The Failure of Jim Lee's WildCats Animated Series: X-Men Competitor? Not Really

Рет қаралды 259,161

Жыл бұрын

For a limited time only, get $100 off your subscription! Follow my link bit.ly/BrightCellarsSecretGalaxy to take the taste palate quiz to see your personalized matches.
In the 1990s, superhero cartoons were all the rage, with X-Men: The Animated Series leading the pack. But when Jim Lee's WildCats (sometimes rendered WildCats or WildC.A.T.s) arrived on the scene as a potential competitor, it failed to measure up.
In this video, we talk about how the WildCats cartoon failed to capture the same audience as X-Men: The Animated Series, and how it struggled to find its place in the crowded superhero animation landscape.
Additionally, we'll delve into the WildCats toyline and the Super Nintendo game along with some of the other merchandise. And finally, we'll touch on the role of Image Comics in the broader context of the animation industry in the 1990s and what that meant for Savage Dragon, Spawn and Gen13. So join us as we explore the rise and fall of Jim Lee's WildCats, and how Nelvana was hoping for an X-Men competitor.
SOURCES:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_C....
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat...)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_C...
the-avocado.org/2020/03/20/wi...
womenwriteaboutcomics.com/201...
bleedingcool.com/comics/wild-...
• WildC.A.T.S - Official...
www.figurerealm.com/actionfig...
gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/58...
www.comiccollectorlive.com/tit...
comicbookrealm.com/series/780...
• Jim Lee Interview abou...
www.imdb.com/title/tt0251515/...
Help the channel continue to grow by checking out our Patreon: / toygalaxy
Follow Us on Twitch for Hot Livestream Action:
/ toygalaxy
Second Channel:
/ @toygalaxy
Follow Dan on Instagram:
/ toygalaxy
Toy Galaxy
P.O. box 3976
Manchester, NH 03105-3976
Business Inquiries:
toygalaxytv@gmail.com
/ toygalaxytv
teespring.com/stores/toy-galaxy

Пікірлер: 968

@SecretGalaxyTV Жыл бұрын

Thanks again to Bright Cellars for sponsoring this video and for the limited-time offer! Click here bit.ly/BrightCellarsSecretGalaxy to get $100 off your subscription.

@AgentNevets Жыл бұрын

I’m trying to get into wine, so I’m going to try this out!

@AndrewDasilvaPLT Жыл бұрын

The cat during the commercial~

@dwaynemenzies8824 Жыл бұрын

I know this dumb but I love the fart noises in your videos. Life's been super rough lately, and your videos give me a break.

@dwaynemenzies8824 Жыл бұрын

Purnt!

@metalbrainmextrememetalent6810 Жыл бұрын

Hey your channel sucks. I feel like I’m watching something that’s a corporate sponsored commercial.

@thebenforever Жыл бұрын

The 90s was an effin wild time for cartoons. Xmen, Eek the Cat/Terrible Thunder Lizards. Great stuff.

@invaderhorizongreen8168 Жыл бұрын

I think Disney ows the rights to Eek the cat, and Terrible Thunder Lizards now. As far as I know of there was like a handful of VHS for the cartoon and nothing else.

@dougsmith6262 Жыл бұрын

Duuuuuude! I haven't heard of/thought of Thunder Lizards in FOREVER! Wasn't that show a spin-off of Eek?

@thebenforever Жыл бұрын

@@dougsmith6262 yessir! It was awesome

@invaderhorizongreen8168 Жыл бұрын

@@dougsmith6262 it was a companion cartoon sadly Disney now owns them and there is ZERO DVD,VHS, OR Streaming for this cartoon. so as far as I can tell unless someone out there got the entire series pirated you are out of luck and it is lost media.

@PrettyGuardian Жыл бұрын

Mummies Alive!!!

@bensaret Жыл бұрын

Goldie Hawn was always my favorite member of WildCATS.

@SecretGalaxyTV Жыл бұрын

One and only Golllllll... die Haaawwwnnn

@markbowman3747 Жыл бұрын

I liked Cerulo and Finch. Be on the five in field minutes

@ericanderson2084 Жыл бұрын

It's the game of king's better than diamond rings football

@j.p.holiday8899 Жыл бұрын

@@ericanderson2084 Football.

@Ucey365 Жыл бұрын

That outro song is iconic 😂

@Markimark151 Жыл бұрын

I remember Wild CATS on CBS, but I feel they didn’t promote the show enough probably due to the network phasing out of animated Saturday morning shows. The show deserved more episodes!

@danielramsey6141 Жыл бұрын

Yeah, it definitely deserved more. More work, and a stronger set of stories.

@Markimark151 Жыл бұрын

@@danielramsey6141 it should’ve been picked up by Cartoon Network, they would’ve put more effort into the cartoon.

@Macrochenia Жыл бұрын

@@Markimark151 IIRC, Cartoon Network was still just showing reruns of old stuff at the time and hadn't really started with the idea of trying to produce their own shows. I don't think its failure was due to lack of promotion, I remember it being promoted quite heavily as part of the CBS Saturday Morning Action Zone, it was just that shows like X-Men were more popular and the Wild CATS toyline flopped due to being expensive and rather bland.

@Markimark151 Жыл бұрын

@@Macrochenia I know Cartoon Network was still in its infancy during that time, but it would’ve been good for reviving old cartoons like they did with Johnny Quest and Tex Avery Show. Also CBS was facing competition from Fox Kids and other children’s blocks. CBS was just making a last ditch effort into Saturday morning cartoons, they were canceling Garfield and even TMNT, which was already being syndicated on Fox Kids! Wild CATS was just not suited for CBS, the network had too many budget constraints for Saturday morning shows.

