Judd Winick interview on Juniper Lee

Publicity card

The Life and Times of Juniper Lee ran for three seasons on Cartoon Network and will begin reruns on Boomerang in Fall, 2021.  I interviewed its creator, Judd Winick, for the comic book Cartoon Network Action Pack, published by DC Comics.

 CB: What is your job on the Juniper Lee cartoon?

 JW: I'm the Creator and Executive Producer. I do a bit of everything. I write the shows, with others, I design the characters, with others, direct the dialogue recordings, etc.  A hundred-some people work on the show, and their job is to turn all the nutty ideas I come up with into a show. And I sit next to them while they do it.

 CB: You create both cartoons and comics.  How did you start out?

 JW: I did comic strips for newspapers before anything else.

 CB: Is doing cartoons anything like you imagined?

 JW: No. This is the first time in my life that I've ever work in anything resembling an office setting, and with groups of people. Before this, it was always me at my drawing table and my computer. This is a lot more fun.

 CB: Do you know any of the kids who watch your cartoons?

 JW: I meet them all the time, and it's the best part of the doing the show. They seem to love the stuff I love ("Ray Ray rocks!" " Monroe is the best!") but they surprise me sometimes. Like they all wanted to know how Ray Ray could see monsters when no one else could. We did an episode about that, and explained it.

 CB: Will you write any of the Juniper Lee stories in Cartoon Network Action Pack?

 JW: At the moment, I will be writing ALL of them.

 CB: Where does the name “Juniper Lee” come from?

 JW: My wife and I came up with Juniper Lee, the character and the name. We wanted something pretty, and unique. Juniper fit.

 CB: What are her powers?

 JW: June's REALLY strong, and is also an amazing acrobat. She can leap from roof top to roof top, and toss a half ton monster. She kicks butt.

 CB: Is the idea of a “Te Xuan Ze” an old myth or did you make it up? 

 JW: “Te Xuan Ze,” is a very American way of saying the Chinese expression, "TUR-SCWHA-ZEH," with translates into "Chosen one." And we made it up. The idea that magic can only be seen by a chosen few is an old idea. Many stories and myths are built around the idea that a hidden world exists along our own, and only certain people with special abilities or willingness can see them.

 CB: Is there a Te Xuan Ze in any other country or is June the Protector for the whole world?

 JW: Juniper is the protector of the world. MOST of the world of magic exists in and around Orchid Bay. It's like a portal to other realms of magic.

 CB: Do you know any dogs like Monroe?

 JW: My sister-in-law got a pug many years ago and I fell in love with him. After that, I always thought we'd make a character who's a pug. But do I know any pugs who are Scottish, angry, and can talk? No.

 CB: In the new cartoons like Juniper Lee and Ben 10, grandparents give the help and advice.  Are grandparents special?

 JW: Grandparents are the voices of the past and a living extension of who we are and where we came from. For Juniper, the best she can ever be is to turn out exactly like her grandmother.

 CB: Is this the first American cartoon with a Chinese American hero?

 JW: I have no idea. Juniper is based on my wife, Pam, who is Chinese American. She has often spoken about how, when she was growing up, there were no roles models, or even characters on TV and in movies who were Asian. We wanted to do one.

 CB: What sort of reaction are you getting?

 JW: Amazing. People really seem to love it. Which is good, since we have many, many more stories to tell.

Judd Winick has written comics for DC Comics, including Batman and Green Arrow.  His autobiographical graphic novel, Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned, earned many awards, including GLAAD Media Award and the 2001 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor Award (should I mention that Mr. Sibert was my uncle?).  His current work is a series about a mysterious boy named Hilo which he describes as "part E.T., part Doctor Who, part Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes.”  His web site is http://www.JWspillowfort.com

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I wasn’t happy with one of my recent drawings of the Snoof’s boss, so I got out a regular sheet of paper and drew him a few times more.  Thanks to the magic of Photoshop, I just replaced the bad drawing with the good.

For an added bonus, please notice the partially-inked unicorn.

P.S. I have started an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/mcboatner/ for assorted drawings, photos, past strips, and dazzling miscellanea.  I’ll post there more than to this Blog tab.  But please continue to come to this site (BureauofBeasties.com) on the 1st and 15th of every month for the continuing adventures of Mermsy and the Snoof!

My Neighborhood, continued

A current TV ad recommends, “Put googly eyes on your stuff to keep you company.”

(The mask says, “Wear Your Mask.” Good advice in these times.)

Furries!

I don't plan on bringing the current health crisis into the storyline. But if I did, our heroes would probably look like this, waiting for their haircuts.

The Internet is Complete

So, I was doing some internet digging the other day. In the comic strip Alley Oop (about the caveman), one of the characters spoke in rhyme. When he got married and had kids, his kids did too. I needed a picture of the kids (don't ask why). No matter what search terms I used -- "Ally Oop cast" "Alley Oop Foozy kids" "Foozy's boys" -- I got nothing. I finally found what I needed in a book.

So here I am, putting that picture on the web. The gap is filled. You're welcome, Internet.

Alley Oop was by the multi-faceted cartoonist V.T. Hamlin, often with an assist by Dave Graue.

My Neighborhood

I write this during the Covid crisis. My muse and I are sheltering in a New York City apartment. Luckily, I can go for walks in a beautiful neighborhood.

Did I mention that this is New York City?

Mutant Mail-Box

Gerard from Massachusetts writes about Granzilla:

“This character has certain present-day relevancy! The scale is overwhelming. Like grandmas when they get mad: woe betide.”

I’ve got to say I like readers who read in!

