Minorities in cartoons: “Doc McStuffins”

Mar 072013
 

Doc McStuffinsThis week’s minorities in cartoons entry is “Doc McStuffins,” the lead character of an eponymously named series on Disney Junior (in the US). Disney Junior is a recently-started cable channel aimed at preschoolers, with both original shows and the former “Playhouse Disney” block from the Disney Channel’s morning lineup.

The show centers around a six-year-old girl named Dottie McStuffins (nicknamed “Doc” by everyone), who like other little kids likes to play doctor to her stuffed animals. Unlike other kids, Doc has a magic stethoscope that (when others aren’t around) brings toys to life, akin to “Toy Story.” Episodes usually involve Doc and the toys learning simple life lessons and/or Doc diagnosing various toys’ “medical” problems (such as a lack of Velcro on a toy opossum). The latter, of course, is meant to help kids in real life learn to deal with doctor’s visits.

Doc is voiced by teenaged actress Kiara Muhammad. Another voice on the series (a stuffed snowman) is by Jess Harnell, familiar to older viewers as Wakko Warner on 90s series “Animaniacs.”

The show is one of Disney Junior’s biggest hits, and has gotten much praise for featuring an African-American female lead character. It’s also one of the few preschool shows these days that doesn’t talk down to its target audience via obnoxious “Dora the Explorer”-style “questioning” of the viewer.

Here’s an interview with the show’s creator.

Minorities in cartoons: Ronald-Ann Smith

Feb 282013
 
Ronald-Ann

Ronald-Ann, in “A Wish For Wings That Work.”

This week’s minorities in cartoons entry is Ronald-Ann Smith, a recurring character in Berkeley Breathed’s comic strips “Bloom County” and “Outland.”

Ronald-Ann (named after then-President Ronald Reagan) is a grade-school aged African-American girl with a highly optimistic view of the world. This comes in spite of her impoverished environment (the strip says she’s from the “wrong side of the tracks” of Bloom County, and her doll’s head was shot off in drug-related gang wars). Ronald-Ann often spent time around “Bloom County”‘s biggest star, Opus the penguin.

After “Bloom County” ended, Breathed shifted to his new Sunday-only strip, “Outland,” with Ronald-Ann as its main star. Eventually, however, Ronald-Ann was soon displaced by the return of Opus (and some other “Bloom County” characters), and eventually disappeared from the strip altogether (save, at least claims Wikipedia, a brief cameo toward the end of the run of Breathed’s following and final newspaper strip, “Opus”).

Ronald-Ann made one animated appearance, in the Opus-starring Christmas special “A Wish for Wings that Work.” There, she’s voiced by Alexaundria Simmons, who IMDB lists as having a few acting credits, but nothing since 2000.

Minorities in cartoons: Black Vulcan

Feb 212013
 

Black VulcanThis week’s minorities in cartoons entry is Black Vulcan, an African-American superhero who appeared in the classic 70s/80s series “The Super Friends.”

Black Vulcan was created as a pastiche of then-recently-created DC Comics superhero Black Lightning, when rights-related issues prevented Black Lightning’s appearance. Like, well, plenty of other African-American superheroes, Black Vulcan’s powers were electricity-themed. Said powers were often vaguely defined, per being the “Super Friends”: Black Vulcan could generate electrical lightning bolts from his hands, use said bolts to tie villains up, fly through the air (or outer space) via turning the lower half of his body into a lightning bolt, and so forth. Black Vulcan could even pull the fairly impressive feat of traveling through time under his own power, a feat only matched by Superman and the Flash (via the two’s super-speed powers).

Black Vulcan wasn’t the only African-American recurring character on the “Super Friends”; others included Aquaman villain Black Manta and late-season Super Friends member Cyborg (of Teen Titans fame). The 2000s “DC Super Friends” comic also featured Green Lantern John Stewart as a member. Vulcan was created along with several other minority superheroes to add diversity to the otherwise-all-Caucasian core group of Super Friends. These other heroes eventually led in the comics to the concept behind the “Global Guardians” superhero team, a team of superheroes from all over the world.

