Dec. 11, 12: Signing, Reading and Rapping at Fantom Comics

Fantom Comics has a couple unique events going on this week. On Thursday (Dec. 11), local science fiction author Benjamin Rosenbaum will sign and read from his book The Ant King and Other Stories at 6:30 p.m.

"Rosenbaum's debut collection is a dazzling, post-modern mix of pulp and surreal, spanning the weirdest corners of literature and science fiction," according to the store's Facebook event page. His stories have appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, McSweeney's, and Nature, been shortlisted for the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and reprinted in Harper's and The Year's Best Science Fiction.

On Friday (Dec. 12), rapper Adam Warrock kicks off the store’s "GREAT POWER" Art Show. There’s a $10 cover for the show, which begins at 9 p.m.

“We're excited to host the artist responsible for entire rap albums about Firefly, Marvel Comics, Game of Thrones, and practically every fandom you can think of," Fantom says. "His masterful lyrics speak to the geek in all of us, so make your way to Fantom with your fellow Browncoats, Pawneeans, and Inhumans for a killer art show featuring a killer performer.”

PW podcast with Lewis on his new book

Former local comics historian/writer A. David Lewis has a new academic book, American Comics, Literary Theory, and Religion The Superhero Afterlife (Palgrave Macmillian, $90). Listen to an interview with Lewis on the Publishers Weekly podcast with comics reviewer Calvin Reid. (Lewis also was a co-editor on recently published Colonial Comics from Fulcrum Publishing.)

Here's a summary of American Comics, Literary Theory, and Religion from the publisher's website:

Just as often as superheroes journey into the afterlife, they also return from it. Their surprising immortality has created its own set of storytelling rules and expectations; it also has come to influence their secular readership in new interreligious investigations of narrative character and personal selfhood. Unlocking a new and overdue model for reading comic books, this unique volume explores religious interpretations of popular comic book superheroes such as the Green Lantern and the Hulk. A. David Lewis argues that the superhero subgenre offers a hermeneutic for those interested in integrating mutiplicity into religious practices and considerations of the afterlife.

A. David Lewis holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Boston University, USA. He is the co-editor of Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels and Digital Death: Mortality and Beyond in the Online Age. He is also a graphic novelist and founding member of Sacred & Sequential. 

Animation historian Charles Solomon reviews The Art of Richard Thompson

BOOK REVIEW: "The Art of Richard Thompson"

By Charles Solomon | Animation Scoop December 9, 2014

http://blogs.indiewire.com/animationscoop/book-review-the-art-of-richard-thompson-20141209

"Joe Keatinge & Leila Del Duca signing - Shutter" was canceled by Big Planet Comics

From: Facebook

Big Planet Comics canceled the event "Joe Keatinge & Leila Del Duca signing - Shutter".

SMUDGE 2015 exhibitor application opens

The application for SMUDGE 2015 is now available. The deadline is Jan. 15. Click here for more info.

Big Hero 6 tie-in available at Subways

Art of Richard Thompson booksigning photos by Bruce Guthrie...

Bruce Guthrie, says, "pictures from the art of Richard Thompson event are up on http://www.bguthriephotos.com "

Art of Richard Thompson book launch -- Arlington Central Library recording

If you missed the book launch of the Art of Richard Thompson today with Nick Galifianakis, Chris Sparks, David Apatoff, Michael Cavna and Michael Rhoder earilier today, you can listen to it at https://archive.org/details/OMP141206ArtOfRichardThompson

Tonight: Ladies' Night at Fantom Comics

Fantom Comics tonight holds its monthly Ladies' Night from 9 p.m. to midnight. The theme is "Strong Women." From the store's Facebook page:

"Come help us celebrate all the strong women who are in our lives and comics and who inspire us to be the amazing fans and creators that make up the FANTOM FORCE! Please, as always, bring snacks and drinks to share! Also, we'll be celebrating quite a few ladies' birthdays, so look out for cupcakes and celebratory snacks!"

RICHARD THOMPSON LIVE at Arlington Central Library

...right now.  But this isn't in the book.

