Dispatch Ajax! Podcast
A Geek Culture Podcast - Two life-long Geeks explain, critique and poke fun at the major pillars of Geek Culture for your listening pleasure.
Dispatch Ajax! Podcast
Comic Book Film History 4: Global
What if a "space ghost Dracula" could bring comics to life? We're tackling this and more as we dive into the vibrant world of comics in England, exploring its storied past and cultural significance. We'll take you on a rollercoaster of witty banter, touching on everything from Danzig's fictional elemental powers to the potential of podcasts achieving global acclaim. Join us as we navigate the fascinating journey from America and Japan to the heart of British comic history, with a nod to Europe's rich contributions and the legendary Mars Ravelo of the Philippines.
From the iconic pages of the Beano and the Dandy to the silver screen adaptations of early British comics, we've got it all covered. Discover how British comics, initially a staple of children's entertainment, evolved into something more profound. We'll compare the American and British experiences and trace the lineage of comic characters back to the 19th century. Learn about the trials and triumphs of translating British comic narratives into film, with a spotlight on characters like Ally Sloper and cinematic adaptations like "The Adventures of Jane."
Venture beyond the UK as we explore the global impact of British comic creators, including films inspired by 2000 AD's "Judge Dredd." From lesser-known adaptations to famous European comic icons like Asterix, Obelix, and Tintin, we celebrate the enduring legacy of comic creators worldwide. Our journey concludes in Southeast Asia, where Mars Ravelo's creations like Darna and Captain Barbell have left an indelible mark on Filipino cinema. Tune in for a lively discussion that promises to broaden your understanding of the global comic scene and its cinematic transformations.
I don't know. I'm not a spectrosexual. What if?
Speaker 2:he is a space ghost Dracula Huh.
Speaker 1:Wait, okay, well, you're going to have to be more specific. Is he a Dracula that came from space ghost, or is he a ghost as?
Speaker 2:I said he's a space ghost Dracula. Deal with the facts, Gentlemen, let's broaden our minds.
Speaker 1:Are they in the proper approach pattern for today? Negative, all the weapons.
Speaker 2:Now Charge the lightning field. How about the podcast? You want to do that.
Speaker 1:How about them podcasts? Huh hey swinging for the fences.
Speaker 2:they is Podcast is going to do it this year. I think this is the year.
Speaker 1:Podcasts are going to win it all. They're going to do it. The podcasts, well, the outfielders are called pod catchers.
Speaker 2:Huh, continue on.
Speaker 1:I'm intrigued I should have had more prepared. I had. Your catcher is just your. Well, no, that's also a pod catcher.
Speaker 2:Fuck, it doesn't work I just have to point out my personal flaws, and that's one of them.
Speaker 1:What's wrong with a little peace, love and understanding? I don't.
Speaker 2:Danzig, danzig's the problem.
Speaker 1:Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 2:No, it's.
Speaker 1:Danzig versus Okay, wow, that's a it's.
Speaker 2:Danzig versus peace, love and understanding. Yeah, the reason that Danzig has this power? Because he has control of both earth wind and fire. Boom, welcome back to Dispatch Ajax. This is Jake, I'm Scott. We're not talking about Danzig or Dio or podcast.
Speaker 1:Well, not yet.
Speaker 2:Or Outbreak Monkeys.
Speaker 1:Oh, they missed that part. What else have we?
Speaker 2:talked about the Irish, the Scottish, the Kiwis, the Turks. Constantinople any?
Speaker 1:Yeah, our hatred for other ethnic groups? Yeah, I didn't what.
Speaker 2:Our respect and lack of understanding.
Speaker 1:I thought they were saying no, not at all. Not at all you totally reject peace, love and understanding. So I thought maybe that's what we were going. I thought we were going with like a modern Twitter or Modern Hitler kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like JD fans or like hey, I don't have time to fuck a couch right now okay. I got to pod. I got to pod okay. This is episode part four of our ongoing and unending search into the history of comics on film.
Speaker 1:Honestly, this is more deserving of multiple episodes than our Highlander or Rocky things.
Speaker 2:I think that's quality material there and I stand by it.
Speaker 1:I still listen to it, but this is rife for actual historical information. And this is part four of this series, at least part four.
Speaker 2:True. You know what? That's my bad everybody. No, no, kink shaming here.
Speaker 1:Lay back and think of England.
