Tintin and the Red Devils: Belgian football teams present new comic-themed shirt

Tintin and the Red Devils: Belgian football teams present new comic-themed shirt

You'll forgive me I trust for skipping forward chronologically with this next post (there are still some news stories from earlier in the year waiting in my Drafts folder), but this was too good an item to pass up and I wanted to publicise it while it was still a forthcoming event rather than a past one.  That event is a football match between England and Belgium, a "friendly" pre-season encounter prior to the Euro 2024 tournament (so I am told) due to take place next Tuesday the 26th March.

Blue jersey, brown shorts, white socks: Belgium’s new kit a tribute to comic book legend Tintin

I don't normally follow the football so what am I doing writing a post about it and the Belgian national team in particular, I hear you ask?  Well the answer is pretty self-explanatory (I hope!) from the accompanying articles.  Yes, the team has had the wonderful brainwave of paying homage to one of Belgium's greatest [fictional] sons - Tintin - by designing their 2024 away kit to emulate the famous boy reporter's best-known outfit!  That means a sky blue shirt with a white collar, brown shorts and white socks to create more than a passing (ahem) resemblance to the most recognised image of Hergé's great creation.  So if you are sitting down to watch the match on the 26th, don't be alarmed to see eleven Tintins running around the pitch - it isn't a group of Tintinoholic cosplayers invading Wembley stadium, just the Belgian national team. 

Tintin inspired away kit homage to cartoonist Hergé

This brilliant decision has made my week, I can tell you.  Imagine if Belgium made it all the way to the finals of Euro 2024?!  Eleven footballers dressed as Tintin, holding the cup aloft amid cheers and celebrations could catapult the character even higher in to the world's consciousness (and maybe even inspire Messrs Jackson & Spielberg to get on with the next instalment in their promised trilogy of films - whoops, nearly got on my soapbox then!).  Wouldn't it be something if all countries' football teams also fashioned their kits in the style of celebrated cultural icons?  (I struggle to think what England's would be - black and red stripes in honour of Dennis the Menace, perhaps?😕)  It could even encourage more people like me to take an interest in the sport if as much thought as this was put into the kits - in fact at the risk of appearing unpatriotic I may even tune in to watch the match next week and cheer the Belgian team on.

England vs. Tintin Belgium Euro 2024 Qualifier will be broadcast in the UK on Channel 4,
Tuesday 26th March 2024, kick-off at 7:45pm GMT

It was a dark, Dark Knight...

With All Hallow's Eve, or Halloween as it is more commonly known, just around the corner it's time for my own spooky themed post of the year, methinks.  This time I'm going to take a slightly different but hopefully no less spooky tack, doing my first Pinterest-inspired post in honour of my one of my favourite pop culture characters - the (sometimes) dark, Gothic, unnatural, eerie and mysterious superhero that is:

Batman, as well as having that frightening other-worldly mysteriousness about him as already mentioned, is also deeply influenced by Gothicism.  Which is probably one of the reasons he is my favourite superhero; who doesn't like a bit of Gothic symbolism in their fictional crimefighter?  I happen to like bats too (excepting the time one nearly flew into my face while I was walking down a dark Devon lane) and what is Batman other than a man dressed as a bat?  And bats are a Halloween staple!

I think another reason I'm drawn towards Batman is that mysticism surrounding the character.  He fights crime from the shadows; no-one know who he is or whether he's even human and he uses fear and surprise to overpower his enemies.  It's still good versus evil, but the contrast isn't as great (and in the case of the Joker, it could easily said to be in reverse).  That's also why Batman and Batman Begins remain my two favourite Batman films, with the superstitious and eidolic aspect being played up to great effect.  Probably a great many other Batman fans feel the same way and it is undoubtedly these characteristics, this flip-side of a traditional superhero, that has allowed Batman to endure for 75 years and remain an incredibly successful cultural icon.

The history of those 75 years is fascinating as well, with the character's origins from the 1930s and '40s (and earlier) just adding more to his appeal.