@Macrochenia Жыл бұрын

@@Markimark151 CBS didn't cancel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for another two or three seasons after canceling the Action Zone, due to changes in FCC regulations that required cartoons to be educational (FOX got around it due for reasons I don't understand).

@simbriant Жыл бұрын

I'm sad the animated Wild CATS didn't do better, but as a kid I still thought it was awesome. Then when I discovered the comic, the more mature themes made me like it even more. I'm glad Jim Lee has constantly been successful. That man has never been short for work. :D

@xmaverickhunterkx Жыл бұрын

Loved that damned series and time in American animation. Why did it all have to go downhill....

@vgtrp Жыл бұрын

It's hard to compete against the likes of X-Men and Batman.

@Canoby Жыл бұрын

X-Men was the better show but Wild CATs was still a lot of fun on its own

@QoQabai658 Жыл бұрын

You kidding me?! Grifter was God!

@Canoby Жыл бұрын

@@QoQabai658 It was wild (pun unavoidable) when he showed up in Flashpoint Paradox

@joshuafrias2415 Жыл бұрын

WildC.A.T.s, yes! Love that theme song, no matter how cheesy and 90s it is! Still hope that this and Gen 13 get a Blu-ray release. Been far too long!

@LouisTheBassman Жыл бұрын

That would be awesome! Luckily I have the DVD release in case it never does

@hiyazaki09 Жыл бұрын

yeah Blu-ray for WildC.A.T.s and Gen 13

@blackphoenix77 Жыл бұрын

Shame that the Gen 13 movie only exists in a horrible low quality bootlegs online

@hiyazaki09 Жыл бұрын

@@blackphoenix77 yup

@LouisTheBassman Жыл бұрын

@@blackphoenix77 for real

@Shane665 Жыл бұрын

The commercial break not involving the cartoon/comics/toys for WildC.A.T.s but instead the 1986 Goldie Hawn Wildcats movies was just “chefs kiss”!

@anthonycerulli1423 Жыл бұрын

It’s the sport of kings. Better then diamond rings. Football!

@BonusEggs4Sale 10 ай бұрын

This is how you know they have smart-ass fellow Gen Xers on their staff

@KyleWhiteandfriends 8 ай бұрын

They just had to change it for the big screen

@jinpei05 Жыл бұрын

Say what you want about the series, but that theme song still kicks so much 90's ass.

@mttylerdurden9 Жыл бұрын

Image comics in the 90s was insane!

@stevenhenry5267 Жыл бұрын

In the early and mid 90s,it was mostly garbage.

@destro5311 Жыл бұрын

Image was the shit in the 90’s! I don’t know what Steve talm’ bout. Garbage? I wasn’t critiquing comic books as if it was literature when I was 10.

@rotwang2000 11 ай бұрын

@@stevenhenry5267 I remember that every new series they Launched at Image was always that big amazing passion project, but by issue number three which was half a year late, they felt that this series was constraining them and they were moving onto an even cooler passion project, leaving some D-tier guys to continue them. Late issues, short attention spans and countless reboots, even if Image was radical and cool, the novelty did wear off.

@Dynaman21 Жыл бұрын

Jim Lee landed on his feet as Editor in Chief of DC. Might be why he keep trying to make Grifter a thing in the DC Universe.

@RoyalKnightVIII Жыл бұрын

He was always a company man. He used his image capital to secure himself a very secure job at dc. Very savvy

@smeagle3295 Жыл бұрын

The DC U is trash along with almost all American comics nowadays (which is why the Japanese sell more books in the U.S. than the U.S. does). Mr. Lee is one of my favorite artists of all time, but let’s not act like things are honky dory.

@wellsb973 Жыл бұрын

The fact that he had feet to land on means he wasn’t drawn by Liefeld.

@reyvagabond3344 Жыл бұрын

Grifter is a thing and all wildcats are coming back to the DC mainline. Let's hope they keep that line going I love the wildcats.

@blackphoenix77 Жыл бұрын

Wildcats was relaunched at DC a few months ago; on issue three by now I think

@trippin_ninja Жыл бұрын

I didn't realize it at the time but I think Jim Lee leaving Marvel to help start Image was probably the first time my eyes were opened to the business aspect behind comics. It was a real shock as a young boy to learn the guy that was drawing your favorite series had left to start his own. I'm pretty sure I collected many of those first few issues of Image's different series but none of them really stuck with me. I'll have to go dig around in my comic boxes and see what I have now. 😊

@thecomicbookcommentary6081 Жыл бұрын

Too true. Many people today don't realize how big of an industry shake up that really was at the time. Going back and reading the early Image stuff for may channel (including the letter sections) really puts into perspective just how big of a deal it was for that many creators to go out and start their own company. It's really eye opening to see how may readers were angry at those guys for leaving Marvel and DC not realizing just how badly they were being treated by those companies.

@netherjosh Жыл бұрын

Same. I think it was the first time I'd ever heard of "royalties" or "creator's rights". I tipped my hat to Image, but at the same time, it was a massive disappointment when Jim Lee left X-Men. The series went down the tubes almost immediately, and the fact that the writing on WildC.A.T.S was so shallow kind of rubbed salt in the wound.

