The Tick, a reboot of the live-action TV series that was a reboot of the animated series that was adapted from the comic book that started out as a comic store mascot, has finally arrived on Amazon’s original programming channel, so I thought I’d take a moment to look at some of the other superhero comedy-parody-satire offerings that may have influenced, or been influenced by, what is obviously the most successful entry into the genre.
I’ve been an admirer of the tiny giant, June Foray, from the time I was able to read the end credits on the cartoons. She was not only one of the greatest voice actors ever, she was also a wonderful, warm and gracious lady. Last week, she passed away at the age of 99.
Today, I take a look at what I call The Goldblum Effect. Why no, I don’t have much to do, why do you ask?
Michael Eury’s new book is HERO-A-GO-GO: CAMPY COMIC BOOKS, CRIMEFIGHTERS & CULTURE OF THE SWINGING SIXTIES, and it’s all about the Camp Craze of the 1960s, when EVERYONE, thanks to Batman and James Bond, was a superhero, a swinging secret agent, or BOTH. Here’s what Michael had to say about the project…
Since the Live-action portion of this retrospective got so long (so much bad TV, so many boneheaded choices, so many heroes, so little budget!), I split off the animated section into a separate post, so here we are.
We talked about the history of superheroes on TV a couple of weeks ago, and got through the 1960s. Naturally we can’t leave off there, so here’s part 2, covering the ’70s and ’80s. After Batman ended, the networks moved on to other genres. There were a lot of westerns, WWII shows, sitcoms, cop shows, doctor shows, detective shows, and a handful of sci-fi shows, some of which were close enough to superheroes for me.
It’s Election Day in the USA! Go vote if you haven’t yet, but here’s a humorous thing for you to view before or after!
