Can we bring Thundarr to DE?

[Guest]

it's long past time Thundarr the barbarian gets
a monthly comic book. Here is a chance to get the ball rolling that way!

http://www.petitiononline.com/petiti...cmx/signatures

Come on DE readers!

[pulphero]

I don't know why you think Warner Bros is somehow turning interested comic book publishers away or somehow withholding the rights because they consider comic books beneath them or something. It's not as if the WB legal dept. can just pick up the phone and call up Dynamite or IDW or Dark Horse or Image and demand that they publish a Thundarr the Barbarian comic book. Not that I particularly believe that petitions work, but shouldn't you be addressing your petition to Dynamite or IDW?

[Blinky McQuade]

I don't know why you think Warner Bros is somehow turning interested comic book publishers away or somehow withholding the rights because they consider comic books beneath them or something. It's not as if the WB legal dept. can just pick up the phone and call up Dynamite or IDW or Dark Horse or Image and demand that they publish a Thundarr the Barbarian comic book. Not that I particularly believe that petitions work, but shouldn't you be addressing your petition to Dynamite or IDW?

Hey DE,

Thundarr the Barbarian was a great Kirby designed cartoon series! As a concept, it combines the road-warrior situation with modern commentary of society with some sorcery/science fantastic fiction. As a teenager, it was humorous and exciting. It would be great if we could see the origin story hinted at in the opening credits (breaking away from slavery/gladiatorial imprisonment and gaining the fabulous Sun Sword). DE would do this series justice! Please consider exploring rights to bring Thundarr to your fine stable of comics!

Blinky

Maybe petitions do not work but maybe exploring the options might work!

[Guest]

Um... if Warner Brothers owns Thundarr, wouldn't they just publish him themselves through DC?

[pulphero]

Um... if Warner Brothers owns Thundarr, wouldn't they just publish him themselves through DC?

You might think so, right? Maybe, since they're publishing a Masters of the Universe comic book. After all, that book is also based on an old cartoon series of the same vintage. But Time-Warner/DC Comics doesn't own Masters of the Universe. They license it. What about WB cartoons that DC does publish? Well, there's Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo, and Teen Titans GO!, all based on WB-owned cartoon series. Then there are comic books being published based on Dexter's Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, and Ben 10, which are all owned by Cartoon Network (which is in turn part of Warner Bros), but those are being published by IDW. And there are comic books of other Cartoon Network shows like Adventure Time and Regular Show, that are being published by BOOM! Studios. Why are those WB-owned series being licensed to other comic book companies when WB already owns a comic book company of its own? I suspect the answer must be that DC Comics expressed no interest in publishing comic book series based on those properties. You might even be pretty sure that if a book featuring Superman or Batman comics was going to be published, DC Comics would be the only company to do it. Yet IDW has published, in the last year, hardcover collections of Superman and Batman newspaper strip comics. You can draw your own conclusions.

[Guest]

For the record I did not start the petition, I just came across it while searching for thundarr online. I thought I would bring it here to DE fourms, for any fans (of Thundarr) who might find it worthy of discussion. Seems like there has been some good input here, thanks

[pulphero]

For the record I did not start the petition, I just came across it while searching for thundarr online. I thought I would bring it here to DE fourms, for any fans (of Thundarr) who might find it worthy of discussion. Seems like there has been some good input here, thanks

Point taken. I'm not trying to be negative here, just realistic. If some comic book company were to publish a Thundarr the Barbarian comic book, I'd be likely to buy it, unless it looked absolutely terrible. But it would seem a shame if someone went to the trouble to start a petition, and then just blindly spammed it out to "Warner Brothers Entertainment", where it might most likely be read by some lower-level functionary whose probable initial reaction might be "What the heck is 'Thundarr'? Is that something we own?", and that was the end of it. Someone at Warner Entertainment's merchandising rights licensing division's reaction to the question "Why isn't there a Thundarr the Barbarian comic book?" would probably be "Well, no comic book company has asked us yet." It's ridiculous to pin your hopes on the unrealistic notion that the president of Warner Entertainment (or even the head of the merchandising rights division) is going to read your petition personally, pick up the phone, and call Dan Didio, publisher of DC Comics, and say "Look, I've got a petition here with 1000 names (assuming you could get that many) on it, requesting a Thundarr the Barbarian comic book. I want you to put it on your publishing schedule right now." Even if by some miracle that happened, what's he going to say if Dan Didio assures him "It'll never sell, trust me"? Or the equally silly notion that someone in the merchandising rights licensing division is going to be assigned the task of compiling a list of phone numbers of every comic book publisher in America, and then go down the list calling them one by one, asking them if they're interested in publishing a Thundarr comic book. It's just not how things work.

