Line #13 Creator/MarkEvanier


1	[[quoteright:191:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mark_evanier.jpg]]
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3	Mark Stephen Evanier (born March 2, 1952) is an American television and comic book writer born in Santa Monica, California.
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5	His early television work was mostly in sitcoms, including ''Series/WelcomeBackKotter'', on which he was a story editor, but he is better known as a writer (and sometimes voice director) of animated series, including ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' (of which he wrote nearly every episode), ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'', ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' (which he helped develop and wrote the pilot episode of), ''WesternAnimation/ThundarrTheBarbarian'', and ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''.
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7	For the latter, he had the unenviable job of writing the episode that introduced the infamous [[TheScrappy Scrappy-Doo]]. Relating the episode's history in a series of articles called [[http://www.newsfromme.com/writings/scrappy-days/ Scrappy Days]], he argues that Scrappy's hatred is mostly a modern phenomenon, and at the time, the character actually helped keep the show on the air.
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9	In comics he is the co-writer (with Creator/SergioAragones) of ''ComicBook/GrooTheWanderer'', and co-creator of ''ComicBook/TheDNAgents'' and its spinoff ''Crossfire''. He has written a well-regarded run on ''ComicBook/{{Blackhawk}}''. He wrote Franchise/LooneyTunes and other licensed funny cartoon comics for Creator/GoldKeyComics. In his early years in comics, he worked as a production assistant for Creator/JackKirby, of whom he has published a biography.
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11	Evanier writes a popular blog entitled [[http://www.newsfromme.com/ News From ME]]. His website is chock full of bits of show biz and comic history often not documented anywhere else. Particularly of Creator/JackKirby (his mentor) whom he wrote an exhaustive book about, and the classic comedy ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' (he had a hand in the recent releases restoration). He's also an unabashed fan of the late Creator/JuneForay, whom he cast in several of his shows, was partly responsible for her first Emmy nomination, and even organized her public memorial just two months after she died.
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13	Additionally, he often posts obits of a lot of lesser known comic creators and Hollywood actors, writer and producers that often get completely overlooked in the mainstream. Sadly, his obits were so good and so frequent as The Golden Age population began dying out, his website has often been mis-identified as an "Obituary Site." For this reason, he is in high demand to host panels at [[FanConvention San Diego Comic Con]], especially relating to the GoldenAge of comics. He hosts well over a dozen every year.
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15	%%Creator pages are for helping readers find tropes that appear in that creator's works, not for trying to find tropes in the creator's own life.
16	----
17	!! His works provides examples of:
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19	* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: One of his favorite tropes to satirize. Early in his career, MoralGuardians forced this moral into all of his scripts despite his criticism that it [[UnfortunateImplications encouraged groupthink]]. When he had more creative control over his scripts, he took every opportunity to parody it devastatingly. The best example of this would be "The Buddy Bears" from ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''.
20	* DoesNotLikeSpam: Several of his scripts involve characters who hate Cole Slaw, something of a CreatorThumbprint since Evanier himself has a dislike for the food (practically to the level of SitcomArchNemesis on [[http://www.newsfromme.com/2013/12/05/e-mailbox/ his blog]]).
21	* ElephantInTheLivingRoom: In his capacity as head writer for ''Series/PinkLadyAndJeff'', Evanier realized he could ask the producers for anything and they would get it for the show -- so he [[RefugeInAudacity wrote a sketch that called for a live elephant]]. The joke was meant to be that an {{infomercial}} advertiser played by Jeff Altman [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom didn't notice an elephant in his studio]], but it got even funnier when the elephant decided to... Just go read it [[http://www.newsfromme.com/pov/col226/ here]].
22	* PoesLaw: A series of [[http://www.newsfromme.com/writings/the-dick-van-dyke-show-comic-book/ fake cover art]] for comic books supposedly based on ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' got picked up and listed as genuine on several online archives until Evanier fessed up.
23	* TheScrappy: [[invoked]] {{Deconstructed}} in his blog series [[http://www.newsfromme.com/writings/scrappy-days/ Scrappy Days]], in which he explains how the character of Scrappy-Doo came to be.
24	* StylisticSuck: As related in [[http://www.newsfromme.com/pov/col198-2/ this column]], he wrote a script for an AnimatedAdaptation of the children's book "Mama Don't Allow." The story is about a bad saxophone player, which caused difficulty when the professional saxophonist they hired for the part had a very hard time playing badly enough.

Context Creator / MarkEvanier