The Good Moose Artist

Back in October 2018, I posted about a wall covered with cartoonists’ sketches at The Overlook bar in NYC. Another excellent cartoonist who drew on that mural was Al Kilgore.

While you may have heard of Carl Barks described as the “good duck artist,” I think of Al Kilgore as the “good moose artist.” He drew Rocky & Bullwinkle for comic books and a newspaper strip. His characters were simple and energetic. His gags came fast and bite-sized.

One of my Ten Favorite Comic Books of All Time is Rocky & His Fiendish Friends #1. Only 25 cents for eighty pages (with only one ad)! The issue includes a Rocky adventure by Kilgore, told in four chapters spread across the issue, with other features in-between, just like in the cartoon show. The jokes are varied and original, many of them breaking the fourth wall. I had to ask my father to explain some of them to me, when I first read it as a kid.

NOTE: Since posting this article, I have been advised that R&HFF #1 and these illustrations could have drawn by another artist in Kilgore’s style.

More information at: https://www.lambiek.net/artists/k/kilgore_al.htm and http://drewfriedman.blogspot.com/2011/05/al-kilgore-king-of-caricature.html

Secrets behind the Comics

I’ve taken the opportunity to make corrections to some past strips that really needed it.

One change I thought worth making was to our heroes’ arrival at the City. In one panel, they were on the bus, then in the next, they had arrived, with some tiny buildings in the background. The caption said “Big City,” but you couldn’t really see it.

So I added an establishing shot. Inspired by the view of Manhattan from a bus in New Jersey, I drew two things -- a bus on a bridge and a skyline (below).

Then I combined them in PhotoShop and gussied them up, as usual. You can see the result by going to this episode http://www.bureauofbeasties.com/comic/2017/4/16/welcome-my-friends-to-the-bus-ride-that-never-ends and scrolling down, lower than usual.

As 2019 closed out, I heard about a Call for mail art featuring Black Mermaids. This was my contribution:

I painted the ink drawing with water color (appropriate for a water creature). Scanned water color looks different from my strip, which I color digitally.

Mutant Mail-Box

Three nice notes:

Rachel from Upstate New York says: "I really loved it."

Jenny from Queens, NY says: "Great looking site including content of course."

Mike from Brooklyn, NY says: "I declare Bureau of Beasties officially charming! A little Bloom County, a scoche Krazy Kat, a pinch of Fat Freddy's Cat, and a whole lot of Boatner. It's groovy and very warmhearted. Approved."

A small announcement

I'm now posting new strips twice a month, on the 1st and 15th. We are also now...

Now It Can Be Told

Paula from New York asks what happened to Tod Toad. He was last seen hopping toward an elevator in this episode, but didn't seem to get in.

The door closed in his face.

Please send your burning questions via the FEEDBACK page.

Will the real Tom Terrific please stand up?

The fluffy news of the week was that Tom Brady wanted to trademark the name “Tom Terrific.” And my response was, of course, “You can’t do that – it’s already taken!”

Not by Tom Seaver, though. Tom Terrific was a cartoon character in the 50s, created by Gene Deitch. It was drawn in a modern (it still looks modern) style of simple, almost abstract, fluid lines that looked like they had just wiggled off the artist’s doodle pad. (According to Mr. Deitch, some of that effect was due to limited budget, but “mother of invention,” as they say.)

The heroes were a talking dog and shape-changing boy (not to be confused with Adventure Time, years later, whose heroes were a boy and a talking, shape-changing dog). Tom provided all of the optimism and motivation to the heroics. Manfred (full name: Mighty Manfred, the Wonder Dog) generally wanted to sleep and avoid trouble (my kind of guy). But Tom never lost faith in Manfred’s inner nobility.

Unfortunately, the Washington Post (June 3 article) believes that the trademark registration by Terrytoons animation studio has expired. So maybe the name really is up for grabs. But I’ll know who was the Real Tom Terrific is.

Back to Home

Doodling at work

Maybe there’s an idea here, somewhere…

What I saw the other day

A smiling woman holding an excited dog while a man tore a “lost dog” flyer down from a lamp post.

Mermaids in the News

For me, the oddest thing about the current popularity of superhero movies is that obscure characters I have loved for years are suddenly household names. Mera, played by Amber Heard in the Aquaman movie, is the latest case-in-point.

Mera was the first mermaid I encountered in comics. In the Aquaman comic, she is a supporting character and love interest, much like in the movie.

She was a scarlet haired water nymph in a form-fitting green suit. In her first appearance, she was drawn at the bottom of the cover. In her second, the enterprising editor put her high up, next to the masthead, where she wouldn’t be hidden by the comics below on the rack. That was the first time I bought Aquaman, so maybe that’s why. But I was ten, so who knows?

I was confused by that suit. She was covered in scales and apparently had webbed feet so I figured those scales were part of her – that she was a two-legged (or two-tailed) melusine like the Starbucks logo. Yes, the scales ended abruptly in a collar at her neck, but I discounted that as artistic license. The first time I saw her in a different outfit, proving that she had boring, human-type feet, I was disappointed.

She was one of the earliest super-powered women (especially if you don’t count spinoff characters like Supergirl); in fact, she was more powerful than the hero (which was never mentioned in the stories). Despite that, Mera has not had a title of her own before now. That’s another benefit of the movie. Her first graphic novel, “Mera: Queen of Atlantis,” went on sale in December. The story is a subplot of a larger Aquaman storyline, and she has to share space with another character (male) but they do spell her name right. And there’s something called “Mera: Tidebreaker” coming out in April that looks promising.

Support your local mermaid!

"Spiking Rents Are Factor in Rise in Homelessness"

That was a headline in the New York Times…