WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.560 So I want you to picture a comic book page. But 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:06.160 it's not a normal page at all. The characters 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:09.300 inside aren't just talking to each other. They're 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:11.720 screaming. Oh, wow. Yeah. And they aren't just 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:13.500 screaming at the other characters. They're actually 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:17.239 screaming at the reader. Right. And then. They 00:00:17.239 --> 00:00:20.100 start physically tearing the paper they're drawn 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:22.460 on, like bursting out of the panels, trying to 00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:24.820 escape the actual comic book itself. That is 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:28.000 wild. It really is. It's hallucinatory, it's 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.920 disturbing, and the whole thing is set in a literal 00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:33.619 insane asylum. Honestly, it sounds like the kind 00:00:33.619 --> 00:00:36.649 of, um... underground experimental nightmare 00:00:36.649 --> 00:00:39.090 fuel you'd find in the back of some really dusky 00:00:39.090 --> 00:00:41.689 comic shop. Exactly. Right. You'd assume the 00:00:41.689 --> 00:00:44.450 guy drawing this is some avant -garde recluse 00:00:44.450 --> 00:00:46.829 living completely on the fringes of society. 00:00:47.350 --> 00:00:50.070 But here's the kicker. Yeah. That exact same 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:52.770 artist is the comic industry's go -to guy for 00:00:52.770 --> 00:00:56.590 the Muppets. And Popeye. And, you know, family 00:00:56.590 --> 00:00:59.210 -friendly Marvel superheroes. It's just, I mean, 00:00:59.270 --> 00:01:01.310 it is one of the strangest and most delightful 00:01:01.310 --> 00:01:03.490 contradictions in the entire medium. Totally. 00:01:03.729 --> 00:01:06.810 And today we are trying to figure out how one 00:01:06.810 --> 00:01:10.890 human being can bridge the gap between a psychological 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:14.170 breakdown in an asylum and Kermit the Frog singing 00:01:14.170 --> 00:01:17.590 a song. It's quite the jump. It is. So for this 00:01:17.590 --> 00:01:20.250 deep dive, we are looking at the career of Roger 00:01:20.250 --> 00:01:22.549 Langridge. And it's a career that really defines 00:01:22.549 --> 00:01:25.150 the standard laws of comic book gravity. Yeah. 00:01:25.290 --> 00:01:27.939 Langridge is a New Zealander. He was actually 00:01:27.939 --> 00:01:30.799 born on Valentine's Day, 1967, who eventually 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:33.700 moved to Britain. And if you look at his bibliography, 00:01:33.739 --> 00:01:36.519 based on the encyclopedic records we have, it's 00:01:36.519 --> 00:01:38.719 like looking at a whole history of comics compressed 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:41.340 into one person. How so? Well, he's done the 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:43.840 gritty student press, the weekly British sci 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:46.459 -fi stuff, newspaper strips, and the massive 00:01:46.459 --> 00:01:48.709 corporate blockbusters, all of it. And that's 00:01:48.709 --> 00:01:50.790 really the mission for our deep dive today. We 00:01:50.790 --> 00:01:52.689 aren't just, you know, listing out what he wrote. 00:01:52.790 --> 00:01:55.670 We want to understand how his brain works. Right. 00:01:55.890 --> 00:01:58.090 Like, how do you maintain a consistent artistic 00:01:58.090 --> 00:02:00.609 voice when you are jumping from a silent clown 00:02:00.609 --> 00:02:05.030 to Thor, god of thunder? And that is the central 00:02:05.030 --> 00:02:08.930 question for you listening at home. Is he a chameleon 00:02:08.930 --> 00:02:11.710 who changes his colors to fit the book, or does 00:02:11.710 --> 00:02:14.030 he force the world to change its colors to match 00:02:14.030 --> 00:02:16.590 him? Let's actually start with that psychological 00:02:16.590 --> 00:02:18.750 breakdown I mentioned earlier, because this wasn't 00:02:18.750 --> 00:02:21.909 just some obscure sketchbook doodle. This was 00:02:21.909 --> 00:02:24.849 really his breakout moment. It was. He started 00:02:24.849 --> 00:02:29.509 back in 1988 doing regular art for Krakom. Ah, 00:02:29.810 --> 00:02:32.930 yes. Right, which is the Auckland University 00:02:32.930 --> 00:02:35.389 Students' Association magazine. Which is the 00:02:35.389 --> 00:02:37.629 absolute classic training ground. I mean, you 00:02:37.629 --> 00:02:39.770 can get away with murder in the student press. 