Freakazoid: The Odd Hero

It makes sense, that cartoon is something of an acquired taste. It was like a superhero version of Animaniacs with all of the Warner brothers—and Warner sister—in one person. On top of that, Freakazoid never really did much you’d associate with superheroes.

Sure, he had the powers, the super speed, and ran around in his underwear, but his confrontations with villains often ended with them being annoyed to insanity or bumbling their way into an arrest. Plus, his villains never really required that much effort to begin with.

Obviously, Freakazoid was a parody of superhero comics and cartoons. There were several super toons out at the time: Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men, the really fun Swamp Thing show, and the really mediocre Fantastic 4/Iron Man series over on UPN. But what if Freakazoid was introduced into the DC comic book universe?

No One Wants A Freakazoid Comic

Just hear me out! Freakazoid came out in 1995 and ran until 1997. In that time, the series didn’t get a comic book. It was a show owned by Warner Brothers which owns DC Comics. Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, and The Simpsons are all cartoons that got their own comic book runs. So, why not Freakazoid?

One reason is that it didn’t have a long run or anything. Still, there have been cartoons that got action figures off of few seasons. As a matter of fact, those cartoons were made purely to advertise the action figures! Freakazoid didn’t get any merchandise. Biker Mice from Mars got action figures, a video game, and a reboot.

Now, I’m not one to throw Biker Mice from Mars under the bus (Bucky O’Hare was better) but if they could get merch, surely Freakazoid could’ve gotten a standalone comic at least. No, he should’ve been a hero in the DC comic book universe. It would’ve been like if DC’s Captain Marvel swapped brains with Deadpool if it ran today.

In the 1990s, it would’ve been pretty much in line with the rest of DC animation’s comic book series. Endless wackiness and storylines that didn’t really go anywhere but what if he was introduced in this decade—well, it’s a wrap now—through one of the several universe shake-ups the publisher has had since its start?

If an intentionally annoying character like Deadpool can have dedicated comic, spin-offs, and a fanbase, I believe Freakazoid could pull it off. That is, if he’s introduced right and isn’t made into someone like…Sentry. Just all of the power and little of the “Wow, I’d read a full series on just this character”-factor.

I’m Serious

Put my man Freakazoid in DC Comics. He doesn’t need a whole comic; I’d settle for anything more than a cameo. Put in the Justice League. Yes, the Justice League, an organization—like the Avengers—with more members than there are Wu-Tang affiliates.

I want him mixed in so well with the comic book universe that we’ll have to get an edgelord grimdark version of him by Frank Miller with Rob Liefeld doing the art. Then everyone will be slack jawed once they get an Eisner Award for the mini-series Freakazoid Offline.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Now, the prices for a tape featuring two episodes were always dicey but you were guaranteed to find something you’d dig. Flipping through it, I noticed a lot of classic mecha series.

Mecha are the anime, manga, and video games involving giant robots that can either be piloted from inside or controlled. Usually, the series are sci-fi in nature but things have been mixed up and new concepts have been explored.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at big three pioneers of mecha anime and manga.

Voltron (1984)

This franchise holds a very legit claim to being the best of the classic mecha franchises. This franchise was just satisfying to watch. It wasn’t overly complex, too violent, or even too lengthy.

I’m not a big fan of monster-of-the-week writing but it worked with Voltron. This was like an animated version of Power Rangers which began airing a few years before Voltron.

Another thing that works for Voltron is that this is mecha in a sci-fantasy setting. It’s like if you mixed Power Rangers with Star Wars when the back story comes into play.

Of course, anime that was broadcast don’t really hit story-wise when you’re ten. You’re just looking at the cool fights, suits, and robots, really.

Robotech (1985)

Now Robotech and Voltron aren’t as old as pioneers such as Mazinger Z or Gigantor but it is one of those series that pioneered mecha in the West.

This was thanks to anime’s best friends during expansion and exposure: dubbing and broadcast television. Dubbing—replacing the audio of exported content with that of the import market—wasn’t that great in the late 80s and into the early 00s.

However, just the idea that this was some new, fresh content in the West was enough for Robotech to catch on. It’s military-focused but it’s also a space opera with half of it being about the protagonist doing his duty and protecting the woman he loves only for it to no be reciprocated.

Of the three mentioned series, Robotech kind of sits in the middle. It’s not as action-heavy and fast-paced as Voltron tends to be but it doesn’t move at a slower pace like our next entry often does.

Also, lore-wise, Robotech isn’t as technical as our third franchise but it explains more than Voltron usually did. Progression-wise, this series moved along well and ran in chronological order.

Which is different from the third and final series on this list.

Gundam (1979)

This is such a hard series to explain. Gundam does a lot. It’s a long-running series which predates Robotech and Voltron by a few years but comes over a decade after Gigantor.

Like Robotech, Gundam is a space opera obsessed with a lot of lore and timeline events. Unfortunately, the franchise is fractured into multiple series taking place in different timelines or even different worlds.

As I said, this is a franchise that is hard to explain. Some of the series are sequels or prequels of others while some are standalone series. Then you have a series like G Gundam which kind of steps away from the slower-paced high drama of the franchise into straight-up shonen territory.

