I attended the Powerpuff Girls Panel at this year's New York Comic Con, and scored an interview with two of the show's writers: Jake Goldman and Haley Mancini, who is also the voice of Princess Morbucks!

The Powerpuff Girls is the Emmy nominated reboot of the 1998 Craig McCracken girl power super hero action comedy which debuted this past April. Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup were created when Professor Utonium attempted to creat the perfect little girl in his lab using sugar spice and everything nice... and accidentily a good measure of "Chemical X" as well. The result was not one but three girls with super powers, who put them to good use defending the city of Townsville from a cast of comedic supervillains.

This week kicks off a whole week of new episodes (5pm ET/PT) on Cartoon Network. Get to know Haley and Jake and find out what they are reading:

What are you reading at the moment?

HALEY MANCINI: I’m reading Hillbilly Elegy as my “fast-read,” A Dance with Dragons as my “gonna take a while read” and The Hero with a Thousand Faces as my … “audiobook.”

JAKE GOLDMAN: Andre The Giant: Life and Legend by Box Brown. I’m equal parts obsessed with Pro Wrestling, Comic books and The Princess Bride, so this really is the perfect thing for me.

What books (or other media) do you come back to again and again?

MANCINI: I always come back to a few stories. I love horror, and the most haunting piece of horror I’ve ever read is Letter to a Young Lady in Paris by Julio Cortázar. It’s the story of a man who moves into his girlfriend’s apartment in Paris and slowly loses his mind in the most unusual way possible. The end leaves you turning it over in your brain for years. I also always return to Crichton books like The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, for his scientific accuracy in the realm of science fiction. Finally, I just always find myself re-reading The Great Gatsby and Wuthering Heights because they’re so intensely visual. I love books that make you not want to ever see the movie because you hold the memories they gave you so perfectly in your own mind.                

GOLDMAN: I reread a lot of Kurt Vonnegut. Slaughterhouse-Five was the first book that genuinely changed my worldview. I actually keep a copy of Welcome To The Monkey House (one of his collections of short stories) by my desk if I ever need a quick refresh of anything Americana and strange.

What books, shows, or other media is most responsible for you becoming a writer?

MANCINI: Judy Blume and Jack London had the biggest influence on me as a child in making me want to write initially, and movies like Welcome to the Dollhouse made me aware that even small events can become big stories. Shows like Seinfeld, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Johnny Carson, SNL, Mr. Show, and Big Train definitely made me want to write sketch comedy. But easily my biggest inspiration and teacher is the first 10 seasons of The Simpsons. It’s simultaneously funny and heartfelt, and ultimately it’s about family. I love that. Oh, and The Far Side. Still funny as ever.

Now, if we’re talking about what directly made me become a writer, it’s the Upright Citizens Brigade in LA. I’d never studied writing before I saw a show there, and after I saw a few, I realized that I really, really wanted to know how to make that happen. So I saved up the money I was earning from tutoring and took classes!

GOLDMAN: The Onion. I was in high school and started reading Our Dumb Century and was blown away. That book helped me survive AP History. It was also the first time I read something and felt like if I tried to write my own I could maybe not horribly embarrass myself. Years later, I actually got my start interning for The Onion while I was in college, and struggled not to be too nerdy around the staff there (I failed).           

Jake, Did working on Futurama inspire or guide your current writing style and process?      

GOLDMAN: Most definitely. Futurama was, in many ways, my grad school. David X. Cohen, Matt Groening and the entire crew really set the bar for me both personally and professionally. Also, with the show, they managed to do something that is still the Holy Grail for me: Make a comedy with genuine heartfelt moments. I tend to like stories with characters who treat people like actual people and aren’t just ridiculously over-the-top jerkfaces.                                                   

Haley, you’ve done a lot of voice acting. Who are your voice acting heroes?

