What do you get when you combine Eisner-nominated artist M.K. Perker (Air, Fables, The Unwritten) and award-winning writer Ken Kristensen (The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist)? An oddity known only as Todd, The Ugliest Kid on Earth and probably the second title I am looking forward to this January (the first spot goes to The End Times of Bram and Ben).The series will be written by the award-winning writer Ken Kristensen and the Eisner-nominated artist M.K. Perker. The two have worked together before on Dark Horse's Escapist anthology and currently have several projects in the works, which include a feature film called Playground alongside writer-producers Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah (Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies, Freaks and Geeks TV series).Don’t expect kiddy comedy since this title will involve comedy, sex and violence. The story follows a dysfunctional family who go up against an Oprah-loving ax murderer, a cult-crazy soap opera star, and a neo-Nazi prison gang.
The main focus is on the dysfunctional family’s son Todd who is a good-natured kid but wears a paper bag over his head because of how ugly he is – if he’s ugly, since we never get to see his face and the Image Comics PR suggests Todd may not be so bad to look at. At which point they need to rename the series Todd: Not the Ugliest Kid on Earth. But that is a little less catchy.Todd is constantly picked on and in an attempt to get some friends he ends up in jail for murder despite being innocent. Soon, prison gangs are riled up and ready to take Todd on (in what sense, I’m almost scared to ask) and Todd’s fate lies in the hands of stupid cops, a strong jailhouse ally, his mother’s sexiness and a celebrity Scientologist who makes Todd’s father a disturbing and possibly irrefutable offer. The concept to Todd: The Ugliest Kid on Earth makes it sound like the series could be both over-the-top and could serve as a good diatribe for bullied kids in the real-world. I just hope the series doesn’t go overboard with cursing and sexual themes to the point where larger audiences aren’t going to be possible, because Todd, The Ugliest Kid on Earth could serve some bullied kids well… depending on the execution.
According to artist M.K. Perker:"In my career, I've had the pleasure of creating crazy characters, but with Todd we've tapped into the most insane parts of our imaginations… Political correctness has no place in this book. Our goal is to create a wholly original world that will make you laugh and break your heart, by any means necessary. We make a solemn promise to our reader: no good deed will go unpunished.”Writer Ken Kristensen adds:"Though the world and characters in Todd are a hyper-real version of small town America, like all satire it deals with important real-world themes… Todd explores the idea that we all live in a prison of some kind – whether it's schoolyard bullying, a bad marriage, shitty job, oppressive religious doctrines, gang membership, or actual prison walls.”Todd, The Ugliest Kid on Earth will be a four-issue mini-series and will be released under the Image Comics label on January 16th, 2013 both in print and digitally and I’m looking forward to it. You can email [email protected] to sign up for the mailing list.You can friend them on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/todd.theugliestkidonearthAnd you can follow them on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ToddTheUgliest
An all-around nerdette, I’m a comic book connoisseur, horror aficionado, video game addict, anime enthusiast and an aspiring novelist/comic book writer. I am the head of the comic book department and the editor-in-chief of Entertainment Fuse. I also write and edit articles for Comic Frontline. I am also an intern at Action Lab Entertainment, a comic book publisher at which I edit comic book scripts, help work on images in solicitations and help with other comic book related project. My own personal website is comicmaven.com.
The main focus is on the dysfunctional family’s son Todd who is a good-natured kid but wears a paper bag over his head because of how ugly he is – if he’s ugly, since we never get to see his face and the Image Comics PR suggests Todd may not be so bad to look at. At which point they need to rename the series Todd: Not the Ugliest Kid on Earth. But that is a little less catchy.
Todd is constantly picked on and in an attempt to get some friends he ends up in jail for murder despite being innocent. Soon, prison gangs are riled up and ready to take Todd on (in what sense, I’m almost scared to ask) and Todd’s fate lies in the hands of stupid cops, a strong jailhouse ally, his mother’s sexiness and a celebrity Scientologist who makes Todd’s father a disturbing and possibly irrefutable offer. The concept to Todd: The Ugliest Kid on Earth makes it sound like the series could be both over-the-top and could serve as a good diatribe for bullied kids in the real-world. I just hope the series doesn’t go overboard with cursing and sexual themes to the point where larger audiences aren’t going to be possible, because Todd, The Ugliest Kid on Earth could serve some bullied kids well… depending on the execution.
According to artist M.K. Perker:
"In my career, I've had the pleasure of creating crazy characters, but with Todd we've tapped into the most insane parts of our imaginations… Political correctness has no place in this book. Our goal is to create a wholly original world that will make you laugh and break your heart, by any means necessary. We make a solemn promise to our reader: no good deed will go unpunished.”
Writer Ken Kristensen adds:
"Though the world and characters in Todd are a hyper-real version of small town America, like all satire it deals with important real-world themes… Todd explores the idea that we all live in a prison of some kind – whether it's schoolyard bullying, a bad marriage, shitty job, oppressive religious doctrines, gang membership, or actual prison walls.”
Todd, The Ugliest Kid on Earth will be a four-issue mini-series and will be released under the Image Comics label on January 16th, 2013 both in print and digitally and I’m looking forward to it.
You can email [email protected] to sign up for the mailing list.
You can friend them on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/todd.theugliestkidonearth
And you can follow them on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ToddTheUgliest
