The problem with Little Lulu: insufficiently EXTREME.
In my idle moments, I've fantasized about having artistic talent, and using that talent to draw the characters from Little Lulu as teenagers. Well...it seems I was beaten to the punch. Rest assured, however, MY imaginary pictures would have looked nothing like THIS, as drawn by insane Brazilians:
Just in case you need a refresher course, here's how these same characters originally looked:
I'm not such a purist that I'd deny that you could potentially do something interesting with teenage versions of these characters (though I am a bit skeptical, given that "you" are no John Stanley) but really now: the forced effort as "hipness" here is just gruesome, and seriously: would you even be able to tell these were meant to be the same characters if not for the photograph that "Lulu" is holding up? Fat chance. I mean kee-rickey, for both Lulu and Annie, hair is the defining physical characteristic. Out of all the things that you might screw up in a project like this--and they are legion--I would not have imagined that that would be one of them. And the less said about the body politics that required Tubby to be slimmed down (the ultimate self-abnegation) to be socially acceptable, the better.
Here's a somewhat more credible version I found:
Just in case you need a refresher course, here's how these same characters originally looked:
I'm not such a purist that I'd deny that you could potentially do something interesting with teenage versions of these characters (though I am a bit skeptical, given that "you" are no John Stanley) but really now: the forced effort as "hipness" here is just gruesome, and seriously: would you even be able to tell these were meant to be the same characters if not for the photograph that "Lulu" is holding up? Fat chance. I mean kee-rickey, for both Lulu and Annie, hair is the defining physical characteristic. Out of all the things that you might screw up in a project like this--and they are legion--I would not have imagined that that would be one of them. And the less said about the body politics that required Tubby to be slimmed down (the ultimate self-abnegation) to be socially acceptable, the better.
Here's a somewhat more credible version I found:
posted by GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. at 10:29 PM
Here, here about the "grown up" Little Lulu and friends. Why always go and take things in directions that they were never meant to be taken in.
And yes, fans ... there really is a little Lulu. I grew up with her and her older brother. The model for Marge? Perhasp not. But she was and still is Lulu.
Oh, and P.S.
Charles Schutlz lived here and so does (still) the orignal Lucy, and she was modleed after her! Yes ... the Van Pelts. They sold their house in which, downstairs, Charles painted a mural and the painting still exists!
Just thought that you would like to know fellow fans!