00:02:39.949 --> 00:02:42.370 It's where you experiment. You definitely do. 00:02:42.490 --> 00:02:44.770 But the real shift, the big jump happens when 00:02:44.770 --> 00:02:47.370 he starts working on Judge Dredd, or specifically 00:02:47.370 --> 00:02:49.979 the Judge Dredd magazine. I know Dredd, you know 00:02:49.979 --> 00:02:53.099 Dredd, it's usually very grim, gritty, futuristic 00:02:53.099 --> 00:02:57.280 fascism, big guns, big chins. Usually yes, that's 00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:59.300 the formula. But Langridge brought something 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:01.379 entirely different to the table. He worked on 00:03:01.379 --> 00:03:03.560 a strip called The Straight Jacket Fits. Written 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:05.800 by David Bishop, Brian. Written by David Bishop, 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.919 art by Langridge. And the title itself should 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:11.919 give you a clue. Because it's set in an insane 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:14.979 asylum. Exactly. But the sources describe the 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:18.259 art style very specifically. They call it surreal, 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.879 hallucinatory, and convention bending. What does 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:24.000 that actually look like on the page? Because 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.259 the word surreal gets thrown around a lot. It 00:03:26.259 --> 00:03:27.939 does. But think about the physical structure 00:03:27.939 --> 00:03:31.400 of a comic page. You have a grid of boxes, the 00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:34.060 panels. Those panels are supposed to be the safe 00:03:34.060 --> 00:03:36.719 window into the story. In The Straightjacket 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:39.419 Fits, language decided that the panels weren't 00:03:39.419 --> 00:03:42.620 windows at all. he made them prison bars. Oh 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:45.199 man, that is so cool. Right. The characters in 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:47.960 the asylum start to realize they are trapped 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:50.460 in a comic strip. So the hallucination isn't, 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:53.620 you know, dragons or monsters. The hallucination 00:03:53.620 --> 00:03:55.879 is the medium itself. So they're seeing the page. 00:03:56.380 --> 00:03:58.719 Exactly. They start pushing against the black 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:01.060 ink borders of the panels. They physically interact 00:04:01.060 --> 00:04:03.580 with the gutter that's the white space between 00:04:03.580 --> 00:04:05.680 panels. So when the source says they burst from 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:07.939 the edge of the frame, it's not a metaphor? No, 00:04:07.939 --> 00:04:10.479 it is totally literal. They are tearing the reality 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:13.439 of the page. And this is crucial for understanding 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:16.240 language. Even early on, he wasn't just drawing 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:18.800 a script. He was manipulating the architecture 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:20.920 of the book itself. He's playing with the format. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:23.879 He understands that a comic is a physical object, 00:04:24.100 --> 00:04:26.850 and he's totally willing to to get a laugh or 00:04:26.850 --> 00:04:29.550 to get a scare. It sounds incredibly meta, like 00:04:29.550 --> 00:04:32.209 Deadpool, before Deadpool was really mainstreaming 00:04:32.209 --> 00:04:34.069 that sort of thing. It was very ahead of its 00:04:34.069 --> 00:04:36.730 time. But it also established his vibe. He's 00:04:36.730 --> 00:04:38.769 comfortable with chaos. He's comfortable with 00:04:38.769 --> 00:04:41.750 the idea that reality in a comic book is totally 00:04:41.750 --> 00:04:44.949 flexible. OK, so you've got this guy who is a 00:04:44.949 --> 00:04:49.730 master of chaotic, frame breaking, noisy visuals. 00:04:50.629 --> 00:04:52.610 You would think the logical next step is something 00:04:52.610 --> 00:04:55.230 even louder, maybe heavy metal album covers or, 00:04:55.230 --> 00:04:56.990 I don't know, horror comics. You would think 00:04:56.990 --> 00:04:59.970 so. And that is exactly where he pivots. He goes 00:04:59.970 --> 00:05:03.110 from the noisy asylum to absolute silence. Wow. 00:05:03.870 --> 00:05:07.079 He creates Fred the Clown. Now, this seems to 00:05:07.079 --> 00:05:09.000 be the passion project that really put him on 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:11.399 the map with the critics, right? It absolutely 00:05:11.399 --> 00:05:13.019 did. He'd been working on it in the background 00:05:13.019 --> 00:05:16.040 for years. He did web comics. He self -published 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:18.980 small press titles. Just grinding away at it. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:21.240 Yeah, until Fana Graphics books finally collected 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:24.740 it in 2004. Yeah. But the core of Fred is that 00:05:24.740 --> 00:05:27.240 it's a massive tribute to Buster Keaton. The 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:31.040 silent film star. Correct. Classic silent comedy. 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:33.220 I have to pause here because I've seen Buster 00:05:33.220 --> 00:05:36.279 Keaton movies. The whole point is the movement. 00:05:36.540 --> 00:05:38.420 It's the stunt work. You know, the house falling 00:05:38.420 --> 00:05:41.339 on him, the crazy train chases. It's incredibly 00:05:41.339 --> 00:05:44.319 kinetic. It is. So how on earth do you translate 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:47.180 that to a comic book where the images are completely 00:05:47.180 --> 00:05:51.360 frozen? You have hit on exactly why this project 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:54.160 was so insanely ambitious. Look, in a silent 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:57.019 movie, the director controls the time. You watch 00:05:57.019 --> 00:05:58.939 Keaton run for 10 seconds. You see the train 00:05:58.939 --> 00:06:00.980 coming. You feel the speed. Right. But in a comic 00:06:00.980 --> 00:06:04.040 book, The reader controls the time. You can glance 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:06.839 at the entire page in a split second. So the 00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:08.540 punch line could be totally ruined before you 00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:11.500 even read the setup. Exactly. To make a silent 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:14.939 clown funny on paper, you need absolute mastery 00:06:14.939 --> 00:06:17.620 of pacing. You have to use the size of the panels 00:06:17.620 --> 00:06:20.480 to control how fast the reader's eye moves across 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:22.660 the page. Oh, that makes sense. You have to draw 00:06:22.660 --> 00:06:25.160 the body language so clearly that the reader 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:28.040 practically feels the movement. even though it's 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:30.860 static ink on paper. So if the stray jacket fits 00:06:30.860 --> 00:06:32.660 was all about breaking the panels and breaking 00:06:32.660 --> 00:06:35.360 the rules, Fred the Clown was about perfecting 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:38.639 them. That is a fantastic way to put it. It's 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:41.040 disciplined. It's precise. If you look at a Fred 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:43.800 Page, it's almost musical in its rhythm. And 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.560 the comic industry really recognized that difficulty 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:48.540 and that achievement. Yeah. Looking at the list 00:06:48.540 --> 00:06:50.620 of accolades here, it's a bit ridiculous. He 00:06:50.620 --> 00:06:52.579 was the winner of the National Comics Award for 00:06:52.579 --> 00:06:56.149 Best Online Strip in 2003. A huge deal. And then 00:06:56.149 --> 00:06:59.110 look at the nominations. Two Eisner Awards, a 00:06:59.110 --> 00:07:02.550 Harvey Award, a Rubin Award, and an Ignaz Award. 