@thecomicbookcommentary6081 Жыл бұрын

@@netherjosh I still struggle to understand exactly how WildC.A.T.S got so popular in such a short time span. It wasn't just that the writing was bad. It was also that the story was really hard to follow at times due to bad page layouts, and too many sub plots and twists to follow. Though I will give Jim Lee credit. While the Image shared universe that they tried to create in the early years of the company always felt fractured and poorly cobbled together. The Wildstorm universe actually fit together rather well, all things considered. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it least it was cohesive and somewhat easy to follow.

@netherjosh Жыл бұрын

@@thecomicbookcommentary6081 I honestly think it was because of the art... and the hype/potential Image represented. I'm sure some folks might vehemently disagree with me, but I think that if you look at Jim Lee's run on Uncanny and X-Men - there were some cool concepts and new characters introduced during that time, but it was *mostly* very, very shallow - story and character development-wise. I think the fact that the books he was working on were (mostly) just pretty to look at were able to fly under the radar (especially with X-Men) because he could coast on very well-established characters and concepts, as well as seasoned writers and editors. I will be the first person to admit, I wasn't very critical of comics back then... and I don't think lots of other young dudes were either. His art was more than enough to get us in the door, and the potential that they'd really do things Marvel couldn't/wouldn't were just a cherry on top - but as you mentioned - the lack of plot, the poor continuity, and general feeling of lower quality than Marvel definitely left me cold, quick.

@MrEmpireBuilder0000 Жыл бұрын

We all bought those early issues. But the writing is where they all fell down. Except maybe Spawn and Savage D. It still goes on to this day.

@JacobsenBros Жыл бұрын

This was one of those shows that was like a fever dream for me that I didn't even know was real. I remember watching like the first episode one Saturday morning. I loved how it was darker maybe because I was a little older but then the next week I remember it was gone. Just disappeared from the line up, and I was left empty wondering what that new awesome cartoon was and barely not even remembering the title. I thought I had just made the whole thing up in my head. I always loved the 90s designs and look of it.

@startrekmike Жыл бұрын

This was very much my experience with late 80's to early 90's children's TV. I always woke up pretty early to catch Saturday morning cartoons and it always seemed like the line-up was somewhat random. Sometimes I would tune into a certain channel at a certain time and see something like the Battletech cartoon and then the next week, that slot would have something else in it. The whole thing felt like a mess.

@creategreatness8823 Жыл бұрын

Wow, as a kid, one of the toys I remember my older brother having in our room was the dude with the red facemask. He had the aesthetics of an X-Men character, I thought he was some weird version of Gambit....but now years later I realize he was from Wildcats. Crazy.

@LouisTheBassman Жыл бұрын

Dude, I love Wild C.A.Ts. It's one of my favorite Cartoons and Comics.

@Baarogue Жыл бұрын

I just gotta tell you I appreciate the effort you put into including all the little "Easter eggs" of sorts with the comic covers switching blink-and-you-miss-it fast between Image and Marvel titles

@robseman5212 Жыл бұрын

At the absolute height of 90s comics, the fact that WildC.A.T.s even existed as an animated series blew my teenage mind, and to be honest, given that it wasn't a long running series at that point, gave me a lot of hope that comics had a future in other forms of media. That someone other than publishers could see potential in them. Who knew??

@erikwebber6038 Жыл бұрын

I only saw this show when it was already having re-runs on late night Teletoon. It was a awesome to find out there was a show (and the later, a comic book haha) cause I already had several of the WildC.A.T.S. action figures, so it was a "Oh cool! So that's where these guys came from" moment. Now even at 36 years old, I still have a nostalgic soft spot for WildC.A.T.S., and occasionally watch a random episode of the cartoon on KZfaq.

@mrtrin Жыл бұрын

Maaaaaaan the line-up around that time for cbs Saturday morning was STACKED!!! Ninja turtles, where’s Waldo, back to the future, bill and Ted AND wildcats!!! There was so much great shit on ALL the networks then it’s not surprising it got lost in the shuffle

@TheJones-ui9qx Жыл бұрын

I love Jim Lee, and Todd, McFarlane, and all the other guys who made image comics, because as a kid, those comic books from titles, including Youngblood wildcat Savage, dragon shadow hawk supreme, which blade spawn darkness. They all were lining the bookshelf of my room. I had all the image comics figures from the mid to late 90s I still have a spawn to this day. These guys were my heroes as a kid because I used to make my own comics to at the kitchen table.

@JohnSmith-yd5wq Жыл бұрын

I think Todd McFarlane is underrated by comic fans.

@FangsFirst Жыл бұрын

@@JohnSmith-yd5wq Todd McFarlane is *extremely* highly rated by most fans, not sure where you've drawn that impression. Enough that I often notice people aren't aware of what scummy stuff he has done to his friends, associates, and even relative strangers (suing his friend Al Simmons, being successfully sued by hockey player Tony Twist and comics writer Neil Gaiman) His interactions with Gaiman in particular were despicable: a lot of early Spawn issues were written by other (ahem...better) writers like Gaiman and Alan Moore. Gaiman created Angela, Medieval Spawn, and Cogliostro. McFarlane was not paying Gaiman for his work on those books (oh, the irony: left Marvel because of creator's rights: didn't respect a creator who did work for him). Gaiman worked this out with Todd in a deal in 1997, writing off the pay he was owed in exchange for the rights to Marvelman/Miracleman, a character whose storyline Gaiman had been writing when bankruptcy disrupted it. Todd proceeded to publish the implication that he was going to use Miracleman in Spawn *after signing a deal giving the rights to Neil*. So Neil turned to the courts, sued him and won. He sold Angela to Marvel (that's the reason she's in the Marvel Universe now), and then everyone learned that all Todd had the rights to anyway were some logos (womp womp!). And then Marvel got the _actual_ rights years later…and Neil is finally getting to finish that story. And Todd is still kind of an asshole.

