If you don't know who Fred "Tex" Avery is, you probably shouldn't be here.That animation pioneer of the Golden Age of Animation would be celebrating his 102nd Birthday today if he hadn't passed on back in 1980.
Tex Avery was the ultimate animation director because he created cartoons that took full advantage of the art form. When you watch a cartoon filled with outrageous gags, wild takes, unexpected 4th wall jokes and ultimate humor, you know you are watching a Tex Avery cartoon.
He helped shape many of the classic Looney Tunes characters at Warner Bros during the 30s and early 40s and perfected his craft at MGM during the rest of the 40s while introducing The Wolf, Red, Droopy and Screwy Squirrel. He went onto create Chilly Willy at Walter Lantz, invented the crazy cartoon bugs that still feature in Raid commercials to this day, and continued to create characters and stories for Hanna-Barbera up until his death.
Back in 1995, Dark Horse Comics wanted to celebrate the animation director's career with his own line of comic books featuring his characters that were created at MGM. The Mask live action feature with Jim Carrey was based on a Dark Horse comic line and the film featured a heavy influence of the classic shorts by Tex Avery, this could have been their way to say thanks for the inspiration. Here is a story that was featured in Tex Avery's Wolf & Red #1...
