Links and Further Reading

Of course I have to give a shout out first and foremost to the Looney Tunes Fandom Wiki, which is very expertly taken care of and packed with so much information, examples, and commentary. They have a full list of Road Runner cartoons, as well as a meticulously organized page including all of Wile E. Coyote's appearances across various shows, shorts, comics, and cameos. This quite literally would not have been possible without them.

I also want to give a little shout out to the Wile E. Coyote fanlisting, "indecisive.de" which I have not linked because it unfortunately looks like the domain has expired. I still have the little code from it, but I'm unclear as to what happened or if it will be back up any time soon, if at all. Godspeed, Coyote comrades.

Books

Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist

Author: Chuck Jones

Number of Pages: 302

Originally Published: 1989

This book serves as a fantastic memoir and autobiography of one of the greats of American animation. Full of personal stories, advice to artists, sketches, and a great “Who's Who” of Jones’ unit during the Golden Age of Warner Brothers (of variable reliability). This book was of particular interest to me due to how much discussion there is on the creation and evolution of Wile E. Coyote, as well as commentary on the evolution of Daffy Duck once Jones started directing cartoons featuring him. The book is available on archive.org through various online/digital library services.

Living Life inside the Lines: Tales From the Golden Age of Animation

Author:Martha Segall (foreword by Jerry Beck)

Number of Pages: 245

Originally Published: 2005

I haven't yet actually read this book, but it was an excerpt posted on tumblr which led me back down the rabbit hole of my Looney Tunes obsession. It's next up on my list of books to be read about American animation.

Written with warmth, humor, and a touch of nostalgia, this is a rarely told story of what it was like to be a part of a team of artists who were creating masterpieces of animation. Sigall recalls her lifelong friendships with writer Michael Maltese, animators Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Herman Cohen, Paul Smith, Bob Matz, and many others. She writes of her experiences of being a woman in a male-dominated industry, particularly during the war years when she was one of the first women camera operators in the industry.

— The University Press of Mississipi

Online Articles, Websites and Videos

The Chuck Jones Virtual Experience — A website dedicated not only to Chuck Jones' life work as a director and animator, but the characters he was involved in writing for and his contemporary artists.

Coyote v. Acme Essay by Ian Frazier — The essay that inspired the upcoming movie is up and available for all to read! It’s short and funny, and no doubt has been an inspiration to many.

"When Coyote Leaves the Res: Incarnations of the Trickster from Wile E. to Le Guin" by Amanda Cockrell — an article from the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts about the role of coyote, particularly as "Old Man Coyote" across different cultures' folklore, and where modern incarnations such as Wile E. Coyote fit into the role as a trickster spirit and teacher to us as man. This is a wonderful article and an interesting read, even if you are unfamiliar with the other examples brought up the author does a fantastic job of providing the needed context and examples. (Link provided is from JSTOR)

“Getting Looney about Road Runner and Coyote” — interview with producers Tony Cervone and Spike Brandt by Bill Desowitz for Animation World Network about Coyote Falls before the first airing of The Looney Tunes Show and the 2011 Oscar season.

"The Name Game" blog post from the News From Me Archives — A short, stream of conscious discussion from comic writer Mark Evanier who accidentally canonised “Ethelbert” as Coyote’s middle name in a Western comic book adaptation. Not only does he talk about Coyote, but also about other confusing naming and canon conventions of the Warner Brothers’ characters.

"Catch Me if You Can" the History of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner by Haveahart. How weird that there’s a series of infographics made by a pest control company, detailing statistics from the cartoons. I love the aesthetic and cohesiveness of the infographics too, they're all-around just super fun to look at.

The Bugs Bunny Video Guide — a fantastic website not only as a list of Looney Tunes shorts, but the various video releases and upcoming news. It is still actively being updated as of August of 2023.

The hidden world of LOONEY TUNES' background art YouTube video by The Gaze — A great video about how the background art of the Looney Tunes cartoons not only adds to the environment and world of the cartoons, but should be recognized as pieces of art in their own right (with an emphasis on the works of Maurice Noble).

Voice Evolution of WILE E. COYOTE - 71 Years Compared & Explained | CARTOON EVOLUTION by Dave Lee Down Under — a long-form video which compiles and break downs the different voice actors and types of voice acting performances given over the years across different versions the of the Looney Tunes

Miscellaneous

The Looney Tunes Platinum Collection on Blu-ray disc — I recommend this collection if you want some behind the scenes commentary as well as a nice-quality collections of the best Looney Tunes. (I have not provided any specific link.)

Looney Tunes Characters Style Guides — Production materials from 1992-1996, including insightful comments in terms of how these characters are intended to be marketed and how their designs should be incorporated. This particular upload is incomplete, notably missing “The Gang’s All Here” guide (with group images of Bugs, Coyote, and Daffy).

Diolot Clement’s Artstation Gallery of concepts for Coyote vs Acme — If you’ve seen a poster on any of these fake free movie sites or used in speculative articles, that’s actually Diolot Clement’s speculative concept art! I really really encourage you to check out the entire gallery full of backgrounds, full scenes, and even a few animatics (with a little bit of voice acting too!) The entire gallery is so detailed and thoughtful and self-referential and as I’ve said before, I hope the movie is even half as good as this.

a comic/zine about coyotes by the artist keymintt on tumblr — This is a beautiful ode to the animal and its history, leaning into the undying nature attributed to its spirit in various folklore. I got chills the first time I read it.

Coyote Yipps an informational blog by Janet Kessler — a self-taught naturalist who is tracking and documenting the San Fransisco coyote population, their family connections and behavior in effort to reabilitate their reputation. While Janet stresses she is not a photographer by trade, her photographs of these animals are absolutely lovely. She also founded the website coyotecoexistence, as part of her work, and has many articles and videos in multiple languages.

“Unattainable” a fanfiction by IncurableNecromantic on Archive of Our Own — This is a human AU fanfiction in which the Coyote is an obsessive university professor, and the Road Runner is a delivery boy with strange physiological abilities. After becoming confused and frustrated that he can never get a glimpse of the delivery-person who drops off his numerous packages, Professor Coyote develops a psychosexual fixation on this mysterious “RR,” who seems as into the pursuit and avoidance of said traps as the professor is setting them up. This fic was absolutely written by someone who loves the Looney Tunes franchise and characters, and while yeah, maybe it’s a bit weird to be reading an NSFW fanfiction about the grandaddies of American Animation, this fic is genuinely so much fun and has stuck in my brain since the very first time I read it.

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