Last Hump Day (Wednesday) I got the Steve Rude kickstart project I supported, that included his How to Draw the Animated Nexus tips and Techniques. Steve's love for the Hanna-Barbara style of superhero animation like Space Ghost and Jonny Quest is strongly evident. His fits in the mold excellently. He has done comic projects of Space Ghost and other HB characters with great success to fan and crititcal acclaim.
Steve mentions in the book how has put in a ton of work over 35 years on the getting a animated version of Nexus off the ground, including models sheets, scripts, layouts and a 500 page storyboard, all with "no true prospects" in the sight. When I was at Disney TV I remember hearing Sony was interested, but backed out when they realized Nexus was a mature property. Well, his origin does start with him killing his mass murderer father and becoming a executioner of other mass murderers by order of a mad alien. Not, exactly kid-friendly stuff for the 90's TV.
I hope Steve finds a way to get an Nexus animated project off the ground. I'm not sure he'll be willing to hand off his creation to others to shepherd it through the many minefields of the animation production landscape. If the first page of the 500 page storyboard is any indication, there is a ton of revisons that will be needed to done to turn it into an acceptable production board. Drawing on my experience as a producer/director and Emmy nominated storyboard superviser, that first page is missing at least three establishment scenes just for starters. I met Steve once when he give me permission to use a clip of his Nexus Animated promo for my Dragonfly Flipz books and I got the sense he could dig in his heels when he wanted to. Sorry Steve, but that could be a real problem when dealing with animation execs.
Still this is a nice inside look at a Nexus animated project. I'd like to still see it happen someday. Until then, I'll keep supporting his various print projects.
