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I’m not sure how I feel about the Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers movie including uncanny valley CG characters as toons. I’ve always felt that the divide between toons and lifeless illustrations was the pretense of realism or lack thereof, which is why you didn’t just see the Mona Lisa or some character from a serious dramatic animated film running around with Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny. And I also feel like it doesn’t just have to be animated characters. I think characters from comic books and newspaper strips count too. It’d be weird if Scrooge McDuck wasn’t alive until Scrooge McDuck and Money in 1967, wouldn’t it?

Where does the boundary lie, exactly? We couldn’t just have CG Spider-Man or Iron Man from the MCU included when we’re supposed to believe they’re real within those movies and not think they’re cartoons. I’m reminded of the times when characters like Space Ghost and the Hanna-Barbera versions of the Justice League interacted with Cartoon Network characters.

My only quibble with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is that they didn’t give Peter Porker more character development. I don’t think they even mentioned who in his life died, unlike the others. (It doesn’t appear that he had any such tragedy in the comics, either.)

But that’s just me, I guess- when you’re as obsessed with cartoons as much as I am, growing up with stuff like Hey Arnold! as I did, you sorta learn to appreciate and expect cartoon characters with greater-than-usual personality and depth.

I was never that much into superheroes when I was a kid. I think the main reason is that in the '90s they were in the middle of the original Dark Age, and everything had to be violent and edgy. Batman: TAS never grabbed me, and later shows in the same universe were really boring. The only superhero thing I ever liked then was the Fleischer Superman cartoons. Other than that I much preferred cartoon heroes like Darkwing Duck and the Powerpuff Girls.

So color me surprised, especially after the underwhelming Spider-Man and X-Men movies, the MCU starts up in 2008 and I actually honestly enjoy it. Even then, I had no clue that Iron Man was any good until my mom watched it on cable and insisted that it was actually different. I think the main difference is the sense of fun. I mean, I think the X-Men movies had jokes, but I barely remember them and I’m sure it was the kind of humor that was self-conscious and saying “this is the part of the movie where you laugh”.

As far as I can tell, the Golden Age and Silver Age is the only era universally agreed on to be where it's really at. I’ll never be a real superhero comic nerd, but I figure I’ll buy omnibus collections of the early stories of the most well-known characters.

Live-action dramas I actually watch ‘cuz I actually enjoy them:

*Gotham *Agent Carter *Sleepy Hollow (or I used to anyway) *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (although sometimes the dense continuity and huge cast of characters can be frustrating)

One thing I'll never understand about comics- old superhero comics especially- is why so many words seem to be bold and italic at random.

I sort of feel like Guardians of the Galaxy's source material is that perfect halfway point between lesser-known (like Iron Man) and only known to hardcore comic book fans (I still don't know who the **** Daredevil is). I mean, I'm no superhero nerd, but I've heard of them.

Hard to say if these are the worst superheroes, but they're definitely the weirdest.