BETH GUNN DEAD AT 74

You can read the announcement here.

She worked on Muppet Babies (1984). Jem, The Little Wizards, Dino-Rider, Rude Dog and the Dweebs, Kid ‘n’ Play, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, X-Men: The Animated Series, The Tick, Beethoven, The Avengers: United They Stand and Spider-Man Unlimited.

25TH ANNIVERSARIES

 We're gonna party like it's 1999! That's because that's when these shows aired, currently turning...

MICHAEL EDENS DEAD AT 69

 

You can read the announcement here.

In his writing career, he worked on The Real Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), Camp Candy, Little Shop, Beetlejuice, Dog City, X-Men: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Street Fighter: The Animated Series, Wing Commander Academy, Disney’s Doug, Hercules: The Animated Series, Young Hercules, Avengers: United They Stand, NASCAR Racers, Men in Black: The Series, Gadget and the Gadgetinis, Stargate: Infinity, Sabrina’s Secret Life and Horseland. He also served as a story editor for Beetlejuice, Street Fighter: The Animated Series and Wing Commander Academy.

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: STAN LEE

STAN LEE

(December 28, 1922-November 12, 2018)

Notable Roles: Writer, editor, publisher, producer, Stan Lee, Willie Lumpkin, Mayor of Super Hero City, The Genralissimo, Papa Smurf, Future Tony Stark, Boss Awesome/Fred’s Dad, Stan the Janitor, Mr. Mystic

Born Stanley Lieber, Lee always dreamed about writing the “great American novel”. When he ended up working for Timely Comics (later Marvel), he adopted his pen name when he worked his way up to being a writer so as not to hurt his chances to be accepted as a legitimate writer. When Joe Simon and Jack Kirby left the company in 1941 due to creative differences with publisher Martin Goodman, Lee was promoted to interim editor at age 19 while also continuing to write. After serving in WWII, Lee returned to Timely, now called Atlas Comics, and wrote a variety of genres throughout the 1950s; becoming increasingly dissatisfied with his work. When rival DC Comics had reinvigorated the superhero genre in what became known as the Silver Age of Comics, Goodman tasked Lee with doing the same for Atlas. Since he was planning a career change, his wife, Joan, encouraged Lee to just do the kind of story he wanted. He decided to create heroes that weren’t gods, but instead flawed, real humans, and with Kirby made the Fantastic Four. Their popularity led to even more creations under the imperfect hero philosophy, such as Hulk, Thor, Iron Man and the X-Men with Kirby, Daredevil with Bill Everett, and Dr. Strange and Spider-Man with Steve Ditko, which would culminate in the Avengers and revivals of Golden Age characters Sub-Mariner and Captain America. Lee introduced full credits for each issue, engaged readers directly in the “Bullpen Bulletins” found in every issue as well as with their fan club called the Merry Marvel Marching Society, and developed the “Marvel Method” of scripting to alleviate some of the pressure of writing and editing most of the company’s output. He also had some input in the productions of the first Marvel-based cartoons, including Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. Lee’s bombastic personality led to his becoming a figurehead and the public face of Marvel. In 1981, he moved to California to oversee the development of Marvel’s properties into other media; particularly as part of Marvel’s animation division: Marvel Productions. He would earn the title “The King of Cameos” as he came to be featured in some way in many of Marvel’s various TV shows and movies (as well as many outside of the company); sometimes as a narrator, sometimes as himself, other times as a minor character. At one point, Lee was named President of Marvel, but stepped back down to publisher in order to keep involved with the creative output. Lee moved away from Marvel in 1990, but remained a salaried employee as chairman emeritus. He went on to co-found several media companies, including Stan Lee Media and POW! Entertainment, and worked on a variety of comic and other media projects for them and others. Lee’s later life was full of great upheaval. His wife of 59 years died in 2017. At the same time, it was said he was the victim of elder abuse from his two businesses managers that wanted to get their hands on his assets. Lee sued POW! following their acquisition by Camsing International over a contract that granted them exclusive use of his likeness and that POW! took over his various social media accounts. The suit was dropped in 2018. Lee also retired from the grueling convention circuit in 2017, but told friend and colleague Roy Thomas he was still up for more cameos as long as he didn’t have to travel. Lee died in November of 2018 of cardiac arrest with respiratory failure and congestive heart failure. Tributes for Lee were added to the end of Once Upon A Deadpool, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Avengers: Endgame, and in the Marvel Studios logo for Captain Marvel.