On the one hand, I’d say this is to be expected if a franchise has run as long as Gundam and needs to freshen things up for a while. I don’t know if this was the right direction but I enjoyed it!

For the most part, you could get someone into Voltron or even Robotech. As a matter of fact, Robotech is offered on most streaming platforms and for free on Crackle.

Gundam is a harder series to get people into. It really depends on if you introduce them to the more modern stuff, the late anime boom stuff like Gundam Wing and G Gundam, or take them back to the throwbacks.

It’s a gamble because Gundam’s pace is such that if the series you picked for someone to watch doesn’t stick, it’s going to be hard to suggest more Gundam. At that point, you’re just pushing it.

Bonus Classic Mecha Anime: Gigantor (1963)

Gigantor is pretty much the godfather of modern mecha anime. It’s old school as hell, black and white, and features a super simplistic storyline from episode to episode.

When I first saw it, it was more for historical purposes. Watching the series years later and I don’t care for it, to be honest. This is not a fun series to sit through.

That’s hard for me to say because I’ve sat through and enjoyed Astro Boy which was released around the same time. There’s just something I can’t get into with the original Gigantor.

I will say that this was a big broadcast for me since I heavy into finding the origins of certain genres in music, comics, and animation.

Seeing the birth of so many tropes is why I enjoy watching Kinnikuman and Fist of the North Star so much. Once Toriyama took from those two series to make Dragon Ball manga history was made.

That could be the thing. I went in thinking I’d witness the same thing in Gigantor that was inspire Gundam, Robotech, and Voltron. I guess that would be the case if those series were heavily in the old 1940s Danger Boy and Mystery Lad novels vein like Gigantor.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

There are many directions some games could’ve taken, even the blockbusters and Greatest Hits. We’re going to look at five odd adventures (good and bad) from the Sega Genesis era. I’ve mainly lived in a PlayStation, Nintendo, and PC household but in the 1990s there were some memorable journeys on the Genesis.

Let’s dive in!

Sonic Spinball (Sega, 1993)

Pinball games on a console used to seem a little lazy to me and that’s mainly as a result of having played Sonic Spinball. It’s not that the game was bad, it was actually a lot of fun. It’s just pinball with a Sonic the Hedgehog theme that worked. I remember thinking that Sega should’ve dropped another Sonic game for the Genesis…only for them to drop them awesome Sonic 3 the following year.

This was the age of quick turnaround for non-sports games. What made this game more odd is that there was no sequel. Just “Here’s some Sonic in the meanwhile.” Alex Kidd Pinball would’ve probably bothered me less because Alex Kidd had long since been shafted and thrown in the vault. If there was no sequel, it would be expected. It’s Alex Kidd.

Unfortunately, Alex Kidd was all stiff (as were many video game characters from the Master System and NES period) and couldn’t ball up and spin like Sonic and Tails could. On that note, Sonic Spinball has mobile gaming potential.

Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck (Core Design, 1993)

The character Chuck Rock had one game on multiple consoles including the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, and Game Gear. It was also on some Atari consoles (not too unusual) but it was just that 1991 game. There wasn’t a ton of Chuck Rock games, he wasn’t a character who became a promoted star from a long-running franchise. He was just there, saving his girl in a Flintstones-meet-Super Mario sense.

Two years later, Chuck Rock Jr is off to save his father in a Flintstones-meets-Donkey Kong Jr sense. The game was fine as a platformer and had fun enemies and boss battles, it’s just an odd adventure when you hadn’t played the first Chuck Rock. Of course, after playing Chuck Rock II, you’ll find that it makes sense why there was no Chuck Rock III. Besides the studio closing down years later, there was nowhere else to go with the series.

Krusty’s Fun House (Acclaim, 1992)

It’s the 1990s, The Simpsons run the world and it makes sense that there would be games based on The Simpsons on multiple consoles. It’s just odd that we have a game based on Krusty the Clown who is built like Homer Simpson but doesn’t get into the overly involved situations that Homer gets into.

Sure, Homer has a gut and is at home on the couch any day of the week but he’s out and about doing something. Krusty? Not so much. This isn’t to say it was a bad title or that all Simpsons games should feature Bart. This game was fun and there was an Itchy & Scratchy platformer.

To a degree, it’s the idea of a Simpsons puzzle game. This could’ve been any game. It was actually another game that was given the Simpsons coat of paint because why develop something from scratch when you could just re-design the setting and main characters like Super Mario Bros. 2?

Revolution X (Midway, 1994)

Revolution X was an arcade shooter that was ported to the Sega Genesis. It is best known for being the game that features Aerosmith. They’re not playable characters but they are collectible. This is the only outright bad game on the list because it was often dicey when an arcade shooter or even a PC shooter was ported to the Genesis or Super NES.

But that’s to be expected. No, the odd thing here is we’ve got a band shooter. This isn’t a run-n-gun affair. It’s not a DOOM situation either. This is more like Area 51 or House of the Dead. The game is filled with odd design choices. You’ve got women in bikinis but few on the beach, you’re fighting with a hostile group, and Aerosmith has been kidnapped.