TODAY: Art of Richard Thompson at Arlington's Central library

Richard Thompson and four of the editors of the new book about him will be at Central Library at 2:30 today. Stop by and buy a book.

Richard Thompson art book reviewed by another artist

The Art of Richard Thompson

by Dana Jeri Maier
December 4, 2014
http://www.danajerimaier.com/writing/the-art-of-richard-thompson

Print reviews The Art of Richard Thompson book

The Art of Richard Thompson

By: Steven Brower | December 5, 2014
http://www.printmag.com/design-inspiration/the-art-of-richard-thompson/

At least one Clifford Berryman cartoon should be in NYC

Rare Book and Manuscript Library Acquires Dennis Ryan Editorial Cartoon Collection
Columbia University Libraries/Information Services' Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML)

NEW YORK, December 3, 2014 –
http://library.columbia.edu/news/libraries/2014/2014-12-4_RBML_Acquires_Dennis_Ryan_Editorial_Cartoon_Collection.html
Columbia University Li

Richard Thompson featured in local paper

Richard Thompson's Work Featured in Documentary, Book

By Liz Lizama

Falls Church News-Press December 4, 2014
http://fcnp.com/2014/12/04/richard-thompsons-work-featured-in-documentary-book/

Cartoonist Richard Thompson looks at some of his work in a scene from a new short documentary about his life and his work. (Photo: Courtesy of GVI)

Comic Riffs talks to Darrin Bell

DARRIN BELL: From Ferguson to New York cases, 'Candorville' cartoonist draws deeply from the personal [Q&A]

By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog December 4 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/12/04/darrin-bell-from-ferguson-to-new-york-cases-cartoonist-draws-deeply-from-the-personal-qa/

Jules Feiffer's book Kill My Mother makes Politics & Prose's top 10

Jules Feiffer's book Kill My Mother is the only comic in Politics & Prose's top 10 books of 2014. They write:

The incomparable Jules Feiffer has produced his first noir graphic novel, Kill My Mother, that pays tribute to the crime fiction and newspaper adventures strips he loved as a teenager. The book's settings—in the Depression era and such locales as Bay City and Hollywood—are classic, as are many of the characters and plot twists. But Feiffer has his own fun with the traditional genre.

'Terrible: Tsar Ivan IV' online

Oregon-based publisher Study Group is running online the first chapter of Terrible: Tsar Ivan IV, drawn by local cartoonist Art Hondros and written by former local cartoonist Scott Mills. 

NPR’s Book Concierge comics recommendations

NPR's Book Concierge

Our Guide To 2014's Great Reads

by Nicole Cohen, David Eads, Rose Friedman, Becky Lettenberger, Petra Mayer, Beth Novey and Christina Rees – Published December 3, 2014

http://apps.npr.org/best-books-2014/#/tag/comics-and-graphic-novels

Gary Groth recalls his "drive into Georgetown (in Washington, DC) ..."

[to] buy [underground] comics at wholesale rates from a head shop." And from those humble beginnings, the mighty Fantagraphics empire arose.

Crafting a Complete Zap

BY Dan Nadel Dec 3, 2014

http://www.tcj.com/gary-groth-on-zap/

Short cuts on The Art of Richard Thompson film, if not the book

Noel Murray December 03, 2014

Short Cuts: "The Art Of Richard Thompson," a documentary about one of this era's best cartoonists

http://thedissolve.com/news/4138-short-cuts-the-art-of-richard-thompson-a-documenta/

Brumsic Brandon obituary from NY Times

Brumsic Brandon Jr., Creator of 'Luther' Comic Strip, Dies at 87
By PAUL VITELLO
DEC. 2, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/arts/design/brumsic-brandon-jr-creator-of-luther-comic-strip-dies-at-87.html

"Mr. Brandon's gently satirical comic strip, syndicated from 1968 to 1986, chronicled the exploits of Luther, a wide-eyed African-American third grader, and his friends in a ghetto neighborhood not unlike the Benning Road section of northeast Washington, where Mr. Brandon grew up."

John Cuneo appreciates Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson draws funny.
by John Cuneo
Drawger blog December 2, 2014
http://drawger.com/johncuneo/?section=articles&article_id=15145

Hagen paintings at Cafe Nola

David Hagen says, "Hagen paintings are on display at Cafe Nola...

