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Introduction to Superhero Cartoons

post #1 of 39
6/30/08 at 12:23pm
Thread Starter 
My son is expressing a new interest in superheroes, and I'd like to find something to kind of *ease* him into the cartoons. It seems to me that something like the Batman animated series might be a little dark and violent for a four-year-old who hasn't really seen anything like it before.

My first thought was to start out with the old Superfriends cartoon. It seemed pretty innocuous at the time, and didn't have the edge that some of the new cartoons might have. The down side is that I haven't seen it in many, many years, and it just might suck. So then I wondered if there are some newer things that might do the trick. One thing I read on the net somewhere recommended Krypto the Super Dog. I'm going to check it out, but am looking for some other recommendations.

At least part of this is a concerted effort to increase his street-cred when he starts kindergarten. I feel sort of obligated to have the little guy be able to distinguish between Green Lantern and The Flash before he hits public school.

So that's my request. Let me know if you have ideas.
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post #2 of 39
6/30/08 at 12:33pm
The Powerpuff Girls.

It's very cartoony, very funny, but still very much about heroism, and well written enough that you won't want to pound a railroad spike through your skull 10 minutes in. Actually, later on, you'll probably end up watching it without the kid.

Past that, the 90s Superman animated series wasn't nearly as foreboding as Batman (though the Darkseid stuff walks kind of a thin line), and touches all the milestones of that character. Also a good one to run with.
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post #3 of 39
6/30/08 at 12:39pm
I'll probably be in the minority in this thread, but I enjoyed the Teen Titans cartoon. It wasn't nearly in the same caliber as TAS, but it was smart enough to not melt your brain as you watch. Not sure if it's on DVD yet, but the Legion of Super-Heroes one was okay too. Not as fun as Titans, but I have greater affection for the characters.

I didn't make a regular habit of watching either series, though, so I'm no expert.

Oh, and what about the Justice League series? Sure, there were more adult themes in that one, but it wasn't gritty like B:TAS. Your son could pick up on the action and coolness of the characters without being scared or corrupted.
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post #4 of 39
6/30/08 at 12:45pm
Actually the new Spectacular Spiderman on CW(?) isn't bad for a kid.
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post #5 of 39
6/30/08 at 12:48pm
lurker monkey, While...Superfriends is a good way to introduce your son to DC superheroes, I would recommend Challenge Of The Superfriends first as there are no non super powered sidekicks. This also includes later Superfriends seasons like, The Legendary Super Powers Show, and The Super Powers Show: Galactic Guardians. All 3 series are on DVD. I would also recommend Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman series particulary Season 1. Don't forget Batman Brave And The Bold is a Batman team-up series starting in the fall. In 2009 Marvel will premiere Super Hero Squad featuring many of their heroes in a series aimed for a younger audience. I also recommend Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, there are 6 seasons of the series on dvd. When I was your son's age I watched Spider-Man (1967) which is on dvd, and it is a good show for younger and older audiences. The first season is the best though.
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post #6 of 39
6/30/08 at 12:54pm
What about the old Fleischer Superman cartoons? Well, maybe the ones without the WWII-era xenophobic racism.
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post #7 of 39
6/30/08 at 12:57pm
Mr. Sodium, I think that the Fleischer Brothers Superman is fantastic albiet for a child around 8 than 4. It is quite politically incorrect and that might give a parent pause when showing the series to their son or daughter.
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post #8 of 39
6/30/08 at 1:04pm
No love for the old Hanna Barbera cartoons? Space Ghost, Galaxy Trio, Fantastic Four, the Impossibles? Frankenstein Jr.? Howsabout the Mighty Heroes?

Geez, I'm old.
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post #9 of 39
6/30/08 at 1:04pm
I'll second the Teen Titans cartoon. It's a lot of fun, and since they're all kids, things don't get quite as dark as they could.

Ben 10 is also a lot of fun.
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post #10 of 39
6/30/08 at 1:08pm
I'll second the love for the new "Spectacular Spider-Man" series. It's surprisingly well-done.
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post #11 of 39
6/30/08 at 1:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bendrix View Post
I'll probably be in the minority in this thread, but I enjoyed the Teen Titans cartoon. It wasn't nearly in the same caliber as TAS, but it was smart enough to not melt your brain as you watch. Not sure if it's on DVD yet, but the Legion of Super-Heroes one was okay too. Not as fun as Titans, but I have greater affection for the characters.