I mean at this time, Aerosmith was delivering the goods but I just don’t know about putting the band and a shooter (or any genre together). Then again, it could’ve been an early 1990s Kiss shooting game.

Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool (System Vision, 1992)

Hmm. Both the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo were no stranger to bad mascot games. Every mascot game can’t be Cool Spot but they can aspire to be Global Gladiators. Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool meets the standard set by Global Gladiators. That is to say it’s mediocre at best but no one would say it was a good or great game.

Mechanically, it worked like most mascot or cartoon platformers from this period with the stiff jumping and movement. I remember my dad bringing this game, Krusty’s Fun House, Tecmo Super Bowl, and Klax from a Friday jaunt to the video store.

It was a dreadful haul but this was the one I played the most since the Cheetos Paws was my favorite snack at the time. You don’t have to reserve judgement and no grace is warranted, I also bought the Combo Man comics because I liked the Combo pretzel snacks.

The odd nature of this game comes from the game obviously not being good but Frito-Lay being invested in it because it was part of an advertising run that was supposed to include a Chester Cheetah cartoon. The toon was canceled but we got two Chester Cheetah games.

Again, this one wasn’t good at all. It was a little under mid, didn’t feature anything new or unique, looked like an early Genesis title (which it was) but someone said “Make another. The streets want another.”

I mean, I wanted another Cool Spot and more Taz-Mania games but never mind that. Much like the Geico cavemen only working for commercials and not warranting a whole television show, Chester Cheetah didn’t need ongoing adventures in video game form.

What are some odd games you’ve played that you feel probably shouldn’t exist. Let us know in the comments!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

The Saturday Morning  Cartoon Landscape

Depending on the network, the Saturday morning block was must-see TV at a time when you could’ve just stayed asleep or actually went outside to do something. Well, in the 80s and 90s, being outside at 7 AM as an elementary schooler was good way to potentially end up a milk carton but Saturday morning was often slow but not Sunday morning slow.

Your heavy hitters were ABC and the WB (in my market originally our Fox affiliate and now the CW). Perpetually third place was UPN (now MyNetwork TV in this market). Those three had regular Saturday morning blocks with CBS and NBC getting away from Saturday morning toons in the morning.

Looking at TV logs from the 1980s, every major network had a Saturday morning block then CBS and NBC went to blocks that started with toons and finished with different kinds of content for kids. Some were educational and others were live action shows like Saved by the Bell.

The Weekday Cartoon Blocks

While Saturday always got the shine—and for good reason—the afternoon blocks were no slouches. It was more of a mix as to what you’d get because the primo toons were typically on Saturdays.

Meanwhile, the school day or weekday line-up featured a few bangers surrounded by either scrub toons or shows that would be viewed favorably but not as bangers.

For instance, you could see Batman: The Animated Series around 4 PM before The Simpsons on Fox/the WB which was outside of the Fox Kids/WB Kids slot. Before you got to Batman, you had to go through Tiny Toons Adventures, Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Taz-Mania, and Freakazoid—a trio of banger series. You also had Eek the Cat and Bobby’s World. Both were fine cartoons but they weren’t the WB’s flagship stuff.

Worse was the mixed bag over on UPN where Mighty Max, Street Sharks, Mummies Alive, Mutant League, and The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog existed alongside Stone Protectors, Stunt Dawgs, Double Dragon, and The Adventures of T-Rex. It was a very scrub-heavy mix on the network and things didn’t truly pick up for the network until 1995 when Samurai Pizza Cats, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, and Ronin Warriors aired.

Even with those shows on the network holding down the before school/weekday morning block, the afternoon cartoon block was largely a pass until Dragon Ball and Ronin Warriors were moved to the afternoon block and Eagle Riders (Gatchaman) debuted on the Saturday block.

Mind you, Cartoon Network had been alive and kicking since 1994 but if you didn’t have cable, the broadcast networks were your stop for toons.

Cable’s Cartoon Blocks

I was going to focus on the Sunday morning cartoons but that was probably the weakest block of cartoons you’d ever see. UPN had a block on Sundays where the only show of note was Technoman (Tekkaman Blade) and eventually Eagle Riders being sandwiched between early morning and late morning church programming.

No, we’re going to take a quick look at TBS which had a strong block game throughout the weekend. Even on TNT viewers were blessed with “MonsterVision” and TBS had the action/martial arts block “Movies for Guys Who Like Movies”.

TBS had the “Cartoon Planet” block starting in 1995 that was based around a kids’ version of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Think, SGC2C as a daytime talk show without guests. Surrounding it was a couple of classic Hanna-Barbera shorts that were worth the watch in the late 60s and 70s, Looney Toons, and Tex Avery bangers mixed in with some new faces such as SWAT Kats and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.

Of the cable cartoon blocks that weren’t “Toonami” and “Super Chunk”, this was a fun two-to-three hours of animation in the pre-Adult Swim era.

An underrated block was the “USA Cartoon Express”. Yes, there was a period when USA Network ran cartoons and many of those featured were fun and memorable ones even if the majority were mid. Savage Dragon and WildCATS were the standouts to me but Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat were fun to watch on weekdays and Saturdays.

