The Secret Connection Between Spider-Woman, Plastic Man And Fangpuss!!

This ad appeared in Incredible Hulk Annual #8 (1979):

By then, I was pretty much done with the whole Saturday morning cartoon thing--places to go, people to see.

So allow me some ill-informed and decades-late comments.

It's not enough that they're Super Friends. Now they're "World's Greatest Super Friends"! Take that, Swedish Super Friends!

Plus, I have to admire that even though they showed his picture, Aquaman can't even get listed in the copy. Even in 1979, they knew...

I had absolutely no idea whatsoever that there had been a Spider-Woman cartoon. Not one single clue. How is that possible?

Also worth noting, that in the pre-merger mania and pre-discovery of corporate synergy era, ABC had no problem running both DC and Marvel shows. You wouldn't see that today, by golly.

This same comic had an ad for CBS' Saturday morning line-up, which featured Mighty Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Popeye, Tarzan and Batman. What a wild, wacky world...

Wait...comedy AND adventure? Have you gone mad, ABC?

Much as with Spider-Woman, I had no clue that there had been a Plastic Man cartoon on Saturday mornings. Seriously, what else did I miss?

Glory days.

And then there's this:

What. The. Hell.

And this:

Whatever happened to Fangpuss?!?

And sadly:

I'm sorry. Scrappy Doo is the worst thing ever. I'd rather watch BvS again than watch anything with Scrappy Doo in it.

Seriously, I hate Scrappy Doo...

Manic Monday--A Bad Spell In Gotham City

No matter what your opinion of the Beware The Batman cartoon, I'm sure that we can all agree...

...Bruce Wayne really needs to invest in a spell checker.

From Saturday's episode "Allies."

They've Animated My Dreams

On last night's episode of Batman: The Brave And The Bold, they included this story:

AND this story:

They had a character reading aloud from this comic book:

...and proceeded to launch into adapting this story:

(albeit with Bat-Mite in the Mr. Mxyzptlk role).

Oh, yeah, and they introduced this character:

Yes, Joker-Mite.

All in one half-hour.

Grant Morrison says "every Batman story counts." These guys mean it....

Revolving Door

Why the heck does Warner Brothers feel compelled to keep switching up the voice talent for their direct to video animated releases?

Since the launch of their direct to video DVD/BluRay line with Superman/Doomsday in 2007, here's the rundown over who has voiced the Man Of Steel:

Adam Baldwin (Superman/Doomsday), Kyle MacLachlan (Justice League: New Frontier), Tim Daly (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies), Mark Harmon (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths), and back to Daly (Superman/Batman: Apocalypse).

Batman, meanwhile, has been played by Jeremy Sisto (New Frontier), Kevin Conroy (Batman: Gotham Knight and Public Enemies), William Baldwin (Crisis), Bruce Greenwood (Batman: Under The Red Hood), and Conroy again (Apocalypse).

No casting has been announced yet for the forthcoming All-Star Superman or Batman: Year One. There must be other Baldwin brothers out there...

We've also had several different Hal Jordans and Wonder Women, as well.

I'll confess up front--I'm a fan of Conroy and Daly from the work on the animated TV series, and I think they're the best.

But I'm open to change, and giving new people a chance. But why the constant yo-yoing around? Why not pick someone and stick with them?? They don't change Harry Potters every movie, and Christopher Nolan is sticking with Christian Bale. Why does the DC animated division feel compelled to keep their biggest roles a revolving door?

I know these are stand-alone releases, but still, shouldn't there be some continuity of character, some overlap between the video releases? Especially when you consider that, at least for me, the audience spends the first 30 minutes of the hour and a quarter video trying to shake off the cognitive dissonance of "that's not Batman's voice!" ringing through my head.

Not that I'm saying that any of the various voice actors is bad (although the less said about Mark Harmon, the better). But why are we approaching the casting of these roles like the Joel Schumacher Batman movies? I really can't see that most of this constant rotation brings anything new or interesting to the table, except as an excuse for Andrea Romano to say "X really brings something to role" each and every time on the making of documentary. It's like she's playing Mad Libs...

So, all I'm saying is, why can't we pick actors and stick with them??

PS I should mention that some of other the stunt casting gets in the way of the movie, because Barney Stinson as Nightwing and Bender as the Joker kept taking me out of the moment every time they spoke. I'm just sayin'.

Does Whatever a Cartoon Can...

I haven't seen too many people yapping about this, so let me be the first to say: The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon on Kids' WB rocks.

It debuted last Saturday with a special 2-episode premiere, and man o man, it surpassed my already high expectations.

Why high expectations? Because the supervising producer/show-runner is Greg Weisman, who was the guiding light behind Disney's Gargoyles cartoon back in the '90s. Gargoyles was, in my opinion, the pinnacle of Cartoons Too Good For Snotty Kids®. The depth of characterization, the complexities and twists of the plot...sheer excellence. Don't take my word for it. Season 1 and the first half of Season 2 are out on DVD, so go watch. Amazon's got them, Netflix has them...just go give them a try.

So when I learned Weisman was taking on Spidey, well, I just had to be on board. And my hopes weren't dashed. We're basically at Spider-Man Year One. Peter's still in high school, and has been Spidey for about 4 months or so.

Now, Weisman has written comics before, and you can tell he looooves early Lee-Ditko Spider-Man, because he's just swimmin' in the fun, wallowing in the stuff.. In just the first hour, we've got: The Vulture, Flint Marko before he gets powered up, Elektro, Curt Conners injecting himself with lizard DNA, The Enforcers, Hammerhead, a mysterious unseen boss who's gotta be the Kingpin, Norman Osborn pre-Goblin but still a dickweed, Eddie Brock, Gwen Stacy, J. Jonah Jameson...and it all works.

So figure out who's got Saturday AM Kids' WB in your area, set your TIVOs, and enjoy. I promise you won't be disappointed.

The only drawback? Aunt May is...well...kinda hot. And that makes me feel real weird...

Ask and Ye Shall Recieve

After my brilliant post about CBS's 1968 Saturday morning cartoon line-up, one question has reverberated through the internet: Moby Dick? The Mighty Mightor? Whassup with that?

The answer? This is what was up, friends:



Perfection. Sheer perfection.

Things That Make Me Smile--Life Was Better in 1968

Cartoons until 2PM Saturdays? That's right--2PM!! And none of that educational crap, either!!

The freakin' Herculoids?!?

The Archies!! Just for Chris Sims!!

The Wacky Races--this was the first meta-series, man...the Countdown of Hanna-Barbera 1968!!

Johhny Quest!!

Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor??? Look it up, kids!! Look, the dexcription of Mightor alone should convince how great Staurday mornings used to be: "Caveman Tor was given the power to transform into the super-powered Mightor by a hermit, using a super-powered club. With his pet flying dinosaur, Tog, he protected his village from evil-doers." And don't forget Moby Dick: "Teenage boys Tom and Tub were rescued by the great white whale Mody Dick after a shipwreck. Together with their pet seal, Scooby, they faced the dangers of the undersea world."

Go ahead, kids. "Tear this out and carry it with you everywhere." Why not deface a Silver Age comic book, just so you can pull out this list at 3PM on Thursday afternoon on the school bus? Because you can never tell when you might need to know what time Shazzan! is on...

Oh, and it's not exactly the Green Lantern oath, but c'mon, this'll get the blood stirring, right?

C'mon!! You're stirred!! Admit it!! Seeing Superman, Batman and Robin drone on zombie-style IS exciting!

Ahem....

Did I mention cartoons until 2PM?