A Chat with Louise Gikow, part 2

Hey, how about that interview with Louise Gikow from the other day? Wasn't that fantastic? Sorry, what's that? You think it should've been longer? Well you are in luck, my furry friend! Part two of our chat with Louise is right here, right now!

ToughPigs: How did you get started in your career with the Muppets?

Louise Gikow: When I was very young, I was a graduate student of Medieval Literature at Columbia University. I got my Masters and decided that it was insane to be a Medievalist. It was a bad economic time and nobody wanted professors of medieval literature. I also realized that university teaching and the university atmosphere was probably not for me. I wanted real life. So I left, answered an ad in the New York Times, and got a job at the National Lampoon Magazine for six years. I worked with everyone from Doug Kenney to Henry Beard to John Belushi, because I was a production assistant on the first Lemmings show. I’ve been so incredibly lucky. I was there for about six years as the Senior Copy Editor, and then I decided that I didn’t want to be working for that magazine when I’d hit a ripe old age. I loved it madly, but it was time for me to move on, so I quit and freelanced for a while. And while I was freelancing, my friend Mark Saltzman, who had been writing for Sesame Street, called me and said that they were starting Muppet Magazine and they were looking for freelance-permanent staff. And I became the Managing Editor of that.

TP: So Muppet Magazine was your first job with the Muppets?

LG: Yeah, it was my first Muppet experience. I worked there for about a year, and it was a great gig for me, because I would come in irregularly and I made about $12,000 a year, which at that time was an enormous part of my income, which goes to show you how the world has changed. After about a year, Jane Leventhal, who was the head of publishing, who is the older sister of J.P. Leventhal, who is the publisher of [the Sesame Street 40th Anniversary book], called me up and said she’d like me to come and work full-time in the publishing division. I really like freelancing, and I like having permanent jobs, but I really don’t like transitioning between the two. And I told Jane a few weeks later that I had a nightmare the night after she asked me to come where she was chasing me around the office with a meat cleaver, shouting “Come join us! Come join us!” And I was running away going “No, no, I don’t want to! I like freelancing!” But I went and joined them anyway because it was one of those things you couldn’t pass up. I was lucky enough very soon afterward to become kind of an ad-hoc creative group that Jim gathered of people from a variety of places, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and I guess he liked my big mouth and my ideas enough to invite me to all the meetings. So I didn’t do the scriptwriting very much for him, but I did a lot of bits and pieces like PR and internal films and things like that. Mostly I was a part of this brain trust kind of thing. And Jim… oh Jim, Jim was a wonderful guy. I miss him very much. He used to gather people together for these weekends, and he would hire the most amazing people, people who were famous in a variety of fields, and we’d go in and they’d tell you these fascinating things about their fields and we’d brainstorm about what we can do. It was just a joy, we were so lucky.

I did that for 11 years, past when Jim died, probably longer than I should have, mostly because I just loved it there and it was hard to leave. Then I got a job starting a publishing and multimedia division at Nickelodeon, and I thought I really had to try it. So I spent two years at Nickelodeon, and I learned more there than I had at any other job in my life, and it’s influenced everything I’ve done since, because it was more about what makes a successful show, what makes a successful network. And then Chris Cerf asked me to join Sirius Thinking, where I worked for seven or eight years, and I’ve got two Emmys to show for it. Then I left to freelance and I’ve been freelancing ever since.

I was always a book writer, I became a script writer, I helped develop shows like Johnny and the Sprites, I wrote the last two planetarium shows. And as a part of my freelance work, I got a call one day from J.P. Leventhal, and he told me about the 40th anniversary book, and he asked if it was a project I’d be interested in writing. Because when The Works was done, I was pretty instrumental in the publishing division, rewriting it and getting it all together. So I said you betcha. I know they’ve tried to do it before and haven’t really been able to. There was Sesame Street Unpaved, which was a different kind of book, and I think they planned on a 25th anniversary book in-house, but it was very difficult. I think one reason why it was possible now is because of the perspective. The world is changing so much and Sesame Street is still here, and it demands a celebration. It took a long time to get the project off the ground and it took a long time to get it done.

TP: You have written books for more of the Muppet franchises than just about anyone: Muppets, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Muppet Babies, Muppet Kids, Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss., Labyrinth. Did you have a favorite franchise to work with?

LG: I love Fraggle Rock, I really do. I mean, I love them all, but there was something about Fraggle Rock that was joyous and amazing, and the people were extraordinary. It’s really inspired other people. John Tartaglia was inspired by Fraggle Rock to do Johnny and the Sprites. It has extraordinary music, it’s such a wonderful show. And it breaks my heart that more people don’t know about it, and I know they’re bringing it back now in DVDs, and I’m hoping that they really promote it because. It was a show that was ahead of its time in terms of a broadcast situation because it was on HBO and HBO wasn’t big enough. And the only place where it became popular was that band between America and Canada, because all of the northern states could pick up the signal from CBC. So we’d get huge numbers in Buffalo of Fraggle Rock fans because they could get it on television.

The other one that was close to my heart was the Palestinian-Jordanian-Israeli Sesame Street co-production. It was an amazing opportunity to work with those people, and to do something to really make a difference. That’s where Gary Knell is really standing out now, and that’s where he’s dug his heels in, saying this is how we’re going to change the world. I think Joan [Ganz Cooney] really wanted to change the world when she began, but I think she was thinking of the American world. And very soon after it became the international world. So to be a part of international for Sesame Workshop was an additional gift. I worked for Jim Henson for 11 years and it was all amazing, I loved it dearly, but that was something that let you wake up feeling good every day.

TP: Going back to the books, how did it work when you’d get an assignment? Did you pitch ideas, or would you get a note saying “We need a book about Wembley”?

LG: I’ll tell you the story about the first book I ever wrote. I wrote over 100 books, some under pseudonyms. I wrote under “Emily Paul” and “Rebecca Grand”. Emily Pauline is my niece, and Rebecca Grand was my grandmother. I liked both of those names, and I thought they sounded sort of professional. Now I can say it since no one will care anymore. Anyway, what would happen was we’d make a deal with the publisher, and they’d say how many books they want and how many pages in each book. So you really started with a format, and you’d know the kind of book you’d want to do and the age range of the kids who will read it. I was going to write the first Fraggle Rock books myself because they didn’t give us any lead time, and the show wasn’t going to be on for a while, and it was difficult to explain to people what the show was going to be. I was involved in production, I was at the set in Toronto, I knew about the show. So we were going to do the first books in-house and then outsource the later ones. You don’t want to do them all yourself, because then you don’t get any interesting voices. But I decided for the first book I ever wrote for them that I’d write “What’s a Fraggle?” I love rhyme, I love Dr. Seuss, and I wanted to write a sort of funny explanatory book for kids, because I thought it was a good way to start the line. Very often I would talk to the publisher about the book, or I would talk to [editor] Jane [Levinson] about my ideas, but this one I didn’t. We had a meeting where Jane told us what the formats were, and I said I’d like to do a book about Fraggles. She said let’s try a book like that, and then I went back to my office and wrote it in five minutes and came back and said “You mean like this?” She thought I was out of my mind. I’m sort of hyper when I get excited, and I’m a very fast typist. But I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and it was basically published verbatim, just as I wrote it. I don’t think there was a single word change. Jane really liked it and the publisher liked it, but God knows not all books were like that.