USA always had an odd line-up of toons because the four aforementioned series were all adaptations of series known for violence, fighting, and more mature themes than the likes of G.I Joe or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which was also in the “USA Cartoon Express”).

Do you remember the cartoon blocks from back then or did you come in during the Cartoon Network all day blocks, “Adult Swim” and “Miguzi” period? Let us know in the comments and share some of your memories and favorite toons from your favorite cartoon blocks.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Patrick Cloud: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Gold Tier Pick

As a kid in the 90s, my first two animation favorites were TMNT and The Real Ghostbusters. Both shows aired Saturdays on CBS and ABC respectively with older episodes airing on syndication—UPN, the WB/FOX during the school week. At least here in Birmingham.

Of the two, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the cartoon to held up the best. It went from episodic, spanking Shredder and the Foot Clan every week to crossovers with Stan Sakai’s award-winning Usagi Yojimbo and more of a serial approach towards the end.

The stories were multiple-part affairs in the later seasons, new characters were introduced with their own storylines and it was as if the series grew with the audience. While the aesthetic of anamorphic and other morphs being crime fighters at night and teaming with understanding humans, it was the structure of the show that had long-lasting influence as the FOX Kids cartoons Batman, Spider-Man, and X-Men all followed similar formats early on before providing episodes you had to be on time to catch.

Hell, the fact that most of the SquADD—in their 30s—remembered the theme song of a cartoon that ended in the mid-90s is a testament to how dope the OG Ninja Turtles was.

Tony Barker:  Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends – Silver Tier Pick

So, Barker picked a toon from 1981 which ran for two seasons. This isn’t unusual for cartoons made in the 60s into the 90s. After all, cartoons were meant to be 20-minute commercials and not high-level storytelling for elementary school kids. Of the cartoons presented, this and the next option were the best for kids who just wanted color and an adventure.

No, it’s not FOX Kids Spider-Man but it was a fun cartoon in the adventure vein of Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and other Hanna-Barbera toons. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was very much a villain-of-the-episode cartoon that got the job done if you didn’t need much story or character development.

Khleo Thomas: Darkwing Duck – Silver Tier Pick

I’m giving Darkwing Duck silver-tier honors. It’s basically a parody of Batman and had an action-adventure approach similar to Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. As it was pointed out, Darkwing Duck’s villains were actually more interesting and powerful than him—like Batman’s rogues gallery—and similar to TMNT, it had a memorable enough theme song.

Actually, the theme song endeared longer than the series itself.  If Disney didn’t mind going as hard with it’s friendly anamorphic characters as it does with the some of the Marvel and Star Wars stuff, Darkwing Duck could be a fresh new series for those who liked the Duck franchise. Low key, I’d entertain a DD remake.

Tacarra Williams: Gargoyles – Gold Tier Pick

I believe I’ve discussed Gargoyles before but that was probably Mummies Alive. If I haven’t discussed it, just know many other Blerds and Black writers who grew up in 90s have praised Gargoyles over the years. I was a fan of the series as it had a little more bite to it than other weird vigilante cartoons of the decade.

Content and story-wise, it was similar to late-Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and X-Men. Definitely not as hard as HBO Spawn but harder than Freakzoid or The Tick. The animation had that detailed but sharp style that I liked in 90s American animation. Remember, this was the extreme 90s so softer lines and a variety of face and body shapes for all characters wasn’t a priority.

You’d definitely see big-bodied villains and goons as well as rail-thin sneaky masterminds in cartoons of the decade. Gargoyles, while darker aesthetically, ran with that art style and delivered long-running storytelling.

Of course, this didn’t make for a cartoon that would rock more than two seasons. It was essentially a cartoon that was a decade or so early and would’ve thrived on Netflix for a few seasons.

Doboy: The Jetsons – Foil Tier Pick

Look. I was a fan of The Flintstones, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, and The Funky Phantom. Hanna-Barbera cartoons were my sh** but I just didn’t care for The Flintstones in the Future. That’s all The Jetsons was, honestly. It’s like back in the 1960s, you had a few sitcoms focused on a married couple then by the 70s and onward you had endless family sitcoms.

The Jetsons was a family sitcom as George Jetson didn’t have friends of note. Meanwhile, Fred Flintsone was a loyal member of the Water Buffalos, had friends, and often went to see the Big Fight. Hell, The Flintstones didn’t become a family sitcom even after Wilma had Pebbles.

Finally, The Jetsons was just boring. Not even mid.

Brent Taylor: X-Men – Diamond Tier Pick

The last pick we’re going into was presented by Brent: X-Men: The Animated Series. First off, I live X-Men and the mutant world of Marvel. The 90s series started out in as serious a tone as it could because the X-Men’s original goal was to fight racism against mutants while other superhumans whose origins weren’t public knowledge got praise for their exploits.

Well, except for Spider-Man but he was a victim of tabloid-grade slander by New York’s main newspaper—and his employer. Also, J. Jonah just had an irrational hate of Spidey, the X-Men were dealing with racism from fellow citizens, future problems, problems from the future, and another group of powerful mutants—perceived as terrorists—wanting extreme change for mutants.