Speaker 2:Thinking of England. That's just what we're going to do on this fourth or fifth part of the episode, oh my God. So I've kind of covered a lot of America and then we did a little bit of Japan. Previous episodes, especially the last one, focused just on Japan, shorter episode. This time I wanted to spread out and make sure I cover a little bit more of the world. So we're going to be covering a chunk of what was going on in Britain or England.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, it depends. Is it Irish, is it Scottish Welsh?
Speaker 2:What are those?
Speaker 1:England is its own country. We're going to be doing England.
Speaker 2:I don't think I'm covering any of the British Commonwealths or there, oh, if it's just England that's fine, whatever. Yeah, just England, and then we're going to spread out to some more of Europe, touch some bases there, europe and to the Philippines for a little jaunt.
Speaker 1:For a child bride. I've got a lot of pent up stuff. Just keep going.
Speaker 2:All right, Before we get into a little bit of the films, I'd like to give you a little history on comics in England, because I think that might be beneficial for us all. British comics are usually comic anthologies, which are typically aimed at children and are published weekly, although some are also published on a fortnight or monthly schedule. The two most popular British comics, the Beano and the Dandy, was released in the 1930s. Oh, that seems problematic. Yeah, it seems also that some people difficult to track down but some people just kind of refer to some British comics as dandies.
Speaker 1:Interesting.
Speaker 2:In reference to the dandy, but those have been going on the 30s and into the print run in 2012. Wow, when it went online. So that's a long effing run.
Speaker 1:That's like Dick Tracy or Bridget Starr You'd be shocked at how long it went.
Speaker 2:Yeah, went, yeah. So by the 1950s the weekly circulation for both had reached 2 million. Trying to explain the enormous popularity of comics and british pop culture during this period, anita o'brien, who's the director curator at london's cartoon museum, states quote when comics like the beano and the dandy were invented, back in the 1930s and through really to the 50s and 60s, these comics were almost the only entertainment available to children in England. Wow, especially like during wartime and whatnot, that's the only thing they had. So, originally aimed at the semi-literate working class in that it replaced the text-based stories of the story papers with picture based stories which were less challenging for a poorly educated readership, the comic gradually came to be seen as childish, in part because, due to gradual improvements in public education, children were eventually the only remaining market for a format designed to be unchallenging for the reader. Hence, by the mid-20th century, it was being marketed exclusively towards children. Just as a little baseline, I'm going to get a little more history of popularity of comics and into movies. Sure, how do you?
Speaker 1:feel like that evolution parallels the American reaction to comic books, forcing them to be for children. Do you think it's comparable?
Speaker 2:I feel like, at least from my understanding of that time and our research during the Seduction of the Innocent episode, there were plenty of stuff designed for kids, but there were also they had comics just designed for adults, but that all got wrapped up when they had essentially the Red Scare on comic books and cut the balls off of any comics coming out after that point, and so then I think they kind of just got funneled down into kids stuff, which I think then, if we're trying to relate to what we're talking about now, that really plays out in how comics are interpreted and put on screen After that, I think, in stuff like the Batman TV show, it was stuff that wasn't meant to be challenging in any way and was designed to appeal towards a young audience. Yeah, we'll jump to. Uh, how about 1867? Alley slopper, or alley sloper, I guess?
Speaker 1:okay, yeah, I mean, those sound like very different people. It's s-o-o-p-e-r sloper, I would guess sloper. Yeah, if it's sloper, there's probably two Ps.
Speaker 2:Well, there probably is two Ps yeah exactly Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:So he first appeared in 1867.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's a dude.
Speaker 2:He's considered one of the earliest comic strip characters and by some is regarded as the first reoccurring character in comics in general. Ali Sloper again, possibly the first fictional cartoon character illustrated anywhere in the world. The cartoon strip that he was in, which preceded Punch, was first published in Judy magazine I just like that Punch and Judy thing, Wow In August 1867. In 1884, he had his first dedicated comic called Alley Sloper's Half Holiday. Now, these strips, which use text narrative beneath unbordered panels, premiered in this issue of Judy, which was a humor magazine rival of the famous punch.
Speaker 2:Now, just to do a little context for this next bit, in our first episode we talked about kind of the beginning of film. Right, we talked about kind of the beginning of film, right, you had your horse in motion in 1880, the voyage to the moon, 1902 and the cast of jammer kids. So the cast of jammer kids were created in 1897 and then made their film debut in 1898. But Ali Sloper had a two minute film that was played in theaters in 1898 himself, where he he played a man dressed up as a woman, and then the films were reversed. He then had another short film in 1900.
Speaker 2:Okay, and then he had six more short films in 1921, all based on Ali Sloper. Now, unfortunately, most of these are lost to time. There are stills on glass plate negatives from some of these films, just singular shots, but from what I could tell the films are lost. We're going to jump a little bit ahead in time, to the Adventures of Jane in 1949. So this was based on the famous comic strip cartoon heroine of the Daily Mirror and the great song.
Speaker 2:Jane and some might say one of the earliest British comic, into film adaptations, at least in a feature film length. This was fairly cheap. Essentially. It's said to be fairly dreary and lackluster in almost every respect. Most British comic strip movies that came out about this time are low budget affairs, so they weren't putting a lot into them, but not necessarily everything. Because in 1954 we have the bells of saint trinians. Now this is uh, this is a british comedy film directed by frank launder, starring alistair sim.
Speaker 1:Some of you know my favorite scrooge so is that the one where they have that funny scene where christmas day he stands on his head and his nightgown falls down and his like help runs away screaming because they've seen, yes, yes, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, he's the best Scrooge. So this is inspired by the British cartoonist Ronald Sears Searles St Trinian School. It's a comic strip which focused on the lives of the students and teachers of this fictional school. Attempt to get shut down, their headmistress faces issues, financial troubles, blah, blah, blah. You've seen it in a bunch of stuff and eventually there's a scheme involving a racehorse. We won't get into that, for MPA reasons, but it's pretty racy stuff, don't wince.
Speaker 2:Among some of the most popular British films to be released in 1954, with critics praising the comedy and several cast members for the performances. This was the first film to be produced in the film series. There were three sequels later produced after this film one in 57, one in 60, and one in 66. Searle the cartoonist. He had begun the beginning of the war and continued to do them as a POW in Singapore, but after the war they became very successful and by the time the film had come out, searle had become tired of them. Wow, so I guess he stopped doing it. But it was the third most popular movie at the British box office in 1954. And in 2007, they made St Trinians, a British comedy film, and the sixth in the long-running series of the St Trinians. Wow so still coming out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like when they came out with Piranha 3D.
Speaker 2:Isn't it? Piranha 3DD.
Speaker 1:No, that's the sequel. There's Piranha 3D and then there's Piranha 3DD and Piranha 3D-.
Speaker 2:Sorry, I just got excited personally.
Speaker 1:Piranha 3D was done by the same guy who did Crawl, that crocodile movie that we both like. Oh, okay, yeah, no, he's legit.
Speaker 2:Now we've talked mostly about kind of more comic strippy things. My Lord and Savior, yeah.
Speaker 1:More stuff like the.
Speaker 2:Bell's St Trinians and Daily Mirror Reporter and stuff like that. But there are reasons that the adventure strip, the source of many of the comic book movie blockbusters since Superman in 78, emerged much later than it did in Britain than in the United States. Now, until the Second World War, most British comic strips were quote funnies, so real equivalents to say, a Flash Gordon or Dick Tracy, let alone British contemporaries of a Superman or Batman or Spider-Man. Now, britain's own space hero, dan Dare, pilot of the future, who made his debut in the Eagle in 1950, never made it to the big screen, though there were many abortive attempts to do so, one by the aforementioned Lindsay Anderson in the late 1950s and the entrepreneur Paul DeSavary in the mid-1970s, who wanted to cast James Bond star Roger Moore as Dan Dare.
Speaker 2:There was a deservedly forgotten CGI television series of Dan Dare, but that's the only time a character like that really made it in any form or fashion. Another reason that the British cinema historically had smaller domestic market than Hollywood. That's an insufficient to return the expense of a high concept special effects picture. So, though, salkind Superman and Daylight Rancid's Flash Gordon were both technically British films, on our account of being shot in British studios and employing British technicians to qualify for that. There was literally nothing British about them, yep that's true.
Speaker 2:So the next film we're going to cover is Tiffany Jones from 1972. Now, this was produced and directed by British exploitation filmmaker Pete Walker hey, and was kind of that Adventures of Jane from 49. It was kind of that story, but for the 1970s Now, tiffany, who would first appear in the Daily Sketch as a fashion model who tended to lose her clothes at the faintest narrative contrivance. Now, a relaxation of censorship in the 70s meant that, unlike the previous 1949 feature Adventures of Jane, tiffany Jones is able to present its heroine in her natural state, shall we say.
Speaker 1:What is this, Benny Hill?
Speaker 2:It didn't do so well, but it did prove a feature film adaptation, scandalous as it might be. Now another one I'd like to cover though it technically doesn't fall into comic books in the tightest sense, but it needs to be mentioned and that is Doc Savage, the man of Bronze.
Speaker 1:Ask Warren Ellis about that.