Created by the comic-book artist and writer duo of Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1939 Batman's first appearance in the May 1939 Detective Comics #27 is only eleven months after Superman's debut in rival Action Comics #1 (it was the success of the latter that spurred DC on to create a superhero of their own).  The idea of the superhero had gained currency in the 1930s and Batman was clearly influenced by the first, earlier prototypes of The Shadow and The Phantom.  Going even further back, Zorro has been cited as an influence, something writers worked into Batman's origin story (it was the 1920 Douglas Fairbanks Sr. The Mark Of Zorro that the Wayne family saw before the parents were murdered outside the theatre).  Bob Kane also took themes from popular culture of his youth - films like 1926's The Bat (and the 1930 remake/sequel The Bat Whispers) and Conrad Veidt's Gwynplaine in 1928's The Man Who Laughs.  (As a result of this there are some excellent vintage Batman parodies to be found on YouTube...)

In the 1940s Batman, like so many action heroes of the time, featured in a couple of movie serials - Batman in 1943 and Batman and Robin in 1949.  They're standard 1940s serial fare, very much of their time (especially the 1943 one, which features some very dubious propaganda) with pretty suspect costumes, sets etc.  I won't add them here, but they can be found easily enough on YouTube - here and here.  Again they have both inspired some excellent alternative thinking on the part of some YouTube users.

Glossing over the Sixties television series and film, which are good silly fun and set the tone for the next two decades but not the sort of Batman to feature here we arrive instead at the Tim Burton Batman films and DC Comics' attempts in the mid-1980s to return to a darker characterisation with graphic novels such as Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.  The films Batman and Batman Returns featured this dark re-imagining to great success (and Michael Keaton remains, on balance, my favourite Batman/Bruce Wayne) but then Joel Schumacher took over - and the less said about that the better!

In the early 1990s, following the success of the first two modern Batman films, the cartoon Batman: The Animated Series appeared and this brings back many a happy memory of Saturday morning television, as well as furthering my interest in the character (the "Dark Deco" style in that series also helped!).  Then of course more life has been breathed into the character in recent years thanks to the "Nolan Trilogy" of films which culminated in last year's critically and commercially successful The Dark Knight Rises.  Thanks to these Batman's stock has never been higher - he still appears in DC Comics today, in numerous award-winning video games and fashioned onto (or into) almost anything you care to name. 

The Batman's next 75 years would seem to be assured, then, although rumblings continue over the decision to cast Ben Affleck in the role for the upcoming 2015 extravaganza that will be Batman vs. Superman.   However that turns out I'm sure the Batman will endure, continuing his adventures and forever striking a fearful and unnatural shadow over the cowardly and superstitious criminal.

*Below are the two "vintage Batman" videos mentioned earlier.  Who was your favourite Batman/Bruce Wayne?  Is Ben Affleck a good choice to play the next Caped Crusader?  Do let me know in the Comments section - and have a happy Halloween!

Phantom comics reissue keeps early masked hero alive

Phantom comics reissue keeps early masked hero alive

Some welcome recognition now for one of the earliest comic-book superheroes, as discussed in this short B.B.C. interview from a few weeks ago.

As explained Lee Falk's The Phantom, along with Walter B. Gibson's The Shadow, was among the first of the masked crime fighters to appear in comics and newspaper strips of the 1930s.  Predating Batman and Superman by several years, The Phantom in particular set the superhero standard in a number of areas.  He was the first to wear a coloured, skin-tight costume and the first to be illustrated with a mask showing only white eyes, for example.  Similar to the Batman character, introduced 3 years later, The Phantom also had no special powers and relied purely on fear and physical strength.  Their back stories also shared some similarities, with the loss of parents being the common motivating factor.

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The 1930s was in fact the decade to which the concept of the superhero as we know him today owes its genesis.  In the dark days of the Great Depression - and particularly in America where gang crime was prevalent - the idea of empowered, costumed champions of honesty and bravery easily captured the public's imagination, aided in no small part by the incredible popularity of newspapers, radio and the cinema.  On the outbreak of the Second World War these characters' stories were frequently and unsurprisingly written with an obvious propagandist bent as the likes of Batman, Superman and The Phantom fought Nazis and Japanese villains rather than criminal gangs, if anything further cementing their place in popular culture.

