The Big Two Cartoons: Which Aged Best?

[DrNewGod]

I don't think that I got the point of my question across very well. This wasn't intended as a DC v.Marvel comparison. I was asking what toon out of either of those companies has held up the best over time?

I have a more troubling question for DrNewGod, Why does DC still have good cartoons and Marvel does not?

No idea, but it does seem that DC is better at it. Pure speculation: in recent years it may be that Disney/Marvel has tried to make everything resonate with their films, and DC has been more interested in adapting stories.

[jump]

Tbh alot of the names thrown out like Fleischer's Superman, Batman The Animated Series, 90s X-Men etc would struggle in today's cartoon landscape where everything is more comedy driven.

[GamerSlyRatchet]

Batman: The Animated Series has aged really well, partly due to how anachronistic it is. Nothing has a specific time period, so it doesn't really feel very 90's. The rest of the DCAU less so, but the animation will still be up to par in the next few years, at least. A lot of the more modern Marvel cartoons, like The Spectacular Spider-Man, don't really show their age, except when it comes to mainly phones, and more futuristic ones like Avengers: Earth's Migthiest Heroes even less.

I wonder if some of the CGI cartoons (MTV Spider-Man, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Beware the Batman) will age faster than their 2D counterparts. I can see the cel-shaded look saving the former two shows by a little.

[wjowski]

Tbh alot of the names thrown out like Fleischer's Superman, Batman The Animated Series, 90s X-Men etc would struggle in today's cartoon landscape where everything is more comedy driven.

There's always going to be a market for quality storytelling.

[Jackalope89]

Tbh alot of the names thrown out like Fleischer's Superman, Batman The Animated Series, 90s X-Men etc would struggle in today's cartoon landscape where everything is more comedy driven.

Maybe amongst the Teen Titans Go target audience (little kids). But shows like Young Justice, the Avatar Series (both), etc, are all remarkably popular. And while they do have some comedy, they are also heavily story driven with character progression.

[Powerboy]

If you consider all the animated fare from the Big Two, from Fleischer to now, and have to pick only one, which toon has aged the best?

Go nuts with honorable mentions (as tho this mob requires permission), but do try to pick a standout.

When I saw THE BIG TWO CARTOONS, I was thinking: So Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck?

[mr_crisp]

Shows don't age. The audience does. An audience that demonstrates that it can't view the product through the eyes from which it was created, demonstrates its immaturity.

An interesting observation.

[jump]

Maybe amongst the Teen Titans Go target audience (little kids). But shows like Young Justice, the Avatar Series (both), etc, are all remarkably popular. And while they do have some comedy, they are also heavily story driven with character progression.

Neither are current shows and they finished years ago. Young Justice is coming back but it's more nostalgia baiting to get people to sign up for the subscription.

[sunofdarkchild]

The DCAU went for an aesthetic at first that didn't bind it to any one time period. So when you watch an episode of BTAS nothing sticks out as 90s. STAS did that as well, but to a lesser extent. Marvel shows from the same time period do have things that really stick out as being from that time, like the CG intro to Spider-Man or all of Jubilee's dialogue in X-Men. Also, X-Men in particular had some really bad dialogue in places.

[DrNewGod]

DC cartoons aged the best. Marvel cartoons aged the worst

Yeah, explicitly stated that this is not the point of the thread. Which individual toon has held up the best?

[DrNewGod]

I have to agree with others here that BATS probably aged the best because of its visually-not-now-but-not-quite-archaic design sensibilities. I think that they lifted that from Burton's first Batman film.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes seems to be holding up better than almost any other Marvel entry, but I wonder if that will be the case 10 years from now. BATS is one that I think you'll be able to look at 20 years from now and not find it dated.

[Surf]

When I was about 7 I saw the debut of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, that was hard to top, it's still my favorite cape cartoon. When I was a kid animation had different aims and it was rare outside of Peanuts to see animation that didn't have kids as the center (I feel everything changed with Doug). I didn't like the kid characters in shows, Peter, Angelica and Bobby were in college and that was unique. I was in high-school when X-Men the animated series came out and while it was great I always thought it paled after 'Pryde of the X-Men' came out.