00:07:02.670 --> 00:07:05.069 That is basically the royal flush of comic book 00:07:05.069 --> 00:07:07.430 awards. It really is. And it validated that this 00:07:07.430 --> 00:07:10.110 wasn't just some gimmick. He was doing actual 00:07:10.110 --> 00:07:12.790 high art with this funny little clown. And this 00:07:12.790 --> 00:07:15.649 creates that amazing tension in his career. On 00:07:15.649 --> 00:07:18.889 one hand, he's the Judge Dredd guy, surreal, 00:07:19.129 --> 00:07:22.430 gritty. British sci -fi. And on the other hand, 00:07:22.810 --> 00:07:25.670 he's the Fred the Clown guy, silent, elegant, 00:07:26.189 --> 00:07:28.990 classic Americana style. And somehow those two 00:07:28.990 --> 00:07:32.170 wildly different roads merge and lead us directly 00:07:32.170 --> 00:07:35.100 to the Muppets. Which brings us to his Master 00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:37.759 of Licensed Properties era. I find this transition 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:41.120 so weird because usually indie darlings who win 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:43.779 Ignatz awards do not go on to work for Disney 00:07:43.779 --> 00:07:46.920 or large corporate conglomerates. They stay in 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.699 the indie scene making obscure, beautiful graphic 00:07:49.699 --> 00:07:51.980 novels. True. But think about what the Muppets 00:07:51.980 --> 00:07:53.839 actually are. Well, they're puppets. They're 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:55.860 chaotic. They're funny. They are vaudeville. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:58.420 The Muppet Show is fundamentally a variety show. 00:07:58.540 --> 00:08:00.899 Oh, right. It's slapstick, it's terrible puns, 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:03.139 it's physical comedy, and it's heavily meta. 00:08:03.459 --> 00:08:05.360 I mean, they are always breaking the fourth wall 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:07.720 and talking directly to the audience. Oh, I see 00:08:07.720 --> 00:08:09.319 exactly where you're going with this. He's already 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:12.779 done all of that. Precisely. Fred the Clown proved 00:08:12.779 --> 00:08:14.660 he understood vaudeville timing and physical 00:08:14.660 --> 00:08:17.759 comedy. The Straightjacket Fits proved he understood 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:21.939 meta -commentary and total chaos. Roger Langridge 00:08:21.939 --> 00:08:24.560 was practically genetically engineered in a lab 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:28.459 to write The Muppets. So when Boom Studios hired 00:08:28.459 --> 00:08:31.439 him in 2009 to work on The Muppet Show, it wasn't 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.299 a sellout move. It was just a perfect fit. And 00:08:34.299 --> 00:08:36.279 that's exactly why it works so well. He was there 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:39.620 from 2009 to 2012 as the writer and usually the 00:08:39.620 --> 00:08:42.039 cartoonist too. And he wasn't trying to just 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:44.889 trace or copy the TV show. Right. He was translating 00:08:44.889 --> 00:08:47.129 the spirit of the show into the language of comics. 00:08:47.690 --> 00:08:49.909 He captured the voices of Kermit and Fozzie perfectly 00:08:49.909 --> 00:08:52.490 sure, but he also captured the frantic, manic 00:08:52.490 --> 00:08:55.230 energy of the backstage scenes just using his 00:08:55.230 --> 00:08:57.909 panel layouts. It cemented him as this really 00:08:57.909 --> 00:09:00.929 safe pair of hands for massive, beloved brands. 