Superhero Cartoons

2010-2011 seems to be shaping up to be a good year from the Superhero cartoons. In 2009-2010 we had the end of 3 Marvel cartoons- 2 ok and one good. We had the end to Spectacular Spider-Man and Iron Man: the Armored Adventures as well as Wolverine and the X-Men. The two cartoons that have continued are Super-Hero Squad- a very kid friendly Marvel show including all types of Marvel characters- mostly the Avengers with occasional other characters, Batman: the Brave and the Bold- also somewhat kid-ish but still somewhat adult catered show. While I have not watched a lot of either, the one thing that has stood out, especially about the Brave and the Bold is the number of characters- especially current and diverse characters that they have used in show. Their Blue Beetle is the current one, the hispanic Jamie Reyes, their Atom is the Japanese Ryan Choi, their Firestorm is Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch, and they have used Guy Gardner - a very unused GL and representing the Ginger population.

Currently for 2011 there are two animated series out with two more to appear in the fall of 2011. The two airing at this point is Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Young Justice. The two to air is Green Lantern and Ultimate Spider-Man both hoping to capitalize on the movies to debut in the near future (more on comic book movies later).

The first, the Avengers cartoon. Awe-some. I’ve been Avengers fan since I was a kid (my father gave me his other Avengers comics and frankly I’ve been following the book since I was a kid). It in a very smart fashion, had about 10-15 micro episodes leading up to the season premier which introduced most of the main characters. The team is Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Panther. At least one if not more of the micro episodes were

about one if not more of

these characters. Since the series started two or three episodes have been really devoted to a character- those characters were

BP, Cap and Hawkeye. What also has worked for them is the blending of classic Avenger stories (the original

team coming together, the Hulk leaving and coming back, Black Panther as the orphan prince, finding Cap) as well as the more current stories (Skrull secret invasion, the Kree-Skrull war and the Raft Prison Breakout) and all the Avengers characters that they have introduced and keep introducing - Black Widow was part of Hawkeye’s storyline and Wonder Man made sense for the Masters of Evil - but Mockingbird, Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel - with many more possibly coming. This is very similar to Wolverine and the X-Men - a great cartoon which blende

d many X-Men storylines- Magneto and Genosha, Dark Phoenix, Hellfire Club, Mr. Sinister-Apocalypse-Archangel as well as Days of the Future Past and Bishops’s future. This also went full tilt on plot and characters (but including characters for characters sake) - both of these cartoons don’t spend too much time on explaining who is who and lets the audience understand that some characters are there simply to move the plot along and those same characters which fans love to see but don’t necessarily need over explanation. So I’m very happy and very excited about one of my favorite comic books being done so well in cartoon form and really putting plot first as opposed to having 10-12 episodes about characters. I’m looking forward to the second half of the season.

Our next is Young Justice. The idea of this show is this an alternate earth which actually makes up one of the earth’s in the DC’s multiverse. This is an earth where Superman has only been around for just ten years, and the first generation of

sidekicks have come into their own. Instead of the sidekicks forming to become the Teen Titans, here the

writers have combined characters from different eras on the banner of the 3rd generation pre-Teen Titans team and given it a different spin. Here we have the 1st generation of sidekicks -the first Robin, Kid Flash and Speedy with the current Superboy

, Aqualad and Miss Martian in world where the JLA is 16 members strong ( The Big 7 of Supers, Bats, WW, Flash- Barry Allen, GL- Hal Jordan, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter, with Hawkman and woman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Captain Marvel, GL-John Stewart, Captain Atom, Red Tornado and Zatara) and Young Justice is there super hero training as well as espionage force. Batman is their general, Red Tornado is their camp counselor, Black Canary is their trainer and Captain Marvel hangs out with them. Along with possible conspiracy issues as well as different origins for Miss Martian as Martian Manhunter’s ‘niece’ and an archer character named Artemis who takes the place of Speedy when he decides not stay a ‘sidekick’ and become a hero on his own as Red Arrow. This has a lot of potential focusing on sidekicks is kid friendly but it also appeals to comic fans due to the different characters and possibilities for the show. Also promised are major shake ups and ‘deaths’ and considering in comic books we have had the deaths of Robins, Flashes, and Aqualads before it is a good possibility.

The two shows that are set to debut in the fall are, as stated before, Ultimate Spider-Man and Green Lantern. I think that excitement over another Spider-Man cartoon- even though based on the comic Ultimate Spider-Man and Brian Bendis is supposed to have a large hand in the creative process, I think with the questions over why a re-boot of the movies so soon after the last franchise and the seeming

ludicrousness of the musical

seems to have sapped out the energy

and excitement of most fans. The Green Lantern series, however, being all CGI and having the same creative minds behind the Justice League, Batman, Superman and Batman Beyond series, as well as the recent outcropping of DC original animated movies (more on those later too!) has a lot of fans excited. Also, the incorporating of the Red Lanterns from the current comics, connected to and taking advantage of the movie, but having the look of the comics and seemingly to focus on Hal Jordan and Kilowog. The questions for fans is a.) will it be connected to the animated universe of the shows I mentioned- JL, Bats, Supes and how to the GL’s of those shows - John Stewart and Kyle Rayner - may or may not play

in. And will the cartoon include earth GL’s or interact with the Young Justice series that has both John and Hal as GL’s of the JLA?

At the end of the day, it’s nice that their is a Marvel and DC show aimed more at kids and a Marvel and a DC show that are aimed at both new viewers (kids) and more ‘adult’ -and I use that term loosely - fans of the comics.