Tony Millionaire is among the most talented comic artists going today, though even in a field where stars are not exactly well known, he is somewhat low profile.

That's not by design. Read on to see how excited Millionaire is about his own work and how well he self-promotes (a necessity in a world where the printed page must compete against myriad other distractions). He is best-known, perhaps, for Maakies, his alt-weekly strip that features Uncle Gabby the sock monkey and his drunken bird sidekick Drinky Crow. Their nautical adventures, are wonderful to look at and subversively funny to boot.

Millionaire also draws more refined books also featuring versions of Uncle Gabby and Drinky Crow, and has branched out with other titles, including the recent long-form story Billy Hazelnuts, about a creature built by mice out of suet and garbage (it's actually quite charming, this description to the contrary).

The artist has his best shot at the big time on the horizon. After an abortive attempt to animate Drinky Crow in a series of shorts for "Saturday Night Live" a few years back (they're all available here and all quite funny), Millionaire again brings Drinky Crow to the small screen in May. The "Drinky Crow Show" pilot will air May 13. A preview can be seen here. It looks like a typically madcap offering from Millionaire, which means it will be well worth tuning in.

TIRBD: Your experience with “Saturday Night Live” wasn’t ideal from all reports. Does Adult Swim feel like a better fit?

TM: From my perspective the SNL deal really was close to ideal. A guy drawing a weekly strip for alternative papers doesn't often get a chance to get a cartoon on “Saturday Night Live.” We had a small budget and not much time but Marc Alt's team and I worked hard to capture the humor of Maakies and I think we did a pretty good job. No film or cartoon can compare to the original, just like a comic book about Gumby wouldn't work as well as the excellent Gumby show, but you try your best. My gripe was that we made six episodes and they only aired two, but two is better than zero. All in all it was a great experience working with great voice talents like Adam McKay, Andy Richter, Becky Thyre and Sarah Thyre.

Adult Swim will be a much better fit, especially if they give us some episode orders. I think the only way to ensure that is through a gigantic tidal wave of public support and general clamor. This is a damn good funny show and the big shots at Adult Swim and Cartoon Network have to be made aware of the American People's demand for quality debauchery in their adult cartoons. This is a great show!

What happens after the May 13 pilot?

What happens before the May 13th pilot airing (11:45 p.m., the last fifteen minutes of Cartoon Network's Mother's Day Celebration) is the sneak preview on Friday night, May 11 online at Adult Swim FIX. This is the time when Maakies readers the world over can rise as one and show their support for Maakie-mation, the new hybrid of 3D, 2D and 1D which we invented especially for this show. If you don't believe that this is the greatest new invention in TV cartoon style, I implore you to see for yourselves with a quick glance. This is like the old classic Sunday comics mixed with the most up-to-date “Futurama” style technology available. Matt Groening once wrote on a party napkin, "Tony Millonaire is so good he should be called Tony Billionaire!" Not a Nobel worthy poem, but a damn good endorsement from a man I admire. Here's two glances.

How was the animation done on the “Drinky Crow Show”? It is certainly more slick and sophisticated looking than the SNL shorts, which seemed more like an actual animated version of the strips.

Adult Swim was quite clear in their dislike of slick CGI, which I agree with. I prefer a more home-made look, which we perfected in this show. The animation is done by Mirari Films in Transylvania, headed by Eric Kaplan, who is also co-creator and writer. The director is the amazing Russian prize-winning art animator Igor Kovalyov and his co-director Zhenya Delioussine. These guys really know how to make cartoons in a good old-fashioned style, which was perfect for Maakies.

What has it been like overall to cede some control over the creation of what had been a solitary effort with the animated version of Maakies?

Working alone in a studio at night while the babies sleep is a lonely and peaceful process. Making TV cartoons involves a lot of shouting, berating, belittling, scolding and firing. I have ceded nothing; I bark orders constantly like a drunken raven on top of a dung hill. These guys better get in line or I'll hire the guys who animated "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer." Bumbles bounce you know.

You’ve said elsewhere that it was important to keep modern cultural references out of the animated version of Maakies. Have you been successful?

Yes, no one orders anyone to "get a life" in my work. Also absolutely no fat jokes. That's as bad as racism.

You sell the original art boards for most all of your work. Why, and have you ever regretted doing so?

I figure anyone who spends $350 or $1,500 on a page of my work is going to take better care of it than I do, as long as they don't hang it in the sun porch or the shower. I don't have much attachment to physical things, so I'd rather place things into the hands of collectors. That said, I also need the money. Selling originals pays for the pencils and ink. There's also the possibility that I'll get drunk out here in the studio and burn it down. Then what would happen to my originals?

How long had the idea for a long-form story like Billy Hazelnuts been percolating, and will the success of that project lead to further such forays?

I've been thinking about Billy for many years. I wanted to create a character I could sell to publishers of kids books. I went into the meeting with Billy and a back-up story. They didn't cotton to the name Billy Hazelnuts, the obvious reason being that many people have testicles which are hazel colored. The good news is that Hyperion Books for Children signed a deal for the backup story The Small Things League, which should come out next year, and Fantagraphics agreed to do a harsher more violent version of Billy Hazelnuts. No nuts, but lots of great adventure. Check it out at Maakies.com It won the Ignatz Award and is now nominated for three Eisner Awards to be given out in San Diego Comicon his summer.

There seems to be a renaissance of older comic art that seems to share more of your sensibilities than your contemporary peers. Can you claim credit for opening peoples’ eyes to such classic composition? Has it helped you to reach a wider audience?

When I was a kid my grandpop showed me his collections of old Sunday comics. He was an illustrator and he knew a lot of those old guys, Les Turner, Roy Crane. It was a huge influence on me, those pages, huge orange green and black, each page devoted to one cartoonist. I would lay on his carpet, the smell of bacon, coffee, pipe tobacco, turpentine and pencil shavings in his small seaside house. My grandmother would force us to pose for watercolor portraits; I hated it at the time, but now I treasure these portraits, they were very good, typical of ’50s style high-quality art colony painting.

I try in my comics to emulate the old cartoonists; but not out of any duty or respect, it's just because I really love that old stuff, and when I want to be happy I go back to it and bring it out again. I really despise most things about the modern world except for two things: cars and hospitals, may they excel in modernness!

Also very modern: Friday Night, May 11 online at Adult Swim FIX.

In conclusion may I say antiques rule, especially when mixed with comics and please take a look at this AWESOME BLISTERING MEGA-BIZZZZZ-AFARROOO-KARTUUUN.

Labels: cartooning, Monday Interview