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BEST COMIC BASED CARTOON!!!


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What do you think is the best comic based cartoon?  

56 members have voted

  1. 1. Which do you think is the best comic book based cartoon?

    • 1994 Spider-Man
      7
    • Batman TAS 90's
      26
    • X-Men 90's
      25
    • X-Men Evolution
      5
    • Superman 90's
      3
    • Iron man 90's
      2
    • Spawn HBO series
      3
    • Superfreinds classic
      1
    • Spectacular Spider-Man
      2
    • The Batman
      3


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The 1982 Incredible Hulk cartoon hands down...great animation, especially the transformation sequences. Very faithful to the comics, good cast of supporting characters, great voice acting and fantastic music, not to mention the best Hulk growl EVER...plus narration by Stan Lee!

 

This one had it all, including a kick-ass opening sequence.

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My ranking:

 

10. The Batman

09. Spectacular Spider-Man

08. Iron man 90's

07. Superfriends classic

06. Spawn HBO series

05. Superman 90's

04. 1994 Spider-Man

03. X-Men Evolution

02. Batman TAS 90's

01. X-Men 90's

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why no listing for silver surfer, hulk 90's, avengers united we stand, fantastic four 90's, JLU, JLU unlimited? oh yeah and spider-man unlimited. they were all great.

 

There's a limit to how many choices you can put in a poll in this forum.

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While I prefer Marvel over DC ten times over and I loved the 90's X-Men series, I have to give my vote to BTAS. It really captured the darkness and the tone of what Batman is all about in every way. Great writing, great stylized animation, and a great score. And I do think that if this was posted in a more general fanboy message board instead of a Marvel-centric one that BTAS would be winning in a landslide instead of clocking in at a close 2nd. And it does seem odd to include it in this poll at all. Sure it's pretty clearly the best DC cartoon that has ever been done, but there have been plenty of others that were also solid. Seems odd to just pick one to throw in with the Marvel stuff.

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X-Men got rough near the end in terms of animation quality but those first two seasons (The Sentinels and the Mr. Sinister arcs) were very well written.

 

The 90's X-men series was wretched in terms of its styling and animation.

 

There was a bizarre inconsistent use of large black swatches to convey shadows and even cross-hatching on the figures--to make it more "comic-book-like". It looks like they were splashed with a big black puddle with no sense of designing the black areas to be appealing to the eye. They just wanted black there to make it "look like the comics".

Geeeez.

The ironic thing is the immediate predecessor to that series--a one-shot pilot episode- featured the best looking version of the X-men to date: the Pryde of the X-men film. Take a look at it and tell me if its not better LOOKING.

 

The difference between the two is that the series was ( IIRC) animated in either the Philipines or Korea, while Pryde was animated in Japan. Sadly, the shops in Korea and the Philipines turned out shite--they were factories that cranked out the footage and took short cuts where they could, hoping like hell the overeas supervisors would catch them and do retakes.

 

Being an animator/storyboard artist myself, most of the shows listed above make me wince.

A few start out great ( pre-production) with good designs, decent writing, and good storytelling.....but the execution once they get to animation kills a lot of them.

I cannot watch alot of these shows today.......the way they clean up the characters ( the pencil drawings they use before colouring) is a mono-static line-weight.....it just murders the art.

Compare any of these cartoons to the Hanna Barbera shows in the 60's--the difference is glaring--mostly because all those H&B shows we hand-inked on cels. The stuff for the past 20 years has been xeroxed and digi-coloured....and the artist doing clean-up use a technical pencil to create a single line weight because its easier, faster and its too complicated for them to THINK about where proper line variation should go.

Only a few shows have bucked this trend: Ripping Friends for one, some anime imports like the updated Gatchaman for another.

 

And don't get me started on anything that's been animated in FLASH....

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BTAS was just better. BTAS is arguable the finest America cartoon ever produced, both visually and literarily. Better quality, more depth, darker, an actual orchestrated score, closer to the comics, larger impact. It’s really no question. I find it almost shameful that it’s losing. If this wasn’t a Marvel board, there’s no possible way it could lose. The X-men series was sub par at best. Watch BTAS and X-Men today, only one of these still legitimately holds up to the test of time.

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BTAS was just better. BTAS is arguable the finest America cartoon ever produced, both visually and literarily

 

I'd disagree on technicalities. In terms of visual craft, shows like Disney's Gargoyles or Gummi Bears were better product, or at least equally crafted. BTAS betrayed some of its outsourced animation at times and there were some awkward scene timing and camera pans done. Gargoyles was--to my knowledge--largely animated by Disney Australia, and actually employed pencil tests to check the animation--something that was NOT done on BTAS.

