News Update: July 18, 2014

JULY 18, 2014

Since we didn't do a News Update last week, we missed out on sharing the video of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy on PBS's A Capitol Fourth, which aired live on 4th of July. The performance, which saw Kermit and Piggy singing "This Land is Your Land" and Kermit performing "Rainbow Connection," was positively delightful. Steve Whitmire's enthusiasm with Kermit during both songs is infectious and wonderful. Also Tom Bergeron, Fozzie, and Animal are there, and great as ever. (Special thanks to our friend Chris Stulz for making and sharing the video.)

Archaia Comics are heading back down to Fraggle Rock with a new series of Fraggle stories. The series will be written by Kate Leth and illustrated by Jake Myler. The book is titled Fraggle Rock: Journey to the Everspring and according to Nerdist it will feature the beloved Fraggles we know as well as some new characters. Journey to the Everspring is divided into four parts, with the first issue released on October 8th. Here's hoping Archaia can capture the excellence of their first Fraggle Rock series once again!

The San Diego Comic Con is coming up next weekend, and Sesame Street is heading out for a panel! The panel is on Sunday, July 27 at 10:15am in Room 6A. The impeccable, huge Muppet fan Chris Hardwick (Nerdist) will be moderating the panel, which includes Muppet performers Eric Jacobson, Joey Mazzarino (also head writer and director), and David Rudman, as well as executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente. During the panel, they'll debut a new Season 45 episode called "Numeric Con," a parody of Comic Con itself. They'll also be premiering a new segment of the fantastic "Cookie's Crumpy Pictures" series called "Star S'mores." Color me happy (and fuzzy, and blue).

The Jim Henson Company is also going to Comic Con with a panel of their own, titled "The Jim Henson Company: Upcoming Comics with Archaia," so there will clearly be a lot of discussion of Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow comic books. The panel will be held July 25th at 6:00pm in Room 32AB. Panelists for the Henson Company include Jeff Stokely (illustrator for The Storyteller: Witches), Jake Myler (illustrator for Fraggle Rock), Ian Herring (colorist for Tale of Sand), and Shane-Michael Vidaurri (writer and illustrator for The Storyteller: Witches). Special thanks to ToughPigs for this info!

Once again, the rumor that the Muppets are heading to Broadway with a brand new original musical has resurfaced. This time, The New York Post is reporting on it. Nothing new comes to light in this article, and really it adds nothing more to the table that we haven't known for awhile now, but it's nice to see it still being talked about.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

News Update: July 5, 2012

NEWS UPDATE: July 5, 2012
Back in March, 2009, the Jim Henson Company announced that they would be producing a brand new children's television series starring the Doozers of Fraggle Rock. And, like many Henson projects unfortunately, the series never came to fruition, with only a 30 second computer-generated clip being produced. Now, however, the Chronicle Herald is reporting that the series is finally going into actual production. This could be great news, or it could end up falling through again, but I like to hold out hope that one day we might actually get to see this thing. Putting the Doozers in their own show relieves a lot of the unavoidable high expectations Fraggle Rock fans have of a Fraggle-themed project. Fingers crossed!

The Muppet Show Comic Book by Roget Langridge is back! The final four Langridge-written issues, The Four Seasons are being released sporadically throughout the year. The first issue, "Spring," just happened to be released yesterday and is available in stores now! For awhile the first issue being released was presumed to be "Summer" (since, you know, it is summer), but our friends at Muppet Stuff have found the issue in stores and it is indeed "Spring." (See picture at right.) Whatever the case, get out there and buy it for yourself!

Archaia Comics, the company that distributes Jim Henson Company projects in comic book form, has scored six major nominations in the 2012 Harvey Awards, which honor excellence in comic books. Five of these nominations are Henson-related, with honors for Fraggle Rock, Jim Henson's The Storyteller, and Jim Henson's The Tale of Sand. Fraggle Rock is nominated for Best Original Graphic Publication for Young Readers, The Storyteller for Best Anthology, and The Tale of Sand for Best Graphic Album Original and Best Single Issue or Story. Congratulations to Archaia and all the talented people who contributed to these wonderful books! The Harvey awards will be presented on September 28th.

