
Douglas TenNapel began his career as an animator and illustrator, but when he created Earthworm Jim, the mid-90s video game character that spawned a small multimedia empire, TenNapel began to draw acclaim and name recognition. Over a decade later, TenNapel has settled into the role of a solidly consistent graphic novelist whose work routinely draws the attention of Hollywood filmmakers. TenNapel discusses his most recent graphic novel, “Monster Zoo,” which comes out from Image Comics on May 7th.
“It’s about three kids who are trapped in a zoo where the animals are turning into monsters,” TenNapel said of the graphic novel’s plot. Specifically, “Monster Zoo” tells the tale of a failing Los Angeles zoo that seizes upon a promotional opportunity in an effort to boost attendance. That opportunity comes in the form of the mysterious Ungabe idol. Within the idol lurks a cursed animal spirit that, once unleashed in the zoo’s confines, promises to bring about a veritable “animal apocalypse.”
Said TenNapel. “The main character is a skinny high school kid named Ty. He wants to be a hero like his father who was a soldier recently killed in Afghanistan.” It’s Ty and his friends that are trapped in the zoo and become the last defense against the Ungabe-created monsters that the zoo’s denizens are becoming.

While the premise of Monster Zoo promises exciting action, there’s more to the story. TenNapel talked about the inspiration for the gawky Ty. “I love animals so I made the hero an animal lover who gets the opportunity to be a hero on his own terms. I think a lot about today’s youth and wonder if my generation has something to worry about regarding the ability to fight. This story goes into some of that.”
TenNapel expects that fans of his previous work will likely find more of what they enjoyed in “Monster Zoo,” Asked how the book differs, the creator responded, “I don’t think it really does. It fits well on the shelf with my other books. The thing that sticks out the most in my mind is that I think this story has more poop and fart jokes than all of my previous books combined...and that’s a LOT of poop and fart jokes.”
The consistency of quality found in TenNapel’s work can likely be traced to the consistency exhibited in how he approaches each project. “I approach my projects the same way,” he said, “starting on note-cards and sketches. I tighten them into a formal comic script then execute the illustration of the comic. I do a lot of reference photography in pre-production so I don’t have to stop while drawing a page to find out what a zoo tram looks like. I have a stack of reference sitting on my art desk that I generated from the script.”
“Boys 8-12 years old,” TenNapel answered when asked about his target audience for “Monster Zoo.”. “In other words, your average 40 year old comic book fan.”

“Just kidding,” he added. “I actually made this book for everyone. Other than the haters, I don’t see why readers wouldn’t find something to like about this book. It’s probably my most accessible to date. I’m always trying to open up my audience instead of exclude readers. I think comics in general has a problem with leaving too much of the audience behind only to turn around and complain about low book sales.”
It’s “Monster Zoo’s” accessibility that likely led to its speedy acquisition by Hollywood. “I can only tell you that it was optioned by Sam Raimi and Paramount, “TenNapel said of the recent development. “I’m involved as an executive producer and a writer if they need me.”
After working in animation, television, and involvement in his graphic novels’ adaptation into film, the writer and artist has not veered from releasing a steady stream of original graphic novels to the marketplace. Said TenNapel, “Graphic novels are my favorite medium of all the ones I work in. It’s simply the greatest medium available to the writer/artist. I guess I’d rather do movies but come on, if I waited to do a movie before I told these stories I don’t think any of them would have reached the public by now. I’m here to tell stories no matter what. Graphic novels enable me to tell those stories so I have a special place in my heart for this valuable medium.”
Does TenNapel have plans to revisit any of his past graphic novel properties? “No plans,” he said.
“I dream of doing more ‘Earthboy Jacobus,” TenNapel said of the tale of a boy from a parallel universe who comes to Earth in the mouth of a flying whale and learns to battle insect monsters from his own dimension.”
I’m torn,” he continued, “because I could expand that world or go create a new one and it’s always funner for me to make something new than expand something old. But ‘Earthboy Jacobus’ has an epic prequel and sequel and I hope I get to it before I die some day. But in the end I’m not especially fond of going back into conquered territory.”
Given TenNapel’s steady stream of work, it should come as no surprise that the stream will remain unbroken. “I’m writing my next graphic novel that will probably come out in 2009 and I just got a new pilot picked up at Cartoon Network. “