Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Ben 10 #6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #1, Power Rangers Unlimited #5, & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures vol. 9.
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Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Ben 10 #6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #1, Power Rangers Unlimited #5, & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures vol. 9.
Visit comicshoplocator.com to find a shop near you.
You can read the full story here.
He played Tooth Filling, Future Cat, Goat Minister of Propaganda, General Bladderwort, and a Secret Service Agent in The Ripping Friends; Slip D’Peel, Slide D’Peel, and Sea Urchin in Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island; Fistrick, Megawhatt, Articguana, Diamondhead, Driba, Galvan Albedo, Grey Matter, Pax, Solid Plugg, Bellicus, Eatle, Lackno, Dr. Psychobos, Mchaneer, Way Big, Rook Da, Freezelizard, Upchuck, Raff, Cast Iron, Parts Dealer, Ultimate Albedo, Buzzshock, Toepick, Vomit Man, Thunderpig, Jerry, Pretty Boy Vreedle, Mad Diamondhead, Mad Upchuck, Young Cooper Daniels, Trumbipuor, Chromastone, Mr. Smoothy and additional voices in Ben 10: Omniverse; an alien, a partygoer, a sightseer and Man #1 in Phineas and Ferb; Dark Opal, Citrina, Pegacorn, Spider, and Happy Tree in Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Lex Liger, Captain Cod and the narrator, in DC Nation’s Farm League, and Mercury and Mr. Mind in Shazam! as part of the DC Nation programming block; Raimundo Pedrosa, Jack Spider, and PandaBubba in Xiaolin Chronicles; Tiger Claw, EPF Man, Vic Fulci, Vinnie Fulci, Hun, Triceratons, Unicorn Man, Evil Ninja, The Hammer, and several minor characters in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012); Curly-Haired Boy, Cop and Sut in Sanjay and Craig; Shalmon in SpongeBob SquarePants; Donatello in TMNT: Don vs Raph; Leonardo in Turtles Take Time (and Space); Hermie in Doc McStuffins; Buhdeuce and his variants, Baby Monster, Dishwasher, Bacteria Blob, B2D2, various Monsters, Rich Passenger Beetle, Duckling, PB, Birdman, Three Headed Bird Man, Worm, Tadpolice, Finger #2, Announcer, Video Game Announcer, Gator, Monster Emcee, Big Baby Buns, Thon, Disco Ball, Stamp, Buhdeuce’s Gut, and Alarm Clock in Breadwinners; Maven Danger and Skip Scobbie in Transformers: Rescue Bots; Gust-O in Ben 10 (2016); Doctor Eric and additional voices in Pickle and Peanut; Patches, Gamers, Jerry, Narrator and main termite in Bunnicula; Three Eyed Potato Baby, Ball organizer, Cloudy, an actor, Spider With a Top hat, Sir Stabby, and additional voices in Star vs. the Forces of Evil; Mr. Negative and a Cop in Marvel’s Spider-Man; Uncle Samurai, announcer, a cop, Detective Kato and Buddy Guardians in Big Hero 6: The Series; Alfonso, parachuter, pie judge, carnival barker, city worker, passerby, train conductor and various announcers in The Rocketeer (2019); Splinter, narrator, manager, President Pepperoni, claw machine kid, Clem, NYPD, Blonde Boy, Distraught Man, narrator, Senor Hueso, Sergeant Woodpecker, Fox, Noah Sheck, Boy #1, Kraken, Yokai Pirate, Sanke #1, Male Barista, Lou Jitsu, Red Fox Cosplayer, Train Announcer, Bandaged Yokai, Arch of Aquinnah, Referee, Don Suave, Mutant Silverfish, Student #1, Officer #2, Yokai Masseur, and Jasper in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Koala, Dingo and Bruce in Where’s Waldo? (2019); The