THE FLINTSTONES #1 Preview (and Interview)

The Flintstones comes out next Wednesday, so the preview is finally officially here, via Comicbook.com.

Other urls found in this thread:

bleedingcool.com/2016/06/14/review-dc-comics-new-version-of-the-flintstones-is-more-mad-men-than-mad-max/
comicbook.com/dc/2016/06/30/meet-the-flintstones-creators-mark-russell-and-steve-pugh-discus/
youtube.com/watch?v=gAe_rBs27XE
youtube.com/watch?v=Vn1pf0Xi3nU
newsarama.com/29792-dc-comics-full-september-2016-solicitations.html
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

>Next week, it's a yabba-dabba-do-over when DC Comics will roll out a brand new interpretation of The Flintsones from writer Mark Russell and artist Steve Pugh.

>The Flintstones is likely the most straightforward of DC's recent animated series reinventions, with the characters still essentially looking and functioning in the same way they used to, albeit with a more contemporary sensibility.

>The issue, the latest in DC's recent wave of Hanna Barbera reinventions, is due in comic shops and on ComiXology next Wednesday, July 6. It features a main cover by Pugh, with variants from Pugh, Daniel Hipp, Dustin Nguyen, Walter Simonson, and Ivan Reis.

>Russell and Pugh joined ComicBook.com to talk about the new series. You can see a preview of the first issue below, and pre-order it on ComiXology here.

>How did you guys come together on this? Obviously you're both known for more mature work.

Mark Russell: "I think that they're looking to expand what people think of as licensed comic books. I think DC to their credit has made a real effort to sort of bring really quality writing in the comic books, and not just treat them like disposable issues turners that only appeal to people that have read 30 previous issues of Green Lantern or something.

"Especially the conversations I've had with Dan [DiDio], he's really committed to having good storytelling -- finding people who can tell good stories where you don't to have a lot of continuity. You don't need to be that deeply engrossed into a universe to just appreciate a good 23-page comic book. I think that's what he saw in me is somebody who's kind of an outsider to comics, who's not really turning out the same storyline over and over. I think that's why he gave me an opportunity to work on The Flintstones."

>Now Steve, what's the challenge in crafting the look of this book? Obviously it's not like Scooby Apocalypse where there essentially redesigning everything from the ground up. The Flintstones is still more or less The Flintstones. You just aren't drawing in a house style from 50 years ago.

Steve Pugh: "[Laughs] No. There was a quite extensive design process involved. Originally Amanda Conner did the first sketches which nailed down that they were going to be the original characters in very similar look, but a more realistic, slightly cartoon style. I think my touchstones were things like MAD Magazine where they caricature celebrities, like John Serverin who had this wonderful way of making human beings look like cartoons.

"I think I was just imagining that The Flintstones were real. It was just several different artists drawing the same people so that the 60;s cartoons were a caricature of these people. Now I'm doing my sort of caricature of these people. As you say, it is a different book from Scooby Apocalypse, certainly from Wacky Raceland, which is more a reinvention. The Flintstones's core idea doesn't really need updating, just the references and the approach, and the maturity of the writing. That needs updating. The touchstones of the family lost in this world and exploring this world. That was set and that was good. That shouldn't be thrown out. I move from that center, and hopefully struck a middle ground between the realism and the cartoonery."

>Mark, I think one of the things that has been a strength for you both in terms of Prez and in God is Disappointed in You, is this ability to find the edge of absurdity and how far you can push it before it seems to fantastical. Is there a similarity to how you approach the caveman world of Flintstones versus the crazy kind of near future, almost Idiocracy world of something like Prez?

Russell: "Yeah, they're very similar actually. I think the edge of absurdity is always very near. You just have to look for it in the things you take for granted everyday but don't really think about. I think in a lot of ways that's what The Flintstones is, is thinking about the things that people take for granted everyday in their lives. Their garbage disposal, their car, their job.

"You can accentuate how absurd it is by putting it in that prehistoric context. Where all of a sudden the garbage disposal's a giant iguana, or the job is cutting giant slabs of granite for which you're paid tiny pebbles, which is basically what all jobs in modern capitalist society are. You're making huge amounts of money for which you're being paid pennies on the dollar."

