As if creating two, count 'em, TWO, sooper huge animated series isn't enough, now he wants to... he wants to...
Omigosh, how do I say this...
He wants to start HIS OWN NETWORK!
You heard me. His own online network.
Crazy, right?
But is he REALLY?
After making Rocco's Modern Life for Nickelodeon and Camp Lazlo for Cartoon Network, Joe wanted to do a show without the constraints of a network telling him how to do it. A network that lets the creators and the audience decide what's funny instead of corporations that have too many strings attached.
For years, or decades... no CENTURIES, the forces of evil have conspired to keep me and Jarrett J. Krosoczka from meeting. And they were overwhelmingly successful...
UNTIL LAST WEEKEND!
But perhaps the forces of eviltry have kept YOU from meeting Mr. Krosoczka, as well. Then allow me to introduce you to him.
First of all, his name is pronounced
KRA-ZOPA-WAKKA-NOM-NOM-NOM-PALA-ZOOK-A-ZAH-SKA.
Or something like that. But he seems to respond with less of a scowl if you pronounce it
KROW-ZAUS-KA.
Second of all, he's an awesome picture book author/illustrator.
And if you liked that one, than you most definitely liked this series:
Both rock and BOTH are being developed for sooper movie-dom, yo!
Anyway, the aforementioned powers-that-do-evil somehow decided that me and Mr. Krosoczka should never-ever-ever (forever ever?) meet. But then I ran into the oft mentioned sooper robot pal Bob Boyle while perusing the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. And he decided I SHOULD meet Jarrett J Krosoczka.
AND MEET WE DID!
Here's proof:
Both he and his wife Gina were sooper very nice and we laughed and joked about lots of stuff. Like weird talking goat books. And certain award shows. (You had to be there to appreciate it.) (And even then you had to be in the right mood.)
Anyway... the book festival was pretty huge. It was on the UCLA campus, which is gorgeous and a great setting for such a big event. It was a little more commercial than other festivals, but interesting nonetheless. I wish I had more time to wander the stalls, but I had my two little ninjas with me which means I spent more time locating them than locating interesting books and authors.
Hopefully I'll be there next year with my next book!
BONUS BLOGGY STUFF
If you didn't believe my last post... go over to Lisa Yee's blog where there's more proof of our escapades at Versailles.
There's also proof that Dan Santat rides a horse around LA:
Sorry about the extended bloggy absence... but I got pretty swamped with trying to finish up some book and animation stuff so blogging got put in the back seat for a bit.
But I'm back...
And boy am I behind on stuff to talk about.
First of all, this weekend is the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books!!! I've never been, so I'm pretty excited to check it out. Unfortunately, I don't have any readings or signings scheduled, but that only means that I'll have more time to wander about and check-in with all my sooper pals that are gonna be around.
She's doing a reading at a Barnes and Noble over in Hollywood Friday night. I'll be the one in the audience with the brainsucker machine pointed at Kate. Once I have her brain, perhaps I'll be able to craft such artful and breathtaking sentences as her. But probably not. Information on her appearance is over HERE.
So a bunch of us got together to have dinner with him and his compatriot in show-pitchery and fellow illustrator/author Andy Rash... who I had never met before. Or maybe I did. Maybe. We couldn't remember. Regardless... I'd like to meet him again. He's funny.
And yeah... the amazing Dan Santat was there. Don't forget his tour de forcefield new book OH NO! is coming out this June and it's the best book ever.
EVER!
And illustrator/animator/singer/dancer/ninja Joe Rocco came along for the ride, too. He was late. But still funny.
We started off the evening by all taking pictures with her Peep. (You might want to check out her blog if you want to know what I'm talking about... I don't think she liked it when I stuffed her stuffed Peep in my stinky sandal for the photo op.)
Then we ate really good Cuban food at a place called Versailles. Most of us had the Famoso Pollo Versailles. But Dan had the pork because he just had to be different. Then we all took pictures of each other taking pictures of each other.
Yup. That's as fun as we get. Wish you could have been there, right?
No?
Well, maybe if Hulk Hogan joins us next time it'll be more interesting.
What's that? Some of you aren't familiar with Shonen Jump? Then it's a good thing I'm here to tell you about it.
