10/23/2008 - Batman & Robin Cursing

In the realm of comics, I prefer Marvel over DC, but back in the early-80's, I did enjoy watching the Super-Friends. After all, how could you go wrong with all the superheroes in one show? Marvel did have Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, and although I really loved the show, I always felt that Firestar and Iceman were sort of thrown in just to form a superhero team. DC had all the heavyweights in the Super-Friends cartoons: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman were almost always present. They'd bring in the second tier as well: Flash, Green Lantern, Robin, and others.

Looking back at it now, the show really didn't have much depth... especially in the early years. Aside from their powers, you couldn't really tell the heroes apart. They all pretty much had the same personality. There was no conflict between the characters, and it was always clear that the bad guys were doing evil and the heroes had to stop them. Even though the comics at the time had more weight and appealed to an older audience, the Saturday morning cartoons were really geared toward kids. Contrast that to the recent Justice League commercials and you'll see a world of difference. Batman actually has a rock of Kryptonite to use against Superman in case he ever went rogue!

One can only enjoy the old Super-Friends cartoons with a nostalgic eye... or you could laugh at how simplistic and light it was. Especially if you dub in bleep sounds like in this video: