I recently got back into the 90s Disney cartoon Gargoyles in a big way, and it made me sad for my sister’s generation.  She’s twelve going on thirty or thirteen, depending on whether or not the menagerie of animals she keeps in her room woke her up too early.  We’re just over a generation apart, and the kids’ television landscape couldn’t be more different.  I watched Ren & Stimpy, Roundhouse, Rugrats, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and Clarissa Explains It All.   None of them starred a tweener who was obsessed with fame.  None of them were about being the most popular kids in school.  Those statements are a lot harder to make about any four shows on Nick or Disney right now, and you can add Cartoon Network to the list when you’re talking about shows geared toward young girls.

Out of all the shows airing new episodes on the Disney channel, only three don’t have anything to do with being rich or famous.  One of those three, Wizards of Waverly Place, almost doesn’t count because the Disney channel is ardently launching the actress playing the main character’s (Selena Gomez) singing career.  Then there’s Nickelodeon, where both of its new live action shows are about teenagers becoming pop stars, VicTORIous, a pop star’s younger sister Tori goes to a performing art school where she feels like she doesn’t fit in,  and Big Time Rush, a boy band that moves from Minnesota or Montana or Kansas or somewhere to Hollywood.  Both networks still have a few animated series’ free of autotune, but not nearly as many as they did in the mid 90s. (more…)

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The fifth issue of Sky Pirates of Neo Terra came out last wednesday, and it ends this first mini series set in the crazy, epic fantasy world of Neo Terra.  Here’s a great interview where Sean Megaw talks about what it was like creating this world.  The idea was originally geared toward comic books, and then later developed for two seriously fun video games that will be coming out this April.

Here’s the beautiful cover art for Issue#5 which should inspire you to go out and buy your own copy right now!!

Working on this comic book, I learned so much about visual storytelling like how important it is to make the panel the panel on the upper left corner of the left page have as much impact as possible or how the size and placement of text can really make a joke pay off.  The first comic I read was Y: The Last Man in my sophomore year of college.  I came to the medium kind of late, but I’m completely obsessed with it now.  I for one hope that there are more issues of Sky Pirates of Neo Terra to come and that I get to have a hand in continuing to make them ridiculously entertaining.

1 comment | posted in Comics