Day: January 17, 2011

Originally published August 26, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1084

Some years back, author Gary K. Wolf wrote an offbeat mystery titled Who Censored Roger Rabbit? It told the story of a down-in-the-mouth detective named Eddie Valiant, and his involvement with cartoon-strip actors… i.e., “characters” who posed for comic strips and spoke in word balloons that materialized over their heads.

It was fairly hard-boiled stuff, considering the subject matter. The titular rabbit was pretty pathetic, and even became pretty dead (hey, how big a spoiler can that be? It was in the dust jacket.) Most of the supporting characters were unpleasant, including Roger’s wife, Jessica. Ultimately, although the book was good reading, it was fairly bitter and kind of depressing.

Then the story was made over into Who Framed Roger Rabbit (no question mark, as if Doctor Who were the culprit). Roger became framed rather than dead, the characters became more accessible, Jessica became a doting wife rather than a literally one-dimensional bìŧçh. The entire story, in short, became family entertainment.

Now history repeats itself, as The Mask opens at a theater near you.

Continue Reading “Movie review: The Mask” →