Speaker 2:I'd rather not.
Speaker 1:Well, you and I, specifically, have talked to Warren Ellis, and by that I mean we yelled out his name and he turned around and was confused. Yeah, that happened, you qualified.
Speaker 2:Doc Savage the man of Bronze is an action film starring Ron Eli as the pulp hero, doc Savage. Author Lester Dent retained the radio, film and television rights of the character as part of his contract with Street and Smith Publications, publishers of the Doc Savage pulp magazine. Although Dent succeeded in launching a short-lived radio program, he was never able to interest Hollywood in a Doc Savage film. A short-lived radio program. He was never able to interest Hollywood in a Doc Savage film. No-transcript.
Speaker 2:Now the production team of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman announced the intention to produce a Doc Savage to cash in on the popularity of the reissued pulp novels by Bantam Books and the James Bond craze sweeping the movies. The film would be based on the July 1934 pulp novel the Thousand-Headed man with Chuck Connors as Doc for a 1966 release. Unfortunately, the producers and Condé Nast Publications, the new copyright owner of the Doc Savage brand, failed to secure the film rights from the estate of Lester Dent. By the time the legal issues had been resolved, the production and cast had moved on to do offbeat western Ride Beyond Vengeance, which I know nothing about. Only the one-shot comic book movie tie-in, published by Gold Key with the cover artwork by James Bama, remains the mark that this aborted film ever tried to exist. Last one I'd really want to touch on comes to England is Judge Dredd film in 1995. Again, this is an American production starring Sylvester Stallone and Rob Schneider and a bunch of other cool character actors Rob Schneider's second build.
Speaker 1:It's tough and you have.
Speaker 2:Max von Sydow, armand Asante, juergen Prochnow isn't it right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, he is. I'm pretty sure he is.
Speaker 2:But you know, all below the line.
Speaker 1:But Rob Schneider though Rob Schneider. He was the animal and the hot chick, so Now he's just a piece of shite, apparently, allegedly.
Speaker 2:Now I wanted to touch on this because this was based on the 2000 AD comics line. What is like, I think, especially for Western comic fans, when we think of British comics, that's what we think of. We think of heavy metal and 2000 AD, 100%. Yep, you had a lot of what we've discussed many times before. Like the British movement in comics of the late 70s into the 80s, a lot of them cut their teeth and really got their start in the 2000 AD and the heavy metal stuff.
Speaker 1:Right, and it's really funny too, because a lot of the same exact people some of their first entries into that were writing doctor who comics. You know alan moore and warren ellis and and grant morrison they were all writing doctor who comics adaptations. And then they moved into stuff that's still influential today, that led to the british invasion of the mid-1980s in american cop hell.
Speaker 2:There were other films that were based on comics, but there wasn't that much more and there weren't really that many successful big time features that came out in England. So really it's just kind of about that beginning and kind of stuff that's come out relatively recent, like dread 2012, which was awesome.
Speaker 1:I honestly I'm surprised they haven't made a sequel to it. It's really good.
Speaker 2:It's fucking, it's fucking great, it is good, I know shut up, you don't know I'd like to move to other parts of the world. Just give you, uh, just a little spice. What do we taste in in these other countries? Because a lot of other countries in europe were still, and consistently have been, making movies based on comics, while we've been discussing all of these other things over these past three, four episodes.
Speaker 1:Very true.
Speaker 2:So what I'd like to cover? We'll go to Turkey.
Speaker 1:As well we should.
Speaker 2:There is the Keroglan Alte Don Gelen Yigit that was released in April of 1965. It's a good Irish name. That was the first of seven pictures of the Keroglan comic books. The creator, suat Yalaz, was also the producer and director and this is based on his work there. Now Keroglan, if I remember right, it's kind of like a historical comic book action thing. You know he's like a Turk adventurer worked as a scout for Genghis Khan and he goes on adventures, exploring around and, you know, doing what people do with turkey Eat, who I eat.
Speaker 1:It's the oldest story. Doing what people do with turkey Eat who I eat. It's the oldest story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there were films from 65 to 72 starring Carol Glenn, so it was a popular character that it kept coming out in both comic books and in movies again and again, probably Italy's I would say their biggest continuous comic book character to film adaptation they've had. Now in Italy there was a Criminal, which is a 1966 superhero film directed and written by Umberto Lenzi. So this is a film about a thief and a murderer called Criminal, played by Glenn Saxon who escapes from prison and is chased after by Inspector Milton.
