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The Last Hurrah of the Rescue Rangers?
12 years ago
CHIP 'N DALE RESCUE RANGERS: SLIPPIN' THROUGH THE CRACKS by Ian Brill, Leonel Castellani, etc. (KaBOOM!, $15) [released in 2011]
http://www.amazon.com/Chip-Dale-Res.....rescue+rangers
A criminal gang made up of the Rescue Rangers' evil mirror-opposites. Poison-quilled ninja porcupines. Fiendish deathtraps. The CNDRR comic book's last hurrah. I wish I liked this story more than I do.
Thing is, it's a terrific story, and the Danger Rangers, a cool, cruel, villainous quintet bent on the RR's destruction, are worth the price of the book by themselves. But the execution? Artist Leonel Castellani's departure from the title was disappointing; he drew only a few pages of the first and second chapters, and may have done layouts for substitute artists Ricardo Garcia and Morgan Luthi. Luthi was credited as the sole artist for chapters three and four, and his workmanlike style gets the job done, in a rather faceless manner. (There's a real howler in one panel near the end, when a character turns his head at a 180° angle.)
Writer Ian Brill had to say everything he wanted to say about the RR in this four-issue span prior to cancellation, and the results were interesting. He sees Dale not as a mere TV buffoon, but as the group's true co-leader, giving him a long, uncharacteristically articulate speech to emphasize the point. That speech, by the way, has been rewritten for this trade paperback; it's shorter, but now it sounds even less in character. Monty's almost bipolar behavior and his uncontrollable appetite nearly get his teammates killed...again. Gadget, facing off against her creepy arch-nemesis...well, let's just say that being tech savvy isn't everything.
Besides pruning Dale's valedictory speech, Brill (or his editor) has tinkered with the last few pages since their comic book publication, omitting some dialogue, adding a caption or two. The trade paperback has an intermittent problem with the color reproduction, too: a few pages throughout the book are noticeably less vivid than they were in comic book form.
If you're a Rescue Rangers fan, you're going to want this collection anyway. The group's 1980s iconography -- Indiana Jones, Magnum, P.I., Crocodile Dundee, the Jordan Cochran character from Real Genius -- is nostalgic/cool now, cooler than it was when Disney cancelled the first CNDRR comic book series in 1991. Maybe they'll relaunch the title a third time, through their subsidiary, Marvel Comics. One can always hope.
http://www.amazon.com/Chip-Dale-Res.....rescue+rangers
A criminal gang made up of the Rescue Rangers' evil mirror-opposites. Poison-quilled ninja porcupines. Fiendish deathtraps. The CNDRR comic book's last hurrah. I wish I liked this story more than I do.
Thing is, it's a terrific story, and the Danger Rangers, a cool, cruel, villainous quintet bent on the RR's destruction, are worth the price of the book by themselves. But the execution? Artist Leonel Castellani's departure from the title was disappointing; he drew only a few pages of the first and second chapters, and may have done layouts for substitute artists Ricardo Garcia and Morgan Luthi. Luthi was credited as the sole artist for chapters three and four, and his workmanlike style gets the job done, in a rather faceless manner. (There's a real howler in one panel near the end, when a character turns his head at a 180° angle.)
Writer Ian Brill had to say everything he wanted to say about the RR in this four-issue span prior to cancellation, and the results were interesting. He sees Dale not as a mere TV buffoon, but as the group's true co-leader, giving him a long, uncharacteristically articulate speech to emphasize the point. That speech, by the way, has been rewritten for this trade paperback; it's shorter, but now it sounds even less in character. Monty's almost bipolar behavior and his uncontrollable appetite nearly get his teammates killed...again. Gadget, facing off against her creepy arch-nemesis...well, let's just say that being tech savvy isn't everything.
Besides pruning Dale's valedictory speech, Brill (or his editor) has tinkered with the last few pages since their comic book publication, omitting some dialogue, adding a caption or two. The trade paperback has an intermittent problem with the color reproduction, too: a few pages throughout the book are noticeably less vivid than they were in comic book form.
If you're a Rescue Rangers fan, you're going to want this collection anyway. The group's 1980s iconography -- Indiana Jones, Magnum, P.I., Crocodile Dundee, the Jordan Cochran character from Real Genius -- is nostalgic/cool now, cooler than it was when Disney cancelled the first CNDRR comic book series in 1991. Maybe they'll relaunch the title a third time, through their subsidiary, Marvel Comics. One can always hope.
So, yet another creation murdered by Disney >_<
Don't get me wrong either - what Marvel did to Jack Kirby was downright shameful as well. (I think there's a bio/book about that, but I can't remember the name of it for the life of me)
But DISNEY - sorry, but that's a whole different mogul right there.
And you know what? I can't help but feel this is almost like what Cartoon Network does (or, for that matter, any cartoon syndication *coughs* 4Kids *coughs and cringes*) - Oh sure, you get a great cartoon going (or in this case, a great comic)...maybe its not getting enough out there in the resale value (through endorsements or what have you - cripes, dont get me started on when these get oversold in food toys, cereal, tshirts...ugh!!!)...maybe its the declining readership...Yet...
What about the more hard-core fans? I suppose there's always the "fan-fiction" but it kind of leaves a sour taste when something that you like goes downhill or gets pulled all together...and no one does anything!
Grrr!!!