Justin Michael
@heyjustin.bsky.social
writer, performer, father of 12 rowdy boys ✏️ Infinity Train, Among Us, Bone 🎭 voice actor, improviser 🎤 Nature Talks to Itself, Batman: The Animated Podcast ✌️ Creator of The Flintstones Subscribe to my newsletter: https://linktr.ee/heyjustin
I went to Comic Con and all I got was this lousy newsletter!! Comic Con's easy to make fun of, but it's a bastion of creative inspiration and human made art if you look beyond the brands. I wrote about getting inspired by the little things at SDCC.
The Church of San Diego Comic Con
Dunk me in your nasty water and baptize me, Pale Man.
buttondown.com
I went to Comic Con and all I got was this lousy newsletter!! Comic Con's easy to make fun of, but it's a bastion of creative inspiration and human made art if you look beyond the brands. I wrote about getting inspired by the little things at SDCC.
The Church of San Diego Comic Con
Dunk me in your nasty water and baptize me, Pale Man.
buttondown.com
Hell yeah. Extremely happy to see title cards make a triumphant return.
Thorne Identity@thorneidentity.bsky.social · last wk.Wow season 2 of Among Us is a whack-a-mole game very avante-garde choice.
Here's a classic for Sci-Fi Cutaway Saturday: A 1970s cutaway view of a Toroidal Colony, by NASA artist Rick Guidice
Tonight we're watching promos from the 1990s Console Wars on VHS with special guest @heyjustin.bsky.social! Live on www.twitch.tv/bossbugkc and www.youtube.com/@BossBugKC
Background paintings by Jenny Gase-Baker for Batman Beyond (1999–2001), created by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett, Warner Bros. Television Animation
I strongly believe that, in comedy, you have to make as many of the weird jokes as you can. That's where the voice actually is. Broadest jokes possible in order to not alienate anyone are boring because it's the same joke anyone can think of, no surprise or subversion to be found. Boring boring!
Why do so many supervillains wear purple and green? In this hard-hitting essay* I answer a question that's plagued comic book readers for millennia. Read it below! *mostly a casual list with some crackpot color theory
Supervillain Summer
My favorite purple and green supervillains.
buttondown.com
Teaching a new animation writing class at UCB! It's genuinely one of my favorite things to do, would love to see you there if you live in LA. We're gonna have fun! Got a few spots left, sign up here: shorturl.at/E1M1T
From the very first animated series I made with Harry Chaskin and Dan Lippert! The initial pitch was simply a stop-mo sitcom all about Ron Perlman and Guillermo del Toro living together as roommates. NORMAL. Mostly fueled by how much we loved seeing their real life friendship play out at comic con.
Ugly Mug Productions@uglymugproductions.bsky.social · last mo.Storyboard to screen comparison from #friendshipallstars. Since we don't shoot coverage in animation, timing the edit in advance via animatic is incredibly important to make sure the angles work, the action is clear and the jokes land.
I've been reflecting on how you safely introduce kids to scary stuff by exploring the hidden horrors of my own childhood. Come for the N64 Zelda and Batman: The Animated Series, stay for the Disneyland dark rides and Universal Tram Tour!
Scaring the Children
Zelda, Batman, Disney and the hidden horrors of childhood.
buttondown.com
Ed Lindlof's 1985 cover art for Neil Postman’s "Amusing Ourselves to Death"
Rediscovered this old Infinity Train promo I made in between writers meetings aka 🎵 come on baby do the locomotion 🎵
Rambled about writing for Among Us, I Love Boosters and why I love cartoony gags with something to say!
Cartoony Gags with a POV
Among Us, I Love Boosters and gags with a POV.
buttondown.com
AMONG US IS HERE! Thrilled to write for this confidently bonkers sci-fi comedy murder mystery made by the best crew of artists and one secret impostor trying to undermine the creative process (def not me 🤫). First ep is free on YouTube, full season is avail to stream nowwww!
Last year I started my own indie animated show called King Cockroach Live!, an outline-driven improvised livestream with story arcs, reoccurring characters, and interactivity. Our little team of 3 puts a ton of work into this each week - hope to see you there! twitch.tv/BossBugKC
Wrote about the dangers of world building this week. Come for the Backrooms, stay for The Dark Crystal!
The Dangers of World Building
Backrooms, The Dark Crystal and the pitfalls of world building.
buttondown.com
“Creative breakthroughs happen when visionary storytellers are given access to transformative tools”-- Actually, creative breakthroughs happen when people don't have to drink brown water from data center waste. This is not cool or accessible, this is disingenuous & disappointing.
Animation Magazine@animag.bsky.social · 2mo agoThree AI animated series are heading to Prime Video streaming via Amazon MGM/AWS-backed GenAI Creators' Fund: 'Cupcake & Friends;' 'Love, Diana Music Hunters;' and 'Punky Duck' from Jorge Gutierrez.
I wrote about why I love world building and how we approached it on #InfinityTrain. And now you can read it!
The Joy of World Building
My favorite part of writing is world building.
buttondown.com
Don’t worry guys everything is gonna be okay, Bowfinger is getting a 4k physical media release.
Genie, for my third and final wish I’d like a supercut of all the college grads booing out of touch commencement speakers proselytizing AI. Preferably backed by something like yakety sax.
Justin Michael, my long time friend and fellow Infinity Train writer, is starting a newsletter. You should subscribe!
Justin Michael@heyjustin.bsky.social · 3mo agoStarting a newsletter to talk about making art, writing process, creative projects and whatever else surfs through my brain 🏄♂️ Probably some behind-the-scenes / making of stuff from my time writing on Infinity Train and other TV shows, too? Join meeeeeeee in your inbox to find out!
