Lil Formers #159: Astro Boy
Changed up the style from my usual, since the strip IS about how you shouldn’t mess with the style of certain properties. I always worry about these kind of strips too, that if you don’t know about the new movie, who is voicing Tenma in that movie, AND about one of that actor’s previous movies, you probably won’t get it… but oh well, I’m sure some of you commenters will explain it for people 
Anyways, as you all know there are a lot of reinterpretations lately that I don’t like of some of my favorite properties. While many of them annoy the hell out of me, this new Astroboy movie just makes me very, very sad. They really have sucked all the life out of him(he’s been “Polar-Expressed” if you will). There’s not a trace of his Japanese origins, and therefore no trace of the real Atom. This is essentially Japan’s Mickey Mouse, and he deserves so much more respect than this.
August 17th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Wow… Just saw the pics… WTF? Meet the Robinsons much?
August 17th, 2009 at 2:01 am
Astro Boy getting the Hollywood treatment?! Oh Hollywood, you’re full of epic fail.
On a plus side, love the style in your comic, Matt.
August 17th, 2009 at 2:34 am
Huh? I didn’t think the new Astro Boy movie looked that bad.
August 17th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Tenma: Peggy Sue! Peggy Sue! Where are you? I was thinking that maybe I should have named him Kal-El instead!
August 17th, 2009 at 3:07 am
I don’t think you can compare Astro-boy to Mickey Mouse. It’s problem is that despite appearances Astro-boy is not a children’s show, it’s far too complex and detailed. And that is EXACTLY why this Hollywood move worries me. You just know that they are going to miss half the interesting philosophy in favour of “look at the pretty pictures” and “oohhhh look, action.”
August 17th, 2009 at 3:11 am
@Thomas:
I would say that Astro Boy definitely is a children’s show/book. It’s just that the Japanese have more faith in how smart kids can really be.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:25 am
To be honest, Astro Boy doesn’t really have an anime art style- it’s closer to the original Disney/Warner Bros style that anime evolved out of. I mean, look at the big-nosed character designs, you never see anything like that in anime.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:24 am
@Sabre:
The original designs of Tezuka’s Astro Boy are essentially the foundations of Japanime and early American cartoons. A lot of early American cartoon characters had big eyes too. Look at Betty Boop. Her eyes take half her head.
@Thomas
Japan has more trust in it’s children then America does. Mind you if you did half the stuff you get away with in the US in Japan, you’d have half a riot squad kicking your Yankee ass whilst the other half keep the crowds moving on. The parents are just as strict it seems. Japan is VERY much based on self discipline. You go and rob a store and you won’t have a family anymore because they WILL disown you.
In general the Americans have taken great Japanese things and raped them. The US Godzilla movie made me wanna stick some C4 up the asses of the guys who ALLOWED this. That looked f*** all like Godzilla. Where was his radioactive breath? Where was Mothra? Where was Mecha Godzilla?
They did it to Ringu too. The US remake of the Grudge looks just as s***, I’ve given up on watching anything spewed out by Hollywood that’s a remake of ANYTHING Japanese.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:35 am
Dear Japan
we are sorry…so very,very sorry.
Signed
Everyone who likes the real Astro Boy
August 17th, 2009 at 6:17 am
I know that Japan has a lot more faith (as you put it) in the intelligence of their children. The problem is America (and these days England, which is where I am) don’t have any, faith or real intelligence. What I’m worried about is that the US producers will sanitise (a better word would be sterilise) the more intellectual points in favour of appealing to their idea of what children want.
Leaving the intelligent fan (like ourselves) ranting at the screen
August 17th, 2009 at 6:44 am
What I worry about more is the plot. Tenma actually seems to give a damn about Astro judging from the first teaser, thus chopping off the first level of deepness and warping his origin. And if they can’t stick to the basis of the origin story, they probably aren’t concerned with the original deepness at all.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:38 am
@thomas, matt moylan, stinkoman,
The problem is most american children and I’m very sorry to admit it don’t want to be intelligent, in fact they don,t want to think for themsoelve until a certain age where they star complainning that their parents don’t let them do anything. I’m talking about teenagers of course.
