World's Funnest WIP 5-31-99: Breakdown, Notes, Artists (Annotated) (Patreon)

Background: I stumbled across this file recently. It's a rundown worksheet of sorts, summing up the project's progress. The script is just about all locked down at this point, with only a few pages still up in the air, and a few ideas still being kicked around. 

Some things were revised for the final script/comic -- "Heaven" went from a panel in the "catch-all" back end sequence (where Mxy chases Bat-Mite across the remaining multiple universes and timelines, which didn't merit an entire sequence of their own) to a panel in the opening Silver Age section. 

There are some messy notes for jokes, none of which are all that useful, which is why they aren't in the book. One far reach is a reference to the "Paradox future" -- which is a poke at the Paradox Press imprint, which, like most DC imprints, were either dead or dying at the time ("There is no Paradox future"). There was no way to work in a nod to Piranha, or Impact, or whatever else I was thinking of making fun of at the time. At the time I would have thought Vertigo would have just about been bullet-proof, but we all know that wasn't the case, ultimately.

The most interesting thing in the document (imo) is the rundown of artists locked in, and artists we were thinking of approaching for unassigned pages. At the end of the document there's a few notes on how that all worked out. Well, more than a few.  A lot more than a few. All the better for you folks who are behind-the-scenes fans, World's Funnest fans, or both. Or maybe neither! 

(Above image: World's Funnest page 4, pencils and inks by Dave Gibbons, lettering by Tom Orzechowski. Someone owns this, and it isn't me. Which is utterly wrong.)

LAST IMP STANDING PLOT BREAKDOWN/SCRIPT

Last Imp last worked on May 31, 8:10 pm

PAGES DONE: 58 of 62

NOTE - HOW WILL THE LETTERING BE DONE??? Overlays -- allow dialogue to be tweaked for finished art /transitions etc?

- Different lettering style for each era, Golden Age/Silver, etc

ARTIST BREAKDOWN

COVER - Brian Bolland

1) SILVER AGE/EARTH 1 -SCRIPTED - Dave Gibbons

2) PHANTOM ZONE SCRIPTED - if we need someone to fill-in for Gibbons on the finale, use them here as well? Ty? Bogdanove? Immonen?

3) GOLDEN AGE/EARTH 2 - SCRIPTED  Dick Sprang

4) EARTH 3 - SCRIPTED   Clowes? Kane? Infantino?

5) EARTH X - SCRIPTED  Mark Schultz? Barta?

6) EARTH S - SCRIPTED Jaime Hernandez

7) EARTH C - SCRIPTED Scott Shaw

8) EARTH PRIME - SCRIPTED Stephen DeStephano for drop-ins/Photos

Amie Brockway - 1-212-636-5574

Mark Chiarello - 1-212-636-5926

9) FIFTH DIMENSION SEQUENCE - SCRIPTED Jim Woodring

10) FOURTH WORLD - SCRIPTED - David Mazzucchelli

11) SUPERFRIENDS /HB - SCRIPTED – ART???

12) WB ANIMATED - SCRIPTED   Darwyn Cooke? Stephen? Ty? Burchett?

13) DARK KNIGHT - SCRIPTED  Frank Miller

14) MODERN AGE - SCRIPTED

15) CRISIS ERA - SCRIPTED - Phil Jiminez

16) MULTIVERSE ROUND-UP - Templeton?

17) KINGDOM COME - SCRIPTED Alex Ross

18) FINALE/SILVER AGE END - Dave Gibbons - SCRIPTED

PAGE 1-18  #SILVER AGE

SCRIPTED- DAVE GIBBONS

PAGE 19

PHANTOM ZONE

SCRIPTED

PAGE 20-21

EARTH 2/GOLDEN AGE

SCRIPTED- DICK SPRANG

PAGE 22

EARTH 3

SCRIPTED

PG 23-24

EARTH X

SCRIPTED

PG 25- 27

EARTH S

SCRIPTED - JAIME HERNANDEZ

PAGE 28

EARTH C

SCRIPTED - SCOTT SHAW

PAGE 29

EARTH PRIME

SCRIPTED photos with STEPHEN DeSTEPHANO (and JULIE SCHWARTZ)

PAGE 30 - 32

5TH DIMENSION/MXY'S NAME SEQUENCE

SCRIPTED - JIM WOODRING

PAGE 33- 36

FOURTH WORLD

SCRIPTED - DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI

PAGE 37-39

EARTH 1-A/SUPERFRIENDS UNIVERSE

SCRIPTED Alex Toth-style , with nods to bad HB animation

PAGE 40-41

WB ANIMATED UNIVERSE

SCRIPTED -

PAGE 42-44

DARK KNIGHT

SCRIPTED - FRANK MILLER

PAGE 45-48

MODERN AGE

SCRIPTED -

PAGE 49-52

CRISIS

SCRIPTED - PHIL JIMINEZ

PAGE 53-56

MULTIVERSE ROUND-UP

See how many pages we can use here. Set pages in half-splashes or three-tiered pages to fit as many in an possible? Some panel design that groups the entire sequence.

