Could Fantastic Four Work In A Teen Titans Style Cartoon?

[Stu]

Hey hey

Given we'll soon have 3 DC cartoons on air, and Marvel hasn't no animated properties at this time, I began thinking how successful DC cartoons seem to be (with the exception of the upcoming The Batman, whereas Marvel usually fumbles, one way or another.

Teen Titans is doing extremelly well for DC, so I began wondering, do you think Fantastic Four could be approached in a similar style?

Marvel's first family has one of the more comedic approaches to it, could the comedy/action combination work on TV?

[BCVM22]

Yes and no.

There's nothing wrong with the FF having comedic elements to them; Ben Grimm alone is probably tied with Spider-Man for most comedic hero, and putting him with Johnny Storm typically yields amusing results as well. So, yes, a Fantastic Four show that played up the comedy somewhat might work.

But not using the styles and conventions that Teen Titans utilizes. Glen Murakami and his crew have made those work beautifully for Teen Titans, but can you imagine Reed Richards doing an eye-bugging double take? Johnny Storm become large and exaggerated in his excitement? The entire Four become "chibi" to express surprise? It works for Teen Titans, but I don't think I'd want to see the FF in an often-exaggerated style like that.

[Ssrn53]

The answer is yes. There are certain people who Ga-ga for the Teen Titans style. These people will surely watch it in droves. Yeah a Fantastic Four version would work as well as the Teen Titans. It couldn't be any worse than the FF 90's series. I'd pass on it though.

[Donald Duck 12]

Possibaly, I can see the FF drawn in animeish form with big eyes. The FF are funny on there own, you don't need to lighten it to match TT's sucsess.

[Kolbar]

NO!!! The Fantastic Four shouldn't have too much comedy in it, but enough to lighten the series and make it humerous, but not too much.

"Teen Titans" is an all-right show, but I'm not crazy about it. Personally, I don't like the anime influence in the show and think it could have been a better show without it.

[loyalheart]

Teen Titans is like a kids version of Justice League. There for yes, if only it balances the two..

[Spider-Man]

Based on the anime artwork used for the Marvel Age Fantastic Four book, and the light natureof the characters, I think it could. It may have to be scaled back abit, but it could work.

[screw on head]

I wouldn't mind a Fantastic Four in that style, but only if it emmerged after a successful, truer translation before hand, like BTAS and The Batman. Yeah, I think it'd work, especially since their roster of powers and personalities make for some great visuals and allow for comedy fitting that style.

[Donald Duck 12]

If you notice in TT's end credits the T looks a lot like the 4 in TAS.

[Stu]

I've always found the FF to be humourous characters, so I think a Teen Titans approach could work with FF. I agree with the lack of anime influences, I hate anime :shrug:

But FF should definatly have a funny side to it. I think Mark Waid, who currently writes the comic, has grasped this perfectly.

[Spider-Man]

With the FF cartoon confirmed it seemed like a good time to push this back up. I'm really curious to see what shape the FF cartoon will be and how they will run with it. Could the Teen Titans comedic styles work with comic's first family?

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Cool, I missed this thread the first time it came around. I guess it depends on what you mean by a "Teen Titans Style" Cartoon.

I really thought I would hate the Teen Titans toon, and was very pleasantly surprised to find that I really enjoyed it after an episode or two. What I appreciate about its style is that it's consciously trying to do something different, in both visual and storytelling senses. It doesn't always work, and they can be safely criticized for occasionally overusing the "super-deformed head" effect, but I think it succeeds for the most part. It's also clearly a labor of love, as much as the original BTAS episodes were. It's bringing something new to the table, and I think that is the aspect of the TT-"style" I'd like to see brought to any Fantastic Four cartoon. The sense that "this is fun," and you can either play along (say, by not caring who Robin is under the mask because nobody on the show really seems to) or you can go watch something else, but we're playing by our own rules here.

For the record, this is also what appeals to me about Mark Waid's Fantastic Four. I totally agree that Waid balanced the humor with the seriousness, at least in the first few story arcs he did. Got a little heavy after "Unthinkable," but that's a discussion for another time.

If, however, a Fantastic Four cartoon just steals the TT visual style and fails to grasp what actually makes the TT cartoon as cool as it is, then I'd rather they didn't do it at all. The "big eye anime style" is the least of what makes anime appealing.

-- Ed/Ace