Model Sheet Monday: Beck from Tron Uprising

One of my favorite series on TV right now is Tron Uprising on Disney XD. It follows a program named Beck who is destined to become the next Tron.

Model Sheet Monday: Alvin in the 80's

This weeks model sheet comes from the 1987 classic The Chipmunk Adventure and features none other than Alvin himself.

Dark Knight Rises ...All About Bane!

With Christopher Nolan's final Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, opening today and some weird political controversy surrounding it's main villain, I thought I would inform those not in the know about just who Bane is. Let's disregard his terrible appearance in Joel Schumacher's craptastic bat-nipple filled Batman and Robin and tackle the character from the source material, comics. He was created by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan and first appeared in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (January 1993).

  The character of Bane was born in the fictional prison Peña Dura in the fictional Caribbean Republic of Santa Prisca. His father, a revolutionary, escaped the system and the corrupt government forced his young son to serve his life sentence. In prison, Bane spent his time learning and honing many skills. Growing up his dreams were often plagued by a demonic bat haunting him. He killed his first inmate when he was 8 and continued to assert his dominance becoming know as the king of Peña Dura prison. Those in charge of the prison noticed and forced him to become a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom. The experiments nearly killed him, but he survived and found that the drug greatly increased his physical strength, although he had to take it every 12 hours (via a system of tubes pumped directly into his brain) or he would suffer horrible side-effects. During this time he heard stories about Batman and became convinced that this was the demonic bat that haunted his dreams as a child. He believed that fate had set the two of them on a collision course, so he broke out of prison and made his way to Gotham City. In Gotham he broke all the inmates out of Arkham Asylum forcing Batman to spend months rounding them up exhausting himself. Bane observed Batman during this time eventually figuring out his secret identity. When he returned to the batcave, Bane ambushed him, beating him and breaking his back turning him into a paraplegic. Bane then declared himself the ruler of Gotham City. Bruce Wayne passed the mantle of the bat onto Jean Paul Valley, Azrael, who adopted a hi-tech batsuit. Valley became reckless allowing villains to die and shunning Robin as his partner. Eventually he came face-to-face with Bane and beat him nearly to death, severing the tubes that fed venom to his brain. Bruce Wayne eventually rehabilitated and returned as Batman and Bane later followed, now firmly established as an iconic bat-villain.

  Beyond the comics Bane has appeared across all media from animated series to video games most recently making his presence felt in the Batman Arkham video games and CN's Young Justice... Oh! and of course...the reason I'm writing this...in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Rises played by Tom Hardy.

from Knightfall

from Batman: Arkham Asylum

from The New Adventures of Batman and Robin

from Cartoon Networks Young Justice

Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises

Model Sheet Monday: Goofy in the 1950's

As a new feature on Amazing Cosmic Powers, every Monday we'll be posting a different model sheet featuring some of your favorite characters. For those not in the know,  a model sheet, or character study, is used to help standardize the appearance, gestures, and poses of a character in Animation.

In the 1950's, Disney's iconic character Goofy went through some pretty major design changes. Often referred to as George Geef in that decade, Goofy was made into a family man. He was given a son named Junior and a wife, but you only saw her occasional hands and feet. His over-all facial structure was altered to include a widows peak hair-line, two separate eyes (as opposed to his classic un- separated eyes in the shape of an "m") with eye-brows, and his famous buck teeth had been pushed to the middle. A variation of this model was used for Goof Troop in the early nineties.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th everyone. Today in honor of America I bring you an epic image of Iron Patriot (Norman Osborne) from the Dark Avengers. Now go eat some BBQ and watch some fireworks.

the Art of Home on the Range

Way back in 2004, Disney released what was going to be their last traditionally animated film for 5 years, Home on the Range. It did terribly in theaters and was not the way Walt's legacy of hand drawn animation was supposed to go out. However, in my opinion it's a clever and beautifully drawn film that everyone should give a chance. Now on the note of the beautifully drawn portion of that sentence I bring you some of the amazing artwork from the film. Enjoy!

The Top 5 Animated Series on TV today.

Today I present to you a list of what I consider the top 5 Animated series on TV today. This is of course my opinion, so feel free to comment and tell me what you think I missed or got wrong. My criteria is simple, the show can't be more than 5 years old and obviously must still be producing new episodes. So without further adieu...

