Comic book shows rose to prominence in the 1990s thanks to Bruce Timm’s Batman series and the X-Men cartoon from Marvel. But there were also some great comic-book shows in the 1980s, that had the luxury of taking creative liberties (eg creating new characters, toning down dark stories) to be more fun and entertaining. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends This early Marvel show saw the debut of Firestar, Spider-Man's amazing friend and a parallel to the cryogenic mutant Iceman. (It'd be nice if one day a live-action Firestar appears.) I recall watching the Incredible Hulk cartoon with Michael Bell and Stan Lee, which I think has attained a cult following. But I think this was Marvel's most successful 80s show. Super Friends This early DC show utilized several new heroes in addition to the classic ones - Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, Samurai and the Wonder Twins. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles What started out as a film-noir martial arts tale in a comic-book, became an totally radical 80s show that created colored bandanas for each Turtle, generated the mutant goons Bebop and Rocksteady, and formed one of the most radical theme tracks ever. The Smurfs Who knew that a Hanna-Barbara cartoon about little blue pixies being hunted by an incompetent wizard, was based on a Belgian comic book? The situation sounds as absurd and entertaining as the comic itself. DuckTales Based on Disney comic books created by Carl Barks, the show revived Disney's TV animation department, redefined Scrooge McDuck from a greedy miser into a lovable grandfather (a major change for some fans), and is set for a new show in 2017. I have to give this one my vote for how awesome it was. Which was your favourite comic-book show from the 80s?
I've only seen TMNT and that was years later on Youtube (I'm not from the 80s!) so that gets my vote. What can I say I am a TMNT fan, cowabunga dude!
Of those choices, definitely Duck Tales. In fact, that cartoon is what led me to discover the old Carl Barks comics, so I owe the show a huge debt. Everything about it is great. Hell, it might even be perfect. But in the "other" category, I was probably an even bigger fan back then of the Hokuto no Ken cartoon, so that might be my favorite comic-book show of the 1980s.
I had to vote Spider Man. But I've always been a big Spider Man fan so it takes a really bad cartoon for me to not like a Spider Man cartoon. Spider Man and His Amazing Friends also gets props for using the same generic song Transformers and GI Joe used instead of paying to use a song.
Ducktales was pretty damn great. I need to re-watch it some time soon. The rest of the shows are rather dated IMO. Most later incarnations I think did the material and characters a lot more justice. Smurfs is the exception, it was never that good to begin with.
super powers: galactic guardians; not only is it my favorite comic book show of the 80s, but it is also one of my favorite versions of superheroes, especially DC. after that, none of them really stick out as a favorite. they are all good shows, but nothing really sticks out. and i did enjoy watching them at the time of their airings. I liked Duck Tales, but, I liked Darkwing Duck WAY more. Rescue Rangers as well. but, when i did like Duck Tales, it was either a multipart story, or something to do with Donald Duck, who was my favorite disney character at that time. TMNT is a good show, but i like the TMNT movies more. *especially the first one.* the movies gave them individual personalities, where in cartoon, they were pretty difficult to tell apart *at least for me.* and I guess it was true from the animators too, as i remember quite a few times, their voices being swapped. Spiderman and his amazing friends, was okay, the rest of the super friends shows were decent, i did catch smurfs from time to to time, but none thing really stood out for me.
Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends was my first real exposure to Spider-Man. I kind of forgot how cool/fun it was, until watching this RetroBlasting video: I had forgotten just how many other heroes and villains appeared in the show. Sadly, the villain I remembered most, was Videoman.
For me, if we're talking Superfriends, it has to be Challenge of the Superfriends. Best stories, best JLA roster, best villain line-up (although Darkseid would have been nice), the better Alex Toth character designs, and by far the best voice acting cast.
