Over the past 10 years I have notice that more and more woman are writing for DC and Marvel. If you ever wanted a guy to like you.. tell him you collect comic books! You will always have something to talk about. My sisters have been reading them for years. ( behide my back and never telling me until I caught her in my room one day reading them) So ladies it is ok let the world know what you like. Now, How many of you collect comics full time?
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In Chicks Dig Comics, editors Lynne M. Thomas (Hugo-Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords) and Sigrid Ellis bring together essays by award-winning writers and artists who celebrate the comics medium and its creators, and who examine the characters and series that they love...
Based on interviews with Stan Lee and dozens of his colleagues and contemporaries, as well as extensive archival research, this book provides a professional history, an appreciation, and a critical exploration of the face of Marvel Comics...
This drawing tutorial from best-selling author Christopher Hart shows artists how to draw exaggerated musculature of super-sized figures in action poses.
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As a part of the acclaimed DC Comics—The New 52 event of September 2011, the first six issues of the critically acclaimed new Wonder Woman series are collected in hardcover! Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, has kept a secret from her daughter all her life–and when Wonder Woman learns who her father is, her life will shatter like brittle clay...
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Product Description Critically acclaimed pop-up engineer Matthew Reinhart celebrates the history, heroes, and villains of the DC Universe in this ultimate 3-D masterpiece! Bursting with over 25 impressive pop-ups, this deluxe format features a variety of unique novelty elements-including a light-up Bat-Signal, a cosmic Justice League of America battle scene, a twirling Lasso of Truth, and a transparent Invisible Jet! Starring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and many more favorite DC characters, this momentous pop-up exploration releases just in time for DC Comics' 75th anniversary...
What are super-devoted fans of comic books really like? What draws them together and energizes their zeal? What do the denizens of this pop-culture world have in common? This book provides good answers as it scrutinizes the fans whose profiles can be traced at their conventions, in pages of fanzines, on websites, in chat-rooms, on electronic bulletin boards, and before the racks in comic-book stores...
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Look! Up on the bookshelf! It’s the 100 most incredible, most outrageous, and most bizarre comic book covers from the DC comics archive. Better still, these poster-size masterpieces are all perforated and ready for display in your apartment, dorm room, or cubicle! From New Fun #1 and Batman #1 to lesser-known titles like Mister District Attorney, this oversized compilation features every major milestone in DC’s extraordinary history: Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Girls’ Romance, Swamp Thing, Watchmen, Sandman, Fables, 100 Bullets, and much more...
Celebrate DC Comics' iconic heroine, Wonder Woman, with this awesome wall decal. Measuring just under three feet high, this massive poster brings the patriotic cover of Wonder Woman #272, originally published in 1980, right to your wall! Application is easy: just peel the pre-cut sticker from its liner and smooth it out on your wall, or any other flat surface. Each of our comic cover posters are fully removable, repositionable, and reusable, so you can adjust the design whenever you please. Coordinate this poster with the rest of our classic DC Comics wall graphics for a full room effect. Makes a great gift for any comic book fan!; Dimensions: 27 x 40; Number of Wall Decals: 1; Assembled Dimensions: 24" wide x 36" high
Rock Hard Woman is a fifteenminute chamber opera with dramatic and musical timing based on mechanisms used by comic book authors to control the pace of the reader, including panel size, language, and plot development. Written for baritone voice, the works plot concerns a demented sculptor and his statue, played by a dancer, and addresses all the comedy, hardship, miscommunication and confusion of a relationship. The piece lasts about the time it takes to read a comic book, and the fastpaced action and immediate surge of plot from the beginning is similar to reading an issue from a comic book series where characters have already been developed. The libretto, by author Linda Hauser, is based on Pygmalion, a tale from the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC 17 AD). Sections are translated into Middle English to represent the sculptors dementia. Author: Riebli, Nathan Christopher Colin Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 76 Publication Date: 2011/09/01 Language: English Dimensions: 9.69 x 7.44 x 0.16 inches
Wonder Woman Comic Tin Sign This is an officially licensed Wonder Woman Tin Sign in which this Wonder Woman Tin Sign has been decorated with an official Wonder Woman image. Check back often for some of our new Wonder Woman clothing and other Wonder Woman merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com .
