Over the last couple years, I've really been getting back into the cartoons of my youth. Some of the most important that I've been watching are:
Masters of the Universe (including New Adventures, and the 2002 reboot)
Pirates of Dark Water
Thundarr The Barbarian
Dungeons & Dragons
Conan the Adventurer

I'd also like to add Avatar: The Last Air Bender to the list, as I've been rewatching that again, but it's not from my childhood. I'd also like to be able to get the TMNT series on DVD, but I don't think there is an easy complete box set to buy.

These shows have been really getting my mind working out ideas for comics. I especially like how out of all these, I like that my top favorite (and shortest lived) show, Pieates of Dark Water, also had a continuing story. I'd say at least 50% of the episodes drove the overall plot with important elements that pushed the story. The other 50% were very episodic one-and-done tales that fleshed out the world and characters, but didn't necessarily push the story. I can't think of very many children shows that did this, because most people believe that kids can't remember from episode to episode. I'm not saying that PODW was like Lost, but it definitely was a step forward in all-ages storytelling. I'm also a big fan of pretend cursing and slang. The heroes and villains of PODW were always cursing things like Chungo Lungo, Noi'ji tat, By the seas of Mer! Another favorite show of mine that had it's own unique slang and cursing was Alien Nation, but that's a other story.


Anyway, I wanted to say all these shows are so inspiring to me as a comic creator. Right now, I'm trying to develop some basic world building for a Masters of The Universe homage. I want to tell a quick 12 page mini that I could work on during this years 24 Hour Comics Day Callenge. I don't think I'll be able to dedicate a whole day this year, so instead I hope to bring in a script, thumbs, and some model sheets for the story. I'm hoping the homage world will be something fleshed out enough to tell a couple bite-sized tales now and then, without wrapping up too much deducation to it. I'm also excited to work in a science fantasy setting for the project. Besides that, I'm cleaning up a Gran Búho script and restarting that, as well as finished up a six page story that will hopefully be packaged with a friend as a double feature comic.

I'm a fan of having a couple irons in the fire at once. The MOTU style story and El Gran Búho are so drastically different that they satisfy different genres that can tell in a comic medium.

I don't know if I'll be attending any conventions besides Spokane ComiCon as an artist with booth this year, but I'd like to have a back log of two or three one and done stories to pass out to people.


PS- I just had an afterthought. I caught a bit of Spider-man and his Amazing Friends the other night. It was another show I watched quite a bit as a kid. I always liked revolving cast. Much like MOTU always had He-man plus another hero or two, with Skeletor and a revolving henchman or two. Sometimes you would get a different villain as well, and let me tell you, I almost think Hordak is a more ruthless villain than Skeletor.
But besides rotating characters with partner team ups, I think I would be horrible at making teams like Power Rangers (a little after my childhood, but still intrigued me as a cool concept), Avengers, or X-men. I think i would always end up with a few characters I really didn't like, or wouldn't flesh out enough. You know that nobody really cared about Jubilee in the X-men cartoon, or Black or Yellow Ranger (unless you shared a heritage with them), and nobody likes Wonder Man or US Agent.