“Heroes, Villains, and Me” is a weekly article on Geeky KOOL about the world of comic books and my reaction to it. “Heroes, Villains, and Me” is not a comic book review article. I will write about current events, speculation and rumors, or my own wacky thoughts about the world of comic books.
As a kid, I loved Saturday morning cartoons. I would always get up early on Saturday mornings so I could get a full morning of cartoons. The Super Friends were often on first thing in the morning so this added to my earlier morning motivation. Even as a toddler, I loved Superheroes and Super Hero cartoons.
I look back on many of those Saturday morning Superhero cartoons and smile. I know most of them weren’t very well written and pretty hokey but I still have a fondness for them.
On the Super Friends, the heroes were never allowed to physically hit anyone. I know this sounds corny but it was true. Superman was always breaking chains and busting up boulders but never lifted a finger to hit any bad guy. Batman and Robin would use their Batarangs to foil evil. Wonder Woman always lassoed villains to capture them. Much has changed in cartoons since those days but how I loved the Super Friends back then.
I have been sharing the 1967 Spider-Man cartoons and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (Iceman and Firestar) with my 3 year old son. He loves Spider-Man almost as much as I do. He has been enjoying both of these Spidey series. It is 60s and 80s silliness but they both bring a smile to my face. After all “Spider-Man, Spider-Man, can do whatever a spider can…”
In the 90s, the Super Cartoons vastly improved. The Spider-Man cartoon of the Early 90s took Spidey out of silliness to a cartoon character with substance and a great story. The X-Men cartoon set the bar high on well plotted cartoons with good action and an awesome intro. Superman: The Animated Series was the best rendition of Supes ever on television. Batman: The Animated Series was almost perfect and even created the much beloved Harley Quinn character. Dare I not forget The Tick–it was a comedic genius series.
The last few years, we have had a some well written and enjoyable cartoons with Superheroes. This week, we found out the sad news that DC Nation has cancelled Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice. The end of last year, Marvel announced that it is pulling the plug on their Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
I liked Green Lantern: The Animated Series but I didn’t love this show. I am not a big fan of the animation. My three year old thinks Green Lantern is KOOL and we watched this together. It was a fun series and worth my time to watch.
Young Justice is a series that both my Eleven year old daughter and I have been enjoying. There is a lot of Superhero fun. It focuses on the teen heroes and my daughter can somewhat relate to them. It reminded me of the New Teen Titans from the 80s (which is high praise) without re-telling those stories.
In my opinion, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is one of the best Super Cartoons ever created. It blended a large cast of characters without losing their individuality and kept them true to the Marvel Universe. I contained many of the classic Avengers stories and added in the modern era and some of the plot lines from the last 10 years. My daughter loves Black Widow on this cartoon and thinks the Wasp is fairly KOOL. This show was fantastic.
It is always sad when my favorite Super cartoons are canceled or run to their finish. But as one ends, usually it isn’t long before another will pop up. The new Beware of the Batman looks promising and is scheduled to premiere next season. I am hopeful new Avengers Assemble, controlled by Marvel/Disney and will set in the Movie Universe, will be on par with Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Time will tell if these new series will be good or last. Whatever happens, I am sure I will continue to enjoy comic book cartoons if they are great or even if they are not.
