FW Presents – Video Comics!

FW PRESENTS - VIDEO COMICS!

In this very special episode, Rob is Find Your Overjoyed to present an interview with producer/writer/director/photographer Dana Kadison, the showrunner for the classic 1980s Nickelodeon TV series VIDEO COMICS!

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16 responses to “FW Presents – Video Comics!

  1. Congrats on the great interview! I’m so glad to have played a tiny part in making this episode a reality. I only have a hazy memory of the series as it must have gone off air not long after we got cable in Cleveland. I do recall seeing the Flash episode but little beyond that. Although I am sure I only got a small taste of the series I never forgot it.
    I do hope Dana finds those videos! Thanks for shining the spotlight on this once-forgotten piece of comics history. Thanks also for letting Dana know how special this show was to a generation of young comics readers. You can definitely hear her appreciation in her voice at the end. Bravo!

  2. Rob,

    This was a great interview and episode. Just like you I have a lot of childhood memories of watching this show. It has always stuck around in my memories because how cool I thought it was to see a comic come to life by video and sounds.
    As a G.I. Joe A Real American Hero comic fan it was really interesting to hear that Larry Hama had a hand in this. Thanks to Dana I now know a little more about Larry, and knowing is half the battle!
    I hope that the other videos are found. I remember the Green lantern video a lot and wish it was somewhere to watch.

    Thanks again to Dana and you for doing this episode. It was joy to listen to.

  3. This was a nice trip down memory lane. Like you Rob, I had distinct memories of this series on Nickelodeon and recall several of the episodes. It was fascinating to hear the behind the scenes details on the early days of cable and its programming. An awesome “get” as they say in the buzz.

  4. As someone else who remembers video comics (albeit, dimly) and pines to someday see the rest of the series, I am beyond thrilled for you (and with you!) that you got to conduct this interview, Rob. Cheers

  5. What a great episode, Rob! Sure you invited yourself over to her home, but it didn’t make things weird!

    Passion projects are the best!

  6. Wonderful episode Rob. I’m so glad this happened for you. Very informative on the nascent days of cable as well. This could be a Netflix series for sure! And all of this happened in Columbus, which is a city I have visited often so it seems more “local” to me, even if it’s still 3 hours away.

    Congrats again, this was fantastic.

    Chris

  7. what an incredible interview!!!! so happy you got to talk to someone so important to you!!!
    can’t imange setting that interview up, she must have been like “you want to talk about what????” lol

    great job brother!!!!

  8. This was a marvelous interview! Dana provided great insight into production and programming of what was, essentially, community access television writ large! I am grateful to learn that DC Comics and Stephen Sondheim are linked via Larry Hama!
    I have never seen Video Comics, and had never even heard of it until I started listening to Fire & Water Network podcasts.
    I expect that the reason that the “Big 3” were unavailable had to do with licensing rights. Warners, the Salkynds, whatever corporate entities that controlled the Batman and Wonder Woman syndication shows, very likely had language in their contracts that explicitly gave them the rights to the video depictions of those characters. I remember an Answer Man column where Bob Rozakis responded to a question asking why Robin’s costume hadn’t changed by saying that that image was too important to licensing deals. This was the kind of corporate-clutter that a venture like Video Comics needed to avoid. I guess that once you’ve gone through Swamp Thing, Hawkman, and Sugar & Spike, you’re left with Nutsy Squirrel! (Oh! Here’s a “what if?” for Chuck Colletta! What if Video Comics had found some pages of The Fox and the Crow, and used them for Video Comics. What corporate entity at that time had the rights to the Columbia material? What if they made a stink about it? Who would benefit from the publicity?)

  9. That was an incredible interview and a great behind the scenes look at the early days of cable television. I missed out on Video Comics, because my parents didn’t get cable TV until after I left for college, but I found the discussion fascinating nonetheless. Doubly so, because I grew up in the Cincinnati area, and we would frequently travel up to Columbus to visit with family there. I had no idea that all of this was going on there, back then.

    I’m also pleased to learn that I grew up so near the demographic heart of the Midwest.

  10. This was such a great episode. This and the recent one with Neil Daly have to rank among the top episodes the network has ever put out. (Of course, they’re always great, but those two were riveting.) I had never heard of Video Comics until Rob mentioned it one one of his shows. I started reading comics in late 83 so it was gone by then, which is a shame because I would have loved it. But as fascinating as hearing about the show was, it was even more interesting hearing about the early evolution of cable. Well done! Now fingers crossed she finds those recordings, which presumably Rob would be kind enough to upload. Please?

  11. Wow, what a cool interview! Having lived in Pittsburgh for 5 or 6 years, it was cool to see our neighbors across the border had such a strong connection to this show.

    So…. are you formulating plans to talk to Larry Hama and Jeanette Kahn now?

  12. I had never heard of Video Comics until Rob mentioned them on another of his shows. We lived on the outskirts of town so cable came to our home about a year after the show finished its run.
    Be that as it may, I was captivated by this interview. Hearing an insider’s perspective of the beginnings of cable and of putting on a show in those days was fascinating. In the mid-eighties, I was on the high school AV squad (I was trying to cover the entire geek spectrum). How Ms. Kadison worked to produce this show reminds me of some of the things we did to put videos together. I also appreciate her memories of the voice talent. Having done a little radio and voiceover work (very little), it is nice to hear it was valued.
    Larry Hama was involved!?! How cool is that? I’ve always liked Larry Hama as a comic book writer. Not to mention his M*A*S*H connection.
    All in all, a very good interview. Great job, Rob.

  13. Still working through a New Year’s backlog, but this was such a joy to listen to, and I appreciated the insight into the early days of cable. So glad you were able to track Ms. Kadison down for this conversation.

  14. Thanks for the interview! As someone who is collecting shows from the earliest days of Nickelodeon, do you know if any more footage has been found yet? Thanks

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