Al Jean, scary hours and 'The Simpsons'

Who’s the hardest-working man in show business?  It might be Al Jean.  If you watch an episode of “The Simpsons,” Jean’s name is the first that pops up in the credits at the end.  Cartoonist Matt Groening created the family from a blank piece of paper and producer James L. Brooks shaped much of the spirit and tone once they hit the screen, but Jean is the day-to-day engine that keeps the franchise going.

On Sunday, I saw “The Simpsons Movie” for the second time, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Jean’s name flash on the screen.  As a writer and producer for the film and the show-runner for the series, Jean had a year of seven-day workweeks and days at the office that stretched well into the night.  I got to talk at length with Jean (as well as with Brooks, Groening and fellow “Simpsons” stalwart Richard Sakai) for a Calendar Weekend cover story that ran on the eve of the film’s release, and he looked weary but plainly excited about the movie.  “I am really looking forward to the response; I want to see what the public and the critics say. I know we are very happy with the movie.”  (Sakai, an especially wry character, had a different response when I asked him his thoughts on the movie: "It just won't die.  I keep thinking we're done.  But it just ... won't ... die."

I haven’t talked to Jean since the movie opened July 27 to stellar reviews and a robust $74 million at the box office (it's total has reached $128 million in the U.S. as I write this, $236 million worldwide), but I hope he’s enjoying the success -- and some time off.

“The hours and the schedule are difficult, absolutely, but that’s what it takes to do a film and TV show at the same time,” he said during the interview.  I pointed to his wedding ring and asked, “How’s that going?”  He laughed.  “My wife is very understanding.  Very, very understanding.  Can you put that in the story?  Please?  And can you put in that I love her very much?”  That didn’t make it in the story, Al. Sorry.  But I'm hoping this blog item counts for something.

Jean's name popped up in The Times on Monday in a fun story by my colleague Jerry Crowe on all the sports stars who have passed through Springfield, while Lorenza Munoz (who was my partner covering the crime beat in Orange County a decade ago) wrote up an insightful piece on the global resonance of “The Simpsons” for our business section.

-- Geoff Boucher

Fan film winners: They might surprise you

We missed out on seeing any of the films in the Comic-Con International Film Festival, but here are the winners: 

• Action/adventure: "Razor Sharp"
• Animation: "Fission"
• Comics-oriented: "Rocketboy"
• Documentary: "Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures"
• Horror/suspense: "Eli"
• Humor/parody: "Zombie Love"
• Science fiction/fantasy: "Man vs. Woman"
• Judges’ Choice Award: "Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures"

With Jean "Moebius" Giraud's "Moebius Redux" being the big winner, here's a tease (actually just the intro) to the Heavy Metal magazine co-founder's winning film. Maybe we can get more later.

Card gaming can be Chaotic

Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! seemed to take the world by storm, both as anime and later as marketing juggernauts, each with a card game at the center of the melee.  Now another 4Kids Entertainment property stands poised to reach into the wallets of parents everywhere when it is released in September: Chaotic.

Already a TV show, the Danish TCG (trading card game) incorporates the same type of basic structure with monsters battling and energy points that can be lost as the fight wears on.  Chaotic, though, takes a more interactive approach, according to the news release:

Chaotic's revolutionary feature is its patented alphanumeric code technology. In the cutting-edge, multimedia Chaotic Trading Card Game, each paper trading card has its own code that not only ensures that virtually no two cards are alike but also enables players to upload their collection of Chaotic cards free to battle and trade online at the Chaotic Trading Card Game portal.

Crazy, but definitely one of the most inventive ways to draw young eyes to the website and create online communities, which will then be able to take advantage of the chats.  I got to take a test run of the basic card game without all the multimedia bells and whistles.

Jukebox heroes

A new band came through L.A. this weekend with a name that caught my eye: Comic Book Heroes played their very first West Coast gig at a showcase last night at the Knitting Factory. The band is four young Philly guys (all 14 or 15 years old, in fact — geez, I’m getting old; I have concert T-shirts with more years than that). They’ve built quite the following back home and they’ve caught the ear of Nickelodeon with a music video they did for “Jack’s Big Music Show.”

