Why I Love Jazz!

I think it started with the Jonny Quest theme, then the Jetsons theme, followed by the Spider-Man theme (I'm not entirely sure which came first) and of course these:





Happy 45th Anniversary to A Charlie Brown Christmas!

I didn't get many opportunities to dance in high school but I more than made up for it in University. Of course, this was my template for busting moves:



I don't have any strips about Christmas handy, but this is one of my favourites:

Jonni Kuesto!

I'd heard the theme before but I never knew that JQ had such a following over here. There were all kinds of tie-ins such as this B&W manga, two Sonosheets, and an incredible sketchbook. There was even Japan's version of Pogs, めんこ, 面子 (Menko).
 

For my Japanese viewers, here is a little more info including the blogger's top 5 hits. 

I love the original theme song, it's one of the reasons I love Jazz. I never thought it could be topped until I heard this theme song, 科学少年 ジョニー・クエスト, from the 1964 anime-ted toon which is all flavours of awesome. For those of you who can't be bothered clicking, here it is again...

and again...



I really really wanna get my hands on some of the above goodies!

Dragon My Arse.

I've posted a lot of pics lately of animals found at zoos, but my all time fave is in the news today. I've always loved the
コモドオオトカゲ (Komodo-ootokage, literally Big Lizard = Komodo Dragon) since I first saw the giant lizards on Jonny Quest. (Thanks to an amazing JQ site, I've learned that they were based on the Tobura lizard not the Kodomo Dragon, but the love is still there!)


Check out the first few seconds of this and try to tell me you disagree!



By a happy coincidence, my second favourite lizard is on the tube right now...the GORN!

Attack of the Barberaians

Most everyone else has commented on the demise of Joseph Barbera. The "Pitchman" for Hanna-Barbera productions. Everyone I know grew up with his work, from Oh My Darlin' Huckleberry Hound, That Smarter than the Average Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, Exiting Stage Right, my personal favourite, El Kabong with his sidekick Bubbaloey, the Yabbadabbadoing Flintstones, of course, and the Futurama of 1962, the Jetsons. Check out this galaxy far away for a parallel universe of Mr. Spacely's own lackey, George.



My least favourite H&B creations are Scrappy-Doo (who ruined Scooby) and that ubiquitous duo, Tom and Jerry. Maybe some of the Academy Award winners of the 40's were okay, but primarily it was just the same plot over and over again. (Hey, wait a minute, that sums up all H&B toons.) Joe Barbera was the Ultimate huckster for his creations. Fred was a shill for cigarettes before Pebbles came along. Then they sold Jam and pretty much every character of the 60's was featured on a cereal box. But I digress, I'm talking about Tom & Jerry.

A little known fact for those outside of Japan is: "Banks here use cartoon characters to entice people to put their money in their vaults." Snoopy, Hello Kitty, and others want you to invest your hard-earned shekels in their Financial Institution. So who's the spokespersons for my bank? Well, none other than Tom & Jerry (as if you needed to guess.)






The last thing I want to mention about H&B is about the Action/Adventure series of the 60's. I loved Space Ghost, BirdMan, the Herculoids and the toon that introduced me to Jazz, Jonny Quest. (Charlie Brown's Vince Guaraldi helped a lot, but Hoyt Curtin started the ball rolling. Hoyt did the Jetsons and Flintstones themes too.) Here's the theme song...

Spaaaace Ghoooooooooost!

A true pioneer comic artist by the name of Alex Toth died on May 27th at the age of 77. Amongst other creations, he was responsible for Space Ghost, Jonny Quest and Super Friends and there isn't a comic artist around who doesn't quote him as an influence. "Big Deal!" you may say. Well, his Japanese connection is a Japanese-American by the name of Iwao Takamoto who helped co-create much of the Hanna-Barbera animation of the 60s. I grew up with these toons in the 60's and one of the reasons I'm so warped today, is thanks to them.