The way it works is, if the order is for eight books, you’d look at them and say “Let’s do a general book with all of the Fraggles, let’s do five featuring the main characters, and a Doozer book…” and I did a “What’s a Doozer?” book too, and I thought that had a genius idea, that the way Fraggles start was that there was a lazy Doozer who at a lot and didn’t exercise, so he became bigger and bigger and eventually became a Fraggle. So it’s part of Doozer lore that Fraggles are basically useless Doozers.

TP: You also wrote a lot of the Muppet Kids books. Was that any more difficult because you didn’t have source material to pull from, like Fraggle Rock or Muppet Babies?

LG: We were very careful on Muppet Kids. If you work for the Muppets for as long as we did, you really know these characters well. There were always creative kickoff meetings for things like this where we’d talk about how it would work, who would these kids be, where would they live, what would they look like and how would they behave?

The first time I came on board, when I was working for Muppet Magazine, I was writing the Miss Piggy column. The way you write a lot of this stuff, especially when you’re not the character yourself, is you get the voice of the character in your head. When I first began to do that, I had a meeting with Frank Oz. Frank was very particular about Miss Piggy at the time, and he spoke to me for a couple hours about Piggy. He told me the classic pig’s beginning story, born on a farm, lots of brothers. He was extremely helpful to me, because he told me where he got her from and from where he derived this extraordinary character and all the things that sort of made her her. So you’d get to know these characters like you know your friends. And I may not have known my best friend when she was 15, but I know who she was when she was 15. The essence of a person is the essence of a person. You know that Piggy started out scrabbling the yard with all her brothers, elbowing her brothers out of the way so she could get her share of the food because she was smaller, so she had to learn to be aggressive early on. So you know the kind of kid she was in grade school, and you know the kind of kid she was in junior high. She probably never went to college, and she’s probably embarrassed by that fact, because she had to go out and earn a living… To know who a character is is everything.

TP: You wrote the Sing Along with Kermit and Friends tapes. How was it different writing for Jim Henson, rather than just his characters in the books?

LG: Luckily for me, Jim was comfortable enough with what I’d written to just read them. Jerry Nelson, who’s just the most talented puppeteer, voice artist, character builder, and just an amazing and wonderful guy, did Robin on a number of those and was just amazing. I’m trying to think if it made any difference, and the truth is that it didn’t. Whatever I wrote they had to like, as far as I was concerned. It wasn’t a matter of whether they were going to read it or if they were going to read it and say it out loud. It was a little confrontational emotionally for me when they did it, but it was also very pleasurable. I loved working with them, they were brilliant, and I just loved being among them. But the books were just as important to me to get right, and if I didn’t write my best and do my best to get the voices right, I wouldn’t have been doing my job. And because everyone was so incredibly supportive, it was such a joy to work with them, it never occurred to me to be scared. It was actually more fun and more joyous, and I think the reason why I moved from writing books to doing more production is because I get to work with more people like that.

TP: I know that there are a good deal of inside jokes in the Muppet books. Were you ever caricaturized in any of your books?

LG: No, not as far as I know. My name was occasionally used as a character, but not artistically. Although I did play Miss Preen in the National Lampoon Yearbook. If you go back and find Miss Preen the guidance counselor, that was me.
Many special thanks to Louise Gikow for chatting with us! Keep an eye out for Sesame Street: A Celebration of Forty Years of Life on the Street, due in stores this November!

Click here to ask What's a Fraggle on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

A Chat with Louise Gikow, part 1

The release of the epic coffee table book Sesame Street: A Celebration of Forty Years of Life on the Street is on the cusp of showing up on your doorstep (y'know, assuming you did the smart thing by pre-ordering it on Amazon.com). Rather than wait patiently on the stoop for the mailman, we took this opportunity to sit down for a chat with Louise Gikow, the book's writer and editor.

Stop back around these parts later this week for part 2 of our chat with Louise, when we'll be talking about her entire career with the Muppets. But for now, let's learn a thing or two about her work on Sesame Street: A Celebration!

ToughPigs: Can you tell us about some of the research you had to do for the book?

Louise Gikow: I was very lucky because I was with Sesame Workshop, and I knew many of the people involved. Many of the puppeteers, a lot of the writers, we were in and out of each other’s pockets over the years, and I love them all dearly. So one of the things I did was talk to every person I possibly could on the staff. And really, that was most of the research I had to do. That and my own knowledge of everything. I knew Richard Hunt very well, I knew Jim, I knew Jon Stone. I did use the internet. I used, God bless you, your site and I used the Muppet Wiki a lot. And I have to say, it’s extraordinary what you guys do. I will tell you, people at the Workshop have gotten information about what the Workshop is going to do from you guys before they even knew it was happening. There’s a habit at the Workshop, it’s a very casual work environment, that when some people got hired, they didn’t even know they were hired until somebody mentioned to them a week before shooting, “Oh by the way, we’re sending you your ticket,” and it’s like “So I got the job?”

I had to use the obituaries, sadly much more than I wanted to. But the truth is that most of what I did was talk to people. And it’s ironic because some of my interviews will sound like interviews that have been done in the past because people tend to give the same interviews over and over again, but I got them from the horses’ mouths. I was lucky enough to work with Betsy Loredo, who is a wonderful editor, who did a tremendous amount of work on this book. We had a conversation years ago, and we both felt really strongly that we wanted the book to not be a tombstone on what maybe some people think is a show that is no longer being produced. And what I envisioned was pretty much what happened. That season, I went on set for many, many days, I’d get there before 9 and I left when everybody left, and I sat in a chair on the set, and I got to meet all the members of the staff that I’d seen but never got a chance to talk to, and I literally scribbled in my notebook constantly. I wanted to get a sense in the book about actual production. I wanted this to be a book that people who are interested in television production could read and get a sense of what the show’s production is about. I really wanted to pay tribute to the people on staff who were the unsung heroes, not just the puppeteers. The technical people, the lightning people, cameramen, and really make sure they all show up in the book.

TP: Did you collaborate at all with Michael Davis?