Keeping that in mind, hollywood will concentrate more on making money therefor making bad movies with stories that aren’t worth jack. Thanks to that, there movies atract more american youth who like I said before don’t want to be intelligent and won’t want to think for themselve until they reach the second half of there second decade on earth. The best example of what I’m saying is Dragonball evolution: Bad movie with bad storie and bad lines, yet big success.
Seriously either I’m right or something somewhere went horribly wrong.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Thankfully I have never seen Astro Boy so I can watch this first and then find the original Astro Boy and take joy in how much better it is than the movie instead of despairing how much worse the movie is by seeing it second :3
Plus I probably won’t think it’s a bad movie straight off.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Love the strip Matt!
And for those who may not know…
Nicolas Cage is voicing Tenma, and he co-starred with John Travolta in the 1997 John Woo flick “Face/Off”
Ooh gotta love that wordplay haha! (:
August 17th, 2009 at 9:39 am
I don’t think it’ll be a terrible movie, the trailers look fun, but yeah they’ve tried their best to try and pretend it has nothing to do with Japan.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:31 am
If you ask me, I think the movie looks good, and the style is very “anime-ish.” Well, at least Astro Boy himself looks like he always has, but I haven’t seen much of anything else regarding the movie. And it could be worse. It could’ve been headed by 4Kids Entertainment, who REALLY would’ve have gone to great lengths to pretend it has nothing to do with Japan.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Nicely done Matt. I enjoy seeing your other styles aswell. Keep it up. YOu going to fanexpo? I may hit you up on facebook..
August 17th, 2009 at 10:51 am
has anyone seen what japan has done to some western heroes? we may make bad movies but at least everyone gets to stay the same sex and not become super sentai knock offs
August 17th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Nice work Matt - as always.
There was one good thing about the Hollywood Godzilla movie…. It was so bad that the Japanese producers of the REAL Godzilla had to come out with a new Godzilla movie right quick.
If AstroBoy goes Hollywood, then maybe a new AstroBoy feature by Ozamu Tesuka might need to follow.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
i still am used to the origanal art but chance is good sometimes but again that is cool
August 17th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Wow, TF fans sure take intellectual fiction like Astro Boy seriously. Makes me wonder how they became Transformers fans in the first place…
August 17th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
LOL! So true.
August 17th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
@ Jean-Sebastien
I don’t know what Dragonball movie you went to see, but the one that came out in April was anything but a success. Nobody liked it, and that’s counting all 5 people that saw it in theatres.
August 17th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
i hope the movie garners enough interest to astroboy so they can animate the pluto manga by Naoki Urasawa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto_(manga)
check it out if your interested… one of the best astroboy stories in a while
August 17th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
After the 2007 TMNT movie, I’m willing to give Imagi a chance. I’m not worried at all.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
So it’s official… no more “lil” and no more “formers” in lil’formers…
Just kidding. Nice to see something different from time to time. But, hey, I think we all agree TFs should be the main event.
Anyway, I was not expecting Astroboy to be treated any better than other Japanese cartoon by US producers (I liked Lion King, though… :S ). It’s a real classic that would deserved more respect. I did not expect ROTF to be even fairly good, also (BTW, we haven’t seen any ROTF lil’characters yet, right? No plans on making a ROTF strip?). I have not seen G.I. Joe and I won’t see it (well, that’s a US adaptation of a US story — one more reason not so see it, sorry).
