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भारत के वित्त मंत्री अरुण जेटली ने काला धन मामले पर  राज्यसभा में बताया  कि 250 लोगों ने स्वीकार किया है कि उनके विदेश में बैंक खाते हैंऔर  जिन 627 लोगों के नाम सरकार ने सुप्रीम कोर्ट के सौंपे हैं उनमें से 427 लोगों की पहचान कर ली है और उन्हें नोटिस भेज दिया गया है अब अपने नामों के खुलासे के डर से कुछ लोग इतना डर गए है कि घर मे या पलंग के नीचे ही दुबक ही गए हैं वही जनता जानना चाह्ती है कि आखिर नामो का खुलासा होगा तो कब होगा

The post Cartoon- Black money appeared first on Monica Gupta.

फसल बर्बाद होने की वजह से किसान आत्महत्या कर रहे  हैं. उत्तर प्रदेश में पिछले कुछ महीनों में 100 से भी ज्यादा किसान खुदकुशी कर चुके हैं जबकि महाराष्ट्र, पंजाब, आंध्र प्रदेश और देश के दूसरे हिस्सों से भी किसानों की आत्महत्या की खबरें लगातार मिल रही हैं।

मीडिया में किसानों की आत्महत्याओं की बातें आ रही हैं, लेकिन मीडिया को इस मुद्दे को लेकर जितना गंभीर होना चाहिए, वह शायद नहीं है। राजनेताओं की लड़ाई में किसान का जो असली मुद्दा है, वह छुप जाता है।  टीवी चैनलों पर बहस में  किसान नहीं, राजनेता नज़र आते हैं।

राजनेता भी किसानों को लेकर बस अपने तरीके से ‘गंभीर’ नज़र आ रहे हैं। कोई रैली के जरिये किसानों का मुद्दा उठाने की कोशिश कर रहा है, तो कोई मुआवजे की बात कर रहा है। प्रधानमंत्री जी  ‘मन की बात’ से लेकर राजनीति के मंच तक किसान की बात कर रहे हैं। प्रधानमंत्री ने किसानों के लिए मुआवज़ा भी बढ़ा दिया है, जो अच्छी बात है। लेकिन सवाल यह उठता है कि क्या यह मुआवजा किसानों तक पहुंच पाता है। अगर पहुंचता है, तो कितना ???  पिछले ही दिनों ऐसी खबरें आईं कि उत्तर प्रदेश के कुछ इलाक़ों में किसानों को मुआवजे के रूप में 50 से लेकर 200 रुपये तक के चेक दिए जा रहे हैं। सोचने की बात है कि ये मुआवजा है या किसानों के साथ मजाक। अगर ऐसा ही हाल रहा, तो चाहे कितना भी मुआवज़ा बढ़ा दिया जाए, किसानों का हाल कभी सुधरने वाला नहीं है.. और भविष्य मे कुछ ऐसी खबर भी देखने सुनने को मिल सकती है .

The post Cartoon- Kissan suicide appeared first on Monica Gupta.

नेता लोगो को आजकल बाईट देने का बहुत शौक हो रहा है कुछ भी अंट शंट बोल देते हैं और बाद मे sorry sorry करने लगते हैं   ऐसे मे जरा से क्रोधित कुत्ते महाराज ने भी नेता जी को बाईट कर लिया और बडे आराम से बोल दिया sorry… पर नेता जी दर्द से बिलबिलाते ही रह गए !!!

16 अप्रैल 2015 को दैनिक भास्कर ,डीबी स्टार, भोपाल से प्रकाशित मेरा कार्टून …
http://epaper.bhaskar.com/bhopal/120/16042015/mpcg/1/

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चाहे  आप कुछ भी या  आप माने या न माने पर एक बात झुठलाई नही जा सकती कि इस छोटी सी दिखने वाली झाडू ने राजनीति में भारी बदलाव ला दिया है. जहां हर आम और खास आदमी भ्रष्टाचार से दुखी था और उसे कोई रास्ता भी नजर नही आ रहा था ऐसे मे झाडू ने कमान सम्भाली और जीत हासिल कर के दिखा दिया कि भ्रष्टाचारियों सावधान !!!

