The Big Two Cartoons: Which Aged Best?

[DrNewGod]

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.

[Jokerz79]

DC as a representation of it's time Fleischer's Superman has aged amazing well, the DCAU especially BTAS, Green Lantern Series, Batman the Brave and the Bold, and Young Justice all aged well.

I know they get some flack but I think the 90's Spider-Man Animated Series, X-Men the Animated Series, Fantastic Four (Season 2), and Hulk all aged well. As have X-Men Evolution, Wolverine and the X-Men, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Last while the series hasn't aged well I think the origin episodes for Spider-Man and his Amazing are still good.

[DrNewGod]

DC as a representation of it's time Fleischer's Superman has aged amazing well, the DCAU especially BTAS, Green Lantern Series, Batman the Brave and the Bold, and Young Justice all aged well.

I know they get some flack but I think the 90's Spider-Man Animated Series, X-Men the Animated Series, Fantastic Four (Season 2), and Hulk all aged well. As have X-Men Evolution, Wolverine and the X-Men, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Last while the series hasn't aged well I think the origin episodes for Spider-Man and his Amazing are still good.

Um. Out of that, the best is...?

[Arfguy]

Definitely DC, IMO.

[AJBopp]

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.

[Hall]

Cartoons of the Yester years have all aged well especially compared to the current slate of movies that are not remembered after 6 weeks of release. comic adaption back then took more chances, were less cooperate and formulaic.

[Carabas]

I find most Marvel cartoons to be dated assoon as they came out.

[Hall]

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

[Miles To Go]

90s Spider-Man gets a lot of flack, but it's still the only one to properly grow the character up while all the others keep him a teen and in high school. I say it holds up really well despite the censorship issues.

DC win hands them. All of their shows are timeless and have actually influenced their comics.

[Hall]

90s Spider-Man gets a lot of flack, but it's still the only one to properly grow the character up while all the others keep him a teen and in high school. I say it holds up really well despite the censorship issues.

DC win hands them. All of their shows are timeless and have actually influenced their comics.

Why do you think Marvel cartoons are so bad today?

[Carabas]

Why do you think Marvel cartoons are so bad today?

Because they're cheaply made. Marvel doesn't want to spend the money for decent animation.

[AJBopp]

Because they're cheaply made. Marvel doesn't want to spend the money for decent animation.

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.

[Hall]

Marvel's episodes tend to be 15 minutes of fighting and 5 minutes of plot. .

Gasp. Same as their movies.

Anyway, I hope Marvel will do something great with their animation now that they have the film rights to X-Men back.X-Men was their only series with a strong cartoon track record.

[AJBopp]

Gasp. Same as their movies.

Infinity War is the only Marvel movie for which I think that characterization could be said to be remotely fair. Even then, as a team-up movie Justice League was, I think, a worse offender (if it could even be called an offense).

[Totoro Man]

this is all from my vague memory... so please bear with me if I screw things up.

DC toons age better for a couple of reasons.

1. they were handled by more experienced creative teams with better writers, more accomplished directors, and generally better voice actors.

2. they had better retention of creative teams between seasons and subsequent series. writers and directors stuck around longer, learned from their mistakes, and produced generally better shows as they went along. Marvel toons tended to be one shot contracts with a variety of animated studios.

3. they tended to have simpler animation designs. it sounds counter-intuitive... but by having simpler designs that are inspired by the comics, but don't look exactly like them, you can meet deadlines and stay under budget better. when every line and shadow in a character design costs money and has to be reproduced thousands of times - it's cheaper to have less of them.

I honestly don't know if DC/WB had more money than Marvel... but even if they didn't. they had better management and production teams. with the simpler designs they could get more done with the money they had.