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Comic Cavalcade was a comic book series published by AllAmerican Publications and later DC Comics. It ran 63 issues, coverdated Winter 1942/43 to Summer 1954. Most American comic book publishers in the 1930s and 40s Golden Age of comic books published anthology titles that showcased a variety of characters, usually with one star such as Green Lantern in AllAmerican Comics or Wonder Woman in Sensation Comics. Comic Cavalcade, however, featured both those star characters as well as the Flash, a star in his own namesake title as well as the spinoff AllFlash. Author: Miller, Frederic P./ Vandome, Agnes F./ McBrewster, John Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 128 Publication Date: 2010/12/12 Language: English Dimensions: 6.00 x 9.02 x 0.30 inches
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Sojourn was a CrossGen comic book series about the adventures of Arwyn and her friend Gareth as they traveled in a fantasy world with dragons, trolls, and magic. Starting in 2001, it ran for 35 issues before it was forced to end by the bankruptcy of CrossGen in 2004. For a time, this series was Crossgens highest grossing comic. A woman named Arwyn, her dog Kreeg, and a oneeyed man named Gareth travel throughout the lands of the planet Quin looking for 5 shards of a magic arrow to defeat the evil dictator of the land, Mordath. Along the way they meet a thief named Cassidy who knows Gareth from the past. Near the end of the series a Snow Troll, or Iskani, named Gustavus, who could have possibly joined the group, was introduced. Author: Surhone, Lambert M./ Tennoe, Mariam T./ Henssonow, Susan F. Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 84 Publication Date: 2010/09/29 Language: English Dimensions: 6.00 x 9.02 x 0.20 inches
Decorate any room with some comic book style! Retro-styled and crafted from heavy gauge metal. Great for your home or office! Wonder Woman is a member of an all-female tribe of Amazons who is sent to "man's world" as an amb@ssador. Among the Amazons she is known as Princess Diana (being the daughter of Amazon queen Hippolyta); in "man's world" she takes the secret identity of Diana Prince. Her powers include super strength, hand-to-hand combat ability, and flight. She also makes use of her L@sso of Truth (which forces those bound by it to tell the truth), a pair of bullet-deflecting bracelets, and an invisible plane. Measures 7 1/4-inches wide x 11-inches tall. Bring home this Wonder Woman Comic Book Cover Heavy Gauge Metal Sign today! Type: Home Accents
Celebrate DC Comics' iconic heroine, Wonder Woman, with this awesome wall decal. Measuring just under three feet high, this massive poster brings the patriotic cover of Wonder Woman #272, originally published in 1980, right to your wall! Application is easy: just peel the pre-cut sticker from its liner and smooth it out on your wall, or any other flat surface. Each of our comic cover posters are fully removable, repositionable, and reusable, so you can adjust the design whenever you please. Coordinate this poster with the rest of our classic DC Comics wall graphics for a full room effect. Makes a great gift for any comic book fan! This product is printed on opaque material. Suitable for any wall color.
The knowledge-in quest of public is not just a follower of flicks and TV collection or a large fanatic of cellphone texting, MMS sending and calling. All of whom who seek for fascinating tales and ideas also are keen on mobile comedian books particularly that the cellphone generation is emerging to its peak.
From the classical mobile comic books to hero-focused ones, each young and mature are amused about viewing them anywhere at any time of the day. Even supposing the sector's fascination of this sort of perk remains to be recent, there have been round 60,000 readers in a month who reportedly subscribe to comics services. Is not this a comic book fanatic global finally? Certain, batman, superman, cat woman, title them. They're recognized to be renowned on-print comics, and now there are versions of such that can be considered on cell phones and notebooks.
The creators of cellular comic books bounce along with the virtual tendencies during which production and distribution costs aren't too dear, to not mention wi-fi providers are competitive in proving subscribers the most efficient services and products they could carry forward. Knowledge-rich systems and software programs are built-in in refined lines of cell phones to meet the pursuits of the texting public.
With the increasing acclaim for MMS sending, information sharing and document accessibility, cellular comic books are gearing in opposition to incomes a larger following from kids who are searhing for for moveable pleasure by viewing miniatures or prime-tech versions of well-known comics. Eastern Anime has come into the image as amongst the generally popularized ones as well.
Creating the cell comic books is challenging in that it must be within bounds of no longer beyond 25 frames they usually range in reveal sizes to fit the sorts of handsets. Also, the java application can't be seen on all telephones so that is every other challenge that creators encounter. Java-primarily based packages are being utilized by cell info suppliers who are actually generating their very own line of cell comedian books.
Excluding java viewer, WAP and multi-media messaging features can permit one to view mobile comic books like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bone, Batman, Thunder Road, Five Fists of Technology, and Style Operandi that may be mostly popular among males. A few companies are actually on the final levels of arising with the animation, ringtones, wallpaper and cinematic options in addition to covering manga-themed games that may be popularized in Japan.
A few cellular comic books are tricky to view than to others but this in large part depends upon what your cell phone's features are. The single panels allow the creators to follow through how the mobile phone house owners understand their tales so that suspense part makes one to be more curious concerning the succeeding segments of each comedian book. In case your telephone is Java in a position, then you'll experience a few of the cell comic books.
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What comic books or graphic novels are a good read?
I have been out of the comic book world for 15 years and a friend recommended Josh Whedon's Astonishing X-men vol 1 - 4. I loved it and looking for more comic books that are just a fun read with great art. What do you recommend?
I personally loe astonishing x men by josh whedons story line. I loe how kitty pryde sacrafises her self to save the world and infuses to a bullet. I would recommend spidergirl that is a great read about the future of alot of the marvel charecters especialy spiderman. This is a summary of the story.
The civilization has long ago settled in numerous worlds all over the Galaxy. Then the means of instant inter-galaxy communication that linked the worlds was invented. This “Super-Internet” has penetrated even to the farthest worlds of the Galaxy...