वैसे भी अब तो अलग अलग Help line भी बन गई है और तो और जो भी कुछ गडबड होता है सब सोशल मीडिया पर आ जाता है …

The post Cartoon -AAP Anti Corruption appeared first on Monica Gupta.

बात जब भी कोई दिवस मनाने की आती है तो हम बढ चढ कर सामने आते हैं और आए भी क्यो ना ये दिन बेहद महत्वपूर्ण है और गर्व करने के है पर दुख तब होता है जब महिला पर अत्याचार होता है और फिर हिदायत दे दी जाती है कि वो घर पर ही बैठे .. फिर कई बार लगता है कि ये कैसी आजादी है जहां महिला को पिंजरे मे कैद होना पडे. फिर भी 26 जनवरे यानि गणतंत्र दिवस की हार्दिक बधाई

The post Cartoon-26 January appeared first on Monica Gupta.

कई लोग बात को कहां से कहां ले जाते है सोचा भी नही जा सकता. अब इन महाशय को ही लीजिए .. शराब पी रहे हैं और अखबार मे पढ रहे है … 6 एबस.. अपनी पत्नी को कह रहे हैं कि एब तो उनमे भी  बहुत सारे है पर कोई अखबार उन्हे नही छापता अब उन्हें कौन समझाए कि किस तरह के एब की बात हो रही है

The post Cartoon -6 pack Abs appeared first on Monica Gupta.

आप पार्टी बनने के बाद पार्टी मे छिपा भीतरी धमासान भी सामने आया और अरविंद जी यही बोलते रहे कि सब लोग नए है कोई राजनीति भूमि से नही है कोई अनुभव नही है धीरे धीरे समय बीता और पार्टी को सत्ता से जाना पडा. फिर दुबारा पार्टी का धूमधडाके से अगमन हुआ अब पार्टी पर जो  ऎल” या नौसिखिया की मोहर लगी है अब हटेगी या अब भी वैसे ही लगी रहेगी यही बात अरविंद केजरीवाल भी बता रहे है कि ये भी जनता से ही पूछना पडेगा कि “एल” का निशान लगा रहने दें या हटा दें पर जो हो भीतरी धमासान अभी भी जारी है.

The post Cartoon .. Public Opinion appeared first on Monica Gupta.

बेशक हमारी राष्ट्र भाषा हिंदी है पर इस बात मे भी दो राय नही है कि हम प्राथमिकता आज भी अंग्रेजी को ही देते हैं. हम चाह्ते है बच्चा अच्छे अंग्रेजी स्कूल मे पढे और अच्छी गिटर पिटर  अंग्रेजी बोले . इस कार्टून मे हिंदी अंग्रेजी को पलडे मे तोलने का प्रयास किया गया है और सच्चाई भी यही है हिंदी का पलडा आज भी अंग्रेजी की तुलना में कमजोर ही है.

The post Cartoon- hindi /English appeared first on Monica Gupta.

पार्टी कोई भी हो सभी नेता वोट की जुगाड मे हैं कि किसी तरह से वोट उन्हें ही मिले. दीवारो पर, सडकों पर , गलियों मे पोस्टर और बैनर लगे नेता हर छोटे बडे के  पास जाकर वोट देने की अपील कर रहे हैं. वही एक भिखारी भाजपा नेता को कह रहा है कि ईश्वर आप का भला करे… कहने का भाव यह है कि वो तो शायद भाजपा के बारे मे ही कह रहा है पर नेता जी का मन शायद AAP का सोच रहा है !!!

The post Cartoon- Vote Please appeared first on Monica Gupta.

आम आदमी पार्टी ने दिल्ली चुनाव में  रिकार्ड तोड विजय हासिल की. 49 दिनों की सरकार के बाद जनता से फिर फैसला आम आदमी के पक्ष मे सुनाया. अब आम आदमी यानि अरविंद केजरीवाल को अपना विश्वास जनता मे बनाए रखना है .. शुभकामनाएं अरविंद केजरीवाल

The post Cartoon_AAP WINS appeared first on Monica Gupta.

