Jacob beat me to the punch on the scoop, but here's the full skinny on what might make me break down and get expanded cable again. I just got a sneak peek at the season premiere and it's every bit as hilarious as the pilot, but yet seemed even more visually refined. It also has an extended cameo by the Flight of the Conchords dudes, Bret and Jemaine. Lay-deeeez and gentlemen...

The Drinky Crow Show Premieres on Adult Swim in November
Animated Series Based on Tony Millionaire's Award-Winning Comic Strip Maakies

Based on Tony Millionaire's award-wining comic-strip Maakies, The Drinky Crow Show is a new original series slated to debut on Adult Swim on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 12:15 a.m. (ET/PT).  The animated comedy stars Drinky, a suicidal crow with a drinking problem, and Gabby, a depraved monkey.  Both are crew members aboard the SS Maakies, and together they go on a number of misadventures usually involving drunkenness, violence, and mayhem.

From executive producers Tony Millionaire and Eric Kaplan, The Drinky Crow Show originally aired in May 2007 as part of Adult Swim's "Night of 1,000 Pilots" and quickly became a viewer favorite.  Millionaire is a cartoonist, illustrator, and author, best known for his series of comic books Sock Monkey and his popular weekly comic strip Maakies, for which he has earned multiple Harvey and Eisner awards.  Kaplan has written and produced for a number of television shows, including The Late Show with David Letterman, Malcolm in the Middle, Futurama, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, and HBO's Flight of the Conchords.  Kaplan is currently co-executive producer for the CBS show The Big Bang Theory.

Ten episodes are currently in production at Kaplan's production studio, Mirari Films.  

Tony Millionaire is a cartoonist, illustrator, and author who is perhaps best know for his popular weekly comic strip, Maakies, and his series of comic books, Sock Monkey.  

Eric Kaplan has written for a number of television shows, including The Late Show with David Letterman, Malcolm in the Middle, Futurama, and Andy Richter Controls the Universe.  

The series theme song is performed by They Might Be Giants.

Voice Talent
"Drinky Crow" - Dino Stamatopoulos (More Orel)
"Captain" & "Uncle Gabby" - David Herman
"Captain's Daughter" - Becky Thyre

Be sure to look for DRINKY CROW'S MAAKIES TREASURY, the next Maakies book, collecting the last five years of Maakies into one whopping hardcover, hitting stores in April 2009. And of course, there are all of these existing gems.

The Beguiling presents…

The internationally acclaimed graphic novelists.

Saturday November 15th, 7PM-9PM (doors at 6:30)
At Rocco’s Plum Tomato, Plum Room
585 Bloor Street West, at Markham Street

FREE TO ATTEND

Presented in association with The Italian Cultural Institute,
The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States,
and the French Consulate of Toronto.

TORONTO, Ontario – The Beguiling is proud to present an exclusive engagement with two of the most acclaimed graphic novelists in the world, right here in Toronto! David B., author of the award-winning graphic memoir Epileptic, and Igort, author of the new series Baobab and the publisher of the international Ignatz graphic novel line, will visit Toronto on the evening of Saturday, November 15th, 2008, in support of their new projects.

“We’re very fortunate to have two graphic novelists from overseas come through Toronto,” says Peter Birkemoe, owner of The Beguiling. “Igort’s graphic novels and his work with the Ignatz line are changing the face of comics publishing world-wide… Ignatz is comics’ most innovative publishing model, and one of its most accessible. And David B. is just a phenomenal talent, and his Epileptic is being taught at the University of Toronto this year.”

An Evening with David B. and Igort will include a multimedia presentation of the authors’ works, and an on-stage discussion and a question and answer session. Following the presentation the authors will be available to sign their books.

A wide selection of work from both David B. and Igort will be available for sale at the event courtesy of The Beguiling. The evening will also see the official English-language debut of David B.’s newest book, Nocturnal Conspiracies, from NBM Publishing.

The Beguiling
601 Markham Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M6G 2L7
416-533-9168

A very special event for you lucky Northern Californians: 

An evening with Gene Deitch

Thursday, November 20, 8 PM
San Francisco State University, Fine Arts Building's Coppola Theater (room 101), free, public invited

Gene Deitch will be visiting from Prague as the San Francisco International Animation Festival has invited him to the States for this retrospective program.

Gene says, “I will play a few films in two versions, with my original soundtrack and then substitute tracks imposed by the producers for weird and illogical reasons... As an example of what we who are paid to make films often have to put up with. It should be very revealing, with the stories behind the changes. These examples have never been shown publicly before!”

This program is presented by SF State's Animation Society and ASIFA-SF, a chapter of ASIFA, the International Animation Association.

MoCCA's Kim Deitch celebration includes an especially exciting event this Thursday night, Nov. 13: The Kim Deitch Q+A. In a room full of his original artwork, Kim will discuss his entire career to date and preview images from his current works in progress. 

• The Comics Waiting Room Podcast talks about Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 (and a half-dozen other recent graphic novels)

• Flickr user "tvsavior" posts this photo of Gilbert Hernandez giving a talk at the Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival on Saturday

• Great Caesar's Post! recommends Popeye Vol. 3...

• ... and Pol Culture takes a thorough look at Popeye Vol. 2

• The Oregonian reports from the "Comics and Politics" panel that featured Spain Rodriguez, Patrick Rosenkranz, and Alison Bechdel at last weekend's Wordstock festival in Portland, OR

• Look, a groovy mid-'90s Fantagraphics house ad from J.R. Williams

• The Onion A.V. Club Comics Panel looks at Pocket Full of Rain and Other Stories by Jason

• A Norwegian (I think) ode to Ivan Brunetti

• Four Color Commentary looks at the 45th volume in our Prince Valiant series

• Comics Waiting Room reviews Petey & Pussy by John Kerschbaum

• Link of the Month and Possibly the Year: "The book seems to have been done tongue in cheek... However I am posting this as serious as I want as many as possible to avoid this time in Earth's history."

Wednesday November 19 at 7PM, the New York Stereoscopic Society presents 3D Comics Night, with projections of 3D work by Kim Deitch, Michael Kupperman, R. Sikoryak and others. That almost sounds too cool to be real! Click here for more info.

Maakies fans, let us unite to make Tony Millionaire rich! We all know that comics don't pay well but cartoons do: Tell everyone to watch the premiere of the official Drinky Crow Show series on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming. It debuts in just two weeks, so open a beer and hit those message boards!

To make it easier for you, here are some ad banner thingies to post around. Tony will appreciate it, I assure you.

By the way, I suspect that 12:15 am on Sunday actually means Saturday night. Sunday at 12:15 means Sunday night. Monday morning if you prefer.