While Batman and Superman have endured in the public consciousness for the last 70 years, the fortunes of trailblazers like The Phantom and The Shadow have waxed and waned in that time.  Although The Phantom comic strip has the remarkable distinction of having been in print continuously since 1936 (with Lee Falk himself still wielding the pencil right up until his death in 1999), the character's transition to other media has been less successful (for a start - and I can scarcely believe this myself - it was never serialised on the radio as The Shadow was!).  Here we take a look at some of the better-known screen adaptations of The Phantom:   



The Phantom first appeared on the big screen a mere seven years after his creation in one of Columbia Pictures' popular 15-part serials.  It proved quite a success and very nearly spawned a sequel in 1955 before copyright issues scuppered any further possibility of another serial.



Perhaps the best-known recent adaptation of The Phantom is the 1996 feature film starring Billy Zane in the lead role.  One of a triumvirate of pulp hero-based films released in the early- to mid-Nineties, along with Rocketeer (1991) and Alec Baldwin's turn as The Shadow in 1994 (all of which grace my DVD collection!), The Phantom - like the others before it - did not perform satisfactorily at the box office and for a while marked the end of major studios' interest in these early pulp characters.  It did, however, help Billy Zane land his role in the following year's blockbuster, Titanic.  And if you liked him in that, ladies, let me remind you than he worked out especially for his role as The Phantom (one that he went on record later as ranking among his favourites) and for much of the film wears the aforementioned skin-tight suit(!).  Even disregarding that fact I highly recommend it as a bit of fun, period escapism.

Like me some of you may also remember from the early 1990s the popular cartoon Phantom 2040, which successfully updated The Phantom character to the 21st century.  In 2008 a 3-hour, two-part live action television series called The Phantom was shown on the Syfy Channel, again bringing the character into the modern era.  Around the same time a new film was announced and is rumoured to still be on track.  The Phantom: Legacy will once again feature a present-day iteration of the character with various updates, so it will not hold as much interest for the likes of you and me as the period-set 1996 version,  but it promises to follow the same template as the recent Batman films which will probably translate into critical and commercial success.

So although The Phantom may not be quite as well-known as Batman or Superman the fact that the comic strip featuring his adventures continues to be published after nearly 80 years, with a number of adaptations to show for it as well, proves that this enduring character still has plenty of pull.  What with that and the news last year that new stories featuring the Rocketeer and The Shadow have been penned, perhaps a renaissance for these other early pulp heroes is simply a matter of time.

Old-time radio and comics heroes burst back onto the scene

The Shadow Exclusive Preview

Old-time radio and comics heroes burst back onto the scene

Last year I blogged about one of my favourite pulp-fiction heroes, the Rocketeer, and the news that a new series of comics featuring the character had been commissioned.  At the time I was delighted to hear of the new Rocketeer adventures and now it looks as though some more pulp heroes from the golden age of radio and comic-strips are about to get a new lease of life.



An unsuccessful attempt to reintroduce a few of the more famous pulp crimefighters resulted in a series of live-action films being made in the early 1990s, beginning with the Rocketeer in 1991 through The Shadow (starring Alec Baldwin) in 1994 and ending with The Phantom (Billy Zane) in 1996.  All part of my DVD collection, of course!  Alas cinema audiences at the time were just not in the mood for these classic characters, the films performed poorly at the box office and pulp's breakthrough into the mainstream proved abortive.  I've always said they were simply made 20 years too soon(!).

Now, as the accompanying article touches upon, the early radio and comic-strip characters are proving to be more popular again as the fashion for all things vintage continues and public affinity with the tough times of the 1930s grows.  The new Shadow strips aim to take advantage of this renewed interest and hopefully introduce a new generation to the thrills of these early superheroes.

There are some interesting thoughts and ideas put forward by the interviewees in the piece and those held by the writers and artists involved in reviving these well-known characters, as well as the new strip itself, shows that there is a very good chance of fresh success for The Shadow at least, and maybe others too.  Director of the first three Spider-Man films, Sam Raimi, has long been a fan of The Shadow and is rumoured to be working on a new Shadow film having been trying to obtain the rights to the character since the late Eighties (which resulted in him making the 1990 film Darkman, starring Liam Neeson).  The Shadow given the Spider-Man treatment?  Sounds good to me!

