Maxwell Atoms
{{Short description|American animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, and voice actor}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Maxwell Atoms .jpg
| caption = Atoms in Los Angeles in 2017
| birth_name = Adam Maxwell Burton
| nationality = American
| occupation = Animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, director, producer, voice actor
| spouse =
| children =
| years_active = 1995–present
| known_for = {{Plainlist|
}}
}}
Adam Maxwell Burton,{{cite web |last=Atoms |first=Maxwell |date=1998 |title=Billy and Mandy in Trepanation of the Skull and You |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVTyJ3Yecx0 |website=www.youtube.com |access-date=May 1, 2016 |archive-date=June 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240601033039/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVTyJ3Yecx0 |url-status=live }} known professionally as Maxwell Atoms, is an American animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, and voice actor. He is the creator of the Cartoon Network series Grim & Evil and its subsequent spin-offs, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Evil Con Carne.{{cite web |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/series-creator-maxwell-atoms-gets-emotional-man-on-the-15th-anniversary-of-the-grim |title=Series creator Maxwell Atoms gets emotional, man, on the 15th anniversary of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy |last=Motamayor |first=Rafael |date=June 21, 2018 |website=Syfy Wire |access-date=October 5, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626174633/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/series-creator-maxwell-atoms-gets-emotional-man-on-the-15th-anniversary-of-the-grim |archive-date=June 26, 2018}}
Career
Atoms is the creator of Cartoon Network's animated television series The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy,{{cn|date=December 2024}} Evil Con Carne, and has developed a Billy & Mandy spin-off Halloween special called Underfist: Halloween Bash.{{cite web |url=https://www.uarts.edu/news/2016/05/alum-screens-student-film-inspired-billy-mandy-series |title=Animation Alum Screens Student Film That Inspired 'Billy & Mandy' Series |date=May 4, 2016 |website=University of the Arts |access-date=October 5, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819210036/https://www.uarts.edu/news/2016/05/alum-screens-student-film-inspired-billy-mandy-series |archive-date=August 19, 2017}} Atoms attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Before he started working on his own series, Atoms was an intern at Film Roman, a freelance artist at Warner Bros., had a brief stint at WildBrain,{{cite book |last=Perlmutter |first=David |date=2014 |title=America Toons In: A History of Television Animation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aa0zAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA331 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=McFarland & Company |pages=331–332 |isbn=978-0-7864-7650-3 |access-date=March 27, 2022 |archive-date=June 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240601033530/https://books.google.com/books?id=aa0zAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA331#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} and had also worked on The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. Atoms got a job at Hanna-Barbera and as a story and storyboard artist on Cow and Chicken and I Am Weasel. Atoms also performed the voice of Jeff the Spider and Piff on The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy,{{cite book |last=Perlmutter |first=David |date=2018 |title=The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FMFTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA257 |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=257 |isbn=9781538103739 |access-date=March 27, 2022 |archive-date=March 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327201056/https://books.google.com/books?id=FMFTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA257 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}} and voiced Cod Commando on Evil Con Carne.{{sfn|Perlmutter|2018|p=256}} He also voiced several additional characters in the TV-movie Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure.{{cite web |url=https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Maxwell-Atoms/ |title=Maxwell Atoms |website=Behind The Voice Actors |access-date=October 5, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622060029/https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Maxwell-Atoms/ |archive-date=June 22, 2018}}
Atoms is good friends with fellow animator Mr. Warburton, creator of Codename: Kids Next Door and C. H. Greenblatt, the creator of Chowder and Harvey Beaks. He and Warburton have made multiple references to each other's shows and have made a crossover half-hour special, The Grim Adventures of the Kids Next Door. As for C. H., he voiced the character Fred Fredburger in several episodes of Billy & Mandy, alongside a brief cameo of Chowder in Underfist. Atoms was also an executive producer and voice actor of the Disney show Fish Hooks with Noah Z. Jones.{{sfn|Perlmutter|2018|pp=206–207}}