Post-”Super Friends,” Black Vulcan’s turned up several times on the Adult Swim series “Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.” There, he’s parodied like the other old-time Hanna-Barbera characters on the show, such as making fun of his “Black”-themed name’s nature (Vulcan claims the name wasn’t his idea, but Aquaman’s). Other than such parody, however, Black Vulcan’s generally gone unused since the “Super Friends” left the air, as most non-comics DC Comics media favor using Static and (lately) Black Lightning when an African-American hero-with-electrical-powers is desired.

Black Vulcan was voiced by Buster Jones during the “Super Friends” run. On “Harvey Birdman,” he’s voiced by Phil LaMarr (who also voiced Static on his TV series).

And if you’re wondering, unlike Storm (Ororo Munroe), Black Lightning (Jefferson Pierce), and Static (Virgil Hawkins), Black Vulcan doesn’t have a real name or an origin story!

Minorities in cartoons: The Jackson Five

Feb 142013
 

The Jackson FiveThis week’s “minorities in cartoons” entry is the classic R&B/pop singing group the Jackson Five.

The popular singing group (featuring Tito, Jermaine, Jackie, Marlon, and of course, the most famous Jackson, Michael) were big stars in the 70s, the same decade that they gained a Saturday morning TV cartoon. “The Jackson 5ive” (note the spelling) was produced by Rankin-Bass, the producers of various classic Christmas holiday specials. The series featured the fictionalized misadventures of the Jackson brothers and their manager, Berry Gordy (in real life, the founder of their label, Motown Records). None of the characters were voiced by their real-world counterparts; Gordy himself was voiced by resident Rankin-Bass voice artist Paul Frees. However, Diana Ross did make an appearance on the show’s initial episode, where she voiced herself.

The animated Jacksons series ran from 1971 to 1973 on ABC, for a total of 23 episodes. Each episode would feature two different Jackson Five songs that somehow related to the plot, a la the 80s run of “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” or the earlier, now-obscure 60s series “The Beagles“. The entire series is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD box sets.

“The Jackson 5ive” proved successful enough that Rankin-Bass produced for the 1972-73 season a cartoon based on fellow 70s family-singing-group the Osmonds. However, this was the only real animated appearance of the Jackson brothers as a collective singing group. Later animated productions (ranging from “Garfield and Friends” to “The Simpsons”) generally only portray or reference Michael, especially during the height of his popularity in the 80s. Despite not being a member, however, the Jackson Five’s sister Janet‘s been referenced in a few cartoons, especially during the height of her popularity in the late 80s/90s. For instance, the 1993 “Flintstones” TV-movie “Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby” shows “Janet Jackstone” exists along with her brother “Michael Jackstone”; Barney proposes Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm name their child after Janet if it’s a girl.

Minorities in cartoons: The Harlem Globetrotters

Feb 072013
 

Harlem Globetrotters meet Scooby-DooThis week’s minorities in cartoons entry is the Harlem Globetrotters. The famed basketball team, founded in 1927, has become famous for their acrobatics on the basketball court. Said fame even led to becoming cartoon characters…

The Globetrotters’ first animated appearance was in a self-named Saturday morning series for CBS for the 1970-1971 season, which makes the Globetrotters the first American animated TV series primarily starring an African-American cast. (Its lead-in show, “Josie and the Pussycats,” also featured Saturday morning’s first African-American female character, Valerie.) The series, produced by Hanna-Barbera, kept with the then-brand-new “Scooby Doo”/”Josie and the Pussycats” formula of “traveling group meets up with trouble around the world and solves it with their unique skills,” in this case, playing basketball. 22 episodes were produced, and aired over two seasons. A few comics were also produced by Gold Key. After the show’s cancellation, the Globetrotters next starred in several episodes of “The New Scooby-Doo Movies.”

In the late 70s, the Globetrotters appeared again in another Hanna-Barbera animated series, this time on NBC. 1979′s “The Super Globetrotters” featured the team as a group of superheroes, with three of the members possessing powers/costumes resembling those of mid-60s Hanna-Barbera series “The Impossibles.” A somewhat different cast was present for this series (reflecting the changes in the real-life Globetrotters team’s roster). The show lasted for one season.

