TV's Kyle Blogs In Front of Everybody

Cartoonist Kyle A Carrozza talks about the stuff he's working on.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Dunbar and Opie part 1

I need to give The Ladies a rest for a while. I'll come back to it later. In the meantime, here's a new one: Dunbar and Opie!


Dunbar and Opie, created by Kyle A Carrozza and Shannon Tagliareni (some of you know her best as Develynia).

Über-geek Dunbar and his evil brother Opie are teenagers growing up in a suburban town that looks normal on the outside, but is really filled with oddities. Adolesence ain't easy when your parents are a superhero and a vampire.


Dunbar Joifle - Dunbar is geek supreme. He's a fine student with a yen for accordion playing, Dragons and More Dragons, and all matter of technical goodies. Dunbar is also a social moron. Due to his years of study and awkward appearance, he doesn't know the first thing about how to act around people. He has no concept of personal space and he's also pretty loud. When startled or frightened, Dunbar cries out "WOAHGUL!" He doesn't do ANYTHING with an iota of subtlety. Dunbar has difficulty with his awkward teenage body as well. He's always tripping over his huge feet and getting tangled up in his own long legs. He's so cheerful, he laughs at inappropriate times. He loves his family very much, but he has some concerns about his little brother Opie. Opie's evil doesn't faze him. Dunbar's worried because he rarely appears happy. He tries to include Opie in activities he enjoys, but that usually just makes his dark brother more miserable.


Opie Joifle- Opie is milking this “Mom is a vampire” thing for all it’s worth. He’s declared himself evil. He wants the world to view him as such, but he’s so scrawny and non-threatening that nobody seems to care. Despite his goal to be a villainous overlord or whatever, Opie finds himself at odds with his own humanity. No matter how unpleasant he tries to be, he has a deep internal desire to make conversation and be a normal teenage boy. He tries to keep it suppressed, but he slips from time to time. Sometimes when his school chums ask him if he wants to play baseball, he can’t help but say yes. Also of note, he has a limited power to summon lightning. He wants to get better at it, so he practices it at every opportunity, though he doesn’t improve much. It’s like watching a novice skateboarder try that one dumb trick over and over again.


Leon Joifle- Having a vampire and a superhero for parents has made escapism tough for young Leon. In fact, it’s made him completely bonkers. He thinks he’s a space ranger and talks to everyone around them as if they’re characters in a sci-fi show. Most notably, Leon thinks the school brat is an evil emperor and that a cute girl he likes is a space princess in distress.


Superdad- Once about twenty years ago, Superbachelor battled Pamula, the evil vampire girl. In mid-battle they caught a glimpse of each other and started dating, and later married and had kids, thus making him Superdad. Superdad is a stone-faced superhero like Batman. Unlike Batman, he's not very good at hiding his identity. He doesn't change his outfit at all between fighting crime and reading the paper at home. Heck, he flies around the house spouting (unsolicited), "I'm not a superhero". He loves his wife, Momula, very dearly. Their relationship is as strong now as when they got married. All three of his sons know his "secret". Dunbar thinks his father is great and wishes to be more like him. Leon thinks he's a friendly ambassador from planet Neezbak. Opie thinks he's a goody-goody and a fool. They exchange intense stares and awkward moments upon crossing each other's paths.


Momula- Momula would be a standard 1950s throwback happy homemaker if not for the undeniable fact that she’s a vampire. Most of the time the family sees her, she’s flying around the house, gleefully cooking and cleaning, but when nobody’s around, she goes out to suck the blood of hapless victims.


Diane Roberts- Diane has been a close friend to Dunbar since they were very young. She is the newest cheerleader on the squad right now, so she has a reputation to build. A big part of being a model cheerleader is maintaining a certain amount of snottiness. That includes not being seen among people below a certain popularity level. Dunbar, as you can imagine is faaaaaaaaar below that popularity level. Diane remains friends with Dunbar, but only in private. If they want to go out and do anything, they have to go to another town where they won't be caught by anyone. Diane's feelings for Dunbar are entirely platonic. Dunbar, however, has it for Diane real bad. He tries to keep it under control since he knows how she feels, but he puts her on a pedestal sometimes. She can't have sugar at all. One taste of sugar will set off an incredible allergic reaction: she blows up like a gas balloon. Lady Dunsinane is Diane's little sister. They try not to acknowledge each other's existence.


Lady Dunsinane- Lady Dunsinane is bored and disenchanted with most things and makes no secret of it. She hangs around Opie because he’s the opposite of her overly-nice surroundings. She almost finds him alluring, but he has a tendency to be insensitive and somewhat chauvinistic, so she can get annoyed by him at the drop of a hat. She’s tired of the banality of her existence (I guess she hasn’t noticed all the weird stuff going on around her), and fantasizes that something spooky and interesting to happen to her someday. Everytime something comes close, it’s a disappointment.


Raven Littlegirl- Raven is very cheerful for a goth. She's a very frightening kind of cheerful... almost as if there is something evil making her happy. But, alas, it's just not true. She may dress it and act it, but she's not into dark, nasty things. In fact, she's attracted to Mr. Nice Guy himself, Dunbar Joifle. She's so drawn to him, that she literally throws herself at him. The combination of her creepiness and her forward nature scares the daylights out of Dunbar. He hides from her and refers to her as "that spooky girl".


