He's quick to add, "Now, I have to unpack that, because it's not fair to just make DP out to be a rip-off artist, but at the same time, I didn't have legal representation and I had to trust his handshake on my role as creator. ... That said, I burned myself out of control of my character, [and] that, I think, is the burn that keeps on burning. If you hate incarnations of EWJ, it's probably because they're jacking with stuff that is out of my control, and when I had control, you loved the character ... because I get Jim better than others."
"I can't let your readers think that this is the end of the story, because while I cut myself out of some of Jim's profits, even my tiny slice landed me a quarter million dollars and a fine salary, notoriety and incredible training working with DP. He's a generous employer and a good friend, just not a perfect friend. And even today, when I pitch a show to JJ Abrams [Alias, Lost], he shakes my hand and says, 'You created Earthworm Jim?! Have a seat and let's talk.' So Jim is the burn that continues to burn with what I can't do with him, but he is the gift that has opened every career door I currently walk through. We can play the would've, should've, could've game all day, but I'm in a good spot today, and it was all because I was willing to shake DP's hand that day instead of exercising my rights and putting his nuts in a vice."
I asked him if he had any bad feelings about the deal, or about Dave Perry. "When s--- companies cut me out of control of my own character, recreate the character, don't want to pay me to work on the character and I have to ask someone else's permission to do a movie of my character, I have some bad feelings about signing that deal in 1994 ... because that's where I signed away some of those rights and left the character open for idiots to destroy. But DP and I get along fine, and we had fun for the short time we worked together on Jim PSP. It was going to be the greatest game of all time, along the lines of the original Jim, using much of the original team. I don't know what it's going to be now because they won't show it to me."
Besides Earthworm Jim, he's worked in a variety of media, from comics and standard animation to the Claymation work in The Neverhood. I asked about his reason for this exploration. "It's because I love to tell stories, no matter the medium. I go where I'm invited to sit at the campfire and do my thing. Sometimes, people want me to crack a videogame; sometimes, people want me to crack a movie or TV show; [and] when nobody wants me to do anything, I crack a story in comic form. The thing that I'm good at is finding a connection with a broad audience without selling out creative ideas. I'm very similar to my audience in this way, I have conservative leanings but I don't like to be bored by endless 'me too' creations." He cites comics as his favorite medium, saying, "Hands down, graphic novels are the greatest storytelling medium at my disposal. I can't tell a story by myself without getting someone else's permission and money in any other medium, since they are cost prohibitive. Can I animate a TV show by myself? No. But I can make a graphic novel that would cost $400 million to make into a movie by myself in my studio with ink, a brush and six months of free time. Graphic novels are the storyteller's wet dream."