....for the whole month of December!  Only problem is you have to hike up to Frederick.

The info is here."

I personally am giving a Hagen original as a gift this Christmas.

Clifford Berryman on Ghosts of DC blog

D.C. Lacks National Representation … Still

This print is still appropriate today … sadly. We found this in the awesome collection provided by the DC Public Library. If you...

The Post on Frozen, again

Parents beware: this round of "Frozen"-mania won't end after the holidays. Idina Menzel says a sequel is in the works. [in print as A 'Frozen' sequel? Our blood runs cold, December 1, 2014]

By Jessica Contrera November 30 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/11/30/parents-beware-this-round-of-frozen-mania-wont-end-after-the-holidays-idina-menzel-says-a-sequel-is-in-the-works/

RIP Brumsic Brandon, Jr.

Brumsic Brandon, Jr. creator of the Luther comic strip has passed away.  Brandon was born in Washington, DC. More information at http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/floridatoday/obituary.aspx?n=Brumsic-Brandon&pid=173333233

Thanks to DD Degg for the tip.

Dec. 14: Keatinge, Duca at Big Planet

Joe Keatinge and Leila Del Duca, co-creators of the series Shutter from Image Comics, will be signing at Big Plant Comics at College Park from noon to 2 p.m. on Dec. 14. The store will also have an exclusive Big Planet Comics variant of the next issue, Shutter #7.

Dec. 3: Meet the Author Night

Gene Weingarten (Me & Dog) and Matt Dembicki (Wild Ocean) and will be among the local authors at the 25^th annual Meet the Author Night and Book Fair Dec. 3 (5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.) at the University Club of Washington, D.C.  The free event is open to the public. Click for the full list of participating authors.

Dec. 14: Bmore into Comics #5

Bmore Into Comics holds its fifth local comics show on Dec. 14 noon to 5 p.m. at the Wind-Up Space in Baltimore. 

Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year Series ends its 42 Year Run

Posted by Steve Artley

Pelican Publishing Company, which produced the annual collection of editorial cartoons, Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year, announced on November 18 that it has ceased production of the series, ending with the 2014 edition released last spring. The series, originally edited by editorial cartoonist Charles Brooks began in the early seventies and for many years was the only publication of its kind that showcased the year's political cartoons from across America, featuring work from members of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Following Brooks' death in 2011, editing duties fell to cartoonist Steve Kelley. 

At the time the publication began, nearly every American city had a morning and evening newspaper, and each paper had a full time editorial cartoonist. By the mid 1980's, with a greater number of newspapers being bought up by large news conglomerates that relied more on syndicated stories and art, the number began to dwindle. Now, there are less than 40 full time editorial cartoonists on staff at metropolitan newspapers in the United States. Public interest in traditional political cartooning has waned, as well. Within the past few years, online cartoon anthologies such as TIME and NPR, along with cartoon roundups once popular in the New York Times, Newsweek, and other print publications have been eliminated. 

While no details have been released from Pelican on its decision to cease publication, this action comes as no surprise to those of us in the editorial cartooning field.

Amy and Richard Thompson's first Thanksgiving, and a toe

A HIGH-STEPPING THANKSGIVING TALE or: How 'Cul de Sac's' Richard Thompson got a toehold in the world of humor-column writing

By Michael Cavna

Washington Post Comic Riffs blog November 27 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/11/27/a-high-stepping-thanksgiving-tale-or-how-cul-de-sacs-richard-thompson-got-a-toehold-in-the-world-of-humor-column-writing/

Apatoff on Thompson, day 4

THE ART OF RICHARD THOMPSON, day 4

http://illustrationart.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-art-of-richard-thompson-day-4.html

Nov 29: Rashin Kheiriyeh, children’s book author, illustrator, and animator

5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Rashin Kheiriyeh, children's book author, illustrator, and animator Politics & Prose is excited to join the Small Business Saturday festivities again this year. A great way to support local businesses in our community right as the holiday season gets into full swing, we hope you can join us and "Shop Small" on Saturday, November 29. We have a great lineup of authors who've answered the Indies First challenge and will be moonlighting as booksellers—joining our own fantastic staff—in support of the day. Come by and have one of the following writers rummage the shelves to recommend the perfect book for you or a great gift for a loved one of any age.

