in publications that are magazine sized.  Imagine a $5.99 Tintin Magazine; each issue could include news about the upcoming movie as well as an entire Tintin album -- more expensive hardcover editions could come later.  I know that it's not all that likely but, wouldn't it be nice?

It has occurred to me that I may have been overly dismissive of the first Red Circle titles (for completists out there who might have missed it the new version of The Shield made a cameo appearance in Wonder Woman #32), especially the decision to include Inferno, one of the least known of a most unknown group of characters.

Because upon reflection what DC really gets out of the Red Circle deal is access to superhero templates that are just names and costumes; perfect blank slates.  Once you get past their few big guns you're left with heroes
like Mr. Satan, Black Jack and (I swear) Bob Phantom, characters that are generic even by Golden Age standards* (if Inferno doesn't work out they have other 'fire guys' they can use that nobody has ever heard of, Fireball and Firefly). They're characters that creators can do absolutely anything with while still being able to claim it's a revival; you can't complain they've taken liberties with the long, rich history of someone who doesn't have one.

Like I said, these sorts of revivals have become so ubiquitous it's hard to get excited about them anymore, but I'll admit there are still some I'm actively looking forward to.  Just at Marvel there's the current Destroyer miniseries plus upcoming we have The Marvel Project (where one of the major characters is the Golden Age Angel, a man who fought evil using only a cape and a mustache) as well as Howard Chaykin doing a Dominick Fortune series -- now there's something I'd never thought I'd see.  And what kind of Golden Age fan would I be if I wasn't at least a little excited by the news Alex Ross is going to revive The Original Human Torch.

And there's one revival I can really get behind.  The Licensing International Expo is being held this week in Las Vegas and I read an online report from it by Paul Bond titled "Disney to Leverage Licensed Characters"
which said Disney has plans to "pump more enthusiasm into the world's largest licensed character; Mickey Mouse". And this quote from Consumer Products Chairman Andy Mooney which was particularly welcome; "through extensive research with kids, we found they actually love the original Mickey Mouse property".

This, along with the rumor Boom! Studios is getting the license for the classic Disney characters (Mickey included), was good news; I was starting to be afraid I would live to see the day I'd have to explain to kids who Mickey Mouse was.

* I should know, I've read them.  And the characters that were original were.well, let's take for example Kardak, who along with being your basic Tarzan imitator had the added advantage of being able to grow to fifteen feet tall.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.