THE 'REAPER' SPIN-OFF THAT NEVER WAS



The CW series REAPER was, and remains, beloved and admired during its two season run.  At that time I figured, in the event that somehow GOSSIP GIRL and the reboot of 90210 stumbled, we should be ready for the next logical step: a little kid friendly spin-off of the show.  Ben, Sock and Sam would lean on a brick wall and ruminate about their lot in life, ala Charlie Brown and co., but would have to maintain their respective beards to look enough like their real-life counter parts. 

Oh, and every cartoon needs a dog -- hence 'Rufus.'

A FUNNY JOKE THREE OR SO YEARS AGO COMES BACK TO LIFE!

A few years ago, my good Minnesota Daily fiends and I were yukking it up over the titles of the (then) recent sequel books to THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by the late Steig Larsson -- THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE and THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST.  We laughed that with such titles, the series was never-ending.  Off the cuff, the group tossed out potential future titles: THE GIRL WHO WORE WHITE AFTER LABOR DAY or THE GIRL WHO RAN WITH SCISSORS or this one, which I then I dummied up...

 

Putting this post together, I contacted the guys trying to recall any other funny titles and an e-mail chain began... and is still going, with everyone coming up with new ones.  Among the hot-off-the-press favs: THE GIRL WHOSE FACE STAYED THAT WAY... THE GIRL WHO ATE POTATO SALAD LEFT OUTSIDE ON A VERY HOT DAY, THE GIRL WHO TEXTED WHILE CROSSING AN INTERSECTION and one for American history buffs: THE GIRL WHO STOOD TOO CLOSE TO WM. MCKINLEY ON A MID SEPTEMBER DAY IN 1901.

 

SUMMER BOX OFFICE BLUES

The number-crunching is drawing to a close and it seems the summer's movie box office take failed to impress.  It's easy to see why -- do the math: if a film costs 100 to 200 million dollars to make and costs more than twice that to advertise and promote, it's hard for any film to see a profit.

 

Studios must follow the example presented in this New Yorker cartoon I cut out twenty years ago.

RISE AND SHINE...

Trevor's first day of school is next Tuesday and gone will be the mornings of sleeping late.  This picture seemed appropriate --  a rendering I did of Craig McNamara's proposed production company logo Monday Morning Productions.

WHO DOESN"T LOVE A DANCING ROBOT?

BATTERED MITT, POST WEREWOLF FIGHT

The latest from Twelve O'clock Somewhere.

RIP JAMES GARNER

 

Mourn as you see fit: watching your favorite episode of Rockford, or Maverick or pop in THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY or THE GREAT ESCAPE or THE NOTEBOOK or any of a dozen other of his films and be reminded of just how great he was.    

This drawing was done by Bruce Hannum, during our MN DAILY days.   

BEAT SUMMERTIME RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC!

 

Ever stuck in summer rush hour traffic and sit, wondering, "What would be the perfect vehicle to get out of this mess...?"  Above is my proposed design. 

WHALE

GRUFF

Designed this guy as the anti-hero contender in MONSTER RALLY -- an overgrown faun with a penchant for speed and full of bad attitude.  Since he's part goat, I thought the name was fitting...

HANNIBAL SEASON THREE BEGINS...

 

The writers room for HANNIBAL season three began on Monday last, hence the posting of my only drawing of a homicidal maniac.

ALL HAIL CHUCK JONES

Before I moved to Los Angeles, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis hosted a Q&A with the late, great Chuck Jones.  I bought a t-shirt to commemorate the evening, featuring his sketch "Nude Duck Descending a Staircase".  While the memories lasted, the t-shirt did not -- but before I pitched it, I cut out the artwork and copied it (hence the thread patterns visible.)

MAKE A TIGER FUZZY

Good ol' Corel Painter program.  Always finding new stuff on there.

Drew the tiger on the left and then "dabbed" it with Painter's sponge and got this phantasmagorical version of the original.

UNUSED MINNESOTA SCRIPTWORKS LOGO

DRAWING COMICS. LESSON #1

Drew this when I was, like seven, and it's clear I didn't know the first rule of drawing comic strips -- write out your character's dialogue BEFORE you draw the word balloons...

HANNIBAL SEASON TWO EPISODE 9 "SHIIZAKANA"

This was the initial sketch I came up with when we writers were putting our heads together, trying to come up with inventive bad guys for HANNIBAL.  I had this idea of a guy in a suit using a dire wolf skull strapped to his head to eviscerate his adversaries -- in stark contrast to the title character's own neat, urbane method of killing. 

For the picture, I started with an old phrenology chart for the human head and added the wolf jaws (cave bear jaws in the episode -- bigger, chompier...) to it.  Colored and "dirtied" it up to make it seem more old-world. 

And yes, dire wolves were real creatures that roamed the earth once upon a time...

CRAIG'S CORONER

These are some photo-phunnies my friend Craig McNamara sent me.  As he explained, these were shot back in his agency days, as illustration references for a layout... and Craig later pasted them together and made a story out it. Old gag, but so is the telephone... and the rich Polaroid highlights and skin-tones.  And that's Craig himself getting the bad news.

CRAZY MONKEYS!