An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months, society has crumbled: There is no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV...
Life in the prison starts to get interesting for Rick Grimes and the rest of our survivors. Relationships heat up, fizzle out, and change entirely almost overnight. By the end of this volume, relationships between key characters are radically changed, setting the stage for future events in TheWalking Dead...
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The series that created the zombie movement reaches its most pivotal, series-altering arc yet! They thought they were safe in the prison. They were wrong. A force far more deadly than the walking dead is at their door and when the dust settles, their rank will be reduced by more than half...
As the survivors settle into their prison home something has drawn them out into the open... out of the prison... out of their sanctuary. This is a major turning point for the overall story of The Walking Dead, setting the stage for years to come...
Trapped in a town surrounded by madmen, Rick must find a way out or die trying. Meanwhile, back at the prison, the rest of the survivors come to grips with the fact Rick may be dead, and a major turning point in the series is reached...
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Paperback Walking Dead graphic novel, volume 10, "What we Become."
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Lori's pregnancy has come to term, and the birth is near. After everything they've been through, nothing can prepare Rick and the other survivors for what they are about to experience. A major turning point in the series is reached...
Does a super-revised and more comprehensive Marvel Handbook sound Impossible, Man? Do you seek the secrets of Infinity...Gauntlet? When you need a Hand, don't be a Hammerhead: Take the Initiative! This volume deals out favorite heroes including Havok, Hawkeye, Molly Hayes, Hellcat, Hercules, Hulk, Human Torch, Iceman, Invisible Woman, Iron Fist and Iron Man! Villains including the Hate-Monger, Hellfire Club, High Evolutionary, Hobgoblin, the Hood, Hydra, Hydro-Man, Immortus and Imperial Guard! Plus: HERBIE, Happy Hogan, Howard the Duck, Jarella, J...
Over 80 of the best creators from every style and genre have contributed over 50 stories to this anthology featuring tales inspired by the songs of multiplatinum recording artist, Tori Amos Featuring an introduction by Neil Gaiman, with stories by creators such as Carla Speed McNeil, Mark Buckingham, C.B. Cebulski, Nikki Cook, Hope Larson, John Ney Reiber, Ryan Kelly, and many, many others, Comic Book Tattoo encapsulates the breadth, depth, and beauty of modern comics in this coffee table format book. Author: Hoseley, Rantz A./ Amos, Tori Series Title: Comic Book Tattoo Binding Type: Hardcover Number of Pages: 480 Publication Date: 2008/07/01 Language: English Dimensions: 12.02 x 12.02 x 1.51 inches
For everything you do, there's a song that hits the spot. MOG brings them all to you: a world of music on demand, unlimited mobile downloads and ways to discover music free from the limitations of Pandora. The music you love, with you everywhere you go.
For everything you do, there's a song that hits the spot. MOG brings them all to you: a world of music on demand, unlimited mobile downloads and ways to discover music free from the limitations of Pandora. The music you love, with you everywhere you go.
Felix's origins remain disputed. Australian cartoonist/film entrepreneur Pat Sullivan, owner of the Felix character, claimed during his lifetime to be its creator as well. American animator Otto Messmer, Sullivan's lead animator, has more commonly been assigned credit in recent decades. Some historians argue that Messmer ghosted for Sullivan. What is certain is that Felix emerged from Sullivan's studio, and cartoons featuring the character enjoyed success and popularity in the 1920s.
In the early 1920s Felix enjoyed enormous popularity in popular culture. He got his own comic strip (drawn by Messmer) beginning in 1923, and his image soon adorned all sorts of merchandise such as ceramics, toys and postcards. Several manufacturers made stuffed Felix toys. Jazz bands such as Paul Whiteman's played songs about him (1923's "Felix Kept On Walking" and others).
By the late 1920s with the arrival of sound cartoons Felix's success was fading. The new Disney shorts of Mickey Mouse, made the silent offerings of Sullivan and Messmer, who were then unwilling to move to sound production, seem outdated. In 1929, Sullivan decided to make the transition and began distributing Felix sound cartoons through Copley Pictures. The sound Felix shorts proved to be a failure and the operation ended in 1930. Sullivan died in 1933. Felix saw a brief three cartoon resurrection in 1936 by the Van Beuren Studios.
Felix cartoons began airing on American TV in 1953. Meanwhile, Joe Oriolo, who was now directing the Felix comic strips, introduced a redesigned, "long-legged" Felix in a new animated series for TV. Oriolo also added new characters, and gave Felix a "Magic Bag of Tricks", which could assume an infinite variety of shapes at Felix's behest. The cat has since starred in other television programs and in two feature films. Felix is still featured on a wide variety of merchandise from clothing to toys. Oriolo's son, Don Oriolo, now controls creative work on Felix movies.
Creation
Feline Follies by Pat Sullivan, silent, 1919. Length 4min44s, 501kbps
A scene of Felix "laffing" from "Felix in Hollywood" (1923).
Pat Sullivan's work
Felix and Charlie Chaplin share the screen in a memorable moment from "Felix in Hollywood" (1923).
