Animation History - Blog Posts

I’m still working on some big projects, so time for a little something something: a piece of animation history known as No Neck Joe.

The shorts themselves aren’t that amazing, they’re just short, silent cartoons backed by a peppy synth soundtrack that build up to an absurd joke at No Neck Joe’s existence. What makes them interesting is how this was Craig McCracken’s first pieces of animation work and how they were a staple at Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Animation Festival, though I don’t see how they are that sick after watching them (oh, do I jinx myself).

It does beg the question - what would an adult oriented show backed by Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust would look like? Maybe not this, but it’s certainly a thought. However, by the time Craig finished these shorts he was hard at work on Dexter’s Laboratory and soon the Powerpuff Girls, for some reason they were somehow popular enough a new set of shorts were commissioned by the Spike and Mike festival from a pre-Jimmy Neutron and Barynard DNA Productions, which feature stark enough differences with the art style, humor, animation and character design.

Yeah, now these shorts go places content wise. At least No Neck Joe gets a happy ending…

You can watch the complete collection of shorts below, but they do contain mature content later on so be advised if you’re sensitive to that stuff.