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Actor Dana Snyder, middle, talks during a Dragon Con panel discussion focused on "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," the surreal animated television show that ran for 15 seasons before its cancellation last year.

(c/o Kate Furek)

ATLANTA -- In the wee hours of December 30, 2000, Cartoon Network aired a handful of pilot episodes for its "Adult Swim" programming block. Three of the shows -- "Sealab 2021," "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" and "The Brak Show" -- would go on to have more or less distinguished runs on the network's off-beat after hours schedule. But the fourth pilot, a show about an anthropomorphic cup and his roommates (a genius box of fries and a Pollyanna wad of hamburger-looking meat) that was absurd even by "Adult Swim" standards, powered on for 15 years, one feature film and 140 episodes before the network cancelled the series last year.

"Well, just for the record, I had nothing to do with the cancellation of the show," said comedian Dana Snyder, a prolific voice actor best known for voicing Master Shake on "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." "Some people -- I don't know why -- think I'm somehow the reason why they did it."

Snyder, who said it was "crazy" to think he had spent most of his adult life working on the show, said he wasn't upset about the cancellation -- especially when he spent more than 10 years expecting the ax to fall.

"I figured, 'Shortly after they see this pilot episode, they're going to cancel it,'" Snyder said. "That didn't happen. I'm like, 'Well, one season, and then it will be done.' Every episode I was waiting for them to say, 'Wait a minute. What the f--- are we doing? We're still making this show? No, no, no. Stop this. Knock this off.

"Somehow, we squeezed off 15 seasons, so more than 'Dallas,' more than 'M*A*S*H.' In your face, Alan Alda, you piece of s---. You dope. Our basic cable 11-minute show outlasted you, Larry Hagman."

Even with "Aqua Teen"'s cancellation, Snyder has more than enough work to keep him occupied, with an on-camera role as Mr. Funkus in the Disney television series "Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything" in addition to voice acting as Graballa the Hutt in "LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures" and McSweats for "Pickle and Peanut," a new Disney series that premiered last year. ("You notice the theme here? McSweats? Graballa the Hutt? Funkus?" Snyder said. "I think they just can't, on a show, call [my character] fat, s-----, sweaty a------. That's what they want to call them all, but 'I can't call them that, I'll call him 'McSweats.'")

Snyder also keeps busy with more adult-oriented work, having co-written "Supercon," a crime comedy film starring John Malkovich that's, as Snyder said, "basically like 'The Hangover' meets 'The Italian Job' at Comic Con." Additionally, Snyder works on a couple of "Adult Swim" shows still in production: "Squidbillies" (in which he voices "150-year-old horn dog" Granny) and "Your Pretty Little Face is Going to Hell."

Still, even a year after the end of "Aqua Teen," it's Snyder's portrayal of Shake, the perfectly maladjusted and professionally idiotic milkshake, that continues to resonate with fans.

"I'll never let him go," Snyder said. "Shake is a survivor. That's how I would describe him. He would do anything he thinks he needs to do that will make him survive -- which to him would be to be the best person on the planet. If that means he has to blow up your car or you, he will do it without remorse, because he has a driving goal to be the coolest dude in the world. He's manipulative. He's petty. He's vengeful. He's what else? He's a jackass.

"If DuPont laboratories made a jackass, if they made the most a-----iest, jackassiest person, that's who it would be."

This week in Bat books

On balance, this is probably the high-water mark for Batman in the Rebirth-era, with a solid "Detective Comics" following up last week's stellar "Batman" in addition to a trippy good "All-Star Batman." And if that wasn't enough, next week we get "Trinity" #1, a series that will spotlight DC's Bats-Supes-Wonder Woman triumvirate.

DETECTIVE COMICS #940. DC. Written by James Tynion IV. Art by Eddy Barrows and Eber Ferreira.

I'll keep making this point until I'm old(er) and gray(er), but the layouts in this book are detracting from an otherwise solid story and overall concept. This week wasn't as bad as some, but there seems to be a consistent quota of two or three pages that simply try to do too much at the expense of telling a good story textually and artistically. The conclusion of writer James Tynion's first arc on the series is solid, and it gets a lot of mileage out of the apparent death of someone on the Batman/Batwoman team of heroes. But even better than that, it doesn't play with us (the readers) in order to sell us on some finality to the character -- we know that no one dies for real in a comic ever, of course. But Batman doesn't know that (thankfully he doesn't have metacognition) and when he sells the death as real, it's a meaningful moment.

Generalized Unique Emoticon Scientific Score: :'-(, *5, *fire emoji*

"Detective Comics" #940

ALL-STAR BATMAN #2. DC. Written by Scott Snyder. Art by John Romita Jr., Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire and Dean White.

"All-Star Batman" is probably the riskiest, weirdest mainstream superhero comic book to come along in a few years, and it's not hard to see why scribe Scott Snyder jumped on the chance to take on the monthly experiment rather than stick on the bimonthly main title. Issue #2 continues the bloody road trip from Hell, with Batman trying to drag (sometimes quite literally) Two-Face to treatment and possible cure for his madness. Artist John Romita Jr. is a legend, and he's clearly having a lot of fun (as is Snyder) on this book. The storytelling is difficult to follow at times (this might be one of those "trade wait" books), but the unique vibe is worth it.

GUESS: B-), o.0, *wow*

"All-Star Batman" #2

Other new and notable books of the week

ANIMOSITY #2. AfterShock. Written by Marguerite Bennett. Art by Rafael de Latorre and Rob Schwager.

The only complaint I could muster from last month's "Animosity" #1 was simply that I wanted more when I hit the last page -- I was just desperate to get more of Marguerite Bennett's world in which all animals simultaneously gain conscious thought and the ability to speak. This week, we got our #2, and the wait was worth it. Bennett's post-apocalyptic vision is remarkable in both its heart and its black comedy (Really, imagine rats selling rat poison to other rats because they can't deal with the existential burden of awareness. Seriously. That happened.) But the core of this book, the relationship between a loyal dog (Sandow) and his girl Jesse, is something else --especially as we get the feeling that Jesse's human parents aren't up to the task of navigating this new, weird world after the "Wake." The work here is simply stunning -- if there's one book to pick up right now, it's this one.

GUESS: O.O, *fire emoji*, *blaring siren*

"Animosity" #2

Batman Day

My favorite totally-not-made-up holiday is back again this year as the third annual "Batman Day" is set for Saturday. If you're looking for the traditional way to celebrate this, the holiest of days, head on over to Kingdom Comics in Vestavia Hills.

They're running sales on all Bat-products in addition to stocking free copies of a special edition of "Batman #1" -- which was really good, by the way.

So head on over. It's what he would want. (You know he's watching.)

Picks for next week

"Ringside" #7, "Civil War II" #5, "Civil War II: Choosing Sides" #6