>The character dynamics of The Flintstones as a show are somewhat antiquated in terms of gender dynamics. Has it been interesting to you to reinvent Betty and Wilma in particular and try to find a home for them where they still feel like the same characters without being probably quite so potentially "problematic?"

Russell: "Yeah. I think that in a lot of ways The Flintstones as I'm writing it is a critique of a lot of these social assumptions that people had when the original Flintstones was on the air. We definitely wanted Betty and Wilma to be more than just accessories to Fred and Barney.

"I also wanted them to have their own lives and their own personalities. Also to give the sense of how a woman who is now just kind of like a housewife might feel trapped by that life, and how they might create a rich interior life to compensate for that fact that they're no longer really valued by the civilization they live in."

Pugh: "Their essential roles haven't changed. They're still put in the position of being housewives, but the thing that made it a little cheesy and a little redactive was in the show they were really plot devices. The boys would do something stupid and then the girls would come along and scold them.

"In the reinterpretation, in Mark's world, everybody puts a foot wrong. Everybody has emotions. Everybody has a chance for an emotional life. A chance to do something stupid. A chance to be the good guy. A chance to be the bad guy. It's a much more rounded relationship."

(Now the preview really begins!)
>I hadn't really thought about it until you were talking about feeling trapped in domesticity. Did you put any thought at all that it's probably a little bit different being trapped alone with your infant child in a world where all the appliances are talking animals? You're being engaged constantly...

Russell: "Although the directive I was given from DC was that the humans cannot speak directly to the animals, and the animals cannot speak directly to the humans. The animals talk, but it's all like them throwing up their hands to the sky or talking to each other. Whereas the humans don't really realize the animals are talking.

"Still, there's something to be said about being surrounded by these animals. There is a scene I wrote where Wilma and Pebbles are going out. Fred asks if he wants them to come with him. They're like, no just stay home and relax. They leave. When he's homes alone he looks around and there's just the eyes of all these animal appliances staring. So relaxing. He decides to go out because he just feels like he's uncomfortable in his own home."

Pugh: "Who doesn't at some point feel that the broadband and the TV are conspiring against you?"

Russell: "We're kind of at that point now where you look around. You've got all these smart devices and everything staring back at you. They're like these semi cognizant appliances that are in your everyday surroundings. You're never really truly alone even though you can't really form a relationship with any of those things."

(yeah, original image is this small, sorry)
>One thing I did want to ask you guys because obviously you talked a little bit about doing a world with a more plausible and more realistic looking, as opposed to being a straight up 60's cartoon. Was there anything that you were able to draw away from the two live action movies, or did you stay as far away from those as you could while you were trying to craft the world?

Russell: "I tried watching the first one. I couldn't make it through it to be honest. It was so depressing and bad. I decided not to let that influence me at all."

Pugh: "I remember watching them at the time. They were fun. I thought Rosie O'Donnell was weird casting. John Goodman was so good. I think it was because it was a Spielberg thing wasn't it? He'd just done Jurassic Park. I think everybody wanted to see what the dinosaurs looked like from what I remember.

I think I had a note that I was legally obliged not to make it look like John Goodman. They didn't have the rights to the imagery."

^ oops!
>Right, yeah. That probably makes sense. When I think of The Flintstones typically I think of the classic material which is very episodic. Are you guys going to be more or less one and done kind of issues, or are you going to have an ongoing story?

Russell: "They're pretty episodic in that each issue is designed to tell a complete story from beginning to end. At the same time there's a greater world and a greater plot line for the characters I want to observe. It's more character development of plot based though. I really want to show the characters in a way that accumulates over the issues, but really each issue is a self contained story."

Pugh: "But the characters do remember what happens last time."

Boy am I sure glad he's in there and we're out here!

........Grand Dad?

>With the crazy animals and constructs and things, is there anything that you guys created for this story that you're particularly proud of? At least for the first little bit is it mostly your interpretation of stuff that you'd seen on the show?

Russell: "You know what I'm most proud of? I don't know if Steve feels differently. Creating Wilma's career as an artist. There's a scene where she walks into the Bedrock Museum of Art. It's just spell bounding, all the weird artwork on the walls, the installations and stuff.

