Crumbelievable Tales
Many readers find themselves in the pages of the stories they read. Kids learn to work through problems and face fears through the eyes of their favorite characters. Local Avon resident David Perry feels lucky to have found his place as a storyteller. His newest project, illustrating the graphic novel Aw, Nuts!, a multiyear passion project in the making, is now officially available for young readers.
The road to this release was long and winding for Perry. His childhood was marked by frequent moves and financial struggles, and his family of eight often shuffled between multiple residences and motel rooms. Without much space and little room for toys, Perry often found himself watching beloved cartoons such as Dragon Ball Z, Rugrats and The Simpsons. During these formative moments, Perry would sketch images as he laughed along with his favorite characters.
After some adult growing pains, Perry landed back in central Indiana at Butler University. With hopes of becoming an animator, he majored in broadcasting, the closest path he could find to pursuing his dream. It was his minor in creative writing, however, that ignited a true love of storytelling.
“I thought I wanted to animate for a living, but what I learned after taking poetry courses was that I started drawing not because I loved drawing, but because I loved storytelling,” Perry says. “I wanted to tell stories, and poetry showed me how to craft meaning artfully, how to distill into the smallest, most impactful space parts of the human condition that are impossible to communicate in direct language. I loved it, and it revealed to me my love of language.”
Shortly thereafter, Perry transferred to IUPUI to take advantage of the school’s 2D animation courses. He fell in love with the media arts department and graduated with honors four years later. During his tenure, Perry undertook his first major project, an animated series called Mallory Bash. That series garnered him the attention of Aw, Nuts! author Max Beaudry. Together, the two developed The Crumbelievable Adventures of Peanut and Jelly.
Beaudry originally approached Perry with the goal of developing a 22-minute pilot script as pitch material. Perry readily agreed, and the two began work, developing a close working partnership and friendship. What Perry initially thought would be a quick-turnaround script morphed into a two-year project in the making.
“This was a throwback to classic middle-grade cartoons, the kind I grew up with,” Perry says. “I wanted to work on these kinds of shows all my life, and now I had an opportunity to help create one. I thought, yeah, sure, this ought to be relatively easy. Just illustrating a comic from a 22-minute pilot script. How hard could it be? Well, as it turns out, a lot of stuff happens in 22 minutes. By the time I finished the book — two years later, between other projects and being the sole artist on the job — we had an 88-page graphic novel.”
The book is intended for a young audience, ages 6-11. Young readers will be delighted by the story of Peanut and Jelly, who are “best food dudes.” The two friends dream of climbing the social hierarchy in Foodtopia, a structure loosely based on the food pyramid. Peanut and Jelly work menial jobs at the Crumb Dump. The Toppings reign supreme, the Average Dough perform mind-numbing work in slavish cubicles, while the Crumbs straggle at the bottom.
The two friends horse around, resulting in Peanut’s work hat being lost in the forbidden crumb wasteland. An attempt to retrieve it leads to the accidental release of a sandwormish beast, and antics ensue. Peanut and Jelly hilariously attempt to return the beast, leaving Foodtopia in shambles, scattered in leftovers. Along the way, the friends learn a valuable lesson about the importance of friendship over the draw and glitz of the higher food groups.
“My favorite thing about working on projects with Max is that he lets me creep in my own little jokes,” Perry says. “While all the writing humor is his, all the background jokes are pure Perry. I grew up on The Simpsons, so there are a lot of sign gags all over Foodtopia.”
After an initial stint as a self-published book, the graphic novel series was picked up by Papercutz and officially released in November 2025. Perry and Beaudry are now hard at work on promotional tours for Aw, Nuts!, and the two are gearing up for a follow-up book with more antics from Peanut and Jelly.
Perry also hopes Peanut and Jelly will eventually be picked up for an animated series, joining the ranks of SpongeBob and Patrick.
Until then, Perry is hard at work as a lecturer of character design, 2D animation and comics at IU Indianapolis, while also freelancing as a series development artist, screenwriter, comic artist and fiction writer.
Aw, Nuts! is available through Papercutz at papercutz.com.
