Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer talked to fans at the Venture Brothers panel at Comic-Con 2012. Fans of the series were delighted to hear that the series will return for a fifth season early next year. They announced that a hour-long special will air between seasons 5 and 6 and with these announcements, they also confirm a Venture Brothers Halloween Special scheduled for later this year.

Jackson notes that the Halloween episode may be a bit confusing to some because the episode was originally written to air after the season 5 premiere, but because of the episode’s spooky subject matter it was bumped into a Halloween Special.

“We’re making Season 5 right now. We haven’t gotten any animation back yet… it’s coming, like, next week but we do have a little something to show you.” said Publick. Fans at the panel were treated to a 10 minute sneak peek which featured new character designs and animatics from the upcoming season. Highlights include Sergeant Hatred with breasts and a ventriloquist act between Dr. Venture and Billy Quizboy. In another scene, we see a botched attempt at bedroom roleplay between the Monarchs.

Doc and Jackson reveal new and returning guest stars. Actors like J.K. Simmons, Tim Meadows, Gillian Jacobs, Paget Brewster, Aziz Ansari, and John Hodgeman have lent their voice to characters in the upcoming season. According to Jackson Publick, John Hodgman will not returning as Wonderboy but as new character entirely.

After the presentation, Doc and Jackson fielded questions from the audience and below are a few highlights.

Question: Did you plan to develop Shore Leave?
Doc Hammer: First he came on as a Village People joke. This is how every character in our show is made, they come on and they deliver their one engineered line and then they never go away. Then you learn everything you can about them and then when we finally get rid of them, when we finally kill them, you go, ‘Oh, my God, why did you do that?’

Question: Do you plan out character arcs or do the changes occur organically?
Jackson Publick: All of the above.

Doc Hammer: One, we are not disciplined. We are like children and if we want to do something we do it, and then we urinate in the corners of the room. Two, it gets kind of boring for us to write someone who wakes up and goes, ‘I’m bad doo-doo-doo-doo.’ We feel like we’re writing another show, insert the one you don’t like into that sentence. We feel like we’re writing for blank.

Question: Are we ever going to find out why the Monarch hates Captain Sunshine?
Doc Hammer: ’Cause he’s a self-righteous jackass! Did we ever try to hide that?

Jackson Publick: He probably officially arched him at some point.

Doc Hammer: Villains and heroes, they’re like clients, basically. You never get over you first arch. You still hate ‘em. Sometime you wake up in the middle of the night and think, ‘Gosh, I used to love hating that guy.’

Some fans asked about character specific appearances next season, but Doc and Jackson would not divulge any details.

Doc Hammer: If you want, we can just talk about my penis.

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