One specializes in beautifully rendered erotic paintings of Rubenesque women. The other is a comics bad boy known for his hilarious X-rated comics soaked in jizz, blood, and severed penises. Together they have created a cartoon for young kids called Pig Goat Banana Cricket.

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And it looks wonderful.

Dave Cooper and Johnny Ryan have been pitching a TV show to Nickelodeon for five years, according to Cooper’s blog post on the topic. Last night Nick announced a 26-episode order for Pig Goat Banana Cricket which is described as:

This show features a series of absurd interwoven stories about four friends and roommates, Pig (the fool), Goat (the artist), Banana (the wise-guy) and Cricket (the brain). Created by Dave Cooper and J. Ryan and executive produced by David Sacks (The Simpsons, Regular Show) who co-writes with J. Ryan. Dave Cooper also art directs the series and the pilot was directed by independent animator Nick Cross.


Despite my teasing Ryan and Cooper above, they have long been doing children’s material as well (Cooper pitched me a strip way back when I was at Disney Adventures), with both contributors to the departed Nickelodeon Magazine. The indie comics influence on animation continues to expand and conquer all. Congrats to both! Here’s a trailer from a few years ago.

Nick announced a second cartoon as well:

Bad Seeds (26 episodes)
Harvey, a sweet and well-meaning bird, makes two new best friends, Fee and Foo, the wildest kids in the forest. Although their friendship seems unlikely, their connection only grows as they push each other out of their comfort zones and into endless adventures. Created, written and directed by C.H. Greenblatt (SpongeBob SquarePants, Chowder).


There were also four live action projects announced.

7 COMMENTS

  1. In case anyone is interested, Johnny and Dave’s collaboration on this project started in Nickeloodeon Magazine in their comic called “Time Travel Muffins” (I think…that might be a little off. “The Muffins of Time?”) That featured a pig, banana, and a robot. After that strip ran, the informal decision was that Johnny and Dave would continue to do stories that always starred an animal, an item of food, and something spacey or sciencey like a robot. They did 3 more I believe, for a total of 8 pages (2 pages each). They are a good team and compliment each other well. Looking forward to this!!!

  2. I remember seeing a later issue of Skrew magazine as a kid and being surprised how many cartoonists had stuff in Nickelodeon and Skrew at the same time.

  3. There was a time when the Screw cover was one of the few venues for creative cartooning in New York!

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