LG: No, that was a completely separate project, but I think we’re appearing on a couple panels together. Actually, I still have to read his book. I specifically didn’t read it because I didn’t want to be influenced by it. He was writing at the same time I was, and I really wanted it to be my voice and the voice of the people who were in it, and it was too close a timeline. But because the books were so close, I wanted them to be different. I really wish him the best, and I want his book to sell well, I want our book to sell well. I think if they’re different, they’ll support one another. I also think it’s great that he was able to express a different point of view and really go after a different aspect of the whole thing. It was more me staying out of his hair because he got his haircut first, so I can’t say he had to stay out of mine. When I first went on set, everyone said “I’ve already talked to somebody who’s doing a book.” And I said, “But you didn’t talk to me! Who is this person?” I didn’t know about [Street Gang], and neither did publishing because it was another division of Sesame that had given him access. But they got used to me because I just sort of sat around and was very nice and smiled a lot. I was very well-behaved.

TP: What were some of the most challenging parts of writing and editing the book?

LG: It’s probably more publishing stuff; I know you’re more interested in Workshop stuff. That part was not challenging, everybody was very generous with their time, everyone was really willing, the materials were unbelievably rich. The problem was that writing a book like this is chicken and egg. When I spoke with my editor, and knowing the Workshop like I do, I asked her how she wanted me to do it, because there is an enormous treasure trove of images and information and letters and memorabilia, but we didn’t know what they were yet. They weren’t accessible yet because we hadn’t begun the research process. Each chapter starts out with an on-set visit and something that relates to that chapter, either puppeteering or behind-the-scenes or licensing or whatever. That part I could write because it was fresh. But the rest of the book was based on things that we didn’t have available. Normally if you’re writing a big coffee table book on just about anything, you’d have the images already, and your writing would determine what images you used. I couldn’t do that because I never knew what images were available. So the biggest challenge was writing an entire manuscript of many hundreds of pages, and then completely rewrite it for the most part because of what we discovered. We wrote it first, and some of it stayed, but some of it was cut because we didn’t have images, but more importantly, more images became available and we had to rewrite to that. And up until the last minute, we were rewriting to things that were surfacing weeks before it was due.

TP: Did you have a favorite part of making the book?

LG: Talking to the people. I got a chance to meet a lot of people I’d heard about. Frank Biondo, Caroll Spinney I didn’t know well, a lot of the actors and actresses. But talking to everyone was so extraordinary. And having an excuse to spend four hours with Steve [Whitmire], who I never get to see. Spending a little more time with Matt Vogel, who I vaguely knew. Getting to know Joan [Ganz Cooney], who I had met but never really spoken with. I got to watch the older interviews done with the American Television Institute. I just loved it. It was one of the main reasons why I agreed to write the book. What a gift, to be able to spend your life near people like that. It’s like, how did I end up here by answering an ad in the New York Times? These are the greatest people. I work with geniuses, whatever that word means.

TP: What about your least favorite part?

LG: It had to be all of the people I didn't meet. What I’m talking about is all the people who I didn’t get a chance to talk to. I mean, office managers from 1979. I send my thanks to everyone who was involved, all the people I couldn’t talk to as well as the ones I could, because every single one of them left a bit of themselves in the company and on the show.

TP: Was it difficult to find a balance in the book between the old years of Sesame Street and the new?

LG: Not really, no. I didn’t feel that there was. I’d like to think that I did a good job at keeping it balanced. Clearly there’s an awful lot of early stuff here, but I wanted to reflect what production is like right now and how it has changed.

One of the things I really wanted to do, and this is specifically to you and to [the Muppet Wiki] and all the fans out there, but I really wanted to put at least one thing in the book that you didn’t know, but I don’t know if I succeeded because you guys know everything! Many of the images I’m sure you’ve never seen, but I hope there’s at least a point of view or something that you guys will really like. It’s you guys who have kept it alive in an extraordinary way, and it’s humbling to everyone at the Workshop, and we admire you enormously. And it’s why I always felt that there was a little ToughPig sitting on my shoulder saying, is it good enough, is it original enough, is it unique enough, will you like it?

TP: I’m glad we were involved somehow! Was there anything in the book that you wanted to be in it, but had to cut?

LG: The truth of the matter is that you can’t include everything you want in a book like this. I wish I could have acknowledged every single person. Another thing that had to get cut was a lot of the on-set stuff. There were an awful lot of funny lines and interesting things that I had to let go of. I wrote a book that’s probably three times the length of the one that came out. But there’s nothing specific, nothing that stands out as a hole in the book.

TP: Since you’re one of a few people who has really delved into Sesame Street’s 40-year history recently, is there an era where you feel like the show was at its peak?

LG: Not really, no. The truth of the matter is that there are peak moments throughout. For example, there’s a description in the book of Jim and Frank in a recording session doing Bert and Ernie, and some of it was scripted and some of it was ad-libbed, and what comes out on the screen is just extraordinary. A couple of those moments with the kids, like Jon Jon, are just amazing moments. The sad moments, like Mr. Hooper, and the reveal of Snuffy. I like to think the show is sort of like a life. As a newborn, you take lots and lots of pictures, but less as it gets older. But that doesn’t mean that graduations and jobs and so many moments through a person’s life aren’t as important. The entire 40-year arc for me is a highlight.
Click here for part two of our interview with Louise Gikow, where you'll see Louise talk about her career writing for the Muppets!

Click here to be the little ToughPig on Louise's shoulder on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

The Muppet Show Comic Book #4 & Peg Leg Wilson: Roger Langridge Q&A

We Muppet fans are pretty lucky. Not only do Muppet comic books continue to show up in our comic book stores, but Roger Langridge keeps on agreeing to do these Q&As with us! Let's see what Roger has to say...

Note: This Q&A was conducted after the release of Peg Leg Wilson #1. Check out our review of issue #1 here, and our review of issue #2 here.

ToughPigs: How does it feel to have your first Muppet Show story arc in the can and another already in stores?

Roger Langridge: Pretty satisfying, I have to admit - there's nothing like finishing a long piece of work.

TP: Do you have a method for creating the cover art?

RL: I usually submit between 4 and 6 sketched roughs to the editor each month, and he'll come back to me with suggestions and tell me which ones he'd like worked up into finished covers. At that point I take my sketch and blow it up nice and big, then I'll trace it and build it up into finished pencils, fleshing out details and fixing anything that looks a bit wobbly. Then I ink it, scan it and send it off to be coloured.

TP: How did you make the decision to stop the designs with the characters in the circles from the first arc? Will the circle covers be making a comeback after the end of Peg Leg Wilson?

RL: I always intended those to be limited to the first arc - my original plan was to change the colour of the curtains each issue so the covers didn't look too similar, but that idea seems to have been lost in the shuffle at some point. I think it's a good idea to move on from that now - I don't want to risk people skipping an issue because they think they've already bought it!

TP: On the ToughPigs forum, we’ve discussed the difficulties in capturing Miss Piggy’s character (she’s often written as too angry, too much of a “diva”, or too quick to turn to violence). We saw a great character arc for her in the 4th issue of The Muppet Show Comic Book. Did you have any trouble writing her?