00:09:01.789 --> 00:09:04.929 Which leads us to Popeye. Yes, Popeye. Now, the 00:09:04.929 --> 00:09:08.179 Muppets I get, but Popeye feels... I don't know, 00:09:08.259 --> 00:09:10.740 risky. Not in a dangerous way, but in a, does 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:13.539 anyone actually care about Popeye in a 2012 way? 00:09:13.740 --> 00:09:16.120 That was definitely the gamble IDW Publishing 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:19.220 took. They launched it as a four -issue mini 00:09:19.220 --> 00:09:21.820 -series. Basically a trial balloon. Like, let's 00:09:21.820 --> 00:09:23.879 see if there's any nostalgia left for this spinach 00:09:23.879 --> 00:09:26.159 -eating sailor. And what happened? It absolutely 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:28.899 exploded. The source material notes that it was 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:31.899 so successful, IDW upgraded it to an ongoing 00:09:31.899 --> 00:09:34.759 monthly series before the second issue even hit 00:09:34.759 --> 00:09:37.649 the shelves. That is unheard of. Yeah. Usually 00:09:37.649 --> 00:09:39.409 publishers wait for the sales numbers to come 00:09:39.409 --> 00:09:41.730 in after a few months before committing to an 00:09:41.730 --> 00:09:43.490 ongoing book. They didn't need to wait. They 00:09:43.490 --> 00:09:45.870 saw the immediate reception, Langerage scripted 00:09:45.870 --> 00:09:48.570 it, and the artist Bruce Osella, who did an incredible 00:09:48.570 --> 00:09:52.309 job mimicking the original 1930s style, they 00:09:52.309 --> 00:09:54.070 just tapped into something really special. But 00:09:54.070 --> 00:09:56.929 why did it work so well? Was it just older readers 00:09:56.929 --> 00:10:00.190 buying it for the nostalgia factor? I don't think 00:10:00.190 --> 00:10:02.210 so. I think it goes back to that kinetic energy 00:10:02.210 --> 00:10:04.450 we talked about with Fed the Clown. Langerage 00:10:04.450 --> 00:10:07.450 didn't write Popeye as some dusty museum piece. 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:09.830 He modernized it. He wrote it as a high -energy 00:10:09.830 --> 00:10:12.720 action comedy. He treated Popeye like a superhero 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.100 who eats vegetables. It was funny right now, 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:17.179 not just funny back then. It's interesting that 00:10:17.179 --> 00:10:19.539 he scripted Popeye, but didn't actually draw 00:10:19.539 --> 00:10:22.399 it. It shows how versatile he is. But he certainly 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.639 didn't put down the pencil for good, because 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:27.299 then Marvel came calling. And this has to be 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:29.519 my absolute favorite part of the deep dive. The 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.299 Marvel monsters. Yes. Because the House of Ideas 00:10:32.299 --> 00:10:34.720 usually wants you to pitch Spider -Man or the 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:37.360 Avengers. But language goes straight for the 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:40.159 D -list. Or the Z -list, really. He teamed up 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:43.529 with Sky - to revive the pre -superhero monsters. 00:10:43.850 --> 00:10:45.809 For you listening who might not know, before 00:10:45.809 --> 00:10:48.549 Marvel was the Marvel we know today, they published 00:10:48.549 --> 00:10:51.409 comics about giant, ridiculous monsters with 00:10:51.409 --> 00:10:54.649 names like Fin Fang Foom and Goom. Yeah. They 00:10:54.649 --> 00:10:56.929 were just big kaiju -attacking cities in the 00:10:56.929 --> 00:10:59.769 50s and 60s. Right. And most people completely 00:10:59.769 --> 00:11:01.970 forgot about them once Spider -Man and the Fantastic 00:11:01.970 --> 00:11:04.590 Four showed up. Mm -hmm. But language and gray 00:11:04.590 --> 00:11:07.679 brought them back as the Fin Fang Four. The concept 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:10.580 is just its peak language. They took these giant 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:13.279 city -destroying dragons and monsters and made 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:17.080 them roommates? Essentially, yes. They miniaturized 00:11:17.080 --> 00:11:19.299 them, put them in giant human clothes, and had 00:11:19.299 --> 00:11:21.559 them trying to integrate into normal human society. 