Post blog on St Louis arches cartoons

Cartoonist says his divided-arch cartoon about Ferguson was 'very obvious,' 'almost too easy'

By Erik Wemple
Washington Post's  Erik Wemple blog November 26 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/11/26/st-louis-cartoonist-says-his-divided-arch-cartoon-about-ferguson-was-very-obvious-almost-too-easy/

Thankful: Recent additions to the ComicsDC bookshelf

I'm trying to slowly compile a bookshelf, or two, of books by local cartoonists.

Here's what came in through the late summer and early fall (Stossel and Sala aren't local, but their subject is).

Clockwise from top, ending in the center:

Benbow, Hannah.  2013.
Munch Munch Crunch Crunch: Healthy Words From A to Z.
Washington, DC: Hannamations

Churn, Todd and Hannah Benbow.  2014.
Zoey Goes To The Beach.
Washington, DC: Todd Churn and Hannah Benbow

Apatoff, David, Nick Galifianakis, Mike Rhode, Chris Sparks, and Bill Watterson. 2014.
The Art of Richard Thompson.
Kansas City: Andrews McMeel

The Third Annual Ameriprint The You-Gotta-Be-Kidding, Is-This-For-Real? Off-The-Wall 1994 Wall Calendar.
Vienna, VA: Ameriprint
Pages of made-up holidays by local Washington-DC area illustrators including Richard Thompson.

Weingarten, Gene and Eric Shansby (ill).  2014.
Me and Dog.
New York: Simon and Schuster

Nilsen, Anna, Richard Sala (ill) and Betsy France.  2008.
Gallery Ghost: Find the ghost who paints the most!
Palo Alto, CA: Birdcage Press
Works of art from the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Stossel, Sage.  2013.
On The Loose In Washington, D.C.: A Find-the-Animals Book.
Carlisle, MA: Commonwealth Editions

Mullins, Linda.  2002.
The Teddy Bear Men: Theodore Roosevelt & Clifford Berryman, 2nd Edition.
Grantsville, MD: Hobby House Press

Berryman, Florence Seville and Clifford Berryman (ill).  1925.
Early American Bookplates.
University Press of Sewanee Tennessee

Happy Thanksgiving from ComicsDC

 

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Dec 8: Animation Films about the Berlin Wall

Animation Films about the Berlin Wall

The Wall in Our Heads – Arts – Civil Society and Walls: Current Perspectives

Film
Monday, 8 December 2014, 6:30 pm
Goethe-Institut Washington, GoetheForum
$7/$4
+ 1 (202) 289-1200
info@washington.goethe.org

A selection of films dealing with the topic of the Berlin Wall, curated by Annegret Richter, Head of Animation at DOK Leipzig.

All films either have English subtitles or no dialogue.

Sitis
East Germany, 1987, 11 min, Director: Rainer Schade
The cartoonist for this film, which depicts a character who runs his life into a wall, is still surprised that an East German state operated and controlled studio would produce a film with such a storyboard.
Rainer Schade is a German painter, graphic artist, cartoonist and university lecturer. He serves on appointment committees for universities in Halle, Dessau and Schneeberg, and has been chair of the art association Leipziger Jahresausstellung e.V. since 1995.

The Other Side (Die andere Seite)
UK/ Germany, 2007, 5 min, Director: Ellie Land
In this starkly animated documentary about the Berlin Wall, the subjects recall what they imagined was on the other side of the Wall.
Ellie Land is an award-winning filmmaker internationally, and works with documentary and animation. Her films have received awards and commendations from a variety of prestigious international film festivals. She lives in England, where she serves as senior lecturer in animation at Northumbria University, directs commercial animation and is developing a cross-media animated documentary project.