 

One could assess Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars shorts, Samurai Jack, or even Spongebob Squarepants as being egually up there in terms of their craftsmanship

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BTAS was just better. BTAS is arguable the finest America cartoon ever produced, both visually and literarily

 

I'd disagree on technicalities. In terms of visual craft, shows like Disney's Gargoyles or Gummi Bears were better product, or at least equally crafted. BTAS betrayed some of its outsourced animation at times and there were some awkward scene timing and camera pans done. Gargoyles was--to my knowledge--largely animated by Disney Australia, and actually employed pencil tests to check the animation--something that was NOT done on BTAS.

 

One could assess Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars shorts, Samurai Jack, or even Spongebob Squarepants as being egually up there in terms of their craftsmanship

 

But did they have the depth and psychology? Doubtful. It’s not about the visuals alone, it’s the whole package. Batman the Animated Series has underlying adult themes that were and are so prevalent. They did things that would never make it through today’s sensors. Of course Batman couldn’t be completely like the comics, it was still billed as a children’s cartoon, but mature subject matters and psychology were completely the essence of that show. For example: They couldn’t have Joker blowing people away, though not for a lack of trying, but instead they often gave his victims those horrifying gas grins. Bruce Timm himself argued that in their own way that’s almost worse for a child to see then gang violence. In an episode when someone cuts off the Joker on a Gotham highway, Joker chases him down and tells him he owes him a favor. The man backs out on the deal and moves far away, changing his name and trying to erase any ties to his former life. Joker hunts him down and essentially threatens his family, mother and child, with death if he doesn’t fulfill the bargain. It’s not blatant, but as an adult you clearly see it. You just didn’t get that sort of things from other cartoons. It was remarkably mature and deep. Heart of Ice literally changed how people viewed Mr. Freeze. He went from being a generic cold themed villain to a sympathetic and heart-retching character. The level of emotion was unprecedented in children’s cartoons. It wasn’t just a beat-um-up entertainment half-hour. Batman the Animated series was intelligent drama that anyone of any age could appreciate.

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like some other people said it's almost criminal you left Justice League off this list but put something forgettable like Iron Man on, but with the lack of it i'll still stick with the Timmverse and go with Batman and Superman as my top picks, the 90's X-men and Spiderman are very close however

 

While it had its faults, the 90's X-men show has the best opening to any tv show ever - not just cartoons. My heart races every time i hear it. :-)

 

my favorite part of the opening was that when the good/bad guys were all running at each other Jubilee was matched up with Juggernaut....now theres a battle i'd love to see :D

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But did they have the depth and psychology? Doubtful. It’s not about the visuals alone, it’s the whole package. Batman the Animated Series has underlying adult themes that were and are so prevalent. They did things that would never make it through today’s sensors.

 

Jonny Quest was killing off bad guys in its cartoon 30 years before BTAS--the stuff in BTAS is tame in comparison--heck the first season of Ren and Stimpy has far more adult material and themes in it than people ( or the censors) realize. Shows like Exosquad dealt with similar mature themes, BTAS is not alone/unique in that kind of handling.

The Standards and Practises guidelines for BTAS are pretty much the same as for any other cartoon ( I know, I did layouts on the show for a short time)--what made BTAS stand out is how they chose to skirt around the censors. The fights they had with S&P are legendary and were constant throughout the run of the series.

A classic example is how Batman would often punch or kick someone: the actual connect would not be shown. Instead, they'd show Batman kick or punch the CAMERA ( the POV of the camera) and then cut to a shot of the Joker or whomever flying back from the "hit".

Insinuation was allowed, not outright depiction or declaration. A character could IMPLY they were "going to do something" to a family, but they couldn't say they were going to ( or HOW they were going to) kill them. Heck, make note of how many cartoon characters say they will "destroy" someone else, rather than "kill" them--"destroy" is such a vague term that its allowed.

 

Make no mistake, BTAS was good, but its not alone in its quality.

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wow... WOW.. many of you guys are just freakin delusional in your opinion of the Xmen cartoon.... it SUCKED! I love the Xmen, and I love Marvel... but DC's cartoons DESTROY Marvel's, especially the X-men.... Just like their movies do.

 

 

 

All of DC's cartoons are better than Marvel's..

 

Batman the Animated Series.

Superman.

Justice League

Justice League Unlimited.

The Batman.

 

all of these are better than any Marvel cartoon.

Legion of Superheroes is even pretty good... and hell, even Superfriends.

 

 

as for Marvel, X-men goes way down.. we just liked it because of the array of characters.

 

But Spiderman, Ironman, Fantastic Four, and even Avengers were all better than the X-men toon.... and probably even Spiderman and his Amazing Friends.

 

and if we want to include GiJoe and Transformers, since they had comics... they beat X-men too...

 

 

X-men was just pretty crappy in every way.

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X-men was just pretty crappy in every way.

 

I know you are but what am I? If we're all delusional to think that the 90's X-Men series that was based on the actual comic story arcs was great. Then you must be the product of several generations of inbreeding to think all DC's shows were better in any shape or form. Nuff' said!

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I was watching some of the special features on my BTAS discs and one of the creators was talking about how they tried to make each episode into a mini movie. This really holds true to the earlier episodes but you can see how they continued it into the Superman and JLA cartoons as well.

