John Blabber: You guys have traveled the world for this franchise, was that always the plan from the get-go or did the popularity of Cyanide and Happiness catch you by surprise?
Rob DenBleyker: It was definitely not planned. When we started making the comics, we were doing it to make ourselves laugh. They still make us laugh, but now tons of other people are reading it too for some reason. It’s been a wild ride, and I think the success took all of us by surprise.
Cyanide and Happiness has had an animated series for a bit now, working with the brilliant guys over at LowBrow. How did you come to work with them?
We’ve known the Lowbrow guys for ages. We all started out as amateur Flash animators in our teens, posting our stuff at Newgrounds.com. Working with Lowbrow is a natural fit because we all use the same tools and have a similar sense of humor. They pour huge amounts of work into not only making the animations look good, but making them as funny as they can be.
What separates this NEW Cyanide animated series, versus the shorts series.
The episodes are longer, and feature some bigger, crazier ideas that we’ve always wanted to produce, but were never able to on our own. If the shorts are a shrimp cocktail, then the episodes are the lobster dinner. We haven’t figured out what dessert is.
What was it about television that you didn’t like that you get when you distribute your content online?
The way I see it, a TV, a computer, and a smartphone are more or less interchangeable these days, in most people’s minds. What matters is getting our stuff directly to our fans eyeballs, and there’s no better platform for that than the Internet. TV is absolutely still something we’re interested in, but we grew Cyanide & Happiness online and weren’t quite ready to put up a wall between the shorts and our fans.
What are some of the synopses/ plots for the new animated series? Is everything still rather random ala the shorts/cartoon series or is there a bit more structure given the longer format.
Giant cats, time travel, wrestling, gypsy curses, alien invasions. We have all sorts of strange plots going on. There’s a little bit more structure, but not too much.
Will the shorts series continue with the longer series now in production?
The shorts will end as the episodes begin.
What’s next for Cyanide and Happiness? We’ve seen a couple of online brands being picked up for feature-length, is that something you guys are talking about?
Maybe! First let’s see about Season 2. I’d love to do a feature one day, though.
I will say this, whenever I go to a Con where you guys are at, I can’t help but love the dedication you guys have for your fans. I mean, you go to a booth, and there are lines literally WRAPPED around your booths, waiting for you guys to draw them something, and you guys do it for EVERY fan. Why is that?
I love conventions. I spend most of my year behind a computer scrambling to do comics, writing, and storyboards. Meeting fans face to face makes it feel real. It’s a reminder that people are actually enjoying these little cartoons we grind away at all day, which makes the effort completely worth it.
What’s in store for future Cyanide and Happiness merchandise?
It’s hard to say. A DVD is in the works, for sure.
Cyanide and Happiness the animated series kicks off November 13th, only on Explosm!
"There are also other characters that come and go (also owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate media company)."
Huh. Is that just referring to other characters from the show itself, or is this implying that the new season is going to have cameos from other WBD IPs