The Scent of the West (Der Duft des Westens)
Germany, 2013, 5 min, Directors: Mark Huff and Arne Breusing
A story of escape - between 1949 and 1989 about three million people left the GDR and the Soviet-occupied zone. Reinhold Huff, Mark Huff's father, escaped in September 1973 through the inner German border into Bavaria in western Germany.
Mark Huff is a motion graphic designer at Gravity Germany. Arne Breusing is a 3D and motion designer who works at Kochstrasse, a design studio in Hannover, Germany. He was a guest lecturer in 2010 at Hefei University in China. Their debut film, The Scent of the West, was their bachelor thesis at the University of Hannover.

Micki
Germany, 2014, 5 min, Director: Alexander Lahl
Micki recounts the story of Marienetta Jirkowsky, who tried to escape across the Berlin Wall for love. With only a few more meters remaining to climb, her story came to a tragic end.
Alexander Lahl was born 1979 in Berlin (GDR). He studied cultural sciences in Berlin, Wroclaw and Frankfurt (Oder). He works as a writer and filmmaker in Berlin. He is currently working on an ARTE documentary about the world's oceans.

Esterhazy
Germany/Poland, 2009, 23 min, Director: Izabela Plucińska
A small Esterhazy rabbit travels to Berlin in 1989. After months of looking for the mysterious wall, he finally finds it and meets Mimi. Right in that moment, the Berlin Wall falls.
Izabela Plucińska was born in 1974 in Koszalin/Poland. Following film studies in Lodz, she received a scholarship for the Konrad Wolf University of Film & Television in Potsdam- Babelsberg. Plucińska received a Silver Bear at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival for this film, which premiered internationally at the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Hollow Land (Terre d'écueil)
France, 2013, 14 min, Directors: Uri and Michelle Kranot
A story about the eternal human search for home, Hollow Land begins with the dream of utopia. Solomon and Berta are two seekers who arrive in a land that promises respite from their many journeys. Hollow Land captures the state of being displaced—whether by circumstance or by choice.
Michelle and Uri Kranot are independent filmmakers, interdisciplinary artists and immigrants. Originally from Israel, they have been living away from their homeland for many years. Their films have appeared in numerous film festivals and won many international prizes.

Chronicle of Oldrich S. (Kronika Oldricha S.)
Czech Republic, 2011, 18 min, Director: Rudolf Smid
Mr. Sedlacek wrote one-sentence entries in his journal from 1981 to 2005, recording everyday stories of his family's life, the life of the village and its surroundings, and international events.
Rudolf Smid is a sociologist, photographer, and freelance writer. The animated film Chronicle of Oldřich S. is his directorial debut.

Annegret Richter, a member of the selection committee, is the Head of Animation at DOK Leipzig. She was formerly Festival Director of the International Short Film Festival – Filmfest Dresden, film editor for various radio stations and magazines, and the curator of the 2008 special animated documentary program at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animation Film.

Nov 29: Big Nate: The Musical in Bethesda

Big Nate: The Musical

Children's Theater

Nate, an active, rebellious sixth-grader, attempts to win over his crush by competing for first prize in his school's battle of the bands contest. The comic musical, performed by Adventure Theater Musical Theater Center, is based on Lincoln Peirce's popular comic strip. 

10:30 am, 12:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 29

Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club

7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD

$15, $12 students

Web site

240-330-4500

Hilary Price on visiting Richard Thompson

Visiting the Inner Sanctum of Richard Thompson (The Cartoonist, Not The Singer)

by Hilary Price

October 29, 2014

http://rhymeswithorange.com/2014/10/29/visiting-the-inner-sanctum-of-richard-thompson-the-cartoonist-not-the-singer/

Howard U prof Marc Singer reviews Pax Americana

Pax Americana

Marc Singer

I Am NOT The Beastmaster blog November 24, 2014

http://notthebeastmaster.typepad.com/weblog/2014/11/pax-americana.html

 

A Thanksgiving for Richard Thompson, OR, Someday the true story will be told...

but for now, enjoy this first draft of history:

'THE ART OF RICHARD THOMPSON': How a team of friends brought strengths, passion to 'a long-overdue tribute'

By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog (November 26, 2014): http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/11/26/the-art-of-richard-thompson-how-a-team-of-friends-brought-strengths-to-a-long-overdue-tribute/