Speaker 2:It was followed by a sequel, il Marcio di Criminale, or the Mark of Criminal. This is based again on a Fumetti Neri series. Please go back if you want to check out what Fumetti Neri is. That started in August 1964. The comics often contain themes of sex and violence, which included scantily clad women lots of strangling and stabbing.
Speaker 1:Not to be confused with the George Perez work.
Speaker 2:Sex and Violence no no Close, but not the same. So Umberto Lenzi stated he initially wanted to make a comic book inspired by Diabolique, but he was unable to get the rights for Diabolique because those were purchased by Dino De Laurentiis, who would then go on to produce Diabolique, which we spoke about a couple episodes ago. Lindsay then attempted an adaptation of Satanique, but eventually settled on Criminal.
Speaker 1:By Ed Brubaker.
Speaker 2:Which is coming, I think. Think on prime, is that right?
Speaker 1:yeah, it's well.
Speaker 2:I don't remember what ply for, but it is coming and that's kind of crazy to me, honestly so lindsey argued with criminal's creator, luciano secchi, about the changes he was making with the character which lindsey later described as quote a bit nazi skin fasc. We made a fun film.
Speaker 1:Chef's kiss no notes, no notes.
Speaker 2:So Lindsay wasn't able to make Satanique but Piero Vivarelli in 1968 got to make it Again. This is based on the Italian comic series Satanique and was released to moderate financial success in Italy. It tells the story of a withered old hag who turns into a beautiful young woman after drinking a youth formula. Now in the comics Satanic is not an old woman before the serum but rather a disfigured young scientist and kind of goes in a different direction in a lot of ways. But they made kind of a sexy Horror isn't the right word necessarily kind of more thriller in Satanic. So you're kind of getting a flavor of what italy's doing comic wise, uh, in the 60s don't forget about tex.
Speaker 1:Remember cowboys and aliens, wasn't that italian?
Speaker 2:uh, you know, I actually had. I had tex on there, but I had to drop it um just because we didn't have room.
Speaker 1:Sure Sure.
Speaker 2:We talked about it during our experience, Of course it's the one that I literally have all of the stuff and I deleted a bunch because we didn't have time and the one that you point out is the one that I fucking chopped.
Speaker 1:Well, I can edit it out. It's very easy. Next we'll travel to Yugoslavia where we get Mirko and Slavko From 1973, worker and parasite.
Speaker 2:This is a live action adaptation Of the popular Yugoslav comic book About two young partisan couriers In World War II. The story takes place in Serbia in 1941, during World War II, when only children remain in a village After a German punitive expedition. But they too find a way to oppose the occupier and join the partisans World. War II when only children remain in a village after a German punitive expedition, oof. But they too find a way to oppose the occupier and join the partisans Nice.
Speaker 1:So the comic started in 63 and was drawn by Desmir Zizovic Buina, I think. Sure, it's hard to say it's topsy-turvy world we live in.
Speaker 2:You know words. They're difficult these days. I don't know how to say them.
Speaker 1:I know you kids used to do it back then.
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 1:We used to read words Now you gotta say them oh, what is?
Speaker 2:this. So that was Yugoslavia. That's kind of a flashpoint they had in comics and movies for them. But Denmark they had quite a bit, or at least quite a bit of one thing. So in Denmark they made the Father of Four, the 1953 Danish family comedy directed by Alice O Frederiks and starring Sounds like a sitcom Yves Schönberg and Brigitte Bruun, the Brigitte Bruun, the Brigitte Bruun. Oh wow.
Speaker 1:What a get.
Speaker 2:Hey she was. I want to check out to see what Brigitte Bruun oh wow, what a get. Hey she was. I want to check out to see what Birgitte Bruun looked like.
Speaker 1:It doesn't matter. Birgitte Nelson's gonna come down and throw the fuck down on set, not even involved in the production. You know how she gets.
Speaker 2:Oh man, we all know how she gets. So, this film was based on the comic strip Kaj Engholm and Olav Host Hagar the Horrible. This was the first film in a series of eight father of four films made by Asset Films, one each year from 1953 to 1961.
Speaker 1:That sounds about right.
Speaker 2:So in 1947, Håkan Stefansson, editor of the Politiken newspaper. He wanted to start running a comic strip that depicted typical Danish life. This was a response to the surge of American comic strips flooding European marketplaces in the post-war years. Steffensen asked cartoonist Kaj Engholm for ideas. Engholm then asked his friend advertising executive Olav Host, who proposed this idea. Then asked his friend advertising executive Olaf Host, who proposed this idea. They roughed out the story together of a single father of four children, with the oldest daughter running the household, agreeing that the father would be a single parent, without ever creating a backstory for the mother's absence In interviews. Whenever the Hosts were asked where's the mother, they would always reply I don't know, but we promise to look into it. The comic strip first appeared in 48 and ran daily for 40 years on the back pages of Politiken Politiken.