00:11:21.980 --> 00:11:25.220 Just the visual of a giant green dragon wearing 00:11:25.220 --> 00:11:27.919 purple shorts and working a mundane service job. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:30.419 It's totally absurd. And it fits that Fred the 00:11:30.419 --> 00:11:32.779 Clown aesthetic perfectly. It's bringing that 00:11:32.779 --> 00:11:35.779 indie underground weirdness straight into the 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:38.480 glossy corporate world of Marvel. Yeah, they 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:40.820 did a lot of these, right? They did. There was 00:11:40.820 --> 00:11:44.100 the Marvel Monsters, one shot in 2005, a Marvel 00:11:44.100 --> 00:11:48.080 Holiday Special in 2006, Avengers Giant Size 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.000 in 2008, and even digital comics on Marvel, Digital 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.580 Comics Unlimited. It really feels like he carved 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:57.159 out a little weird corner of the Marvel universe 00:11:57.159 --> 00:12:00.019 where he could just be silly. He did. Now, he 00:12:00.019 --> 00:12:03.169 played the main sandbox, too. He did Thor. The 00:12:03.169 --> 00:12:06.509 Mighty Avenger in 2010, which was a very sweet, 00:12:06.750 --> 00:12:09.809 critically -acclaimed take on Thor. But his heart 00:12:09.809 --> 00:12:12.350 clearly lies with the oddballs. Speaking of oddballs, 00:12:12.409 --> 00:12:14.009 I have to talk about the titles of his other 00:12:14.009 --> 00:12:16.090 works. I feel like if you just read the titles 00:12:16.090 --> 00:12:18.529 of Roger Langridge comics, you instantly understand 00:12:18.529 --> 00:12:20.990 his soul. They are a genre unto themselves. Okay, 00:12:21.070 --> 00:12:24.509 here we go. Knuckles the Malevolent Nun. Co -created 00:12:24.509 --> 00:12:27.049 with Cornelia Stone. Yeah. It just screams British 00:12:27.049 --> 00:12:30.220 indie comic, doesn't it? It really does. Frankenstein 00:12:30.220 --> 00:12:32.820 meets Shirley Temple. That was from the A1 anthology. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:35.059 It's a high concept collision of pop culture. 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:39.360 And snarked. Which he did at Boom Studios. Or 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:42.340 The Rocketeer. Hollywood horror. He just seems 00:12:42.340 --> 00:12:44.279 to be having so much fun with the actual language 00:12:44.279 --> 00:12:46.940 and concepts of these things. He embraces the 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:50.159 absurdity. He doesn't try to make comics cool 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:54.059 or edgy in the modern sense. He loves the inherent 00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:56.340 silliness of the medium and he's not afraid to 00:12:56.340 --> 00:12:58.580 show it. Oh. And we should definitely mention 00:12:58.580 --> 00:13:00.899 his family collaborations, too. Right. He worked 00:13:00.899 --> 00:13:03.980 with Andrew Langridge. Yes, on Art Deco for Fandagraphics 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:07.740 from 90 to 92, and then Zoot from 93 to 94. So 00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:09.679 he's always been a strong collaborator. Now, 00:13:09.779 --> 00:13:12.399 we've painted a picture of this wildly successful 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:15.460 award -winning creative genius. He's reviving 00:13:15.460 --> 00:13:17.700 Popeye. He's hanging out with Thor. He's got 00:13:17.700 --> 00:13:20.500 Eisner nominations lining his mantelpiece. It 00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:23.539 sounds like a very glamorous life. It does, but 00:13:23.539 --> 00:13:25.419 there is one section in the sources that I think 00:13:25.419 --> 00:13:27.320 is actually the most important part of this entire 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:29.299 discussion, and it's the part that brings us 00:13:29.299 --> 00:13:31.200 right back down to earth. The working artist 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:34.789 section. Yes. Because while he is doing all these 00:13:34.789 --> 00:13:38.149 prestigious high profile projects, Roger Lengridge 00:13:38.149 --> 00:13:41.289 is also a working illustrator for hire. Like 00:13:41.289 --> 00:13:44.570 day job kind of stuff. Exactly. The sources mention 00:13:44.570 --> 00:13:46.789 he does work for Doctor Who magazine. Right. 