The Old Cartoon Network Thread

[Drtooth]

But am I the only one who at first thought this was seriously real?

Ugh. No one's even trying anymore.

 

[D'Snowth]

Going through an old tape of mine from April 1998, I found the commercial for this:

I remember how absolutely psyched I was about this, and was lucky enough to actually get my hands on a copy, because actual comic book stores are very few and far between around here. Unfortunately, as a kid, I had no sense of collector's value or anything like that . . . I still have my copy of this very first issue, but it's in no way of any value today: the covers have wrinkles, fraying, and are taped from minor rips, and the pages (as well as the front cover) has that brownish hue that newsprint takes on as it ages. What can I say? As a kid, I was excited to have a piece of C&C merchandise (that, and I also let a couple of careless friends borrow it as well). I read somewhere that the first CN comic book - in near mint condition - is worth about $4.80 or so today . . . but then again, I think that's what a comic book in general costs today, isn't it?

Similarly, I also have two other C&C issues from that CARTOON NETWORK PRESENTS series: #10 and #14; #10 is in similar condition as the free first issue, but #14 is in better condition. There was one other C&C issue from that particular series that I could never get (the cover had them at the beach, where Chicken is surfing on a 2x4, and Cow is building a sand castle). I have two C&C issues from the following CARTOON NETWORK STARRING series - #13 and #16, and both are in excellent condition, but likewise, I missed out on I think maybe two or three other C&C issues.

I was more knowledgeable and conscious about collector value by the time the CARTOON CARTOONS series came along - I collected mainly issues with EEE and Courage, and the issues I have I keep in their plastic sleeves when I'm not reading them; they're all in really excellent condition, though #1 has some minor wrinkling on the cover (because I've read it so much), and #5 has some minor fraying because it was the very first issue I ever got.

As I said, comic stores in my area are virtually nonexistent. There used to be a little local place close to where I lived in the late 90s and very early 2000s, but the only CN publications they carried were the Dexter comics, which I actually do have a few issues of . . . somewhere . . . but the only place I could consistently find the CC comics was at BAM, which is all the way on the other side of town. There's been a time or two where they skipped a month, because I know I'm missing at least two issues that had an EEE and/or Courage story in them.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm disappointed that IDW isn't publishing more of the older CN comics in graphic novel collection form. I don't even know if they even finished the PPG collection they started.

If they published a collection of the Space Ghost comics that were routinely published in the second wave of DC's CN comics, they'd pretty much print money. Those were I'd say the best of the bunch. Had the team that wrote, animated, and voiced most of the SG characters on every issue. Well, except that one in the first wave done as a bad aping of the talk show's format. But that's probably why they did those in the first place.

 

[Mo Frackle]

Here's an interesting promo:

What's interesting about it is that it actually came out before EEE did, however if you look at the 0:45 mark, there they are walking into the building.

Love the old crossover bits.

 

[Drtooth]

I really miss when network promos were that much fun and not loud obnoxious kids screaming all over the place in submitted iPhone camera footage. Now they're doing some dumb crap where they just superimpose kids' heads onto characters. Hilariously, one of the examples in the advertisement for this stupid format is putting a little girl's head on the really huge, fat/muscular girl from Clarence. Because that's who girls want to look like. A gag character.

The closest thing they have now is splicing together footage to form the "Regular Time Adventure Show" block. Though there is this decent little gem from the Boomerang rebrand.

 

[D'Snowth]

Getting back to those CNP C&C comics, I was re-reading them recently, and it struck me how they subtly tried to make the comics a little more adult than the series itself, almost in the same vein as the "No Smoking" pilot. For instance, in two different stories, the word "H-E-double-toothpicks" is actually slipped in uncensored, and another story goes back to implying that Red Guy really is the Devil and has Satanic powers. Oh yeah, and in one of those stories with them at a carnival, a guy in the crowd in one panel wears a t-shirt that says, "Who farted?" Remember in the 90s when "fart" was considered a dirty word?

It's also interesting that Cerberus was featured in a couple of the early comics - the only time he was ever seen outside the "No Smoking" pilot was this promo from the 1997 CCW:

And funny how on that cover a few posts up, Chicken resists putting on a comic book outfit, when the commercial for the comics featured him dressed as a wannabe superhero.

 

[D'Snowth]

I was watching an old tape with that episode of Dexter that kid did, and it has me wondering why the consensus of the internet is that it's a terrible episode? What's so bad about it to begin with? You have to admit, that was a pretty clever and imaginative story for a six-year-old kid to come up with: complete with running gags and everything ("YOU ARE STOOPEED! YOU ARE STOOPEED! And don't forget, YOU ARE STOOPEED!").

 

[mr3urious]

I was watching an old tape with that episode of Dexter that kid did, and it has me wondering why the consensus of the internet is that it's a terrible episode? What's so bad about it to begin with? You have to admit, that was a pretty clever and imaginative story for a six-year-old kid to come up with: complete with running gags and everything ("YOU ARE STOOPEED! YOU ARE STOOPEED! And don't forget, YOU ARE STOOPEED!").

That episode was definitely an interesting experiment. Taking a kids' fanfic story idea that he recorded and making an actual episode from it, all done in a childish art style? I think the showrunners should be applauded for that heartwarming gesture alone.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

His name is Tyler Samuel Lee. After writing the episode of Dexter's Lab he appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show. When he was eight he was a regular on the Playhouse Disney show "Out of the Box".
Currently he's a singer and he does a lot of stage work.
http://thecomingofspring.com/

 

[D'Snowth]

That episode was definitely an interesting experiment. Taking a kids' fanfic story idea that he recorded and making an actual episode from it, all done in a childish art style? I think the showrunners should be applauded for that heartwarming gesture alone.

I was actually convinced, as a kid, that he did the episode himself, based on how they advertised it prior to airing, calling it, "this homemade episode that six-year-old kid made for us!" That made it even more impressive to me, lol.

And nice to hear that Tyler Samuel Lee continued to pursue a creative career.