Last year's The Green Hornet film, while not a period film and critically unsuccessful, at least shows that Hollywood hasn't lost its appetite for classic pulp fiction.  Next year's The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp has, going by available details, received mixed reactions so far but may be one to watch (although I've never really considered The Lone Ranger as a pulp character).  The Phantom continues to appear as a comic strip, was recently adapted for television and is also mooted for a film "reboot".  Likewise a new Doc Savage picture is said to be in the pipeline too.  While only some of these have or will remain rooted in their original time periods they should all remain true to their roots and will hopefully continue the revitalisation of these classic characters.

In the meantime, this all-new Shadow comic-strip looks like a promising start.  Fans of "old-time" radio serials like those of The Shadow, Flash Gordon and the like can also listen and download a wide selection of original broadcasts from this splendid website. 

'Rocketeer Adventures' miniseries prepares for lift-off

'Rocketeer Adventures' miniseries prepares for lift-off 

For fans of pulp comics The Rocketeer is a familiar and worthy addition to the genre and its illustrator, the late Dave Stevens, a highly regarded artist and writer who is much missed.

Unlike The Shadow, The Phantom, Doc Savage, Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon The Rocketeer came in late to the pulp fiction party, having been created by Stevens in 1982.  However with its great 1930s setting and proper pulp feel to the stories (heavily influenced by the Rocketmen serials of the 1950s, which I've mentioned previously, as well as pin-up models of the time such as Bettie Page, the likes of whom Stevens enjoyed drawing too) it quickly earned its place in the pantheon of comic book superheroes.

I love the 1930s Art Deco vibe that Stevens was able to capture so well; the stories are classic examples of good old-fashioned derring-do, there's a pretty girl, dastardly villains and plenty of flying both with and without aeroplanes.  For me, the Rocketeer has everything!



Rocketeer stories continued to appear throughout the remainder of the 1980s and 1990s and even led to a live-action Disney feature film in 1991 (which I have also mentioned previously is one of my all-time favourite films).  Sadly the film was not a great success and no further Rocketeeer stories were produced after 1995.  Even more tragically Dave Stevens died from leukemia in 2008, seemingly putting paid to any new Rocketeer adventures.

It was with great delight, therefore, when I heard recently that the copyright holder IDW Publishing had approached several of Dave Stevens' peers with the view of having them pen some new stories, illustrated in a style sympathetic to Stevens' original artwork.

A new series of 1930s-style comic book adventures seems almost too good to be true, but this article confirms it - soon there will be more exciting adventures of the Rocketeer to thrill and amaze us.  I can hardly wait!

Disney Animator Creates Vintage 'Superman' Short

Disney Animator Creates Vintage 'Superman' Short

I may have been rather uncharitable recently when I said that I don't need to use Google News a lot; I've been turning to it more and more lately and what I do find through it is often very blogworthy, hence its inclusion here. This is one such case and deserves wider mention.

We all know that Disney usually delivers the goods when it comes to animated films and it is no wonder when chaps like this are wielding the pencils. That this fellow has a penchant for vintage cartoons and serials is an added bonus and I think bodes well for future productions from the studio. This may be a small, private creation but the potential is there for a new Superman cartoon series in the classic style; it would be particularly well-timed right now following the announcement of a new Superman film complete with a British actor! Mr Pratt mentions drawing inspiration from the 1950s Superman serial starring George Reeve, particularly by setting his short to the music from it which is a great starting point and an inspired touch. The plot - what little there is in such a short excerpt - may seem familiar to some of you - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow anyone? But the flying robots idea actually has its roots in the Superman stories for it was the second episode of the 1941 Paramount/Max Fleischer Superman cartoons, "The Mechanical Monsters", that featured them and it was this that inspired much of Sky Captain. So it could be said to have come full circle by appearing in this chap's work. I'm sure the 40s cartoons were an influence on him too. (I picked up a copy of Volume 1, 9 episodes, of the Fleischer Superman series on VHS from Past Times some years ago - I think they were trying to offload the old format - for some ridiculous amount like 99p. Both Volumes 1 & 2 are now readily available on DVD. I may just have to upgrade when I get the chance!).