बात चुनाव की हो और दलबदलू का जिक्र न आए … ऐसा भला कभी हो सकता है. नेता वही जो हर बार पार्टी बदले और जनता से वायदे करे. अब इस कार्टून मे नेता जी की पत्नी का दर्द झलक रहा है. नेता जी बेचारे 20 साल से एक ही पार्टी मे है और श्रीमति जी उन्हे फोर्स यानि दवाब डाल रही है कि पार्टी बदल लो .. सभी ऐसा करते है पर आप नही … मालिश करते हुए नेता जी का ब्रेन वाश न कर दे …

The post Cartoon-Politics appeared first on Monica Gupta.

आमतौर पर हम चाह्ते हैं कि हमारे पास कोई जादुई चिराग हो और हम उससे जो भी मांगें वो हमे दे… पर ये इच्छा तब पल्टी मार जाती है जब चुनाव नजदीक होते है. क्योकि हम लोगो की मानसिकता यही होती है कि चुनाव के समय उम्मीदवार का ज्यादा से ज्यादा फायदा उठाया जाए वही उम्मीदवार भी वोट की चाह मे जनता जनार्दन को खुश करने मे ही जुटा रहता है. यह कार्टून भी यही कुछ दिखा रहा है क्योकि अब चुनाव आ गए हैं और जिन्न की कोई जरुरत नही … अब तो उम्मीदवार ही जिन्न की भूमिका निभाएगें … हम्बै

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बेशक कैमरा लगाने का मकसद है लोगों में इस बात का मनोवैज्ञानिक डर पैदा करना कि अगर उन्होंने गड़बड़ की तो उनकी पहचान आसानी से हो जाएगी.  जैसाकि अगर कोई व्यक्ति चलती ट्रेन में तोड़ फोड़ करता है तो कैमरे पर यह सब रिकॉर्ड हो जाता है. बाद में वीडियो से उसकी पहचान कर पुलिस अहम जानकारी निकाल सकती है.

पर यह भी सही है फोटो खिचवाते समय हम स्माईल जरुर देते हैं और अगर हर समय कैमरे की निगरानी मे रहेंगें तो स्माईल तो बनती है ना इसलिए आप भी इस समय सीसीटीवी की निगरानी में हैं तो Smile please…

The post Cartoon – CCTV appeared first on Monica Gupta.

‘प्यार  का नाम जेहन में आते ही आँखो में गजब सी चमक फैल जाती है, सच पूछिए तो प्यार का इजहार करने के लिए लोग किसी विशेष दिन का इंतजार नहीं करते और ना हीं प्यार किसी विशेष दिन का मोहताज है, लेकिन पश्चिम सभ्यता के बढ़ते प्रचलन से वेलेनटाईन डे युवाओं के दिल में विशेष जगह लेता जा रहा है. इस दिन के चलते युवा अपने को बेहतर दिखाने के लिए और लडकियों को लुभाने के लिए महंगे महंग़े उपहार देते है और इस सप्ताह को मनाते मनाते आखिरी दिन बेचारे भिखारी बन जाते हैं और न्यूज चैनल को मसाला मिल जाता है कि कल तक का जैंटलमैन आज भिखारी बन गया है !!!

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जेडीयू, आरजेडी, जेडीएस, आईएनएलडी, समाजवादी पार्टी और समाजवादी जनता पार्टी ने मिलकर यह नई पार्टी बनाई है।कमेटी में शरद यादव, लालू यादव, एचडी देवेगौड़ा, कमल मोरारका, रामगोपाल यादव के साथ मुलायम सिंह यादव भी शामिल होंगे।

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Donate without compromising

इंटरनेट के इस्तेमाल में सुविधा को लेकर सेवा प्रदाताओं द्वारा भेदभाव किए जाने के खिलाफ चल रही बहस के बीच आनलाइन खुदरा बाजार सेवा कंपनी फ्लिपकार्ट ने आज कहा कि वह एयरटेल की ‘एयरटेल जीरो’ सेवा से जुड़ने के लिए उस कंपनी के साथ बातचीत से हट रही है।फ्लिपकार्ट के एक प्रवक्ता ने कहा ‘हम एयरटेल के साथ उसके मंच एयरटेल जीरो के लिए मौजूदा चर्चा से बाहर निकल जाएंगे। हम भारत में नेट निरपेक्षता के वृहत्तर मुद्दे के प्रति प्रतिबद्ध होंगे।’ एयरटेल जीरो सेवा को नेट की निरपेक्षता के सिद्धांत के खिलाफ बताते हुए ऐसी योजनाओं का विरोध किया जा रहा है।

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राष्ट्रीय समाचार पत्र  दैनिक जागरण मे मुद्दा के तहत प्रकाशित मेरे कुछ कार्टून .. इसमे एक मुद्दा उठाया जाता है उसके बारे मे विस्तर से चर्चा की जाती है.

