Doug TenNapel
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Douglas TenNapel (birthdate unknown, presumably born in Turlock, California) is an American musician, animator, Eisner Award-winning artist and film maker.
TenNapel started out as an animator on Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series, and soon began working in the video game industry on projects like 1993's Jurassic Park for the Sega Genesis, Stimpy's Invention also for the Sega Genesis and Jungle Book for the SNES and Sega Genesis.
In 1994, TenNapel created Earthworm Jim a character that became a video game, toy line and cartoon series.
In 1996 TenNapel created what is perhaps his most famous creation to date for Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks, The Neverhood for the PC. TenNapel also made a sequel for the Neverhood entitled Skullmonkeys in 1998.
In the late 1990s, TenNapel began filming his first feature length live action film, entitled Mothman. Although there have been a handful of screenings at Comedian Conventions, as of 2002, that film was never finished. The movie seemed cursed by some. Gene Andrusco, who was the film's music editor, and performed some of the music, as a member of the Lost Dogs, died somewhat mysteriously. Andrusco, 38, was found dead in his production studio in Huntington Beach, California, during the early morning of March 30, 2000, of a brain aneurysm or heart attack. The sudden passing of Andrusco is today chronicled on The Mothman Death List. TenNapel's Mothman movie remains perhaps unfinished, and certainly, unreleased.
TenNapel was also the creator of the Project G.e.e.K.e.R. cartoon series for CBS, and was a consulting producer on the ABC series Push, Nevada with Ben Affleck.
In 1998 TenNapel released the comic book GEAR, a surreal epic based on his real life cats, Simon, Waffle, Gordon and Mr. Black in a war against dogs and insects using giant robots as weapons. The cats from GEAR would eventually become the Nickelodeon series Catscratch.
In 2002, TenNapel released his second graphic novel, Creature Tech, through Top Shelf. TenNapel's graphic novel was soon the focus of a bidding war between movie studios. 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises won the war and are developing the script for a live action motion picture based on the novel.
TenNapel did the cover art for several of Five Iron Frenzy's albums, including a scuplture for their live album, Proof That the Youth Are Revolting. TenNapel has also created album covers and artwork for several Daniel Amos CDs, The 1999 tribute to the band, When Worlds Collide, the Neverhood soundtrack Imaginarium: Songs from the Neverhood and others.
TenNapel is also the lead singer of an independent band called Truck.
TenNapel is an active blogger and his candid posts are often controversial among his fans.
Contents |
[edit] Discography
- When Worlds Collide: A Tribute to Daniel Amos, 1999 Daniel Amos tribute album
[edit] Filmography
- Earthworm Jim (TV series), cartoon
- Project G.e.e.K.e.R., cartoon
- Mothman
- Koghead and Meatus, animated short
- Push, Nevada, consulting producer
- Sockbaby, Director and Actor
- Catscratch, cartoon
[edit] Bibliography
- "The Strange Kid's Chronicles" (a series of five children's books, published by Scholastic)
[edit] Graphic novels
- Gear (Image Comics, 1999, ISBN 1-58240-680-4)
- "GEAR begins with four incompetent cats who are assigned to high-jack a Giant Killer Robot. The plans are made, the cats lay in wait, the Robot comes and everything goes wrong. On the other side of town, two detectives find a body and a mystery unfolds. The cat's home town giant robot guardian is attacked by a gargantuan mechanical insect. The whole town is thrown into a panic as they wait for the heroic return of the bumbling cats sent to bring back a Giant Killer Robot protecter. The backstory of a gear-shaped artifact called the Forbidden Mechanism is explored. The cat town is attacked by hordes of insect arimies while the Elder contemplates the fate of their world."
- "Good battles evil, and the world hangs in the balance! Resurrected by the Shroud of Turin, the zombified Dr. Jameson intends to finish what he started 150 years ago - destroying the earth with a giant space eel. Standing in his way is Dr. Ong, a would-be pastor-turned-scientist who now works in a government research facility infamously known as 'Creature Tech.' Aided by an unlikely cast of rednecks, symbiotic aliens, and a CIA-trained mantid, Dr. Ong embarks on a journey of faith, love, and self-discovery. All in a day's work at Creature Tech!"
- Top Shelf's fastest selling first printing; 5,000 copies sold out in 90 days.
- 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises picked up the feature film rights.
- Tommysaurus Rex (Image Comics, 2004, ISBN 1-58240-395-3)
- "A tale about a boy and his T Rex! Ely is an everyboy trying to cope with the death of his dog Tommy. When he finds a live, 40-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex trapped in a cave behind his grandfather's house, Ely embarks on an adventure to tame this seemingly friendly giant, convince the town his new pet isn't a threat, and keep his dinosaur safe from the jealous town bully. With Tommysaurus Rex at his side, Ely discovers what it takes to be a man... and what it costs."
- Earthboy Jacobus (Image Comics, 2005, ISBN 1-58240-492-5)
- "Chief Edwards retires from the Modesto Police Department a lonely man. On his way home, he hits a flying whale with his car, opening the beast's mouth to find a boy from a parallel universe named Jacobus. Chief discovers that a society of insect monsters want to kill this boy due to a mysterious virus that grows on his hand. He becomes a father figure to the boy and trains him how to survive insect monsters by becoming a great American ass-kicker."
- Iron West (Image Comics, 2006, ISBN 1-58240-630-8)
- "Preston Struck is an incompetent outlaw with a heart of fool's gold. He discovers an army of metal men bent on destroying central California. While Struck avoids any form of heroism, he gets a little help from a magical old shaman and his sidekick Sasquatch. Struck is going to need all the help he can get because he's deputized just as the mechanical men have taken over the railroad and are mutating the train into a giant demonic iron monster."