@hackertprops Жыл бұрын

Love this show! We need one on Ultraforce too!

@brandongary8234 Жыл бұрын

And savage dragon

@graefx Жыл бұрын

Seconded

@popculturegreece Жыл бұрын

Yes! I was trying to remember the name of this superhero show. I had it in my mind as "Ultras" or something. Yes please!

@hackertprops Жыл бұрын

He did a video on Savage Dragon a while back.

@yourmomlovespenis Жыл бұрын

Pssshhhh your face is Ultraforce...

@ceno10101 Жыл бұрын

this has become one of my favorite shows I look forward to each week! The humor, the production value, and of course Dan himself.

@lachlanmcneill5488 9 ай бұрын

I absolutely loved the Wildcats comic it was next level and bad ass. Grifter and Zealot, Maul, Warblade, Emp..... Spartan was the cyclops you didn't hate.

@shr00m7 Жыл бұрын

I love WILDCATS, the comic is amazing from the Jim Lee originals to the Alan Moore run! The cartoon is what got me into it- and if done faithfully would make an awesome adaptation on the big screen. Or even as a more adult animated series.

@Trekapedia Жыл бұрын

Great job as always folks! Would you guys ever consider doing a video about the rise and fall of the animated Spawn HBO series? I’d love to see one about that and Superman: The Animated Series as well. Thanks again and you all rule!

@JohnDoe-wq5eu Жыл бұрын

I still wish they would come back and finish the spawn animated series. I feel like with HBO Max being a thing they could do it.

@Trekapedia Жыл бұрын

@@JohnDoe-wq5eu same here! It was supposed to get a fourth season but then HBO was going in a different direction and said no thanks. Todd has been trying to bring it back as a new animated series and I say let him!

@JohnDoe-wq5eu Жыл бұрын

@@Trekapedia Again, hopefully with all the shaking up going on with Warner Discovery and the rest something good like this comes out of it.

@itsagundam79 Жыл бұрын

The Spawn animated series is my de facto go-to for how I envisioned the character voices! It was such a perfect medium for comic to moving pictures version. Was never really sold that live action could do it justice, and I'm ambivalent about CGI. The animation was just about perfect.

@cooldustin82 Жыл бұрын

@@itsagundam79 Yes. Keith David's voice. Spawn wears a full face mask so a live action movie could just have a stuntman with Keith David's voice. I would watch that.

@wstine79 Жыл бұрын

I remember the W.I.L.D CATS cartoon on the USA network. I loved this, Savage Dragon, and Spawn cartoons. Perhaps an IMAGE Cinematic Universe is order to go with INVINCIBLE

@mttylerdurden9 Жыл бұрын

Considering each property is owned by a different creator (savage dragon/Erik Larsen, Spawn/Todd McFarlane, invincible/Robert Kirkman and Corey Walker) I doubt it will ever happen.

@THE_bchat Жыл бұрын

@@mttylerdurden9 Why not? It's not like they're against working together. Spawn & Savage Dragon have crossed-over in the comics plenty of times.

@mttylerdurden9 Жыл бұрын

@@THE_bchat comics is one thing. Trying to create a universe in other mediums (movies,tv, video games) with these characters while not impossible, would extremely difficult.

@gamepitchway3500 Жыл бұрын

I've always wanted an essay on wildcats. God I loved those characters and their cool gimmicks and powers.

@3Rayfire Жыл бұрын

WildCATS had a ridiculously good theme song, in an era of fantastic theme songs.

@benjaminscott8198 Жыл бұрын

I remember watching WildCATs in the 90s on USA, same with Savage Dragon. My oldest brother was big into comics, and even worked for DC for a short time as an artist. He left to focus on his own comics and art. He put himself as a different comedic minor, one panel character in every comic he ever drew, even at DC.

@jakesmith5278 Жыл бұрын

Still remember watching this animation back in the 90s. Good times.

@thomasreynolds3805 Жыл бұрын

Nelvanna produced an incredible movie that no one ever talks about, called," Rock and Rule!" It had music by Debbie Harry earth wind and fire as well as Lou Reed and Iggy Pop! It's amazing and deserves more recognition.

@CantankerousDave Жыл бұрын

It’s pretty damn quotable, too. I saw it when it first came out and still quote “I’ve got uppers, downers, and things that make you go sideways” to this day.

@timvanboening9432 Жыл бұрын

I was a big X-Men fan and followed Jim and the others over to Image. I loved Grifter and watched the cartoon and got the figures. Grifter is the only figure I still own, though. Most of the Image titles didn’t capture my attention past a first issue or so. WildCATS was second to Spawn, which I read all of up to a year ago.

@winstonheard9769 Жыл бұрын

I also still have my vintage Grifter figure, and even shelled out for the new figure that came out last year. He's always been my favorite character across all comics

@vperkv6554 Жыл бұрын

PROPHET WAS/ IS MY SHT, I STILL HAVE all the first run issues in MINT CONDITION WITH ALL THE VAREINT ISSUES, also,, STEVEN PLATT IS MY FAVORITE COMIC ARTIST, I have a couple prophet issues autographed ( and certified) from him. Also have an autographed Moonknight autographed from him. He has drawn a lot of covers for major marvel comics and you can always tell its his drawing, very distinct.