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Presented without too much ado, here’s the recent sizzle reel that The Flash production team showcased at WonderCon over the weekend. There’s some new footage of note added onto some of the stuff you’ve seen already, namely Emily Kinney as the Bug-Eyed Bandit, the return of The Mist, Weather Wizard and Rainbow Raider, and a few more glimpses at the upcoming second Arrow-Flash cross-over event.

In addition to that, here’s the first trailer for the Bruce Timm produced/Alan Burnett written Justice League: Gods and Monsters, which we detailed a bit over the weekend. I’ve so missed this animation style in DC’s recent features, which have veered more towards a sort of a grittier anime-like look over past number of years. This feels like it could be a welcome return home.

Over the weekend at Emerald City Comic Con , Marvel’s Vp of animation Cort Lane threw a one man panel with lots of teases for most of the Marvel animated shows and a preview of Avengers Assemble returning only to  ‘Disassemble” .

Ultimate Spider-Man will return to finish its season in July with a new storyline titled S.H.I.E.L.D ACADEMY. Many of the characters Spider-Man recruited at the beginning of Web-Warriors will be joining him again. Even Trition from the Inhumans and Squirrel Girl are coming back. Fans can also look forward to the threat of Arnim Zola, voiced by Mark Hamill, in a look that can only be described as Kang from Ninja Turtles meets Apple Computers. In addition Robert Patrick will be voicing The Whizzer, yep that guy.

Fans also got a look at the entire first episode of the “Disassembled” arc. If you want the spoiler run then highlight this blank space.

Episode begins with a Captain America-less Avengers battling the Adaptoid. Spider-Man joins the team in order to combat the robot who can mimic all the powers of the Avengers. Cap joins the fray alongside S.H.I.E.L.D as he’s been working for them since leaving the team an episode before. He’s even in his Winter Soldier film based costume.

The audience finds out Adaptoid is actually Ultron in disguise and he’s been after Starks tech the entire time. In a desperation move, Stark enacts his “final protocol,” destroying his labs and Avengers Tower to stop Ultron.

Cap and Stark are clearly building towards a mini inner Avengers civil war. Spider-Man is trying to hold things together, but ditched the Avengers. Cap has called for a new Avengers team, seeing Falcon, Black Widow and Hulk join his team, while Tony, Hawkeye, and Thor ban together.
The Avengers have officially disassembled, giving Ultron exactly what he wanted.

During the fan Q&A we got a few teases about the animated Marvel U:

-No kid Avengers plans.

-Plans are in the works to have animation produce something that takes place in the Marvel cinematic universe.

-No X-Men plans since those rights are still controlled by Fox, which include animation. They’ve only been able to get away with using Wolverine in his solo character costume incarnations with no X-Men ties.

To close things out, Cort showed the Guardians of the Galaxy prequel shorts leading up to the premiere of the animated series. First was Star-Lord part I. It takes most of its cues from the film version of the team, even going so far to say it may be a fill in for missing information. What we saw deals with what happened when Peter Quill was beamed aboard the alien ship as a child. In this version he’s had the Element Guns all along but is just now discovering their power.

A preview was show of Rocket Raccoon’s short. We see the moment he escapes the lab and becomes partners with Groot. You’ll hear the famous “Ain’t no thing like me…” line and it’s even got mature tones of his acceptance that he’s lost anything that will connect him to his species.

Marvel’s animation presentation was the most informative of all their ECCC panels. Cort’s division has made the Disney merger benefit Marvel without having to sacrifice much in the way of character voice.