So no, you need to take your case to the comic book publishers themselves. And why stop at sending it to one comic book company? Send it to more than one. My suggestions would be:

Dynamite (WHY: DE bases a good deal of their publishing schedule on licensed properties, particularly older ones that haven't been used in comics in quite some time: Zorro, Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, The Shadow, Dark Shadows, Six Million Dollar Man, Voltron),

IDW (WHY: Again, a history of publishing licensed "nostalgia" properties like G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Ghostbusters, which are also cartoons of similar vintage, PLUS we already know they are licensing some properties from Warner, so they clearly know what channels to go through), and

DC Comics (WHY: As a division of Warner, if DC wanted to publish a Thundarr comic, they'd most likely be given preference to the license over a competing company - but ONLY if DC clearly wanted it; whether DC would be interested is a more iffy proposition, since their track record of publishing similar material isn't extensive).

As I say, I'd want to make sure to address this thing to someone at a comic book company who is (a) most likely to be receptive to the idea, and (b) most likely to take action to inquire about the rights with Warner. That's far more likely to happen if you can get the thing to the right person, so finding the name of the publisher or the person in charge of licensed comics at that company so that you can address the thing with someone's actual name is going to increase your chances exponentially. If someone happened to read in an interview (or was told at a convention) by someone that works at a comic book company that he was a big fan of Thundarr, so much the better; you already know he's motivated and on your side. Then when an actual comic book company approaches Warner with the idea of licensing a Thundarr comic book, Warner is more likely to take the idea seriously, than if they just got an unsolicited email petition.

I will leave some comments along these lines at the actual site where the petition is posted.

[Guest]

And I am not sure I'd want to see the current DC do Thundarr. I mean, on top of the New 52, we have this:

[pulphero]

You can't really pin that on the current DC, though. They've been doing stuff like that for 20 years now. It's always the cute little magical imps that suffer.

[Guest]

this is my drawing of Thundarr the Barbarian from the cartoon series!

[Guest]

From this picture off the cartoon show

[Guest]

You can't really pin that on the current DC, though. They've been doing stuff like that for 20 years now. It's always the cute little magical imps that suffer.

But Legends of the Dark Mite was a one-time story, and not the Big Bad of the ongoing main (MOTU) continuity. To be fair, current DC has far more problems than "Dark Orko," and while I like a few of their books, the company as a whole has been taking a nosedive into ludicrously grim and gritty land since the reboot.

[pulphero]

But Legends of the Dark Mite was a one-time story, and not the Big Bad of the ongoing main (MOTU) continuity. To be fair, current DC has far more problems than "Dark Orko," and while I like a few of their books, the company as a whole has been taking a nosedive into ludicrously grim and gritty land since the reboot.

The Dark Mite had at least one other major story, and, I think, a couple of other sporadic appearances. Still not so much, but figure that as a percentage of the total of Bat-Mite appearances from then to now...



I'd argue that the path to "grim and gritty land" began at DC as far back as the death of Jason Todd, followed by the death of Superman, the snapping of Batman's spine by Bane and replacement by Azrael/Batman, Emerald Twilight, the death of Hal Jordan, the death of Oliver Queen... right on up through Blackest Night, with scores of DC heroes becoming (if only temporarily) evil zombies. Maybe even as far back as Crisis on Infinite Earths, with the death of Kara Zor-El and Barry Allen. All of which have been since undone, just as Dark Orko will be (presuming optimistically that there are any further MOTU comic book series in the future...)

I wouldn't worry about Dark Orko's legacy as part of "the main ongoing continuity" of the MOTU too much. He's pretty much limited to the currently published DC series, and you're unlikely to see Mattel making a Dark Orko action figure, or him appearing in a new MOTU animated series, just as the Dark Mite version of Bat-Mite didn't influence his appearances on the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series. Dark Orko will be forgotten as soon as the current DC series ends (which shouldn't be too long now, given the current DC's track record with titles that aren't part of the Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, or Justice League franchises). There was even a hint in a recent solicitation that the current Wonder Woman series may be ending soon.

[Ghornet2]

There was even a hint in a recent solicitation that the current Wonder Woman series may be ending soon.

I remember reading somewhere that there is a clause in the original contract that if they stop publishing Wonder Woman the rights revert to the original creator. While I'm sure he's dead I have no doubt his family would have a good argument to obtain the rights. Not sure if that means she has to be in her own comic or jsut regularly appearing in a DC comic.

[Guest]

They've had various deaths and dark events but the baseline premise of the DCU wasn't grim and dystopic until the New 52. I like a few books in it but as a universe, I find it repulsive. We now have Amazons and Guardians (not just a few--I mean all of them) who have always been evil. No, just no.