Courageous Cat returns!

Yesterday, at virtually the same time I was extolling the praises of producer Sam Singer (the “Ed Wood of Animation“) at my Comic Con presentation of the Worst Cartoons Ever!, Deadline Hollywood broke the news that Evergreen Media Group has made a deal with Telefeatures to acquire rights to the 1960s cartoon series Courageous Cat. According to Deadline’s Mike Fleming:

Evergreen is prepping a contemporary live-action/CGI feature with a new mythology for the character, one of only two properties originated by Batman creator Bob Kane that isn’t owned by DC Comics and Warner Bros. Telefeatures syndicated the original cartoon series, which Kane created as a parody of his earlier Batman work. “For years we resisted overtures for the property,” Telefeatures director Debbie Litt said. “However, because of Tony and Evergreen’s longstanding track record of finding great new takes to reboot classic properties we had a significant comfort level in entrusting them with Courageous Cat.”

The other non-DC property by Bob Kane, referred to the article, is Cool McCool (owned by King Features/Hearst Entertainment). Courageous Cat was probably the best known – and best produced, but that’s not saying much – of Sam Singer’s output, which included such notable productions as Pow Wow The Indian Boy, Bucky and Pepito and the infamous Paddy Pelican.

Courageous Cat was a parody of Kane’s Batman and Robin – done with much less style and wit than the 1966 Adam West show. It’s not funny enough – nor bad enough, I will admit – to be shown in my Worst-Of programs. But boy, Hollywood is really scouring the bottom of the barrel to cash in on the current super-hero craze. What next, Sinbad Jr.?