Your Thoughts: The Muppet Show Comic Book

[AndyWan Kenobi]

Well, I'll just say that I love the surprise "Family Reunion" in this issue. It was brilliant!

At the end? Yes, delightful!

 

[frogboy4]

Cameos and rights

I think there are clever ways around legalities like the several non-Disney character cameos (likely used without permission) in the Pigs in Space one-shot. The laws of copyright and parody kind of confuse me these days since shows like Family Guy get carte blanche on nearly everything they want to do. There are limits and lines...they're just hard to see.

However, a company can get sued even if they follow the rules and that means spending money even if the defendant wins in the end. I'm sure Disney wants to take as few chances as possible. Plus, a cover cameo is different than one buried in a panel.

 

[AndyWan Kenobi]

Plus, a cover cameo is different than one buried in a panel.

True--I was reading a Superman comic last year that had a more realistic version of Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama in one panel. And that's clearly a Fox property where Superman is WB. So you're right, it's all kind of hazy. But with three different companies owning the rights to characters that used to be united under one banner, and with the general public not necessarily understanding that, I would guess that all of these companies are a little bit sensitive about setting up and protecting their brands.

 

[Drtooth]

I think there are clever ways around legalities like the several non-Disney character cameos (likely used without permission) in the Pigs in Space one-shot. The laws of copyright and parody kind of confuse me these days since shows like Family Guy get carte blanche on nearly everything they want to do. There are limits and lines...they're just hard to see.

Don't forget Mad Magazine. Do they even have to get permission to draw half the stuff they draw in the background?

Check out this Mighty Mouse cover Too bad it's all fuzzy and small... but there are a lot of Terrytoons characters there (the ones they have the rights to) but you can see a lot of others that aren't. Like Cecil the Seasick Sea serpent. There are a LOT of others that aren't clear in that piacture, but I saw Underdog (from the bottom down) Rocky AND Bullwinkle, George of the Jungle... can't really remember who else. But you can tell they snuck away with it. Sometimes a drawing is just a drawing. Done right, no one will bother calling you out.

Now, if they were to run a story about one of these characters, they would no DOUBT be caught. You can sneak things into background... just be careful.

 

[frogboy4]

Don't forget Mad Magazine. Do they even have to get permission to draw half the stuff they draw in the background?

Check out this Mighty Mouse cover Too bad it's all fuzzy and small... but there are a lot of Terrytoons characters there (the ones they have the rights to) but you can see a lot of others that aren't. Like Cecil the Seasick Sea serpent. There are a LOT of others that aren't clear in that piacture, but I saw Underdog (from the bottom down) Rocky AND Bullwinkle, George of the Jungle... can't really remember who else. But you can tell they snuck away with it. Sometimes a drawing is just a drawing. Done right, no one will bother calling you out.

Now, if they were to run a story about one of these characters, they would no DOUBT be caught. You can sneak things into background... just be careful.

Oh, wow. I hadn't seen that before. A friend of mine has a poser of the Superman comic that image is parodying.

 

[Drtooth]

Oh, wow. I hadn't seen that before. A friend of mine has a poser of the Superman comic that image is parodying.

Oh yeah... I got the entire series. A good fraction of the series was parodies of various comics, both Marvel and DC.

Yeah... that's the Mices on Infinite Worlds 3 issue arc. There was another issue where there was a line out in front of Batbat 2 (Batbat being a character from the Bakshi series) and I swear they had a bunch of cartoon characters drawn into the back that shouldn't have been there. Pink Panther being one of them.

So it depends on how you draw them, where you put them, and how lenient the editors are.

 

[RedPiggy]

Well, I finally got my hands on it. It was a fun read, but it bothers me that Skeeter might not come back. I really hope she stays in the book, even part time.

 

[mbmfrog]

I found a copy and I thought it was kind of cute and clever way of using the family reunion arc like that.

 

[minor muppetz]

I don't guess we'd see the ghost of Uncle J.P. Grosse or anything by chance? That could be interesting. (And it depends on when this is set- if it's before "It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie", then I'm guessing he wouldn't be dead yet.)

J.P. Grosse did appear in the background in the first issue, obviously alive. Of course I find it odd that Scooter hasn't brought up his "uncle who owns the theater" at all in these comics (unless he does in the first two "Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson" issues... I still haven't seen those).

I found a copy today. I enjoyed the running gag of showing legs of characters but not their heads (I guess this was a Nanny reference). I noticed that at one point we see the outside of the theater and a sign at front promotes "Marvin Suggs and his All-Food Glee Club". Too bad we don't actually see them in this issue (though I did notice a few carrots with eyes backstage at one point). Marvin Suggs hasn't appeared at all in the comics yet. Maybe it would have been better if that sign had advertised Wayne and Wanda.


I also like that this issue includes a few member sof The Goggalalla Jubilee Jugband.

I noticed that at the beginning we see a blue monster in the audience. Is this supposed to be an existing Muppet monster? He looks a bit like Beautiful Day Monster, though something about the design isn't quite right (I feel he actually looks more like the version used on The Ed Sullivan Show than the one used on The Muppet Show).

 

[minor muppetz]

I noticed something cool about this issue: Janice finally plays her guitar in a Muppet Show comic book! In pretty much all previous issues she's drawn playing either maracas or a tambourine.