Space Cowboy: 18 Years in the Making
This week’s Meth Minute was written when I was a kid. For real. In 8th grade, I drew what I thought was a “graphic novel” (you can read it in about 20 minutes) about a cowboy who lives on the moon and saves the universe. It was meant to be a dark and gritty epic adventure but most people mistook it for intentional comedy. Recently some friends were reading it and laughing so I decided to turn it into a Meth Minute cartoon.
I decided to cast my friend Ben Marra as the title character because everyone who knows him is so taken with his voice, cadence, and mannerisms. I figured that if you want a cartoon character to be funny and likeable, you should just get a person who everyone finds funny and likeable to play him. I gave Ben the comic book to read and then recorded him discussing the adventures of Space Cowboy in first person.
By the way, Ben is also an amazing illustrator who I studied with at Syracuse University. In the picture below he’s working on the spread for Rolling Stone that ended up being evidence #1 in a controversial Supreme Court case against Camel Cigarettes recently. You may have read about in the Wall Street Journal!
Combine his naturalistic vocal reading with some epic backgrounds by Daisy Edwards and un-characteristically comic bookish drawings by myself and you get the magic result:
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On February 7th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I loved this episode. And the fact that it’s based off of something you did back in school is awesome, and it’s really neat to see such a vast transition. It’s quite apparent though that you were still quite the genius back then, haha.
On February 7th, 2008 at 12:00 am
You should upload the original comic!
On February 7th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Great episode! Also, as a Steely Dan fan, I’m incredibly curious as to what next week’s cartoon will be.
On February 8th, 2008 at 12:00 am
haha, I have a copy of the 18 year-old black-and-white original Space Cowboy. It will only become more valuable as the years goes by.
On February 8th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Great product; loved it and was very happy and nostalgic to see Space Cowboy reappear again, it is terrific1
On April 17th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Space coyboy is awsome, keep him coming back!