Speaker 1:That's all right.
Speaker 2:Up until 1955. It ran for 48 to 55. Then it went to the Berlingske-Titend newspaper until 1988. The text was written by Haas until he retired from the strip in 73, after which it was written by a variety of writers, and then Engholm drew the strip until his death in 1988. But they made a lot of films. It must have been quite popular to keep going year after year for eight straight years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we wouldn't know anything about that in America.
Speaker 2:Well at least not the same film. I mean, nobody's making eight sequels back to back, to back, to back to back, to back, to back to back.
Speaker 1:Nobody makes Fast and Furious movies.
Speaker 2:Those take much longer, though, but they are much more involved and it's a different time. Well, they're both about family.
Speaker 1:They sure are.
Speaker 2:And Corona.
Speaker 1:And DVD players VCR and DVD combo players.
Speaker 2:That's just like your opinion, man.
Speaker 1:Paul Walker is on the moon Moonwalker.
Speaker 2:Okay, Next we'll go to Finland for the-.
Speaker 1:Nazis, nazis sympathizers.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, this is about their comics to film bit, which I don't think has that have to do with it. But this is the Pekka Poopa or Poopay.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:I'm not. I don't know how to say it. This was a tough one. The English translation might better be described as Pete Blockhead.
Speaker 1:Oh, I like it already, like wait, like those Gumby characters, maybe I don't know. Okay.
Speaker 2:There's no way we can ever know. It's lost to time.
Speaker 1:Let's dig up George Pal Hurry.
Speaker 2:No, so this was kind of. I mean it looks kind of like a Laurel and Hardy vibe. Okay, Vaudevillian.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a guy in a suit and then another guy, a taller guy, and he's got like a large hat. But it was like a duo comedy series Right, directed by Vilsomenon. Oh the Vilsomenon, the Vilsomenon, oh the Vilsomenon, the Vilsomenon. Yes, and so 53 was the first, but there was another one in 53, and then one in 54, and then one in 55, and another one in 55, and a third one in 55, and then one in 57, another one in 57, another one in 57, and then 58, another one in 58, one in 59, and one in 1960. And then they've had tributes to these characters in a film in 85, 86, and 2005.
Speaker 1:They're not like those Reddit tributes, though, where they jerk off onto the screen of the thing and then put it on there.
Speaker 2:No, please tell me, I know not of what you speak of, skip, oh, really.
Speaker 1:You have no idea what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2:You of all people have no idea what I'm talking about. What is this pornagrophies? I've never heard, I know not.
Speaker 1:So when Ron Jeremy and a woman love each other very much, they never speak again? One false police report. Oh woof, If I don't think about it, he doesn't exist.
Speaker 2:So, anyway, we're going from the Finlands to the Netherlands, when we get.
Speaker 1:I think there's only one Finland. You said the Findlands. I think there's only the one.
Speaker 2:Prove it Sjors and Simi. Otherwise, george and Jimmy, which is a Dutch adaptation of the comic strip Winnie Winkle, specifically the character Perry Winkle From that strip.
Speaker 1:We always talk about it over the water cooler Me and these fictional people apparently.
Speaker 2:So the difference between the American original and the Dutch adaptation is that Sjors Perry Forms a duo with the Africa-born Simi or Jimmy. They are raised by Sally and the Colonel. The Colonel regularly finds himself on the receiving end of their pranks. In return, sjors and Simi or George and Jimmy are outsparted by their scheming classmate Dicky, although they manage to stay best friends Now. This was a popular comic strip and spawned seven live-action movies made between 1955 and 1977 by Henk van der Linden.
Speaker 1:It was made into a TV show called Bob Loves Abishola. You don't know this reference. No, I don't know that one. Oh, my, we'll visit that later.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, I just looked it up. Some of the things that you know and bring out disgust me.
Speaker 1:And that's coming from you. So that's, I mean that's saying something.
Speaker 2:It's really truly saying something Depravity on an unknown level. One might say I'm fucked up. So we're just going to take a quick dip into France, swim this in there for a bit, and I just want to touch on just a few of their characters. So Asterix and Obelix have had many animated films. It's Belgian, that's true, just like Tintin, I believe the films are made in France, though.
Speaker 1:That might be because I don't know what they do in Belgian. They make chocolate, my friend, they don't even have Hercule Poirot. That's British Because of Agatha Christie.