"That's one of my favorite drawings that Steve did for issue #1 was when you go into that museum. You see all this bizarre stone age artwork on the walls. I think also, it lends a lot of heft to Wilma's story to give her this artistic outlet, this thing that she does aside from just being a housewife. Personally that's what I'm most proud of, at least in issue number 1."

(to same question as above)
Pugh: "I think for me, it was reading it in the script. Then doing it in the pages. The beautiful, unexpected moment when we get a flashback to Wilma's family and her origin with the hunter-gatherers. It's a tonal shift that gives weight to everything else that's happened in that little back story of her artwork. I loved it. I couldn't have been happier when that moment happened in the script and able to realize it on a page. I was just so delighted. It's beautiful writing."

Also related: BleedingCool article about the Flintstones.

bleedingcool.com/2016/06/14/review-dc-comics-new-version-of-the-flintstones-is-more-mad-men-than-mad-max/

I went from being not hyped about this book to putting Flintstones on my actual pull-list. Excited as hell for this.

But is he the sheriff?

And of course, the original link with this:

comicbook.com/dc/2016/06/30/meet-the-flintstones-creators-mark-russell-and-steve-pugh-discus/

This looks so AWESOME!! The Hanna-Barbera titles are amazing so far! DC is doing a really good job with these! Bravo!

what's the joke about ayn rand on the cover?

I can't believe I'm this excited for a Flintstones comic

>smartrockphone
>selfies

just no

FLEENSTONES?

I'd hate it if it weren't actually a nifty idea (and well-implemented based on Reis's design).

youtube.com/watch?v=gAe_rBs27XE

I doubt they'll be in the comic, the tech level seems to be about the same as the show's

>Fred got frozen.

His poor family!

So, what do you think goes on at Homo Erectus?

please someone make a loss edit to wilma's painting

>Absence of baby

>i am looking forward to a flintstones comic

Well alright

>Homo Erectus
I refuse to believe this isn't going to be a gay bar

That's quite obviously not Fred.

Jetsons was always more interesting. Call me when they do some Jetsons Brave New World comic shit.

>Dat Pebbles
This design really speaks to me.
Bam-Bam is nice too.

APparently they do want to have a Jetsons comic
Maybe after Wacky Raceland is cancelled

*cough*

Nice

Jabberjaw styled after the Groovie when?

>Bring Lotion

Oldfag here. I stopped buying comics in '89, but damned if this doesn't look interesting. I may have to pick it up.

Try Scooby Apocalypse and Future Quest too.
Shaggy looks like a faggot, but the personality is right, and Future Quest is the HB crossover you always wanted.

>Fred Flintstone is a veteran
Fuck, this ain't bad, but gimme THAT book.
I want Vietnam but with dinosaur puns.

>Hanna Barberra shit actually looks cool and interesting
What a strange age we live in.
When's Jabberjaw?
And can it be based off of this please?
youtube.com/watch?v=Vn1pf0Xi3nU

that's not Fred its obviously Jake Steel

I like this art.

I hate that they're cancelling Wacky Racer. It looked like it'd build to something interesting.

fucking why

First issue probably sold worse than Future Quest despite the same number of variants, and they probably learned from DCYou to not keep shitty selling books alive

I didn't know it had Steve Pugh on art.

Why fucking not?

It thought HB books would have a low cancellation point.

I'll have a Yabba-Dabba-Doo time reading this.
This looks dank af bruh.

That episode was the best one tho

Not a smartrockphone
Look closely. It's a rock flash camera
Closer to a Polaroid
You can see the front cylinder

Also, now that we've seen all 4 of these books, it's interesting that at least three of the four deal with dead/dying civilizations. Scooby Apocalypse is self-explanatory; Wacky Raceland takes place after an apocalypse; and we're looking at The Flintstones from the POV of it being an ancient civilization. I suppose Future Quest also had hints of this (certainly with the dying space soldiers in its first few pages).

What a weirdly grim set of books these are. But, pound for pound, I like them.

>Yeah. I think that in a lot of ways The Flintstones as I'm writing it is a critique of a lot of these social assumptions that people had when the original Flintstones was on the air.

Oh fuck off.

>Cannibalism: The Unknown Ideal

I'm disgusted on two fronts.

Looks better than that shit they turned wacky races into.

Future Quest seems cool, and Scooby Apocalypse is okay though they changed Shaggy too much.