Hopefully during Wondercon we’ll get answers to when fans will see the Guardians prequel shorts, what’s coming up in Agents of S.M.A.S.H and what the future holds for Ultimate Spider-Man once its third season ends since typically most Marvel animated series after 1997 only last between 3-5 years.

Would you want to see Marvel animated do something in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Happy Bunny guy
is a worthy successor
to John Callahan.

Dog Butts and Love. And Stuff Like That. And Cats. by Jim Benton. NBM Publishing, 2014, 96 pages.

It’s come to our attention that Batman: The Brave and the Bold will be leaving Netflix streaming on March 30.

Outrageous!

If you’re a Netflix-binge pro, you might be able to finish off the 3 seasons of this underrated show in the week left (and really, it’s more like 2.5 seasons, with season 3 being only a partial order). But if you’re not able to move that fast, we’ve pulled together a list of the best episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold so that you can catch the highlights before this one drops out of your queue.

Season 1

Episode 3, Evil Under the Sea: It doesn’t get better on this show than Aquaman, and his debut episode is the perfect place to start. Aquaman episodes are consistently hilarious, and this one is no different – Batman foils a plot from Black Manta to conquer Atlantis, while Aquaman remains oblivious.

Episode 8, Fall of the Blue Beetle: This episode focuses on Blue Beetles, both the present incarnation of Jaime Reyes and his predecessor, Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle. It’s interesting to see Batman struggle to accept Jaime as a replacement for Ted.

Episode 9, Journey to the Center of the Bat: When Batman is stricken with disease by Chemo, the Atom and Aquaman shrink and fight the disease within Batman’s body. Aquaman befriends and rides a lymphocyte he names “platelet” – need we say more?

Episode 12, Deep Cover for Batman: Batman takes the place of Owlman on a parallel Earth, turning to a parallel world version of his usual villains and finding them as allies.

Episode 13, Deep Cover for Owlman: While Batman is off pretending to be Owlman on a parallel Earth, it turns out that Owlman has been posing as Batman and has gone on a crime spree. The flip side to the previous episode, Batman returns to find himself considered a villain and hunted by his usual allies.

Episode 15, Trials of the Demon: Batman time travels to 19th century London to help Jason Blood, who’s been framed for crimes committed by Jim Craddock. The twist to this one is that the two “World’s Greatest Detectives” join forces when Sherlock Holmes and Watson assist in the investigation. As long as you can handle Etrigan rhyming, this one’s a winner.

Episode 17, Menace of the Conqueror Caveman: Booster Gold episodes are usually great for much of the same reason Aquaman ones are: Batman plays the straight man to a humorous, egotistical sidekick.

Episode 19, Legends of the Dark Mite: Bat-Mite is the Q to Batman’s Picard, and his fifth dimensional powers allow him to express his fandom in painful ways. Bat-Mite is a recurring character on the series and plays a heavy role in the finale, so this character’s intro is worth watching.

Episode 25, Mayhem of the Music Meister: Featuring Neil Patrick Harris as the Music Meister, this is a musical episode and easily one of the best of the series.

 Season 2

Episode 2, Long Arm of the Law: Plastic Man tries to keep his home life stable by taking Baby Plas to the museum,  only to be attacked by Kite Man. Batman tries to assist, but this episode sees Plastic Man’s past deeds catch up with him and threaten his family and wife, Ramona.

Episode 4, Aquaman’s Outrageous Adventure: Aquaman serves as the POV character here, and the episode centers on Aquaman’s boredom with his family vacation and secret attempts to escape and help battle evil during breaks. Again, Aquaman = the best.

Episode 9, The Super-Batman of Planet X: Batman travels through a wormhole and ends up in a distant planet called Zur-En-Arrh, where he goes to “Gothtropolis” and meets the Batman of this world. This is a sort of Superman-Batman mash-up, because Batman has super powers on this planet. The best part of this episode is that it stars Kevin Conroy as the voice of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. Double Batman! (there’s also the always great Clancy Brown and Dana Delany).

Episode 10, The Power of Shazam: With a title in homage to the 1990s Captain Marvel Comic, The Power of Shazam pits Captain Marvel against Black Adam and Doctor Sivana, along with Sivana’s wonderfully hilarious children.