The famous "Felix pace" as seen in "Oceantics" (1930)
On November 9, 1919, Master Tom, a prototype of Felix, debuted in a Paramount Pictures short entitled Feline Follies. Produced by the New York City-based animation studio owned by Pat Sullivan, the cartoon was directed by cartoonist and animator Otto Messmer. It was a success, and the Sullivan studio quickly set to work on producing another film featuring Master Tom, the Felix the Cat prototype in The Musical Mews (released 16 November 1919). It too proved to be successful with audiences. Otto Messmer gave two different versions of how Felix got his name, the one on his official site ejoining Sullivan with a great idea for a new character named Felix the Cat, and the second that r. (John) King of Paramount Magazine suggested the name "Felix", after the Latin words felis (cat) and felix (lucky), which was used for the third film, The Adventures of Felix (released on 14 December 1919). Pat Sullivan said he named Felix after Australia Felix from Australian history and literature. In 1924, animator Bill Nolan redesigned the fledgling feline, making him both rounder and cuter. Felix's new looks, coupled with Messmer's character animation, brought Felix to fame.
The question of who exactly created Felix remains a matter of dispute. Sullivan stated in numerous newspaper interviews that he created Felix and did the key drawings for the character. On a visit to Australia in 1925, Sullivan told The Argus newspaper that "The idea was given to me by the sight of a cat which my wife brought to the studio one day." On other occasions, he claimed that Felix had been inspired by Rudyard Kipling's "The Cat that Walked by Himself" or by his wife's love for strays. Members of the Australian Cartoonist Association have demonstrated that lettering used in Feline Follies matches Sullivan's handwriting. Pat Sullivan also lettered within his drawings which was a major contradiction to Messmer's claims. Sullivan's claim is also supported by his 18 March 1917, release of a cartoon short entitled The Tail of Thomas Kat, more than two years prior to Feline Follies. Both an Australian ABC-TV documentary screened in 2004 and the curators of an exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales, in 2005, suggested that Thomas Kat was a prototype or precursor of Felix. However, few details of Thomas have survived. His fur color has not been definitively established, and the surviving copyright synopsis for the short suggests significant differences between Thomas and the later Felix. For example, whereas the later Felix magically transforms his tail into tools and other objects, Thomas is a non-anthropomorphized cat who loses his tail in a fight with a rooster, never to recover it.
Sullivan was the studio proprietor and as is the case with almost all film entrepreneurs he owned the copyright of any creative work by his employees. In common with many animators at the time, Messmer was not credited. After Sullivan's death in 1933, his estate in Australia took ownership of the character.
It was not until many years after Sullivan's death that Sullivan staffers such as Hal Walker, Al Eugster, and Sullivan's lawyer, Harry Kopp, credited Messmer with Felix's creation. They claimed that Felix was based on an animated Charlie Chaplin that Messmer had animated for Sullivan's studio earlier on. The down-and-out personality and movements of the cat in Feline Follies reflect key attributes of Chaplin's, and, although blockier than the later Felix, the familiar black body is already there (Messmer found solid shapes easier to animate). Messmer himself recalled his version of the cat's creation in an interview with animation historian John Canemaker:
Sullivan's studio was very busy, and Paramount, they were falling behind their schedule and they needed one extra to fill in. And Sullivan, being very busy, said, "If you want to do it on the side, you can do any little thing to satisfy them." So I figured a cat would be about the simplest. Make him all black, you know you wouldn't need to worry about outlines. And one gag after the other, you know? Cute. And they all got laughs. So Paramount liked it so they ordered a series.
Many animation historians (most of them American and English) back Messmer's claims. Among them are Michael Barrier, Jerry Beck, Colin and Timothy Cowles, Donald Crafton, David Gerstein, Milt Gray, Mark Kausler, Leonard Maltin, and Charles Solomon.
Regardless of who created Felix, Sullivan marketed the cat relentlessly, while the Messmer continued to produce a prodigious volume of Felix cartoons. Messmer did the animation directly on white paper with inkers tracing the drawings directly. The animators drew backgrounds onto pieces of celluloid, which were then laid atop the drawings to be photographed. Any perspective work had to be animated by hand, as the studio cameras were unable to perform pans or trucks. Messmer began a comic strip in 1923, distributed by King Features Syndicate.
Popularity and distribution
The Felix the Cat comic strip debuted in England's Daily Sketch on 1 August 1923 and entered syndication in the United States on 19 August that same year. This particular strip was the second to appear (on 26 August). Although this was Messmer's work, he was required to sign Sullivan's name to it. The strip includes a notable amount of 1920s slang, such as "buzz this guy for a job" and "if you want a swell feed just foller me".
Click to enlarge.
Paramount Pictures distributed the earliest films from 1919 to 1921. Margaret J. Winkler distributed the shorts from 1922 to 1925, the year when Educational Pictures took over the distribution of the shorts. Sullivan promised them one new Felix short every two weeks. The combination of solid animation, skillful promotion, and widespread distribution brought Felix's popularity to new heights.
