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This print is way more than just a convention souvenir, especially if you live in Austin. Obviously, King of the Hill was set around Central Texas; you can encounter people with Hank’s accent and speech patterns all along the I-35 corridor from San Antonio to Dallas; but last weekend was the 50th anniversary of the show plus the big special involving multiple doctors teaming up.
I couldn’t resist the piece because the gentleman who made it (Joel Adams) used to be the lead character designer during the show’s first three seasons. So I obviously had questions for him about working with the program’s first series director Wes Archer. Joel said it was a job but other artists thought he would get fired for cleaning up Mike Judge’s characters. Then one day Mike came in to thank Joel for making his creations look even better. It helps that Joel is the son of Neal Adams yet I feel he doesn’t live under the shadow of a legendary father.
Either way, I love the piece. It’s the marriage of how my adopted home is perceived encountering a well-loved Science Fantasy franchise. The dialog is spot on.