RL: Well, you're always feeling your way a bit with any character you didn't create. I suppose she was difficult, but no more difficult than any other character. The thing I try to remember about Piggy is that her toughness is a front to conceal a very vulnerable pig beneath. If you can show flashes of that vulnerability it makes her much more rounded, if you'll pardon the expression.

TP: We were happy to see the return of fan favorites Wayne and Wanda, and the Talking Houses. Were you worried that readers might not remember them? Are you keeping a list of other Muppet Show sketches to include in future issues?

RL: I'm not too worried if people don't remember a particular sketch because I try to make them work whether you remember them or not. If you recognise it, that's like a nice little bonus - an Easter Egg for dedicated Muppet-watching - but it shouldn't be essential to know this stuff in order to enjoy the comic. If it is, I'm not doing my job right!

TP: You mentioned in an earlier interview that your close friends’ love of Pigs In Space led to its inclusion into every issue. Now that you’ve gotten feedback on your first arc, are there any other sketches or characters that you’re considering giving more screen time?

RL: Well, it wasn't just close friends! But I'm probably going to ease off on Pigs in Space for a few issues after the Peg-Leg Wilson arc is over, not least because there'll be a Pigs in Space one-shot between that and the arc which follows. So that should keep the Pigs in Space fans happy for a few months.

TP: When you’re designing a new character (for example, “Ninja Rogers”), do you think of them as a puppet first, or is the fact that they might not fit with the overall design of the Muppets not an issue?

RL: I try to make them look at least vaguely plausible as Muppets - or at least cartoon Muppets, as they appear in the comic - but that leaves an awful lot of wiggle room when you consider the enormous variety of shapes and designs the Muppets encompass. I've been almost too conservative sometimes, I think!

TP: How do Kermit’s sunglasses stay on his face if he has no ears or nose?

RL: The magic of comics, I'm afraid. Don't look at the man behind the curtain.

TP: BOOM! has amassed a strong team of cover artists for the Muppet comic books. Have they offered you any opportunities to illustrate a variant cover for any of the other titles?

RL: No, but then I wouldn't have time with doing the Muppet Show book. It's a full-time thing, and then some. If I were cloned I'd love to have a shot.

TP: Have you seen the Muppet Robin Hood comic book? Or any pages from the upcoming Muppet Peter Pan? Did you have any advice to give to the writers or artists of those series?

RL: I've seen the Robin Hood book at a recent convention, although I didn't get time to read it. The Muppet books aren't for sale in the UK, so I don't get much of a chance to look at them. I thought the art was strong from the bits I saw.

TP: We enjoyed the Muppet/Dr. Who sketches you posted on your blog. Is there any chance we’ll see any of those in The Muppet Show Comic Book?

RL: Nothing quite so on-the-nose, because of the fact that Dr Who is owned by the BBC, but I wouldn't be surprised to see an oblique Who reference or two in the Pigs in Space one-shot. I'm still writing that one, so I don't know for sure myself yet!

TP: Speaking of references, do you have any other plans for literary or pop culture references in the comic?

RL: To call them "plans" would be putting it a bit strongly, but I've got an idea for a Hamlet song I'm looking for an excuse to work in sometime.

TP: You also reported on your blog that there will be a Pigs In Space one-shot in between story arcs. Is this the only one-shot planned right now? Can you tell us who will be illustrating it?

RL: It's the only one planned right now - I'm probably going to need another breather at some point, though. I'm not 100% certain if the artist has been selected yet. (UPDATE: Shelli Paroline has been announced as the artist. Congrats, Shelli!)

TP: How was the San Diego Comic Con? Have any interesting stories?

RL: San Diego was great fun. I don't know how interesting the story is, but I ran into the editor who gave me my first comics work in the UK 20-odd years ago, which was great. And I got to meet some of the other Muppet comic creators like Shelli Paroline and Grace Randolph. I was reluctant to go at first but I'm really glad I went.

Many thanks to Roger Langridge for all the obvious reasons!
Click here to discuss this article in Comic Sans on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

Q&A with Muppet Robin Hood's Tim Beedle

The second issue of Muppet Robin Hood will be released this week (See our review of #1 here). Today, we've got a Q&A with writer Tim Beedle.

TOUGH PIGS: The obvious first question: How did you get the Muppet Robin Hood job? Were you approached by Boom!, or did you seek it out?

TIM BEEDLE: Actually, I’m very fortunate in that I worked alongside Paul Morrissey, the editor overseeing all of BOOM!’s Muppet and Pixar titles, when he was at TOKYOPOP. I was the editor on both Return to Labyrinth and Legends of The Dark Crystal, so Paul knew of my love and admiration for Jim Henson’s work, as well as my complete obsession when it came to the Muppets. When Paul landed at BOOM! and learned he would be editing Muppet comics, I imagine I was one of the first writers he approached. Most likely because he knew he’d never hear the end of it from me if I wasn’t.

TP: Whose idea was it to do Robin Hood as the first Muppet adaptation comic?

TB: Well, I believe Paul made the decision to launch BOOM!’s line of adaptations with Muppet Robin Hood rather than any of the other ones that had been pitched, but the idea of adapting that particular legend was mine. When Paul approached me about pitching ideas, he told me that BOOM! wanted to do a line of Muppet parodies in the vein of Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island, so I thought about some stories that might make sense for a line of comics like that. We wanted the adaptations to be based on classics and I wanted to take advantage of the fact that these were comics rather than films, so budget and sets weren’t an issue. We could do something epic if we wanted to.

At the same time, I wanted to do something that felt appropriate for the Muppets. For example, I thought briefly of adapting a Jules Verne book like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but that just didn’t feel like a natural fit for the Muppets. Robin Hood just struck me as something we could have a lot of fun with, and it offered a big enough cast and story to include not only the really popular Muppets everyone knows and loves, but some of the more obscure ones as well.

Plus, it was an action story, so we could have swordfights, archery and Muppets riding on horses, without having to stress over how it could be done technically with puppets. Finally, in my opinion, Robin Hood is a legend that hasn’t been appropriately skewered yet. Yes, there’s Robin Hood: Men in Tights, but as much as I love Mel Brooks, I don’t think that’s one of his better movies. I figured the Muppets could do a much better job of parodying it.

TP: When you started working on the comic, were you aware that the Muppets had done the Robin Hood story on an episode of The Muppet Show? Have you seen the episode, and if so, did it influence your writing in any way?

TB: I’ve seen the episode, but I don’t consider it a full-on adaptation any more than I consider the Mark Hamill episode to be “Muppet Star Wars.” I see that version of Robin Hood as more of an extended skit performed on the show. After all, the real story that drives that particular episode is Piggy’s anger at losing out on the role of Maid Marian to Lynn Redgrave. The Robin Hood story was just the onstage texture.