Finally, click on over to the Hostess with the Mostess blog for a look at the most incredible birthday party I have ever seen. This Muppet themed bash looks like an amazing good time, with so many gorgeous decorations and everything you might want sans actual Muppets showing up (but looking at these pictures, I wouldn't be surprised if they had). Enjoy!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Muppet Comic Mondays: Fraggle Rock Classics Vol. 1

James Gannon - Last year, Archaia announced the first of two volumes reprinting Marvel's 1986 Fraggle Rock comic book. After a couple delays, it's finally available in the form of Fraggle Rock Classics, Volume 1. The first four issues are collected in this soft cover graphic novel, digitally remastered, and recolored, plus with a wonderful new cover by Jake Myler. In this volume are the two original stories ("The Magic Time Machine" and "#1") as well as the first of six comic adaptions of actual television stories ( "The Monster that Could be Anything" and "The Doozer Who Wanted to Be a Fraggle"–adaptions of "Believe it or Not" and "All Work and No Play' respectively). This will be an overall review, with specific looks into the first two issues to come later.

Like I've said with my Muppet Babies back issue reviews, time wasn't too kind to the original 1980's printing technology. This sullies the artwork with blotchy colors, bleed through of red ink, and dusty black outlines.  Not to mention the size of the colored ink dots and limitations of how many colors you can recreate with them. With a digital cleaning and recoloring, Marie Severin's art shines through. And what art it is. Other than a few awkward angles and small eye issues, the Fraggles, Doozers, Gorgs and Sprocket all look well drawn, allowing for puppet-like expressions from time to time. Much better than the animated series designs, anyway. Not to mention the skillfully rendered Rock itself. Beautiful backgrounds are present in each panel. And the new coloring gives it all the clarity that it didn’t even have back when it was first published. There's even a field of depth with gradations that were impossible with 1980's technology.

There are a couple little ticks, though. The color seems to have been lifted from the original comic source, leading to miscolorings (Pa Gorg's white mustache, a purple Skenfrith for example). Some of the colors are a little muted and there are a few nagging fuzzy shading and coloring dots still present, despite the thorough job cleaning the source material up. The only alterations to the comics were erasing Marvel logos on the covers (Spider-man's face on the UPC signs were replaced by The Jim Henson Company logo), and the price panel was replaced with chapter numbers. While the original comics will crumble from their thin, waxy yellow paper, these issues have been printed on a sturdy, clean white paper stock. Though the faux dust jacket cover does make it a little clumsy to read the beginning and end of the book (but then again, I'm VERY careful with the spine on these things). The book also includes profiles, though the same ones written and made for the Archaia comics. Strangely enough they include Marjorie the Trash Heap who doesn't appear in any of the comics present.

As for the comics themselves, Stan Kay did a good job with the original stories. He has the basic understanding of the Fraggle characters down. Marie Severin does a great job with the all around Fraggle look, though it seems that so far Stan and Marie aren't aware of Fraggles outside of the main five and Uncle Matt. There are some generic background Fraggles (that seem smaller than the rest of the Fraggles), but no recognizable faces like Large Marvin, Storyteller, or World's Oldest. Also, they've taken an approach that would later be adopted by the animated version, and portray Doc in Nanny-style (from the shoulders down).  I wonder if that was a licensing issue or just trying to give it a more uniform look with Muppet Babies in mind. I know that Doc's face was shown in one of Archaia's own series. As for the adapted stories, I have yet to see the episodes adapted here, so I can't give a partial comic by episode comparison of what's been changed and what's been added (though it's safe to say the musical numbers aren't present). And it is a shame that Archaia didn't add any credit to the writers of those episodes as Marvel surely forgot.

Overall, while I really did enjoy reading these old comics, can't wait for the second volume, and highly recommend tracking these graphic novel reprints down, it does make me all the more appreciate Archaia's own Fraggle Rock line. While 1980's pen and ink and modern era digital paint techniques are an unfair comparison, the writing of these newer comics shows a sign of daring and fan level understanding of characters and themes. And while having the same artist and writer for a series gives a level of consistency, Archaia's motley crew of different artists and writers give a sense of exciting difference to each issue. But that doesn't mean these old Marvel treasures aren't a fun read either. And at $9.99 for a sturdy reprint as well as the luxury of not having to go mad looking for the issues at different comic stores it's just as easy for those who never seen these comics in the first place to first experience them.







The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

Archaia to Republish Classic Fraggle Rock Comics

James Gannon - Word broke out last week that Archaia Comics, the studio behind various adaptions of Jim Henson properties, is going to reprint the old 1980’s Marvel comics Fraggle Rock series into graphic novels.

