Marvel Animation
Marvel Productions Ltd. was Marvel’s first animation studio, founded in 1981. It was a division of Marvel Comics made to create animation shows, bring some of Marvel’s most popular superheroes, along with other famous characters based on their toy lines to the screen.
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| Past |
Marvel’s venture into the world of animation is a long and vivid one. Having originally begun in 1963 under the name DFE Films (or DePatie-Freleng Enterprises), this was an animation production company, founded by Friz Freleng and co-founded by David H. DePatie. They were two former Warner Brothers’ employees who left when Warner Bros. Cartoons closed in 1963 (first closure).
Although no longer working for Warner Brothers, a generous gesture from WB executives allowed Freleng and DePatie to continue to work at the old Warner Bros. Cartoons plant; complete with equipment and supplies for a small fee each year. Many of Warner Brothers’ former employees came back to work for DFE Films, and they were even allowed to continue to work on Warner Bros Cartoons. This resulted in comparisons being made in that DFE film was in fact Warner Bros. Cartoons, with a new name. However, DFE Films did produce some new works; most notably The Pink Panther film titles and short cartoon adaptations of Dr Seuss.
However, with inflation, escalating expenses of producing theatrical cartoons and the pressures of producing television series’, Friz Freleng and David H DePatie sold DFE Films to the Marvel Comics Group. Freleng opted to rejoin the newly formed Warner Bros. Animation with his former- partner DePatie, making the transition to stay with the newly formed Marvel Productions Ltd, becoming the head producer.
The Superhero animated genre was a huge success at this time, with the likes of Super-Friends being the most popular, aimed at a young demographic. Superhero cartoon shows, were a fruitful and booming path to follow. Having seen the success that could be achieved through Superheroes in animation by Fleischer studios and Grantray-Lawrence Animation, Marvel also wanted to make successful series of their Superheroes. Having previously let third party studios make their animated series Marvel would now be able to do it themselves.
With the newly formed Marvel Production Ltd DePatie was joined by Stan Lee, Lee Gunter and Margaret Loesch. Together they produced Marvel’s first and arguable most popular show produced by the company, Spiderman and his amazing friends. This came out at a time in the 70s and 80s, when animated series were constrained by broadcasting restrictions. The show was made to be non-violent and as in- offensive as possible. This limited its appeal to an older demographic, making the show only really appeal to a younger audience, who cartoons were created for at the time. The show ran for three seasons between 1981and 1983, having great success with children. However, it never proved as popular as Super-Friends, which was seen to be the defining Super-hero show of that era.
However, outside the perception of the shows being made, the ownership of Marvel Productions was unstable. During this time, the company changed hands several times along with Marvel Comics. This was in contrast to DC Comics, which was relatively secure under the Warner Bros banner.
Unfortunately, Marvel’s volatile ownership brought the company to its knees, Marvel became bankrupt. This evidently signaled the end of Marvel Production Ltd. However, the company was brought out of the financial crisis by Isaac Perlmutter (owner of the Marvel subsidiary Toy Biz). Perlmutter sold Marvel Productions’ Ltd back catalogue to Saban Entertainment and then closed Marvel’s animation studio altogether. Lasting for more than a decade, Marvel Productions Ltd closed in 1997. Perlmutter opted for any future animated projects to be produced by third party studios.
Through the 90s- 2000s, Warner Bros. Animation started to capitalise on their DC Comics publications, producing good cartoons. Although Marvel were also producing good cartoons through third parties, these was seen to never reach the same quality as those of DC Comics. This was thought to be because Marvel’s cartoons were being produced by third party studios, and not by Marvel; the people who really knew their characters.
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| Present |
It was not until 2008, with the financial success of two Marvel movie franchises (Spiderman and X-men) that Marvel was able to use the money to help fund the Marvel Animation studio, a division dedicated to animation. With third party studios producing a mixtures of successful (X-men Evolution) and unsuccessful (Fantastic Four World's Greatest Superheroes, 2006) cartoons, Marvel wanted to get back in the driving seat. Animation had become huge and Marvel saw its rapid growth and appeal not only to children but also adults. Consequently, the company reappear in the animation field, opening Marvel Animation.