I dropped by their website and their MySpace page and they sound pretty good. And Fall Out Boy has already shown that using a cape-inspired name can lead to big things, right?

Anyway, I called up Dana Gordon, the publicist for Comic Book Heroes, and put the question to her: Are these guys true comic-book geeks? And if so, who are their favorites? The answer came back quick. And, if these guys become the Next Big Thing, please remember you read about them here first:
Ned (lead singer): “Batman because he's an ordinary guy that does amazing things.”
Collin (drums): “Ghost Rider is my new favorite, definitely! Skulls, flames, motorcycles … that rocks!”
Sam (lead guitar): “Captain America because he represented the spirit of America and good morals.”
Steve (bass): “I'd have to say Aquaman because I've always had a connection with sea creatures.”

I heard Led Zeppelin once had an unusual connection to a sea creature — a mud shark to be specific — but these guys are way too young to hear that story....
-- Geoff Boucher

 

Neat Stuff: Peter Bagge is coming to L.A.

Join us as we discuss flannel shirts, coffee and catching fish with newspaper…

That was a funny line from the invitation sent out the other day by the good folks at Secret Headquarters, the signature emporium for underground comics and graphic novels over on Sunset. What’s the event? It’s a visit next Friday, Aug. 10, by Peter Bagge, the idiosyncratic cartoonist (aren’t they all?) who may be best known for creating the slouching Seattleite named Buddy Bradley, who ranted and meandered through the rainy Emerald City and the pages of the series "Neat Stuff" and "Hate."

It was great watching those Buddy tales unfold from the mid-1980s up through the 1990s to see the scruffy side of the coffeehouse metropolis. If you want to hear the powerful sonic angst of grunge, buy a Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Mudhoney album; if you want to chuckle at the scene’s street-level ennui and overreaching self-importance, pick up a copy of "Hate" from Fantagrahics.

Bagge’s kinetic characters jump (and scream) right off the page. His work has appeared in Reason, Hustler, the Oxford American and the Weekly World News — now how’s that for a resume? He also did some parodies for Marvel Comics of the Hulk and Spider-Man and quite a few record covers for a number of indie-band stalwarts.

The reception is open to the public; I know I’m going to try to make it by. The free event starts at 8 p.m., and a good-size crowd is expected. Bagge doesn’t make it to L.A. often and there's curiosity about "Apocalypse Nerd," the six-part series due early next year from Dark Horse Comics.

-- Geoff Boucher

(Art by Peter Bagge, image courtesy of Fantagraphics.)

'Duck' and cover: Steve Gerber needs help

When I was a kid, Steve Gerber was the guy who wrote the weird comics.

I remember picking up "Howard the Duck" in the 1970s and, as a young reader accustomed to superheroes, it was downright unsettling to read its edgy satire and oddball stories. Unsettling but also fascinating. I didn't get all the jokes, but I sure wanted to. Compared with the rest of the Marvel universe, his books were like off-kilter David Letterman pranks intruding into a Johnny Carson world of mainstream capes.

Later I would learn the word for it: "subversive."

(All of this makes it especially disappointing that Howard is now known best as the title character of the excruciatingly bad 1986 film.)

Gerber also wrote a "Phantom Zone" miniseries I loved as a kid, and he did a definitive run on Man-Thing and many other quirky characters that always seemed more sly and strange than the superhero stiffs who battled monologue villains in other titles. Gerber also wrote the Marvel Comics adventure of KISS, cementing his persona in my mind as "the weird guy." He also created Korvac, the bad guy who single-handedly offed the Avengers. These days Gerber is writing "Dr. Fate" for DC.

Why this Gerber retrospective? I got a note this morning about Gerber from Hero Initiative, which endeavors to help comics creators past and present deal with major financial and health challenges.

Why? It turns out that Steve Gerber is in a bind and is turning to the public for help. He's a candidate for a lung transplant at UCLA, but to get on the formal waiting list he needs a place to recuperate here in Southern California. Keep reading to see a letter from Steve himself on the situation.

-- Geoff Boucher