MANCINI: My VO heroes are definitely the classics like Mel Blanc, but I love Tress MacNeille, Nancy Cartwright, Pamela Hayden, and of course, Jennifer Hale, the original Princess Morbucks! They all bring such range, depth, and comedy to their characters, as well as a vulnerability I’m always striving for. Another of my heroes is my dear friend Eric Bauza! He and my other friend Matt Danner actually gave me my very first voiceover gig on a show of Danner’s right after I moved to LA, when they saw me in an improv show. Now here we are, years later, as close as we’ve ever been and working together again to boot! It truly was a surreal moment to hop in the booth with Bauza as we voiced an episode of The Powerpuff Girls together.

Jake, you’ve done a little acting (voice and otherwise) as well. Any plans for more?

GOLDMAN: Oh most assuredly. I’m still a drama kid at heart, so how could I ever overdramatically turn my back on…::deep inhale:: the craft?!

What is the writing process for The Powerpuff Girls? Do you write together or is a lot of the work done independently?

MANCINI: Team, team, team. Our showrunners Nick Jennings (Executive Producer, The Powerpuff Girls) and Bob Boyle (Co-Executive Producer, The Powerpuff Girls) plus Jake and I will come into a meeting with a premise. After we develop it out a bit, it’s time to ‘break’ it into an episode. We have our own groove on this, but we definitely built part of that off a cool method I learned from some other shows I’ve written on (special shout out to Chris Savino on The Loud House), using post-its and notecards. Then Jakey or myself is assigned the episode (Or both of us! Those are the most fun!), and we get to work on a detailed outline! We don’t go to script because our show is storyboard driven. So, after the outline is written and rewrites are taken care of, we hand it off to the storyboard artists for them to bring it to life! That’s the real secret—our artists are geniuses, artistically and comedically. It’s an incredibly collaborative effort. We all pitch in!

GOLDMAN: It really does take a village to make an episode of The Powerpuff Girls. Each episode of The Powerpuff Girls takes months to make, so even when we’re done writing, we’re always working with our awesome actors, storyboarders, editors, directors and artists to fine-tune the show as it’s being put together.  Even though Haley and I alternate as lead writer on episodes, we’re always working together in some way shape or form, even if it’s just Haley and I texting jokes and photos of her cat back and forth at odd hours of the night.

What role, if any, have libraries played in your lives?

MANCINI: I’m a library girl and a voracious reader. Nothing beats the feel of an actual book in your hands. Also, nothing beats reading if you want to become a writer!

GOLDMAN: Being that I live in a city that is known for its traffic, I’m constantly at my library getting audio books for the many many hours that I sit in my car. Being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic is much easier when you have Jim Dale (or Stephen Fry, if you prefer) reading you Harry Potter.

Optional bonus questions: What books do you think the Powerpuff girls would be reading?

MANCINI: I think the Powerpuff Girls would be reading:

·         Blossom: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and The Art of War (AND probably Jane Eyre on the side)

·         Buttercup: Spiderman (any issue)

·         Bubbles: The Island of the Blue Dolphins or Paddington Bear or Curious George. Anything with animals.

GOLDMAN:

·         Blossom: Nancy Drew Mysteries by Carolyn Keene

·         Bubbles: Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

·         Buttercup: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

What about Princess Morbucks and some of the other villains?

MANCINI:

·         The Prince by Machiavelli…and A Little Princess, but a version specially written for her where the little girl doesn’t ever get poor.

·         Mojo would also be reading The Art of War, but for a less noble reason than Blossom. He’d probably also sneak in a romance novel on the side.

·         The Fashionistas exclusively read Gossip rags and fashion blogs

·         Man Boy would just read woodworking manuals

GOLDMAN:

·         Morbucks: How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It by Mark Cuban

·         Mojo: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Haley, Any chance you will lend your Muay Thai skills to Morbucks to help her fight the Powerpuff Girls?

MANCINI: I tried to teach her, but she just sent an assistant to learn for her! Then I tried to explain to her that that’s not how learning works, and she fired both me AND the assistant. Sigh.

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What celebrities or public figures are you curious about?
Whose book list would you like to read?
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