Brittany Jolli- Brittany is ridiculously cheery and and has a fascination of all things cute. Especially hamsters. Thing is, she doesn't like to spend time with cheery people. No, she is a firm believer of "opposites attract". She likes talking to people like Lady Dunsinane and she has a big crush on Opie. They can't stand her. She's irritated that Opie is attracted to Raven and not to her. After all, Raven IS cheerful too. No fair!


Defeat Man- Defeat Man was once a cocky fighting robot in another dimension. He became obsolete after a while and went into hiding as another android warrior replaced him. He got very depressed. One day, Leon brought him to Earth as we know it using an interdimensional portal he built out of common household items. Defeat Man is now Leon’s playmate, though he doesn’t say much and always looks miserable. When Leon’s at school, he often acts as Momula’s helper to earn his keep. Lady Dunsinane sometimes acts very affectionate to Defeat Man in an attempt to make Opie jealous.



Tom- Tom is a British ghost who started following Lady Dunsinane around one day. He has something very important to tell her, but nobody knows what it is because she won’t listen to him. Because he’s so soft-spoken and not-at-all scary, Lady Dunsinane has no respect for him. She considers him just another one of those things in her life that just wasn’t spooky enough to be romantic and exciting. Besides Lady Dunsinane, nobody seems to be able to see him except Dunbar. Sometimes Tom possesses people so he can have a physical body to be in and use, but if the body sneezes, he goes flying out.

19 Comments:

Blogger a-ron said...

I'm loving the hamster handbag and of course--- the facial sketches!

9:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love Raven Littlechild.

10:01 PM  
Anonymous Miss Lindsay said...

*giggles at Momula*

This was one of my favorites to watch you pitch. It's nice to learn more about it. :3

10:05 PM  
Anonymous Neil said...

I love how you've created a world with only the really happy and the really miserable, the lack of any middle ground is brilliant and it sets the stage for a lot of fun. I can't wait for the episode ideas!

10:09 PM  
Anonymous Chris said...

One of my favorite things I've seen you draw/sketch/talk about. I've been wondering all about Dunbar & Opie, and now I'm finally getting to know more about it.

I'd so want to voice Opie.

10:30 PM  
Blogger BluePlastic said...

oooh, i've always liked this one. I can't say I blame Opie for milking the "Mom is a vampire" thing...If my mom was a vampire, I'd be all over that like red on blood. :) One thing I always liked about this is that few of the characters are as simple as they first appear, and often the opposite of what you'd expect, or some grey area...I love complexity and you always like to give it. :)

I must say I've always been surprised that Dunbar and Opie don't have more powers and traits from their parents...but maybe you'll be developing that later...

1:51 AM  
Anonymous Teela said...

"Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him."- Macbeth, Act IV, scene i

Sorry, just though of that when I saw Lady Dunsinane. I'm a sucker for allusions.

I like the look of Momula, but I've always liked the more retro things. I also like Tom. Tom looks pretty cool. And I like the somewhat polar personalities. Good look overall!

7:11 AM  
Blogger TV's Kyle said...

That's exactly where I got the name, too!
Thanks!

7:13 AM  
Blogger Orful Productions said...

I love the idea of Superdad being this quite obvious superhero but trying to deny it all the time. The bit you said about flying around the house denying it put a good mental image in my head.

I love how the mum and dad's names change when they get married as well

Defeat Man look like he could be a good character too

8:11 AM  
Blogger Miss Critter said...

Momula made me pee a little.

10:45 AM  
Blogger Grey Lady Down said...

I swear, Momula is so amazing. This is one of your most fleshed-out and complex pitches yet.

1:41 PM  
Anonymous Teela said...

Cool, I figured that you got the name from there. Then again, you could have just read it. Just out of curiosity, which play is your favorite?

And no prob!

4:33 PM  
Blogger TV's Kyle said...

I'm not sure if I'm qualified to have a favorite as I'm not at all well-versed in Shakespeare.

5:00 PM  
Blogger John Berry said...

This seems like one of those brilliant ideas that can only gain an audience if it lasts long enough for a second season. Man, do I hope that works out. Hopefully too many characters don't spoil the broth (to botch a figure of speech).

Super Dad and Momula's relationship reminds me of that dragon and knight who got married in Dragon Half.

6:30 PM  
Blogger TV's Kyle said...

A half hour is a long time to play. Really, we're got about the same number of characters as shows like South Park, Simpsons, Family Guy, Goof Troop, and Proud Family, shows with a similar format.

Hah! I hadn't thought of the Dragon Half thing! I love Dragon Half! Definately a similar weird match, but there's no fighting and bickering between Momula and Superdad. They get along remarkably well.

8:21 PM  
Anonymous Teela said...

Well, you can still have a favorite based off what you've read. Either way, it depends on how you look at it I suppose.

6:09 PM  
Anonymous ashley (jackandsally4ever) said...

yea, the hamster handbaggie thing is so cute :D i also like the concept of the ghost guy following dusdaine (spelling?) around and she just ignores him because he's not romanticly goth enough XD your ability to make up these characters with such interesting backgrounds and abilities is just so cool :) it takes me like...months just to come up with my characters. i guess you get better with age ^^;

10:10 AM  
Anonymous KazuyaDarklight said...

Well I dont know about the tv execs but you made me want to see it made. Sounds like a great show.

5:14 PM  
Blogger Nelson Luty said...

Hey Kyle!I love your job.Great Your Job!!!Very Funny!

11:09 AM  

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