5. The Looney Tunes Show (Cartoon Network)

The Looney Tunes Show asks the all important question of what would happen if you cast Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in an odd couple-esque sitcom? The answer is HILARITY! Some viewers have stated that this is not your grandparents Looney Tunes, and its true, its not. Bugs is no longer the "Waskily Wabbit" we grew up with. Now, he's a smart down to earth straight-man to his over the top self-centered and crazy roommate Daffy. Daffy has become a sort of PG Eric Cartman, for those familiar with South Park, going to ridiculous extremes to get what he wants. In one episode he convinces Porky to give him his life savings for a surgery to save his life when really he just wants to buy a yacht. Their lives are populated by the characters you grew up with with a few minor changes. For instance, Taz is just as destructive, but now he plays the part of Bugs' semi domesticated dog. The stand-out in the series is Kristin Wiig's take on Lola Bunny. Lola was previously introduced in "Space Jam" and you only kind-of got the sense of her personality. Now she's played as a straight-up crazy Bugs Bunny stalker....and it works! The show is also made up of two short segments interspersed inside the 22 minute main story. Merrie Melodies has your favorite Looney's performing short music videos. To me only about 25% of these are actually good and is definitely the weak spot in the show. Wile E Coyote and the Roadrunner also show up in short CG segments. The 3D aspect of these are the only thing separating them from the Chuck Jones classics you grew up with and they make an enjoyable couple minute break from the main story. The series has been picked up for a second season so catch up now while you can. (TV-Y7)

4. Young Justice (Cartoon Network)

Young Justice is what would happen if the late 90's comic book series of the same name and the classic Marv Wolfman run of Teen Titans had a baby. The result is a beautifully animated, high-energy, superhero drama. The basic team starts as a twist on the original Teen Titans line-up, Robin (Dick Grayson), Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad( a brand-new version of the character). Speedy (Roy Harper) also shows up but leaves in the first episode. They are quickly joined by Miss Martian (from the late 2000's Titans), Superboy, and Artemis (Arrowette). The series is an intricately spun tale that runs from one season into the next bringing you face to face with some of your favorite heroes and villains of the DC universe. Along the way new members join like Zatanna, Rocket, and Red Arrow (Speedy). Everything culminates in a deception that leaves you asking questions as the series leaps 5 years into the future directly into the midst of a major alien invasion for season 2. That's when things get even more awesome as our heroes grow up, such as Robin becoming Nightwing, and new characters are added like Wondergirl, Batgirl, Tim Drake's Robin, Beast Boy, Blue Beetle, Lagoon Boy, Impulse, and Adam Strange. The entire show is amazingly written and each episode is easy to follow and beautiful to look at. This is traditional animation at its finest. (TV-Y7)

3. Transformers Prime (The HUB)

Dare I say that The HUB's take on the Transformers mythos(based on the toys from Hasbro of course) is even better than the original Generation 1 series? Yes, I think I dare. In my opinion, Transformers Prime is by far the best Transformers series ever written...yes even better than Beast Wars although the two are very close. The stories are written like any really great sci-fi series should be, progressing the on-going story week by week with  great dialogue, great character development, big budget style action, and giant frigging robots!!! Each weeks episode builds onto the last never leaving you feeling bored or confused. Yes, there are the human characters you can expect in any version of Transformers to help give the viewer someone to connect with, but this time they're not annoying, they're actually great characters that help the story progress rather than hinder it. The bots themselves are so well written you actually feel emotion when one is injured or possibly dead..heck you even feel the pain in their tragic back stories and these are ROBOTS THAT TURN INTO CARS!!! The writers of this show could make you care so much about your toaster that you'd hesitate to make toast without shedding a tear...and its all in the name of selling toys. (TV-Y7)

2. Adventure Time (Cartoon Network)
Adventure Time is a super weird, colorful, psychedelic explosion of awesomeness. It stars Finn, a 14 year old human boy and his dog/adopted brother with super stretchy powers, Jake. They inhabit a post apocalyptic Earth that has refound magic and adventure living throughout it. They live in a tree house that any self-respecting 10 year old boy would want and spend their days fighting monsters, sorcerers, zombies, and the like. Although the show looks primitive in design, it bursts with high quality, and funny, stories that leave you talking about them for days. (TV-Y7)

1. Phineas and Ferb (Disney XD/ Disney Channel)

Like Looney Tunes, Bullwinkle and Rocky, and Animaniacs before them, Disney's Phineas and Ferb has found a way to reach every generation with humor that everyone gets. No matter if you're 2 or 102 there is something in this show you will enjoy. The series revolves around two elementary school age boys who spend their summer days doing incredible things like building roller coasters, giant fighting robot tree-houses, animal translating machines, backyard beaches, and giant water slides to name a few. Their older sister Candace is constantly trying to bust them for things they wouldn't really mind if their Mom found about, but alas just when you think they'll be busted, something happens to make their creations disappear. The show also follows their pet platypus, Perry, who moonlights as super-secret Agent P and his battles with the mad scientist Dr. Doofensmirtz and his many "inators". Each episode also features a song that's so catchy you'll find yourself humming it for days. Phineas and Ferb inbodies everything a cartoon series should be and wraps it up in a hilarious fun for all ages package.