References to alcoholism and Prohibition were also commonplace in many of the Felix shorts, particularly Felix Finds Out (1924), Whys and Other Whys (1927), Felix Woos Whoopee (1930) to name a few. In Felix Dopes It Out (1924), Felix tries to help his hobo friend who is plagued with a red nose. By the end of the short, the cat finds the cure for the condition: "Keep drinking, and it'll turn blue."
In addition, Felix was one of the first images ever broadcast by television when RCA chose a papier-mch Felix doll for a 1928 experiment via W2XBS New York in Van Cortlandt Park. The doll was chosen for its tonal contrast and its ability to withstand the intense lights needed. It was placed on a rotating phonograph turntable and photographed for approximately two hours each day. After a one-time payoff to Sullivan, the doll remained on the turntable for nearly a decade as RCA fine-tuned the picture's definition.
Felix's great success also spawned a host of imitators. The appearances and personalities of other 1920s feline stars such as Julius of Walt Disney's Alice Comedies, Waffles of Paul Terry's Aesop's Film Fables, and especially Bill Nolan's 1925 adaptation of Krazy Kat (distributed by the eschewed Winkler) all seem to have been directly patterned after Felix.
Felix's cartoons were also popular among critics. They have been cited as imaginative examples of surrealism in filmmaking.
Felix in the colored cartoon The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg (1936)
Felix has been said to represent a child's sense of wonder, creating the fantastic when it is not there, and taking it in stride when it is. His famous paceands behind his back, head down, deep in thoughtecame a trademark that has been analyzed by critics around the world. Felix's expressive tail, which could be a shovel one moment, an exclamation mark or pencil the next, serves to emphasize that anything can happen in his world. Aldous Huxley wrote that the Felix shorts proved that "What the cinema can do better than literature or the spoken drama is to be fantastic."
By 1923, the character was at the peak of his film career. Felix in Hollywood, a short released during this year, plays upon Felix's popularity, as he becomes acquainted with such fellow celebrities as Douglas Fairbanks, Cecil B. DeMille, Charlie Chaplin, Ben Turpin, and even censor Will H. Hays. His image could be seen on clocks, Christmas ornaments, and as the first giant balloon ever made for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Felix also became the subject of several popular songs of the day, such as "Felix Kept Walking" by Paul Whiteman. Sullivan made an estimated $100,000 a year from toy licensing alone. With the character's success also emerged a handful of new costars. These included Felix's master Willie Brown, a foil named Skiddoo the Mouse, Felix's nephews Inky, Dinky, and Winky, and his girlfriend Kitty.
Most of the early Felix cartoons mirrored American attitudes of the "roaring twenties". Ethnic stereotypes appeared in such shorts as Felix Goes Hungry (1924). Recent events such as the Russian Civil War were depicted in shorts like Felix All Puzzled (1924). Flappers were caricatured in Felix Strikes It Rich (also 1924). He also became involved in union organizing with Felix Revolts (1923). In some shorts, Felix even performed a rendition of the Charleston.
In 1928, Educational ceased releasing the Felix cartoons and several were reissued by First National Pictures. Copley Pictures distributed them from 1929 to 1930. He saw a brief three-cartoon resurrection in 1936 by the Van Beuren Studios (The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg, Neptune Nonsense and Bold King Cole). Sullivan did most of the marketing for the character in the 1920s, in these shorts he spoke in a high pitched child like voice who was provided by Mae Questel, the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl.
Felix as mascot
The U.S. Navy insignia for the VF-31 squadron from 1948
Given the character's unprecedented popularity and the fact that his name was partially derived from the Latin word for "lucky", some rather notable individuals and organizations adopted Felix as a mascot. The first of these was a Los Angeles Chevrolet dealer and friend of Pat Sullivan named Winslow B. Felix who first opened his showroom in 1921. The three-sided neon sign of Felix Chevrolet, with its giant, smiling images of the character, is today one of LA's best-known landmarks, standing watch over both Figueroa Street and the Harbor Freeway. Others who adopted Felix included the 1922 New York Yankees and aviator Charles Lindbergh, who took a Felix doll with him on his historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
This popularity persisted. In the late 1920s, the U.S. Navy's Bombing Squadron Two (VB-2B) adopted a unit insignia consisting of Felix happily carrying a bomb with a burning fuse. They retained the insignia through the 1930s when they became a fighter squadron under the designations VF-6B and, later, VF-3, whose members Edward O'Hare and John Thach became famous Naval Aviators in World War II. After the world war a US Navy fighter squadron currently designated VFA-31 replaced its winged meat-cleaver logo with the same insignia, after the original Felix squadron had been disbanded. The carrier-based night-fighter squadron, nicknamed the "Tomcatters," remained active under various designations continuing through the present day and Felix still appears on both the squadron's cloth jacket patches and aircraft, carrying his bomb with its fuse burning.
Felix is also the oldest high school mascot in the state of Indiana, chosen in 1926 after a Logansport High School player brought his plush Felix to a basketball game. When the team came from behind and won that night, Felix became the mascot of all the Logansport High School sports teams.