@timvanboening9432 Жыл бұрын

@@vperkv6554 I had Prophet #1 and some more issues afterwards (may still have them). That #1 cover was intense, I had a poster of it from Wizard, I think.

@MrBeardsley Жыл бұрын

I never got into any of the original Image books mainly because of their “it’ll be done when it’s done” approach to print deadlines. I was aware of the WildCATS and Savage Dragon cartoons but never watched them when they were originally on TV. I did watch Spawn though, Todd McFarlane’s weird emotionless episode introductions still hold a special place in my heart.

@legendarylia9954 Жыл бұрын

And now spawn, so turn out your lights...

@hgc7000 Жыл бұрын

Heroes, Zeroes. You decide! I was the X-Men guy, but my sister was all about WildCATs, so I read that as well, which got me into Gen13, which was my favorite Wildstorm book.

@dionelr Жыл бұрын

I remember watching this cartoon and not really understanding what was going on. Maybe it would have been different if I read the comics, but your summary made it sound a bit like XMen meets the backstory for Transformers.

@ianbrewster8934 Жыл бұрын

Helspont was one of my favorite comic book villains as a kid. Just love his look.

@KintounKal Жыл бұрын

It's strange that Helspont & Photon from Youngblood are no longer owned by their creators. Technically,, they're each Acuran. I don't fully understand how that works legally.

@ianbrewster8934 Жыл бұрын

@@KintounKal comic book intellectual property rights is such a business are thing. I've spent many comic book conventions speaking to creators about how their intellectual property has been taken from them using legal trickery. All you have to do is look up the whole Captain Marvel and Shazam story see how crazy that is. As well as the whole McFarlane Neil Gaiman saga. I thought the music IP scene was crazy.....

@OldManTheseDays Жыл бұрын

I'm sure it was quite purposeful that you put in that clip of Jim Lee explaining that the WildCats were essentially amalgamation of different comic characters. I always had the opinion that was exactly why a lot of the Image comics characters (especially WildCats) never really resonated with readers, at least not long enough for many of them to become part of the pop culture lexicon. A lot of them felt like bad impressions of more popular characters. My opinion of course.

@tetravega567 Жыл бұрын

Yeah, noticing how that demon badguy looks like Wolverine from afar. Then all the X-Men/He-Man straps n tubes on others.

@jinxie712 Жыл бұрын

All of them did that. It’s like their mind couldn’t switch off from what they were doing at Marvel and DC. Spawn was basically McFarlane still making Spider-man/Venom comics. Silvestri drew on Uncanny X-men and Wolverine before making Cyber Force which was basically X-men.

@travishiltz4750 Жыл бұрын

All image teams had roughly the same set up: Leader, guy with guns, big guy, guy with blades, tall girl (usually the bad girl), short girl (usually the nice girl).

@manchesterunitedno7 Жыл бұрын

@@jinxie712 WildC.A.T.S was the X-Men copycat, Youngblood was the Avengers copycat. While Cyber Force was the mix-mashed between the Avengers and Justice League.

@jinxie712 Жыл бұрын

@@manchesterunitedno7 look at Cyber Force again. Lol There is a Cyclops, Psylocke, Jubilee, Wolverine, Cable and Warpath. It was about mutants given cybernetic enhancements by a Weapon X type program. There was also a virus to kill mutants (like the legacy virus?).

@frankreynolds445 8 ай бұрын

I was 35 when this first came out in 1994. 29 years later and it still is a great show to me.

@Nothingman4life 10 ай бұрын

Loved the commercial break with Goldie Hawn's "Wildcats." Wasn't expecting that. 🤣 This is such a great channel.

@Diggy22 Жыл бұрын

I watched a few episodes of WildC.A.T.s back when it first aired on CBS. The plot was memorable, Grifter was a standout character, and I could never forget the theme song. It was the cartoon that got me into the comic books, and I was a big fan of most of the WildStorm comics back in the day, including StormWatch and Gen13. When Jim Lee sold WildStorm to DC, it was bittersweet for me. It was definitely a power move on his part, but the end of an era. I knew that WildStorm would eventually fold under DC, but I’m glad that the WildC.A.T.S are still around today.

@osto1964 Жыл бұрын

Jim Lee's psylocke will always live in my head rent free.

@fslayer1290 Жыл бұрын

“We’re heroes, not zeroes.” 😂 It’s so wonderfully 90s!

@LucLightWolf121 Жыл бұрын

I still love the theme song to this short-lived animated series that should have had a second season. That's how much I loved it growing up. And I still do. Re-watching it on Tubi TV at the moment.

@donnymuppeteat Жыл бұрын

I will take the Wildcats over the X-Men any day! Voodoo is still my favorite comic character of all time. I loved that if you were really paying attention to all the subtext about her in the original run of the book you realized that she could literally do anything, she just had to realize that she could.

@victorcolon1454 Жыл бұрын

You never read the X-Men/WildC.A.T.S miniseries? Anyway, Voodoo was sexy. But she's no Jean Grey.

@frankreynolds445 8 ай бұрын

As someone who has been into this stuff since 1963 I think both shows are great.

@Mike28625 Жыл бұрын

My favorite image comic was The Maxx. It was made into a show on MTV in the 90's.

@rumo1086 Жыл бұрын

The Maxx changed comics forever. It was a schizophrenic superhero fever dream and it was brilliant.

@Wintersoldier73 Жыл бұрын

I loved all the images comics back then, but I also understood that they were about "image", more so than substance. But I bought all the Wildstorm books & got the WildC.A.T.S Absolute Edition a few years back. It was great to see the oversized art with the fold-out pages. 90s gimmick at its best.

