“Duckman” author Everett Peck has died at the age of 71

Illustrator, cartoonist, animator, writer and teacher Everett Peck, best known for his popular animated series Duckman e  Squirrel Boy, he died on Tuesday 14 June. The sad news was shared on Peck's Instagram and Facebook feeds today. The cause of his death has not been revealed.

Born on October 9, 1950 in Taos, New Mexico, Peck's distinctive illustration style brought colorful, angular characters to life on the pages of  The New Yorker, Playboy  e  Time , as well as comic books, print advertisements, books and movie posters. As an artist, he has shown works in galleries throughout the United States and as far as Tokyo. Peck was the subject of a solo art show in 2011 at California's Oceanside Museum of Art

Peck transformed his talent in animation with the success of the late 80s  The Real Ghostbusters  as a character designer / executive design consultant, creating most of the show's imaginative ghosts. He returned to the franchise for the 1997 animated series  Extreme Ghostbusters .

Original artwork by Everett Peck

At Klasky-Csupo, Peck wrote for the classic Nickelodeon cartoon, Rugrats  (1991-2004). But his work more famous than him,  Duckman , was already finding fans as a comic released by Dark Horse in 1990. The concept was adapted into a critically acclaimed adult animated sitcom for USA Network, running for four seasons from 1994-1997 and animated at Klasky-Csupo.

Developed by Peck, Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo, Ron Osborn and Jeff Reno, the voice of Duckman: Private Dick / Family Man saw Jason Alexander as Duckman, an obscene, hateful but self-centered widower and PI who lives in Los Angeles with his equally complex family. . The voice cast also included Gregg Berger, Dweezil Zappa, Dana Hill, Pat Musick, EG Daily, Nancy Travis, Frank Welker and Tim Curry.

The series received three Primetime Emmy nominations for Best Animated Program, for the episodes “TV or Not to Be” (1994), “Noir Gang” (1996) and “Duckman and Cornfed in Haunted Society Plumbers” (1997). Duckman won a CableACE award for animated programming in 1996.

Duckman: Private dick / family man

In 2008, Peck told a Animation Magazine:  "I have invented Duckmansimilarly most of my ideas come to mind, observing people and drawing in my sketchbook. I usually take my sketchbook with me wherever I go. I like to draw in public places like cafes and bars. I don't usually draw exactly what I see. I'm just looking at all different types of people and they are public interactions. If I see something interesting, it usually ends up in my sketchbook in one form or another. Sometimes this forms the basis for a character. I drew caricatures of people sitting in bars in exchange for drinks. But after a few beers my drawings started to look worse than usual and people started getting angry. I almost had a fight a couple of times, so I stopped doing it.

"Duckman's core personality and working relationship with Cornfed is based on a friend of mine and his ex partner (I stress 'ex'.)," He noted. In my early sketches, I played putting Duckman in a muscle suit. In one sketch a primal Cornfed says, "Aww Duckman, every time you put that thing on someone gets hurt, and it's usually you." I quickly stepped away from the superhero point of view. Either way, I've never had the whole superhero thing. I mean, it's easy to fight evil when you're ripped and have loads of super powers and a great outfit. Where's the fun in that? I liked the idea of ​​taking a skinny duck with a big mouth and no genitals and throwing it at the world. This is entertainment! I digress. After fixing Duckman and Cornfed, the other characters fell into place pretty quickly. I got King Chicken from a painting I was working on and an old girl inspired Bernice. I started developing comic stories, then compiled them with new material to create the first Duckman comic for Darkhorse Publications. About the same time I showedDuckman  to Gabor Csupo (co-owner of the Klasky-Csupo animation studio). He liked it immediately, so we partnered to produce  Duckman as an animated property.

When asked why the show was so popular, Peck replied, “I went with something that was interesting to me. You can never really judge how people will receive the things you do, you can go crazy thinking that way (but now they have some wonderful drugs for it). Sure, I'm glad people like it. I think one thing people respond to is that Duckman  it's pretty much the only animated show out there that is truly an adult show. One thing that initially worried me was maintaining the attitude and sexuality of the comic in the animated series. I think we have been quite successful. I didn't let my kids watch it. I didn't even mention I was working on  Duckman . I told them that Dad had to spend some time in prison, but he would soon be coming home ”.

In the 90s, Peck worked on several favorite series of the decade, including as a visual designer in  The Critic , animated by Film Roman for ABC, and as a character designer / design consultant in Dragon Tales, Men in Black: The Series, Godzilla: The Series and the cartoon of Jumanji . He also animated for sesame street. 

Peck collaborated again with Klasky-Csupo to create the seven-minute television short Stinky Pierre (2003), which featured Charlie Adler as the protagonist. The film was directed by Zhenia Delioussine and Andrei Svislotski.

Taking a milder, child-friendly tone later  Duckman , Peck created the Cartoon Network series  Squirrel Boy , which aired for two seasons and half a dozen shorts from 2006 to 2008. The 2D series produced by Cartoon Network studios centered around an anthropomorphic squirrel named Rodney (voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz) who was always dragging his human boyfriend , best friend Andy (Pamela Adlon), in her crazy patterns.

Directed by Raymie Muzquiz, the show also featured voices from Carlos Alazraqui, Kurtwood Smith, Nancy Sullivan, Billy West, Jason Spisak, Tom Kenny and Monica Lee Gradischek.

Peck was residing in Oceanside, California at the time of his death. He is outlived by his wife, Helen Vita Peck.