00:13:46.830 --> 00:13:49.590 One panel, humorous images for the review section. 00:13:49.710 --> 00:13:51.789 And this is the one that really got me a weekly 00:13:51.789 --> 00:13:55.090 illustration for the UK TV magazine Inside Soap. 00:13:55.330 --> 00:13:58.070 Inside Soap. Think about that for a second. This 00:13:58.070 --> 00:14:00.389 is a magazine you buy at the grocery store checkout 00:14:00.389 --> 00:14:03.799 line to see Who is cheating on who in EastEnders 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:06.419 or Coronation Street? So the exact same hand 00:14:06.419 --> 00:14:09.100 that is drawing Thor, the mighty Avenger for 00:14:09.100 --> 00:14:11.940 Marvel is also drawing caricatures of soap opera 00:14:11.940 --> 00:14:15.360 stars for a weekly gossip rag. Exactly. And I 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:17.759 love this detail so much because it completely 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:20.600 shatters the myth of the tortured artist waiting 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:24.379 for inspiration to strike. Language is a craftsman. 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:26.440 It's a job. It is a job. And think about the 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:28.960 sheer discipline required for inside soap. You 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.200 have a strict deadline every single week. The 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:33.139 drawing has to be recognizable, it has to be 00:14:33.139 --> 00:14:35.220 funny, and it has to be done on time. You can't 00:14:35.220 --> 00:14:37.500 call the editor and say, sorry, the muse isn't 00:14:37.500 --> 00:14:40.480 speaking to me today. And you definitely can't 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:43.000 be late because the magazine goes to print with 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.840 or without you. That kind of blue -collar artistic 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:49.320 discipline. is rare. And I would argue that is 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:52.059 exactly why he is so good at the big corporate 00:14:52.059 --> 00:14:55.539 projects. You mentioned Popeye going from a mini 00:14:55.539 --> 00:14:58.539 series to an ongoing series instantly. Yeah. 00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:01.159 You can only pull that off if the artist is incredibly 00:15:01.159 --> 00:15:03.779 fast and incredibly reliable. That makes total 00:15:03.779 --> 00:15:07.879 sense. If you can handle the brutal weekly grind 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:10.820 of a soap opera magazine, a monthly comic book 00:15:10.820 --> 00:15:13.539 schedule probably feels like a vacation. It keeps 00:15:13.539 --> 00:15:17.580 his skills sharp. Yeah. work fluid, he's not 00:15:17.580 --> 00:15:20.179 precious about it, he draws because that's what 00:15:20.179 --> 00:15:21.960 he does. Whether it's high art for fanographics 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:24.539 or a quick gag for inside soap, he applies the 00:15:24.539 --> 00:15:26.580 exact same level of craft. It's the difference 00:15:26.580 --> 00:15:29.419 between being an artist with a capital A and 00:15:29.419 --> 00:15:31.360 being a cartoonist. And I think Langridge would 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:34.500 proudly wear the badge of cartoonist. So let's 00:15:34.500 --> 00:15:36.500 zoom out and look at this massive map we've drawn 00:15:36.500 --> 00:15:38.899 of his career. We started in New Zealand. We 00:15:38.899 --> 00:15:40.820 watched him literally break the walls of an asylum 00:15:40.820 --> 00:15:43.779 in Judge Dredd. We did. We watched him master 00:15:43.779 --> 00:15:46.240 absolute silence with Fred the Clown. We saw 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:48.879 him revitalize the Muppets and Popeye. And we 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:51.419 saw him grinding out weekly illustrations for 00:15:51.419 --> 00:15:54.059 TV magazines. It's a truly remarkable spread. 