@thecomicbookcommentary6081 Жыл бұрын

It depends on which books you read. Some were really more about the art than the story, but there were others that really put together new any unique ideas. Books like The Maxx would have never been published by Marvel and DC due to the mature subject matters and social issues being discussed. Some of the stories need time to find their footing and really get the story rolling. Unfortunately, when creators drag their feet and go as many as 6 months between issues (literally every creator in the first year of Image missed monthly publication at one point or another) it makes it feel as though the story is going nowhere due to how slowly it's progressing.

@Wintersoldier73 Жыл бұрын

@@thecomicbookcommentary6081 You're right, and I forgot The Maxx. And I loved the Warren Ellis run on Stormwatch.

@thecomicbookcommentary6081 Жыл бұрын

@@Wintersoldier73 Hell yeah! I love when I come across another Stormwatch fan. It was by far my favorite early Image team comic, and absolutely my favorite Wildstorm comic. I always find myself wishing that Stromwatch had received the push that WildC.A.T.S got. The story seemed to be so much more fleshed out, and the characters just resonated with me better. It was unfortunate that The Maxx ended after only 35 issues, but at least Sam Kieth got to tell the story he wanted to tell on his terms. I still consider issue 26 of The Maxx to be the greatest single issue of a comic book that I've ever read, and it's also one of (if not the most) darkest comics I've ever read. It gets super heavy into subjects that DC and Marvel would never dream of touching on.

@Wintersoldier73 Жыл бұрын

@The Comic Book Commentary I actually got into The Maxx because of my brother & he introduced me to the animated series. But I love that era of comics, flaws and all.

@thecomicbookcommentary6081 Жыл бұрын

@@Wintersoldier73 Glad to hear it. A lot of people like to just dunk on the early Image stuff, but if you give it a chance you start to learn that there are some real gems in there even if they weren't super successful. My goal, ultimately, is to expose more people to these books in a positive (or at least less critical) light so that they give them a read before simply writing them off all together. I'm just glad to know there are others out there who give these books a chance instead of just assuming they're bad because they weren't published by the "Big Two".

@franklinrichards6559 Жыл бұрын

Wild cats was soo awesome. It's the random books I will always buy for cheap when comic diving. Dunno why the show just stuck with me.

@jasonking3182 Жыл бұрын

Late 90s Wildstorm was amazing, you had Warren Eills Work on Stormwatch, The Authority, and Planetary. We also got amazing Alan Moore books like Top Ten and Tom Strong. I really wish they could have avoided being eaten by the WB Leviathan

@rumo1086 Жыл бұрын

Top Ten is my second favorite Alan Moore series (next to swamp thing) and nobody ever knows about it except the occasional comic store worker. Some of his best stuff! And I'm stoked The Authority is getting a movie! DC/WB better not fuck it up!

@jasonking3182 Жыл бұрын

@@rumo1086 Alan Moores mid to late 90s Superhero’s books were all pretty amazing. His work on Supreme are some of the best Superman stories ever told and worked as a alternative post Crisis DC universe. It’s really a shame he decided that he hates Superhero’s after all and has moved on from them.

@TighelanderII Жыл бұрын

Jim almost sold the studio to Marvel. He was glad that didn't happened due to their bankruptcy later. With the timeline of what happened, the sale to TimeWarner/AOL/Shinehart Wigs must have started in 1996, so I wonder how early he started shopping the studio around? in 1994 as sales started to fall?

@TighelanderII Жыл бұрын

Moore famously hates DC. After the sale, the only thing that prevented him from leaving was his relationship with Wildstorm editor-in-chief Scott Dunbier. That worked for a few years until what happened with, "Black Dosier"

@Wezt334 Жыл бұрын

When will people learn, the only cartoons with cats in the title that anyone cares about are Thunder, Swat & Samurai Pizza

@JohnDoe-wq5eu Жыл бұрын

Indeed.

@teknomax7883 Жыл бұрын

It had a strong moment here in Argentina too. One of the most popular gaming magazines even had some special numbers bundled with some action figures. Yes, it was official

@scremped Жыл бұрын

I mentioned a while back that I wanted to see you cover this. How cool to see it happen

@AgentownshipRebelion Жыл бұрын

This cartoon was how I first heard of them. Only ever saw a few episodes.(watched them all for the first time last year) Would later add very very random Image comics to my collection as a kid. Some featuring these characters in books like Wild. C.O.R.E. Cyber Force. Shattered Image. Would also start to see adds for image comic characters in those and other books. Really enjoying the current Wild Cats comic book. Reading the original run for the first time as I wait for new issues.

@SilortheBlade Жыл бұрын

I must have misheard. I believe you were describing the back story to Transformers.

@ToadstedCroaks Жыл бұрын

All things considered, that Animated Intro was a banger.

@RAZTAKILLAH01 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for doing this Dan. Mom and I ( as adults) watched this show back in the day when it was on the ACTION HOUR. I own the DVD of it now. Fond memories. Thank you.

@TriColoredTiger Жыл бұрын

How about The Maxx?😮

@Kangstor Жыл бұрын

I was wondering when you would do this for ages. It was one of my favorite shows back when it was on T.V.

@deathsnitemaresinfullust2269 Жыл бұрын

So many pockets and compartments, i love it. 😄👍

@raulzavala9061 Жыл бұрын

CBS was smart not to air this in the same time as X-Men on FOX. The cartoon wasn't groundbreaking but it did make sense out of the comics and all WildCATS members were clearly patterned after X-Men ones.