There are layers to it, Superhero animation used to be aimed strictly at children, young children. I grew up during Superfriends through Super Powers and that show bridged the shift in a way. I can always watch a Timm-verse JLU or JL and BTAS is a classic and can easily win any favorite argument an any given time. Some of the kids fare has some watch-ability in a silver-age kind of fashion before those have some interesting looks too.

Marvel's best animated episode is Pryde of the X-Men for me. Best animation, great intro into the X-Men too bad it was one episode. Marvel has flashes but DC over the years has had the better mix. I always pull for the Filmation studio shows as for some of DC's standout episodes. The New Adventures of Batman and Robin were pretty great animation from an American studio that is from a bygone era. NOBODY liked Bat-Mite O.K. but the different looks of the villains and even the sprinkling of the female characters (Batgirl's intro but usually she was played not so well) and all the vehicles were pretty cool. This was before my time but this was early Filmation and later soo much of their productions It would spend hours watching (He-Man, Fat Albert, Bravestar etc.).



If I had to give an overall winner I lean more toward Batman Beyond as a show that holds up surprisingly well 20 years out now. Maybe cause of the setting in the future but that show is in the argument of best of the Timm-verse which really is best of the best.

[DrNewGod]

When I was about 7 I saw the debut of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, that was hard to top, it's still my favorite cape cartoon. When I was a kid animation had different aims and it was rare outside of Peanuts to see animation that didn't have kids as the center (I feel everything changed with Doug). I didn't like the kid characters in shows, Peter, Angelica and Bobby were in college and that was unique. I was in high-school when X-Men the animated series came out and while it was great I always thought it paled after 'Pryde of the X-Men' came out.

There are layers to it, Superhero animation used to be aimed strictly at children, young children. I grew up during Superfriends through Super Powers and that show bridged the shift in a way. I can always watch a Timm-verse JLU or JL and BTAS is a classic and can easily win any favorite argument an any given time. Some of the kids fare has some watch-ability in a silver-age kind of fashion before those have some interesting looks too.

Marvel's best animated episode is Pryde of the X-Men for me. Best animation, great intro into the X-Men too bad it was one episode. Marvel has flashes but DC over the years has had the better mix. I always pull for the Filmation studio shows as for some of DC's standout episodes. The New Adventures of Batman and Robin were pretty great animation from an American studio that is from a bygone era. NOBODY liked Bat-Mite O.K. but the different looks of the villains and even the sprinkling of the female characters (Batgirl's intro but usually she was played not so well) and all the vehicles were pretty cool. This was before my time but this was early Filmation and later soo much of their productions It would spend hours watching (He-Man, Fat Albert, Bravestar etc.).



If I had to give an overall winner I lean more toward Batman Beyond as a show that holds up surprisingly well 20 years out now. Maybe cause of the setting in the future but that show is in the argument of best of the Timm-verse which really is best of the best.

Always wondered why that series used so much red in all the vehicles except the Batmobile.

[James T. Kirk]

I have to agree with others here that BTAS probably aged the best because of its visually-not-now-but-not-quite-archaic design sensibilities. I think that they lifted that from Burton's first Batman film.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes seems to be holding up better than almost any other Marvel entry, but I wonder if that will be the case 10 years from now. BTAS is one that I think you'll be able to look at 20 years from now and not find it dated.

Fixed that for ya.

[Frontier]

From what I've seen Marvel's animation is no worse than WB/DCs. Marvel tends not to have as nicely drawn background art, and in general is less stylistic. DC also tends to have better stories. Marvel's episodes tend to be 15 minutes of fighting and 5 minutes of plot. But the animations themselves are pretty similar between the two.

I have a hard time looking at a modern Marvel cartoon and putting it on par with a DC cartoon.

Maybe something like DC Super Hero Girls, which is made for younger audiences and doesn't go for the same kind of budget as DC Animated Feature movie or a cartoon like Young Justice or Justice League Action, but that's about it.

Current Marvel cartoons don't even hold up compared to the animation in older Marvel cartoons.

I wonder if some of the CGI cartoons (MTV Spider-Man, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Beware the Batman) will age faster than their 2D counterparts. I can see the cel-shaded look saving the former two shows by a little.

I think at least for the latter two the quality of the writing will help them age well, although I felt the quality of the CG animation for both was pretty high-grade compared to other cartoons.

But like a lot of CG animation it's probably usually going to be a personal taste thing.