Among the stories being reprinted are “The Magic Time Machine,” “The Trouble With Being #1,” “The Monster That Could Be Anything” and “The Doozer Who Wanted to Be a Fraggle.” All those and more will be bound in a softcover book retailing for $9.95. Fraggle Rock Classics vol. 1 will be available on August 31, 2011. (via ToughPigs)

 

While I admit the 80’s Marvel Fraggle comics weren’t the greatest thing, I still find this a great boon to fankind! Here’s why:

1)      These have been long out of print, and finding them at comic stores is a roll of the dice. I was lucky enough to find one issue (reprint of #5, "The Mean Genie" episode adaptation) for a buck a few years back, but it’s safe to assume you’re probably NOT going to walk into your local comic shop and find them. And if you do, they’re probably not going to be in good condition or have the complete collection. 

2)      Speaking of bad condition, these comics will be digitally remastered, recolored, and nice and polished.  Anyone who has early 80’s comics can vouch for me, they tend to deteriorate. They had to use newsprint stock paper and very greasy ink that would bleed through the paper and make the artwork look muddy and murky. And that’s even before the paper yellowed and the ink rubbed off onto other pages. Marie Severin’s Fraggle Rock comic art is spectacular, and needs to shine. The cleanup will do it worlds of good. Face it, the digitally printed, glossy stock of today’s comics spoiled us. And for good reason.

3)      Above all, HEY! It’s Fraggle Rock! What Muppet collector wouldn’t want more Fraggle stuff to collect? And at a reasonable 10 bucks too!

This is what I’ve been calling for since the Great Muppet Comic explosion. Graphic novel reprints of long lost, hard to find material, all remastered to look all sparkling clean and beautiful. I wish that Marvel/Disney takes the hint and clean up and rerelease the Muppet Babies comics in due time. If nothing else, I could see Archaia reprinting the Dark Crystal and Labyrinth comic adaptions published by Marvel as well. I also hope this means that the Fraggles will be a staple of the Jim Henson Company/Archaia Publishing license that they’ll revisit in time with new stories and issues. Having the old comics is great, but having new comics is even better.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

Muppet Comic Mondays: Fraggle Rock Volume 2 - Issue 3

 
James Gannon - What comic can come out a month early the second issue, and a month late the third and let it not detract at all from its super-coolness? Why, Archaia’s Fraggle Rock Volume 2 - Issue 3 of course! Okay... you find a way to address that without sounding like it matters.

The issue leads off with “My Gift is My Song” by Katie Cook. She usually handles the cute little craft activities at the end, and this is her first story since Volume 1 - Issue 1, and her first lead over all. Much like Langridge made the Muppet designs completely his own, so does Katie, giving them a fresh, bubbly, cute but not sickeningly so look that completely fits the characters. I especially like how she handled the Trash Heap, bringing out the character’s inner sweetness. She does look quite a bit different, but there’s something so unique about the design, yet keeping with the character (though, she does tend to move around a bit more, almost slug-like). Story-wise, we get Boober, worrying as always. This time, he wants to give a gift that comes from deep within him to Mokey... and someone else decided to give her socks. The title... well, aside from being an Elton John reference, kinda acts as a spoiler, but we finally get the first comic appearance of Cantus and his wandering band of Minstrels. Everyone from Storyteller Fraggle to Convincin’ John appeared before, but this is the first (and hopefully not only) time we got to see Cantus grace the pages of this fine publication.

Another great Traveling Matt postcard gets read by Gobo in “Shopping with Silly Creatures” (Katie Strickland/Lindsay Cibos ). Matt, curious about the Silly Creatures’ shopping habits infiltrates a Laundromat, and misunderstands things only the way he can. There’s a great aside by Boober to make sure the Fraggles misunderstand the point, as it should be. These are so close to the show, I can’t help but hear the familiar background music that accompanies the show segments as I read.

Finally, my favorite of the already amazing bunch, “Red’s Chomp-a-Thon” (Paul Morrissey/Nichol Ashworth). Being jealous of a Doozer winning a Doozer construction competition, and therefore not being the center of attention, Red Fraggle comes up with another cockamamie contest for to win for herself. A Doozer stick eating contest, mutually benefiting Red and the Doozers (who have to construct things for them to eat).  Red, being Red, makes sure to pick the weakest competition (her friends, who each have a different problem with the game) so she’s bound to win. Only there’s one Fraggle who she purposely ignored as a contestant, Large Marvin. I swear, Large Marvin has been in more comics than episodes of the show at this point. Hilarity ensues when the World’s Oldest Fraggle is the judge. Above all, a madcap, Fraggley end to an amazing volume.

