Animation Congregation: The Openings You Couldn't Resist...

Redartz:  Hello everyone! I know it's been trying times for many of us these days, what with that irritating pandemic and all. So how about a big dose of Saturday morning goodness to lift the spirits a bit? 

For this overgrown kid, the opening sequences and themes for the cartoons were almost as much fun as the shows themselves. Hearing the first notes of the music, seeing the action on the screen; you just KNEW you were in for some great animated escapism. And seeing these today still gets me excited. So for your enjoyment, here are a bunch of my favorite openings, culled from the 60's to the 90's. Of course as an older Bronze Age baby (with apologies to Doug and Karen), my choices are weighted a bit to late 60's and early 70's shows. But the 1967 Spider-man and Fantastic Four cartoons, and certainly Jonny Quest, are classics that were shown for years after their debuts. So grab a bowl of cereal and  meet me in front of the tv...

King Kong (1967)

Spider-Man (1967)

Jonny Quest (1964)

Fantastic Four (1967)

Adventures of Superman (1966)

Batman: The Animated Series (1992)

Scooby Doo (1969)

Bugs Bunny Show (1962)

Drak Pack (1980)

 Josie and the Pussycats (1970)

Valley of the Dinosaurs (1974)

 Emergency Plus 4 (1973)

Now you've had a taste of my tastes; so let's hear about your favorites. What did you think of these intros, and what ones should I have included that got skipped this time?

Animation Congregation / $1 Challenge: Saturday Morning Comic Books!

Martinex1:  Hey BitBA  fans, today we have a special mix of two of our favorite topics - Saturday morning cartoons and comic books!   It is like chocolate and peanut butter, two great concepts that go great together.  So we have also combined our blog features The Quarter Bin $1 Challenge and the Animation Congregation for this post.

You may think it is rare for your favorite Saturday cartoons to leap to the comic spinner rack, but I disagree.  It seems that back in the bronze age, it was quite common for the stars of animated series to jump to the comic medium.  Dell, Charlton, and Gold Key particularly took advantage of the synergy. From super-heroes to funny animals to adventurers, we've got them all.

Take a look at the myriad books we have assembled and pick your four favorites.  Hopefully this selection brings back some warm memories of carefree weekends, television consoles, a big bowl of cereal, and warm pajamas. 

Share your thoughts on these and other favorite series and comics.  We'd like to know which books you would buy if these showed up on the spinner rack. Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

The Quarter Bin: Duck, It's A Rabbit!

Martinex1: George Orwell brought us Animal Farm.   The band Wall of Voodoo sang, "It's Animal Day."  And so it goes today for BitBA today, a thorough exploration of certain types of animal comic books and their covers. 

When I started researching this topic, I thought I would include every animal star I could think of from Lockjaw to Devil Dinosaur to Mickey Mouse to Captain Carrot.  But I quickly found that I had plenty for us to focus on just looking at RABBITS and DUCKS!  Holy cow, you would not believe how many books there are starring the various bunnies and fowl!

So let's begin a $1 Challenge - four books for your imaginary dollar!  Today we have a lot of books from the Golden Age of comics, but the trend definitely continues to modern day.  It seems ducks and rabbits must have captured our imagination as they are everywhere.   We have super-hero animals, funny animals, adventurous animals, and satirical animals. I am willing to bet there are many you have never heard of before today. While Bugs, Daffy, Donald, and Howard will be very recognizable.  Rags, Dippy, and Dopey may be less known.   I've also stretched the definition of the animal in a couple of instances, but it all fits the theme!

Take a gander and share your picks and pans!