>Pterodactyl using ancient napalm to burn down a village.

"It's a living."

>Slag-fags

Ironic that Shaggy is the least changed character.

All of HB titles are looking solid. Only capefags have been hating them since they hate change.

>which is basically what all jobs in modern capitalist society are.

This guy sounds pretty far up his own ass.

this art is selling me heavily. I was kinda excited for this before but now I'm highly hyped.

Pebbles is a teenager? For what porpoise?

Romance with Bamm Bamm

He's just saying that their jobs and machinery look absurd to us, but they're not that different compared to the modern society. How is that far up his ass?

Plots about her struggling with her sexuality as a quiet bookworm while being overshadowed by Bam-Bam the jock's toxic masculinity.

For the lewd moments.

For some reason I see him being as dense as a harem anime MC.

>Fred goes into space to the Great Gazoo's planet
>turns out the ancient astronaut crackpot theory is true

I hope he meets vandal savage and captain caveman

When did they say they're canceling it? It's only been one issue!

the most recent solicit labelled it as a six issue mini

well they will have to deal with an alien invasion apparently

This...doesn't look terrible. Weird.

>the most recent solicit labelled it as a six issue mini

Then it must have always been intended to be that. It's only been out 8 days.

Last solicits changed it to being a 6 issue mini when it was an ongoing before.

Between HB, Vertigo, and the Young Animal books, I don't blame them for culling the lowest sellers, especially when there's no hype or talk surrounding it.
DCYou selling like absolute shit and basically being forced to keep them going for 12 issues probably didn't help them make much money either so they probably learned from that.

I'm guessing if it got positive response they'd probably let it stay ongoing but maybe it didn't debut so hot so they kept it a mini? it seems a little odd not to say it was a mini from the start if it was

Maybe it was gonna be like the DCYou books where they were guaranteed for certain amount of issues and would go on if they sold well. And like DCYou it must've sold like ass, but unlike DCYou, they managed to shorten the amount of issues because they didn't blab about how many it would get.

Idk, it sounds really weird. When did the latest solicit come out? It really doesn't make any sense for them to be making such a drastic editorial change on a book that at this point has only had 1 issue which was only released 8 days ago.

June 20th

Bad pre orders and no online presence could've killed it. Pre orders are more important than you think and DC seems to be looking more at what people say online.

I think it was the September solicits, they came out a couple weeks ago

newsarama.com/29792-dc-comics-full-september-2016-solicitations.html

This looks good.

Like, really really good. They've completely sold me on this aesthetic changes and I'm shocked at how receptive I am to a more satirical and serious Flintstones.

>June 20th
Eh, I guess it makes more sense that they made the change before they started publishing it.

Read it again, he framed it as a "dude capitalism LMAO" thing. That and the fact that he keeps talking about how they're making a "critique of a lot of these social assumptions that people had when the original Flintstones was on the air" makes it sound pretentious.

he's a satirist who excels at social commentary, what are you expecting

>Dude, people from the 60's weren't as enlightened or progressive as us!

That's not social commentary, that's self-flattery.

do you really honestly believe capitalism is beyond satire or reproach?

I really don't think that's what he meant

No, but he sounds like he's just so impressed with the profundity of his statements.

>Capitalism is bad, maaaaaaaaaan!

>The dinosaurs talk with each other

This looks very promising

You're making some stupid assumptions. If you don't want to read any pretentious comics, go back to the Robin or symbiote thread.

I'm not assuming any assumptions. He's lecturing us about how exploitative capitalism is while profiting off of it like all limousine liberals.

Oh geez, I hope they don't unfreeze him.

You don't think it's ever popped into the heads of any hardworking, middle class blue collar employee that "Y'know, my boss is making more money off my work than I am"?

Loss?

Of course it has, but I don't need to hear some faggot from Portland phrasing it like it's some kind of profound revelation.

You're just butthurt and retarded. Comics were always about some posh brit writing out some good stories out of his pretentiousness. The rest is capeshit.

Not quite, but I had to double check.

>Comics were always about some posh brit writing out some good stories out of his pretentiousness.

Only for a broef peroid in the 80's and 90's, and even then the stories weren't that great.

No

He basically said the the girls will fuck shit up too, not only Fred and Barney.