Americans may like their kids not needing to think, but, hey, they are selling this shallow stuff to the rest of the countries, too! (yes, there are more countries out there than Canada, Mexico, Russia, Australia, “Africa” and “Europe” –probably considered countries). Come on, guys, we know you can do better than that!!! The worst thing is… we are also buying that stuff. Nevermind, globalization also brings us Youtube and people uploading the original Animes there
August 17th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Prepare for the MAc.. I mean, Robotech, The Shadows Frontiers (remake of MF with american treatment XD)
August 17th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
@ Super Sam:
My brother actually went to see Dragonball: Evolution in theaters with a few friends solely to make fun of it MST3K style.
@Fago:
The Lion King was NOT a ripoff of Kimba the White Lion, dangit! Why does everything think that? It’s not true, you hear me? NOT TRUUUUUUUUUE!
Also, the original Transformers was NOT a Japanese anime. It was an American cartoon that happened to be animated by Toei and had characters based off the Japanese toyline, Diaclone. But it was not an anime. RID, Armada, Energon, and Cybertron, however, WERE anime. And they ended up getting butchered too. Well, except for Cybertron.
If you want to see how some anime gets butchered, look no further than everything done by 4Kids Entertainment. They seem to have Japanaphobia, and that’s not even a word. Notable butcheries: Erasing Japanese text, calling rice balls donuts, sandwiches, or something else (and sometimes even painting over them), not saying the word “die,” everything they did to One Piece, etc. THAT’S butchered anime at its worst.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
@Jarkes:
I’d say it’s pretty well accepted now that Lion King was a rip off of Kimba the White Lion. Besides the similar name, all the similar characters, similar story, there is even early Lion King art(official Disney art) when Simba is shown as a white lion cub.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
I do remember watching a documentary about the lion king and the creators of Kimba were actually faltered to have their work be compared to the lion king. That said, nothing Disney has ever done was original, they’ve all been re-tellings and re-imaginings.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Transformers is a huge can of worms when it comes to being American or Japanese. Especially since the American versions are often better, since in Japan it’s considered a children’s franchise (even more so than over here). Surprisingly often, a dub can be better than the original. (see: Samurai Pizza Cats)
Try to remember that something Japanese is just as likely to be bad as something American.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Should gone with “Give me your face!” hehe.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Hollywood is undergoing creativity drain in movie side. Fortunately, the TV side is brimming with creativities.
August 18th, 2009 at 2:06 am
say what you want about the american bastardisation of astro boy, but it still can’t be worse than the day-glo seizure that wasSpeed Racer, can it…?
August 18th, 2009 at 6:23 am
OH NOES!!
My childhood, America is trying to ruin it
i hope they don’t kill it too bad
August 18th, 2009 at 7:18 am
@Tekkaraiden:
Oh? Then what, praytell, was Lilo and Stitch a retelling/reimagining of? Or A Goofy Movie? *Spock brow raise*
August 18th, 2009 at 9:56 am
@Ronnie
The disney goofie movie or the david lynch remake?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7baCckh-XE
I’m hopeful for the astroboy movie. So long as he isn’t Michael bayed, I’m sure they won’t be able to damage the franchise too seriously, and hopefully It’ll bring attention to the older series, and encourage some new fans. Heck, hopefully they run the old series on tv, and a new generation of kids gets to experience it.
August 18th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Doctor Tenma moonlights as Movie Optimus Prime.
STAY AWAY FROM MY FACE, PSYCHO.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
@Tekkaraiden:
Actually, Lilo and Stitch was completely original.
@Sabre Justice:
Yeah, a dub sometimes CAN be better than the original… unless it’s done by 4Kids. Heck, their best show is something that WASN’T a dub (TMNT).
@Fudgecrumpet:
I actually liked the Speed Racer movie.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
this is reminding me about another upcoming anime-manga film…Avatar: The Last Airbender. directed my m.night shaymalan
August 18th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
@boredombot:
Avatar isn’t anime either. It’s an American cartoon with lots of Asian themes. And personally, I think The Last Airbender film looks pretty good, even if the actors are either white or Indian.