MXY's Silver Age APPEARANCE.

**Perhaps several pages of three-four panel pages (four - "window pane" like). Last page - multiple panels of leftovers with imps over it, running?

MXY BECOMES MORE ENRAGED AS SEQUENCE UNFOLDS - RANTS

MENTION future, pasts, dimensions etc --

- ANGRY ABOUT THE CHASE thru the dimensions etc

- INSULTS AND ARGUMENTS --General "I've had it",    - More anti Batman anti-Superman stuff?

Mxy has HAD IT with all these dimensions, realities, worlds and universes -- had it up to here -- panel gags mainly, imps rush through, destroying everything, screaming AAAh! Nowhere to run! No time to run to! You can't escape me in the future! not any future! Even the ones that shouldn't exist because I wiped out its past! What are you trying to do, kill me with paradoxes? (There is no Paradox future!)

TOWARDS END - MXY in a destructive tantrum, doesn't realize he's lost Bat-Mite in his overzealous rant and destructive path -

Hey...where'd the pudge/Batbaby go? Nuts, lost him again in all these stinking universes!

THROUGHLINE FOR ARGUMENT - anger towards universes, pasts, superheroes, laws of nature, etc. Even dead Superman is still better than Batman, every Superman is better than every stupid Batman! Is not! Even the Super Friends Superman is better than Batman!

Mxy angrily vows to put an end to Bat-Mite and the chase once and for all.

THE RUN THROUGH

- Time Stream - Rip Hunter - use in a quick sequence that starts it all out?  (what's this - time being torn apart by some mysterious force - BM and Mxy appear past windows.

- Atomic Knights

- OMAC - (Earth K?)  Brother Eye, Faceless World Cops,

- KAMANDI (Earth K) - Tuftan, Ben Boxer and friends, Kliklak? enemy apes, statue of liberty, "Command-D" bunker

- AMETHYST DIMENSION - cast members

- INFERIOR 5  (EARTH -12)

- DC ONE MILLION

- BOOSTER GOLD future

- EARTH SIX (Lady Quark/Lord Volt)

- HEX(21st Century)

- SPACE RANGERS/PLANETEERS (22nd Century)

- ABRA KADABRA - 64th century

- SPACE CABBIE - 2146

- PROFESSOR ZOOM's century/world?

- KNIGHTS OF THE GALAXY (25th century) - need info

- ** CHARLTON EARTH 4 - (according to Crisis) - Charlton cast - Beetle, Peacemaker, Nightshade, Captain Atom, Judo-Master, Thunderbolt?, The Question,

- ** HEAVEN? Panel shows Perry White/Caeser/Kid Eternity/Boston Brand etc. Perry White -- It's them again! Great Caeser / Caeser: Oh shut up already!

**NEED INFORMATION ON**

- Tommy Tomorrow?

- Sugar and Spike?

- Superman and Batman Jr?

- MAZING MAN?

PASTS

1) **EARTH 1 WW2? (if separate from Golden Age)

Sgt Rock, Boy Commandos, Haunted Tank, Creature Commandos (wow, what a crazy war they have here. Kids, superheroes, They even gots monsters!)

Blackhawks  - Hawkaaaagh!!!

2) - REVOLUTIONARY WAR - Tomahawk/Miss Liberty - 1776, fighting the Brit redcoats

3) - OLD WEST - Jonah Hex/Batlash et al

4) ARION - ATLANTIS  45,000 years ago

5) ANTHRO - dawn of time

PAGE 57-59

KINGDOM COME - SCRIPTED - Alex Ross

PAGE 60-62

FINALE AND SILVER AGE CLOSING - SCRIPTED  Dave Gibbons

EXTRA-EXTRA: A CRAPLOAD OF ANNOTATIONS ON (SOME OF) THE WF ARTISTS:

- Dick Sprang had agreed to draw the Golden Age/Earth 2 sequence. Before he could work on it, he passed away. Editor Joey Cavalieri called up Sheldon Moldoff, who drew the pages. Sprang, of course, would have been wonderful to have on the roster, but it actually makes a wonderful serendipity as Moldoff co-created the character. After the book was finished and in production, we met Moldoff at a convention, we were set up next to him. He kept giving me tips and advice on how to get ahead in the comics industry, unaware that I wrote the book he had just worked on. He was adorable. Sarah bought a pin-up from him, I think it's of Catwoman and Batwoman, I have a picture of us with Moldoff somewhere.