What more can I say that I haven’t said five other times already? The comic is great, the art is great, the stories are great... so much time and care went to making this, they did a good thing making this an anthology series, differencing it from The Muppet Show Comic Book and Muppet Classics line. The only thing I can add is that I really hope this isn’t the end completely. Archaia’s got big plans for The Dark Crystal and A Tale of Sand (resurrecting a long-lost Henson screenplay), but I hope they consider at least one more volume of Fraggle Amazingness. If nothing else, these wonderfully done, original stories and beautiful art should outnumber the slapdash, contractual obligation “Oh, it’s just merchandise” Marvel comics of the 1980’s (I don't have anything against Marvel, but the Muppet Babies series was far superior as you'll see sometime).  What an injustice that would be if they didn’t.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Comic Mondays: ToughPigs Fraggle #3 Preview and Muppets Going Marvel

Please forgive the lack of excitement in today's article due to limited internet connectivity and issues therein at the house of Ryan.

Our good friends over at ToughPigs (so called because they don't seem to mind us piggy-backing off them) have posted an exclusive preview of the upcoming third issue of the Fraggle Rock Comic Book Volume 2. Check out the awesome preview for this issue which includes contributions from Katie Cook (one of our favorites), Paul Morrissey, and Nichol Ashworth. Plus, Cantus is on the B-Cover. It doesn't get much better than that! The Fraggle Rock Comic Book Volume 2 Issue #3 will be available this Wednesday, April 13th at comic book stores near you!

Other big news in the world of comic books was revealed today as Newsarama revealed that Marvel Comics (owned by Disney) will be reprinting issues of The Muppet Show Comic Book by Roger Langridge, starting with the first four issues ("Meet the Muppets") under the new title Disney • Muppets Present: Meet the Muppets. Since BOOM! Studios lost the Muppet license (and most of its other Disney licenses), the idea of Muppets going to Marvel has been tossed around more than once as a viable option. Oddly enough, the collection will be packaged in a "Giant-Sized" comic with dimensions of 8" x 10 3/4", much different from the size of BOOM!'s comics. It is unknown at this time which, if any, of the other Muppet comics Marvel will reprint or if new comic stories will be written under the Marvel banner. Only time will tell! The new Marvel compilation will be released in July.

Be sure to check back later this week when our own James Gannon writes to us with his thoughts on the Muppets' move to Marvel.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Comic Mondays: Fraggle Rock Comic Book, Volume 2 Issue 2

Fraggle Rock Comic Book 

Volume 2, Issue 2

James Gannon - When I say I can’t wait for the next issue of Fraggle Rock, I don’t mean it that literally. Only a week after Issue 1 of Volume 2 was released, Issue 2 came out. Now, to my understanding, this was just a goof up with the distributor, and we should expect the next issue back on schedule in two months. But let’s get on with the show anyway.

This issue opens up with one of the greatest stories that appeared in the comics, “The Meaning of Life” (Joe LeFavi/ Heidi Arnold). Gobo finds his Uncle Matt’s old journal, and reads an entry about the one quest Matt could never complete. It is said that whoever completes the journey will find the meaning of life, and Gobo feels such an important exploration should fall onto him. His friends reluctantly follow suit, caring mostly about the prestige they’d likely get for making that discovery (though Boober comes along to make sure their clothes don’t get horrible stains on them). Ultimately, they discover such discovery comes with an ultimate price.

Now, I’ve been saying since the first issue that the stories all feel so real to the characters and themes, it’s like reading lost episode scripts. Even that odd little story where Red invents the Segway Scooter felt like a throwaway gag from the show. This story especially felt like a long lost episode, and it had a heartfelt, emotional deepness some of the best episodes of Fraggle Rock have. It even managed to have a similarly themed Uncle Matt postcard, and Gobo sings a few lines of “Follow Me” as well. All that was missing was the Doc and Sprocket wraparound. Heidi adds to the emotional thrill ride with great Fraggle expressions, giving them more animated facial expressions and even tears. All and all, a powerful story with the heart and soul of Fraggle Rock.

