Doug TenNapel isn\u2019t your ordinary guy who doodles on a church bulletin when the sermon gets boring.<\/p>\n\n
Instead, the Eisner Award-winning cartoonist scribbles in his daily calendar \u2014 creating a bridge from the pew to his studio. The result is a pocket universe of character sketches, strange movie ideas and graphic \u201cplot wheels\u201d in which he works out the twists and turns in his stories.<\/p>\n\n
These days, swarms of Kid Elves on flying logs bump into sketches of Bigfoot, next to rough ideas for a violent, at times profane graphic novel that TenNapel is creating about crime bosses, invading aliens and an inquisitive priest.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI can write 10 of these stories a year, but I only have time to draw one,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I see these things in my head, it\u2019s like I\u2019m watching movies. \u2026 But in the past they\u2019ve been too far out for Hollywood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
TenNapel is a cult figure with online fanboys who admire his work in cartoons, video games, television and, especially, his book-length graphic novels with complex plots and images that resemble movie storyboards. But things will change if his \u201cCreature Tech\u201d reaches movie theaters.<\/p>\n\n
What is the graphic novel about? Publishers Weekly said: \u201cIt\u2019s the story of the battle between the abrasive good-guy scientist Dr. Ong and the resurrected Dr. Jameson, a malevolent 19th-century occultist-mad scientist who sought to rule the world. Ong \u2026 returns to his hometown after being appointed to direct a research facility locals call Creature Tech. There, he opens a crate housing the Shroud of Turin. Things get complicated when the ghost of Jameson \u2026 steals the shroud, resurrects his own body and resumes trying to take over the world with the help of an army of conjured hellcats and a gigantic space eel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Wait, there\u2019s more. Ong is also a seminary dropout and his father is a pastor who used to be a scientist. Then there\u2019s the 7-foot mantis the U.S. government sends as a security team and the symbiotic alien parasite that clamps onto the hero\u2019s chest and, strangely enough, makes him a better person.<\/p>\n\n
This is a normal TenNapel plot.<\/p>\n\n
It helps to understand that he grew up in rural Turlock, Calif., in a home that, during his childhood years, contained many religious influences \u2014 from atheism to evangelicalism. He studied art at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego and eventually took a TV animation job with \u201cThe Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Then he moved into video games, leading to his 1994 hit \u201cEarthworm Jim.\u201d Two years later, Steven Spielberg hired him to create the \u201cNeverhood\u201d games for Dreamworks. TenNapel was a digital success, but he also spiraled into burnout. Then, in 2002, he created \u201cCreature Tech.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The key moment came when the blogger called \u201cMoriarty\u201d posted the following at the Ain\u2019t It Cool (aintitcool.com) site for film insiders.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt. It\u2019s weird. \u2026 It\u2019s also very funny, profoundly sweet and heartfelt, touching in a strange way, and serious about concepts like faith and family without being in any way preachy or corny,\u201d he wrote. \u201cSimply put, Creature Tech is the best American animated film since The Iron Giant. \u2026 Better than anything from any studio. \u2026 It\u2019s a movie that just happens to be in print.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Within minutes, studios started calling his agent. Regency Enterprises and 20th Century Fox won the bidding war and early work began on a live-action movie.<\/p>\n\n
Part of the challenge, admitted TenNapel, is capturing his blend of fantasy and Christian faith. Some critics wish he would quit weaving sin, redemption, politics and science into his plots. Then there are church people who think he should be drawing evangelistic, \u201cChristian comics\u201d and avoiding his occasional blasts of sci-fi potty humor.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Doug TenNapel isn\u2019t your ordinary guy who doodles on a church bulletin when the sermon gets boring. Instead, the Eisner Award-winning cartoonist scribbles in his daily calendar \u2014 creating a bridge from the pew to his studio. The result is a pocket universe of character sketches, strange movie ideas and graphic \u201cplot wheels\u201d in which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[79,253,324,431,666],"class_list":["post-1423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-art","tag-comics","tag-entertainment","tag-hollywood","tag-pop-culture"],"yoast_head":"\n