Animation Congregation: Saturday Morning Bands!

Martinex1: What is it with Saturday morning animated bands? When Redartz posted last week about the Groovie Goolies, it got me thinking that there were an awful lot of cartoon bands when we were growing up.  Why was that?   Was it that the Bronze years were hot on the heals of the Beatles and the Stones' popularity?   Was it just a convenient way to bring characters together?   Was a musical interlude a time-filling convention used by the creators?

And it didn't just stop with the cartoons either, because the networks brought the Bay City Rollers and the Hudson Brothers onto the Saturday schedule as well.  And let's not forget the Bugaloos (or perhaps we should).  So live action comedy bands combined with animated musicians became almost ubiquitous in the "Saturday Morning Television" era.

The Brady Kids and The Partridge Family 2200 A.D. were still performing as family bands in their animated renditions of the evening sitcoms. And The Chan Clan, who were Inspector Chan's detective family, performed as a swinging band in their spare time.

Josie and the Pussycats are of course in the musical lineup.  But the Jabberjaw kids rocked out too,  as did Butch Cassidy, the Cosby Kids on Fat Albert, and Pebbles and Bamm Bamm.

There were also The Beatles and Jackson Five cartoons to assure we at least had some great music with real stars.

How about the Hardy Boys, the Banana Splits, Alvin and the Chipmunks or Jem?

So which show featured your favorite animated or Saturday morning band? Or did you not care and sleep through the musical escapades?   Did it shape your ongoing listening tastes at all?   Were you hooked on Sugar, Sugar?  At what age did you start listening to popular music and did these animated shows have any influence?  Did you watch any of these shows?  Or are they only a hazy memory?

We are having a bit of an open forum today at BitBA - so feel free to discuss all things "musical" related to Saturday morning fare - from Scooby-Doo chase scenes to the dulcet tones of the underwater Neptunes.  

For those of you who like your nostalgia served up with a modern twist, check out a fun CD called Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits featuring many themes performed by modern (1990s) stars.

So what do you think?  Did these photos and links bring back some Bronze Age memories?   Or was it hard on the ears?   We are always willing to listen, so let us hear your comments.  Cheers all!

Off the Bookshelf: Mad Paperbacks ( What, Me Worry?)

A Jack Davis cover for the ages. Mindboggling. How many can you identify?

Redartz:  Ah, it is indeed. Hi folks! Previously in "Off the Bookshelf", we have discussed paperback collections of Peanuts and Calvin & Hobbes. There was another popular series of paperback reprints in our beloved Bronze age, often found on drug store and supermarket racks alongside those old Peanuts books. "Mad"; originally a comic book published by E.C. Comics and later a full-size magazine, has been an iconic part of popular culture for decades. Beginning in 1954, many of the humorous features from those publications were presented in collected book form.Originally reprinting material from the comic books, they soon carried the wacky, iconoclastic bombast from the magazines. 


And what incredible talent was represented here. Creators such as Don Martin, Antonio Prohias (Spy vs. Spy), Sergio Aragones, Jack Davis, Al Feldstein, Paul Coker Jr., Dave Berg and many others gained popular followings among the Mad readers, and found their work spotlighted in the paperbacks.

 Berg 's "Lighter Side of..." strips were among my favorites, finding innumerable foibles in modern society to puncture. Another of my faves were the tales of avian espionage that Prohias provided (I always rooted for the black spy). Those cartoons, the movie parodies, the political satires, the Madison Avenue jibes- all filled those pocket-size tomes with edgy fun (perhaps not edgy now, but back then it was). You could often find a couple of these books stashed among my comics on a family trip, or piled among the detritus in my school locker. They were a great bargain; you don't find that many laughs per page in many other books. And I loved the covers- frequently painted by Mad Magazine ace Norman Mingo, they found countless ways to beat us over the head with Alfred E. Neuman. 

 


 





















I give Mad a lot of credit for starting me off on the right (some would say wrong) foot. Long before I discovered Dr. Demento or Saturday Night Live, those Mad paperbacks showed me our culture in a slightly subversive, twisted mirror, and my head (thankfully) would never be the same. 

Follow the Leader: Episode 31: Music Listening Methods!

Martinex1: It is Follow the Leader time.


The first commenter here starts the conversation topic and we all jump in with observations, musings, and opinions. 


Here are the subjects we have discussed up to this time.



