Whoa. That was good.
The latest episode of the new Teen Titans cartoon was fantastic. The villain: Mad Mod. He's a quick little Austin Powers parody, except that's just an entrance to a deep exploration of All Things Mod with very specific allusions to: Steranko's Nick Fury comics, "The House That Jack Built" Avengers episode, 60s TV Batman, Clockwork Orange, The Prisoner, Yellow Submarine and much more. I mean...it's even got a ska song and Vespa scooters.
It'll play two more times this week on Cartoon Network. Sunday night at 10 and once again during the week. If you have a fondness for that sixties era, this is something you desperately need to tape.
I think I'll make an extra copy and send it to Chynna of Blue Monday. She'll love it.
Did I mention Malcolm McDowell voices Mad Mod? The funky mod organ underscore? The Escher and Warhol refs? The Invisibles vibe?
Adds Teen Titans to TiVo to-do list.
I think I'll make an extra copy and send it to Chynna of Blue Monday.
I also want to make a plug for Chynna's current comic book series, Scooter Girl. It's my favorite comic right now.
Thanks for the heads up, Hec. That sounds fab.
eta And sure enough, it was. Not sure if I'd watch it every week as the heroes, except for Raven (every superhero team should have it's own Wednesday Addams), didn't do much for me. But damn that was fun. Loved the Picasso reference, too.
Fantagraphics to reprint entire 50 year run of Peanuts.
Excellent. I've been hoping they would, because Schulz needs to have his reputation rescued from his long slide through mediocrity. Peanuts was one of the all-time great (and radical) strips for it's first 10-15 years.
Not sure if I'd watch it every week as the heroes, except for Raven (every superhero team should have it's own Wednesday Addams)...
Teen Titans got me back into reading DC Comics in the 80s, largely because of how mysterious and intriguing the Raven character was. I recall loving it when the Brotherhood of Evil chased her all over New York, caused her to hallucinate about her inner fears, and then found out much to their dismay that her Daddy issues included him waking up and manifesting through her.
Teen Titans rocked, in the Perez days -- Tara/Geoforce was great, and also Cyborg.
I also have more appreciation for the soap-operatic musical beds subplots now that I've had years of Dawson's Creek cast rumors to open my eyes about such things. Not quite so unbelievable as I once thought them to be.
