Cartoons like The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy are engrained in the hearts of many because of their impact on their childhood. People like Maxwell Atoms directly contributed to the creation of those cartoons. Animators like Atoms put much work into the art they create, and while many appreciate their work, it’s not often thought about what happens to animators after the show ends. Recently, Atoms advertised the sale of one of his puppets on eBay to pay his bills. Here’s what we know.
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
From 2003 – 2007, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, a series created by Maxwell Atoms, ran new episodes on Cartoon Network. The show followed two children named Billy and Mandy and their adventures with The Grim Reaper, mainly called just Grim. The two best friends could snare Grim into their debt forever by beating him in a game of limbo.
Throughout the show, we watch as Billy, Mandy, and Grim go on the wackiest adventures with one another. Each episode was 7-11 minutes long and sometimes was put together, creating a 22-minute episode, 30 minutes considering commercials. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy ran for six seasons with 86 episodes. Maxwell Atoms worked on the animation for 42 episodes, nearly half. He also wrote on 71 episodes, making his involvement paramount to the show’s success.
Maxwell Atoms
In 2021, Maxwell Atoms was answering fan questions on his Tumblr account when someone asked him if he would ever work on Adult Swim after his exit from Cartoon Network. In answer to this, he claimed that he was fired and disliked by the network president because he blamed Atoms for the direction of humor on Cartoon Network. “I have a couple of ideas that I think would kill on Adult Swim,” he said in his post, “But since the current president is the guy who gave me a public dressing-down for “ruining Cartoon Network’s brand” with my “hateful fart cartoon” before promptly firing me… such a collaboration seems incredibly unlikely.”
Many were surprised that the beloved series and Maxwell Atoms were blamed for the more raunchy humor, given that most fans blame shows like Teen Titans Go and The Amazing World Of Gumball for that direction. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy ended well before that era of the network. Maxwell Atoms went on to work at Disney, creating and writing the cartoon Fish Hooks, which ran for one season on Disney Channel. Recently, Atoms took to his Instagram, announcing that he was selling one of his iconic puppets and other paraphernalia and that it would be available on his eBay.
In his Instagram post, he wrote, “This poor man has been trapped in the Puppet Dimension for over two decades. Perhaps you can set him free. He’s on eBay now (I’m gr1mb0t) along with that original Evil Con Carne storyboard, some original art from the development of the pilot, toys, and a bunch of other neat crud.” He continues, “I’ll be posting new stuff every Thursday for the rest of the month, so there’s more to come…”
Final Thoughts
Something is wrong in a world where people who have created iconic television must sell their beloved memories to get by. This is part of the reason for last summer’s SAG/WGA strikes: paying artists royalties for their work. Most of the content that Maxwell Atoms has created has been staples in the childhoods of multiple generations, only for him to sell his keepsakes to make ends meet. The Animation Guild is in talks with the AMPTP to negotiate better rights for animators, which Hollywood needs.
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