More recently, the Globetrotters have been seen on Fox’s animated comedies, including “The Simpsons” (Krusty bet on their rivals, the Washington Generals) and “Futurama” (where they’re from another planet). Globetrotter star Meadowlark Lemon was also mentioned once in an episode of “Pinky and the Brain” (the episode “Brain’s Song”). “The Fairly OddParents” episode “Odd Ball” also references the Globetrotters: the incidental music for the episode is reminiscent of the Globetrotters’ famed whistled theme song “Sweet Georgia Brown,” while Dimmsdale’s rival basketball team is named the “Earthtrotters.”

Neither Globetrotters series has been released to DVD (as of this writing). Their appearances on “The New Scooby-Doo Movies” are all available on DVD on a one-disc release titled “Scooby-Doo Meets the Harlem Globetrotters.” (Due to rights related issues, the episodes aren’t included in the actual “Best of The New Scooby-Doo Movies” DVD box set… hence the “Best of” naming.) The “Simpsons,” “Pinky and the Brain,” and “Futurama” episodes referencing the Globetrotters are available on DVD (as part of the season box sets), while “The Fairly OddParents” episode is available on Netflix.

Minorities in cartoons: “Where’s Huddles?”

Feb 012013
 

Where's HuddlesThis week’s minorities in cartoons entry is “Where’s Huddles?,” a now-obscure, short-lived early 70s Hanna-Barbera animated series.

The series was a summer replacement series that aired on CBS during the summer of 1970, filling in for “The Glenn Campbell Goodtime Hour,” a variety show featuring the eponymous singer. The series centered around the misadventures of Ed Huddles, a quarterback for fictional pro football team the Rhinos, and his neighbor/teammate Bubba McCoy. Another neighbor, though one not associated with football, was Claude Pertwee, who was voiced by Paul Lynde (of “Bewitched”/”Hollywood Squares” fame). Ed also had a dog named “Fumbles.”

One of Ed’s teammates was an African-American player nicknamed “Freight Train,” who was voiced by African-American actor/singer Herb Jeffries. Freight Train may be American TV’s first regularly-seen African-American animated character in primetime, since I don’t believe there’s an earlier example. Previous primetime animated fare was mostly either produced pre-”I Spy” (American TV’s first primetime drama to feature an African-American star, Bill Cosby) or centered around funny animals (such as “The Bullwinkle Show”).

The series aired for 10 episodes, and was followed up in 1971 with an also-short-lived comic book by Gold Key. After that, it’s pretty much been largely unseen, save having appeared very sporadically on Boomerang.

Here’s the opening credits to “Where’s Huddles?,” which (as of this writing) isn’t available on DVD, though it’s likely to be a prime candidate for the Warner Archive DVD program, as its fellow early 70s primetime animated series “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home” has been released through Warner Archive. Granted, “Father” was the more successful series, lasting three seasons in syndication from 1972-1974.

Minorities in cartoons: President Barack Obama

Jan 242013
 

Spider-Man and Barack ObamaThis week’s “minorities in cartoons” entry is one I should’ve written sooner, but finally have gotten around to: President Barack Obama.

The United States’ first non-Caucasian president has certainly had a big media splash since winning the presidency in 2008. As a subject in cartoons, there was some debate early on about how to caricature Obama, given he’s not as easy a target as Bush before him. There’s also cartoonists wanting to avoid any cartoon shortcuts/cliches that might seem like stereotypes of African-Americans. Most cartoonists seem to have gone for merely exaggerating the size of Obama’s ears. Tom Tomorrow of political cartoon “This Modern World” sometimes portrays Obama as a well-intended-but-too-wishy-washy superhero named “Middle-Man.” Meanwhile, long-running comic strip “Doonesbury” hasn’t even tried to portray Obama as one of its now-classic “icon” portrayals of the president (such as a floating waffle for Clinton, or a floating cowboy hat/Roman centurion helmet for the second Bush). Instead, cartoonist Garry Trudeau seems to have reverted to the “talking White House” portrayal of the president, as he used for the pre-Reagan strips.

