Casper and the Spectrals

By
on

Trick or treat? Direct from the Comic Con… due out just in time for Halloween, a new “Harvey” comic book from writer Todd Dezago and artist Pedro Delgado: Casper and the Spectrals. Alfred Harvey is probably rolling over in his grave, but personally I’m willing to give this take a chance. It sure beats the recent movie adaptation versions. Ardden Entertainment, who are currently publishing a nice update of Flash Gordon, is the company behind this. (Click on cover at left to see a larger image).

Also in Cartoon Brew...

  • Harvey Kurtzman
    Retrospective
    Coming To New York

    kurtzman-thumbnail

  • Popeye Comics Get
    Cool

    Layout 1

  • Harveytoons Fall
    Fashions

    harvey_hiphop
  • http://thft.home.att.net Mark Arnold

    Hey Jerry,

    I will give this a chance as well. Although, I was indeed shocked and stunned when I saw this… because I was looking forward to the other Casper project that Leslie Cabarga is working on, reprinting the first two Casper comics in a 60th Anniversary Edition…(I saw that posted elsewhere).

  • http://www.elliotelliotelliot.com Elliot Cowan

    Pedro Delgado?
    Pedro is one of my favorite drinking buddies and, as I’ve repeated over and over, is one of the most talented illustrators in NYC.
    I had no idea he was working on this.
    (maybe it’s another Pedro, though…).

  • http://onkelchrispy.livejournal.com/ onkel chrispy

    Judging from Mr. Delgado’s deviantart art site he is a very talented artist…so why are his ‘updates’ of these character so ugly and unappealing? Are Casper and his pals so hard to get right? Delgado’s Casper looks like what a middle school age boy would come up with after reading his “How To Draw Anime” book. It’s just so ugly. What is up with his eyebrows? Why do we need an ‘edgy’ Casper and pals? He is a dead kid, that hangs out with a demon and a witch…that’s edgy enough.

    It boggles my mind how most updated material, and the forces behind it have such little respect for the source material. This applies to live action re-makes, to music, to television, to comic books. Why is it so hard to get this shit right?

  • http://jodimationindustries.blogspot.com Jodie Hudson

    GOOOO!!!! Pedro Delgado!!!!!

  • Niki

    Holy Hell, looks like the crap only my friends could be bad enough to make.

  • http://gagaman.blogspot.com/ The Gagaman

    If the live action film from 1995 is recent then I’m a lot older than I feel!

  • http://www.TVsKyle.net TV’s Kyle

    Hm… I mean, it’s a weird idea, but I can’t say I wouldn’t give it a try. Wendy really looks like a Bleedman rip, though (or at least a heavy influence).

  • shouldbeworking

    What the Hell is wrong with the corporate stewards of these classic characters? They get “reimagined” so much they’re irrecognizable in personality and design. Enough “reimagining” already! At this point they could have come up with a witch, ghost and little devil and it be original, it’s changed so much.

  • Gary Pearson

    The designs don’t have any of the innocent charm of the originals and I see the influence of anime making me ask the question…does everything have to look like that?

  • http://www.milowerx.com Mike Milo

    It’s so anime looking. I’m rolling in my own grave and I’m not dead!

  • Paul N

    It goes without saying that Wendy needed updating, but why oh why is Hot Stuff now a skate punk?

  • http://rwentworth.blogspot.com Richard Wentworth

    Hm. Could be fun. I think Casper should have spent more time in the oven tho…

  • TheGunheart

    It’s well drawn with good shading and color, but…

    Really, of the three, Casper himself fares the worst. The other two are changed enough that I can sorta see the point, but Casper looks more or less like the original with all the cute charm replaced with ugly detailing.

    And yes, I do realize that I’m saying Casper’s design should have been changed MORE. As it is, it’s sort of an Uncanny Valley effect.

  • Justin

    Phh, I’m reminded of Cartoon Network’s FusionFall. If you’re going to reimagine old characters for a new generation (which is perfectly fine if you ask me), you need to do it in a style that still stays true to the original, otherwise it might as well not be a remake at all.

