Two and a half years ago, we explored
the early history of Cartoon Network... but it wasn't the only player in the youth television game.
As a matter of fact,
Fred Seibert -- the man responsible for the most inventive projects discussed in that post -- first stretched his creative legs at the network's
truly venerable forerunner:
Nickelodeon.
Founded as Pinwheel, a six-hour block on Warner Cable's innovative
QUBE system, this humble channel struggled for years before Seibert's innovative branding work transformed it into a national icon and capstone of a media empire.
Much has changed since then, from the mascots and game shows to
the versatile orange "splat." But starting tonight in response to popular demand, the network is
looking back with
a summer programming block dedicated to the greatest hits of the 1990s, including
Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Double Dare, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and
All That.
To celebrate, look inside for the complete story of the early days of the network that incensed the religious right, brought doo-wop to television, and slimed a million fans -- the golden age of Nickelodeon.
(warning: monster post inside) [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jul 25, 2011 -
116 comments
"The first Gallery dedicated to artists lying behind cinema, comics, video games masterpieces… and who creat [sic], to entertain, the most significant icons of our time." The gallery has previously featured exhibitions from
webcomic artist
Scott Campbell,
H.R. Giger,
propaganda-style Futurama posters, Superman penciller
Tim Sale,
sketches from
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and
filmmaker Sylvain Chomet.
[more inside]
posted by kagredon
on Apr 30, 2011 -
5 comments
A comic strip has caused a political uproar by making a bold, controversial statement on Veteran's Day, considered by some to be an insult to our nation's fighting men and women. The strip that has spit on the work of our country's bravest veterans is, as you would expect, that anti-American bastion of subversive vitriolic societal commentary,
Garfield.
posted by XQUZYPHYR
on Nov 11, 2010 -
146 comments
"Zuda takes the Web publishing aspect out of the creators' hands, freeing them up to focus on writing and drawing the story. But to get Zuda to publish your comic, you first have to win a competition..." A major player enters into the fray of web comics publishing, previously populated mostly by
independents. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
[more inside]
posted by ZachsMind
on Dec 28, 2007 -
47 comments
Now Then is an exhibit of 25 comic artists showing a comparison of their drawing style now and when they were just kids. Also, check out 50 artists riffing on the theme of
Duck! Fun stuff from the Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art.
posted by madamjujujive
on Jul 6, 2007 -
7 comments
Jim Davis' other strip was
U.S. Acres, with Orson the Pig, Roy the Rooster, chick and egg Booker and Sheldon, sheep Bo and Lanolyn, and...
a dog named Cody and a cat named Blue? Everyone who grew up from that time remembers the long-running Saturday morning show, but no one remembers the strip, which ended a couple of years before the cartoon did and evolved on a different track. Platypus Comix brings us highlights from the strip's
surprisingly good, yet neglected, newspaper run.
posted by JHarris
on Jun 12, 2007 -
29 comments
Creationist humorists. Funny, but probably not in the way they intended. Dan Nuckols is no Jack Chick, but he tries. These cartoonists have a beef with
public education,
Darwin (
another),
skepticism ,
9/11,
fat kids,
non-existant cards,
cryptozoology, and
astronomers.
posted by skallas
on Jan 30, 2006 -
64 comments
Hey, kids, let's watch a cartoon! May I present
The Ship That Never Came In by Kim Deitch, comix genius. It's a piece with his magnum opus
Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Both, as Time magazine's comix critic
Andrew Arnold notes,
focuses on Ted Mishkin, a talented animator whose gifts can never quite overcome his curse. His curse is Waldo, a mischievous cat who walks on his hind legs. Waldo may be a delusion or he may be real, but only Ted can see him. Wotta concept!
More inside ? Fuckin' A !
posted by y2karl
on Oct 15, 2005 -
15 comments
So BoingBoing recently linked to this fantastic comic book serial from the 60s entitled "This Godless Communism," a surprisingly in-depth (and hilariously slanted) history of the rise of the USSR, its leaders, and their philosophies. It's great, but it is far from the only thing on the site, the
Authentic History Center. Just looking at the other comics and cartoons they have, there is a huge amount of
ancient political cartoons, fantastic
WWII-military-themed comic strips(surprisingly good!), and
generally awesome period-relevant comic book covers, some of which link to full comics (
Donald Duck's Atom Bomb?!). There is a collection of embarassing
shows of race-sploitation in comics in the 70s, and the
racist toys and artifacts section would make Archie Bunker blush (
Chop Suey Specs!). Guaranteed to make you wince and chin-stroke simultaneously.
posted by BlackLeotardFront
on Jul 11, 2005 -
43 comments
''The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker" (Reviewed by Walter Kirn) "Of more than 68,000 pieces of art that could have been included in its pages, only about 2,000 have been printed on paper, while the rest are reproduced on two CD's attached to the inside of the front cover." I gotta git me one a 'em. Kirn also says "a fool who can laugh at his folly is not a fool but something rarer and finer: a self-ironist." [New York Times, wants registration.]
posted by davy
on Dec 26, 2004 -
22 comments
Penny Arcade, everyone's favorite gamegeek comic strip(well, not
everyone's, but mine) is facing legal action over a recent strip they did, parodying Strawberry Shortcake. It seems
American Greetings owner of such 80s icons as Popples and the aforementioned Shortcake, don't take too kindly to folks using their precious nostalgia.
Here's the offending cartoon.
posted by hughbot
on Apr 23, 2003 -
30 comments