That said, I think it’s a really great episode that came along when the classic Muppets were in their prime. Because of that, I deliberately avoided rewatching it until after I’d gotten well underway in scripting the comic since it would’ve been tempting to lean on the casting choices and humor of the episode a bit too much. All things considered, I’d say that particular episode really wasn’t much of an influence on my writing. However, I do include a small shout-out to the episode in the third issue. A character shows up briefly in our story that fans of the episode will recognize.

TP: How did you decide which Muppet would play which character from the Robin Hood story? Were any of the parts especially challenging to cast?

TB: Some of them seemed obvious to me, but others were more challenging. Clearly, Robin and Marian were pretty obvious (with all due respect to Ms. Redgrave). Little John was a bit of a challenge, but once the thought of Sweetums taking on the role entered my mind, I couldn’t let it go. Fozzie shows up as Friar Tuck in the second issue, and that seemed like a pretty clear choice to me as well, though for a reason that won’t be completely obvious until you read the issue (let’s just say that Friar Tuck plays a much different role in this version of Robin Hood than he usually plays).

I had a lot more trouble with the villains than the heroes because the only Muppets that stand out as “villainous” are pretty obscure, like J.P. Grosse. In the movies, this problem was usually addressed by casting a human actor as the chief villain (Michael Caine in Muppet Christmas Carol and Tim Curry in Muppet Robin Hood), and when it came time to put together the cast list, I suddenly understood why. Fans who grew up with the original show tend to think of all of the Muppets as being part of a close family of performers and it just doesn’t feel natural to imagine them doing harsh things to each other.

On top of that, I wanted to provide substantial roles to as many Muppets as I could, so we actually have three main villains in our story: Prince John, the Sheriff of Nottingham and Guy of Gisbourne. Finding Muppets to play all three was hard.

Prince John hasn’t shown up yet and I don’t want to give him away, but when I hit on the idea of using this particular Muppet in the role, I got excited because it just felt fun. Plus, for some reason, he’s a Muppet you don’t see as being particularly close to most of the others, so he works well as a villain.

However, the Sheriff and Guy went through a bit of recasting. Originally, I had Gonzo playing the Sheriff and Rizzo as Guy, but Disney really seemed to like the idea of Sam as the Sheriff. So Rizzo became a Merry Man, Gonzo became Guy and Sam—who I was originally going to use as Will Scarlet—became the Sheriff. And I think it’s worked out really well. Sam and Gonzo are so utterly different that I’ve been having a blast teaming them up. They’re the oddest couple imaginable.

TP: We were pretty surprised to see Hilda make an appearance. What inspired you to include such an obscure character? Will we see any other similarly little-known Muppets in later issues?

TB: Absolutely. As I said, part of the appeal of doing Robin Hood is it has a big cast. I knew from the start that I’d be able to feature all sorts of cameos within the structure of the story. Plus, since this is a comic book and not a film or TV special, we don’t need to worry about whether the original puppeteers would be available or how the characters would come off with a different performer if not. In other words, the sky’s the limit for what characters you may see! I’ve unofficially branded issue #3 the “cameo issue,” so expect to see a bunch of familiar faces in that one. However, we have a couple fun ones in issue #2 as well.

As for why I used Hilda, one of the unfortunate truths about the Muppets is that there are only two female Muppets who are particularly well known: Piggy and Janice. That means you need to be a little creative when it comes to casting female characters. I wanted Marian to have a few female companions so that she’d always have someone to interact with when she’s away from Robin, and Hilda is such a great early Muppet. She definitely seemed to fit the role of the dressmaker to me. I think that may be Hilda’s only appearance, though. Marian has a slightly younger companion in the next couple of issues. I’ll let your readers speculate as to who that might be. *smiles*

TP: How close are you sticking to the source material? How are you deciding what to include and what to leave out? Have you studied any other adaptations (e.g. the Disney animated movie) as part of your preparation for the comic?

TB: I’m very familiar with most of the better known adaptations—the classic Errol Flynn movie, the Disney version, Kevin Costner’s Prince of Thieves, even Robin McKinley’s Outlaws of Sherwood. I still think the Flynn version is best if anyone’s looking to watch the legend brought to life on screen.

However, I’m not really concerning myself too much with any of those, or with staying too faithful to the legend. My thoughts are that anyone who wants to experience the story of Robin Hood probably isn’t going to start with this comic. Rather, I’m writing this story for Muppet fans, and as such, the legend is just a loose framework. I certainly haven’t thrown it out entirely. All the famous elements and characters are there. But we’re clearly taking some big liberties with it, and they only get bigger as we go on. In fact, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is more of an influence on the way I’m approaching this adaptation than any Robin Hood film or book. I think that movie’s one of the strongest examples of how to use a famous story as framework for absurd comedy.

TP: How much input did you have regarding the choice of artist for the book?

TB: On just about any licensed comic book project, the writer is going to have very little say in who the artist is. I think you pretty much know that going in. However, Paul did ask me if I had any thoughts or suggestions. I offered up a couple of names, but it was Paul who suggested Armand Villavert, Jr. I’ve known Armand for a few years, so I was thrilled for this chance to work with him. He’s a good guy and a big fan of the Muppets. The minute I saw his sample pages, I knew he’d be a great fit.

A project like this is really pretty difficult for an artist when you think about it. Not only does an artist have to accurately reproduce dozens of distinct characters in a way that pleases the fans, but he or she has to draw them doing elaborate actions that there really isn’t any precedent for. I mean, as far as I know, the Muppets have never had a staff fight over a river. If you think about it, that’s a difficult thing to draw, especially considering the two combatants are Kermit and Sweetums. Sweetums is at least five times the size of Kermit! Any staff that Kermit could reasonably wield would be little more than a twig for Sweetums. How could he possibly stand a chance in that fight? The cool thing about Armand is he can pull stuff like that off in such a way that you never ask those kinds of questions. He makes that staff fight look like the most natural thing imaginable.

One last little thing I’ll add is that while I can’t take credit for Armand, one of the names I suggested to Paul was Amy Mebberson. Paul was already familiar with Amy’s work and was speaking to her about the Pixar comics, so I can’t claim to have fully gotten that ball rolling, though I do believe that I was the first person to get behind the idea of having her draw the Muppets. Amy has such a natural gift for comedic timing. It’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. I can’t wait to see what she does with Muppet Peter Pan. Seriously, Amy Mebberson and Grace Randolph? I’m telling you guys now, that book is going to be AWESOME!!!

TP: What kind of notes or feedback have you gotten from the Disney people?

TB: Disney’s notes have been very constructive and helpful, and they’ve made some great suggestions. As you know, we have Jim Lewis approving each of these comics and his feedback has been invaluable. Giving credit where it’s due, it was Jim who suggested using Louis Kazagger for the sports announcer in the first issue. I had completely overlooked that character when writing that scene, but Louis was the perfect choice.