Since 2008, Obama’s been all over the place in comic strips and books; Obama having stated he likes superhero comics, particularly Spider-Man, probably helped partially fuel this trend. A semi-popular trend in comics over the past few years has been to show Obama on the cover of a comic to boost sales. Although previous comics have had characters meet the president (Superman met JFK in the 60s), Obama must take the record for number of appearances by a living president. Wikipedia has a list of Obama-in-comics appearances, but I’ll go over some of the more interesting ones:

  • The most high profile appearance might’ve been Obama meeting (and fist-bumping with) Spider-Man himself, on the cover of “Amazing Spider-Man” #583 (January 2009), which came out in time for the 2009 inauguration. In the story, Spidey saves Obama from being replaced by old Spider-Man foe the Chameleon (who’s a master of disguise).
  • Archie’s made several uses of Obama on their covers, including a storyline in which Obama and Sarah Palin both visit Riverdale to meet the Archie gang (who’re running a campaign for student president that somehow gets out of control). One of the covers parodies the classic “Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man” crossover’s cover.
  • Oddly, DC’s probably the one company that hasn’t used Obama for a cover to my knowledge. Granted, DC does deviate from the real-world president when it suits them (such as showing a generic figure as president, or the Lex Luthor-as-prez storyline in the early 2000s), and since the “New 52″ reboot, DC doesn’t have room for much of anything that’s light-hearted. Still, Grant Morrison’s run on Superman has resulted in a story in “Action Comics” #9 (in 2012) where the parallel Earth of “Earth-23″ is visited. There, we see the President of the United States is an Obama-like person who happens to be from that universe’s Krypton (and functions as the Superman of Earth-23). Outside of the “New 52″ line, the “DC Super Friends” comic featured in issue #17 (September 2009) the Super Friends visiting the White House and meeting President Obama. Flash is excited about getting to meet the president, while Obama congratulates Green Lantern (John Stewart) on his haircut.
  • Obama also has a funny animal counterpart, “Bearack Obama,” who’s mentioned in the now-defunct newspaper strip “My Cage” (“Dilbert” with funny animal office workers).

In animation, Obama’s appearances seem fewer (as far as I can tell), though the usual adult-oriented animation (Fox’s Sunday night lineup, “South Park,” etc.) has mentioned or shown Obama at some point. Obama appeared as president at the end of the “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” episode “Cry Freedom Fighters,” where Plastic Man, portrayed here as much dumber than he usually is in other appearances, doesn’t recognize him. A far cry from Jack Cole’s Plas who worked for the FBI, though most modern versions of Plas seem to depict him as the “wacky” one versus Cole’s take, presumably to get Plas to fit into the same universe as Batman.

Finally, here’s a Washington Post blog entry from the 2012 campaign that lists various political cartoonists’ takes on how they portray Obama (and Mitt Romney).

Minorities in cartoons: Steel

Jan 182013
 

SteelThis week’s entry is John Henry Irons, the DC Comics superhero known as “Steel.” Irons first appeared in “Adventures of Superman” #500 in 1993, and was created by writer Louise Simonson and artist Jon Bogdanove.

Irons‘ backstory: A brilliant scientist and engineer, Dr. Irons found his former employer, AmerTek, was using weapons he designed for nefarious purposes, while trying to coerce Irons into staying despite their actions. Upon seeing AmerTek pursue aggressive/sinister behavior against himself, Irons faked his death and moved to Metropolis to become a construction worker. After being saved by Superman from plummeting from a building under construction, Irons later decided to take up the Man of Steel’s crime-fighting mantle during the “Death of Superman” storyline. Irons created a high-tech, mechanized battle suit of his own design, along with an equally high-tech sledgehammer, akin to his “John Henry” folklore namesake. During the “Death” storyline, Irons became one of the four fake Supermen seen in Metropolis, though Irons never claimed to be the actual Man of Tomorrow. Irons, now known as “Steel,” continued to fight crime even after Superman’s resurrection (and with Superman’s encouragement).

Steel soon became popular enough to get his own ongoing series, which focused on his family (including his niece, Natasha Irons) and his ongoing fight against AmerTek (since evil comic book weapons manufacturers apparently don’t let up). John Henry also appeared in various major storylines and Superman-related titles through the 90s and 2000s, as has Natasha (who also became a superheroine herself). Steel also survived the “New 52″ reboot, and has appeared in the Super-books there, as well. Steel also participated in the 1994 “Worlds Collide” crossover with DC and then-a-separate-imprint Milestone Comics’ line (whose heroes include another armor-wearing African-American hero, named “Hardware”).