    When I look at these new Wendy and Hot Stuff designs, I really can’t see the originals in there that well. They have almost no appeal…

  • meh.

    its not THAT bad. but i’m still wondering why casper has drag queen eyebrows.

  • Chris Sobieniak

    It’s gonna be a bit hard for me to get used to those more ‘extreme’ look to the characters, but I hope for the best that the comic does fine and perhaps bring in a new generation into the friendly ghost’s crib!

  • Randy Koger

    Ugh, the character “re-design” (if you can call it that – it’s more like a grade-school notebook scribble) REALLY stinks!

    Terrible, cliched punkish artwork…YAWN. This is supposed to be fresh and new?

    I’m outta here!

  • http://venadoinstantaneo.blogspot.com diego

    I don’t know why, but I liked the first Casper movie when I was a kid and even now I think it had some good ideas in it. Of course, it generally sucks. But its a lot more interesting than the film versions of Speed Racer, Garfield or Scooby Doo that are just plain stupid. Casper looked a little better.

  • http://onkelchrispy.livejournal.com/ onkel chrispy

    “It’s well drawn with good shading and color”
    No. Not really. Photoshop gradients were over used, the colors look false, aside from maybe parts of Hot Stuff. The color is too saturated and looks careless. It’s fast food art made for consumption rather than quality.

    I’m not going to say that Pedro Delgado is not talented, but his approach to these characters is very much in the “Loonatics” realm, which we all agree was/is a disaster. It looks cheaply done, with little care. It’s a shame.

  • http://gogopedro.com Gogopedro!

    Some great looking work….
    From one Pedro to another…

  • http://onkelchrispy.livejournal.com/ onkel chrispy

    GoGopedro however, is awesome.

  • Jason

    Wendy looks HORRIBLE. I like anime style, and I like Bleedman. But this looks like butt.

  • http://vincemusacchia.blogspot.com vince m

    Was this trip necessary?

  • http://www.frankpanucci.com FP

    At least they got ‘toooooooooood. I don’t know how I’d react if they didn’t have ‘toooooooooood.

    Where the hell is Spooky? his nose always looked like a polished, ripe poop nodule. Shiny! I blame Pepto Bismol.

  • http://animationapocalypse.blogspot.com/ Baron Lego

    I give five issues before it disappears completely.

  • Andy

    I’ve never been a fan of Harvey, but this is hideous. Just who or what is the target audience?

  • Wathever

    chrispy, think about the fact artists don’t always have total ‘freedom’ to draw as they want ;D there’s a script and there are investors who say ‘HEY! I wanna casper THIS way!’

  • http://onkelchrispy.livejournal.com/ onkel chrispy

    Wathever: I’ve thought about that. But it is a shallow and lazy excuse for seemingly second rate work, from a talented artist. Hopefully the pages inside the comic are less unsavory. I understand bills need to be be paid, but some reverence for source material would be nice. You can give the bosses what they want without compromising quality.

  • http://greatlp.deviantart.com Pedro Delgado

    Hey there guys!
    First off, thanks to all those who cared enough to give some crits. A friend came to me saying “didn’t know you were doing Casper!” and fuck, I didn’t know there were showing off this already!

    To all those who crit the look on the characters, I may tell you that this designs are NOT at all the final ones. And I don’t really understand why the picture is so burned, but trust me that colors are very very cool.
    To those who crit Casper: yeah, I tried to go Edgy with him but it didn’t really work, and it will look almost the same as he had look always. More rounded and no eyeholes. The pic up there is not updated.

    To all who says Wendy is a rip off from Bleedman. Well she is not, I like bleedman stuff, but we are just having same influences, wich is anime / gothy clothing style. Plus, I’m more influenced from Benjamin Roman here than from Bleedman, anyways.

    This is meant to be for a gothy teen audience, that’s the why of the goth /punk look to it. Bosses liked it. And I like it because I’m such a punk. They’re suposed to not be kids anymore, but trendy teens. Sorry for those who don’t like this look ^^

    For the last, sorry for those who didn’t like my change of style here, that is totally my fault. I am trying new styles, I am happy with it, and it would be a shame if it doesn’t work well for the audience, because I’m very comfortable with it. But y’all know how it is , you have to risk it, and see what people think of it.