Episode 11, Chill of the Night: This episode makes most best-of lists for this series, and has a guest star list featuring Adam West, Julie Newmar, Kevin Conroy, and Mark Hamill to boot.  When The Phantom Stranger and the Spectre make a bet on whether Bruce Wayne will kill the person who murdered his parents, Batman is guided through his painful past and comes to learn about his parents’ assassin, Joe Chill.

Episode 15, Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster: Featuring multiple incarnations of The Flash working in tandem with Batman to investigate Barry Allen’s death, this episode also guest stars John Wesley Shipp (star of the 1990s live-action The Flash) as Professor Zoom.

Episode 17, Menace of the Madniks: Recalling plot threads introduced in Season 1, this episode focuses on Booster Gold, who travels to the past to spend time with his now-deceased friend, Ted Kord (Blue Beetle). Both Batman and Booster Gold considered Ted a close friend, so their rivalry and possessiveness over his friendship was touching (and entertaining). It’s also a nice reminder that shows like this don’t have to shy away from confronting death.

Episode 18, Emperor Joker: This episode is kind of like The Edge of Tomorrow in that we get to see Batman die dozens of different ways at the hands of The Joker, who gains the powers of Bat-Mite.

Episode 19, The Criss Cross Conspiracy: One of the few problems with Batman: The Brave and the Bold is that it is primarily consumed with male characters. This episode isn’t exactly much different or particularly kind to women, unfortunately, but it’s still an amusing one – Batwoman and Batman switch bodies, and we get to see Diedrich Bader pull off some of his most comical voice acting.

Episode 21, Cry Freedom Fighters: In which Plastic Man finally gets his big heroic spotlight. Basically every Plastic Man related plot point in the series culminates here, and he gets to join his fellow Quality Comics stable-mates The Freedom Fighters, including a particularly “taken so straight it’s hilarious” version of Uncle Sam.

Episode 22, The Knights of Tomorrow: More or less, this is the Grant Morrison tribute episode, taking place in the future and giving viewers the set-up of his classic Batman and Robin run, with Dick as Batman and Damian Wayne (this time, the son of Bruce and Selina Kyle) as Robin, with even a little wink and nod to Damian’s future and one of the easter eggs of Batman #700.

Episode 23, Darkseid Descending: Set-up gloriously in the previous episode’s prelude, the oncoming threat of the hordes of Apokolips compels Batman, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter to reform the Justice League…and it ends up taking a shape that’s rather familiar to fans of the Giffen/DeMatteis iteration of the team. Wonderfully epic, this could have been/maybe should have been the finale to the second season.

Episode 25, The Malicious Mr. Mind: The best possible follow-up to a Captain Marvel/Shazam episode is one that includes the entire Marvel family, Mr. Mind, and the Monster Society of Evil. While many writers have struggled to make the fairly cheesy Marvel family “relevant” for today’s audiences, The Brave and The Bold creative team embraced everything that’s weird and wonderful about the old Beck/Binder comics and this episode is their ultimate tribute.

Season 3

Episode 1, The Battle of the Superheroes: For better or worse, it’s hard not to notice the Superman shaped-hole that filled the entirety of series’ first two seasons (barring one brief flashback cameo), but with the third season’s premiere, viewers were treated to the best possible love letter to Superman’s Silver Age past. You get a giant Turtle Boy style Jimmy Olsen, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and some rather hilarious examples of “Superdickery”. Season 3 was, on the whole, not as successful as the brilliant second set of episodes before it, but this episode was a stone cold classic.

Episode 7, Sword of the Atom: Remember “Journey to the Center of the Bat” back in season 1? This is basically part 2 of that fantastic episode and once again sees Aquaman team up with (the new) Atom and shrink to microscopic size to save Batman.

Episode 9, Bold Beginnings: When Aquaman, Plastic Man, and Green Arrow get together, it’s a can’t lose combo. And sure to form, this story that details how each first met Batman not only superbly entertains, but also provides just a tiny bit of character backstory for Batman’s core three supporting cast.

Episode 13, Mitefall: Best. Finale. Ever.

Have fun!

This icy force both foul and fair has a frozen heart worth mining.

Well, I had hoped to wait until May before updating my movie calendar, but then Bob Iger had to go and hold an annual shareholder’s meeting for Disney.

