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Jones, Toby – 22 Tapes

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22 Tapes

If you’re a Cartoon Network nerd and you’re thinking that the name “Toby Jones” sure seems familiar, congratulations, you are correct! He’s worked on Regular Show for a few years and has dabbled in several other projects. He also put out a comic recently, obviously. I can’t find anywhere online to buy it, but if you’re curious there are a lot of ways to contact the guy and he must have an answer. The concept of the comic was simple enough: he had recently converted several old tapes from his childhood years and was going to watch one each night, making a comic out of his reactions and thoughts on those tapes. He was only able to make it through seven tapes so far (spoiler alert, I guess), but it was a rich variety of material. He cringes at any of his attempts to mimic Tom Green, goes over what was happening on certain days of taping and guesses at possible moods, watches several early attempts at animation (or claymation) and is occasionally mildly impressed with the craftsmanship, but rarely impressed with the content. Impressed with the craftsmanship while also grading on a curve, obviously; good animation for an early high school kid isn’t exactly good animation for Cartoon Network. He even finds a few things that are genuinely funny, much to his own surprise. If you’re the type of person who saves all of this sort of thing from their childhood and are wondering if it’s worth the time to dig through it, this comic provides a possible answer. I’d say they’re at least worth a cursory glance, even though I say that as a guy who has several notebooks worth or writings from high school and college that I haven’t seen in decades, so maybe I’m not the best guy to ask. Still, if you can find a copy of this, it’s fascinating at times and a real peek into both the early creative process and how that process can be seen by the adult version of that person.