So the Interweb is a buzz about the new Looney Tunes Show set to debut later this year. I for one and terribly excited by the whole thing.
As a life long Looney Tunes fan I’m ecstatic to see what Warner Bros has up it’s sleeve and from everything I can see they’re taking the time, effort, care and money to hopefully make something that looks like a win. Apparently the premise is something along the lines of the regular forest dwelling tunes have all packed up and moved into a suburban cul-de-sac and Bugs and Daffy will have some sort of “Odd Couple” relationship dynamic all while interacting with the rest of the classic cast. I think it’s a wonderful idea.
(shown below)

So Long As…Warners doesn’t repeat the mistakes of Loonatics. But from everything I’ve heard they’ve made that their goal.
I even love the new character designs. While I’m partial to the look that was popularized by Chuck Jones in the 50s and 60s it’s true that every director who worked with the characters drew them differently and it was common that depending on the director bugs could come out in several shorts a year looking completely different than the cartoon before. I think these new models are just delightful.

My hope is that they don’t try to change the voices. That was one of many problems with loonatics. I realize Mel Blanc is long gone but they’ve a crewed a wonderful cast of voice actors to fill in his stead first and foremost being Billy West as Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd and Joe Alaskey as Daffy Duck. (Joe has also stepped in from time to time to do Bugs Bunny but Billy is my absolute favorite.) In fact I’m almost positive that he could probably do a better Daffy than Joe as well. Nothing against Joe; I just prefer Billy. I’ve also heard Billy’s Porky Pig and I’ve never felt Bob Bergen has just never quite got it right. I think Looney Tunes Back In Action was the first time he’s ever gotten it right and I credit that to John Dante who FINALLY applied the right level of speeding up/digital tweaking that’s been absent from much of the characters since Mel’s passing. The same for Tweety and Speedy. I’ve never understood why they didn’t do that. People don’t seem to realize that All of Mel’s early voices were treated that way. Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Tweety, Speedy and just about all of the higher-pitched voices. Sylvester not at all being minus the spittle was Mel’s voice. In fact, without the tweaking Daffy and Sylvester would have had the same voice. Daffy was just Sylvester sped up.

I’m also terribly curious to see more of the new Wiley Coyote & Road Runner short but I’d prefer not to have to purchase a ticket for Cats & Dogs just to see it. Though I’ll admit I’m a little bit weary about that one. The last Road Runner cartoon that came out was so off that I’d wished they’d just left them dead. Instead of Acme’s prop catalogue Wiley had acquired himself a magic spell book and as I watched it I just kept thinking Chuck would never have chosen to do that.
(first peek)

Also as you can see it’s going to be in 3D. I’m not appose to that either except that until How To Train Your Dragon I had never seen a piece of 3d animation done that I felt could realistically “ape” the true cartoon style. But that was a different studio and aside from Happy Feet and the Creepy Robert Zemeckis attempts I can’t think of a single movie Warners has attempted in CGI. These characters have to be elastic, flexible. And move in ways that no living creature can and computer animation generally doesn’t have the freedom and effortlessness that hand drawn traditional animation does but if anyone can do it Warner Bros can.

But I for one am eager to see what Warners is going to give us. I love these characters and think it’s been far too long since our last outing with them.

My only hope is that “That’s Not All Folks!!”
~I’m just sayin’

Okay, so it would appear that I’m out of my rut. I’ve spent the last 3 or so years really detesting all things drawing and especially doing this strip. But that appears to have passed and I’m rather happy about it. I’m enjoying drawing again and more so playing with these characters. While I was in my “off time” I still thought a lot about the characters and the stories I wanted to tell but just couldn’t bring myself to draw them.
I’m okay with this and the time spent not drawing it has given me a clearer perspective of where the story should go. I’m going to introduce some new characters, make better use of some old ones and weed through the trash in an attempt to make a stronger more engaging storyline.

I’m also planning at least for the now, to update with a new comic EVERY Friday. More often if I’m feeling up to it but I’ve committed myself to Fridays for sure.

The premise itself is going to be a simple one. It’s the story of failer; Everyone in the strip is trying to find their “happily ever after” but having a rough go of doing it. All of them trying to “kick that football” but just missing out seconds before the final woosh.
My friend Juan calls it “an entire universe of slackers confronting life and hilarity ensuing”. I think that sums it up pretty well. I should have asked him for that years ago.

And *THAT* is the story of Curlyfries.

~I’m just sayin’

Just a quick update, I’ve FINALLY got myself a store set up. Parodypictures Graphic Tees set up through Spreadshirt. I’ve never really tried this before so we’ll see what happens. All of the designs are created by me, things that I would want to wear and in some cases DO. I’ve bought a few and I love the quality or I wouldn’t be offering them to the public. Please buy!

Open for business! You want it? I can draw it. Any subject/character you choose.
I can do a wide variety of subjects in many a medium but right now I’m specializing in digital prints. PRICES ARE NEGOTIABLE! Please spread the word!
Fell free to browse through my gallery, if you like one of the pieces in there I can furnish you with a high quality print no problem. Or if you’d like something completely different hit me up. I’d be happy to do it.

Here’s the break down:
Full color photoshop pieces ala’ this or this or this for a measly 30 bucks.

