Adam Maxwell Burton,[1] 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.[2]

Maxwell Atoms
Atoms in Los Angeles in 2017
Born
Adam Maxwell Burton
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, director, producer, voice actor
Years active1995–present
Known for

Career

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Atoms is the creator of Cartoon Network's animated television series The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy,[3] Evil Con Carne, and has developed a Billy & Mandy spin-off Halloween special called Underfist: Halloween Bash.[4] Atoms attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.[4] 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,[5] and had also worked on The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat.[4] Atoms got a job at Hanna-Barbera and as a story and storyboard artist on Cow and Chicken and I Am Weasel.[4] Atoms also performed the voice of Jeff the Spider and Piff on The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy,[6] and voiced Cod Commando on Evil Con Carne.[7] He also voiced several additional characters in the TV-movie Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure.[8]

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,[2] 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.[9]

As of 2012, Atoms begun developing a new project entitled Dead Meat, "an awesome black comedy/buddy action/puppet gore web series",[10] which was still in production as of January 2020 and had a successful Kickstarter campaign as of November 15, 2013.[11] 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.[12][a] In 2016 he began working on a new series called Bunnicula.[4] The show ended in 2018.[citation needed]

In 2020, he provided several additional voices for the adult animated web series Hazbin Hotel,[13] as he met creator Vivienne Medrano during work on Dead Meat. He serves as a storyboard supervisor on The Patrick Star Show.

Personal life

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Atoms lives in Los Angeles. He has autism spectrum disorder.[14]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1996 The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat N/A Character designer
1998–1999 Cow and Chicken N/A Props
Story
Storyboard artist
1998–1999 I Am Weasel N/A Props
Story
Storyboard artist
2000 Poochini N/A Storyboard artist
Title card designer
2001–2003 Grim & Evil Cod Commando
Jeff the Spider
Creator
Director
Writer and Storyboard artist
Executive producer
Character and Prop designer
2002–2003 Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? N/A Layout artist
2003–2008 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Jeff the Spider
Additional voices
Creator
Writer and storyboard artist
Story
Executive producer
Character and Prop Designer
2003–2004 Evil Con Carne Cod Commando
Additional voices
Creator
Writer and Storyboard artist
Story
Executive producer
Character and Prop Designer
2008–2009 Chowder Additional voices Story
Storyboard artist
2010–2014 Fish Hooks Additional voices Story
Director
Supervising director
Storyboard artist
Writer
Executive producer
2016–2018 Bunnicula N/A Producer
Writer
Storyboard artist
Director
2019 Teen Titans Go! N/A Writer
Director
Storyboard artist
2023 The Patrick Star Show N/A Storyboard supervisor

Films

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Year Title Role Notes
1995 Billy & Mandy in: Trepanation of the Skull and You Billy Student film
2001 The Flintstones: On the Rocks N/A Character layout artist
2007 The Grim Adventures of the Kids Next Door N/A Creator
2007 Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure I'll Cut You Guy
Pirate #2
Horrorbot
Burnt Skeleton Guard
Creator
Story
Writer
Storyboard artist
Character designer
2007 Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen Jeff the Spider
Mystery Announcer
Man
Creator
Story
2008 Underfist Jeff the Spider Creator
Story
Storyboard artist
Art director
Character designer
2020 Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo![15] N/A Writer
Producer
Director
2021 Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob N/A Writer
Producer
Director

Video games

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Year Title Role
2009 Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall Jeff the Spider

Internet

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Year Title Role Notes
2016 Cartoons VS Cancer Himself
2019 Hazbin Hotel Additional voices Pilot: "That's Entertainment"
2020 Helluva Boss Ralphie, additional voices[16][17] In S1E1, "Murder Family"

Awards

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  1. Special internship, Film Roman. University of the Arts. 1996.
  2. Annie nomination (1998)- Outstanding Individual Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production. Cow & Chicken "The Karate Chick".
  3. Top Pick Cartoons (2001–02). TV Guide.
  4. Comic-Con (2005, 2006 and 2007).
  5. 34th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, Children's Programming, 2007 – The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

Notes

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  1. ^ Also see his posts on March 10, 2020, March 17, 2020, and June 15, 2020 for further confirmation of the project ending, along with the original post on Kickstarter.

References

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  1. ^ Atoms, Maxwell (1998). "Billy and Mandy in Trepanation of the Skull and You". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on June 1, 2024. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Motamayor, Rafael (June 21, 2018). "Series creator Maxwell Atoms gets emotional, man, on the 15th anniversary of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy". Syfy Wire. Archived from the original on June 26, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  3. ^ "Video Game Features, PC Game Features". Archived from the original on June 1, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Animation Alum Screens Student Film That Inspired 'Billy & Mandy' Series". University of the Arts. May 4, 2016. Archived from the original on August 19, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  5. ^ Perlmutter, David (2014). America Toons In: A History of Television Animation. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 331–332. ISBN 978-0-7864-7650-3. Archived from the original on June 1, 2024. Retrieved March 27, 2022 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 257. ISBN 9781538103739. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Perlmutter 2018, p. 256.
  8. ^ "Maxwell Atoms". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on June 22, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  9. ^ Perlmutter 2018, pp. 206–207.
  10. ^ Atoms, Maxwell (September 16, 2013). "Dead Meat". Maxwellatoms.tumblr.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  11. ^ Bright, Vic (December 13, 2020). "Kickstart This Now!! Maxwell Atoms' Dead Meat". Bubble Blabber. Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  12. ^ Atoms, Maxwell (February 13, 2020). "Yeah. But It Might Be a While. This Has Been Pretty Devastating for Me..." Maxwellatoms.tumblr.com. Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  13. ^ "Hazbin Hotel - "Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow" (Original Song)". YouTube. October 5, 2018. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  14. ^ Atoms, Maxwell (February 3, 2021). "Dead Meat". Maxwellatoms.tumblr.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  15. ^ "The Gang Teams with Elvira and Battles Evil Pumpkins in New Animated Movie 'Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!' [Trailer]". Bloody Disgusting. July 3, 2020. Archived from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  16. ^ Medrano, Vivienne (November 1, 2020). Helluva Boss - Murder Family // S1: Episode 1. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2020 – via YouTube.
  17. ^ Cubillas, Sean (January 8, 2021). "Billy & Mandy: 10 Things Fans Need to Know About the Series". CBR. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
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