The pop punk band The Queers also use Felix as a mascot, often drawn to reflect punk sensibilities and attributes such as scowling, smoking, or playing the guitar. Felix adorns the covers of both the Surf Goddess EP and the Move Back Home album. Felix also appears in the music video for the single "Don't Back Down". Besides appearing on the covers and liner notes of various albums the iconic cat also appears in merchandise such as t-shirts and buttons. In an interview with bassist B-Face, he asserts that Lookout! Records is responsible for the use of Felix as a mascot.
Felix appeared in a Japanese commercial for the 1991 Daihatsu Mira as "Felix the Mira".
From silent to sound
Felix and Inky and Winky in "April Maze" (1930)
With the advent of The Jazz Singer in 1927, Educational Pictures, who distributed the Felix shorts at the time, urged Pat Sullivan to make the leap to "talkie" cartoons, but Sullivan refused. Further disputes led to a break between Educational and Sullivan. Only when Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie made cinematic history as the first talking cartoon with a synchronized soundtrack did Sullivan see the possibilities of sound. He managed to secure a contract with First National Pictures in 1928. However, for reasons unknown, this did not last, so Sullivan sought out Jacques Kopfstein and Copley Pictures to distribute his new sound Felix cartoons. On 16 October 1929, an advertisement appeared in Film Daily with Felix announcing, Jolson-like, "You ain't heard nothin' yet!"
Unfortunately, nothing good was heard from Felix's transition to sound. Sullivan did not carefully prepare for Felix's transition to sound, and added sound effects into the sound cartoons as a post-animation process . The results were disastrous. More than ever, it seemed as though Disney's mouse was drawing audiences away from Sullivan's silent star. Not even entries such as the off-beat "Felix Woos Whoopee" or the Silly Symphony-esque April Maze (both 1930) could regain the franchise's audience. Kopfstein finally canceled Sullivan's contract. Subsequently, he announced plans to start a new studio in California, but such ideas never materialized. Things went from bad to worse when Sullivan's wife, Marjorie, died in March 1932. After this, Sullivan completely fell apart. He slumped into an alcoholic depression, his health rapidly declined, and his memory began to fade. He could not even cash checks to Messmer because his signature was reduced to a mere scribble. He died in 1933. Messmer recalled,
He left everything a mess, no books, no nothing. So when he died the place had to close down, at the height of popularity, when everybody, RKO and all of them, for years they tried to get hold of Felix . . . . I didn't have that permission [to continue the character] 'cause I didn't have legal ownership of it.
In 1935, Amadee J. Van Beuren of the Van Beuren Studios called Messmer and asked him if he could return Felix to the screen. Van Beuren even stated that Messmer would be equipped with a full staff and all of the necessary utilities. However, Messmer declined his offer and instead recommended Burt Gillett, a former Sullivan staffer who was now heading the Van Beuren staff. So, in 1936, Van Beuren obtained approval from Sullivan's brother to license Felix to his studio with the intention of producing new shorts both in color and with sound. With Gillett at the helm, now with a heavy Disney influence, he did away with Felix's established personality and made him just another funny-animal character of the type popular in the day. The new shorts were unsuccessful, and after only three outings Van Beuren discontinued the series.
Revival
In 1953, Official Films purchased the Sullivan-Messmer shorts, added soundtracks to them, and distributed to the home movie and television markets. Messmer himself pursued the Sunday Felix comic strips until their discontinuance in 1943, when he began eleven years of writing and drawing monthly Felix comic books for Dell Comics. In 1954, Messmer retired from the Felix daily newspaper strips, and his assistant Joe Oriolo (the creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost) took over. Oriolo struck a deal with Felix's new owner, Pat Sullivan's nephew, to begin a new series of Felix cartoons on television. Oriolo went on to star Felix in 260 television cartoons distributed by Trans-Lux beginning in 1958. Like the Van Beuren studio before, Oriolo gave Felix a more domesticated and pedestrian personality, geared more toward children, and introduced now-familiar elements such as Felix's Magic Bag of Tricks, a satchel that could assume the shape and characteristics of anything Felix wanted. The program is also remembered for its distinctive theme song, written by Winston Sharples and performed by 1950's big band singer Ann Bennett:
Felix the Cat,
The wonderful, wonderful cat!
Whenever he gets in a fix,
He reaches into his bag of tricks!
Felix the Cat
The wonderful, wonderful cat
You'll laugh so much your sides will ache
Your heart will go pitter pat
Watching Felix, the wonderful cat!
Felix the Cat
The wonderful, wonderful cat
You'll never know what he'll do next
So don't even try to take a guess
Felix the Cat
The wonderful, wonderful cat
He's so much fun for everyone
No one can question that
Cause he's Felix, the wonderful cat!