Hand drawn T shirts rule!!  This was one of many identical shirts I drew for a birthday party game for one of Laird's parties.  'Crazy Monkeys' was the team's name, and the red splotches are paint -- no blood sport at a Vlaming kid  party.

BACK TO THE FUTURE I - THE ORIGINAL PLOT!!

 

 

Originally in BACK TO THE FUTURE, Marty McFly and Doc Brown never get their time-travel experiment off the ground.  Their endeavor is halted by Hill Valley Councilman Dick Winston (Craig McNamara), all part of the film's initial backstory involving the city's eminent domain junction against Brown's property.  "Originally we saw this as a taut drama," explains co-writer Bob Gale, "The story of  'an everyman-against-the-powers-that-be'.  The whole time-travel thing, that was just there to steer the story into the courtroom nitty-gritty."  In the original cut of the film, Marty and Doc return home to fashion a legal defense and leave Dick Winston to be gunned down by the Libyan terrorists...

 

If you don't believe it, enlarge the picture and look at the photo caption!

"BUENAS NOCHES, I'M ALFREDO HITCHCOCK..."

Okay, at the HANNIBAL offices, an amazing series of framed 50's and 60's Hitchcock movie posters -- some a giant 4'x6' - adorned the walls.  From the writers room I could see two of them and at slow  moments, I sketched the Master of Suspense.  For whatever reason, I blackened his hair and added sideburns and a moustache, the end result looking less like Alfred Hitchcock and more like character actor Miguel Sandoval. 

60's AD ART?

 

Not really -- this is a doodle I did at work and realized it's in that great sixties style you saw inTV  advertisements that used cartoons.  With my truty, dusty Corel program I fattened up the lines, dropped in the colors and added the very-60's san serif type. 

RAIDERS OF THE LAST LOST CRYSTAL TEMPLE OF THE CRUSADE

 

 

Actually these are all production stills from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ICEBOX, a super-8 spoof we shot during college and all filmed in Edina, Minnesota.  Kirk Mathison was great as a German baddie and my brother Jonathan played the lead character, Louisiana Jones -- professor, archaeologist... and gourmet.

 

 

Watch the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpBeq2OlLHM

 

LOST SCENE FROM 'RETURN OF THE JEDI'!

 

Word has it John Williams composed a stellar rendition of Pomp & Circumstance for this scene which, sadly, was cut from the final film. 

 

Written and rendered by my pal and STAR WARS STRIPZ co-author, Craig McNamara.

NOTES AND DOODLES

 

Whenever there's a lull in a concept call, the pen takes on a mind of its own...

'HANNIBAL' SEASON TWO PREMIERE DATE -- THIS FRIDAY, February 28th!

Instead of an official image from HANNIBAL's second season, I offer this painting I originally did to spruce up my REAPER office walls.   Needless to say, it was more fitting for my HANNIBAL wall.  

 

The second season of HANNIBAL premieres this Friday, FEBRUARY 28th...on NBC.  Check your local listings.  Until then, here are a couple of  TRAILERS sure to whet your appetite:

http://hollywoodlife.com/2014/02/06/hannibal-new-season-2-trailer-mads-mikkaelsen-hugh-dancy-return/
or
http://www.programme-tv.net/news/series-tv/47499-hannibal-saison-2-video/

BUY THE LEGO MOVIE NOW -- BUT NOT FROM AMAZON!

POLAR VORTEX -- THE SEQUEL: FORTIFIED

 

Pull on the flannel plaids, the sheepskin vest and the moose scalp hat and ride these low temps out

TORONTO SUBMISSION

Up in Toronto this week to prep my episode of HANNIBAL and I didn't bring anything to put up.  Pulled this, the latest page from 12 O'Clock Somewhere, to fill the space.

POLAR VORTEX--THE GAME

Trapped in a devastating netherworld of ice and snow, one intrepid robot must find the key to mankind's survival...
                                                   ...temps above zero and a hot cup of Peets coffee.

IF "AMERICAN HUSTLE" DOESN'T GIVE YOU ENOUGH 1970's FOR CHRISTMAS...

/

Craig McNamara, Saint Paul MN native born and bred, found this poster and gave it to me ostensibly because my next-door-neighbor Casey Jones aka Roger Awsumb was featured as a special guest (so was Barry ZeVan the weatherman -- but I didn't know him personally).  I loved the artwork and it was a nice piece from the past.

But then I got to wondering who the host of the parade, this "Super Mayor" was.  A little research gleaned from WFMU’S Beware of the Blog uncovered the following:

“From 1970 to 1972, the city of Saint Paul, MN was led by colorful Mayor Charlie McCarty who won the election as an independent candidate. He was both loved and hated by many for his unpredictable words and deeds, but never failed to entertain.

He earned the nickname "Supermayor" due to his penchant for patrolling the streets of the city at all hours of the night in his hand-picked Lincoln Continental (dubbed the "Supercar") which was decked out in all manner of police and fire radios… [using] the newly modern technology… that allowed him to switch red [street] lights to green while he tooled around town with his driver.

An incident where Mayor McCarty helped apprehend a disorderly patron at a White Castle restaurant was the genesis of a weekly "Supermayor" comic strip by Jerry Fearing in the local paper.”