Scooby Doo and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery Producers Talk Jack Kirby Influences & Working With Kiss

Scooby Doo and Kiss. It’s not exactly a conventional team-up, leaving collaboration open to [...]

Scooby Doo and Kiss. It's not exactly a conventional team-up, leaving collaboration open to mockery or parody if it were placed in lesser hands.

But the animation duo of Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone knew that such a collaboration was actually nothing short of legendary. And the duo treated the meet-up as such in producing the upcoming Scooby Doo and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery home animated feature.

"This was something we were serious about," Cervone said during San Diego Comic Con International. "We wanted this movie to feel like a legitimate Kiss experience. There are legions of Kiss fans in the same way that Scooby Doo does. I love pop culture, and I didn't want to do a crappy job."

But that doesn't mean the two producers couldn't have a little fun with the music-meets-mystery mashup. Cervone and Brandt, who have made a name for themselves producing Scooby Doo and Looney Tunes animations for Warner Bros., cited a laundry list of inspirations that fueled Scooby's first meeting with the iconic rock band. From anime, to Chuck Jones, and even to black light posters, there was little that they didn't consider when producing the direct-to-video cartoon.

Oh, and then there was that small matter comic book icon Jack Kirby, and his indirect sway over the film.

"We love Kirby as much as anyone else does. If you ask Gene Simmons, he'll say that hey had American comic books in mind when he designed the costumes of Kiss. You can see a little bit of Black Bolt and Etrigan in their designs,' Brandt said. Kiss lives in a Kirby world, so there's a big Fourth World, Kirby influence in this video. I would love to see Kiss Vs. Darkseid."

Charting back to reality, Brandt and Cervone discussed how fun—and easy—it was working with pop culture icons like The Stones

"The whole band recorded at one time, so it was fun seeing them play off of each other. We spent a lot of time with them, and they had a lot of input," Cervone said. "Usually, you don't get that kind of exposure, so we took full advantage of it. The band was really involved."

That high level of involvement makes sense, given how large of a role Kiss will play in the cartoon. Brandt labled the film as a pretty weird experience, with the story starting out as Scooby and the Gang's but quickly becoming Kiss'.

This one gets really weird," Cervone said. "It becomes Kiss-centric, but with some Scooby Doo thrown in to the mix. Throwing Scooby Doo in that world is a lot of fun. They don't know what's real and what's not. And to be honest, I'm note even sure if we know. It's weird and psychedelic, but a lot of fun."

In fact, producing the film was so much fun for Cervone and Brandt, that they're already set to do another Scooby Doo and KISS mash-up.

"If this goes well, we'd love to make another one," Cervone said. 'We've already figured out what the next Scooby and Kiss collaboration would be. We're ready.

Scooby Doo and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery is now out on home video.

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