A Saturday morning cartoon explored these themes and made you want to tune in every weekend to see what happens next or to watch a conclusion. It was a great can’t-miss-an-episode cartoon throughout its run even when a story wasn’t that engaging.

With diamond being the highest tier and tin being the lowest—diamond, gold, silver, bronze, and tin—what tier would you rank these cartoons? Let us know in the comments!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

We’re going to look at these three and determine which is truly the best film and shorts studio.

Hanna-Barbera

The youngest of the three studios we’re looking at, Hanna-Barbera was formed out of MGM closing its animation studio in 1957 after 20 years. While with MGM, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera created Tom and Jerry. When the duo struck out on their own and began building up H.B Enterprises—later Hanna-Barbera Productions—cartoons were still in it’s shorts phase for the most part.

Going a different route, HB would begin producing cartoons in 1957 with their first success coming via The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958. What was different with Huckleberry Hound is that it was more of show that had a slot as the lead-in to prime time. There were different shorts to make up the show and it gave the studio its first Emmy.

It also served as a blueprint for the animated sitcom with the studio creating the award-winning The Flintstones in 1960, the first animated sitcom to air during prime time on ABC. Hanna-Barbera would produce other classic cartoons such as Scooby Doo, The Jetsons, The Smurfs,  Jonny Quest, and so on before being purchased by Turner Broadcasting System in 1991. Ten years later, it was closed down and was purchased by Warner.

HB’s strengths were in series and volume. The studio produced full-length features but it was closer to Warner Bros in that it was a very strong studio when it came to holding a TV slot with its programming. Not only that, HB material was the main material floating Cartoon Network throughout the 90s and morphed into the Cartoon Cartoon model shows that worked so well in the 90s and 00s.

While Hanna-Barbera never got it done with animated film and most of their stuff was very much direct-to-video, the studio had a Warner Bros-like roster of TV series spanning decades and laid the seeds for newer series and CN Studios/Ghost Planet Industries, and Williams Street—studios that defined the decade in a way Disney and WB didn’t.

The main way is that it produced cartoons for kids, all-ages, and for what is supposed to be an adult audience. Disney and WB lean heavily into modernizing their classics with Disney not going all in on giving the characters updated personalities or putting them into situations like WB does with Looney Tunes. Then again, Cartoon Network being 24/7 made it necessary to create new classics in the 90s and 00s.

Strengths: Volume of shows, influence on animation in the 1990s into the 2010s, embracing modern times, ability to produce new content rapidly

Disney

We all know Disney, most of us have grown up on the company’s films and TV shows. It’s the House That Mickey Built. It’s the main reason we’re not going to dwell on Disney and Warner Bros as they’re still active and better known as brands. The company gave us the likes of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, the Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White, Lion King, and Fantasia among others

While the company is a powerhouse in classic animation,  Disney’s strength has always been in film. The company can really produce an animated classic that will hold up for generations after its release. That isn’t to say that Disney can’t do shows, it’s very capable but the classic shows tend to be movie spin-offs.

See, the stuff with their OGs Donald and Goofy tend to be good. DuckTales and Goof Troop are bona fide classics. However, if you really want to present Disney toons in a discussion or ‘debate’ about cartoon classic shows, you have to include spin-offs such as Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, Timon & Pumbaa, The Emperor’s New School, and other 90s and 00s series. There were a few originals like Recess and Bump in the Night which aired on Disney-owned ABC as well but those shows are rarely mentioned as Disney toons.

And that’s just so that Disney has a comparable pool of shows to Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. Again, Disney’s strength was more in film than shows but those series produced some great, memorable shows. Also notice that studio ace Mickey Mouse never popped up while discussing shows. Not good.

I believe one reason is that Disney’s cartoons never went as hard with the comedic violence like Warner Bros, MGM, and HB. Having content primarily targeted towards kids can be restrictive creatively and tends to result in stale characters and shows. A studio can mix up the series but Disney tends to be protective of its OG characters—especially since those characters print money.

Strengths: Animated film game, main character roster, spin-offs, influence on animation, high animation quality

Warner Bros

Of the three studios, Warner Bros is closer to Hanna-Barbera—which explains why WB purchased HB and why we see HB successor and WB characters on the same network today. Like Disney, Warner Bros is well-known in animation and entertainment. It also delivers quantity animation. Like HB, WB leaned into producing for television.

Warner Bros is something of a hybrid because there was a period in the 90s where the animation for shows that were only going to be around for one season wasn’t so good. Then WB, HB, and Disney came in with these well-animated, great looking cartoons.

When it came to the actual comedy in a show or drama, WB had that down pat. Again, it’s a hybrid because HB was strong with comedy while Disney could tug at your heart strings but the comedy was wholesome and comedic violence from or between sociopathic characters has always dunked on wholesome, whimsical comedy in cartoons.

Warner Bros does take the Disney approach of keeping your classic OGs relevant by pulling them into modern times but it does a better job with shows like Tiny Toons where the OGs are teachers to a new generation of cartoon characters, Taz-Mania which focused on the Tazmanian Devil (Taz) and his family, and The Looney Tunes show where the OGs are modern day adults and the original music element of Merrie Melodies returned.