That influence can still be felt today. If anyone else remembers the excellent Batman: The Animated Series from the early 1990s (which I also have on DVD, I must add!), you might note the similarities in the animation of those cartoons and the Fleischer Superman series; it has been stated the animators were definitely going for the same look and I'd have to say that they succeeded. The Batman series even introduced a great new design to the backgrounds and surroundings, a mixture of Art Deco, Gothic and noir that was quickly dubbed "Dark Deco". That series was very well-received and I do believe that if DC Comics and Disney were to collaborate on this Mr Pratt's Superman cartoons could be just as successful as well. It'd be great to have something like this on Saturday morning TV in the near future - we can but hope!

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Caramba...! Tintin!!

According to Blogger Stats, by far and away the most read post since I started this blog was the news back in November 2009 that the new Tintin film - scheduled for release next year - was "finished" (in that all the dialogue had been recorded). Over 100 views in 24 hours (the next most popular was only 10!)!!

Perhaps this is not so surprising - even after 81 years Tintin still has a loyal following all over the world; not just here, in France and his home country of Belgium but as far afield as Canada, India and Tibet. So it was only a matter of time before the stories were turned into a film but it is only now, having bought the rights after the death of Tintin's creator Georges Remi ("Herge" was his nickname, derived from the French pronunciation of his initials read in reverse - "RG") in 1983, that Steven Spielberg has embarked on a movie venture.

Tintin holds many happy memories for me and I have no hesitation in naming him as a role model when I was growing up. I fondly remember, as I'm sure many of my readers do too, watching the 1991 series The Adventures of Tintin - the box set I now have on DVD! The first 1974 series Herge's Adventures of Tintin is also well-remembered by older members of my family. Despite the comic-book origins, I love the realism of the stories and particularly the time period and settings. The exotic locations that Tintin travelled to on his adventures have a real sense of immediacy and as a boy introduced me and drew me in to a whole other world - a world of 1930s aeroplanes, cars and ocean liners, of strange tribes and evil foreign villains! I have read - and still do read - all the books and am in the process of collecting all the stories again.


If this film can have the same impact on today's children then that would be brilliant. It certainly sounds incredibly promising - a trilogy based on 3 of the books (The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure), the first to be directed by Spielberg, the second by Peter Jackson and the third by the two of them. Motion capture 3D (a live action Tintin series was tried in the 1970s, I think, but was unsuccessful), Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock) one of the scriptwriters and with a great voice cast - Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, King Kong) as Tintin, Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Burke & Hare) as Captain Haddock, Daniel Craig as the main villain and Nick Frost & Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) as Thomson & Thompson, this could easily be my film of the year. The pictures that appear throughout this post were released recently and they only serve to heighten my anticipation. Roll on 2011!



N.B. In case you're wondering, the title of this thread comes from one of my favourite (and there are many!) exclamations from the books and series, usually uttered by some shady Latin type on the appearance of our hero. I admit that I sometimes try to work "Caramba!" into everyday conversation. ;-)

Charlie Chaplin to be made into cartoon

Charlie Chaplin to be made into cartoon

I have long been a fan of silent comedies and the early days of cinema in general and while Chaplin is not one of my favourite silent comedians I still appreciate his incredibly inventive, comedic ability. I am therefore overjoyed to see that plans are afoot to make a cartoon of him, something I'm certain Charlie would have been pleased with as well. Cartoons are the perfect medium for the sort of slapstick humour that Chaplin employed and I'm sure the people involved in this venture will have no trouble in thinking up new and hilarious situations for the little Tramp to become embroiled in. I can't wait!

Peter Jackson says Tintin film is 'finished'

Peter Jackson says Tintin film is 'finished'

One of my favourite-ever comic book characters is Tintin. I have read, but sadly do not own, almost all of the original books and have the early '90s cartoon series on DVD. The kind of upstanding, decent and adventurous hero that any right-thinking child (or adult, come to that) would be proud to hold up as a role model. His longevity (recently celebrating his 80th birthday) means he can be enjoyed by children of all ages(!). He shows no signs of fading away, either, with the announcement last year of a trilogy of motion-capture films to be directed by Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg. So no great expectations, then! I have been following this latest development since its inception, and I am glad to see that the first film is "in the can" bar the actual motion-capture procedure. Can I and my fellow Tintin fans wait a further two years? Looks like we'll have to! It's going to be worth it, I feel sure!