I didn't make a regular habit of watching either series, though, so I'm no expert.

Oh, and what about the Justice League series? Sure, there were more adult themes in that one, but it wasn't gritty like B:TAS. Your son could pick up on the action and coolness of the characters without being scared or corrupted.
Yes to Teen Titans. No to Justice League. The series was pretty great, but past maybe the first couple of episodes, it gets pretty ruthless on a regular basis (Supes giving Doomsday a heat vision lobotomy comes to mind).
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post #12 of 39
6/30/08 at 1:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Clark View Post
Yes to Teen Titans. No to Justice League. The series was pretty great, but past maybe the first couple of episodes, it gets pretty ruthless on a regular basis (Supes giving Doomsday a heat vision lobotomy comes to mind).
Ah, yes. Been awhile. I was thinking of the eps where they visit the Silver Age versions of themselves and Martian Manhunter's Christmas present.
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post #13 of 39
6/30/08 at 4:47pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. There's a lot of good ideas on this list, and it's just the kind of stuff I was looking for. It sounds like Teen Titans may be the place to start, so I'm going to put it on the old Netflix queue and give it a spin. I think the super-team stuff is great for young kids to show teamwork and what not. Bruce and Clark are great, but they're awfully lonely role models.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy225 View Post
Geez, I'm old.
You and me both, dude. I'd love to get him into the kinds of things that I watched back in the day, but I also want him to be hip to the new stuff so his little friends don't look at him weird. As much as I want to give him my Dyno-Mutt lunch box (it's in a box at my parent's house, just waiting for him...), I think he'd be better served, at least for the moment, by a diet of more modern stuff. Like I said, part of this is about kindergarten street cred...which is insanely geeky, I suppose. So it goes.

Keep the suggestions coming, folks. The little guy's about to have his eyes opened!
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post #14 of 39
6/30/08 at 4:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
Ben 10 is also a lot of fun.
Richard, how is Ben 10 on the violence factor? Is it super-powered fisticuffs, laser battles, gunfights? I've never seen it, but heard good things.
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post #15 of 39
6/30/08 at 5:04pm
Been a while since I watched it, I just remembered it being a fun show and the lead is a good kid. This might help.
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post #16 of 39
6/30/08 at 5:58pm
Timothy225, I am a fan of Hanna Barbara cartoons particularly The Fantastic Four 67, The Herculoids, Space Ghost and Birdman. I am a huge fan of Marvel Superheroes cartoon from 1966 which included Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Namor, The Mighty Thor, and Captain America. I would have recommended the HB Fantastic Four if it were available on DVD.
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post #17 of 39
6/30/08 at 5:59pm
Not a cartoon, but my daughter (now 4) really took to the reliable ULTRA-MAN. Superheroes and monsters!
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post #18 of 39
6/30/08 at 6:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Clark View Post
Yes to Teen Titans. No to Justice League. The series was pretty great, but past maybe the first couple of episodes, it gets pretty ruthless on a regular basis (Supes giving Doomsday a heat vision lobotomy comes to mind).
That was the Justice Lords version of Superman to be fair ... although I believe the regular Superman did give it a second try (and failed).
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post #19 of 39
7/1/08 at 4:42am
Spiderman and his Amazing Friends - from the 80's was good for kids.

The Superfriends was awesome when I was a kid, and within one year, I realized exactly how stupid it was, and then loved it for being so stupid.