Later, Gobo tells scary stories in “The Fraggle Who Cried Monster” (Jason M. Burns/Chandra Free).   Stories so scary, Boober can’t sleep and suddenly sees monsters. Or is it just some character we’ve seen before? Finally, “The Perfect Words” (Tim Beedle/Ross Campbell) escape Mokey when she tries to compose the perfect poem to describe her relationship with the other four. She works so hard, her eyes bug out, causing her to look like one of those Fraggle plush released by Tomy (couldn’t help that reference). And Katie Cook shows you how to make fingerprint Fraggle art. Of course, the word “fingerprint” was too great of a jinx for this comic collector, so I quickly shoved the comic back in the bag and hid it in the back of my closet before it were to further depreciate in value.

Something I’ve noticed about this go around, the stories so far focus exclusively on the Fraggle Five. While in the first volume, there was occasionally a short about the Doozers or the Gorgs, this one just focuses on the core characters. The strange thing is, covers for Issue 1 (David Peterson) and Issue 2 (Heidi Arnold) both feature Junior Gorg, and he’s also in the inside front cover. He has yet to make an appearance so far (Ma gets a one panel cameo in last issue’s laundry story). These are still great stories, but I hope to see the Doozers and Gorgs in the next issue. Also of note, there are a lot of references to past episodes in this issue, so keep an eye out for them.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Comic Mondays: Fraggle Rock Comic Book, Volume 2 Issue 1

Fraggle Rock Comic Book

Volume 2, Issue 1

James Gannon - It’s been a month after the Muppet Classics line ended with Muppet Sherlock Holmes and several after the end of "Muppet Mash," but thankfully the void has been filled with glorious news. Archaia’s Fraggle Rock Comic Book has started up again, and with the same amount of Fraggley wonder and amazement as the last volume.

This issue starts with an intriguing story written by Grace Randolph (Muppet Peter Pan) and illustrated Chris Lie, “Wembley and the Great Dream-Capade!”  Wembley can’t sleep. Instead of dreaming, he sees nothingness, all the while hearing how great the other Fraggles’ dreams were. So Gobo, Red, Mokey, and Boober decide to help him out by sharing their dreams. There’s even an appearance by a wonderfully handled (in both art and writing) Trash Heap. And I’m sure she references a past episode. You’ll know what I mean when you read it. Other than a few issues with eyes on certain Fraggles (Red has strange eyelids in one panel for instance), the art fits perfectly and has a wonderful storybook feel.

Of course, we also get two more wonderful shorts as in every issue. “Boober and the Ghastly Stain” (written by Jake Forbes, illustrated by Mark Simmons) shows the almost uncharacteristically brave strides Boober will go to in order to remove a superstain from Gobo’s shirt. That’s what I call obsessive compulsive motivation! And there’s even a very Fraggley original song in there too. Not since Roger Langridge have I seen the riskiness of putting music in a visual medium pulled off so well.

Boober’s back to his cowardly ways in “Brave Sir Wembley” (written by Joe LeFavi, illustrated by Cory Godbey), where he psyches out Wembley on his way to pick up a postcard for Gobo and Storyteller. Both with such wonderful varying art, but unifying Fraggle themes. And let’s not forget Katie Cook’s activity corner. We get a standard coloring page (well drawn, though) but we also get Red Fraggle’s tips on stretching before exercise. Not only helpful, but in character as well. I’ve always felt meh about comic activity pages (especially in Muppet Sherlock Holmes) but there’s something about the use of them in the Fraggle comics that make them work.  Maybe the kid’s book shape and size of these comics?

I always felt that Fraggle Rock was a very special series (more so than even Sesame Street or The Muppet Show), and it’s good to know that four issues later, all contributors channel what made it great into every story. In every review I state that I’ve read some slapdash, generic comic adaptations of cartoons and TV characters. I’ve even read some that were spot on, but missing something intangible.  But with The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock comics we’ve seen recently, it does a Henson fan proud to see them flawlessly adapted in comic form, even taking advantage of the new medium. There is a concern that, by renumbering them starting back with one, some buyers may get confused, especially since each issue has multiple covers. A Volume 2 tag would have been helpful. I really, truly hope these do well enough to get us Volume 3. It would be an injustice if this didn’t outlast the Marvel series from the 80’s.






The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

News Update: January 11, 2011

Archaia Comics will be releasing its second volume of the Fraggle Rock Comic Book on January 19th (next Wednesday). Issue #1 has stories written by Grace Randolph (Muppet Peter Pan), Jake Forbes, and Joe LeFavi and art by Chris Lie, Mark Simmons, Cory Godbey, and Katie Cook. One of the covers is done by the amazingly talented David Petersen (see right). Our good friends at ToughPigs.com have an exclusive preview of the first issue!

