TomorrowLand is coming...

With the new movie TomorrowLand opening this week...

...we're going to take a look at a classic comic used when Disneyland opened in 1955 (60 years ago) to promote the theme park attraction that inspired the new flick.

Note that the first things listed after Main Street and The Hub are the primary elements of TomorrowLand; Space Station X-1, Rocket Pylon and Autopia Freeway.

It was the only part of the theme park not based on previous movies, cartoons, or live action tv shows.

(However, the year it opened, the Disney TV series [also named Disneyland] ran several episodes dedicated to science and future technology.)

Tomorrow, join Mickey and his nephews as they are given access to TomorrowLand the day before Disneyland opens!

Holiday Reading Room: SNOW QUEEN "What Happened at the Snow Queen's Palace and What Happened Afterwards"

It's all been leading up to this...

...the reunion of Gerda and Kay, the boy spirited away by the Snow Queen and taken to her icy palace in the Arctic!

Now, the conclusion...

THE END

Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #9 (1943) is the only comic book adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale that serves as the (very loose) basis of the wildly-popular Disney movie Frozen!

Adaptation writer Gaylord DuBois was one of the most prolfic (yet unknown) scribes in comics history with over 3,000 tales to his credit.

Artist Lea Bing was one of the few women working as a creative (instead of an editorial or production staffer) during the Golden Age.
From 1940 to 1954, she rendered several stories a year, usually adaptations of classic novels or fairy tales, with an occasional funny animal story.
Regrettably, nothing is known of her pre or post-comics career.

Holiday Reading Room: SNOW QUEEN "Lapp Woman and the Finn Woman"

When Last We Left Our Heroine...

Kay, an innocent little boy, was affected by tiny shards of an evil mirror accidentally imbedded in his skin.

Now cruel and mean, the lad tormened his playmates, including his best friend Gerda, who, though confused by his actions, still loved Kay.

While involved in a snowball fight, Kay was swept away by the immortal Snow Queen, who took him to her ice palace.

Gerda, worried and despondent, decided to go in search of Kay, and, after various perils, nears her destination...

Tomorrow, the Conclusion:

What Happened at the Snow Queen's Palace and What Happened Afterwards

Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #9 (1943) is the only comic book adaptation of the Hand Christian Andersen fairy tale that serves as the (very loose) basis of the current Disney movie Frozen!

In December 2011, following the success of Tangled, Disney announced a revival of the Snow Queen project with both a new title, Frozen, and new creative team.
The film would be computer-animated in stereoscopic 3D, with Chris Buck (Tarzan) directing and John Lasseter (Toy Story and Monsters, Inc) producing.
The main problem confronting the creatives was the character of the Snow Queen, which in the earlier version of the film, was an out-and-out villain.
The team decided to reconceive the film's protagonist, Anna (based on Gerda), as the younger sibling of the now-misunderstood Elsa (based on the Snow Queen), effectively establishing a family dynamic.

The results can currently be seen on tv screens all over the planet...

Holiday Reading Room: SNOW QUEEN "Little Robber Girl"

What Has Gone Before...

Kay, an innocent little boy, was affected by tiny shards of an evil mirror accidentally imbedded in his skin.

Now cruel and mean, the lad tormented his playmates, including his best friend Gerda, who, though confused by his actions, still loved Kay.

While involved in a snowball fight, Kay was swept away by the immortal Snow Queen, who took him to her ice palace.

Gerda, worried and despondent, decided to go in search of Kay, and, after meeting an old witch and young prince & princess, she encounters even more danger...

Tomorrow:

The Lapp Woman and the Finn Woman

Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #9 (1943) is the only comic book adaptation of the Hand Christian Andersen fairy tale that serves as the (very loose) basis of the current Disney movie Frozen!

In the late 1990s, buoyed by the incredible success of their adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid, Disney started work on an adaptation of Snow Queen, but the project was scrapped completely in late 2002, despite the fact it was headed by Glen Keane, who had directed Little Mermaid!

The project was revived again around 2008 under the title of Anna and the Snow Queen, and was planned to be traditional cel animation.

Less than two years later, the project was abandoned when the writers and artists failed to find a way to make the story and the Snow Queen character "work" for a modern audience.

More tomorrow...

Holiday Reading Room: SNOW QUEEN "Prince and the Princess"

We Have Already Seen...

Kay, an innocent little boy, is affected by tiny shards of an evil mirror accidentally imbedded in his skin.

Now cruel and mean, the lad torments his playmates, including his best friend Gerda, who, though confused by his actions, still loves Kay.

While involved in a snowball fight, Kay is swept away by the immortal Snow Queen, who takes him to her ice palace.

Gerda, worried and despondent, decides to go in search of Kay, and encounters a witch who wants to keep the girl in her enchanted garden, forever.

But, the resourceful child escapes and encounters a talking crow who knows of a little boy who sounds like Gerda's missing friend...

Tomorrow:

The Little Robber Girl

Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #9 (1943) is the only comic book adaptation of the Hand Christian Andersen fairy tale that serves as the (very loose) basis of the current Disney movie Frozen!

In fact, you may be wondering what the heck is going on since none of this plotline is in Frozen!

In 1943, Walt Disney and Samuel Goldwyn had considered the possibility of collaborating on a film biography of Hans Christian Andersen, wherein Goldwyn's studio would shoot the live-action sequences of Andersen's life and Disney would create the animated sequences.
But, due to creative differences, the project was cancelled.

Goldwyn went on to produce his own live-action film version in 1952, entitled Hans Christian Andersen, with Danny Kaye as Andersen.

But, the Disney studio didn't give up on adapting Andersen's stories into animation, as we will see tomorrow...

Holiday Reading Room: SNOW QUEEN "Flower Garden of the Woman Who Knew Magic"

We Have Already Seen...

