Kansas U Students Tease With Toon Prequel
A trio of Kansas University students has begun to drum up interest for their upcoming webtoon ZOOK MAYHEM AND THE BANDITS by releasing a short one-minute prequel at www.zookmayhem.com, reports THE KANSAN.
Having worked on the cartoon for the past seven months, creator Nolan T. Jones felt the prequel would be a great way to introduce the characters and spur interest in the series before the first episode launches in October.
Jones, Richard Zayas and Riley Dutton plan to release one webisode per month after the initial launch of the 13-episode series. Jones plans to release the combined season on DVD after the final episode is finished.
Jones and friends Zayas and Dutton have enlisted 20 other students to work on the project, which Jones has completed outlines for several seasons and even a feature. Jones received funding for the project via an undergraduate research award from the University Honors Program.
The idea for the series is one in which college senior Jones has been refining since 8th grade, originally beginning as film class project and later an animated talk show.
[The talk show] was horrible, so I found something that managed to be more true and absurd all at once, Jones said to the KANSAN.