However, it also embraced other licenses—many of which were absorbed—such as DC Comics series. In the 90s, Warner Bros was producing on par with HB/Ghost Planet Industries/Williams Street/CN Studios family after the HB collective flooded 1960s-1980s television with series. In addition to Taz-Mania, you have Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain, Batman series, Superman, Static Shock, Freakazoid, and many more. Not only that, but WB could get it done with spin-offs as is the case with Animaniacs and Pinky & The Brain as well as sequel series such as Batman-Batman Beyond and the Justice League shows.

Strengths: spin-offs, sequels, volume, quality animation, shows that can fill TV blocks, vast OG roster, fluid modernization of OG

Now, I’m more of Warner Bros and Hanna-Barbera fan because I grew up in the 90s and those two studios flooded TV in the early 90s with toons. When it came to Disney, it was mainly to see their movies but their presence on TV was never as great or enticing as WB and HB. Plus, I’ve always been bigger on TV than film because I like the flexibility TV allows in case a season starts out meh, it can possibly rebound by the end of the season.

That’s another discussion. What’s your favorite of the classic animation studios and what were some of your favorite shows, animated films, and shorts from them? Also, what studios of 90s would you like to see compared to Nickelodeon Studios?

Let us know in the comments!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

The Spinach Thing Was a Bit Much

What I didn’t enjoy was spinach. I hated the stuff and was annoyed about having to eat it but Popeye was beating folks up after squeezing a can with one hand and throating the spinach. He’d eat the green mushy stuff—these were 1930s or 1940s cartoons now—and his strength would increase. Now, given he could open a can by squeezing it if necessary, so I figure he should’ve been able to spank Bluto easily.

The spinach element smacked of promotion or advertising for Allen’s variety of spinach. To a degree it probably worked and had some kids eating the spinach. So, the promotion worked? I’m certain Allen’s didn’t expect kids around the world to get on board with it at all—but they definitely moved cans. Especially when you think of how kids will badger their parents into getting stuff from cartoons and shows because their favorite whatever endorsed it.

I will say that the cartoons mixed it up every now and then with Popeye opening cans with his pipe’s fire or Olive Oyl eating the spinach and beating up Popeye and/or Bluto. That was an unusual short where the two foes were pressed and found each other while Olive viewed the two as immature.

What Does Popeye Do?

Again, these cartoons were released in the 1930s and 1940s but the writing was generally mid. These shorts were meant to be quick watches and weren’t going to involve the deepest writing. Just enough was necessary to get Popeye to the point of fighting. While he may have had a variety of jobs depending on the short. The thing is that with today’s writing, the classic cartoon characters either have a job or are established within their universe as was the case in The Looney Tunes Show.

With Popeye, we knew he was a sailor man and had his own house in what appeared to be a good part of town. His land job always changed and sometimes he was still a sailor man. Who knows, maybe housing was more affordable during the peak of Popeye in cartoon and comics. His job is often mentioned as “adventurer” which makes sense if he’s getting treasure and the like.

It was always a mystery and as you know cartoon and video game mysteries will have me pondering for a while.

Battles with Bluto and Obsessing Over Olive Oyl

The crux of most Popeye shorts was he and Bluto’s obsession with Olive Oyl, a tall, gangly woman with an annoying voice. It was as if she was the only woman of note in the world of Popeye because they would start the short as the best of friends then start brawling over her. It was very ridiculous because Olive didn’t seem like anyone worth fighting over.

I mean honestly, there were times when she could be wishy-washy about which one she wanted. While she was often presented as Popeye’s girlfriend there were times when that was in jeopardy. This was even when Bluto—often presented as a bully and rival—was being a brute. Other times, the sailor man was risking brain, spine, and jaw trauma throwing fists with him to save her after she’d been kidnapped.

Now, it could be funny at times but as I got older, there were times when Popeye shorts just didn’t hold up because the situations just left me scratching my head. Again, this was an old cartoon for kids and adults that was shown in theaters—often before a film or as the feature. There’s just something about getting a cartoon was funny sometimes but it still using the same formula.

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies could get away with this because it always had bangers. The Wonderful World of Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Universal Studios—those studios’ shorts could repeat the same gags and have it work. For some reason Fleischer Studios couldn’t really get that down with Popeye or Betty Boop. Ultimately, you had to really be a Popeye fan for the characters’ adventures and misadventures to really tickle.

This wasn’t like dropping in on an episode of Tom & Jerry and just enjoying the constant cartoon violence. No, you had to be pretty invested in Popeye winning in the end regardless of the situation.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

The show will be a part of The CW’s teen-oriented broadcasting which includes a number of comic book adaptations past and present. Personally, I’m excited for the series.

I’ve never been big on episodic television and always preferred an ongoing story with developing backstories. The original Powerpuff Girls never really encouraged that since it was a cartoon geared at kids.

Going the live action route is a risky task since PPG has always been cartoon-y but seeing this attempt will be interesting. The true risk comes in how their villains are depicted.

Let’s look at the three villains the series might tackle that could prove a problem.

