In just four short years, my friend Bob Lipski’s comic book “Uptown Girl” has gone from an independent monthly comic to a live action movie and now, a pilot for an animated series! I had the honor of seeing the full pilot today at its premier here in Rochester, MN. Bob, co-writer Brian Bastian (of “Tommy Chicago“), two of the voice actors and one of the animators from Monkey with a Mustache Entertainment were all on hand to talk to the attendees.

There will be another showing of the animated series pilot on Monday, November 13th, at the Sumner Community Library in Minneapolis. Showtime is 6PM. For information, call 612-630-6390.

Here, check out a clip from the pilot!

I found the pilot to be satisfyingly funny and it has some nice 3D animation mixed in with the 2D. There are some rough bits of animation, particularly when the characters turn around (witness the cat which blends as it turns around), and the pacing could be better, though that’s just a matter of editing. it’s a promising pilot, though; the main point is to get across the characters’ relationships and the style of the proposed series. It stays very close to the nature of the comic, though Uptown Girl now works for a fictitious paper, Mean Mr. Mustard is now black (perhaps he always was; the book is black and white!) and Mr. Claw has gained a Japanese upbringing.

I think this could make for a great daytime series on TV. If anything, there may be a problem in targeting the show just because it has a lot of wry humor that adults can appreciate, though the show can be watched by young kids. It’s too clean to be on Adult Swim, even though it’s funnier than some of the junk in the Adult Swim line-up.

If anything, it makes me think of Homestar Runner, which is also safe for kids and funny to adults. Perhaps that’s a better business model. Online cartoons would draw an audience who could buy the books (and eventually plush toys, T-shirts, hats, maquettes, action figures, DVDs of the episodes, etc.), with the added benefit that Lipski wouldn’t have fo sign away his creation to a network.

Well, we shall see what happens, and I wish Bob and Brian the best. It must be great to go from publishing via Kinko’s to pitching to TV in just a couple years!

Hey! Look what I found! Want to see a wannabe Tarantino crime drama called “The Accomplice” made by the Monkey with a Mustache? It’s like “Reservoir Dogs” made by 19-year-olds. Dang, this is a pretty big movie file. I hope I don’t kill their traffic. I was playing it while I wrote this up. Parts of this are exceptionally good, especially the Chinese food part. Good storytelling.