Beagle Boys, tailor, dealer, announcer, security guard, Nik Nokturne, Funso Doll, Funso, Captain Farley Foghorn, Prospector Paul, Ticket Stand Clerk, and minor voices in DuckTales (2017); Creek Kids in Craig of the Creek; Hype Man, shop clerk and additional voices in Victor & Valentino; Mr. Park, investors, a healer, gremlins, talking rats, Faust and additional voices in The Owl House; Bruno, Nelson, Cucuy, Hi N’ Buy Employee, Egrets, Driver, Security Guard, Mr. Suarez, Comissioner Gordo, Burglar, Scary Movie Actor, Hipsters, Mike Liu, Evil El Pollito, Soothing Podcast Host, Fluffy, and minor roles in The Casagrandes; Broccoli, Celery Blacksmith, Veggie Artist, Sam Spider Spade, Chief of Police, Wasp, Robot Panda, Cashier, Fly, Another Random Bug, Olive Painter, Carrot Villager and Eggplant Villager in We Baby Bears; Pink Lynx, Murray, Logan, Paul, Harry Haberdasher and additional voices in Hailey’s On It!; CopyCat, Darren Dark, Tucker, Greg and additional voices in Hamster & Gretel; Commercial Announcer, Question Bot, Blood Pressure, Bomb Swapper, Defuser, Wolf Demon, Mutants, Big Mitchell, Parrot Mutant, Robot, Catapult Kevin, Honorabl3 Impartial-Bot, Grim Reaper, Arfthur, Nostrildamus, Pipsqueak and Tusky Boy in StuGo; Barge Captain and additional voices in Big City Greens; Announcer, Second Santa, BTAS Commissioner Gordon, Gordanian Commander, Marshmallow Duck, Joker Impressions, Joker’s Flower, Green Lantern’s Power Ring, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wizard of Oz and Captain Boomerang in Teen Titans Go!; Reggie, Roy Fox, Billiam, George Meredith Willows, Rosso, Mr. RiPeppa, Rad, Lance Contract, Giancarlo, Nana Chubbs, Cherry Berry, Lil’ Ouchie, Ellis Girt Griswold and additional voices in Kiff; and Rex, Bruno, Hipster Man, Male Couple, Mr. Reynolds, Cory, Boy #2, TV announcer, Male Mercado Customer, Male Checkout Employee, Card Shark, Wild Card Willy Cosplayer, Male Judge, Kitty’s Trainer, Ed, Janitor Ed, and Jock in The Loud House. He also provided additional voices in Milo Murphy’s Law, Amphibia, and It’s Pony, and worked as a production assistant on The Ripping Friends.
Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Ben 10 #5, The Loud House vol. 28, and X-Men '97 Season 2 #4.
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Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Batman/Static Beyond TPB, Ben 10 #4, Casagrandes vol. 10, Dungeons & Dragons Animated Adventures Library Edition TPB, Power Rangers Green #1, & Teen Titans Go! ...On Strike TPB.
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Wednesday is New Comic Book Day! Available: Ben 10 #3 & X-Men '97 Season 2 #2.
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You can read the full story here.
He voiced Angus in The Secret Files of the SpyDogs; Albert Einstein in an episode of The Mummy: The Animated Series; XLR8, Diamondhead, Wildvine, and several minor roles in Ben 10 (2005); Stoker, Eyemore, Dr. Catorkian, Crusher and several minor roles in Biker Mice From Mars (2006); Mordru in an episode of Legion of Super Heroes; Mr. Sully in The Replacements; Professor X, the Sentinels, Dr. Abraham Cornelius, and Warren Worthington II in Wolverine and the X-Men; a judge in an episode of Back at the Barnyard; Ho-Boe in Winx Club; and The Brain in an episode of Justice League Action. He also provided voices for Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Men in Black: The Series, and Xyber 9: New Dawn.
