The Best Superhero/ Comic Bookish cartoons EVER!
Posted this on Toon Zone and in the thread about this very subject and thought it would make a decent journal entry.
Best cartoons based on a comic book:
10. X-Men TAS: REALLY cool cartoon and probably the most serious Marvel effort ever. Far from perfect but makes those Ultimate Avengers and Iron Man DTVs look like Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
9. Static Shock: Underrated Superhero toon that I really like. Fun and colorful with wacky villains.
8. The Batman: ONLY reason this awesome cartoon isn't higher is because the first season sucked and seasons two and three were kind of shaky. The current season it is running is better than MOST DCAU seasons taken on the whole with the exception of JLU seasons one and two, and the first seasons of Batman Beyond and Superman TAS.
7. Teen Titans: REALLY fun cartoon that wrapped up in an excellent DTV movie. Another really underrated cartoon.
6. X-Men: Evolution: Started off REALLY weak but like The Batman got steadily better as it went on. By the end of the series it was top-notch.
5. Spider-Man TAS: The biggest flaw to this series is that it tried to take on too much at once and had crappy editting. But BECAUSE of that crappy editting we got most of the major Spider-Man stories in 65 episodes.
4. Batman Beyond: The second season sucked but the first and last seasons were really good.
3. Batman TAS/ TNBA: Deserves to be this high up because it really deserves all of the laurels rested upon it. Other dramatic cartoons like JLU and Gargoyles may have surpassed it in quality but those cartoons wouldn't even exist without BTAS.
2. Superman TAS: Criminally underrated, STAS is probably the second best superhero cartoon of all time. I think what makes it so strong is the fact that the stories were good and solid and for the first time ANYWHERE Superman seemed cool instead of lame.
1. Justice League/ Unlimited: My favorite superhero cartoon EVER. Heck, I think it may be my favorite cartoon period. Or TV show period. I love the writing and the characters and the fact it tied everything in the DCAU together. It was the ultimate DCAU series and I appreciated that.
Honorable Mentions
DuckTales. Hardly the most faithful adaptation of a comic book ever but still appreciated for bringing Carl Barks wonderful stories to life for younger audiences.
The Tick: Hilarious cartoon and one of the funniest Saturday morning cartoons ever.
Best "Comic Bookish" cartoons
4. The Zeta Project: This Batman Beyond spin-off had an average first season but became really kick-butt in season two. I will always argue that it had the best character development out of all of the DCAU toons.
3. The Incredibles. Really is one of the best superhero cartoons ever even if it isn't actually based on a comic book.
2. Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures is a brilliant send-up of superhero toons (even more so than The Tick). Didn't make the list only because it isn't actually based on a comic book. Needs a DVD release BADLY.
1. Gargoyles: My favorite superhero cartoon that isn't actually about superheroes. ALL of the plots seem to be right out of a superhero comic with the exception of the fact that they were all wildly unpredictable.
Best cartoons based on a comic book:
10. X-Men TAS: REALLY cool cartoon and probably the most serious Marvel effort ever. Far from perfect but makes those Ultimate Avengers and Iron Man DTVs look like Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
9. Static Shock: Underrated Superhero toon that I really like. Fun and colorful with wacky villains.
8. The Batman: ONLY reason this awesome cartoon isn't higher is because the first season sucked and seasons two and three were kind of shaky. The current season it is running is better than MOST DCAU seasons taken on the whole with the exception of JLU seasons one and two, and the first seasons of Batman Beyond and Superman TAS.
7. Teen Titans: REALLY fun cartoon that wrapped up in an excellent DTV movie. Another really underrated cartoon.
6. X-Men: Evolution: Started off REALLY weak but like The Batman got steadily better as it went on. By the end of the series it was top-notch.
5. Spider-Man TAS: The biggest flaw to this series is that it tried to take on too much at once and had crappy editting. But BECAUSE of that crappy editting we got most of the major Spider-Man stories in 65 episodes.
4. Batman Beyond: The second season sucked but the first and last seasons were really good.
3. Batman TAS/ TNBA: Deserves to be this high up because it really deserves all of the laurels rested upon it. Other dramatic cartoons like JLU and Gargoyles may have surpassed it in quality but those cartoons wouldn't even exist without BTAS.
2. Superman TAS: Criminally underrated, STAS is probably the second best superhero cartoon of all time. I think what makes it so strong is the fact that the stories were good and solid and for the first time ANYWHERE Superman seemed cool instead of lame.
1. Justice League/ Unlimited: My favorite superhero cartoon EVER. Heck, I think it may be my favorite cartoon period. Or TV show period. I love the writing and the characters and the fact it tied everything in the DCAU together. It was the ultimate DCAU series and I appreciated that.
Honorable Mentions
DuckTales. Hardly the most faithful adaptation of a comic book ever but still appreciated for bringing Carl Barks wonderful stories to life for younger audiences.
The Tick: Hilarious cartoon and one of the funniest Saturday morning cartoons ever.
Best "Comic Bookish" cartoons
4. The Zeta Project: This Batman Beyond spin-off had an average first season but became really kick-butt in season two. I will always argue that it had the best character development out of all of the DCAU toons.
3. The Incredibles. Really is one of the best superhero cartoons ever even if it isn't actually based on a comic book.
2. Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures is a brilliant send-up of superhero toons (even more so than The Tick). Didn't make the list only because it isn't actually based on a comic book. Needs a DVD release BADLY.
1. Gargoyles: My favorite superhero cartoon that isn't actually about superheroes. ALL of the plots seem to be right out of a superhero comic with the exception of the fact that they were all wildly unpredictable.