    Bosses trust it will work, so fingers crossed!

    Again, thanks to those (few XD) who supported this new series, and sorry for all those (many) rolling over their own graves. I’ll just say you guys have no idea how hard is to update a franchise, like officially, not fanart anymore. But you can totally blame me if you didn’t like it, I was not forced to do this or so.

    PS: To Elliot Cowan > I don’t think I’m your friend Pedro Delgado from NYC, because I’m from Madrid, but it’ll rock to have some beers with you guys sometime if I drop by NY!

    Enjoy doods!

    • http://neville6000.deviantart.com Fantomex

      Don’t mind these naysayers, hermano-this is cool stuff! I intend to get all issues of it as much as possible (I only have issue #2) and be further thrilled by this book (if I had young ones, I’d give them the graphic novel omnibus version.) Keep up the great work.

  • http://onkelchrispy.livejournal.com/ onkel chrispy

    Great! To make matters worse Pedro Delgado is a really sweet guy!

  • http://www.Ardden-Entertainment.com Brendan Deneen

    Wow, some pretty strong thoughts based on a single image!!

    I certainly hope people will at least give the first issue a shot. I suspect you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the end result.

    Best,
    –Brendan
    Ardden Entertainment

  • Todd the Friendly Texan

    I was a big fan of these characters when I was little and absolutely LOVE this redesign. I hadn’t heard about it till I saw Comicshop News this week with the updated version which looks MUCH better than this one.

    The new Wendy is perfect with her red hoodie, stripped stockings, and strap-on broom. Her old footie pajamas just won’t work anymore.

    And this Hot Stuff is just about the cutest comic figure I’ve ever seen, baggy pants, armbands and all. No more asbestos diapers!

    Great job, Pedro! Have you put up any other work from this series online? I’m really looking forward to it…

  • Jessica Britton

    Just read the first issue yesterday, and I was quite impressed! Lots of attention to story and detail and also characters history. The redesign works much better than I’d expected, especially within the story framework. I really like the redesign of Wendy’s aunts (kind of a maiden, mother, crone aspect to the three) and Hot Stuff’s brothers look like individuals, not just larger versions of Hot Stuff. The Ghostly Trio designs go back to the originals, while still incorporating some of the live action movie traits, but go back to the original names of the characters. Great job!

  • Criag

    I’ve seen the first issue (and brought it). That will take me a while to get used with the new look, but the artwork is quite good – more anime than the old Harvey look. Mind you, I’m kind of “old-school” person with classic Harvey comics (yes I collect these). I’ll have to see how the second issue and third will look like… not sure if the series will fly off for longer term?

    Got a question to Addren Entermainent: Will there be a remake with other Harvey characters – like Richie Rich, Little Audrey and the gang? After all, Casper DID met with Richie Rich in the past!

  • http://greatdiane.daportfolio.com Diana

    Hey Pedro, this is Diana :P I love the comic, the style, the colors, but I dunno where can I buy it! I usually don´t buy comics online but I want this one, is a silly question but, where can I buy it?. Cheers.

  • http://www.leasticoulddo.com Lar deSouza

    Discovered this just before I left NYCC this weekend and grabbed all three books. Read’em in the airport then twice more to admire the artwork.

    FANTASTIC designs. Gorgeous layouts and colours. Very nice updates to the characters. Wendy isn’t as saccharine, and Casper isn’t a milquetoast either. Hot Stuff is Hot Stuff though ;) The new fashions and the backstory of Spookytown is pretty inspired. Delgado’s work on the redesigns is engaging and dynamic.

    It’s a really good balance of personalities. The story was a bit simplistic but hey – I’m not the prime age group for that (I would’ve liked the story arc stretched to four issues- it wraps up fast ;) Really excited to see this project.

    Well done to everyone at Ardden Entertainment!