Fuzzy Lumpkins

The CW’s writers have always been strong at depicting bumbling powerhouses and backwoods brutes in its numerous shows. However, Fuzzy Lumpkins is someone different.

He looks more like a minor league baseball or kids’ pizza place mascot than a brutal powerhouse of destruction. I’m sure an actor can do the character justice in the story but his physical portrayal is another matter.

Will he just be a big country guy? Or will they make him some kind of mutant or man-beast? Maybe he’ll be a big hairy country guy going through a mutation.

We’ll have to wait and see but it’ll be interesting to see what they do with him.

HIM

Of their rogue’s gallery, HIM is my favorite. The most powerful villain in the franchise, he’s one of the few who have given the Girls an asterisk on their win-loss record.

He’s also difficult to explain but the closest would be an effeminate, gender-bending depiction of Satan. HIM has red skin, a tight coat with a fluffy collar, fishnet stockings, high heels, claw hands, and a slender face.

It was the 90s and cartoons just kind of threw concepts at the wall. Usually, it would land Better than it would now.

Just look at how long Pepe LePew and Johnny Bravo were allowed to cook before there social media allowed people who watched the shows back then to elaborate on why those two characters were rape-y.

The difficulty here lies in both the character’s physical depiction and their character in general. I believe that The CW could actually push things with HIM without reaching the levels of the original character and not get angry letters and tweets.

It’ll be much easier if the show is well received in the first season or two. Having good will with viewers will at least allow for The CW to stumble on HIM.

If the show is panned or gets mixed reactions out the gate then bringing in HIM will be a risk. It could be something that salvages the show or sinks it entirely.

I just hope the cool effect of the character’s voice is present. It doesn’t have to be all the time but the way that voice actor Tom Kane’s voice is echoed added to just how powerful HIM was in the series.

It’s important that he’s depicted in a way that doesn’t harm or use any underrepresented groups.

Mojo Jojo: The Greatest Villain of the Powerpuff Girls

While not the most powerful villain in the franchise, he was a consistent threat to Townsville and really gave the Powerpuff Girls a run for their money on several occasions.

Unlike most villains in the series who end up fighting the Girls for a variety of minor reasons, Mojo Jojo has history with the Girls and Professor Utonium as he was once the Professor’s lab monkey/assistant.

It is later revealed that he broke the flask of Chemical X that made the Powerpuff Girls while the Professor was trying to create the perfect little girl. As a character, he would reason to hate the Girls since he was pretty much abandoned.

Living in a volcano in Townsville, he uses his super intelligence to create machines and devise plots to take over the town and get revenge on the Girls.

He’s basically the perfect, basic but dangerous, reoccurring villain for a comic or cartoon. Mojo Jojo is basically how all of these iconic villains in DC and Marvel Comics were depicted between the 1940s and into the late 1960s. He’s always defeated but he always returns.

So, where’s the difficulty? It’s the same with Fuzzy Lumpkins and to a degree HIM: the physical depiction.

Never mind his voice and dialogue, I’m sure there’s an actor who can nail the mix of comedic over-the-top villainy and legit threat that is Mojo Jojo. Well, they might have to do something about his “sinister Japanese” voice.

The character is a mutated chimp that has an exposed brain underneath his turban, sports a cape, and has his own costume. It’s obvious that The CW will need to modernize his attire but how exactly do they depict him?

That’s why this new live-action PPG is so exciting: how will everything be translated to live-action? The answer to all of this is that we’ll just have to wait and see.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

What Counts As Super Science?

One of my favorite old school cartoons was Jonny Quest. While I loved The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, the original from the 1960s was just straight up adventure and super science. If you’re wondering about super science, it’s in most comics and screen adaptations. It’s the kind of science that results in some superheroes and villains.

Iron Man is super science. Reed Richards and Doctor Doom? They came to the Marvel dance because super science mixed with superhero-type adventure. The popular Rick & Morty—also an Adult Swim show—includes super science. If it’s science fiction that results in technology that would be decades ahead of the series’ present time—you’re dealing with this trope.

It was prominent in sci-fi magazines and comics of the 1950s and 1960s. Jonny Quest, Astro Boy, and Tetsujin 28-go were some of the earliest pieces of sci-fi animation to explore this. Robots, giant mutated animals, and giant mutated robotic animals are stock foes in super science fiction.

The main threat are the mad doctors creating these menaces to kill or capture adventurers. Overall, it’s a particular, somewhat dated brand of science fiction.

The Venture Bros Rolls In

While comics were pretty much consistent as ever with super science—because it’s the foundation of most superhero origin stories—on TV, that wasn’t the case. There was definitely science fiction and space adventures, the Jonny Quest-brand of sci-fi didn’t have a representative on TV.

That is until 2003 when animation veteran Jackson Publick (Christopher McCulloch) finally managed to get The Venture Bros picked up. The series features a lot of bleak humor but also spoofs super science and superhero adventures of the 1960s.

Initially, it was centered around Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture’s failures in life and in the science field. His father was the famous Dr. Jonas Venture who died during a job in space. Jonas was everything Rusty never became. However, he never looked down on him or expressed disappointed in how Rusty wasn’t initially taking to science. Rusty would accompany his father and his close friends on adventures.

