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A review by mschlat
Go Team Venture!: The Art and Making of the Venture Bros. by Doc Hammer, Jackson Publick, Cartoon Network
4.0
It's a luxuriously produced $40 coffee table book that covers the first six seasons of The Venture Brothers. You get an introduction to each season along with a few pages about each episode along with background paintings, sketchbook drawings, and a photo-collection of related paraphernalia (t-shirts, glasses, DVD sets, etc...)
And I'm not quite sure it's worth it.
Here's the issue. Ken Plume, in compiling this behemoth, has included copious interviews with Jackson Publick (show creator, writer, director and major voice actor) and Doc Hammer (writer, painter, and major voice actor).
And nobody else.
There's nothing from any of the other voice talent (most notably, nothing from Patrick Warburton). There's nothing from anyone from Adult Swim. There's nothing from anybody else who regularly works on the show. You get a teensy introduction from Patton Oswalt.
And, yes, it's Jackson's and Doc's baby. You absolutely need to get their take on almost everything. But there's no other perspective. And the emphasis on just those two leads to two problems.
1) There's often more focus on how they work together than on the nuts and bolts of the show. It's cool to see how they develop as a team, but I was yearning for more details on characters and creative decisions than what I got.
2) It's repetitive. The first time you get an insight about how they write shows out of order or how Jackson falls apart around show eight or how the backgrounds are designed, it's cool. The second or third or fourth time, it's just filler. So when I was (again) hoping for more details on characters and plotlines, I get filler.
Now, if you are a Venture Brothers fan, you're probably getting this anyway. And I don't blame you --- there's still a ton to learn. (For me, I loved the early glimpses of the comic book origins of the show and the kerfuffle over the season 2 cliffhanger.) But the whole didn't really work for me.
And I'm not quite sure it's worth it.
Here's the issue. Ken Plume, in compiling this behemoth, has included copious interviews with Jackson Publick (show creator, writer, director and major voice actor) and Doc Hammer (writer, painter, and major voice actor).
And nobody else.
There's nothing from any of the other voice talent (most notably, nothing from Patrick Warburton). There's nothing from anyone from Adult Swim. There's nothing from anybody else who regularly works on the show. You get a teensy introduction from Patton Oswalt.
And, yes, it's Jackson's and Doc's baby. You absolutely need to get their take on almost everything. But there's no other perspective. And the emphasis on just those two leads to two problems.
1) There's often more focus on how they work together than on the nuts and bolts of the show. It's cool to see how they develop as a team, but I was yearning for more details on characters and creative decisions than what I got.
2) It's repetitive. The first time you get an insight about how they write shows out of order or how Jackson falls apart around show eight or how the backgrounds are designed, it's cool. The second or third or fourth time, it's just filler. So when I was (again) hoping for more details on characters and plotlines, I get filler.
Now, if you are a Venture Brothers fan, you're probably getting this anyway. And I don't blame you --- there's still a ton to learn. (For me, I loved the early glimpses of the comic book origins of the show and the kerfuffle over the season 2 cliffhanger.) But the whole didn't really work for me.