DWAYNE
McDUFFIE
(February
20, 1962-February 21, 2011)
Notable
Roles: Producer, writer, editor
A
Michigan native, McDuffie graduated the Roeper
School and the University of Michigan
before moving to New York to attend New York
University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
After working as a copy editor at Investment Dealer’s
Digest, McDuffie went on to work for Marvel
Comics as assistant to editor Bob
Budiansky. There, he helped develop the company’s first superhero trading
cards set before getting his first major writing work published in the pages of
Damage
Control. After becoming an editor, he submitted a spoof proposal for a
series called Teenage Negro
Ninja Thrashers after becoming dissatisfied with the number and
treatment of Marvel’s Black characters. Going freelance in 1990, McDuffie
continued to write for Marvel alongside DC
Comics, Archie Comics and Harvey Comics, where he
wrote the comic spin-off of the Back
to the Future cartoon. Along
with Denys Cowan, Michael
Davis, Derek
T. Dingle and Christopher
Priest (who left in the early planning stages for personal reasons), he
founded Milestone Media to bring the
multicultural sensibility they felt missing from comic books. They debuted
Milestone Comics in 1993, published through DC Comics, that introduced the
interconnected “Dakotaverse”,
named for the fictional city of Dakota
where most of their stories were set. Populating it were the African-American Static, Icon and Hardware; the
Asian-American Xombi;
and the group Blood
Syndicate comprised of various ethnicities. A victim of both the comic bust
and near-sighted retailer perception, Milestone ceased operations in 1997 and
became primarily a licensing company. Static was adapted
into the animated series Static
Shock, on which McDuffie served as story editor and wrote 11 episodes.
He also wrote for Teen
Titans and What’s
New, Scooby-Doo? while serving as a staff writer on Justice League;
where he was later promoted to story editor and producer when the series became
Justice League
Unlimited. Additionally, he wrote the story for the video game Justice League Heroes and
several direct-to-DVD DC animated movies. Along with returning to comic work
with Beyond!,
Fantastic
Four vol. 1, and Justice
League of America vol. 2,
McDuffie was hired to revamp and story edit the Ben 10 franchise for Cartoon Network, resulting in Alien Force and Ultimate Alien. During
his career, he was nominated for several Eisner
Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards, and
won a Golden Apple
Award, The Humanitas Prize,
an Inkpot Award, and a Writers Guild of America Award, as well as
voted Favorite Breakout Talent in Wizard
Magazine’s Fan Awards. In 2011,
McDuffie died of complications from emergency heart surgery. Several tributes
came after his death: Justice
League: Doom, Ultimate Alien’s final episode and the spin-off video game were
dedicated to his memory; a diner named “McDuffie’s” appeared in Green
Lantern: The Animated Series; Ultimate Spider-Man introduced
the new CEO of Damage
Control named “Mac” with a dedication in the same episode; the 2011 Static
Shock comic reboot had the titular character attending a high school
named for McDuffie; new DC Comics character and brief TV star Naomi was
given the last name “McDuffie”; and the Dwayne
McDuffie Award for Diversity and Comics and The
Dwayne McDuffie Award for Kids’ Comics were started in his honor.
