The Great American Comic Book Musical

Wondering why I was so nostalgic and passionate about teaching the young people yesterday? Simple explanation. I debuted a panel called The Great American Comic Book Musical at ConnectiCon last Sunday and many young people came to see it. The panel was at 9AM and the crowd was far larger than I could have imagined. So why so much focus yesterday on arts for everyone and helping everyone find their way through the arts? A young boy who sat in one of the first few rows led us in a little mini singalong when I got to Fun Home. I played one of Sydney Lucas' many appearances at awards shows singing "Ring of Keys" and he caught everyone's attention by singing along with such passion. That's the joy of educational theater in an isolated moment from a four day fan convention.

I'm going to give you a rundown of the topics discussed in post format. All but one of the clips I used was from YouTube and, should they be pulled in the future, you'll probably be able to find them elsewhere.

There are three basic categories of Comic Musicals:

1. Adapted from Comic Strips
2. Adapted from Comic Books
3. Inspired by the language and format of Comics

In chronological order by category:

Comic Strip Musicals:

• L'il Abner (1956): The first sci-fi musical. L'il Abner and his friends have to save Dogpatch, USA from being turned into a nuclear test site after Congress votes it "the most unnecessary town in the U.S." The local mad scientist curries favor with with the military by developing both a super soldier serum and the world's most dangerous weapon to save the town.

• You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967): A day in the life of Charlie Brown, revisiting such classic recurring images as baseball games, classroom struggles, and Snoopy being the coolest dog in the history of pop culture. A perennial favorite for high school theater groups.

• Annie (1976): The most successful comic strip musical of all time. Annie, an orphan, winds up opening up the heart of millionaire Daddy Warbucks after he tries to gain good PR by letting an orphan spend Christmas with him in his mansion.

• Doonesbury (1983): Woof. Gary Trudeau took off two years from working on his long-running, highly successful comic strip to create this Broadway flop. I guess the plot makes sense to Doonesbury fans. The Walden Commune is going to be destroyed right before college graduation if Mike, Boopsie, and all their friends can't stop Duke's evil plans.

• Annie Warbucks (1993): They should have stuck with Annie 2: Ms. Hannigan's Revenge. Annie Warbucks takes place immediately after Annie ends, with the head of the Child Welfare Commission giving Daddy Warbucks 60 days to find a bride. If not, Annie goes back to the orphanage.

• The Addams Family (2010): Technically, it's adapted from ideas in Charles Addams comic strip. Wednesday falls in love with the quintessential all-American boy and has to organize a normal night at the Addams' mansion for the boyfriend's parents.

Comic Book Musicals:

• It's A Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (1966): Most unintentionally campy musical ever created? You be the judge in this so bad it's hilarious story of Superman fighting a 10-time Nobel Prize losing scientist who decides to go for revenge on the scientific community by fighting Superman.

• Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark (2011): I dug deep here. This was 12 minutes of an hour long panel as I described the various changes and legal battles in the three distinct versions of the show.

• Holy Musical, B@Man (2012): A clever Chicago theater company took what they knew of Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark and produced a parody of it's too serious to succeed attitude and legal woes with the dark mythology of Batman. You can watch the whole thing online.

• Fun Home (2014): Your reigning Best Musical winner. It's amazing. A cartoonist struggles to write her memoirs about realizing she's a lesbian through the discovery of her father's secret life as a gay man.

Comic Book-style Shows:

• Starmites (1987): One day, I'll convince a school to do this doo-wop sci-fi musical about a teenage nerd girl jumping into the world of her favorite comic to discover her truth self in an epic battle against the Diva. Cue opening strains of "Maybe" from Annie.

• Chix 6 (2011): Dear Santa, I have been a very good boy this year. Please let someone throw more money at Lourds Lane to get a Broadway production in motion of this amazing originals superhero musical. No empty talk. Let's make it happen. A young graphic artist with a hit superhero comic and an abusive boyfriend brings her six superhero creations to life to learn to be the best version of herself she can be.

• The Fortress of Solitude (2014): Even the New York Times said someone should back a Broadway transfer of this superhero musical. Two teenage friends in the 1970s try to create their own high-flying superhero personas against a  backdrop of social unrest and racial tension in NYC.

• Brooklynite (2015): Another great original superhero musical. This time, a luthier who wants to be a superhero teams up with the most successful (but totally burned out) superhero in Brooklyn to make both of their dreams come true.