…which means that all sorts of stuff got announced, so here’s the latest.

NOTE:  My colleagues have noted the confusion over Warner Brothers’ superhero schedule.

To be clear: past Suicide Squad, WB/DC Entertainment has not matched announced movies with opening dates.

So, you will see a listing like:

and

That does not mean that there are two movies scheduled, only that DCE is planning movies, and has claimed dates.  Other news sites have linked titles to dates.  This has not been officially announced or confirmed by Warner Brothers, and until I see official confirmation, will continue to list the names and dates separately.  When do I expect to see that confirmation?  Either at a shareholder’s meeting, or sometime in July or August, just like last year.  Like last year, I expect Marvel, via D23, to make a bigger splash than DC, although DC could try to win Comic-Con this year, given Marvel Studio’s suspected absence.

Updates in BOLD.

By Harper Harris

In one of the most visually and emotionally striking films nominated for Best Animated Short Film at this year’s Academy Awards, The Dam Keeper has garnered a lot of well-deserved praise. The creators, Robert Kondo and Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi, have worked as art directors on such films as Toy Story 3, Ratatouille, and Ice Age, but got together to create The Dam Keeper as a very personal short film, and it shows. The film, done in a gorgeous painted style with almost no words, is unique and heartbreaking despite its short running time of only 18 minutes. What’s more exciting than such a great short? Why, how about a series of graphic novels by the creators, published through First Second, that explores this world?

The Dam Keeper is set in a sort of post-apocalyptic world with anthropomorphic people living in a valley, the only safe haven from the dark and dangerous clouds that surround it. Keeping this darkness at bay is Pig, a young boy with no family who must wind the windmill every day to blow back the clouds. In the short, he meets a girl his age, Fox, and through a series of wordless interactions, they become friends. However, a misunderstanding causes a rift between the two that has drastic consequences for the entire valley, which leads to the dramatic climax. Kondo and Tsutsumi recently announced that they plan to elaborate on the world of The Dam Keeper through a series of new graphic novels. I got a chance to speak with both creators to hear about this interesting cross-media expansion on their celebrated short film. The below answers come from the team collectively.

Where did the initial idea for the short film spring from?

The Dam Keeper was our first effort to write and direct together as a team.  Initial ideas of an unsung hero in a polluted world went through different variations in discovering our creative process.  Along the way, we rediscovered a childhood folktale, The Little Dutch Boy, about a boy whose little act of sacrifice ended up saving his town.  We wondered, “What if our character held the responsibility of saving his town not just once but every day?”How did you decide on the very unique visual style for the short film?

We spent time thinking about what might distinguish us as a team.  Because we worked closely together for over seven years at Pixar and had influenced each other’s artwork, we actually could paint like each other.  This made us unique within the art department there and it felt like the unique thing we could apply to our film.  Not to mention, creating a painted look seemed a more natural route for us at the time than building a 3D CG pipeline.

With over 8,000 painted stills, it must have been a painstaking process! How long did the film take to create?

The actual production and post-production ran for 9 months — a long process, but considering we all had full-time jobs during the day, it was an extremely well run production thanks to our producers Megan Bartel and Duncan Ramsay.

Part of what makes the short so interesting is how little we as an audience really know about the circumstances in this world where a dark cloud constantly threatens the valley beneath. What made you decide to explore this world more deeply?

For us, on one level, the dark cloud represents our character’s internal demon.  On another level, it also speaks to us quite literally, and so we have always imagined other cities and people living on the other side of the dam.  It feels natural for us to explore how different societies might deal with this deadly fog and how the particular inhabitants of each civilization would have their own respective social issues, just as we saw with Pig’s idyllic-seeming town in the short.

Speaking of, will the book series focus primarily on Pig’s future as he grows up, or will there be a look into the past of this world as well?

There will be elements of both, with a very emotional storyline for Pig and his friends set against the ticking time bomb of their polluted world.  But there will be a lot of laughter along the way, too.

One of the many things that makes The Dam Keeper so endearing is its lack of dialogue…do you plan to keep the companion graphic novels in the same silent style?

