SAN ANTONIO — Only a mumbling bearded genius like Pendleton Ward could craft such cartoon glory like “Adventure Time.” And only Ward would dare walk away from his animated empire at arguably the peak of its popularity.

In case you haven’t heard, Ward revealed in Rolling Stone he stepped down as showrunner for the hit Primetime Emmy Award-winning series. The surreal saga of Finn the human boy and Jake the malleable dog, now in its sixth season on Cartoon Network, now has “Adventure Time’s” Adam Muto heading the show.

Ward, who grew up in San Antonio, said he quit during season five, not out of creative frustration or infighting but simply because “it was driving [him] nuts.”

“To spend that extra energy and time you don’t have, to make something that’s worth making, to make it awesome, wears you out,” Ward told Rolling Stone. “It’s a beast of a show. And the more popular it gets, the more the ancillary things – like the merchandise and games and everything – keep getting bigger.”

Having interviewed Ward before, I’m not at all surprised to hear this. As the North East School of the Arts alum mentioned in the Stones piece, he’s always preferred keeping to himself and his demented doodles, ever that introverted kid with the Magic: The Gathering cards who’d rather hit the comic shop and “just listen to nerds arguing about nerd stuff to relax.” And let’s face it, a lot of us crave that very kind of nerdvana.

Ward has stayed on “Adventure Time” as one of the show’s writers and storyboard artists, which no doubt gives him more time to tweet his singular weirdness on cocktail napkins and other canvases. Though Ward did say in the Stone article he’d like to make an “Adventure Time” movie and create an original video game — eventually.

As for maybe creating another TV show?

“No, never,” Ward said. “That sounds like a nightmare!”

Hey, we can still dream, can’t we?