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.

Of the several X-Men cartoons, this is the most fondly remembered. It had video games, there were trading cards, clothes, and a comic based on this period in the franchise. Of the superhero shows on TV at the time, it went toe-to-toe with Batman.

So What About Spider-Man?

What about Spider-Man: The Animated Series? While Spidey is one of my top three favorite heroes, Wolverine’s up there too. Also, for those wondering, Spawn is with Spidey and Logan. At any rate, the Spider-Man cartoon on Fox Kids wasn’t bad by any stretch.

As a matter of fact, it kept to the source material pretty well and had a number of multi-part episodes and story arcs. The main problem with it was that there was it ended on a cliffhanger. I would go into it more but this is about the X-Men and not Spider-Man 1994. Yes, that’s a rant for another article.

The X-Men Team

The line-up for X-Men: The Animated Series changed throughout its run but there were some constant members. Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Jubilee, Rogue, Gambit, and Beast were show regulars. If you include Professor X, him as well. You might say “Why wouldn’t you include Professor X?” He wasn’t a field member. Xavier would get in there and mix it up but that was when things go exceptionally hairy for the team.

Now my point also takes a blow because for a bit of the first season, Beast was behind bars awaiting trial. Yes, this was a superhero cartoon that thrived on consistency. The X-Men had more than enough power to get the Beast out of prison as well but he stayed to see his trial through to the end.

True to the Comic

Obviously the thing I liked most about the series–besides Wolverine and Cyclops constantly butting heads–is how closely the cartoon followed several storylines in the comic. Of course, some characters were changed due to Fox picking its popular team for TV but we still got the fights with the Brotherhood, the political stuff with mutants being discriminated against, Magneto being right, and the Phoenix Saga.

Watching X-Men: The Animated Series at seven or eight at the time, some of the messages and storylines went over my head. I was still in elementary school and simply enjoyed the X-Men and comics because of the cool powers and the colors. It wasn’t until I got older that I was able to take in the storylines and realize that comics were a lot more than muscular men in capes and tights and buxom women dressed scantily.

Mind you, I discovered comics at a very particularly time in comic book history. A time I call the “Xtreme 90s.” It was a period when you knew Jim Lee or Rob Liefeld’s artwork when you saw it.

Back to the cartoon, it did everything well including touching on characters’ quirks, fears, relationships, and strengths. Plus, it started off well in using Jubilee as the proxy for younger viewers without having to age-scale the other members of the team–see X-Men: Evolution, another great X-Men cartoon.

While its extremely old, it’s still worth a watch for strong storytelling. It’s been said before but of the Marvel series, X-Men is the most soap opera-ish of them all and the animated captures a good deal of that high drama and action.

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 Weekday Crew

I’m a 1990s kid, anything from the 1980s was on syndication in the 1990s before Cartoon Network burst onto the scene in 1994. When you got home from school after 3PM there were cartoons on a few of the broadcast channels: FOX (which was originally where The CW is here in the Magic City) and UPN (now My Network TV).

Actually, they were on in the morning before school as well. The morning weekday crew of shows was my first exposure to anime series. In 1995 the only anime on TV if you didn’t have cable was Dragon Ball upon until the end of the Pilaf Saga, Samurai Pizza Cats, Sailor Moon, Ronin Warriors, G-Force (Battle of the Planets in the 1970s, Eagle Riders on Cartoon Network, and Gatchaman). and…Teknoman (Tekkaman Blade).

It was a dark age for anime in some ways but it opened my eyes to there being other stuff out there. However, that is a discussion for another post. The weekday shows were mostly comedy shows with a few superhero team toons thrown in. I don’t mean Fantastic Four or anything, that came on UPN on Saturdays with Iron Man.

No, I mean Gargoyles, Mummies Alive!, Street Sharks, Stunt Dawgs, Stone Protectors–those shows. Fun shows that I definitely ran home to see but they had nothing on what came on Saturdays. You also had stuff like The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Eek the Cat which I hated mixed in with the fun Tiny Toons, Freakazoid!, Taz-Mania, and Animaniacs. Those shows along with Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and Batman–which ended the cartoon block on FOX–held the weekday block down.

The Saturday Wrecking Crew

To show you how special the Saturday morning shows were, every broadcast channel had a cartoon block on Saturday. Well CBS had a weak block. You usually got their own Saturday Afternoon Special to compete with ABC’s which was much better. I mean how can How to Eat Fried Worms and Charlotte’s Web compete with The Mouse and the Motorcycle? A kid eating bugs and a book on summer reading lists I avoided like racing missions in Grand Theft Auto against a mouse on a motorcycle. C’mon now.

Anyway, the cartoons on Saturday didn’t play around. ABC made sure to do a “Saturday Morning Preview” between Family Matters and Step by Step during TGIF. It’s wrecking crew included Cowboys of Moo Mesa, Flintstone Kids, A Pup Named Scooby Doo, S.W.A.T Kats, Bump in the Night, Beetlejuice, Reboot, Recess, and Pirates of Darkwater.

The show that really stood out was Sonic the Hedgehog or Sonic SATM (Saturday morning).

This show explained things that only the Archie comic book did. I mean seriously, the instruction manuals to Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 explained very little story-wise. Sonic just ran through awesomely designed stages getting power ups and banging up Robotnik’s toys like a hard-headed cousin. It was also bleaker compared to the other Sonic show that aired on UPN. Not that “dark and bleak” makes for a better cartoon but this was something with a continuous storyline in a world oppressed by Robotnik and everything in the games made sense.

NBC had something resembling a cartoon block on Saturday but its peak period for Saturday morning was the 1970s and 1980s. The 1990s was the ABC, FOX, WB, and UPN showcase. On FOX you had Bobby’s World, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, X-Men, Spider-Man, The Tick, and Beast Wars. Of course, Power Rangers was in the mix along with re-runs of some of the weekday crew.

UPN was basically the network for dubbed anime and tokusatsu shows. Dragon Ball Z debuted out of nowhere, Voltron was in the house, Beast Wars, VR Troopers, Robotech, Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, Masked Rider, G-Force, and some scrub shows like Zorro.

I use “scrub shows” purely because I’d go outside and play when they were on. I’m sure some folks enjoyed them. Basically, it was anything Saban got from Toei.

Looking Back

There was more bad than good on TV during the time but the pacing was perfect. Something like Dragon Ball Z only came on Saturdays: last week’s new episode and the new episode when 1997 rolled around. Of course, you had to deal with constant restarts because whole sagas weren’t dubbed or something with distribution deals. Again, that’s for another discussion!

The main thing is that for the most part, cartoons were completely different depending on whether they aired during the school week or on Saturday. Even the Sunday shows were different…because they were C-shows. No one was waking up to see Dennis the Menace reruns and The Littles. No one even discussed them Monday. It was all air Kamehamehas or Morphin’ Time.

I think about those cartoon blocks often when I my kids enjoy cartoons now. While there are cartoons on Saturdays, there are no Saturday cartoons. Cartoon Network used to even have specific cartoons shown in blocks with Toonami during the week, Cartoon! Cartoon! Fridays, Saturday Afternoon Adventures and Super Chunk , and Mysteries Inc. on Sunday evenings.

Cartoons aren’t even bad now, they’re actually really fun to watch it’s just…ridiculously lazy blocks where one cartoon is spammed for hours. Who can forget the summer of 2007 where Camp Lazlo and My Gym Partner’s A Monkey was spammed nonstop until Adult Swim. As a matter of fact, the blocks got so bad on Cartoon Network that Adult Swim was moved to an earlier time twice.

These are the times we’re living in.

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.