August 18th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
If you look at some of the original Astroboy comics, you’ll see that Tezuka’s style had some really cartoony elements to him. His style of anime doesn’t transfer perfectly over to CGI, while modern characters like Cloud do. I feel that Tezuka’s cartoony elements of his style have transfered over rather well.
August 18th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
vengence is mine so sayith the Americans. We butchered Godzilla out of revenge for the Japanese live action Spider-man show.
this Astro-boy and DragonBall Evolution are both pre-emptive psychic vengence for the anime Wolverine’s design.
Jokes aside, we arn’t the only ones who butcher the other’s stuff. they have a habit of butchering American properties too. As much as I liked the Witchblade anime they twisted some basics around they shouldn’t have given that the project was meant to tie into the official Top Cow time line.
hey Matt, check out the Wolverine anime trailor. Like to see you pan that. If they go with that style in the full series they will have world wide angry Wolverine fans.
August 19th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
They’re making a Wolverine anime?
August 20th, 2009 at 3:40 am
Well, Astro Boy was actually invented as a response to Disney cartoons. In fact, he was originally designed to LOOK like a Disney-ish character. And if you follow the creation of Anime, it is actually all derived from Astro Boy, which is derived from 1930s-40s Disney cartoons. So when you get right down to it, Anime as a whole is a Disney “rip-off”. I put that in quotations because I actually feel that Anime is leaps and bounds a major improvement over ANY American cartoon.
August 20th, 2009 at 11:01 am
@FreakUnique
your worng about Japanese parents disowning thier kid they are way more about family then americans. A Japanese boy chopped up his younger sister and the parents still tried to defend him in court, and if ppl who ddi somethig wrong here got disowned any of them that went to jail would die because the families have to pay for the food they are feed in jail
August 20th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Jarkes: don’t get excited, look up the trailor they made. Imagine if Wolverine and Sheshomaru from Inuyasha were merged as one, plus a J-rock samurai, yes a Bishy-boy Wolverine. It was only a teaser trailor and I am hoping the back lash against it is enough to convince them to do it better.
August 20th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
@Rhuen:
I wasn’t getting excited. It sounds pretty bad.
August 21st, 2009 at 10:16 am
Although, it is most definitely NOT going to be the style for the whole series, so it’s all good.
August 22nd, 2009 at 1:33 am
I just hope “they” give this attempt such dedication and stay close to Ozamu Tezuka Sensei’s work as possible, “they” already dishonored “us” with TF1&2, DB Evo and Godzilla (closes eyes and crosses fingers)…
August 22nd, 2009 at 3:30 am
Transformers originated in America. granted Japan has made more shows about than we have.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Wow, uh… what happened to all the strips newer than this one?
October 8th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
“I’ve got machineguns… in my butt!”
Good lord, is this film gonna suck or what?
November 20th, 2009 at 8:37 am
i grew up on astro and except for not mentioning how he gets to live with dr tenma and them dropping the bombshell of his creation at the start it was not to far off the old tv series
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:09 am
Oh it’s good imagine picture that.. cartoon truely haa.i will see this movie “AstroBoy”
December 7th, 2009 at 1:02 am
Okay first thing, Matt is right.
Manga is the japanese artform of comics. NOT the american one, we have a word for that, Comics and Graphic Novels.
Anime is not all Animation either! Sure things can be inspired by anime, but that doesn’t make it anime itself. Unless you’re french, in which things get complicated. A good story, is simply just that, a good story. It is not anime simply because it’s too good to be called a cartoon or animated series. For that matter, Cartoon simply means satirical in nature. So yes anime can be cartoons too, but not all cartoons are anime.
Tetsuwan Atom, Or astro boy as you know him, was created by the god father of anime to mimic DISNEY and BETTY BOOP, and is simply his version of a scifi Pinnochio, a fairy tale! Anime has its roots deeply seeded within the american culture, not vice versa. Anime is animation created for asian markets, by asians. In fact, Japan itself has a law against showing foreign animation on their standard tv stations. It has to be made by japan to be shown in Japan. THAT is anime (asian markets are included in this, such as china and korea like Red Hawk among others).
