Mark Evanier has a post about a brand new Garfield cartoon for television that he's writing, or rather, that he'll be writing sometime soon. Evanier was also a writer on the popular Garfield and Friends series that ran on CBS from 1988 to 1995. Paws, Inc. is producing and distributing the new series worldwide along with Dargaud Marina S.A. in Paris, France.

The new Garfield series will be computer animated, though Evanier does say it will not be the same CGI Garfield from the movies. Evanier is also voice directing for the series and says that Bill Murray will not be playing the hefty, lasagna-loving feline. There's also no word just yet on where the new series will air.

In April, I mentioned that underground comic artist Tony Millionaire was developing a series for Adult Swim based on his Maakies comic strip. The strip, if you haven't had the pleasure of reading it, is a twisted ode to alcohol, love, the sea, and the Lord our God slicing open a talking monkey with a knife. It's everything you want in an alternative strip: it's sick, well-drawn, incredibly funny, and will make your grandmother actually vomit tears. Its sensibility is perfect for Adult Swim, so I was thrilled to hear that Millionaire was developing it for the cartoon block. The title floating around the Web is The Drinky Crow Show, but who knows, that could change. The Adult Swim schedule grid, recently updated, does not have the show included in the grid, but the name "Maakies" is scrawled below under the heading "pilots." Hopefully this is yet another sign that we'll be seeing it soon, and let's also hope they do it justice. Come to think of it, this would be the second Adult Swim original to be based on a comic next to Boondocks, correct?

As I mentioned in April, the first season of The Boondocks, uncut and uncensored, will be out in June. Well, apparently I lied. Okay, I didn't really lie, but the release date has been pushed back over a month to July 25. Actually, I'd be interested to know if anyone watches this show. I checked it out when it debuted, and while I think individual episodes were okay, the show never seemed to leave me with any reason to keep checking back in. If I serendipitously catch it while surfing the channels, I'll stop and watch it, but it's not a show I actually make a point to watch. It has become one of those shows I can admire even if personally it leaves me a bit cold. Should I give it another chance?

Cartoonist Tony Millionaire is pitching an animated series based on his "Maakies" comic strip to Cartoon Network. Who the heck is Tony Millionaire? If you don't know, stop reading this, go to Maakies.com, and enjoy one of the best underground comics ever, a combination of drunken, sea-faring animals, surreal plotlines, and the stylistic approach of the great comic strip legend E.C. Segar. Then, while you're enjoying those strips, have someone else read the rest of this post and tell you about it later. I have not found any official news on this, even on Millionaire's site, but cartoonist Keith Knight mentioned on his blog that he saw a brief clip of the series at The Staple 2006 in Austin. Animated shorts based on "Maakies" were also shown on SNL a few years ago.

Update: Very special thanks to reader owen, who found this interview in which Millionaire talks about the new series. Also thanks to Robert for the direct link.

 

When Adult Swim picked up The Boondocks, the series based on Aaron McGruder's comic strip of the same name, McGruder pretty much abandoned the strip in order to focus all his energy on his new animated series. He continued to write the strip, but hired an artist to draw it. Now McGruder has backed away completely and announced he's taking a six-month vacation from the strip. It seems as if McGruder is slowly setting his original creation aside, and that's to be expected, since the daily grind of trying to churn out a comic strip coupled with the work involved in producing a cartoon series would be enough to drive anyone insane. My only request for McGruder is that if the strip becomes too much for him to handle, he tastefully retire it and direct all his energy toward the show. I'd rather see that than what happened to Garfield, a strip now created by a corporation that Jim Davis simply slaps his name on. McGruder seems to work best when all his energy and vitriol is focused on one thing. If that "one thing" is his TV series, so much the better. If he tries to sparse it out between the strip and the series, they'll both suffer for it eventually.

Most readers know I'm a lover of comic strips both new and old, and when I say "most readers" I mean those readers who are able to read my mind since I don't think I've ever mentioned it before. Anyway, one of the best comic strips out there is "Get Fuzzy" by Darby Conley. If you caught yesterday's strip, you might have noticed Robert's T-shirt features a familiar face. Yep, that's Stewie Griffin's flaming head gracing Rob's torso. Now if only they'd make an animated series based on "Get Fuzzy." That would be, in the words of Peter Griffin, "freakin' sweet."