Simple black and white (inked) drawings like this for $20

Sketches and the like for the staggering low price of $15

Printed version of any of the Curlyfries Comics should you decide you like em enough to one own for the same price. Just $15
all finished pieces are hand signed by me (cuz otherwise it would have to be someone else!)
and then it’s all yours.

All prints/sketches/drawings come on high quality 8 ½ x 11” 67 lb Bristol Card Stock.
Larger prints to cost more but prices *ARE* negotiable.

I accept Paypal or personal checks.
Feel free to contact me with any questions and requests here at
marky@parodypictures.com

Wondercon 2009 was an absolute blast! I loved every minute of it. Once I got in I hit the ground running.
I arrived in San Francisco and almost wanted to turn around and head back to L.A.
It may be a nice place to live, but I wouldn’t wanna visit.
But the con itself was well worth the trip.

Wondercon Gallery

One of the first things I did at the con was make my way over to the Artist’s Alley to finally to meet my old friend Mrs. Katie Cook. We’ve been friends off and on for years ala this here interweb, We used to chat back and forth on the phone but This was the first time I got to meet her face to face. She’s as adorable as she is talented. And her hubby Ryan is a peach of a guy. It was a pleasure to meet them both in the flesh. She was terribly busy the whole time doin her thing and while I wished we could have had some time to just chat and chill but it was a pleasure none the less. I hope one day we can all do just that.

I also got to chew the fat with Gregg Berger, Voice actor, Odie in Garfield, Kingpin in Spider-Man Web of Shadows and Grimlock in Transformers Generation One. But firstly ODIE!!! I was so excited to meet him it’s just sad really. But we chatted for a little while and I really dug it. He also informed me that they’re doing a new Garfield Cartoon series and he thinks it’s “Okay” which is good enough for me and totally worth checking out.
I was thrilled to meet him. Truly, I even got into a spirited debate with a fan between who was cooler Odie or Grimlock. (Yes I’m a total dork).

I also Also, got to hang for a while with my Friend Jett. She’s fantabulous. It was soo good to see her again. I’ll be honest, I have an artistic crush on her as well. She’s an amazing talent and for the first time we really just go to hang out.

I wandered the floor, sat in on a couple of good panels. Two in particular were a joy to me. There was a Star Trek Panel to promote the new movie that was…well.
So they talked for a good while about how amazing the movie is going to be and then they opened the floor to questions. Well I’ve had this question in my head for a good while now and now I finally got to ask it to someone who could possibly give me a decent answer.
“I’ve heard tell that you’re making this movie as a ‘remake’ of the original series for people who have never seen Star Trek before, well if they haven’t bothered to watch it in the last 40 years than what’s going to make them to bother to watch it now?”

The moderator didn’t like my question at all. He got quite steamed and flustered and couldn’t give me a solid answer. Then we debated back and forth for a while and I finally just said thank you and sat down. He had no good answer and you could almost see them realizing their movie could be in trouble.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Earlier in the day I sat in on a panel about the real archeology of the Indiana Jones movies. It was a decent presentation, but the speaker copped to the fact that there’s been no real evidence that these items (the ark and the holy grail) may not exist. But God can do anything.
Then he got to the Crystal Skulls movie and immediately said “and I dunno, that whole aliens/UFO thing was just all a bit hokey.”
To which I piped up, “So aliens is hokey but Wrath of God is perfectly acceptable?”

The crowd laughed and clapped and he meekly admitted defeat. “You’ve got me there, I hadn’t thought of that.”

So toward the end of the day, Mars and I were standing out in the parking lot waiting for our friend Catherine who was in a Wonderwoman panel and ran into Who? Mr. Square Pants himself, Tom Kenny. That’s right, Tom Kenny and I are like this: “&” (that’s the best “cross your fingers” I can do) We’re best butds now.
Mars, Ken and I ran into him on his way out and we all started chatting it up. He’s a genuinely nice guy. AND he totally loved my Chloroform Ninja Shirt! He really dug it. Found out I was an artist and BAM, we’re picking out curtains next week. (most of that was true.) But it was a great time and we had a wonderful conversation and I loved that he just took the time to chat.
It was a great day and this being my first con, I finally got to pop my convention cherry. AND I got to share that with Tom Kenny.

Day Two:

The second day was more of the same, wandering in and out of panels, walking the floor and admiring more of the artists’ works. I also (in the parking lot) met and chatted with Brad Kesten. Who was the voice of Charlie Brown in the 70s & 80s. He’s a good man. (HA!) He went out to have a cigarette and I figured since he was going to be standing around doing nothing for the next five minutes I might as well go say hi. We talked for a good twenty mintues and it was really fun.

Funny story:
So Mark Hamill was at the con, yes Mr. Skywalker himself. He was charging 100 bucks a pop for autographs and the lines for such were all the way around the block. It was really funny, he was by far the most expensive sig and all through the line you could hear the crowds bad mouthing him for gouging the fans. “I hate Mark Hamill, what an ass charging that much.” And as soon as it was their turn “I love you Mark Hamill, would you sign this for me? I love you!”

So that day again found myself in the parking lot. And guess who’s limo pulled up? That’s right Mr. Mark Hamill. So I took the opportunity to introduce myself and just say thank you for his work as the Joker on Batman, We chatted for a brief 2 minutes but it he was totally cool and I don’t hate him! I also didn’t have to pay a dime to do it. HA!