Saturday Credits:

Fantastic Four (1967)

Spider-Man (1967)

The New Fantastic Four

Spider-Woman

Spider-Man (1981)

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

The Incredible Hulk (1982)

Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies

Pryde of the X-Men

X-Men: The Animated Series

Biker Mice from Mars (1993)

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

Silver Surfer

Avengers: United They Stand

Spider-Man Unlimited

X-Men: Evolution

The Spectacular Spider-Man

Wolverine and the X-Men

Big Hero 6: The Series

Marvel’s Spider-Man

20TH ANNIVERSARIES

PRESENTING: THE VOICES OF THE AVENGERS

To commemorate the release of Avengers: Endgame, we present our latest infographic highlighting all those who voiced the Avengers on Saturday Mornings. We counted official cinematic Avengers only, but don't worry: we'll get to the other characters in due time.

STAN LEE DEAD AT 95

You can read the full story here.

Writer, editor, publisher, and the self-proclaimed “King of Cameos”. Stan was one of the architects for what would become known as the Marvel Universe, involved in the creation of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk, the Avengers, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the Mighty Thor, Daredevil and others, as well as the foundations for their individual worlds and supporting characters. His bombastic personality and engaging prose led to his becoming the face of Marvel comics, and one of its most well-known creators.

As Marvel expanded its characters into other media, Stan had various levels of involvement with their productions; particularly during the brief existence of Marvel Productions. Traditionally, Stan has received an “executive producer” credit on any Marvel-based project, including the Marvel-produced Biker Mice From Mars (1993). However, he was actively involved as the story and art consultant for Spider-Man (1967) and Fantastic Four (1967), wrote several scripts for The New Fantastic Four, was the executive story editor for RoboCop: The Animated Series and the supervising producer for Pryde of the X-Men. He also developed Spider-Woman and oversaw the development of X-Men: The Animated Series’ first season and Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

Some of his legendary cameos came in the form of the narrator for Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, The Incredible Hulk (1982), and Pryde of the X-Men. He appeared on screen as himself in a fantasy sequence of Muppet Babies, meeting Spider-Man in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and pulled double-duty as a cameraman in Marvel’s Spider-Man. He also reprised his role as Fred’s Dad from the Big Hero 6 film in a recurring role in Big Hero 6: The Series.

 

DENIS AKIYAMA DEAD AT 66

You can read the full story here.

It was just reported that Akiyama had died on June 28th. While never starring on Saturday morning, he did provide voices for a variety of guest roles. He voiced Dockwell in two episodes of WildC.A.T.S.: Covert Action Teams, Iceman and Silver Samurai in X-Men: The Animated Series, Watcher Prime in Silver Surfer: The Animated Series, Mr. Referee in the English version of Medabots, Amycus and another cyclops in Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend, and Dr. Chris Johnson in an episode of Avengers: United They Stand. 

 

LEN WEIN DEAD AT 69

You can read the full story here.

Wein was a notable writer and editor in the field of comics, working for both Marvel and DC, amongst others. In his time, he co-created many characters, a few of which found their way into various adaptations. They include, but are not limited to, Wolverine, Swamp Thing, Amanda Waller, Batman ally Lucius Fox, Spider-Man foe Rocket Racer, and Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Thunderbird as part of the revived X-Men franchise.

Wein's characters, and some of his stories, have been featured in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Pryde of the X-Men, Swamp Thing: The Animated Series, Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, X-Men: Evolution, Teen Titans, Young Justice and Justice League Action. Wein even supplied new scripts for Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men: The Animated Series, Street Fighter: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, ReBoot, Godzilla: The Series, Avengers: United They Stand, Beware the Batman and Ben 10: Omniverse.

During the 1990s, Wein served as the editor-in-chief of the short-lived Disney Comics, overseeing the publication of their titles which included the Saturday books  Darkwing Duck, The Little Mermaid and DuckTales. 

CELEBRATING THE JACK KIRBY CENTENNIAL

Without Jack Kirby, many of the comic-based Saturday morning shows we've enjoyed wouldn't have existed. Today, we honor "The King" on his 100th.