With the birth of Marvel Animation, other animation studios started to notice a potential big rival in the field, most notably Warner Bros. Animation, which rebranded the logo, giving the company a new fresh look.
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Warner Brothers new logo. |
The purchase of Marvel Comics by Disney was good for both companies. Disney, at the time, was struggling to pull in a strong male demographic and saw Marvel as a way to do it. For Marvel, the merger enabled the company to become as strong as its rival (DC Comics) in the animation field and produce shows single handed.
It can be argued that animation is flourishing at the moment and with such high demand for good animated TV shows and animated features; the unveiling of Marvel Animation is welcome. What I found so interesting in researching Marvel Animation was the role Warner Bros. (DC Comics perhaps) had to play in Marvel Animation’s existence. Without the help of Warner Bros., would there be a Marvel Animation? Warner Bros. helped to make one of its fiercest rivals to its own product; DC Comics.
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Limited Animation
The style Limited Animation was developed during The Dark Age of Animation. The practice of using mix-and- match parts in animation rather than drawing every single new cel.
The technique was popular in the early days. First used by Emile Cohl, in her first animation and in The Colonel Heeza Liar series. The technique however was to be overshadowed by use of traditional cel animation until The Dark Age of Animation.
Where the strength of Limited Animation came from and why I think it appeal to studios and other animators was that it was a cheap and efficient way of making cartoons, not good cartoons just cartoons. The method was perceived to be a way of making cartoons, boarding between average and bad for a long time. Hanna-Barbera where one of the most recognizable studios to use this technique. Taking in account that this was by no means a good time for the animation industry you could not blame Hanna-Barbera for making their cartoons in the most cheaply and easiest fashion possible. With the likes of such studios as MGM to go under I am understanding to Hanna- Barbera for doing this. However it was this factor that some say helped the fall of The Golden Age Animation and Dawn of The Dark Age of Animation
However it was also arguable that this technique was not poor or cheap but was in fact an art style (which it is now seen today as being) but a way to stand out from Disney and the misconception that all animation was Disney.
It was the work of Chuck Jones and John Hubley in the 1950s that made this technique the art form it is perceived to be today. Forcing on the writing and voice acting the animation added merely an artistic look. Thanks to Jones and Hubley, Limited Animation begun to be seen as an art and not a cheap way of production cartoons.
Upon researching this topic what I found to be most interesting was the fact that, Limited animation was seen to be a weak and poor way of creating animation. However with the help of Jones and Hubley it is now seen, as unique and fresh. I personally think that technique, not over used like it may have been in the 1950s ads to the work, differentiate it and making it distinctive.
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Super Friends (1973)
In the 1970 and 1980s American superhero animated series were constrained by the broadcasting restrictions, that activist groups like Action for Children’s television lobbied for. This caused the animation that was put out by Marvel and DC to be family oriented only really applied to a young demographic. Super Friends one of the most popular show to come out in this time period. The show was designed to be as nonviolent an inoffensive as possible, being produced by Hanna-Barbera through the 80s.
Plotlines for the first series saw the Super Friends come against mad scientists and aliens, rather then familiar super villains from the DC Universe. It would be reveled some point in the program that they were well-intentioned but pursuing their goal through unlawful or disreputable means. Each episode was often self-canted, wrapping up in the final minutes of the show, convincing the antagonists to adopt a more reasonable method. Super Friend would later introduce super villains from the DC Universe in the second season. The show ran for more then a decade going under several different titles during its run. It final ended in 1986(The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians).
DC however made many more shows like this such as: DC Super Heroes (1967), The Kids Super power hour (1981) and The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure (1979). These shows could only really appeal to a young demographic because of there straightforward plots, childish animation and undeveloped 2 dimensional characters. These shows were just for children in my opinion.
