The Man Behind the Castle: A Day with Disney

Disney is a name that has already gone down in history and won't soon be forgotten. Disney is no longer just a name and a family, it's now the name revered by every family, especially in America. To think, it all started with a mouse...

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5 of 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents, Elias and Flora, had five children, four boys and one girl. The Disney's moved to Missouri when Walt was young, and that is where he spent most of his childhood.  He started drawing when he was young, and even sold a few sketched to neighbors. In 1911 he and his family moved to Kansas City where his train-engineer uncle sparked Disney's interest in trains.

Disney took drawing and photography classes in Chicago and attended some night classes from the Chicago Art Institute. He was also was a contributor of cartoons for the school newspaper. When he was 19, he attempted to enlist in the military, but was rejected for being underage. Instead, he signed up for the Red Cross and drove and ambulance for a year in France. This ambulance was supposedly covered in his cartoons.

The Disney brothers with friend and co-worker Iwerks in front of Disney Brothers' Studio

When he returned to Kansas City, his older brother Roy helped him get a job at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio. His employment there began his experimentation with animation and led him to the Kansas City Film Ad Company. Walt started his own company, called Laugh-O-Grams, which created animated shorts to be played before films. This company soon went bankrupt, so he packed up and moved to Hollywood with his old Roy O. Disney.

While he was still employed in Kansas City, he created Alice in Cartoonland, which featured a girl in an animated world. They were also called The Alice Comedies. Disney and his brother started the Disney Brothers' Studios in Hollywood and their first major client contracted the Alice shorts for over $1,000 each. While beginning (1927), they also created Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit.

Oswald: The Lucky Rabbit

One of many setbacks in his career happened about this time when his New York buyer tried to hire him, but would not be fair. Disney was told Universal Studios owned all his cartoons, so Disney set out with a few loyal followers and began something extraordinary: Mickey Mouse.

In 1928, Steamboat Willie was released and became a huge hit. Earlier, in 1925, the name of the studio was changed from Disney Brothers' to Walt Disney Studios. The first feature length animated film was Snow White in 1937.

In 1932, the Disney Art School was established to teach others the Disney style.
In 1939, Disney built the Burbank Studio, and in 1941 there was a workers strike against Disney's "unfair wages and lack of job security."

Much to the joy of Walt, Disneyland was built in 1955 with financial backing from ABC. In 1971, he began purchasing land in Florida that would become Walt Disney World.

Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards won. He is also known as one of the greatest visionaries of the century. He has also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He constantly returned to Marceline, MO, which was the place of most of his inspiration. Sadly, on December of 1966, Walt Disney died of lung cancer.

This is one man that every person in America owes so much to. Not only was he successful doing what he loved, but he gave so much to everyone around him.

Vasquez; Destroyer of Worlds..or Sanity?

Jhonen Vaquez was born on September 1. 1974 and was raised in East San Jose. He spent most of his time drawing and the school paper published some of his comics titled Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. He also created Happy Noodle Boy while in school. He had a friend that demanded comics from him and he tried to create the worst comic he could so she would stop asking. That was how Happy Noodle Boy came into existence. 

Happy Noodle Boy

He graduated in 1992 and attended De Anza College in Cupertino, but dropped out to be a professional cartoonist. In 1995 he met his wife, Tavisha Simons at the Alternative Press Expo. He often incorporates narratives in the borders of his comics. 

Words surround this comic strip from JTHM: "Worship me, stop head, etc"

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac was Vaquez's first comic and ran for eight issues. The logo "Z?" refers to Johnny's insomnia and to Vazquez's hypnophobia; the fear of sleep. It is also the name of his website. The comic follows Johnny's search for the meaning of life, but often ends in horrible deaths, including his own. Johnny is also a schizophrenic whom has two cardboard cut-outs, called The Doughboys. Another is Nail-Bunny; a dead rabbit nailed to the wall, which later becomes a floating head.

Nail-Bunny

Doughboys and Johnny

In 1997, Squee, a supporting character from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, was given a four-issue series. It follows Squee's encounters with aliens, Johnny, and Satan's son. Squee! was nominated for several Eisner Awards. Another full comic by Vaquez is I Feel Sick, which follows Devi, another character from JTHM. The story is about the tortured artist trying to maintian her sanity living in an odd reality. She also converses with one of her paintings, named Sickness. 

Squee

Devi; I Feel Sick

Another character that has gained fame from the mind of Vaquez is Filler-Bunny. He was created to fill up space in the Squee! comics. His antics gained enough popularity to earn him a three issue series of his own. Filler-Bunny is an experimental animal and longs for the sweet arms of death as he is tortured by unseen forces. He often fantasized about death or creatures that are nice to each other, or even a world that doesn't allow monkeys up his butt-hole. All in all, he is a spunky fella that just wants the pain to end.

Filler-Bunny

I have saved the best for last. The most well-known Vasquez art is his series that premiered on Nickelodeon in 2001 and ran until 2003. The show follows Zim, a small alien invader from planet Irk. He and his robot sidekick, GIR, try to take over the world. GIR is a malfunctioning SIR (Standard Information Retrieval) Unit with an eccentric and hyperactive personality. He was sent to Earth by the Almighty Tallest by accident; they didn't know Earth existed. Zim is an incompetent invader, but believes himself to be the best. His arch-enemy, Dib, is a paranormal investigator that is never taken seriously by anyone. His younger sister, Gaz, is a video game addict, and their father is Professor Membrane.

Zim and Gir without and with their earthly disguises

The show's rating began to decline at the end of the season, so only 46 episodes aired on TV and were released to DVD. Since then, Invader Zim and GIR have gained a cult following consisting of punk, emo, and goth stereotypes. The most popular of them all being GIR. He is the loveable, crazy, adorable character.

Gaz with her Game-Slave 2

The show has also won several awards and inspired Invader-Con, 2011, and Invader-Con 2: Doom-Con in 2012. There is also a lot of controversy over the appropriateness of the show for young viewers. Vasquez's style didn't change for the show, except for the language and a few of the gory scenes.

Dib...being Dib

Jhonen Vasquez focuses from a very dark and often morbid sense of humor and vision of reality. He has also become a cult icon since his premier. His style is very geometric and often thin. His main characters often live in a maniac world and talk to (what would normally be) inanimate objects. He plants smiley faces throughout his artwork that follows a very black-comedy formula.

“Nothing quite brings out the zest for life in a person like the thought of their impending death” 

― Jhonen Vasquez, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: Director's Cut

*I do NOT own any of the above images*