I’m sorry this has opened a whole different can of worms but I cannot stress enough that it was not intentional. I wasn’t out to “steal” from someone and put it on our promotional materials and send it out to an industry that would immediately associate it with something else and cock an eyebrow. That’s like asking my wife and girlfriend out on the same night to the same movie. Trust me, not a bright idea and I won’t being doing that again.

It’s not our goal to emulate something and present it as a new idea. And how foolish is it to do it with a recently released DVD by a popular animator with a legion sized fan base? And further more why would we want our child safe toon even remotely associated with a recently released, mind boggingly mature themed collection of cartoons?

All I can say is that I had bought the DVD weeks prior to doing the design for our card and that the image was obviously, indelibly in my mind when I worked on it. Keep in mind, other than John, there aren’t many, if any, other people who work in this retro style so when I see it, it makes an impression.

I think John K is a brilliant artist with amazing and interesting theories on animation and it’s his out spoken passion for the days of “real” and not processed animation that is inspiring not only to myself but his devoted fan base. And no this isn’t a big, sweaty ” Blow Job.” to sate him or his fans. It’s true; he is responsible for generating interest in the old ways of doing animation. We’d still be watching retina damaging, fluorescent commercial programming like MY LITTLE PONY today if it weren’t for Ren and Stimpy. The animation industry owes him a debt of gratitude, undeniably.

Bottom line is, I made a mistake that I wish someone, anyone, had caught prior to it being posted. I sincerely apologize to all those I may have offended. I’m sorry if I’ve sullied John’s name. I’ve retracted the card before it saw print, removed the posting, am owning up to it and will be posting the new, hopefully “homage” free card soon.

>akira, the problem is that all John does is >make cartoons about people having sex, and >really that’s not marketable in mainstream >television yet.

Here goes again the generalizations and preconcieved opinons about John and his work…

>Sure it will be eventually as our society >gets further and further down in to the >cesspools of hell but for now, you can SELL >sex on tv the way he does it.

I´m sorry, but you sound like a total moron. The only thing which drives western society down the drain, including animation, is the celebration of ignorance and total lack of will to achieve something great anymore. Badly drawn cartoons, imitating the mistakes of each other, with no real concept behind it to amaze and catch the audience anymore. That is what John is fighting against. Yes, John does many sexual references in his cartoons, so what? Is THAT ALONE an indication how good/bad these cartoons are? How good the craftsmanship is? No.

>You can’t SELL weirdness and awkwardness and >sexual innuendos in cartoons because the >average Joe from Kansas could give crap >about cartoons anyway, and that’s all who is >allowed to see it.

Oh no, another one who thinks cartoons are primarily aimed at children. Yes you are right, no full grown man/woman would watch the crap that is airing on TV nowadays. But not because they are cartoons, they won´t watch them because they are unfunny. There was a time when cartoons used to be entertainment primarily for youngsters and adults. Other countries like Japan think the same way. Yes you are right, western culture is really going downhill.

>Boobs? Sure! Sex? Sure! Gayness? Yup! In a >kids show? Not yet! Cartoons are still >primarily for kids and kids can’t watch >sex(yet).

So, you would suggest John to abadon his own ideas like the rest of all, sell himself out and go with the flow of producing uninteresting crap, right? If no one bothers to make a change, how is a change supposed to happen?

>Yes John has quite a bit to give the >animation community but let’s be real, he is >rapidly approaching one-hit-wonder status. >What he should do if he truly cares about >the animation, as he drones on day after day >about on his blog medium is open a school >where he can teach the philosophies he has >learned over the years. I am quite sure that >would fill 4 years of college. Instead he >whines on his blog that he never gets a fair >shake telling everyone he’s great and >cronies like you patronize him for it.

Funny, you say John has quite a bit to give to the animation community, you even pretend to agree that he should teach fellow animation students, yet you denounce him, his fans, his ideas and his work here. What a hypocritical game are you playing here? I´d say you actually never bothered to read his blog, otherwise, you wouldn´t spread such vicious lies here.

>You need money to make animation and if you >can’t have money then you need great >ideas… John started out with a great idea. >Ren and Stimpy? Genius! But nothing else has >come close.

Aha, who has great ideas automatically recieves the money to realize this ideas. How naive can you be? And to go with it, you blindly follow the judgement of studio/network executives, the people who have the money.

>He needs to listento himself and find out >what ‘character’ truly means.

I doubt that you even come close to his and other people´s understanding of “character”, as you nicely put it.

>John needs to show these great ideas if he >has any, and if they are actually great >Fred, or Disney or Cartoon Network or any >other network would line up to buy them

LOL! Yes, networks and studios are just lining up to try innovative and daring ideas! Man, you are so naive. You have absolutely NO CLUE.

>he has not proven himself to have these >great ideas and no one should get free >money.

Free money means recieving money without the work behind it. So you accuse him of being a lazy bum. If you want to see lazy bums in animation, recieving lots of money, watch SOUTH PARK or FAMILY GUY.

Again, so great, you pretend to credit him for his knowledge, yet you continue to denounce this man here.

>You know who does have the really good ideas >that kids connect with? Young adults! That’s >why people hire them… not because they >work for cheap wages.

Yes of course…. The current state of animation speaks for itself.

>Yeah, amazing as it seems they actually GET >kids because they were just recently ones >themselves.

Nope, everyone pretends to know what kids like, while in reality, they are just doing a copy of a copy of a copy what previous shows of the 80´s and 90´s have done. With all the side effects of generational losses.

If you want great animation, then hire the expert first who trains the young animators, enabling them to develop their skills and their styles.

This new idea of ditching everyone above 40 is the straight way to hell for western culture. Not sex and boobs in cartoons.