Liberty Meadows creator Frank Cho has announced he’s bring back his strip – at least as a monthly comic collection. According to Comic Book Resources, Frank took Liberty Meadows on hiatus in 2004 after issue #36. He published a single issue in 2009. Two years ago he signed the rights for the strip to Sony who wanted to develop it into a downloadable original cartoon series. A tussle over the script between Frank and the studio ensued issues of “risque” ensued.
Here’s how he describes it:
Let’s back track a minute. About 3 years ago, Sony got the rights to Liberty Meadows to develop it as a downloadable original cartoon series for their new Sony Digital division. I wrote the original pilot episode but it was rejected for being too “risque”. So other writers were brought in to tone it down and make it more kid friendly. Once I read the rewrite, I thought it completely missed the point of Liberty Meadows. So I rewrote the rewrite, and this went back and forth couple of times until we reached a compromised script. We turned that script into an traditional 2D animated pilot episode.
Enter Sony Television division. They saw the pilot episode and liked it. Liberty Meadows get bumped up to their television division and a TV series is planned. However there is one request, Sony Television people wanted Liberty Meadows to be more “risque” with adult humor like the “Family Guy”. This is the point where I rip my hair out in frustration. Sony Digital people rejected my original script for that very reason, for being too “risque”.
The inactivity clause in the contract was triggered recently and the rights have been returned to Frank. He’s hoping to get issue #38 out by end of this year.