''Farmageddon'' started life in 1991 as a comic strip called ''The Funny Farm'' and was created by

Niel Bushnell Niel Bushnell (born 1970) is an English writer and artist from Hartlepool. He is the author of the science fiction series, The Arkship Saga, and children's fantasy novels Sorrowline and Timesmith, the first two books in The Timesmith Chronicles ...

and Gordon Fraser. Bushnell and Fraser were friends from school and both wanted careers as comic artists. They began to develop an idea for a newspaper comic strip based around a farm. Initially inspired by American comic strips such as ''

Calvin and Hobbes ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly cited as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin and Hobbes'' has enjoyed ...

'' and ''

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...

'', the comic soon found its own blend of humour.

''The Funny Farm''

''The Funny Farm'' was published in the ''

Hartlepool Mail The ''Hartlepool Mail'' is a newspaper serving Hartlepool, England and the surrounding area. As of December 2021, it has an average daily circulation of 1,570. History The paper was founded in Hartlepool in 1877 as ''The Northern Daily Mail'' a ...

'' from 1992 until 1994. It was also published in a short lived Sunday paper called the ''News & Echo''. In 1994 a new editor joined the ''Hartlepool Mail'' who didn't like ''The Funny Farm'' and cancelled its run. The demise of the comic strip coincided with Niel moving to London to pursue a career in animation. In 1997 Niel and Gordon began to develop ''The Funny Farm'' as an animated series. The pair travelled to

Annecy Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...

in France for the annual animation festival. A meeting with

Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...

, a Canadian animation company, led to a three-year option being agreed upon. Three years later Nelvana failed to develop ''The Funny Farm'' further, and the show and its rights returned to Bushnell and Fraser. Fast forward to 2006. After further development the project has been renamed ''Farmageddon'' and is being developed by Niel's animation studio,

Qurios Entertainment Qurios Entertainment was an animation and visual effects production studio. Founded in 2002 by Niel Bushnell and his wife Diane, the company was originally based in Hartlepool, England, relocating to Newcastle upon Tyne in February 2009. As well ...

as a 3D project. From January 2011 the ''Farmageddon'' comic strip began to be re-printed on the ''

Birmingham Mail The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire ...

'' website as part of the Speech Balloon page.

References

* ''Farmageddon'' official websit

* ''Farmageddon'' blo

* Qurios Entertainment websit

* ''Newcastle Journal News'' articl

* ''Birmingham Mail'' Speech Balloon pag

British comic strips {{comic-strip-stub