He was a star as a child, having a TV series about his adventures. All in all, Rusty’s childhood was very Jonny Quest-like. Decades later, Rusty is finally in the science field, has two twin sons—Hank and Dean. The Venture Bros accompany Dr. Venture and his quadruple tough bodyguard Brock Samson on jobs that become adventures.

As mentioned before, Rusty has pretty much failed as a scientist. He’s actually pretty good at what he does but a mixture of depression and one too many misadventures have taken him out of the game. That said, he gets by on an adequate reputation and the name of his father—which only adds more stress on him.

A Show That Spans Genres

With each passing season, The Venture Bros brought in more bizarre characters who become a part of the Venture Family circle. More villains also start to appear with The Monarch being key among them. With more characters comes an overlap in genres. The show went from super science adventure to include superhero sci-fi, horror and occult, and even straight up spy action.

That’s one—of many—things I love about this show: it folds in related subgenres, builds a world of organizations and relationships, then expands it. The perfect example of this is the flashbacks to Rusty’s college years where we find out that he went to school with his nemesis The Monarch, reoccurring enemy Baron Werner Unterbheit, and friends Brock Samson and Pete White.

This show has so many flashbacks that reveals another layer of Team Venture’s world and achieved this across several seasons. The Venture Bros is just extremely consistent with the writing.

How about those of us who love action? You’re in luck, The Venture Bros has a lot of that as well. Because Dr. Venture operates in the private sector repairing complex equipment, he flies close to the intelligence community while being a part of the military industrial complex.

Pair that with the constant threat of attacks from supervillains. His best friend and bodyguard Brock—and later Sergeant Hatred—is needed to clean house. The guy is a beast, a killing machine, even. Usually the action packed part of an episode comes in when an experiment, job, or even a date goes south either because Rusty and Dean, something Rusty forgot to do, or just outside interference.

In expanding the world of The Venture Bros there are a lot of possibilities for misadventures and revelations. Check it out if you can!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Now, you could say Iron Man but even though he had devoted fans, things didn’t really start to pop for Tony until the movies came out. It’s a shame really because his character was always solid-to-great in the comics–even if he caused most of his troubles.

So we’re talking about Spidey’s cartoons and since we were just talking about Iron Man, his cartoons were usually bad and the 1966 one was often unintentionally funny. I would say “That’s for another article,” but I wouldn’t make it through watching or typing about it. However, what we do have is the five best Spider-Man cartoons.

5. Spider-Man 1967

How about this lasted longer than Iron Man? Of course, now the Iron Man franchise is part of a company dedicated to its success film to film. Guess who’s the winner there in the long run? Anyway, Spider-Man 1967 ran three years and was very similar to superhero and action-adventure cartoons of the time. Villains were up to cartoon evil like robbing a bank or building something for the sole purpose of–I don’t know–destroying the Statue of Liberty. The 1960s was a horrible time to be a villain’s henchman, they would get you wrecked by a hero several times more powerful than you on some nonsense.

Two things great came out of this cartoon: memes and that theme song.

4. Spider-Man: The Animated Series

Of the older Spider-Man cartoons, this is the one most will remember. It aired in 1994 and ended in 1998. It reigned as the longest running Spidey-series until Ultimate Spider-Man came along eight years later. Spider-Man 1994 was similar to X-Men: The Animated Series in that it followed the comics’ storylines closely and was drama first, action second. Unlike X-Men, at times Spider-Man 1994 could seem sluggish when a signature villain was slow to appear.

This series spawned a comic and two main video games: Separation Anxiety and Maximum Carnage (the red SNES cartridge).

Overall, the series decent but suffered from ending on a cliffhanger and featuring a non-canon animated movie as part of one season. It also suffered from not having a proxy for younger viewers. Every superhero cartoon had that teenage character to ease you into that superhero madness. In this Peter Parker was a working, struggling college student. I was nine and didn’t want to be like adult Peter.

3. The Spectacular Spider-Man

This was a fun Spider-Man series. It only lasted two seasons but it did a bit with the few episodes it had. Unfortunately, those few episodes means it would be overlooked by its successor Ultimate Spider-Man. The main reason Spectacular Spider-Man rocked was because it drew from the Ultimate universe, a series of comics I enjoyed. So imagine my surprise when number two aired.

2. Ultimate Spider-Man

Based on the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, this series followed what was done by Spectacular Spider-Man in giving us high school Peter Parker and showing how he dealt with being a hero and a teenager. Honestly, it’s the Spider-Man cartoon I wanted all along and it only took eighteen years to get it.

1. MTV Spider-Man

No, it wasn’t called “MTV Spider-Man” it was Spider-Man: The New Animated Series but that’s a mouthful and not very MTV. This series featured Neil Patrick Harris voicing Spidey and Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin. It picked up after 2002’s Spider-Man film and was done in CGI. Of the Sony-produced Spidey-series this was the better of the two and the one I enjoyed overall.

As is the fate with Sony’s Spider-Man cartoons, it ended far too early and was gone after one season. What a shame.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.