It's hard to find a cartoon that's equally enjoyable for kids and parents, but the Cartoon Network's Adventure Time manages to satisfy just about every type of viewer.

The whimsical, free-spirited and intelligent 'toon was created by Pendleton Ward, who occupies No. 12 on our People of the Year list. I chatted with him about the show and his goals for 2012:

Hi, Pen! I have to say, I learned about Adventure Time at Comic-Con this year. It was huge!

Yeah, (the fans) all consolidate there. I also think it's a really easy cosplay, which might make more people want to dress up like Finn: blue T-shirt, little blue shorts, and you can put some ears on your head.

To me, it seems like the show just exploded this year.

I'm always just thinking about the content of the show, so I don't really have a sense of how big it gets outside of the office. I guess you get a sense of it when you go to Comic-Con -- you see everyone who's stoked on it.

Is there a typical Adventure Time fan?

Yeah. I meet everybody from the littlest of kids to the oldest of college kids ... and adults, dads who watch the show with their kids and moms alike.

Are you a fan of comic books?

Yeah, I love comics. I read The Walking Dead, I like Joann Sfar's Dungeon comics -- that's a big inspiration for me and the crew who write on the show. Dungeon's a great comic, and I look to it for the sort of casual conversation they have with the big fantasy world that they all live in.

Hmm ... I'm just looking at my shelf here. I like Mike Allred's Madman, and I've got Black Hole by Charles Burns that I like a lot. I like Jason's comics.

What kinds of things are coming up on Adventure Time?

There's a cool one with Emo Philips, who's really a funny comedian. He's this narrator character that guides the audience through these five short stories called "grables." He's this futuristic big space baby character ... He's got this prism that opens the episode that he's spinning on his finger that has these five stories in it.

It'll be fun to see a shorter format within an 11-minute cartoon. It was fun writing these really quick stories.

I loved the gender-switching episode you did.

We're thinking about doing another "Fionna and Cake" episode that focuses more on Marshall Lee, who is the Marceline of the Fionna and Cake world.

I've interviewed several people this year who are fans of your show. Have you met any interesting people who told you they were fans?



Yeah, I was shocked when I found out Matt Groening was digging it -- he's one of my heroes. And Ernest Borgnine ... I just found out that one of his relatives enjoys the show, so I'm going to do a drawing for a 16-year-old Borgnine. That was pretty exciting. (Laughs)

Is there any basis for Finn's character? Are you a little Finn?

I think all the writers on the show plug in their own personalities into Finn. I guess there's parts of me in him. I used to try to run charity activist-type stuff in high school -- trying to save the rain forest and things like that -- so I still like the idea of being a hero.

Finn tries to be super-chivalrous and he has this high moral code. I feel like that's who I wanted to be when I was a kid. I feel like, as an adult, I'm more of an awkward and confused Ice King character.

When you were in high school, is this what you envisioned yourself doing?

Yeah, I've known since I was tiny that I wanted to run a cartoon show. In elementary school I drew a lot -- I drew a lot of Post-It notes, flipbooks.

Ultimately, what is your goal with the show? Do you wanna be bigger than The Simpsons?



I think that's impossible! And I don't want that. That sounds crazy -- like, super-intense. It's so intense just getting through these four seasons!

What are some of your goals for next year?

We're always just trying to make it more and more interesting to watch and more and more poetic.

There's a lot of really bizarre episodes coming up. I think you'll see the show grow in cooler directions with each season. Everyone writing and drawing on the show, they're all true artists, and they all get bored. So we're always trying to make it more interesting for ourselves to work on.

What's on your holiday wish list?

Oh, my gosh. World peace, goodwill ... and, uh, maybe a suit of armor.

That would be pretty amazing.

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