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 looks at some current events, including Rush Limbaugh on comics, the end of Annie, and more.If you've been planning on giving Rush Limbaugh a copy of the Siege collection for Christmas you probably should reconsider. Last week on his radio show he took a call from a comic book retailer about the unlicensed comic book biography from Bluewater Comics (Political Power: Rush Limbaugh) wherein he made a startling confession. I quote from the broadcast:
RUSH: I've never read comic books, in fact. I just never have. You know, I was stunned. I mean, I've heard of Spider-Man and all that stuff but I've never read them. I didn't know Iron Man was a comic book. They make these movies. (interruption) The staff is worried here that I'm somehow doing harm to myself by admitting truthful aspects. What is so horrible about not having…?
He goes on along these lines for a while (the entire transcript is available on his Website for those of you who are interested). My chief reaction is that it's kind of adorable that members of his staff would think that just by admitting publicly that Rush had never read comic books it would somehow injure their boss' carefully sculpted image of being a regular guy.
If you read ICv2's front page (see "The End of an Era") you already know this but the syndicated comic strip Little Orphan Annie is ending on June 13th after 86 years in print. In an Associated Press piece by Caryn Rousseau dated May 13th, Tribune Media Service is 'pursuing new audiences for her in digital media and entertainment like mobile readers and graphic novels'. According to Vice President of Licensing Steve Tippie TMS is considering future live-action and animated television and film projects for the character and that…
"Our emphasis going forward will be on bringing her more in line with current pop culture and shaping her development as a property that appeals to children and adults on a whole new level," Tippie said.
For the record I'm someone who loved the Harold Gray original, enjoyed the Leonard Starr take on Gray's characters and even appreciated what Jay Maeder and Ted Slampyak did with the trip, even if it frequently had precious little to do with Annie. Sure the recent Sunday that's being circulated with the cancellation announcement (the news got a surprising amount of traction online including a write-up in Time) had Annie tied up and at the mercy of the bad guys. But for the most part under the strips current custodians she was routinely pushed into the background of stories, preferring to focus on Daddy Warbuck's one man war on terror.
But before you can turn Annie into graphic novels (well, first I think you have to ask 'Who's going to buy them?' and the answer is definitely 'Not us'), let alone movies, TV shows and cartoons first you have to figure out who she is and what she's supposed to do. I've covered a lot of this material before in previous columns (most recently in "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Going The Way of Mutt and Jeff"--10/21/2009) but to summarize it's really difficult to update a classic comic character without losing all that made them original in the first place.
You'd think The Great Recession would be a great setting for Annie in her traditional Little Orphan mode, but I'm afraid America just isn't going to tolerate as entertainment (especially children's entertainment) the adventures of a homeless girl. Especially one who gets repeatedly kidnapped when she hasn't been placed in abusive institutions, not when the evening news tells us entirely too much about what happens to children like that.
Actually, though, Annie has a better chance at revival than most characters her age; she's a social activist (you only need to replace 'plant a Victory Garden' with 'Save the Oceans') who can knock heads together yet still has that whole 'little princess' deal going which appeals to little girls no matter how hard we try to scrub it out of their consciousness. So if they emphasize the fantasy elements (Mr. Am, Punjab, The Asp, etc.) I have no doubt that there's either a tween-skewing sitcom or animated series in her immediate future. What I'm worried about is Dick Tracy; if I were him I'd start updating my resume right about now.
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.