TARA
STRONG
(February
12, 1973- )
Notable
Roles: Hello Kitty, Patty Putty, Carly Cuts, Still Jill,
Young Celeste, Hip Koopa, Hop Koopa, Yumi Francois, Agent Heather, Paige
Guthrie, Skids, Illyana Rasputin, Kyle Griffin, Spot, Two-Tone, Vendela,
Batgril/Barbara Gordon, Dil Pickles, Timmy McNulty, Teddy McNulty, Shareena,
Tara Byron, Tutu, Nice Cindy, Ingrid Third, Traplev, Ariella Third, Bubbles,
Bebe Proud, Cece Proud, Puff, Blink/Clarice Ferguson, Vicky Vale, Raven/Rachel
Roth, Omi, Mercy Graves, Supergirl/Kara Danvers, Timmy Turner, Ben Tennyson,
Toot Braunstein, Princess Clara, Maguro, Marrow/Sarah, X-23/Laura Kinney,
Sierra McCool, Sky Blossoms, Sari Sumdac, Slipstream, Strika, Invisible
Woman/Susan Richards, Daizy, Billy Batson, Mary Marvel/Mary Batson,
Huntress/Helena Bertinelli, Ilana, Rogue, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff,
American Dream/Shannon Carter, H.E.R.B.I.E., Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel,
Iolande, Cheetah/Barbara Ann Minerva, Princess Selfrespectra, Stella’s Guardian
of Sirenix, Twilight Sparkle, Penny Gadget, Black Cat/Felicia Hardy, Jessica
Jones, Spider-Woman/Mary Jane Watson, Thundra, Lois Lane, Rocket J. Squirrel,
Typhoid Mary/Mary Walker, Nova Prime, Terra/Tara Markov, Unikitty, Tiggy
Sullivan, Miss Minutes
Born
and credited as Tara Charendoff until her marriage, Strong became interested in
acting at age 4 when she volunteered to perform in a school production. She
worked with the Yiddish Theater and Toronto
Jewish Theater and was featured
in a recording of “Lay
Down Your Arms” with the Habonim Youth Choir,
singing the song in both English and Hebrew. Her professional debut was at the
age of 13 when she starred as Gracie in Limelight Theater’s production of The Music Man. Along
with a guest-spot on the show T. and T., she
landed her first animated lead role in Hello
Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater. By the time she moved to Los Angeles, she
had already amassed an impressive resume; a trend that would continue well into
her career. Largely, her work has been in animation, but Strong has made
frequent on-camera appearances, most recently in 2021 as Tiggy Sullivan on Pretty Hard Cases,
as well as done video games, such as playing the protagonist of Lollipop Chainsaw, Juliette. Often,
Strong gets called on to play young boy characters like 10-year-old Ben Tennyson in the Ben 10
franchise, Dil Pickles in the Rugrats franchise
(excluding the Paramount+ reboot)
or Timmy Turner in The
Fairly Oddparents. She inherited
the role as the regular voice of DC Comics’
Harley Quinn from Arleen Sorkin (in addition to
already playing Batgirl), and
became part of the phenomenon that was My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic as
lead character Twilight
Sparkle. She often uses her fame and social media presence to promote
animal rescue groups, raise money for charities, decry bullying and promote
Veganism. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for numerous awards
including Action on Film
International Film Festival, Annie
Awards, Behind the Voice
Actors Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards,
Kids’ Choice Awards, NAVGTR Awards, Online Film & Television Association,
Spike Video
Game Awards, a Hollywood Gold
Award, and an Academy of Interactive
Arts & Sciences Award; winning several of them.
| Promo art featuring Ben, Rook and alien forms Feedback, Four Arms, Gravattack, Shocksquatch and Bloxx. |
Initially
only 4 seasons were ordered, but Cartoon Network upped it by 2 before the
series premiered. In 2013 they upped the order again for an additional 2. As
each episode took about 6 months to produce, different directors would work on
a block of them simultaneously in order to have them ready for a weekly
broadcast schedule. The intro was changed for Arcs 4 and 5, and a special intro
was done for the episode “Clyde Five” focusing on Ben’s cousin Clyde Fife (Jon Heder). While the final
episode served as both a conclusion and as a starting point for another story
arc, no further season orders came. Ultimately, it ended up being the series
finale as despite it still performing exceptionally well despite the lackluster
fan reception to the new show, the toy sales were immensely disappointing.
Without the toys to help with the funding, Cartoon Network was ready to cut
their losses and move on to another attempt with the franchise. However, they
were obligated to air the remainder of the series and quickly burned off the
last three seasons on a daily schedule in the 6 A.M. timeslot. It should also
be noted that several episodes were aired out of their intended order, creating
continuity issues with events being references before they ever happened and
aliens being used before their official debuts. Further, several episodes
produced as part of a particular story arc ended up being used in a completely
different one. Warner
Home Video released the entire first three arcs onto DVD, along
with 5 episodes from both Arcs 4 and 5. The entire series was made available to
purchase digitally
in arcs or individual episodes, and for streaming on HBO Max.