The show did away with Felix's previous supporting cast and introduced many new characters, all of which were performed by voice actor Jack Mercer:
Professor, a sinister, mustachioed villain who was Felix's chief foil
Poindexter, the Professor's intelligent yet bookish nephew (having an IQ of 222) who would sometimes work with his uncle against Felix, yet often would be portrayed as Felix's friend and work against his uncle
Rock Bottom, the Professor's bulldog-faced, bumbling sidekick
The Master Cylinder, an evil, cylindrical robot and self-proclaimed "King of the Moon"
Vavoom, a small, unassuming and friendly Inuit whose only vocalization is a (literally) earth-shattering shout of his own name (but who was powerless if his mouth was taped shut).
Oriolo's plots revolve around the unsuccessful attempts of the antagonists to steal Felix's Magic Bag, though in an unusual twist, these antagonists are occasionally depicted as Felix's friends as well. The cartoons proved popular, but critics have dismissed them as paling in comparison to the earlier Sullivan-Messmer works, especially since Oriolo aimed the cartoons at children. Limited animation (required due to budgetary restraints) and simplistic story lines did nothing to diminish the series' popularity.
Today, Oriolo's son, Don, continues to market the cat. In 1988, Felix starred in his first feature film, Felix the Cat: The Movie, in which he, the Professor and Poindexter visit an alternate reality. The film was a box-office failure. Additionally, it was not even released until 1991. In 1995, Felix appeared on television again, in an off-beat series called The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. Baby Felix followed in 2000 for the Japanese market, the direct-to-video Felix the Cat Saves Christmas. Felix also co-starred with Betty Boop in the "Betty Boop and Felix" comic strip (1984-1987). Oriolo has also brought about a new wave of Felix merchandising, everything from Wendy's Kids Meal toys to a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Felix in his very first screen appearance "Feline Follies" (1919)
Since the publication of John Canemaker's Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World's Most Famous Cat in 1991, there has been a renewed interest in the early Sullivan-Messmer shorts. In recent years, the films have seen lots of VHS and DVD exposure, most notably on the Presenting Felix the Cat compilations from Bosko Video, Felix! from Lumivision, Felix the Cat: The Collector's Edition from Delta Entertainment, Before Mickey from Inkwell Images Ink, the recent Felix the Cat and 1920s Rarities from Thunderbean Animation. Messmer Felix comic compilations have also begun to emerge including Nine Lives to Live: A Classic Felix Celebration by David Gerstein and more recently The Comic Adventures of Felix the Cat from Determined Productions.
According to the Don Oriolo's Felix the Cat blog, as of September 2008 there are plans in development for a new television series. Don's biography page also mentions a 52-episode cartoon series in the works.
Filmography
Main article: List of Felix the Cat cartoons
Voice actors
Mae Questel (1936)
Jack Mercer (1958-1961)
Chris Phillips (1988)
Carlos Alazraqui (current)
Thom Adcox-Hernandez & Charlie Adler (1995-1997)
Grey DeLisle (2000-2001)
Wayne Allwine (2004)
Cultural legacy
Felix makes a cameo appearance in Disney and Amblin Entertainment film Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the final film with the Toons. First, he appears as the picture in hand with R.K. Maroon in R.K. Maroon's Office and after he appears as the masks of tragedy and comedy on the keystone of the entrance to Toontown.
Felix the cat was featured on the NHL goalie Felix Potvin's helmet while he played for the Boston Bruins
It is believed that Naoto shima looked to Felix the Cat as inspiration for the design of Sonic the Hedgehog.
In Japan, two commercials for the 1991 Daihatsu Mira featured Felix. There was a special trim-package called "Felix the Mira" offered at the time.
The cartoon My Life As a Teenage Robot features a diner called "Mezmer's" (named after Otto Messmer), and the doorway to the restaurant is a giant Felix the Cat head.
In an episode of The Simpsons, Dean Scungio quotes from "The Encyclopaedia of Animated Cartoons" on the history of Felix: "A Felix doll became Charles Lindbergh's companion on his famed flight across the Atlantic." In another episode of The Simpsons, in which the origins of the cartoon characters Itchy & Scratchy are explored, parallels some of the disputed history Felix's creation set forth above, and includes a spoof film entitled Manhattan Madness, presented as the first Itchy & Scratchy cartoon, supposedly from 1919, that is similar in style to "Felix in Hollywood" and other early Felix animations.
Felix the Cat appeared in the 1927 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, making him the first balloon to float in the parade.
Felix appeared in opening credits of Futurama episodes How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back, The Lesser of Two Evils and War Is the H-Word
See also
Animation in the United States during the silent era
Kit-Cat Klock
Winsor McCay
Dan Voiculescu
Golden Age of American animation
Baby Felix
Notes
^ goldenagecartoons.com
^ Solomon, 34, says that the character was "the as yet unnamed Felix".
^ http://www.ottomessmer.com/
^ a b c d e Solomon 34.
^ [dead link]
^ a b "All Media and legends...A thumbnail dipped in tar". Vixenmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-28. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.vixenmagazine.com/News.html&date=2008-09-28. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
^ Barrier 29 and Solomon 34.
^ Barrier 30.
^ a b c Solomon 37.
^ For example, Solomon, 34, quotes Marcel Brion on these points.
^ Solomon 36.
^ Quoted in Solomon 34.
