One of the zillion things I keep forgetting to do is to let folks know that Mr. Dobbs' book is out! As eeTeeD posted, it is mentioned here, and published here! Just in time for Christmas! Also available through amazon etc. Cover art by Mr. Martin!
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And, my, what is this fine book all about one wonders? Mr. Martin did not allude to its contents! Allow me allude in the spirit of tempting someone to actually purchase it!
Yes, I'm not only a fat bastard, but a self-serving one as well.
Here's the press release:
In 1987, a highly popular television star and an acclaimed film director wouldn’t have selected an animated movie for a project. After all, animation was just for kids and Disney did it best. Right?
So how come in 2007 Jerry Seinfeld co-wrote and starred in an animated film, “A Bee Movie,” and Robert Zemeckis, director of films such as “Back to the Future” and “Forrest Gump,” brought a PG-13 rated animated adventure film “Beowulf” to the screen?
The reason is that animation is no longer just for kids and in his book “Escape! How Animation Broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s,” G. Michael Dobbs describes how animation became free of the kidvid ghetto.
Dobbs reported the evolution as it took place in the pages of his two animation magazines, “Animato” and “Animation Planet” from 1992 to 1998. “USA Today” described “Animato” as “the magazine that is as much fun to read as the subject is to watch,” while Leonard Maltin included the magazine on his “Entertainment Tonight” segment on the 60th anniversary of Popeye the Sailor.
From the shock value of “The Simpsons,” to the experiment of putting “Ren & Stimpy” on MTV to the popularity of anime among teens, animation saw a revival due to a variety of reasons that came about rather organically, as Dobbs shows in his book.
The book has updated interviews with directors who pushed the envelope such as John Kricfalusi (“Ren & Stimpy”), Academy Award nominee Bill Plympton, and Ralph Bakshi (“Fritz the Cat”). He also details the birth of the Cartoon Network, the rise of Nickelodeon and the revival of many animation studios as the renaissance in animation unfolded.
Dobbs interviewed a number of veteran voice actors from June Foray (Natasha on “Rocky and Bullwinkle”) to Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche (“Pinky and the Brain”). During the 1990s, these actors began receiving real recognition for the first time in the history of the medium.
Is animation now truly accepted as just another medium to tell a story? Dobbs believes the industry still has a long way to go.
A newspaper editor, college instructor and broadcaster, Dobbs has been a cartoon fan his entire life. He lives in Springfield, MA. with his wife Mary, Lucky, a disobedient Bichon, and way too many cats.
Okay...now you know. Run over to www.bearmanormedia or your favorite online bookseller and get a copy or two.
I still have some issues of Animato! That magazine was fab. Okay, I'm buyin', yes indeed, Santy Claus is dropping off an early gift for me.
Sounds like a great book. There are several folk there who certainly should prove to supply great interviews (Kricfalusi and Bakshi, especially--I don't think I've ever read interviews with either of them.)
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