Most people who know me know that while I am an encyclopedia of cartoon knowledge, I know precious little about comic books. I know that seems incongruous with who I am, but I never got on board with comics as a kid, I didn't know anyone who liked them, and so I just never read them.
The only two comic characters I know anything about are Spiderman and Batman because when I was a kid, there were cartoon shows starring them. Now, not only are many of my friends comic book nerds, but my wife may be chief among them. As they are quick to point out the cartoons are almost nothing like the books, so I have a lot to learn.
While I don't read comics, I do really enjoy learning the stories. I think the story-telling is fascinating and equatable to Greek mythology in its epicness (I'm 99% sure I made that word up). It makes me very happy to see now that there are many new cartoon series out that are bringing these great comic characters to life for me. I really enjoy watching these animated versions of the comics and then discussing the differences with my comic savvy pals. This one looks really cool: the new Green Lantern series. Here's the peek that the public was treated to at a recent comic convention:
Another one that I have been enjoying recently is The Spectacular Spider-man. I enjoy Spider-man quite a lot because above all he is funny. Stan Lee says Spider-man is the Groucho Marx of the comic world. Groucho Marx. Comic World. Done. And this show brings back a lot of the comedy and quipping that the movies seemed to forget. Also the theme song is pretty cool and is a nice nod to the old theme song from the sixties.
The Hellboy animated series is another one that is pretty fun. I enjoyed the movies directed by Guillermo Del Toro very much, and the series brings back the actors from the live action movie to be the voice cast. It is pretty spectacular. Plus any character whose main villain is supernatural Nazis is an automatic win.
Finally, my favorite relatively recent comic book based animated series is Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Batman is probably my favorite comic book character of all time, and this show is one of my favorite versions of Batman that I have ever seen. Now, I only know Batman from the animated series and the old Adam West TV show, so what I like about Batman is the fun campy silliness of it. The darker versions are nice also, don't get me wrong. I love Tim Burton's and Chris Nolan's versions, but the funny, ridiculous take is the tops for my money. Do yourself a favor and watch the first couple seasons of it. Diedrich Bader is great as Batman, and Jon Di Maggio as Aquaman is pretty fantastic. Here's a taste:
And just so you know this is probably the longest I will ever talk about comic books on this blog, ever. I have exhausted all of my knowledge.
CG
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