The character suggestions we’ve gotten from Jim Lewis and Disney have been great, but they’ve also been really helpful when it comes to figuring out the balance between character and role. That’s trickier than you may think. After all, Robin Hood as a character is much different than Kermit the Frog, so how much “Kermit” can we bring to the role? There’s been a fair bit of back-and-forth between me, Paul and Disney on those sorts of things.

TP: Are there any plans for you to work on future Muppet comics after Robin Hood wraps up? Are there any ideas that you're itching to do?

TB: I’d love to do more with the Muppets, but nothing’s set in stone at this point. If BOOM! asks me to write another series, I certainly wouldn’t turn them down. I suppose whether or not I get the opportunity probably depends a lot on how well Muppet Robin Hood performs. So far it seems to be doing okay, so my fingers are crossed!

I do have a second pitch in at BOOM! for another Muppet adaptation. I’m not sure I should reveal it here since it may or may not happen, but it’s another large-scale adventure story that also has great opportunities for humor. I think could be PERFECT for the Muppets. In fact, just between us, it was actually my favorite of my two initial pitches. As proud as I am of Muppet Robin Hood, I think this other one could be even better.

TP: The age-old question: Who’s your favorite Muppet?

TB: You know, this question was a lot simpler before I started writing Muppet comics. I’ve noticed that I’ve become really fond of some Muppets who I never gave much thought to before when I discovered what a blast they are to write. Janice is one example of this. She has easily become one of my favorite characters in Muppet Robin Hood.

As for my favorite Muppet all around…well, can I choose two? My favorite on the show was always the Swedish Chef. His segments still crack me up no matter how often I’ve seen them. However, I also really like Rowlf. I always admired how he could play the straight man as well as the clown. And he narrated Dog City, which I thought was a lot of fun!

Our thanks to Tim Beedle for sharing his answers with us! Click here to talk about Muppet Robin Hood and other Muppet comic books on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Q&A with Muppet Peter Pan's Grace Randolph

How lucky are we that we can go into any comic book store and actually purchase and read not one, but two Muppet comic books? Not lucky enough, because BOOM! Studios is bringing us a third comic in the form of Muppet Peter Pan.

Writer Grace Randolph was awesome enough to answer a few pressing questions about the comic for us. We'll have at least one more Q&A with Grace after the comic's debut, so stay tuned for more! Now let's settle down and listen to Grace Randolph and her insight into the frog that never grew up.

ToughPigs: How did you get involved with BOOM! Studios?

Grace Randolph: Paul Morrissey was my editor on a few different projects over at Tokyopop, so when he took over BOOM! Studios’ Disney line I asked if I could pitch a few ideas. Happily my Muppet Peter Pan pitch sparked his interest and Disney’s, so it was off to the races!

TP: Where did the idea for Muppet Peter Pan come from? Was it your pitch, or did BOOM approach you with the idea?

GR: It was kind of a mix, really. Disney and BOOM! had decided that in addition to The Muppet Show comic book (awesome book!), they were going to publish a Muppet Storybook comic book as well. So I pitched three different storybooks ala Muppets and Peter Pan was everyone’s favorite.

TP: Were you a Muppet fan before this project came about? Who are some of your favorite characters?

GR: Yes! I love the Muppets! I’d watched The Muppet Show when I was a kid and I’ve seen all The Muppet movies – I’d say my favorite is A Muppet Christmas Carol. As for favorite characters, of course I love Kermit but I’ve always had a soft spot for Sam the Eagle. Also my sister loves Pepe the Prawn and Bean Bunny, so they’re special to me too.

TP: In Muppet Peter Pan, what Muppets play which characters? Will there be any surprises for the fans?

GR: There sure will be some surprises – especially if I don’t ruin them here! So sorry, I can only divulge the casting of the main characters as they’re already on the cover of the main book. Kermit plays Peter Pan, Miss Piggy plays Tinkerbell, Janice plays Wendy, Scooter plays John and Bean Bunny plays Michael. Also I believe the solicitation for the book mentioned that Gonzo plays Captain Hook.

TP: How are you changing the Peter Pan story to fit in with the Muppets' sensibility?

GR: Actually, I’m trying to stick with the original Peter Pan story as closely as possible. As I said above, my favorite Muppet movie is A Muppet Christmas Carol and that was a very close adaptation of Charles Dickens’ original story. So what I’m trying to do is simply put the Muppets in that world and, since the Muppets are naturally funny, voila! Muppet Peter Pan becomes a comedy but one which is still as touching and charming as James L. Barrie’s classic story. Personally I believe those are the best stories, ones that work on many levels.

TP: What kind of research have you done to prepare for this comic?

GR: To be honest, I know the Muppets and the story of Peter Pan so well that I haven’t had to do too much research. I did look into the origin of Peter Pan which isn’t often included in other adaptations, and I also have a Muppet Whatnot named Josh who was very helpful explaining the intricacies of Muppet culture that we non-Muppets aren’t privy too. Having an inside man was a crucial part of my process.

TP: Have you seen any pages from Amy Mebberson yet?

GR: I have and oh boy is everyone in for a treat! I’m very lucky to have a great artist like Amy on the book because she’s got great comedic timing. I put a lot of humor in the book, some of it subtle and visual, and to really sell the jokes the art has to be just perfect. Amy is also giving it that wonderful storybook feel we all love.

TP: Do you have a dream comic that you'd like to write featuring the Muppets?

GR: Um, I’m writing it. Hehe. But in all seriousness, it’s just an honor to write for the Muppets and get to play in that world. Hopefully there’ll be more opportunities in the future.

TP: What is it about Bean Bunny (who has been mostly absent in recent years) that made you want to bring him back?

GR: It’s very simple really. Bean Bunny got this role because of his work in The Muppets 3D ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando. I’ve been going to Disney World for years and every time I go, I stop by and watch this 3D movie. It’s very funny and well done, especially considering I haven’t gotten tired of it yet! And Bean Bunny is such a cute character here that I felt he was the perfect choice to play Michael. Plus, as I said, my sister likes him so I also included Bean Bunny as a nod to her.

TP: Has it been a challenge to have to mix two different franchises while staying loyal to them both?

GR: Yes, but it’s one of those challenges that when you get it just right, it’s very fulfilling. The great thing about the Muppets is that they’re so dynamic, and each character has so much personality, which means they don’t just live in another world but add to it. Therefore I’m happy to say that while you might be familiar with the Muppets and Peter Pan, this is a whole new story that feels fresh and exciting while still maintaining the qualities that made each property so beloved in the first place. At least that’s the plan.

TP: Do you have a message you want to relay to the fans?

GR: The Muppets are in good hands!

Special thanks to Grace Randolph for taking the time to chat with us!
Click here to discuss alternate uses for pixie dust on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

The Muppet Show Comic Book #3: Roger Langridge Q&A

Another month has gone by, another issue of The Muppet Show Comic Book has come out, and we've got another Q&A with Roger Langridge!

