| On the Web: Surreality shows are just a cool click away 04/07/2001 By Tom Maurstad / The Dallas Morning News One of the ironies of technology is that in the universe of content-providers it has made possible, there is precious little content worth providing.
Of course, there is information aplenty on the Internet, and the Web is full of sites offering merchandise. But when it comes to original and entertaining content – well, you can practically count the clicks with one hand.
It is in this barren context that www.wildbrain.com is such an eye-catching oasis. Wildbrain.com is an animation Web site featuring a round-up of animated series and shorts. Animation has proven to be the most Web-friendly source of original content and so has spawned the most outlets. But even in the ever-more crowded field of Web animation, Wildbrain is in a league of its own.
Most of the buzz this site has generated has been fixed on the series Kozik's Inferno – the modern re-telling of Dante's Inferno from the famed rock-poster artist Frank Kozik. And it is intensely cool – sharp, funny satire and demonically beautiful illustrations. Black humor has never been blacker or more humorous and every dazzlingly detailed screen is its own poster-shot.
But Kozik's Inferno is just one of a half-dozen series currently screening at wildbrain.com and, truth be told, it's not even the coolest. That distinction belongs to Joe Paradise, an episodic series following the adventures of its titular hero who is some sort of secret agent trying to get out of the game.
Created by Roque Ballesteros, Joe Paradise is surrealism noir. Every episode is full of tough-talk dialogue that is hilarious and intriguing – on the one hand, you have no idea what is going on, but on the other, you can't wait to find out what happens next. Better still is the drop-dead gorgeous animation. This is no Disney panorama; Joe Paradise is a stunning showcase of graphic design – all cool angles and color combinations.
Wildbrain.com delivers that rarest of online commodities – content worth clicking on.
Content cautions: language, adult humor, sexual situations
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