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This September, Marvel will introduce Biker Mice from Mars, a comic book based on the upcoming Marvel Productions' syndicated television cartoon by the same name. The Biker Mice are Vinnie, Throttle, and Modo, three heavy-metal-loving motorcyclists whose exist mainly to have fun.
When Mars is devastated by ecological terrorists, however, the good times stop rolling. The Mice flee and head for Earth, but when they get here, they discover that their new home is the terrorists' next target. Determined to fight back, the Mice wage battle against a host of offbeat villains: Grease Pit, Dr. Karbunkle, Limburger, and the X-Terminator.
The Biker Mice from Mars television show, scheduled to premiere during prime time early this fall, is the brainchild of Rick Ungar, a former writer and producer of TV's Totally Hidden Video and America's Cutest Kids. Ungar says that the concept for the cartoon was inspired by the realization that both children and grown-ups love motorcycles. "And," he said, "I wanted to make the first Heavy Metal Rock n' Roll cartoon." Biker Mice cartoon writer Bob Forward, whose credits include He-Man, She-Ra, and the Captain Planet pilot, agreed, mentioning the cartoon's "hard rock and roll" soundtrack and biker lingo. "The tone of the show is entertainment, action, and a lot of fun. The title alone made me want to work on it." Forward was also impressed by Ungar's commitment to his original vision. "He's very adamant about what he wants. His whole idea is to make [Biker Mice] fun and exciting but fun without being too weird and too deep."
To ensure that the comic remains true to RIck Ungar's concept, Editor Mort Todd signed Ungar and Forward to write the first thee issues. "The book will be more cyberpunk than the TV show, but if you like the show, you'll love the comic," he said. Todd, editor-in-chief for five years of the Cracked humor magazine, described the Biker Mice books as "grim with laughs."
According to Ungar, the comic will be "edgier" than the television show. "The Biker Mice cartoon is edgy, but not as edgy as the comic book. There's a lot of wise guy humor in the comic; it's grimmer than the show. It'll be more entertaining to an older reader. You'll see the difference in the animation."
Penciler Rurik Tyler, who is known to Marvel readers for his work on Darkhold and the Midnight Sons "Siege of Darkness" crossover, said that pencilling a comic based on this animated series was a pleasure. "The advantage to working on a comic based on a cartoon is that it translates from one medium to the other really easily." Tyler, whose first love is coming up with ideas for toys (the Monster in My Pocket figurines he designed for Matchbox sell briskly here and in Europe), summed up his experience on Biker Mice, compared to some of the grimmer art he has done for other comics, this way: "Humor and horror are related because they['re both things that happen to other people, whether it's a pie in the face or a knife in the back. Biker Mice is a very gritty kid's thing. The team that designed the television show did a top job."
Rick Ungar credits the art department at Marvel Productions for the look of the cartoon. "I had an idea in my head about what the characters should look like, and [designer] Phil Felix made them look a lot better." The development of Modo and Throttle's appearances came pretty easily, but Vinnie's was more difficult. "Vinnie transformed a lot from where he was to where he is. Kids responded well to Throttle and Modo, but not to Vinnie." The design team went back to the drawing board and came back with a new Vinnie that children liked. "Vinnie will probably prove to be the most popular now," Ungar said.
As the father of two boys aged three and ten, Bob Forward can attest to the likeability of the characters. "My three year old adores Modo, the big tough one who's gentle with small children and animals, but my ten year old likes Throttle and Vinnie. Throttle is the reasonable Clint Eastwood leader-type, and Vinnie's the wild one, who thinks he's indestructible, as teenagers do."
Forward said that the cartoon is "somewhat realistic," while the comedy borders on the absurd. "We drop a building on people, but they walk away." The action scenes, he maintains, are dramatic, although they can be "comedic without being silly."
Bob Forward offered observations about his first attempt at writing comic books. "It's an enjoyable medium," he said. "You can have great lapses in narrative that you can't have when writing for television. You can have a person starting a sentence as they're running to catch a plane and finishing it as they get off in London or somewhere, and it doesn't bother anybody."
Citing Biker Mice as the most satisfying project he's ever worked on, Bob Forward said, "These guys may be saving the world, but they're having the best time doing it."
-- Terry Hernon
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