Read our review of this issue by clicking here!

Remember, if you've got questions for Roger Langridge, feel free to e-mail them to me and I'll include them in next month's Q&A. Enough about me, let's get to the good stuff!

ToughPigs: I love the two-page spreads at the beginning of each issue (as well as the gag of the Electric Mayhem dressed in different costumes for each one). Is this something you’ll be continuing after this first 4-issue arc?

Roger Langridge: In The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson I'll continue with the spreads, but they'll be backstage instead of onstage. And in the arc after that one... well, you'll just have to wait and see! But yes, I like to establish a bit of chaos nice and early, and those spreads seem as good a way as any.

TP: We've been seeing some minor background characters popping up in the background -- some of which are familiar (the Fazoobs, Koozebanians, etc), and some of whom appear to be your original designs. Are you keeping a character bible for the new creations and are you naming them? Do you plan on being consistent with individuals re-appearing in multiple issues, or are they just abstract background filler?

RL: I'm winging it! Really, I'm working at such a rate on these things that I don't have a whole lot of time to be precious about character sheets, as useful as they are. One of the nice things about drawing a comic is that I don't have to set aside time and money to make new Muppets - I can just make them on the fly!

TP: You’ve had original or whatnot characters sing songs in the comic. Will you have any of the Muppet bands (The Electric Mayhem, the Jug Band, the Country Trio, etc) sing in future issues?

RL: There's an appearance by a hillbilly character from the show in TOPLW #2 who gets to sing at both the front and back ends of that issue. And TOPLW #1 has a closing number which prominently features the Electric Mayhem, although Miss Piggy ends up doing the vocal honours there. I'm glad you mentioned the Jug Band - I'll make a note of that...

TP: Did you use a cryptogram-like language for the alien in the Pigs in Space sketch, or are they just random symbols?

RL: Oh, completely random. I hope I didn't send anybody scurrying off to decode it!

TP: In the latest comic, you addressed the issue of Gonzo’s species. Did you hear any comments regarding fact that Muppets From Space tried to claim that he is an alien? (By the way, the fans are very pleased to find that Gonzo’s alien heritage is not canon.)

RL: I haven't seen that one - to my shame, as my friend Paul Peart-Smith designed Space Gonzo for that movie. Anyway, nobody mentioned that to me, either at Disney or through less formal channels, until about a week ago when a friend brought it up. Too late to do anything about it by then!

On whether or not it's canon, I imagine you could reconcile both stories if you wanted to - by putting Muppet Show #3 earlier in the chronology than Muppets in Space. But it's probably best not to worry too much about these things as long as the story is good.

TP: In Peg-Leg Wilson, will the Animal subplot continue through all four issues, or is it just in the first one? If it’s the latter, then what can we expect to see in the other three?

RL: The Animal subplot runs through all four issues, being resolved by the end of issue #4. As do a couple of other subplots. This arc is an attempt to keep a lot of plates spinning in the air for four issues while at the same time making each issue as satisfying on its own terms as possible. It's turning out to be tougher than I expected! But I'm writing the final issue at the moment and I think it'll all hang together by the end. Just about.

TP: Are there any Muppet characters you aren’t allowed to use? Either via Disney mandate or your own personal censorship.

RL: I'm not allowed to use the Sesame Street Muppets, alas. I keep trying to sneak Ernie and Bert in there and they keep taking them out again!

TP: Will you have Lips play with the Electric Mayhem, or do you consider him not to be an official member of the band?

RL: It's not so much that he's not an official member as that I don't really know what to do with him. He seems not to have a clearly defined personality, and is kind of surplus to requirements in the stories I've written so far -- though if I can find a way to work him in that seems natural, I'm all for it.

TP: Now that we know what Gonzo is, what is Scooter?

RL: He's a gofer. I thought everybody knew that. (Seriously, his uncle is human, so I guess he's just got a good suntan.)

TP: How far into Peg-Leg Wilson are you? Are you already preparing for the third arc?

RL: I've got rough plots worked out for the next arc, yes, but they need another going-over before they'll be ready to go. Partly to address some concerns from Disney, partly to streamline it a bit for my own benefit after seeing how little breathing room I had in the Peg-Leg Wilson arc. I'm learning every issue!

Thanks again to Roger for taking the time to chat with us!
Click here to deduce Scooter's species on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

The Muppet Show Comic Book #2: Roger Langridge Q&A

Roger Langridge is currently the MVP for the Muppets, being the only one these days who has been writing The Muppets in a consistent and funny voice on a regular basis. The second issue of The Muppet Show Comic Book hit the stands this week (read our review here!) and Mr. Langridge joined us for another Q&A, because he's the coolest guy I know (sorry Dad).

If you've got questions for Roger Langridge, feel free to e-mail them to me and I'll include them in next month's Q&A. Now let's get some As for our Qs!

ToughPigs: I noticed that Pepe made a cameo in the opening 2-page spread. Is that just a tease to the fans, or can we expect him to have a role in future issues?

Roger Langridge: I confess I'm not that familiar with Pepe - if I'm requested to give him a bigger role I'd do my best to find out more about him, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't a part of the classic show, which is what I'm trying to evoke, and what my brief is, as it were. So it's low on my list of priorities at the moment. I'm not ruling anything out, though!
TP: In the latest issue, Fozzie is dealing with the pressure of having to be funny for a niche audience. Were you channeling your own turmoil for this one?

RL: Ha ha! Not really, though I can see the connection now that you mention it. It was more that I needed to find something central to Fozzie's character to build a story around, and his sense of himself as a "Funny Bear" seemed about as central as you could get.

TP: What has the feedback from Disney been like?

RL: I haven't heard anything from Disney directly, but the feedback Boom! have passed on to me has been very positive.

TP: Will we ever get to meet Flash McBuck?

RL: No plans, but you never know! I think the Pigs In Space situation works best when it's claustrophobic and the principals are getting on each other's nerves - introducing a supporting cast would dilute that somewhat.

TP: Both this issue and the first one ended with a nice message and the main character learning something about himself. While this is welcome territory for the Muppets, will this be a recurring theme, or will we see some more bizarre storyline endings that focus more on the zaniness of the Muppets rather than the heart?

RL: These issues, focussing on individual characters, sort of require some moment of heart, some statement of who they are - that's kind of the point of them. Further down the line, I expect I'll mix things up a bit more. But on the whole I'm trying to balance the wacky with the heartfelt without letting one overwhelm the other. Can't promise I'll get it right every time, but it won't be for lack of trying!

TP: How did your approach to the writing and art change between the first two issues? After the feedback of the first issue's release?

RL: The first four issues were completely written before the first one was released, so there wasn't any real difference in approach as a result of reaction to the first one. I hope there's no difference in approach afterwards, either! I'm trying to produce a comic I'd like to read myself; I've been doing that since day one, and I want to continue to do that. If I think it's funny or moving or whatever, presumably other people are going to think so too. I'm not sure I believe that trying to anticipate critical reaction and change things accordingly can ever produce anything of value.