^ "the Queers - Interviews". Thequeersrock.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-28. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.thequeersrock.com/interviewsbface.html&date=2008-09-28. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
Barrier, Michael (1999): Hollywood Cartoons. Oxford University Press.
Beck, Jerry (1998): The 50 Greatest Cartoons. JG Press.
Canemaker, John (1991): Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World's Most Famous Cat. Pantheon, New York.
Crafton, Donald (1993): Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 18981928. University of Chicago Press.
Culhane, Shamus (1986): Talking Animals and Other People. St. Martin's Press.
Gerstein, David (1996): Nine Lives to Live. Fantagraphics Books.
Gifford, Denis (1990): American Animated Films: The Silent Era, 18971929. McFarland and Company.
Maltin, Leonard (1987): Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Penguin Books.
Solomon, Charles (1994): The History of Animation: Enchanted Drawings. Outlet Books Company.
Further reading
Patricia Vettel Tom (1996): Felix the Cat as Modern Trickster. American Art, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Spring, 1996), pp. 6487
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Felix the Cat
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Felix the Cat
The Official Felix the Cat Website
The Classic Felix the Cat Page at Golden Age Cartoons
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2004, Rewind "Felix the Cat" (Concerns the dispute over who created the character.)
State Library of New South Wales, 2005, "Reclaiming Felix the Cat"PDF (768 KiB). Exhibition guide, including many pictures.
v d e
Felix the Cat
Key People
Pat Sullivan Otto Messmer Joe Oriolo Don Oriolo
Films and TV
Theatrical Cartoons (1919-1936) Felix the Cat (TV series) (1958-1961) Felix the Cat: The Movie (1991) The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat (1995-1997) Baby Felix (2000-2001) Felix the Cat Saves Christmas (2004)
Software
Felix the Cat (1992 video game) Felix the Cat's Cartoon Toolbox
v d e
King Features Syndicate comics
Current
The Amazing Spider-Man Apartment 3-G Baby Blues Barney Google and Snuffy Smith Beetle Bailey The Better Half Between Friends Bizarro Blondie The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee Buckles Crankshaft Crock Curtis Deflocked Dennis the Menace Donald Duck Dustin Edge City The Family Circus Felix the Cat Flash Gordon Funky Winkerbean Grin and Bear It Hgar the Horrible Hazel Henry Hi and Lois Jos Carioca Judge Parker The Katzenjammer Kids The Lockhorns Mallard Fillmore Mandrake the Magician Mark Trail Marvin Mary Worth Mickey Mouse Mother Goose and Grimm Mutts My Cage On the Fastrack The Pajama Diaries The Phantom Piranha Club Popeye Prince Valiant Pros & Cons Retail Rex Morgan, M.D. Rhymes with Orange Safe Havens Sally Forth Sam and Silo Sherman's Lagoon Shoe Six Chix Slylock Fox and Comics for Kids Tiger Tina's Groove Todd the Dinosaur Tundra Zippy the Pinhead Zits
Historical
Abie the Agent Betty Boop Betty Boop and Felix Boner's Ark Bringing Up Father Buz Sawyer Etta Kett Flapper Filosofy Franklin Fibbs Grandma Hejji Happy Hooligan Jungle Jim King of the Royal Mounted Krazy Kat Little Annie Rooney Little Iodine Little Jimmy The Little King Mister Breger Norb The Norm Pete the Tramp Radio Patrol Red Barry Redeye Reg'lar Fellers Rusty Riley Rip Kirby Sam's Strip Secret Agent X-9 Steve Roper and Mike Nomad They'll Do It Every Time Tim Tyler's Luck Triple Take Trudy Tillie the Toiler Toots and Casper Tumbleweeds
Categories: Felix the Cat | 1920s | History of animation | Animated characters | Fictional characters in comics | 1919 introductions | Animated film series | Fictional mute characters | Fictional anthropomorphic characters | Fictional catsHidden categories: All articles with dead external links | Articles with dead external links from September 2008 | Articles with weasel words from November 2008 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009 About the Author
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Is the increase in comic book type movies a indication of society regressing in Intelligence?
We have the 2nd Hulk movie in as many years, Spiderman 3, another superman movie which came out last year, The avengers movie soon to come out, Hancock etc. If they created a third new and improved Hulk movie next year, do you think it would break all kinds of records again?
I don't think so. Movie fads tend to cycle. My husband loves sci-fi movies and super-hero type films. It's the themes that hook him. We have an enormous collection of those things. To me most are trash movies. Dh watches them over and over again.
While I generally prefer a different genre, I watch some of his moves. And, he'll watch some of mine.
Movies can be light entertainment or literary and serious. We enjoy both.
We both have college degrees and a lot of experience in the "real world." As far as I know, neither of us have a problem separating reality from fiction. Sometimes you just have to lighten up, grab a beer, a big bowl of popcorn and kick back for a few hours.
I don't think comic book type movies say anything at all about the intelligence of human beings. They just reflect our innate interest in the ancient theme: "What would it mean to be more than we are...superhuman...or even godlike?"
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