Steel also made the leap to Superman-related media, appearing on the 90s cartoon “Superman: The Animated Series,” and later in “Justice League Unlimited.” There, he was voiced by Michael Dorn (with Natasha voiced by Cree Summer). A 1997 movie, “Steel,” was also made, with Shaquille O’Neal playing John Henry; unfortunately, the film was a major flop. Steel’s also appeared in “Superman Family Adventures” as a member of the “Superman Family.”

Minorities in cartoons: “Lilo and Stitch”

Jan 102013
 
Lilo and Stitch

From left to right, Lilo, Nani, and Stitch.

This week’s minorities in cartoons entry is the 2002 Disney animated movie “Lilo and Stitch.”

The movie centers around the titular characters: Lilo, a young, eccentric Hawaiian girl (voiced by Daveigh Chase), and Stitch, also known as “Experiment 626,” the product of an unauthorized experiment by Russian-accented alien mad scientist Jumba. (Stitch is voiced by his real-life creator, Chris Sanders; Jumba is voiced by David Ogden Stiers). Lilo lives with her older sister Nani (voiced by Tia Carrere); both of their parents are deceased. Lilo spends her time listening to Elvis Presley records (and I do mean records, per the retro feel of the movie despite its modern setting), going to hula practice, and believing in the most bizarre things (to the point she’s teased by a snobby local girl, Mertle, and Mertle’s yes-men-like group of friends). Stitch, meanwhile, escapes from confinement, and travels to Earth to attempt to carry out his purpose in life, destroying major cities. However, Stitch crash-lands on the Hawaiian island Lilo lives, which lacks any cities to destroy. Stitch is taken in by Lilo (mistaking him for a dog at the pound), and eventually learns to overcome (somewhat) his more destructive tendencies. Jumba and Pleakley, an easily-excitable representative of the “Galactic Federation,” are sent to Earth to try to capture Stitch, as does Captain Gantu (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson), a stoic Federation armada captain. Eventually, Stitch gets to stay with his new family on Earth, as does a now-reformed Jumba and Pleakley.

“Lilo and Stitch” was the last major successful non-CGI animated film for Disney until until 2009′s “The Princess and the Frog.” Its success spawned several direct-to-video sequels, a Japanese anime adaption (Stitch became quite popular in Japan), and a Western animated TV series. The TV series, similar in some ways to “Pokemon,” presented many of the 625 experiments Jumba created before Stitch being unleashed on Hawaii. Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley attempted to capture them all and reform them, like Lilo did for Stitch. Also in the TV series was Gantu, working for a hamster-like alien mad scientist trying to capture the experiments for his own ends. The final direct-to-video movie, “Leroy and Stitch,” wraps up the TV series’ run.

Elements of traditional Hawaiian culture are shown in the movies/TV series, mostly in the context of Lilo’s hometown relying heavily on tourism. As such, Nani and her boyfriend David (a fire dancer, voiced by Jason Scott Lee) are often shown working at various tourist traps. Some Elvis Presley songs are also present in the soundtrack, along with more traditional Hawaiian music.

 

Minorities in cartoons: Muhammad Ali

Jan 032013
 

Superman versus Muhammad AliThis week’s “minorities in cartoons” entry is “the greatest” himself, Muhammad Ali.

The boxer formerly known as Cassius Clay has made some appearances in cartoons. The most high profile example might be the famed 1978 comic one-shot “Superman versus Muhammad Ali,” where Ali faced off against the Man of Steel at the behest of aliens to settle who should represent Earth as its champion (long story). The fight was held, of course, under a red sun (which as long-time Superman fans know, strips Superman of his powers, as he’s only superpowered under a yellow sun like Earth’s). The Earth-1 Ali also gets to be one of the few to know of Superman’s secret identity by the end of the adventure. The issue was reprinted a few years ago in a deluxe format.

A year before the comic, Ali had appeared in an NBC Saturday morning cartoon called “I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali.” Despite lending his own voice to the series, it didn’t prove successful against the competition: on CBS,  live-action sci-fi series “Space Academy”; on ABC, the final half-hour of “Scooby’s All-Star Laff-Alympics.”

Some of Ali’s catchphrases have been referenced in cartoons over the years. Pixar’s “Cars” saw Lightning McQueen use the phrase “float like a Cadillac, sting like a Beemer.”

 

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