TP: How did you come up with the sketch, "The Ubiquitous Quilp?" Between the nonsense language and your playing with the comic page as a multi-tiered set, it's very impressive, yet confounding!

RL: I'm always trying to come up with ways to make the comic book something unique, something that couldn't work on television - the graphic style is a part of that, and using the medium in ways that wouldn't work on screen is another part. Otherwise, the entire comic book project is kind of redundant - why make a Muppet comic when you could just watch the videos? So I try to come up with something that could only work as a comic in each issue. And I always liked the bits on the show that seemed to come from nowhere; that were, shall we say, aggressively strange. So that was something I wanted to do as well.

TP: Can you tell us anything about your next Muppet Show comic book, "The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson"?

RL: It's a four-issue story where Scooter finds a map in a storeroom that reveals the existence of a treasure hoarde hidden somewhere in the theatre. Rizzo gets his fellow rats searching for it, and naturally this interferes with the smooth running of the show. Hilarity ensues! (Or something.) Meanwhile, Kermit starts acting very cool for no apparent reason, getting Miss Piggy all hot and bothered, and Animal... oh, poor Animal isn't himself at all. This story will be a bit stronger on subplots than the first four issues, hopefully all coming together in a satisfying way by the end. (Bit of a new way of working for me, so I hope I can pull it off!) And, of course, the skits and general mayhem will continue unabated.

TP: Again, is there anything you'd like to relate to the fans?

RL: Once again, I'd just like to express my sincerest thanks for the warm reception the book has received so far. It's very gratifying and means a lot to me. So thanks!

Thank you, Roger, for taking the time to chat with us!
Click here to discuss this article on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

The Muppet Show Comic Book #1: Roger Langridge Q&A

Way back in January, we had ourselves a little chat with Roger Langridge, the writer and artist for BOOM! Studios' recent hit, The Muppet Show Comic Book, which is already selling out and garnering rave reviews (including one from your favorite Muppet fan site). In our first of what we hope will be a monthly feature, we'll be holding a Q&A with Roger Langridge after every issue. If you've got pressing questions for Roger, feel free to e-mail me or post on the ToughPigs forum. Now, let's get on with the gettin' on!

ToughPigs: What sort of updates in the writing and design did you make between the preview comic and the first issue? Gonzo's more-rounded nose, for example, is one obvious change you've made.

Roger Langridge: As I've mentioned elsewhere, the preview comic consisted of material originally produced for Disney Adventures magazine which was never published, and my brief on those stories was to do it in my own style, hence what some fans probably regard as my stylistic eccentricities. The Boom! comic was really a fresh start, and the expectations were somewhat different, so Gonzo's streamlined nose reflects that - the comic is more like "official merchandise", as far as that goes, despite not being commissioned by Disney directly. So it wasn't so much a case of making conscious changes, more a case of treating the Boom comic as its own thing and approaching it accordingly.

TP: Did you get any notes from BOOM! or Disney about Americanizing the dialog? (Note: Roger Langridge hails from New Zealand and currently lives in London.)

RL: Jim Lewis made a couple of suggestions and queried a colloquialism or two that wouldn't travel well. They're keeping their eyes open for the obvious ones!

TP: Aside from Jim Lewis, who we Muppet fans are intimately familiar with, who are the other names listed in the "Special Thanks" section? (Tishana Williams, Ivonne Feliciano, Jesse Post, and Susan Butterworth)

RL: No idea! (Apart from Jesse Post, who was one of the people who got me into Disney Adventures when he worked there.) The Thank-Yous were put in at editorial level - presumably they're all Disney/Henson liaisons of some kind or other.

TP: What is your process for writing original songs that appear only in print form like "Bang, Boom, Splat and Pow" and "In the Pond Where I Was Born"? Did you actually write or record music for them?

RL: Good lord, no! It's just doggerel, really - I don't have a musical bone in my body. Proper songs usually involve a lot more repetition (choruses, refrains), which is something that doesn't usually work on the printed page. I'm trying to get the idea of a musical number across, but in a way that works in print. My ideal here is Alice in Wonderland (the book, that is), where characters are constantly breaking into "song" but in a way that uses the printed page to full effect, like Carroll's "Tail of a Mouse", in which the text is actually shaped like a tail. I'm not there yet, but that's something to strive towards.

TP: I enjoyed the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards analogs in the comic. Will you have "celebrity" guest stars in future issues?

RL: If I can work them into the story artfully, I'd be up for that. Nothing in the ones I've yet written, though. Believe it or not, I didn't think of the Zimmer Twins as guest stars (except to use that as an excuse to wedge them in there) - I just thought "The Zimmer Twins" was a nifty gag! Kermit and Scooter discuss possible guest stars in issue 4 as an excuse for me to trot out some atrocious celebrity Spoonerisms, for what that's worth. I'm aware it's a part of the show's format that has to be addressed from time to time.

TP: When you create original characters like the hoptoads, do you envision certain puppeteers performing each one?

RL: I'm not as immersed in the behind-the-scenes stuff as most of your readers are, so the only puppeteers I'm aware of are the really well-known ones, the household names. But since these hop-toad characters were really just throwaways, here for two pages and then gone forever, I wasn't too concerned about giving them individual personalities - in fact, I think that would have been counter-productive in this context.

TP: Rumor has it that you're already starting work on a second Muppet Show miniseries. Can you give us any details on that?

RL: As far as my work schedule is concerned, The Muppet Show Comic is an ongoing monthly series, but Boom! Studios want to re-start the numbering every four issue for marketing reasons. So the next four-issue story arc is called "The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson", in which rumours of a hidden treasure inside the theatre lead to, one hopes, hilarious complications - all this as a background subplot to the usual songs, sketches and so forth. Nothing radically different to the initial four issues, except the subplot element is a bit stronger. And that will lead us into the next four-issue arc, which is a logical progression from this one, I hope.

TP: Do you have a favorite character to write for? A favorite episode of The Muppet Show?

RL: I'm finding Gonzo and Miss Piggy the most enjoyable so far, because they both seem to have layers like an onion. You think you know them and then they surprise you. But I can't think of a single character I'm not enjoying on some level.

Favourite episode: Probably the Spike Milligan one. I'm a huge Milligan fan and it just seemed like such a perfect mesh of sensibilities.

TP: Is there anything else you want to relate to the Muppet fans?

RL: Just to say thanks for being open-minded about the book, and thanks for giving it such a warm reception. I really appreciate it.
Super special thanks to Roger Langridge for chatting with us! And double super special thanks to him for making The Muppet Show Comic Book! Issue #2, "Fozzie's Story," hits the stands on April 29! And while you're at the comic shop, be sure to get the first issue of Muppet Robin Hood, which will be released on the same day.

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