I never watched the X-men cartoons, but my little brothers loved it.
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post #20 of 39
7/1/08 at 12:39pm
X-Men are good, but maybe a tad violent for a kid of 4. I was gonna say Tim forgot the Herculoids (IBOLD2), but naturally Fleed beat me to it.
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post #21 of 39
7/1/08 at 1:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DARKMITE8 View Post
Not a cartoon, but my daughter (now 4) really took to the reliable ULTRA-MAN. Superheroes and monsters!
Damn, that brought me back - back to the days before cable, when I had to mess around with the rabbit ears in order to watch Ultraman, Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, Captain Scarlet, and of course Batman ('66) reurns. Hey! Batman! Superheroes, villains, and the iconic Batmobile! Then you and your son can discuss which Catwoman was better, and how fine Batgirl was!
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post #22 of 39
7/1/08 at 1:25pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy225 View Post
Damn, that brought me back - back to the days before cable, when I had to mess around with the rabbit ears in order to watch Ultraman, Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, Captain Scarlet, and of course Batman ('66) reurns. Hey! Batman! Superheroes, villains, and the iconic Batmobile! Then you and your son can discuss which Catwoman was better, and how fine Batgirl was!
And he'll never know the joy of waking up early in the morning to watch the test pattern until programming started. I've seriously toyed with the idea of making DVDs of the old saturday morning lineups, complete with test pattern, and introduce him to the same things I was introduced to...roughly in order.

But that seems like a hell of a lot of work to get him to appreciate the finer points of Thundarr the Barbarian.
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post #23 of 39
7/1/08 at 1:32pm
Powerpuff's a great idea, actually. Came in to suggest Dini/Timm's Superman, but I think Powerpuff's actually better.

Warms my heart to see fleed in his element.
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post #24 of 39
7/1/08 at 2:03pm
I didn't see anyone else mention this, but Avatar: The Last Airbender is an excellent animated series. My wife got me hooked on it halfway through the second season. The writing is sharp and the universe that the creators have made is immense. It doesn't play down to kids and still offers a decent half-hour of entertainment for adults as well.
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post #25 of 39
7/1/08 at 2:09pm
Mighty Mouse?
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post #26 of 39
7/1/08 at 10:10pm
He-Man? Mask?
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post #27 of 39
7/1/08 at 10:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Don S. View Post
I didn't see anyone else mention this, but Avatar: The Last Airbender is an excellent animated series. My wife got me hooked on it halfway through the second season. The writing is sharp and the universe that the creators have made is immense. It doesn't play down to kids and still offers a decent half-hour of entertainment for adults as well.
Avatar is great, and it has good things to say about friendship, loyalty, honor, violence, etc. To me, it's still a bit too violent and dark for a 4-year old, especially the scenes involving the Fire Nation and Zuko's dad. A 5 1/2 to 6 year old would probably be fine. Depends on how sensitive your kid is. My 4 year old is scared to watch "Cars" because the opening race is just too intense/overwhelming for him. He's still into stuff like Blue's Clues and Diego.
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post #28 of 39
7/1/08 at 11:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lurker monkey View Post
But that seems like a hell of a lot of work to get him to appreciate the finer points of Thundarr the Barbarian.
I'll pretend you didn't just say that.
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post #29 of 39
7/2/08 at 4:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by IggytheBorg View Post
I'll pretend you didn't just say that.
Yeah, I said it! My haughtiness knows no bounds.
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post #30 of 39
7/2/08 at 4:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eyeball Kid View Post
Avatar is great, and it has good things to say about friendship, loyalty, honor, violence, etc. To me, it's still a bit too violent and dark for a 4-year old, especially the scenes involving the Fire Nation and Zuko's dad. A 5 1/2 to 6 year old would probably be fine. Depends on how sensitive your kid is. My 4 year old is scared to watch "Cars" because the opening race is just too intense/overwhelming for him. He's still into stuff like Blue's Clues and Diego.
My daughter (4) watches AVATAR. My wife (who studied Hung Ga), got the rest of us watching it. I don't think the stuff's any darker than the classic Disney version of Grimm's faerie tales (which she watches as well), but it really depends on the individual kid, I suppose.

EDIT: And the Mighty Mouse nod reminded me of COURAGEOUS CAT, DYNO-MUTT & THE BLUE FALCON, DANGER MOUSE, etc.!

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post #31 of 39
7/2/08 at 5:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lurker monkey View Post
Richard, how is Ben 10 on the violence factor? Is it super-powered fisticuffs, laser battles, gunfights? I've never seen it, but heard good things.
I've got an 8 year old, so I've been through this already.

Ben 10 is excellent. A bit of rivalry between the cousins but they still back each other when things get rough....grandpa with a great mysterious background...
and some great creatures to change into.

Two thumbs up!

The sequel series Ben 10:Alien Force is a bit more sophisticated but by the time your kid's seen the seasons of Ben 10 he'll be ready for them.