Shonen Jump is Japanese, long-running, big, thick WEEKLY, black and white magazine that's chock full of the hottest manga series. There are lots like it, but Shonen Jump is really THE creme de la awesome. I first picked up a copy in Japan years and years ago but my Japanese wasn't quite rockin' enough to read it properly. But then a bunch of years back they started releasing it here in the States in a monthly format so I grabbed it!
I first loved it for NARUTO... because, c'mon-- Ninjas RULE. In fact, I spent a loooooong time pestering the folks at Cartoon Network to put Naruto on the channel. A LONG time. Then, of course, when they DID get it they said-- "Hey Mr. Warburton-- have you ever heard of this new anime series we got called Naruto? You might like it."
Ugh...
Anyway... Naruto was definitely my favorite for a long time. Shaman King was another sooper giant favorite and I was kinda bummed when they stopped running it (please disregard the American version of cartoon-- they totally changed it from what the manga is!). Sand Land, by the creator of Dragonball Z, which also ran, was cool. The Yu-Gi-Oh stuff was kinda silly... and I'll never get why anyone likes Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. I tried. I really did. They jumped right into the middle of Bleach, so it took a little while to understand what was going on-- but now I really like it.
But my ultra sooper favorite grew to be ONE PIECE by Eiichiro Oda. It's about a kid named Monkey D. Luffy who wants to be King of the Pirates. That's simplifying it a bit, but it's really an amazing series with fantastically original art (the posing! the angles! the world!), sooper creative characters (a swordsman who fights with a sword in each hand and one in his mouth, a clown pirate who can dismember himself, giant banana gators) a weird sense of humor (Luffy and some of his crew tend to be brilliantly stupid), and a ton of real heart (a couple stories have brought a tear to my eye).
Now the only real drag about Shonen Jump is that since it only comes out monthly and some of the series have been running for eleventy thousand years in Japan, they're waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind the Japanese issues. By, literally, HUNDREDS of stories. And that's why I never watch the anime of Naruto or One Piece... I don't want to ruin the manga (which are often very different from each other).
BUT THEY'VE BEEN FIXING THAT!
First, they stopped running Naruto for a bunch of months and helped us catch up to the Japaense series by releasing more volumes of the compiled manga! Normally, one issue of Naruto has 3 or 4 twenty page chapters in an issue. But one of these babies has over 200 pages... and they gave us THREE A MONTH.
Can life get any better?
YES, IT CAN!
They've been doing the same thing with One Piece recently so for the last couple months they've been releasing FIVE (5) ... OMG... FIVE beautiful beautiful volumes EVERY MONTH.
I've never wanted it to be the beginning of a new month more.
One of the things I really love that Mr. Oda does better than anyone is group shots. He takes the characters and puts them into these great situations that tell a fun story without words being neccessary. If you get a chance, find his Color Walk books.
A lot of his group shots are in there and I constantly refer to them for inspiration.
Now if I could just meet Mr. Oda and have him draw me a sketch I could die happier than I already am.
I've written up some fun little anecdotes about every season of KND, Operation ZERO, the finale, and last but not beast--
THE GRIM ADVENTURES OF THE KND!
Most of you already know, oh how you know, that I'm sooper best mega blood brother pals with Billy and Mandy creator Maxwell Atoms. Yeah... this guy:
That's me on the left
And we had been talking about doing a KND Billy and Mandy crossover for ages... but an episode like that would take an extra sooper bonus extra amount of work. Especially when our teams were on opposite coasts! So we waited... and waited... and waited.
And before I knew it, KND was winding down and my life became a little easier. And then... like a puffy, middle-aged cobra-- I STRUCK!
Mr. Atoms was still pretty busy finishing up his BIG BOOGIE ADVENTURE movie, but we found some time to brainstorm together and came up with a story about Mandy commanding an army of pants-eating ants that ended with a big 'WE ARE THE WORLD'-type song sung at the United Nations that kinda went like this:
I believe that pants are the future, I believe that pants can make us whole, I believe that pants make the world go rooooooound.
So why don’t we try them on together? Just one leg at a time. I know that pants will make us better If they don’t then it’s a crime
We’re wearing pants, We’re wearing trousers! We’re wearing slacks, and that’s a fact, so let’s say wowzers! We’re wearing pants, We’re wearing trousers, We’re wearing slacks, won’t give them back-
Well, you get the idea.
But Cartoon Network DIDN'T get it and told us to go back to the drawing board. And that's just what I did. Here's some of what came out:
Yes, pants were still very involved in the story... but what sold it for me was the Delightful Children From Down the Lane assimilating everyone into one big reaper.
