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BET’s Black Panther
 January 26, 2010 12:00 pm
Reginald Hudlin, BET Networks and Titmouse Cartoons have combined to bring Marvel Comics Black Panther to TV. Eight episodes have been produced and have begun airing last week in Australia (on ABC3). No word on when the series will play in the U.S. – but here’s the good-looking opening credits: |
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Never would’ve imagine black panther done in the romita jr. style!
I love the Black Panther character(have since I was a kid) and I really appreciate that they are animating him here… but if you are going to do an animated intro it should be of a higher standard, because the bar was set very high a very long time ago.
Comparing that intro to the animated intros of other cartoons puts it in perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBTN_8vxlIw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsFKp10bOME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a3ZX4u0ak4
This could be very cool. This sequence make me think of the Boondocks animated series with the anime style action and brooding, pissed off principal characters. Also, I am intrigued that Jill Scott will be voicing Storm. Neo-soul and weather control. Sounds like a fine combination.
Thanks for posting this, and emailing me back so fast. It’s feels good to contribute to the cause.
So Stan Lee gets a credit (and presumably money) while Jack Kirby gets nothing. Business as usual at Marvel.
No where in any of those credits is the name of John Romita Jr, the artist who’s work is being re-appropriated for this series.
JRJR is a participant in the show, or at least doesn’t mind that there isn’t money in it for him, at least judging by his involvement at the “Black Panther” panel at last year’s New York Comic Con:
http://news.toonzone.net/articles/28420/nycc2009-marvel-and-bets-black-panther-panel-report
(which also has my brief impression of the clips I saw there)
Stan Lee is also doing a voice for the show, but I never assumed he got a whole lot of cash for being listed as the creator in the opening credits or for even being the “Executive Producer” for all the other Marvel movies.
I didn’t know about this show! Animation mechanics look like those of Metalocalypse. First four eps downloading now…
Both John Romita Jr. and Jack Kirby are listed in the ending credits.
Those soldiers at the start had a cool walk cycle…
I have been watching the show in Australia. It only has a PG rating despite having stuff like Wolverine stabbing the Juggernaut in the fingers with his claws (you will cringe when you see it), a character visiting a prositute, nazi heads on spikes and other sort of violent deaths.
They seem to have a quite a lot of freedom using Marvel’s catalog of characters which is awesome. Using John Romita Jr art style is excellent. The overall animation is more a moving comic than an animated series. Every now and then they will fully animate something but mostly it’s really limited animation, kinda like the cutscenes for Metal Gear Portable Ops which used Ashely Woods comic images.
It’s a great cartoon and it’s great to see the comic characters brought to life and not dumbed down like some of the other marvel animations.
wow…. I totally thought this was dead in the water and now it turns up in Australia.
wait… why Australia? Why is BET being super cautious with their animation production? There were supposed to be more animated shows they wanted that seemed to have disappeared into thin air, but now I’m curious if those will also pop up somewhere.
perhaps Finland, next…
YEAHHH! TITMOUSE RULES! I can’t wait to see an episode when it comes back to the states.
“The overall animation is more a moving comic than an animated series. Every now and then they will fully animate something but mostly it’s really limited animation”
Great, Marvel takes superhero animation standards back to the ’60s…
This looks awesome. I especially like how the voice actors are credited up front, instead of the names all crammed together, no telling who voices who, on a screen that flips by so fast your eyes don’t even have a chance to focus on it.
This reminds me of the old Grantray cartoons. Romita Jr. is probably the most workaday, uninspired choice for translating into animation. I wish they’d gotten Steve Rude or Kyle Baker or someone like that.
Even so, I was with it until that last line of dialogue: “Get out my way!” It seems like something an uneducated street thug might say, but not something said by the African Batman. It’s a small choice, but probably significant in the long run; time will tell.
While I’m very happy they are branching out to some of the other heroes from the Marvel universe, and the drawing style is pleasing, the animation was very weak, in my opinion. There are Flash-generated web toons with more fluidity.
I’m glad the Black Panther has his own show now, but I wish the animation was a TAD bit better.
ugh… animating on 6-es.
FAIL
I just looked at a couple of these.
The animation is surprisingly powerful, in no way as weak as the Grantry-Lawrence messes from the 1960s. It’s thoughtfully derived from Romita’s art. The animation is as good as it needs to be – not lush, but everything is there, and the direction is killer. The voice talent ranges from good to excellent – and Stan Lee is a very strong performer! Seeing WWII Captain America and other Marvel characters animated in a contemporary graphic-novel style is a kick.
In no way should this be compared to examples of the bastard medium “motion comics”. PANTHER is actually “animated”, actually entertaining, and a real cartoon. If you’re gonna complain about “animating on 6-es” you’re gonna complain about almost every piece of anime done for forty years or more.
I don’t know if this will work for folks outside Australia but here is ABC’s internet service which has Black Panther on http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/search/black%20panther
How is it NOT limited animation? I’ve only seen one clip from the show, but I was amazed how much it resembled those ’60s Marvel cartoons ….
You gotta love Titmouse. I love the variety of stuff they work on. To anybody that calls this limited animation they should consider that there are a lot of other shows out there with a lot less animation. Also, when you consider that this show is meant to resemble a living comic book, I think it does a great job at achieving its purpose.
That and the song is kinda catchy.
@Noel – No dice, but thanks for sharing the link anyway. It was worth a shot!
I am really curious about this show, but I have my doubts that it’ll get shown in america. No lame hip-hop or aat-am toon music in the intro? Never gonna happen.
I will have to find a way to watch this one way or the other.
‘Living comic book’ … we have enough of those, like that Watchmen DVD that Warner Bros. issued about a year ago.
Animation is something else entirely.
if theres a second season, be cool if we could actually animate the intro as a seperate thing. look at friking thundercats, this is kinda weak, but never the less better than alot of other shows.
On youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC_7LD_gOM4
anyone knows what’s the opening music and where could I get it?