 

Although I love the 90's Spider-man and X-men cartoons there's just no comparison.

 

One that others have mentioned but wasn't on the list that I would have voted for is Gargoyles. This is possibly the best cartoon I have ever seen, I showed a few episodes to my students during our Halloween party last year and they ate it up right along with some of the visiting parents, granted they preferred my episodes of Gummi Bears and Ducktales to anything else but there's no accounting for taste.

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i voted for the 90's x-men. why no listing for silver surfer, hulk 90's, avengers united we stand, fantastic four 90's, JLU, JLU unlimited? oh yeah and spider-man unlimited. they were all great.

 

Avegers: United We Stand was possibly the WORST attempt at a comic book adaptation ever. Just horrid. The voice acting was bad, the costumes and gimmicks they tossed in were un-needed and there was no Thor or Iron Man or Cap...it was the least "Mighty" the Avengers has ever been. I think I caught maybe 2 episodes of it when it originally aired and recently attempted to watch the series on Youtube and couldn't last through it.

 

I'd have to agree with the general consensus that DC's toons have been better than Marvel's. I mean I can watch JL/JLU and Teen Titans all day, but I can barely last through an episode of the 90's Spiderman without either laughing or getting a headache. The only DC toon I didn't get into was Superman, but that's only because I don't like Supes.

 

Even Marvel's recent attempts (current Spiderman toon excluded) have paled in comparison to DC's works. X-Men Evolution didn't get good (IMHO) until the final 20 episodes or so of the series and was hardly a comic book adaptation as much as a comic book re-interpretation. I haven't watched the new Fantastic Four series so I can't really comment on it, but I'm sure it's better than the first movie. I've taken dumps better than the first movie.

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Shows like Exosquad dealt with similar mature themes, BTAS is not alone/unique in that kind of handling.

 

Exosquad i think far surpassed any of the other shows in the mature way it delt with things. it gave a real sense of urgency and the tragedy of war, i mean hell how many cartoons deal with genocide in a fairly realistic way, i mean hell at one point the neosapiens actually flew a ship full of POWs into the friggin sun because it was "foolish to put all of the troublemakers into one place".......god i love that show such a damn shame it only got one season @grumpy@

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B:TAS and X-Men seem to be in a pretty good heat, but it's obvious form the responses that the results would be less split if JL/JLU had been on the poll. A new one might be in order once this one dies out.

 

And Arrow, not that I disagree with a single thing you're saying, but you have to remember that virtually every statement here is being prefaced or followed by 'for a comic-based cartoon'. I think even the people declaring the 'best cartoon ever' could come up with something even better if they broadened horizons beyond comic-based 'toons.

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The Bruce Timm cartoons (Batman T.A.S., Superman, J.L.U. etc) all the way.

These shows had everything: Adventure, Comedy, Romance.

Despite the cartoony animation style, the show managed to tell realistic and more adult themed stories. It made you forget you were watching basically a kids show.

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And Arrow, not that I disagree with a single thing you're saying, but you have to remember that virtually every statement here is being prefaced or followed by 'for a comic-based cartoon'. I think even the people declaring the 'best cartoon ever' could come up with something even better if they broadened horizons beyond comic-based 'toons.

 

Yea, yea yea...I'm quibbling with some "derived-from-comics" exxamples as opposed to purely comic-based ones.

Heck, most cartoons are dervived at least indirectly from comics, which of themselves are cartoons.

Most of the samples here address only North American material too, there's tons of Japanese and European comic-based shows that could arguably be "better" given the criteria.

 

I cannot argue with the story choices for most of those, but in terms of the technical execution of the ones mentioned in this thread, I think they are all across the board, and quite a few miss the mark.

I mean, if I REALLY wanted to nit-pick......LOL!

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And Arrow, not that I disagree with a single thing you're saying, but you have to remember that virtually every statement here is being prefaced or followed by 'for a comic-based cartoon'. I think even the people declaring the 'best cartoon ever' could come up with something even better if they broadened horizons beyond comic-based 'toons.

 

Yea, yea yea...I'm quibbling with some "derived-from-comics" exxamples as opposed to purely comic-based ones.

Heck, most cartoons are dervived at least indirectly from comics, which of themselves are cartoons.

Most of the samples here address only North American material too, there's tons of Japanese and European comic-based shows that could arguably be "better" given the criteria.

 

I cannot argue with the story choices for most of those, but in terms of the technical execution of the ones mentioned in this thread, I think they are all across the board, and quite a few miss the mark.

I mean, if I REALLY wanted to nit-pick......LOL!

I'm just saying that when someone says "B:TAS was the best cartoon EVER!" and you say "No, Gummi Bears had better production values" that you have to understand that to the poster, these two cartoons don't exist in any relation to one another. It's not that you're wrong, it's just that even when people aren't making the comic-related distinction... they are. :)

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