Now THAT was a cool idea.
Now as I said, Mr. Atoms was still pretty busy finishing up his movie, so most of the writing fell to me and then I sent it off to him to make it funny. Especially the Billy and Mandy parts. For instance, I had to remove all the bits where the script said stuff like, "... Mandy grinned evilly..." since Mandy, in fact, never smiles. (Well, except for that one episode.)
So what else can I tells ya about the episode?
• Not only did we crossover two very different Cartoon Network shows, we dragged Ed, Edd and Eddy into the fray as well! And yeah-- that was Danny Antonucci and company doing all the work for that bit because if we tried to do it-- it woulda been peeyew stinky! Those guys rock HARD!
• And how could we NOT squeeze Fred Fredburger into the episode? But did you know that the voice of Fred was supplied by Billy and Mandy storyboard artist Carl H. Greenblatt? And dya know why that name sounds so familiar? Perhaps because he went on to create Cartoon Network's hit series CHOWDER!
• But before there was Fred Fredburger, Mandy was torturing Numbuh One by making him watch something else on the TV. Unfortunately, CN had this to say:
p6 – We’d rather not make the joke that Numbuh One is being made to watch Sheep in the Big City as torture. We want to avoid offending Mo and since it no longer airs, most kids won’t even get the reference.
I told them I had asked Mo beforehand and that he loved the joke... but they still wouldn't go for it. We then tried Evil Con Carne. Again, no go. So Fred got the part.
• For you continuity fans, you probably noticed that the Global KND were in their brand new Moonbase Zero, which clearly puts this story AFTER the events of Operation: ZERO!
• Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure the Mandified Treehouse below only had a teeny tiny role in the epsiode-- or was cut out all together. Perhaps you operatives from Tennessee recognize it?
• Look sooooooooper closely when all the kids are popping out of the Reaper after it's defeated. You'll see alot of other CN characters if you don't blink, like Bloo, The Powerpuff Girls, Andy from Squirrel Boy and more more more!
• And we sure had a blast coming up with those other crossover ideas during the end credits. I think Samurai Mac and Evil Camp Carne were definitely my favorites! We came up with a lot more but only had time for those five!
And that's about all my tiny brain can remember as of right now!
Thanks so much for taking these little strolls down anecdote lane with me! It's been sooper fun! And who knows, years from now I might remember even more stuff.
What's the short blonde kid in front of the Delightful Children From Down the Lane's name?
Well, it's not Rick.
And it's not Caleb.
Shirley?
No.
But maybe this page from DC Comics Cartoon Network Action Pack #34 can start you off with the right letter. You'll need to look at the issues after this one to figure out the rest. Although I don't think we ever got to hide the last letter. I can't remember if we finished the scavenger hunt.
For those of you who don't care what his name is... please enjoy the sooper powered inking on this page by Rob 'The Iguana' Smith, penciled by Mr. Maurice Fontenot, of course.
Operation: INTERVIEWS was supposed to be the sooper triple grand finale LAST episode we wrote. But before that I was writing the KND/BILLY AND MANDY crossover. Maxwell Atoms and I came up with a really fun story about giant pants-eating ants--
Which was roundly rejected outright by Cartoon Network.
Ouch... (More on that when I post tidbits about the crossover)
But the production machine needed to roll on, so we put the crossover aside and jumped into Operation: INTERVIEWS!
So how could we come up with a story GIHOOGIC enough to wrap up 6 seasons?!
How about a car carrier for cruise ships?!
How about a world-wide scavenger hunt?!
How about almost every character that's ever been on the show making an appearance?!
How about the final big giant huge reveal of the Galactic KND?!
And a big, fat, sloppy, weepy good-bye?!
And...
Aw maaaaaaan, I LOVED when we came up with this...
How about LIVE ACTION interviews with the KND after they became adults?!
NERDGASM!
So what can I tell you about this mucho grande finale?
• Originally I wanted the scavenger hunt to involve an artifact from every KND episode we did. We wouldn't specifically name them all, but I thought it'd be cool to have them littered throughout the episode. A golfball from MINIGOLF, a turnip, Mr. Huggykins, the pizza from REPORT, etc etc. But it proved to be too massive of an undertaking... and some episodes didn't have blatantly obvious objects that represented themselves.