@rouenrobinson Жыл бұрын

I remember wanting to watch the cartoon to see how they would handle Voodoo when compared to her comic book incarnation lol... I still own the Grifter action figure I got back then.

@collectorartist1341 Жыл бұрын

I loved the WildC.A.T.S! I didn't think they were X-Men knock-offs. They had some "X-Men" flavor but the WildC.A.T.S had they own style. I wouldn't call WildC.A.T.S a failure completely. Most franchises didn't have as much success.

@docfortune Жыл бұрын

Image and specifically Wildstorms was responsible for getting me into seriously collecting comics rather than just reading random crap from the supermarket magazine rack.

@Missilechicken Жыл бұрын

WildC.A.T.S. was on Tubi. I never saw it back in the day, but my kids love it.

@LordGagamog Жыл бұрын

I love that Tubi put WildC.a.t.s. and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs up, loved both im the 90's, now if they put up Th Pirates of Dark Water i'd be a happy boy.

@seanodeli7031 Жыл бұрын

Pirates of dark water is on internet archive

@rairai5114 Жыл бұрын

I miss the old Image Comics, they had an amazing lineup, including Witchblade, The Darkness and Fathom...sheesh...how long ago was that?! Loved every single one of their titles.

@lorinatidc Жыл бұрын

Fathom, Ascension, Wetworks, Witchblade got huge, tv show, mini series etc. Authority, soooo many good titles.

@liveanddieinchicagoliveand7074 Жыл бұрын

@@lorinatidc the problem is image creator Own company any creator can sale there properties so image can never have a mcu or dcu universe movies or tv.

@denial987 Жыл бұрын

Well Jim Lee was the head honcho at DC Comics. But when Zaslav took over everything at Warner Brothers, he saw the sales for monthly comic sales were slipping and fired Lee.

@JohnDoe-wq5eu Жыл бұрын

Was going to say I think he no longer is in charge after the sh!tshow over there. I'm not sure if they can get DC out of the ditch at this point. At least the animated division has been pretty good I guess.

@mrf19741 Жыл бұрын

Great Video, Dan! I still have my complete WILDC.A.T.S. DVD series collection!

@zealotmaster1 Жыл бұрын

i used to watch this back to back with conan and skeleton warriors

@MRaadesign Жыл бұрын

The cartoon was pretty damn good. I was in my twenties back when it aired. I'm in my fifties now. I recently rewatched the entire series. STILL pretty damn good.

@LucLightWolf121 Жыл бұрын

It still holds up.

@eriktilton6250 Жыл бұрын

That grey cat at 1:00 is like, "Yesssss, box...."

@miamitrancemissions6425 Жыл бұрын

Many seed was spilled to Jim Lee's portrayal of both Psylocke and Rouge. Then came the White Queen. Good times!

@jaredgarcia8638 Жыл бұрын

Honestly, if Jim Lee wanted, he could ask HBO Max to do an adult oriented Wild C.A.T.S. animated series

@LucLightWolf121 Жыл бұрын

That would be nice to see.

@internetjesus Жыл бұрын

There were two God-tier theme songs for me from the 90's. The WildCATs theme song and the Season 2 Swat Kats theme song. Ironically both cat related in some fashion.

@rumo1086 Жыл бұрын

You remember who also had a badass theme song? Thundercats

@Qill_Rider Жыл бұрын

Love watching the WildC.A.T.S , Ultraforce & the X-Men growing up. I have all the WildCats and Ultraforce comics in my personal collection. And the X-Men is still in progress to complete the whole run. Takes a lot of money and sweat to complete this comics collection.

@zenithquasar9623 Жыл бұрын

I actually loved these cartoons as a very young kid ahahah! So much so that I made Grifter's mask as a costume out of one of my mum's old hijabs!

@Berengier817 Жыл бұрын

When I was a kid I wondered if Stan Lee and Jim Lee were related. This was in the days before the internet. Then I saw a pic of Jim Lee in wizard magazine and knew they were not. Then I found out years later Stan Lee wasn't his real name lol

@cooldustin82 Жыл бұрын

I became a fan of the Image Comics artists from the beginnings of the company but was a fan of Jim Lee beginning from his work on X-Men #1. I drew a lot of superheroes when I was in school and my classmates thought I was awesome for it, even though I look back now and cringe at my drawings that emulated Rob Liefeld's "self-taught" style. My drawings used to be all gritting teeth, veins overlying muscles, and cross hatching. X-Men the Animated Series had a lot of good stories to pull from the comics, but most of the early Image Comics titles had very little in the way of actually writing, moreso flashy pictures. I still watched WildCATS on USA every weekend along with Street Fighter and Savage Dragon. Later on, when the Spawn animated series aired on HBO, I was such a big Spawn fan that my parents let me watch it, until they actually saw what was on it. I was in high school, though, so it wasn't a hard ban.

@andrewmilton4679 Жыл бұрын

That quick flicker of the X-Force comic @ 3:34... ... YEAH, we saw it!!! 🤣

@geardog24 Жыл бұрын

*THEY'RE HEROES* *NOT ZEROS*

@parasite159 Жыл бұрын

i've never been this early before

@josta59 Жыл бұрын

I was super into the WildC.A.T.s comics in the '90s. Haven't watched the show yet.

@btetschner Жыл бұрын

A+ video! Fascinating history, I might have to check out an episode at Retro Rerun.

@reggiebrown9508 Жыл бұрын

Spawn was and is still the best of the Image cartoons.