The defining animation of the decade was Super-Friends. This defined more or less how the general public perceived Superhero as being for a long time, superhero cartoons where seen as being camp and childish and did not have the depth needed to apply to a mature audience. The show was such a defining cartoon for the 80s that it has been parody in various sitcoms and cartoon shows such as: The 70s Show, Family Guy and South Park to name a few.
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Batman: The Animated Series (1992)
The 90s was the year DC and Marvel redefine there Superheroes in animation, making them darker, more realistic and relatable. This changed the way audiences would perceived there Superheroes in animation.
With the success of Tim Burton’s Batman films Batman and Batman Returns. Warner Brothers wanted to make an animated TV show. Bruce Timm and Eic Radomski designed a series closely emulating the style of the Tim Burton film’s. Timm having worked with Warner Brothers on Tiny Toons pitched his idea to Warner Brothers with Radomski, with a pilot called The Dark Knights First Night; Warner Brothers liked the idea and commissioned it.
Batman: The Animated Series (1992) “I am vengeance. I am the night. I…am…BATMAN” was the first animated show to really apply to an older audience other then children. The program was much more adult-oriented than some of the previous superhero cartoon series that had come before. Batman: The Animated Series was the first cartoon in years to depict firearms being fired instead of laser guns. Batman would also actually punch and kick the antagonists, as well as the existence of blood; this was something that had not been done previously in a superhero cartoon.
The mise en scene for the series was very dark and gloomy. This gave the show a dim and shady tone. However it was this look that spawned a new technique dubbed “Dark Deco” This was achieved by painting there backgrounds on back paper. Achieving a unique style this gave every scene within Gotham an extraordinary look redefining the image of the city.
Although we had past the broadcasting restrictions that had hinder studios in the past from making more mature cartoons (during the 1970s and 1980s). Studios where still apprehensive about broadcasting such shows. The Batman’s dark themes and violence made this a risky venture. The Fox Network however took the show on, premiering on the channel with the episode The Cat and the Claw Part 1 (first episode broadcast). Fox however where very stricted on what it would allow the producers to shown, reviewing each of their storyboards and then sending them a list of restrictions they could not do, for example; no smoking, no blood, no strangling, no fire, no alcohol and etc. The show however did do some of these most notably showing blood on batman after getting shot; this however was only done once. When Batman aired on The WB Network (The New Batman Adventures) WB where less restricting on what they could do.
The Head producer, Bruce Timm also took other roles most notable was the character designer. Bruce Timm art style was essential in the shows success and it was so liked that it was incorporated into there other animated shows, creating what is now refer to as the DC animated Universe (DCAU) or the Timmverse. This is not only because his art style was use in all the shows consider to be in the Universe but because of his countless other contribution to them. The shows include Superman: The Animated Series (1996), The New Batman Adventure (1997), Batman Beyond (1999), Gotham Girls (2000), Lobo (2000), Static Shock (2000), The Zeta Project (2001), Justice League (2001) and Justice League Unlimited (2004). The DCUA ended in 2006 with Justice League Unlimited being the last show.
The series received critical acclaim for its distinctive animation and mature writing. This made the show appeal to a wide audience then just kids. Fans praised the show’s sophisticated, cinematic tone and psychological stories. Although brief, Batman: The Animated Series was the first superhero cartoon to be shown on primetime, pushing the limits of what had been acceptable in western animation.
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Early History, Development and Social Economic times of Animation
Animation is an art form which has developed more and more over the years. Animation really started too developed in the 80s this was with the inventions of the zoetrope (1834) and flip book (1868). The earliest elementary zoetrope was created in China
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The more modern zoetrope was produced in 1834 by William George Horner .the device is essentially a cylinder with vertical slits around the sides. Around the inside edge of the cylinder there are a series of pictures on the opposite side to the slits. As the cylinder is spun, the user then looks through the slits to view the illusion of motion.
The first Flip book was patented in 1868 by a John Barnes Linnet. Like t the Zoetrope, the Flip book creates the illusion of motion. A set of sequential pictures flipped at a high speed creates this effect. Flip books were yet another development that brought us closer to modern animation.