As of 2012, Atoms begun developing a new project entitled Dead Meat, "an awesome black comedy/buddy action/puppet gore web series",{{cite web |last=Atoms |first=Maxwell |date=September 16, 2013 |title=Dead Meat |url=http://maxwellatoms.tumblr.com/post/61406817768/what-exactly-is-dead-meat |website=Maxwellatoms.tumblr.com |access-date=September 12, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111620/http://maxwellatoms.tumblr.com/post/61406817768/what-exactly-is-dead-meat |archive-date=March 4, 2016}} which was still in production as of January 2020 and had a successful Kickstarter campaign as of November 15, 2013.{{cite web |last=Bright |first=Vic |date=December 13, 2020 |title=Kickstart This Now!! Maxwell Atoms' Dead Meat |url=https://www.bubbleblabber.com/kickstart-now-maxwell-atoms-dead-meat/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425184939/https://www.bubbleblabber.com/kickstart-now-maxwell-atoms-dead-meat/ |archive-date=April 25, 2021 |access-date=April 25, 2021 |magazine=Bubble Blabber}} In an interview in 2013, Atoms stated that the series would be posted somewhere on the internet once it is finished. In early 2014, Atoms stated that he hopes to get the series released in 2015. This fell through and, in early 2020, Atoms announced that the project is shelved indefinitely and all backers will be refunded due to expensive costs and contractual issues.{{Cite web |last=Atoms |first=Maxwell |date=February 13, 2020 |title=Yeah. But It Might Be a While. This Has Been Pretty Devastating for Me... |url=https://maxwellatoms.tumblr.com/post/190810118467/once-youve-finished-your-dead-meat-film-will-you |website=Maxwellatoms.tumblr.com |access-date=April 25, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425042439/https://maxwellatoms.tumblr.com/post/190810118467/once-youve-finished-your-dead-meat-film-will-you |archive-date=April 25, 2021}}{{efn|1=Also see his posts on [https://maxwellatoms.tumblr.com/post/612211805176184832/we-love-you-maxwell-soooo-much-no-matter-what-you March 10, 2020], [https://maxwellatoms.tumblr.com/post/612888858534821888/so-its-finally-done-dead-meat-is-really-truly March 17, 2020], and [https://maxwellatoms.tumblr.com/post/620095344535044096/i-realize-im-pretty-late-on-this-but-would-you June 15, 2020] for further confirmation of the project ending, along with the [https://archive.today/20210425043001/https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/745014573/dead-meat/posts/2737022 original post] on Kickstarter.}} In 2016 he began working on a new series called Bunnicula. The show ended in 2018.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
In 2020, he provided several additional voices for the adult animated web series Hazbin Hotel,{{Cite web |title=Hazbin Hotel - "Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow" (Original Song) | website=YouTube | date=October 5, 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWrM-eDxTas |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206170159/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWrM-eDxTas |archive-date=December 6, 2018 |access-date=October 5, 2018}} as he met creator Vivienne Medrano during work on Dead Meat. He serves as a storyboard supervisor on The Patrick Star Show.
Personal life
Atoms lives in Los Angeles. He has autism spectrum disorder.{{cite web |last=Atoms |first=Maxwell |date=February 3, 2021 |title=Dead Meat |url=https://maxwellatoms.tumblr.com/post/642113399583621120/hello-mr-atoms-sir-i-have-a-question-how-do-you |website=Maxwellatoms.tumblr.com |access-date=April 15, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210083755/https://maxwellatoms.tumblr.com/post/642113399583621120/hello-mr-atoms-sir-i-have-a-question-how-do-you |archive-date=February 10, 2021}}
Filmography
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1996
| The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat | N/A | Character designer |
| 1998–1999
| N/A | Props |
| 1998–1999
| N/A | Props |
| 2000
| Poochini | N/A | Storyboard artist |
| 2001–2003
| Cod Commando | Creator |
| 2002–2003
| Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? | N/A | Layout artist |
| 2003–2008
| The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy | Jeff the Spider | Creator |
| 2003–2004
| Cod Commando | Creator |
| 2008–2009
| Chowder | Additional voices | Story |
| 2010–2014
| Additional voices | Story |
| 2016–2018
| N/A | Producer |
| 2019
| N/A | Credited as Adam Burton |
| 2023
| N/A |Storyboard supervisor |
=Films=
=Video games=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role |
|---|
| 2009
| Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall | Jeff the Spider |
=Internet=
Awards
- Special internship, Film Roman. University of the Arts. 1996.
- Annie nomination (1998)- Outstanding Individual Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production. Cow & Chicken "The Karate Chick".
- Top Pick Cartoons (2001–02). TV Guide.
- Comic-Con (2005, 2006 and 2007).
- 34th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, Children's Programming, 2007 – The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=1027050|name=Maxwell Atoms}}.
- [https://maxwellatoms.tumblr.com Maxwell Atoms' Blog]
{{The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atoms, Maxwell}}
Category:Animators from Pennsylvania
Category:American male television writers
Category:American television writers
Category:American male voice actors
Category:American storyboard artists
Category:American television directors
Category:American television producers
Category:Cartoon Network Studios people
Category:Disney Television Animation people
Category:Artists from Philadelphia
Category:People with Asperger syndrome
Category:American actors with disabilities