@blackphoenix77 Жыл бұрын

FACTS

@A_YouTube_Commenter Жыл бұрын

What's #2? the Maxx?

@thrownblown Жыл бұрын

@@A_KZfaq_Commenter srsly they mentioned every other Image Comics mass multi media only to neglect the best. MTV oddities Maxx run was awesome.

@adamdizzy6052 9 ай бұрын

The maxx was pretty sweet..hope for a comeback

@PNerves1 Жыл бұрын

It's the sport of kings... better than diamond rings... football.

@levierickson7321 Жыл бұрын

Youngblood 1 dropped when I was preparing to graduate high school I was all in with Image and all the creators Your breakdown of the Wildcats Plot gives me understanding I never had after a year or so of issues

@garybailey1251 Жыл бұрын

Even though I was already reading Spawn this cartoon was a starting point for me reading Wildstorm comics. I collected the comics and figures that I found. I even named my dog Cole after Cole Cash/Grifter

@mandragoradravgis Жыл бұрын

WildCATS was unique to me: I felt its underlying story was powerful and meaningful as X-Men's 'Days of Future Past', but larger in scale and longer. X-Men was incredible, but TAS and Batman were both episodic in nature with very few elements carrying on from episode to episode. Because WildCATs focused so much on the secret of the Orb and repairing the Leviathan it reminded me of TMNT, where many episodes worked towards trying to repair (or repower?) the Technodrome. Every episode became a battle, and their outcomes would determine the outcome of a greater war. I remember enjoying the series for what it was, and hoping the comics would satisfy my interest and hunger for more, but while the TV series was on par for what I expected out of an animated show I don't remember the comics being as well-written as anything else available at the time.

@deathsnitemaresinfullust2269 Жыл бұрын

Wait a minute, how long has Jim Lee been head of DC? Like how much of the recent stuff is he responsible for supporting? Just asking because some of it has been awful and i just don't see him being fully onboard with some of the choices or changes that have been made. 😅👍

@JohnDoe-wq5eu Жыл бұрын

Yeah I'm honestly not clear how much actual control the man has these days. I know that Warner Bros controls a lot of that and now of course that's going to be Warner Discovery. Yeah I hear the stories and it's pretty outlandish shiz to say the least. Unfortunately both DC and Marvel have gone way too far into various deep ends of the political "message first" pool.

@deathsnitemaresinfullust2269 Жыл бұрын

@@JohnDoe-wq5eu true, it's going to take a long time to recover completely from it. IF they can recover that is, i have started to seemingly see some situations where corporations are starting to realize that there Is such a thing as "too woke", especially when dealing with types of media that are meant to help us escape, have fun and be happy without being reminded of everything else that has consumed the other aspects of our lives weather we like it or not

@dr.animaction Жыл бұрын

It was a shame to see this show go. I was a big comic collector when Image was born and WildC.A.T.S. and Cyberforce were my favorite of their titles at launch. I was pretty ecstatic when I found I could get the whole series on Prime Video for a decent price (and Ultraforce too for anyone who liked Malibu Comics). Great retrospective!

@quincyfry6569 11 ай бұрын

I loved the Wildcats cartoon. Growing up i remember eagerly waiting for each new release of Wildcats, spawn, wildstar, the Maxx, Pitt, witchblade, and shamans tears. Those comics were always so much better to me than anything by DC and Marvel. The quality of the paper and those beautiful collector covers on Shamans tears and Wildstar. I was so hopefull for animated adaptations for all of them. At least we got Spawn and Wildcats though!

@squidjam Жыл бұрын

I just remember noticing that Image mostly didn't know basic things lile how many teeth are on a human mouth, basic anatomy and proportions, perspective, physics (Zealot's impossible stances) and how easy it was to draw Gambit... I mean Grifter 😂 And yes, I don't remember what it was about, so when I watched the show not long ago... Dude, the angst is so thick in the first episode... 😂😂😂

@thecomicbookcommentary6081 Жыл бұрын

The angst was thick in all the early Image books, and most comics from the early 90's. It was a byproduct of the grunge era. I would say that Jim Lee's art was more or less just stylized. For sure he put Zealot into impossible poses, but Spiderman spends a lot of time in impossible poses as well. Plus, Zealot's an alien, so maybe she has a different anatomy? Rob Liefeld was the one who really gave the finger to anatomy, proportion, perspective and physics. His work on Youngblood and Brigade in the early days of Image is almost criminal at times.

@rproaudio1 Жыл бұрын

OMFG same for me, your summary of the plot was like whaaaa?! I didn't realize it was even coherent!

@NevTheDeranged Жыл бұрын

Not only did I not know there was a WildCATs show, I definitely didn't know there was a Cadillacs & Dinosaurs show.

@micshork Жыл бұрын

The whole Wildstorm universe to me feels like a hodgepodge of past ideas that have already been done to death. Same goes for a lot of the other OG Image Comics stories.

@GamingWDeiM0S Жыл бұрын

My favorite part of the show was hands down the intro lol as a musician that was the highlight of my day.

@TyroneLoganMusic Жыл бұрын

I occasionally search for the theme song just to hear it. The show didn’t air as consistently for me, but I loved watching it whenever I could catch the updated time slot.

@gundambassexe31 Жыл бұрын

I remember bits and pieces of wildcats during the commercials of tmnt 1987

@iamfuturetrunks Жыл бұрын

I remember the cartoon watching one or two episodes way back when maybe? It seemed okay similar to x-men to me. The thing that stood out the most was the intro song which I have been reminded of a few times in the past.