- At this point we hadn't picked Mike Allred for The Phantom Zone. It was in play for a while.

- The funny thing is, Jon Bogdanove was our first choice for Earth 3, with the Crime Syndicate of America, as drawn in the JLA comic by Mike Sekowsky. Bogdanove seemed like an excellent choice, especially after Joey showed me a Batman cover he'd done with Batman drawn in different styles from the past. Bogdanove actually drew the page, but it simply just didn't work as a Silver Age page. To the point where we couldn't use it. I felt awful about it, it's not like Bogdanove is some guy off the street, but I asked Joey to have it done over, with DC's permission. We had Stuart Immonen step in, and he understood exactly what we were going for, capturing Sekowsky's trademarked stocky bodies and style. This also allowed us to have Joe Giella ink over Stuart's pencils, Giella being active in the Silver Age.

- Joey thought I was nuts for suggesting Dan Clowes early on when we were "casting" for Earth 3, but I thought it would have been kind of awesome (if he would have agreed, back then, it was maybe kind of possible? If I mentioned Jaime and Woodring? And begged?). I thought Clowes would "get it", and his retro style could be a wonky Silver Age take. And cause some raised eyebrows along with the rest of the locked-in roster. Kane was ruled out by Joey, iirc, either he wasn't accepting any work or had some issues with drawing at the time (or both). I can't remember the situation with Infantino, he might have actually turned us down, not sure if he was actually approached.

- Oh, Earth X. My first natural choice was Will Eisner, who created or co-created (or was overseeing the shop working on the comics) members of the Quality Comic heroes back in the day. Joey said Eisner turned us down, but said he thought the script was funny. Years later, someone told me Eisner wasn't actually approached. I can't remember the details or what's true or not, here. If I ever see Joey I'll bug him. Mark Schultz was my second choice, he'd have been a fine Lou Fine stand-in for the sequence. He turned us down. We ended up with Frank Cho, who turned in some nice, classic drawing and some wonky layouts that we had to work around.

- Frank's a tale of sorts, for me. Sarah and I met him at SPX when he was still in nursing school and pursuing an art career. He was very talented, and very nice. I tried to get him hired for my Mask mini-series, but it didn't work out, he was still pretty unknown. I have sketches he did for a series I was trying to put together. He stopped being nice after becoming so successful. We stopped talking to Frank some time ago.

- Jaime Hernandez agreed to do Earth S but requested no more than six panels per page of story. He knew how much I crammed into in my own comics and feared the worst. I bought one of the pages from him (which I treasure). Years later, at Heroes Con, I brought the page with me and asked him to fix the lettering (which he was nice enough  to do). He initially lettered it himself, but we needed the lettering to match the era, he just went ahead and lettered it (beautifully, of course) like a Love and Rockets page. I took the pasted-down Tom Orzechowski balloons off the original art and damaged Jaime's lettering in two places.

- Tom Orzechowski is a legend and his lettering was also beautiful, but I just felt Jaime's art kind of needs Jaime's lettering as an original. One day I hope to meet Tom and have him sign my personal copy of the comic.

- Those phone numbers are no longer valid, obviously. Amie was a champ and very supportive of the project. We had a lot of strangely difficult trouble getting DC to get a few clip art images to use in the page. We almost had to ditch the concept and have Stephen draw the backgrounds. People still point out how unfortunate it was that we had a photo of the World Trade Center being zapped by Mxy. I wonder if DC would have replaced that background if the book had been reprinted only a few years later..

- The first artist we locked in was Dave Gibbons. The second was Alex Ross. The third was David Mazzucchelli to do the Fourth World ala Kirby. I still remember coming home with Sarah one night to a phone message from Alex Ross, which was basically a hello, and then, "How the FUCK did you get Dave Mazzucchelli?" It made my week. How did I get David Mazzucchelli? We were friends, introduced through Instant Pianist and pal, Robbie Busch (we met because of a cat, I adopted a cat from David and Richmond, his wife. R.I.P. MR. Jinx). David's concession was that he would color his own art (he may have lettered it, I don't remember. It's not credited as such in the original comic. David's coloring credit was left off the most recent reprint, so, credits aren't always accurate). Were we going to fight him on that? Nope.

- I love David, haven't seen him in years now.  He's brilliant and unpredictable, I was scared to ask him but thought it was something he might enjoy doing. As a challenge, or a lark, or a fun favor --? I'm still not sure why he agreed to help me out and do such an oddball thing, considering where his career was going at the time. You read Alex Ross's reaction, a lot of people were surprised. I love those pages so much. He knows I want the splash page like I want an extra twenty years of living. 

