Christopher McCulloch

Christopher McCulloch (born September 14, 1971) is the creator, director, and co-writer (with Doc Hammer) of The Venture Bros., all done under the pseudonym Jackson Publick. He also voices several main characters under his own name, most notably the Monarch and Hank Venture.

Before The Venture Bros.
Christopher McCulloch worked in his hometown comic book shop as a teenager, and in his spare time he would write odd comic stories. While a student at Rutgers, he had several comics published in the Rutgers Review and was a frequent writer for The Medium. During this time, his employer published his superhero spoof Cement Shooz. When McCulloch promoted it at a comic book convention in New York, he caught the eye of Ben Edlund, creator of The Tick, who offered McCulloch the chance to write for a Tick spin-off comic while Edlund wrote for the animated series. The issues Chris wrote were Karma Tornado 1 through 4, and on issue 3 he tackled both writing and pencil duties. When FOX increased their order, McCulloch was drafted as a regular staff writer of the series as well as a storyboard artist.

The Venture Bros. itself was conceived first as a short comic story for Monkeysuit Press, a comics anthology of which he is the editor. Working on The Tick (and listening to J.G. Thirlwell's first Steroid Maximus album) helped McCulloch translate the story into cartoon form. He wrote the first draft in 2000 while he was attempting to pitch something else to Comedy Central, which turned it down. At the time, he was also working as a storyboard artist for Mo Willems's Sheep in the Big City, as well as working for PB&J Otter and Doug.

After this, The Tick was picked up in its live action form, and McCulloch moved to California. During this he met Patrick Warburton, who later went on to voice Brock Samson. When The Tick was canceled, he moved back to New York City and pitched a revised version of The Venture Bros. to Comedy Central again. Though it was turned down again, he contacted Jeff Nodelman of Noodlesoup Productions (which became World Leaders Entertainment). Adult Swim later picked up the series and the pilot was produced in 2003.