Avatar the last airbender for example, is NOT anime. It’s anime influenced, but solidly american produced and made. It is not anime by any means whatsoever. Manga for example is written by a manga-ka, which is NOT something americans are. We are authors or artists.
As for the retorts of fan art using anime and manga, well duh, it’s fan art. It can mimic whatever its topic is. That doesn’t make it, itself manga. It’s just fan art. Pure and simple.
The godfather of anime himself has been quoted as to saying what influenced him, Disney, and betty boop by name. These are facts that the modern era of anime worshippers do not seem to grasp. We use the foreign words for these things, as to denote their origin, and intended audience. Hence why they have been brought to english speaking usage. Not for them to usurp our own words because they are ‘cooler’. Japan’s mickey mouse/Pinnochio should be treated reverently, and not willy nilly. Just as we should stop boasting everything as what it’s not. Anime did not have any real influence in the US til the late 70s.
But back then, people had the decency to reference the exact material, and not just stereotyping, and mis-representing what things are. Anime and Manga are used in modern vernacular because they make things sound cooler, but in all honesty, all it’s doing is furthering the degradation of what these things truly are, and one of the main reasons why Japan has become quite hateful towards foreigners in their lands. This past halloween even had quite the large amount of protestors telling “whitey to go home”, “Stop ruining our heritage and culture”, and “This isn’t america.”
So seriously people, take a history lesson and learn what you speak about.
Betty Boop is not anime, quite the opposite, Boop inspired anime, as did Steam Boat willie. Anime is solely to describe the areas of origin and original intended audience. Just as Manga is the same. There is no such thing as an American Manga-ka who writes Manga for americans.
Anime itself is not short for animation either, it’s derived from the french word for animation due to Japan’s massive hardon for french literature, just as the Noir era of novels in america, helped inspire japanese story telling.
Philip Marlow, Sam Spade, the original French Novels Lupin. These are the origins to anime and manga alongside Betty Boop and Steam Boat Willie.
You want to understand good story telling, and why manga is allegedly superior to ‘american’ writing? You need to look to the past. Our own literature, and world wide literature is what’s being ignored for these things, when our own material should be hailed as the pioneers. Japanese scifi? Well look no further than original star trek, blade runner, and many of the other iconic films that have been created over the years.
Ultraman? Guess where its origins are from? It’s originally a spin off from a show called Ultra Q, which was inspired by a certain tv show called the twilight zone. It struck a chord within japan’s culture because of tensions from after the two big bombs dropped, and foreign occupancy by americans. Cyborg 009? The first superteam in japan, was inspired by an american comic strip called super spy X9. Noticing a trend here? The pioneers of japan, whether it’s the godfather of anime, or the god father of scifi (ishinomori), all drew upon a wide array of literature, and media. Do I even have to go into how far such things as Superman and Batman reverberated in japanese society? All of which predate, their foreign counterparts. Even the much hailed Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Vampire Hunter D, and Bubble Gum crisis, even godzilla all owe their thanks to American Media and literary Pioneers.
Stop being literary elitist, all it’s doing is ruining your perspective on what was once a golden age of world wide literature and animation. It makes me worry about the upcoming generations, and how little they understand.
But then again, I guess that’s to be expected when modern authors use wander for the word wonder, personal for personnel, and worse.
December 7th, 2009 at 1:08 am
Also, Matt, I loved how you worked in the Nick Cage reference to Face Off. xD
June 2nd, 2010 at 12:43 pm
…
…
…
…what? (<–Itallic)
August 20th, 2010 at 8:02 am
The studio that made the movie is technically japanese
December 16th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
I want it………..OOOOOOOOFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!