It was J. Stuart Blackton who created the first animated work on standard picture film. Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906). This was done by the cartoonist drawing faces on chalkboard a pausing the camera to make would slight changes to the drawing creating the effect that the drawing was coming to life. This is a very similar technique to what is done in stop motion animation.
Animation grown and count more peoples attention thanks to s J. Stuart Blackton’s Humorous Phases of Funny Faces. This inspired countless other people to get involved with animation.
From 1920 to 1950 this was refer to as The Golden Age of Animation. The birth of The Golden Age of Animation began with the Walt Disney sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie, while it was not the first sound cartoon, contrary to popular belief; it was the first to truly utilize what sound could do for a cartoon. This made Mickey Mouse an overnight success. Competitors like Fleischer studios, which had already experimented with sound, quickly upgrade to full time sound cartoons in order to compete with Disney.
With the success of Steam boat Willie animation hit its stride. This causes studios to produces a flood of cartoons, introducing a screen of famous characters. We today all love (Some more then others). Walt Disney had tremendous success creating new characters such as Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto and Snow white and the seven Dwarfs Disney original animated features. Warner Bros to where producing such famous character (Looney tunes) including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky pig, Sylvester, etc. The best-know and best loved non-Disney cartoons of the Golden Age. Fleischer Superman: series of big budget was a success and help cement him as a pop culture icon. His cartoon making him the first superhero to be depict in animation. Tom and Jerry was MGM’s most popular shorts, created by Will Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Walter Lantz creation of Woody Woodpecker was a success making Woody a huge star and official mascot of Universal studios.
The era also produced some of the best animates, directs and writers. Some of the most well know and my favorites are: Chuck Jones, Walter Lantz, Tex Avery, Max and Dave Fleischer, Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. These people where all great at there craft and made some outstanding work of the decade unfortunately things would change in the coming years with what is refer to as The Dark Age of Animation.
The Dark Age of animation era began in the late 50s and ended during the 80s. If The Golden Age of Animation was define by creativity, high quality animation and imagination then The Dark Age of Animation was define by the opposite. It was the era of limited animation, lack of creativity and little imagination, the closure of studios and hard economy times. However there were some new studios and creation of animations.
With the fall of the studio system in Hollywood
One of the reason why this era was distinguished as not being a particular good year for animation was the animation. Animation was costly and to save cost studios cut corners when making them. Hanna-Barbera was one company to name a few that rush their television cartoons making them less quality. However this made them very prominent during the time.
Filmation also got its start during this time although it wouldn’t hit its stride until much later during the 80s it producer some rather low budget animation and corner cutting to get their cartoons out as quickly and cheaply as possible.
However Disney remained strong putting out a generally respectable and well animated line of animation. Sadly Walt Disney's death (late 60s) hit the company extremely hard, sending their studio into a slump. Although they eventually recovered with their short adaptations of Winnie the Pooh
One of the big casualties of the era was the closer of Warner Bros animation studio (Warner Bros. Cartoon). Still producing some decent and entertaining shorts in the form of Looney Tunes in the late fifties, (some of its most memorable shots were from this decade). Animation quality was down, but the writing along with the direction of Chuck Jones managed to produce some timeless classics in spite of that. However, due to budget problems the Warner Bros studios forcibly close down their animation studio for good in this era. But the characters would get a revival in the form of the smash hit anthology repackaging series The Bugs Bunny Show, which repaired characters as pop culture icons.
With the need for better animation, cartoons were increasingly being perceive as solely “kids stuff” this was due to the diminishing quality of cartoons in this time period as well as people becoming overly familiar with the Disney style of family oriented entertainment coming out.
To conclude, researching the Early History, Development and Social Economic times of Animation was very interesting. Finding out when animation was at its highest point (1920s and 1950s), and then seeing what caused the decline (in the late 1950s) was intriguing. Also how sound had a tremendous affect on animation, first fully utilized on Steamboat Willie, helped animation get recognize. And finally history, having started with J. Stuart Blackton’s Humorous Phases of Funny Faces or evener further the zoetrope (1834) and flip book (1868) shows just how much animation has developed and can still develop in the future.
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