This weekend, "Venture Bros." creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer took part in an hour-long Q&A with the press about the fourth season of their smash-hit Adult Swim show, and considering that this was a press event at the New York Comic-Con, that means they were fielding questions from a room full of die-hard "Venture" fans. They were just as funny in person as you might expect, but if you didn't wrangle your way into an NYCC press pass, don't worry: ComicsAlliance was there to bring you the highlights.

After the jump, see what Hammer and Publick had to say about celebrity guests, Sgt. Hatred's shady past, phone operating systems and the Dr. Girlfriend "nip slip."

On DR. GIRLFRIEND'S NIP SLIP: If you frequent the sketchier parts of the internet, you may have seen the single frame of Dr. Girlfriend (well, Dr. Mrs. the Monarch, if you want to get technical about it) revealing a little more than usual. According to Hammer, the frame resulted from spending hours removing black bars from "penises, penises, penises" in order to un-censor an episode for the DVD release, and deciding that he needed "something for the other side." When asked if they were targeted by any concerned parents, Hammer revealed that it wasn't for months after the DVD came out that they got a few letters from people who were both outraged and completely unaware that the scene had never run on television. And for the record? It only takes Hammer three and a half minutes to add a nipple -- including the time it takes to save the file.

On DEAN LOSING HIS VIRGINITY: After a question about whether Dean would "catch up" to his brother -- who lost his virginity this season before having his memory erased -- Hammer and Publick avoided spoilers by saying both that it would never happen, and that it would happen in "the next episode." Either way, it's going to involve crying.



On CELEBRITY GUEST STARS:
Aside from "Firefly" and "Castle" star Nathan Fillion, who appeared in the most recent episode, Hammer and Publick had no plans for future guests. When asked who their ultimate guest would be, they revealed that they'd tried to get David Bowie to play himself in the episode where he was revealed to be the Sovereign of the super-villanous Guild of Calamitous Intent. Unfortunately, they never heard back.

On WHY SHORE LEAVE IS SO POPULAR: "Because he's awesome!" It was also revealed that the character -- a parody of "G.I. Joe's" Shipwreck -- had his roots in a sock puppet show Hammer used to do for Cable Access, and that his voice was their original idea of what Dr. Venture sounded like before James Urbaniak was cast.

On THE SEASON FINALE: It involves a Prom and will have "the most beeps ever" in a half hour on Adult Swim.

On FAVORITE CHARACTERS: They love everyone. Except Dean.



On THE NEW LINE OF TOYS:
They originally wanted to include a Phantom Limb that actually had no arms or legs, just a torso rattling around in a box. "A broken Bo Duke doll" like you'd find at a yard sale.

On SGT. HATRED AND CREATING CHARACTERS: According to Publick, all characters come from conversations that happened off-camera -- Sgt. Hatred started out as a mention of a super-villain who gave someone a "bad touch." When asked if they'd ever heard from anyone challenging them for having an "ex-pedophile" character, Hammer and Publick said they haven't explained that in the world of "Venture Bros." -- which includes wizards and super-heroes -- it's possible for someone to stop being a pedophile. "We've forgiven him."

On THE EVER-EXPANDING VENTURE BROS. UNIVERSE: "Nobody intentionally goes 'we should have a million guys!'"

On PARODYING "JONNY QUEST": "Is it appropriate to bring your boys on adventures?" "Why are there no women? Just super-heroes and boys?"

On CONCERNED FANS: Publick and Hammer were incredibly amused by the fact that viewers were genuinely concerned about the fact that Ghost Robot -- a ghost who lives in the head of a robot -- was "killed" by being stabbed in the face with a trident. After talking about how Ghost Robot was a combination of something that was never alive and something that was already dead -- and saying that the character was created to be "the dumbest thing in the world," -- Publick said "It seems ridiculous that they're worried about Ghost Robot. They SHOULD be worried about all the pedophiles."



On WRITING TOGETHER:
Rather than saying their scenes out loud, Hammer and Publick will literally email and instant message each other from across the room. "We write like ex-lovers."

On THE COPY OF "MARVEL COMICS" #1 THAT WAS DESTROYED IN THE SEASON PREMIERE: "It's fake. It's a cartoon."

On THE D&D EPISODE: "I was a Ranger. Is that what you were going to ask?"

On NOTES FROM THE NETWORK: A recent bumper on Adult Swim said that originally, the network had asked Hammer and Publick to cut the show back to fit a 15 minute time-slot and complained that Dr. Venture was "too mean" (and also admitted they were wrong on both counts). When asked if they'd been asked to make any other changes, Hammer and Publick revealed that they hadn't gotten a note from the network since Season 2, when they were "too busy breaking Brock" to keep the boys from being, and I quote, "super gay-ass."

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