The History of Comic Art

As you well know, I am a big fan of anything comic related, so of course it was inevitable that I would cross paths with the curator of the  Cartoon Art Museum:  Andrew Farago. 

We didn’t just talk comic books, but two of my other favorites:  cartoons and comic strips.  Specifically we discussed Foghorn Leghorn, Vanilla Ice, He-Man, Wile E. Coyote, Calvin and Hobbes, The Ghostbusters, & The Real Ghostbusters (Which are two very different things), but probably the most important thing I learned during this interview:  Garfield Endures.

*BONUS* – The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

What do Vanilla Ice, Chuck Lorre, Venus de Milo, Leatherhead, and Brian Henson have in common?  They are all vital to the history of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  Learn the connections in my bonus ep with the mysterious Farago.

TMNT: The Forty Year Phenomenon

1984 was a big year.  Ghostbusters and Terminator were released, the events of George Orwell’s novel take place, and in a Massachusetts suburb, two comic artists accidentally created one of the biggest pop culture events in human history:  the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  What started as a joke between friends has spawned numerous TV shows, movies, and video games.  Only The Simpsons rivals it as far as longevity is concerned.  But how did this happen?  Well it turns out that the origin story of the TMNT is a strange, and serendipitous as the creation of the turtles themselves.  I sit down with author and historian Andrew Farago to discuss all of the events that had to line-up to make this possible.  Lightening in a bottle doesn’t even describe it, but maybe Aladdin’s Lamp does.  We will discuss the dark and violent origins of the original comic, the perfect nature of the original theme song, and how a Muppet was used to pitch the cartoon to networks.

*BONUS* – TMNT in Video Games

One of the lucky breaks Eastman & Laird received was that Nintendo and Konami were looking for a new kind of game and the turtles came around at the perfect time.  Not only was the NES game successful, but the sequel changed the way arcade games operated for a five year period.  Listen as we discuss the meteoric rise of both the turtles and video games.