Dialogue will be an important addition to the story and we hope to use it while maintaining the feeling and tone of the short.

Will these companion pieces be graphic novels in a comic book style, or more along the lines of illustrated novels?

Much as we did with the short, we are exploring different ways to execute this new form of storytelling, not just in terms of format but as a team, since we haven’t done a book together before.

Why a graphic novel series to continue the stories in this whimsical world instead of, for example, an animated series?

We are concurrently pursuing an animated feature adaptation of The Dam Keeper.  Our company, Tonko House is open to telling stories in different formats.  We believe graphic novels are different than films, but are great vehicles for narrative just the same.  We are inspired by stories like Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki‘s This One Summer and Gene Luen Yang‘s American Born Chinese.

What kind of adventures can we hope to see Pig, Fox, and Hippo get into?

Pig and Fox’s adventures will be epic, wondrous, revelatory and daunting all at the same time — they will be taken out of their element and challenged as they come of age.  And they will be joined on this journey by a most unexpected ally or enemy, depending on whose point of view it is.

What inspired you to jump the story ahead to their teen years rather than continuing to explore their youth?

The early teen years are such an interesting rite of passage, when innocence challenged by one’s awareness of the world forces growth in character.  The underlying story is based upon a personal anecdote that fits well at this point in our characters’ lives as they are forced to engage with who they are and who they want to be.

While the short covers some darker territory, it maintains a childlike tone that is both charming and quite beautiful; can we expect the story to get a little more adult in tone in the continued story as the characters grow older?

We believe in the balance of light and darkness, and we will strive to capture both to connect with international audiences of all ages.  We want the choices our characters make to have real consequences, whether it is neglecting your responsibility and letting the darkness in, or something new and possibly more far-reaching.  We feel that if our characters and their motivations ring true, then this journey of boys becoming men will be enjoyable by many regardless of age.

How did you come to choose First Second as the publisher for this series?

We are big fans of First Second first and foremost as readers.  As creators, since conceiving the larger story of The Dam Keeper, we have been searching for the right people to work with in both film and publishing to help protect it and take it to the highest level of work we are capable of.  When we met our editor, Mark Siegel, there was an instant connection and the kind of partnership we had sought after.  We feel we are in great hands to learn this new medium for Tonko House.

How many books do you foresee being in the series?

It’s a bit of wait and see!

Do you feel that you may hand the reins over to a different writer or artist at some point to let them explore this world, or will this always be a personal project for the two of you?

We would most likely always be involved with how the world of The Dam Keeper expands. The story we are working on now is based on our own personal life experiences, and we hope any artists or writers we work with will bring the same level of personal investment and motivation into this world.   Coming from big feature animation studios where teamwork is essential, we hope always to collaborate with and learn from other artists since those experience have proven to be extremely rewarding time and time again.

When can we expect the first book to release? Where can fans follow both of you and your work?

We’ll be working around the clock to have the books ready as early as possible.

Any news related to The Dam Keeper will be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/TheDamKeeper
http://www.simplestroke.com
https://instagram.com/robertkondo/

The first of two graphic novel sequels to The Dam Keeper will arrive in 2016 from First Second.

Here’s the updated dance card for superhero movies, selected animated films, and geek-centric films.

Updates are in bold.

In case you haven’t obsessively been checking my Instagram feed (hehe) I wanted to share with you the animation I made for a WONDERFUL cause…help save some doggies’ lives and support @ShihtzuSwag ‘s fundraiser with @WagAware benefitting @ICareDogRescure ! Please do head on over to www.WagAware.com, 50% of every purchase goes directly to helping rescue our furry friends.

—-More Info From My IG Caption:

The closest thing to my heart has four legs. Please, Friends, help save doggie lives and support @icaredogrescue , the incredible @shihtzuswag created a fundraiser by teaming up with @wagaware to make a real difference!! Between February 2-16th WagAware will donate 50% of ALL SALES to @icaredogrescue !!! Such an amazing act and the #WagAware charm will be a friendly reminder of all the furry friends you’re saving, so please head over to www.WagAware.com and buy yours today! If you buy three you’ll automatically get another FREE!! Whoohoo…charms for everyone!! Thank you and help spread the word. #BuyaCharmSaveaDog