Teen Titans is awesome for that age, but there's some dark themes in there too. Ron Perlman's voice as the lead baddie and other top notch voice work leads the way for some fun adventures for that age group.

Other gems can be found on Boomerang, such as Static Shock (definitely a gateway show into DC continuity) and Justice League (granted, a bit more
gritty at times).

Avoid the recent Iron Man series being shown on ABC Family...dreck.
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post #32 of 39
7/2/08 at 5:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lurker monkey View Post
Richard, how is Ben 10 on the violence factor? Is it super-powered fisticuffs, laser battles, gunfights? I've never seen it, but heard good things.
I've got an 8 year old, so I've been through this already.

Ben 10 is excellent. A bit of rivalry between the cousins but they still back each other when things get rough....grandpa with a great mysterious background...
and some great creatures to change into.

Two thumbs up!

The sequel series Ben 10:Alien Force is a bit more sophisticated but by the time your kid's seen the seasons of Ben 10 he'll be ready for them.

Teen Titans is awesome for that age, but there's some dark themes in there too. Ron Perlman's voice as the lead baddie and other top notch voice work leads the way for some fun adventures for that age group.

Other gems can be found on Boomerang, such as Static Shock (definitely a gateway show into DC continuity) and Justice League (granted, a bit more
gritty at times).

Avoid the recent Iron Man series being shown on ABC Family...dreck.
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post #33 of 39
7/3/08 at 7:31pm
BEN 10 is pretty good. DANNY PHANTOM is kinda OKish.
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post #34 of 39
7/3/08 at 8:39pm
IggytheBorg, What praytell is wrong with...Thundarr The Barbarian? Aside from G.I. Joe A Real American Hero, Spider-Man 1967, Marvel Superheroes 1966,and X-Men 1990's, Thundarr is one of my favorite cartoons. I mean what is there not to like about a barbarian armed with a laser sword, teamed up with a sorceress named Ariel, and some kind of beast Ookla The Mok fighting monsters, werewolves, and EEEEEEvil wizards in the post apocolyptic earth? Thundarr clearly should have been on dvd already based on the talent involved in it's creation...long time Marvel Comics writer Steve Gerber as well as Jack Kirby whom co created Captain America as well as tons of Marvel Comics main superheroes including Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, etc.
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post #35 of 39
7/3/08 at 8:43pm
Yeah, I'd say start with Danny Phantom, Ben 10, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Teen Titans, then eventually move up to Superman TAS seasone one and two, then Superman TAS season two and Avatar, then Batman and Batman Beyond, then Justice League.

So what everyone else already said. I just wanted to participate.
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post #36 of 39
7/3/08 at 10:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lurker monkey View Post
.

My first thought was to start out with the old Superfriends cartoon. It seemed pretty innocuous at the time, and didn't have the edge that some of the new cartoons might have. The down side is that I haven't seen it in many, many years, and it just might suck. .
The Superfriends did, indeed, suck mightily. It was apparently written by retards for 5 year olds who don't notice glaring plot holes and insane fucking logic.

This page explains it better and hilariouser than I ever could.
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post #37 of 39
7/7/08 at 5:01am
How about Darkwing Duck? It parodies Batman just right, but without pandering. Since its Disney the violence never gets out of hand. I also remember it being really funny.

Well, when I was a kid I remember it being funny. I haven't watched it since then so...maybe my word doesn't have that much weight to it.
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post #38 of 39
7/7/08 at 5:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by GET AIDS NOW! View Post
How about Darkwing Dark? It parodies Batman just right, but without pandering. Since its Disney the violence never gets out of hand. I also remember it being really funny.

Well, when I was a kid I remember it being funny. I haven't watched it since then so...maybe my word doesn't have that much weight to it.
I love Darkwing DUCK. I've watched some of the episodes since and it still makes me chuckle. I've got a shitton of the toys somewhere in a box too.
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post #39 of 39
7/7/08 at 1:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jakespeare View Post
I love Darkwing DUCK. I've watched some of the episodes since and it still makes me chuckle.
Yeah, one of the better Disney made-for-TV toons.

And I'll ditto the thumbs up for the POWER-PUFF GIRLS.
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