Speaker 2:We all do actually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:There's also Lucky Luke, who's had both live-action animated films from the 70s up until 2004. Actually, 2007. Wait 2009.
Speaker 1:The latest one starring Brandon Routh or something I don't know. It's like Dilladog, Like nobody fucking knows. Nobody remembers these things In France.
Speaker 2:Lucky Luke is a big-time character, Okay.
Speaker 2:In France, Lucky Luke is a big time character, okay, and then of course, as you said, the Adventures of Tintin or Tonton, many, both animated and live action adaptations from the 40s up until 2011. So the last thing we're going to do is travel to a different island, this one a little bit closer to America, but has I don't know. I don't know if that'd be closer to I don't know who cares. We're traveling to a different island, far away from Europe and America. We'll say that. So we're traveling to a different part of the world, now its own islands. We're going to go to the Philippines, which has a robust comic and comic film adaptation scene. In fact, they seem to love both comics and comic adaptations there. So I'll have to talk about Marcial Mars Custodio Ravello. He was born in 1916, died in 1988, and he's a Filipino comic book cartoonist and graphic novelist and he's dubbed the king of Philippine comics.
Speaker 1:Wow, jack Kirby, eat your heart out.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no, this is like Jack Kirby and Stan Lee and maybe Chris Claremont all rolled into one. That's an odd pairing. It's a throuple, rather.
Speaker 1:Beyond the grave.
Speaker 2:So he made comics like Darna Diisabel, captain Barbell, lastic man yes, that's right, lastic man. I've heard of that. One man yes, that's right. Elastic man well, I've heard of that one. Bonding varga, flash, bomba, tiny tony and many, many others tiny tony yeah tiny tony, huh tiny tony.
Speaker 2:And so I'm just going to cover a few of these, because a lot of these comics that he made got turned into films and even series of films, very popular. I just want to hit a few of the big ones. So one is ang ponday, a blacksmith or ponday named flavio, who forges a dagger from a meteorite. Upon learning, it can magically transform into a sword. He uses it to fight evil, as you do. As he is a normal human. He makes his own costume, protect his identity. While initially using it to fight human criminals and bandits, he ends up going to battle with witches, ghosts, demons and finally finding his arch-rival, lizardo, the demon prince.
Speaker 2:So over the years there have been both TV and film adaptations, and the first big one is a 1980 film directed by Fernando Poe Jr, who also stars as Aang Pandey. This film was followed by three sequels also featuring Poe. There's one in 81, another in 82, another in 84. And all these films are shown at the Metro Manila Film Festival in their respective years. Now there's been an animated TV series, dubbed as the first full-length Filipino animation series. That was shown in the mid-1980s and it was patterned after the storyline of the first movie. Now. Another one I want to cover is Baroque, or Baroque B-A-R-O-K. Baroque.
Speaker 1:Well, okay, I don't know, they were colonized by the Spanish and then us. So some bit of Spanish and English, but we'll go with Barok.
Speaker 2:I guess this is considered to be one of the most popular comic characters in the Philippines. This one was created by Filipino cartoonist Bert Surreal in 1973. So this is a Stone Age Philippine comic book character. Barack was described as Surreal, as a lead character and one of the equivalents in the Philippine comic book industry of the American cartoon characters the Flintstones. He was a prehistoric caveman who carried a large spiked club. Classic Barack had been featured in three Filipino films. A 1979 version starred the comedian actor Chiquito as Barak. There's also a 1976, the official film entry of the Metro Manila Film Festival, as we spoke of before. I'd also like to speak about Captain Barbell. He's said to be inspired by Captain America and something of a spoof of Shazam as well, with a little bit of Cinderella thrown in there. Originally a scrawny boy named Tentang that is bullied by his stepbrothers. A genie grants him the power to become a muscular hero with a magical barbell, is it Shaquille O'Neal or Cinderella?
Speaker 2:Which one. Strangely, it's neither. To emphasize this, early versions of the character were shirtless and designed off of circus strongmen. The movie version, however, popularized giving Captain Barbell a yellow top. So Captain Barbell came into the screen in 1964. Bob Solo first portrayed the Captain, produced by Delanor Productions and directed by Hermino Butch Bautista that's a cool name. Captain Barbell's alter ego was called Ting Ting and played by Dolphy. Of course it was yeah. In 1965, a year after Captain Barbell's film debut, Fernando Poe Jr produced the film Captain Philippines at Boy Pinoy. It also starred Bob Soler, the first Captain Barbell, as Captain Philippines, and Lou Salvador Jr as Boy Pinoy. They end up Captain Barbell would have five movies made in total about him. Now there are a lot of interesting characters. A lot of them are kind of based on American superheroes, but with their own Filipino spin on things.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah, we're familiar with those, Are we? Yes, you don't remember Catman and the Lethal Track? Oh yeah, but wasn't that. No, it was Philippines. It was Philippines, but it was like cobbled together from a bunch of other crazy bullshit. Yeah, that feels like so.