Kay, an innocent little boy, is affected by tiny shards of an evil mirror accidentally imbedded in his skin.

Now cruel and mean, the lad torments his playmates, including his best friend Gerda, who, though confused by his actions, still loves Kay.

While involved in a snowball fight, Kay is swept away by the immortal Snow Queen, who takes him to her ice palace.

Gerda, worried and despondent, decides to go in search of Kay...

Tomorrow:

The Prince and the Princess

Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #9 (1943) is the only comic book adaptation of the Hand Christian Andersen fairy tale that serves as the (very loose) basis of the current Disney movie Frozen!

YouTube Wednesday: JOHN CARTER...Hit or Disaster?

Don't worry, John! We'll dig our way out of this hole!

The BBC's news/entertainment division did this piece about John Carter's less than stellar box-office...

...giving it a less-than stellar future.
Odd since JC has done over $125 million overseas, opened with over $10 million in China, and has yet to open in Japan, a strong market for films featuring sci-fi/fantasy and retro high-adventure (the two themes of JC)!
Personally, I think it'll end up doing very well on DVD/Blu-Ray, PPV, and 'net streaming, picking up the audience it didn't get in theatres.
Personally, I blame the marketing; terrible posters, trailers and commercials that didn't play up the "Carter was the FIRST!" concept and the whole "this is kool" idea, and, stupidiest of all, naming the flick the almost-useless "John Carter" instead of "John Carter and the Princess of Mars".
(Hey, "Hero and Plot Element" titles worked for Harry Potter and Indiana Jones!
Why not here?)

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Out of the Night, When the Full Moon is Bright...

"...comes the Horseman known as Zorro!"

Click on the art to enlarge

It's so big, we had to use two blogs to tell it!

It's ZORRO!

The comic book version of the legendary Disney tv series, featuring art by the amazing Alex Toth!

For Part One, go to our TV/Movie Adaptation blog...

Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™

then, either follow the embedded link or return here to go to

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for the exciting conclusion and a special video treat!

Check out our 

Western Comics online store...

 ...for duds and provisions!

Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men? Alex Ross!

Yep, that's The Shadow, as rendered by Alex Ross.
Dynamite Entertainment, who've already done successful revivals of The Green Hornet (despite the awful movie), Lone Ranger, Zorro, and the various Golden Age heroes of Project SuperPowers, now has the rights to the Man with the Power to Cloud Men's Minds!
If they do half as good a job as they've done with the characters listed above, I'll be a dedicated buying customer!

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Whatever Happened to The Lone Ranger?

The budget had been approved.
The script was written (and approved) by all concerned.
The stars, including Johnny Depp as Tonto, were cast.
Sets were being built in New Mexico.
Pre-production was well underway.
Then, someone at Disney yelled "STOP!"

The producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, was told he would have to cut $40 million from his already-approved budget of $250 million.
Was it because of the less-than-stellar box office for Cowboys & Aliens?
According to the LA Times: "Cowboys & Aliens made them (Disney executives) start quaking in their boots over big budgets," said Brandon Gray, creator and president of BoxOfficeMojo.com, a website that tracks worldwide ticket sales. "It was High Noon at Buena Vista."
Oddly enough, The Lone Ranger also would've been a cross-genre western, this time with werewolves (which makes sense, since silver can slay lycanthropes, and the Ranger uses silver bullets)!

Besides the location shooting in New Mexico, The Lone Ranger had reserved several soundstages at  Albuquerque Studios which, ironically, are currently being used for another big-budget Disney film; The Avengers!

Let's see what develops...

What will the Marvel / Disney merger produce? (part 2)

Another piece submitted by Jack "King" Kirby to Craig Yoe's book The Art of Mickey Mouse.
This one, believe it or not, was NOT used in the book!
I'm not sure if it was a case of only one contribution per artist or lack of space, but it's as kool (if not more so) than the previous piece!
This piece by another comics legend, Wally Wood, was used in TV Guide back in 1966-67 for an article about superhero cartoons dominating the previously funny animal-oriented Saturday morning cartoon schedule due to the success of the live-action Batman tv series!
(Remember when there WAS a Saturday Morning cartoon schedule?)
Note the Marvel characters get the primary focus.
Oddly, while Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four both had Saturday morning cartoons, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Sub-Mariner, (along with the Hulk in the background) were actually part of the Monday-Friday Marvel Super-Heroes show!
Plus, Green Lantern, Flash, and Hawkman were just segments in the Superman / Aquaman Adventure Hour (Come to think of it, where is Superman? Aquaman can be seen between Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch...)
And, you'll note the ONLY funny animal / humor character not fleeing in terror is Mickey Mouse!

What will the Marvel / Disney merger produce?

Behold...the coming of...Marvel Mouse!
(Mighty Mouse was already trademarked)

Jack "King" Kirby was indeed a visionary!
This was done, tongue-in-cheek, for a book in 1991 called The Art of Mickey Mouse edited by Craig Yoe, but seems extremely prophetic now!

Disney Buys Marvel Comics!

Official Press Release
Worldwide leader in family entertainment agrees to acquire Marvel and its portfolio of over 5,000 characters

BURBANK, Calif. & NEW YORK, Aug 31, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- --Acquisition highlights Disney's strategic focus on quality branded content, technological innovation and international expansion to build long-term shareholder value
Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.
Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.
Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion!
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Ike Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney's global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel's properties.

My opinion...
With Disney's control of tv networks ABC, ABC Family, and Disney Channel, and of course, experience in theme parks, I think we can finally expect to see Marvel multi-media properties developed properly. (Remember the MarvelMania restaurant chain?)
Time-Warner's synergy with DC Comics has resulted in major media successes in film, tv, and theme parks! Disney should be able to match that easily!