Pre-BtAS Superhero Cartoons

This thread is about superhero cartoons before Batman (and X-Men to an extent) premiered in 1992.

I like Spider Man And His Amazing Friends. Yes, it's cheesy but that is part of its charm. Plus, it had decent (but by no means great) fight scenes.

After Spider Verse, thinking about Spiderman And His Amazing Friends makes me kind of sad.

I really liked most of the 60s Hanna Barbera superhero cartoons like Space Ghost, Mightor, Shazzan,Galaxy Trio, and even the Impossibles (though that was more of a comedic super hero show). Cant say i cared much for Dino Boy or Birdman though (I DO enjoy Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, but thats something completely different).

I'd have to agree in enjoying a lot of the 60s Hanna Barbera "weirdo superhero" cartoons - Space Ghost, Birdman, The Herculoids and so on. They're fun, straightforward adventure shows and that's a large part of their charm.

Plus it's fun looking back from Space Ghost's talk show career to see what the original concepts were. After years of Stupid Brak, it's a shock to see Brak being competent (and voiced by the old man from Gremlins).

@ DS 9 Guy and Known Unkown, I agree about the Spider-Friends. Does Marvel hate them now? I mean first Marvel Mash-Ups Gag Dub them, and then Spider Verse? Not exactly a fair test for them in that. Oh, Shocking! You mean to tell me that lighter and softer 80's cartoon heroes wouldn't prevail against a psychotic Eldritch Abomination in human form that Peter-616 nearly died against? Surely not! Next thing you'll tell me is Tiger Claw could curb-stomp the 1987 Turtles!

I have a fondness for all the eras of Super Friends, but in particular for 'Challenge' and 'Super Powers'. There is one neat little short wherein the Twins actually show general competence and briefly hold back two members of the Lo D, who still ultimately prove to be well outside their power class.

The Shazam Power Hour! will always be, outside of Batman The Brave And The Bold, the only animated appearance of the Marvel Family in the classic mold.

edited 21st Feb '15 10:13:31 AM by Gojirob

There is a blog post that shows the Superfriends voice actors during the 70s. Dig those groovy haircuts.

edited 19th Apr '16 9:51:51 PM by DS9guy

They probably don't even make pink Superman shirts for men anymore.

Yeah, but Jayna actually had validly useful powers. Zan, not so much.

Speaking of Super Friends, I would LOVE to interview Alan Burnett about his involvment in last two seasons.

There was a syndicated Spider-Man show that ran about the same time as Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and I recall it as actually being really good. The writing was sharp and often funny, especially for the time. I recall myself enjoying a lot of Marvel/Sunbow's output; they were actually the last stop for a lot of classic Warner Bros. animators, given that Marvel/Sunbow came from Mirisch-De Patie-Freleng.

Yeah the Hannah-Barbera super hero shows were pretty awesome when I saw them as a kid. Question why nobody thought to bring those guys back, they could benefit from a reboot.

Speaking of Hannah-Barbera, how about their take on the Fantastic Four. My only gripe is how they did Dr. Doom in those cartoons (seriously it is hard to take him seriously with the voice and dotted eyes compare to his comic book counterpart at the time).

Speaking of strange portrayals of villains back then, Magneto in 80s episodes of Fantastic Four and Spider-Man . . . granted he was cartoonishly villainous during the time but man it is so weird seeing him like this after watching him in the original X-Men cartoon.

I've actually been watching a bit of the 60's Fantastic Four series recently. A lot of their episodes are straight adaptations of various issues. Sometimes they fix plot holes and the like (for example, when the FF travel back to Ancient Egypt, the Thing turns back into his human form because of a comet emitting a rare form of radiation. In the comic, Ben turns human again because the sun was hotter... yeah). I do agree that their version of Doom is incredibly doofy. With the voice and his appearance, it's hard to take him seriously.

Speaking of Fantastic Four, did anybody watch the 70's version where the replace Johnny with HERBIE? I remember that was the one that played when I was a kid. Also there was Fred & Barney meet the Thing, where there was a kid who used a magic ring to turn into the Thing. Because that happened.

edited 20th Apr '16 5:20:49 AM by chasemaddigan

To be fair, in early issues a harder sneeze could turn Thing back to Ben, he turned every three issues or so.

I watched the one with HERBIE. It had horrible animation. But Magneto episode was quite funny due to his over the top behavior and dumb defeat. Other memorable moments include Reed convincing Inhumans not to invade because humanity sucks and isn't worth taking over and few times Sue defeated people by walking around invisible and touching stuff or making their body parts invisible, causing bad guys to run away in panic screaming "Ahh! I'm must seeing things!".

As it turns out, DC is doing just that◊...

And wow, they really dug deep for characters to use. Not just Jonny Quest, Space Ghost and Birdman - but the Herculoids, the Impossibles, Frankenstein Jr., the Galaxy Trio, the Mighty Mightor! I almost wish they'd gone further and put in Shazzan and Thundarr the Barbarian.

Will the Impossibles still be a rock band in this one? I hope... And if they use Brak, will it be the more competent version from the original show, or the stupid version we all know and love?

edited 20th Apr '16 6:36:27 AM by Aldo930

Jeff Parker and Doc Shaner (writer and artist for that comic) are big fans of all the OG Hanna-Barbera stuff and the adult swim parodies. Expect mostly straight forward action adventure stories with some occasional nods to the Coast to Coast/Harvey Birdman stuff thrown in.

edited 20th Apr '16 9:13:55 AM by Cuber

I don't think Warner has ever really forgotten about those old Hannah-Barbera properties. I mean, Space Ghost cameo'd in an episode of Brave and the Bold a few years back.

edited 20th Apr '16 9:34:39 AM by wehrmacht

Let's not have these catch-all discussion topics, please. Individual works and franchises can go in their own topics.