Speaker 2:Also like what are they trying to? I guess? Yeah, yeah, I guess it is similar in ways. I mean, there's like a Wonder Woman-esque character that looks kind of like Wonder Woman but then has different power sets, does different things. So you know, Catman is kind of like Batman, but if Batman had mind powers?
Speaker 1:Mind powers. Ish yeah, woo Catman.
Speaker 2:Mind powers, ish yeah, woo Catman. But there's a plethora of Filipino comics to check out and Filipino movies based on comics. There were just so many like I just had to pick a few because we could be here all night going through all of them because they made so many about their comics. There were so many they skipped over for all over europe, but we only had to pick and choose some. Just give you a sample of what was going on, because you see here that there were movies being made from comic books all over the world, that this wasn't just an america thing, this was Anywhere that had comics was making movies based on comics. Damn right.
Speaker 2:It's been going on, as we see, from the 1890s up until today, with especially big times. Kind of before our comic boom really took off, it was booming in other countries. You see the 50s, 60s, 70s, these European countries and the Philippines and Eastern Europe. They were shooting from the hip, throwing all of these comic book characters out on screen. So we were kind of catching up in a way, although, like I covered before, we were still putting out comic book characters into film. But it's about to pick up and really, I think, hit a new height in next episode.
Speaker 1:Whoa, the 19th episode of the series.
Speaker 2:Please stick around for that, if you are intrigued to see where we go. How much further off topic can I get? Only time will tell.
Speaker 2:No, I think that applies to me more than you, but we do hope that you have enjoyed this particular look at some comic movies around the world and please listen back to the previous episodes here if you want to kind of get a fuller picture of the history of comics, comic strips, graphic novels, storytelling adapted to films and movies, or go back in and listen to some of our other classic episodes, like the ones about Rocky or Highlander.
Speaker 1:Yes, the longest running, most annoying ones. Yes, please tune into those.
Speaker 2:Or other classic ones, our Seduction of the Innocent. That was a really good episode, really informative.
Speaker 1:Cowboys and Aliens, mandela Effect.
Speaker 2:We got all types of cool stuff.
Speaker 1:Our 15th episode is great.
Speaker 2:So check out the back catalog and if you like any of what you're hearing, if you think maybe your friends, family loved ones, cats, dogs, anybody might like it, tell them about it, you could share it on social media. That'd be kind of cool. Or even if you don't do that, if you wouldn't mind, if you're digging what you're hearing, just go leave a rating, go leave a review. Just a quick you know little.
Speaker 1:Summary or whatever. You can write whatever you like, we don't care, just as long as you say something. Just call your mother. What's it going?
Speaker 2:to hurt. Call your mother, so call me. Maybe If you wouldn't mind leaving us five Captain Barbells on the podcast app of for choice, apple podcast. That might be good. It helps us get seen, get heard. Spreads the word.
Speaker 1:It's the word. Have you heard?
Speaker 2:Bird, larry Bird.
Speaker 1:The end.
Speaker 2:We appreciate that you've stuck around to listen to this and that you've listened to any of us at all. It is meaningful to us that someone's out there listening, so I just want to say thank you. That's all. Just a thank you.
Speaker 1:We appreciate it. If you contact Jake secretly, he will come suck your dick. He's thankful I'm debating it All right.
Speaker 2:We're still talking to the legal team. What's up, Mr Snips? What do you say? Can I do this?
Speaker 1:It's like you're sitting around a table full of inanimate dolls You're like. Well, what do you think?
Speaker 2:I should do Reginald over here. He has something else to say. What's that, reggie?
Speaker 1:I know, professor Pickles.
Speaker 2:How many do we have? I don't know. Skip. What should we do?
Speaker 1:Kill ourselves probably. Woof, all right, please make sure, ladies and gentlemen, you have paid your tabs, make sure you've cleaned up after yourselves to some sort of reason. Please make sure you have supported your local comic shops and retailers. And from Dispatch Ajax, which is us, we would like to say Godspeed, fair Wizard Toodles.
Speaker 2:Please go away.