- So many great memories, despite the project being super difficult to get done. Once I had those first three artists I thought there was no way this book wouldn't be a success. Womp womp.

- The Alex Toth Super Friends sequence was the hardest for us to "cast". The worst. It had to look like Toth, not just an approximation. We couldn't find anyone that made sense, and a few people that might have worked would not have wanted to ape Toth for one reason or another. Or that was a load of crap, I dunno. Anyway, how we got our artist is a bit of a story:

Sarah and I were nominated for an Annie Award for the script for the “Lawsuit” episode of Space Ghost Coast To Coast.  There was no expectations of our going to Los Angeles and attending the event, as much as I would have liked to. For one thing, it was a lot of money to spend to go lose an award,. Also, I was in my severe fear of flying phase. One morning Sarah wakes me up and says, 'take this”. It was an atavin, from my prescription. I thought something horrible had happened, but she got me to take it. Then she told me were taking a flight to L.A. in a few hours. I said we didn't have a flight. She conspired with SGCTC producer/Cartoon Network exec  Keith Crofford, who we were friendly with, and the Network had bought us plane tickets. I said we can't go, we don't have a place to stay. We were going to stay with David and Maria Lapham, Sarah tells me.  I said we didn't have our bags packed. Sarah had packed a suitcase. My friend Paul (of the Tear Them Apart podcast) was on his way to drive us to Newark airport. I was incredulous. Sarah's amazing, right? So. Holy shit. We flew to L.A. We stayed with the Laphams. Keith met us for the ceremony. We lost the award to the Simpsons (duh). We ran into Glen Murikami,  that might be where I first met him, maybe it was SDCC. We ran into Jay Stephens, who I bought a page of art for Sin Comics back in the day and who was a peer and a cartooning pal – he was doing animation work and iirc was nominated for the design work on the Jetcat shorts (I could check, but this is taking up a lot of time and I love you all but I gotta finish this post). We had an all-losers dinner with jay and Jay's agent, and it was just a great night, even if we didn't take home zoetropes. We ended up talking about World's Funnest and I mentioned we were having no luck on the Toth segment. And it turns out Jay's been studying Toth and doing some character designs in his style for the hell of it. It was perfect. It was too perfect. Something would go wrong, Jay's stuff would be off or he would have to fly to Bolivia for a year. Jay sent me the Toth takes. They were terrific. Jay saved our asses on the Super Friends sequence. Bless Jay Stephens!

- We were stuck for a few pages after the Vertigo scene was nixed (see a previous post for details). Not sure if the WB segment was a replacement or we made up the difference another way. Either way,  I wasn't sure how to approach the WB animated material. I didn't have an angle. I liked the WB stuff, Sarah and I enjoyed working on Superman. Joey came up with the idea of doing the sequence as a series of storyboards. Which was just terrific, it allowed us a unique visual for the comic and a way to goof around without trashing the “era”. You can see by the artist list that I didn't even consider approaching Bruce Timm or any WB artists. Joey handled that, or someone talked to someone, because I certainly didn't have the nerve to ask. Anyway, Bruce Timm turned us down. Glen Murikami agreed to do it. Bruce Timm saw Glen's pencils and in the end we ended up with Bruce Timm inking Glen Murikami. Hello! It looked great, we got two super-talented people on the roster and increased the star power. How could we fail? Womp womp.

-  I think Darwyn Cooke would have agreed to do the WB sequence if we'd asked. I didn't know it at the time but he was a fan of my work, although he despised the Devil Puppet with a passion. Which I found out years later after meeting him at TCAF. He hated the Devil Puppet. Hated. He also ended up buying the cover of Dork #5. Which was of the Devil Puppet. Darwyn could be a baffling person. So maybe he would have turned us down, after all.

- I didn't have the Dark Knight in the original pitch. I only hit upon the idea when I realized we had two Frank Miller collaborators in Gibbons and Mazzucchelli. I figured, why not write it and see what happens. Weirdly, Frank was someone I knew well enough at the time to contact myself, via e-mail. He turned me down. I sent a nice e-mail thanking him for considering. The nice e-mail changed his mind. How the hell can we not move copies through the comic shops? Wompity womp. Anyway, maybe this is what replaced the Vertigo material.

- You can see that Ty Templeton was considered for practically all the classic/Silver Age sequences. If Dave Gibbons wasn't available, I would have asked Ty to handle that part of the book, I've been a fan of Ty's work since Stig's Inferno back in the day. Recently he announced that he'd been diagnosed with stage-three Colorectal cancer. I just wish him the best of outcomes and long life. A severely underrated can-do cartoonist.

I was super fortunate to work with a murderer's-row of artists on World's Funnest. It was an experience-and-a-half, I'll be posting more about the project, including production art and scripts, in the future. There's a lot of material.