• Casting for the live action sequences was a bit challenging. We had VERY specific requirements for the characters since they had to really look like adult versions of the KND. We looked through probably 500 headshots and auditioned around 25 people for each character. It's sooooooo much easier when you can just DRAW the character the way you want... but here are some little anecdotes about each character's casting.
• We thought casting Numbuh Three was gonna be easy... but then made the mistake of asking casting agencies for a Japanese actress. And we got LOTS of Japanese actresses that would have made an awesome Numbuh Three! The problem was that they all had reeeeeeeeeally thick accents! In some cases we could barely understand a word they said when they read their lines (saying "The Rainbow Monkey Let's Go To The Lavatory Fun Park" proved especially problematic). So we had to go back and do another round of casting, but this time ask for an Asian American. And Ms. Sonnie Brown totally fit the bill and her kids were psyched she was gonna be in a KND episode!
• We met a couple really good Numbuh Fives... but Fran Jaye knocked us out of the park. Her attitude was dead on and she was a blast to work with. Which was important because she had the most lines.
• Ric Stoneback nabbed the role of Numbuh Two. While he wasn't exactly what I wanted visually, his laughter and sense of humor TOTALLY sold me on him. A very funny, easy going guy with a great personality!
• Curt Hostetter was hysterical and really threw in some great ad-libs. And his look was perfect for the aged Numbuh Four. But I think he thought we were all completely insane.
(NOTE: A lot of you have been asking for the actor's and actresses' names for a loooooong time... sorry about the wait!)
So what else can I tells ya?
• When Father grabs the KND with his 'Fists of Flame' Cartoon Network insisted they be colored green instead of fiery colors. We wouldn't want to flame-broil the kids, now would we...
• Yup... Nick and Chip are back. And I don't think it's any secret that Chip was based on baseball's own Harry Caray. And I'll assume most of you saw Better Off Dead? If not, check this out:
• Pottymouth was originally designed as one of the background villains in Operation: MOVIE but the design department spent season after season demanding he get a speaking part in an episode. He didn't until Season 5's Operation: AWARDS where he won BEST TOILET-BASED VILLAIN-- a complete slap in the face to the Toiletnator. We originally wanted 80% of Pottymouth's words to be bleeped out, but CN was afraid viewers would be able to read the bad words on his lips. My suggestion that we record him saying NICE things and then bleep them out was also rejected. To be honest, I think his 'We're gonna flush that doody-filled poo poo cake right down da poopin' toilet' 'cursing' actually turned out better!
• Speaking of potty humor... I can't believe no one made us change the name of the log flume; The Drop-A-Log? I thought for sure that one was a goner.
• I still get the chills when Numbuh One shouts, "Because the Kids Next Door will NEVER end!"
• Since I wrote the first half of the special, Mr. Andy Rheingold was on the second half. But when he got to the big good-bye scene, he realized that he couldn't... or at least thought he shouldn't... write it. It had to be me. He probably only decided that when he saw that there was a LOST marathon on TV that weekend and figured writing would get in the way... but he was right. I needed to say good-bye to my children. And it was painful. Reeeeeeeeeeal painful. I was bawling as I wrote each of those good-byes. Each was a killer in it's own right.
Numbuh One's Mom hugging him good-bye...
Numbuh Zero telling him to show those Galactic KND chaps how it's done...
Numbuh Two packing him some supplies...
Numbuh Three playing dumb...
The hurt Numbuh Four swearing that if Numbuh One needs help they'll come running...
and Numbuh Five leading Sector V again...
KILLED ME.
But Numbuh One's last shout of "KIDS NEXT DOOR... good-bye."
SLAUGHTERED ME.
I'm gettin' all misty just typing this... But if I wasn't, then I didn't do it right.
And I'd be remiss in not mentioning something about the little bit at the end regarding who ended up marrying who.
Eh...
So I'm remiss. (Mwa HA HA HA!)
(cough cough)
Um... Then there were the end credits. We decided we wanted to show a frame from each and every episode in those last 30 seconds. That's over 150 frames we had to pull... and when I say we I mean Post Production Potentate Oren Kaunfer and Aerial Editor Dave Courter! And it's harder than it sounds-- each frame had to immediately and totally read as the episode it was representing since it was only going to be on for a couple seconds.
But I still wanted to leave everyone with one final image. Something that summed up what Codename: Kids Next Door was all about. I thought about it a long time. And I doodled a lot of ideas in my sketchbooks. And eventually it came to me:
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