00:15:54.299 --> 00:15:56.860 So what is the thread here? If I pick up a Roger 00:15:56.860 --> 00:15:59.299 Langridge comic. Regardless of whether it's a 00:15:59.299 --> 00:16:02.879 giant Marvel monster or a felt puppet, what am 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:05.940 I getting? You are getting a very specific, very 00:16:05.940 --> 00:16:09.539 personal filter. Langridge has a distinct DNA 00:16:09.539 --> 00:16:13.080 to his work. It's that unique blend of old -school 00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:15.879 vaudeville charm. a deep love for the weird, 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:19.159 and a very clean, rhythmic visual style. He doesn't 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:21.100 disappear into the franchise. No, he doesn't. 00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:23.120 And that's really the big takeaway here. When 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:24.919 he works on Popeye, he doesn't try to make it 00:16:24.919 --> 00:16:27.179 look like a generic, modern comic. He makes it 00:16:27.179 --> 00:16:29.600 look like Roger Langridge's Popeye. He drags 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:31.860 the franchise into his world rather than stepping 00:16:31.860 --> 00:16:34.059 into theirs. That's actually a really powerful 00:16:34.059 --> 00:16:36.000 lesson for any creative listening to this deep 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.320 dive. We're often told to fit the mold, draw 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:40.690 the house style, write what sells. Right. But 00:16:40.690 --> 00:16:43.230 language proves that having a strong, eccentric, 00:16:43.370 --> 00:16:45.870 highly personal voice is actually a huge asset, 00:16:46.230 --> 00:16:48.409 even for massive corporate giants like Disney 00:16:48.409 --> 00:16:51.590 or Marvel. They didn't hire him to be a photocopier. 00:16:51.730 --> 00:16:53.830 They hired him because he had that specific Fred 00:16:53.830 --> 00:16:56.330 the Clown magic. They hired the weird to save 00:16:56.330 --> 00:16:58.289 the normal. That is a beautiful way to put it. 00:16:58.330 --> 00:17:00.509 So here's a final thought for you to chew on 00:17:00.509 --> 00:17:03.789 as you go about your day. We live in a time of 00:17:03.789 --> 00:17:06.849 endless reboots. Every movie, every show, every 00:17:06.849 --> 00:17:09.809 comic seems to be a remake or a spinoff of something 00:17:09.809 --> 00:17:12.650 from 40 years ago. And we usually complain about 00:17:12.650 --> 00:17:14.769 it. We constantly complain about it. We say Hollywood 00:17:14.769 --> 00:17:17.730 is totally out of ideas. But when you look at 00:17:17.730 --> 00:17:20.779 Roger Langridge's career, making Popeye feel 00:17:20.779 --> 00:17:24.660 fresh, making the Muppets sing on the page, you 00:17:24.660 --> 00:17:27.480 have to ask yourself a question. When we enjoy 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:30.059 these reboots, are we actually enjoying the character, 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:33.200 or are we really enjoying the specific, unique 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:35.779 filter of the artist who is bringing them to 00:17:35.779 --> 00:17:38.039 life? Would we care about the Finfane Four if 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:40.650 literally anyone else had drawn them? Probably 00:17:40.650 --> 00:17:43.650 not. Exactly. Maybe in this era of big corporate 00:17:43.650 --> 00:17:46.309 franchises, the individual artist matters way 00:17:46.309 --> 00:17:48.490 more than the intellectual property itself. Just 00:17:48.490 --> 00:17:49.910 something to think about the next time you pick 00:17:49.910 --> 00:17:52.430 up a comic book. That's all for today's deep 00:17:52.430 --> 00:17:54.829 dive into the many worlds of Roger Langridge. 00:17:55.250 --> 00:17:56.829 Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you in 00:17:56.829 --> 00:17:57.369 the next panel.