The Post reviews The Penguins of Madagascar cartoon

Quirky quartet draws plenty of laughs [online as 'Penguins of Madagascar' movie review: Delightfully silly star turn for the quartet]

By Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post November 26 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/penguins-of-madagascar-movie-review-delightfully-silly-star-turn-for-the-quartet/2014/11/25/97dc2fe4-73ff-11e4-9c9f-a37e29e80cd5_story.html

Quirky quartet draws plenty of laughs [online as 'Penguins of Madagascar' movie review: Delightfully silly star turn for the quartet]

By Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post November 26 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/penguins-of-madagascar-movie-review-delightfully-silly-star-turn-for-the-quartet/2014/11/25/97dc2fe4-73ff-11e4-9c9f-a37e29e80cd5_story.html

The career trajectory of the four wisecracking cartoon penguins introduced as minor characters in "Madagascar" has been one of meteoric ascendancy, with return appear­ances in two sequels, a couple of stand-alone shorts and a television show. It's not an unusual path in animated Hollywood. We've seen it before with Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel from "Ice Age," who parlayed a cameo in the first film into a cottage industry of increasingly annoying shorts and a camera-hogging turn in the second sequel, "Dawn of the Dinosaurs."

But unlike that acorn-obsessed, chipmunk-cheeked, paleo-rodent ham, the Flightless Four known as Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private are ready for their moment in the sun. "Penguins of Madagascar" is a delightfully silly star turn for this quartet of absurd little birds, who operate as a team of commandos.

There are several reasons why this works.

First is the voice talent. Although none of them is a marquee name, the actors who bring the penguins to life — Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Conrad Vernon and Christopher Knights — do so with verve. (Special credit goes to Vernon, who voices the almost nonverbal, but nevertheless vocally expressive Rico, who is often shown coughing up indigestible objects that he has swallowed.)

Other notably funny turns in "Penguins" include John Malkovich and Benedict Cumberbatch. Playing to type, the A-list actors provide the voices for, respectively, a villainous, emotionally unstable octopus named Dave and a heroic, cucumber-cool secret agent gray wolf whose name is classified. (That's right: The character's name is never given — "My name is classified" he tells us, in Cumberbatch's mellifluous British baritone — leading to some giddy "Who's on first?" confusion.)

Which brings me to the real reason for the movie's success: the writing of the story, which concerns Dave's plot to kidnap penguins from all of the world's zoos and turn them into monsters.

Fleshing out characters created by "Madagascar" directors and writers Eric Darnell and McGrath (whose voice propels Skipper's MacGyver-like can-do spirit), the screenplay by John Aboud, Michael Colton and Brandon Sawyer has a fizzy, pop-culture pizazz, tempered by a distinctly vaudeville sensibility. It's smart, but not brainy; dumb, but never inane.

Colton, who was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon in college, worked briefly at The Washington Post in the late 1990s before leaving to form the now-defunct online magazine Modern Humorist with Aboud. Their work with Sawyer, a children's TV writer whose credits include the "Penguins" series on Nickelodeon, is perfectly aimed at the target demographic of silly but savvy 10-year-olds. One recurring joke involves Dave barking orders to his tentacled henchmen, leading to a series of increasingly nutty puns name-checking famous movie stars: "Nicolas, cage them!" "Charlize, there on the death ray!" "Drew, barry, more!"

It's gloriously juvenile, but also very, very funny.

Other ingredients in this self-referential pop-culture puree include a cameo by the German director Werner Herzog, voicing the filmmaker-narrator of the penguin documentary that opens the film in Antarctica, where its prologue is set. Observing that our four heroes are "frozen with fear" on an icy precipice, Herzog orders his sound man to "give them a shove," in order to increase the drama.

And increase it he does. One of those early scenes features a leopard seal eating a seagull. It's an indication of the dark edge that will give the story its slightly grown-up astringency. "Penguins of Madagascar" is by no means inappropriate for kids, but there's a coolly self-aware smirk to it that makes it palatable to people with driver's licenses, too.

And, oh yes, the 3-D animation is a treat.

But the real charm of the film is its stars. As Skipper says, "A good plan is about more than effecty stuff and big words." That's equally true of a good movie.