1) Television Theme Songs and Alien Movies.
2) Best and Worst Movies.
3) Jim Shooter - Editor.
4) Kirby's Art and Michael Jackson's Songs.
5) Building and Changing Comic Universes.
6) Foods We Dislike.
7) Falling Out of Love with a Comic Creator.
8) Comic Collecting - Stops and Starts.
9) Favorite Newspaper Comic Strips.
10) Musicals.
11) Country Music.
12) Favorite Comic Arcs.
13) First Comic Acquisition.
14) The Munsters or The Addams Family.
15) Classical Music.
16) Hammer Films.
17) Misheard Song Lyrics.
18) Reading Comics Today.
19) Arnold Schwarzenegger.
20) Great Comic Issues that Aren't the First Issue.
21) Departure of a Comic Creative Team.
22) Bad Beatles Recordings.
23) Characters that Bore You.
24) Additional Income and Summer Reading.
25) Secret Identities.
26) Five Beatles Questions.
27) Comic Reviews of Recommended Arcs.
28) Comic Book Annuals.
29) Elton John
30) Last week:  Ray Harryhausen Films.


So somebody get us started with something new and exciting.  Cheers all!

Chew the Fat: Spotty Villains!

Martinex1: It has been said that the villain makes the hero.   Could Batman be Batman without the Joker?   Perhaps not.   The better the rogues gallery, the better the adventure.   The bigger the threat, the more challenging the conflict.   I think we can agree that is true to some degree.   Spider-Man has a plethora of crazy and iconic villains from Doc Ock to the Green Goblin.  On the DC side, Flash has a cool collection of baddies with Captain Cold, the Top, Weather Wizard, Heat Wave, Gorilla Grodd and the rest.


But today we are not going to talk about the "good" villains (the villains who you look forward to seeing).  No, today we are going to discuss villains that make you scratch your head - but you like them anyway.  In other words, with new villains created throughout the Silver and Bronze ages there were a lot of dogs.  But some of those "misses" stay near to your heart because of nostalgia or theoretical untapped potential. Who are the third stringers and the D-listed creeps that you have enjoyed over the years?  


Here are a few of my favorites from the past, that almost nobody would include in top tier lists.  I am curious what you have to say about other "enemies" that we should be more welcoming towards.

My first example is the Spot.  He appeared first in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man issue #99.  While I am not always a fan of Al Milgrom's art or writing, I really enjoyed his work here.  The Spot is a scientist who was trying to find a path to Cloak's (of Cloak and Dagger fame) dark dimension.  Things went a bit haywire and  Dr. Jonathan Ohnn emerged with some of the funkiest powers I've ever seen.  The myriad of dark spots on his body are actually holes in and out of another dimension.  The character has a great sense of humor and was a good rival for Spidey.  The first time they met, Spider-Man couldn't control his laughter after hearing the villain's name, but he quickly got his comeuppance as the Spot showed him a thing or two in defense of the Kingpin.  A fun story, a fun character, and there should be a lot more of him in the books.

My second example harkens back to the Silver Age.   Daredevil was modeled somewhat after Batman in terms of his nighttime crime-fighting and athletic skillset.   So who was Daredevil's Joker in the early days?  It was none other than the Jester.  Jonathan Powers was a washed up actor who took on a criminal assassin's role in Daredevil #42.   While not ultra powerful, he was a good foil for the serious Daredevil and really gave him a run for his money.  Much of my liking of the Jester is nostalgic.   Some of the first comics I received were part of the first Jester arc and I particularly liked when he teamed with Cobra and Mr. Hyde in Daredevil #61. The Gene Colan art helped as he portrayed the villain as cagy, wiry, and quirky.   He made a few appearances in "modern" times, but never really caught fire.  There should be room for a deadly swashbuckler loaded with dangerous yo-yos, puns, and yuks. (And that cover with the Statue of Liberty photo is top notch).

Another character I like is Blackout.   He originated as a villain for Nova and has a strange dark dimension origin that is slightly similar to the Spot's (go figure).   He was a lab assistant caught in an accident falling into the void and emerging with light absorbing powers along with the dark force.  He goes a bit mad and is very paranoid.  I really began to admire the strangeness of the character when he was manipulated and controlled by Moonstone in the Avengers' "Under Siege" arc.   In Roger Stern's story, he was essentially used and abused by Zemo and the Masters of Evil and had a truly tragic end at their hands.  Despite the whacky mask and the limited early characterization, I found myself wanting more of Blackout.

On the DC side of things, as a kid I stumbled across an issue of Detective Comics at a school White Elephant sale.  On the cover it looked like Batman was fighting a purple and orange Spider-Man.   In fact the character was the ruthless killer Black Spider who hunts down druglords.   He sees himself as serving a brutal justice to the evildoers who got him addicted and sent his life into turmoil.  Gerry Conway and Ernie Chan created the character.   I think his costume is very sharp looking.  It is interesting that Conway brought a Punisher-type character with a spider motif to DC.  I like how Black Spider's motivations are not that much different than Bruce Wayne's, but Eric Needham (Black Spider) does not share Batman's reluctance to kill.

Those are my picks for underappreciated villains.  Who are your favorites; what is their potential; and why don't others see it like you do?   Villains who never really made the mainstream cut, but remain personal favorites is the theme of today's post.  Cheers!