The Tonner Doll Company is releasing even more high-end Muppet dolls. This time featuring Miss Piggy and Kermit as road hogs--of the biker kind. The "Hog Wild Miss Piggy" doll is available for $199.99 and the "Wild Frogs Kermit" doll is available for $69.99.

Jim Henson will be a major part of the television program Pioneers of Television on PBS. The program airs on Tuesday, February 8th at 8:00 EST (but you may want to check your local listings anyhow). The DVD of the program will also be available the same day for purchase on the PBS website.

The New York Post has a new spotlight on Kevin Clash, Elmo, and the two filmmakers working on Clash's documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey. The article is a great spotlight on Kevin and has some great information about the upcoming documentary debuting at the Sundance Film Festival.

Our good friends at ToughPigs have linked us to a great deal of awesome old Muppet appearances featuring Miss Piggy, Kermit, Clifford, and Bear (from the Big Blue House, of course). Be sure to watch the videos because, quite frankly, they're wonderful (go figure). It'll take up about an hour or so of your time, but I promise you it is SO worth it. Enjoy!

Lastly, the fine folks at Ain't It Cool News have named The Muppets their most anticipated film of 2011, which, quite frankly, is a rather big deal. The article they wrote includes a huge, touching look into their fandom of The Muppets and Jim Henson. It's awesome and reminds me of something one of us would write... so I highly recommend enjoying it and reading it!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Comic Mondays: News Update

The great folks over at Archaia Comics made the announcement official on Thursday that the Fraggle Rock Comic Book series will be continuing with a second series. The second installment will be sticking with the same format as the first three issues--one long story and two shorter stories in one book, along with activity pages such as "Draw Your Own Fraggle." Click the link above to read a great interview Comic Book Resources conducted with Archaia's Editor-in-Chief Stephen Christy about the Fraggles.

Comic Book Resources also has coverage of the Muppets and Roger Langridge spotlight panel at Comic Con. Langridge talks about his beginnings with The Muppet Show Comic Book and Disney Adventure Magazine and sheds some light onto his creative process and what is to come from The Muppet Show Comic Book in the future. (And the article writer misspells Fozzie... but that's another story.)

In other comic news, friend of the blog Amy Mebberson, "Muppet Peter Pan" and "The Muppet Show: Family Reunion" artist, has some awesome pictures on her blog, My Blue Sky, from her time at Comic-Con--including she and Roger Langridge with homemade Kermit and Gonzo puppets!











The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

News Update: July 9, 2010

NEWS UPDATE: July 9, 2010

It was announced this morning that the Sesame Workshop special, "When Families Grieve" was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. The special that starred Katie Couric and Elmo, which showed families some coping mechanisms for dealing with the loss of a loved one, was nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Children's Program. Its only competition is Nick News with Linda Ellerbee, so there is a good chance that Sesame Workshop will be bringing home yet another shiny statue to put on the mantle.

If you're planning to attend the San Diego Comic Con this year, be sure to stop by Archaia Comics' booth. According to Comic Book Resources, Archaia will be hosting five panels at this year's convention, one of which, on Sunday, July 25th, is dedicated to their work with The Jim Henson Company. The panel is scheduled to discuss the Fraggle Rock comic series, what's next for Archaia's partnership with Henson, and upcoming work with the worlds of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Guests on the panel include some of the Fraggle Rock Comic Book team (including editor Tim Beedle) and Brian Froud, who worked with Jim Henson to develop The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. So if you're in the San Diego area and plan to attend Comic Con 2010, be sure to stop by Archaia's presentation!

Renowned Disney sculptor and artist Jim Shore is taking on The Muppets! The artist has sculpted stone resin figures of Animal, Statler and Waldorf, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, and Kermit, on sale now. The figures cost $40  each ($50 for Statler and Waldorf), plus shipping, and seem to be great quality and look pretty darn good too.

A new set of Vinylmation Disney pins is now available at the Disney Parks. The set includes Vinylmation pins of Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Statler, Waldorf, Bunsen, and Beaker, and a mystery pin that can be either Bean Bunny, Sweetums, Rowlf, Rizzo, or The Swedish Chef. These pins are not only a lot cheaper than buying the Vinylmation figures, but they're also a lot easier to find.