I was born in the late 80s. February 2, 1986 to be exact. It was an interesting time. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was in reruns, The Transformers were in their prime and G.I. Joe: The Movie was right around the corner. It's important to remember that these are three of the most infamous "Toys first" series. For those that don't know, action figures existed for all three franchises before there was linking material, either comics or a cartoon. It was conceived of as a good way to market toys to children, build a series around a set of interesting looking figures. And from what I know it worked. A trip down my basement today would reveal a big 20 gallon tub full of He-Man toys. Many of my Transformers took a trip to the yard sale, including an original die-cast Optimus Prime. (Extremely valuable if you had all the accessories, but, of course, I had lost all but the largest piece: Optimus himself.) I had a lot of G.I. Joes, but they were often lost "scuba diving" in the sump pump in the basement when I was 4. These were three very important shows for children of my era, we may have been a bit older than much of the first run shows, but all three series were successful. As a matter of fact He-Man was briefly on two channels, though I mostly remember it being on USA.
However, the most important cartoon of my childhood was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles it followed me as I grew, premiering two months shy of my second birthday and running till about 1995. TMNT figures, the liar, the Turtle-Van all can be found on shelves in my basement. The Technodrome is, admittedly, a little mildew-y. Turtles sort of defined my generation. My cousin, Harry demanded the He-Man Castle Grey Skull playset to just a year before I was born to be the ring bearer at my aunt's wedding. When it was Christmas and I was three, only one thing ruled my mind: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES -- HEROES ON A HALF SHELL. TURTLE POWER! And ask most kids, even some girls, around my age and you'll find Turtle fans.
It seems that even before I could be exposed to anything else I had these four cartoons vying for my attention. I was a loyal TMNT fan, but there was something about Prince Adam, Cringer (Err... that is, He-Man and Battlecat!), Orko and Man-at-Arms that drew me in. Drew me in enough that at three or four I pretty much figured out that the show switched to another network. A cable network at that. Big doings in '89 and '90.
But then I discovered something waiting in the wings after He-Man finished it's two episode a day rotation on USA (usually after really creepy public service announcements with Orko telling you to tell an adult if someone touches your "private spots.") I can't say for certain, but this is probably something like the first image I saw of this following show:
Yes. That's right, chum. Batman. Adam West and Burt Ward quickly became my new action heroes. The campy 1960s series had found a home on USA. (Unfortunately fans such as myself, the rights to this series are very, very screwed up and it will probably never see DVD.) There's not much I can say about this series. If you've seen it you know all about. The Bat-Computer. The Bat-Microphone (both of which can be seen above; Missing are the Bat-Beaker and Bat-Thermometer. No, for real). And of course the Shark Repellent Bat-Spray.
(And the best joke ever, from the tie-in movie. "It happened at sea. Sea for Catwoman!" Thanks for playing, Boy Wonder, you get this... WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT WAS AN ACTUAL CLUE?)
Perhaps the most "disturbing episode" of Batman was when Robin was turned to the "darkside" by the terrible team-up of The Riddler and Catwoman. They employed the bizzarely sexy Pinky (one of Catwoman's cat-themed henchmen, except with a pink costume) with her extra long, red pinky nail to scratch Robin with an evil poison that made him turn on Batman. Only... Robin was acting the whole time! Huzzah!
But the cliffhanger that gave me nightmares for a week (ensuring I did tune in Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel) was when Robin gets devoured by a giant clam! I still think this might be why I don't eat seafood.
You can see the stunning "reveal" of that cliffhanger in this clip:
But the final nail in the "geek for life" coffin I was falling into was comic books. My mother owned a dancing school when I was little. She would have to bring me to the school after pre-school and such. Normally we'd walk over to the Pharmacy on the corner and I'd pick out a coloring book. But that's about all I did. Then one day, I ran out of coloring books to choose from in the drug store. I was three at the time, so my mother sought out something else to occupy my time. She took me across the street to a newsstand, and upon walking in I saw them. Their dark, pre-90s chrome and pre-13 variant cover, covers amazed me. Here was an issue with the Batman fighting the Joker. Here was one with Robin on his own. Here was one with a colorful cast of misfits called the X-Men, though I wouldn't pick that one up till later. More or less my mother bought me the superheroes she knew: Superman & Batman. I was never the biggest Superman fan, but, any port in a storm.
While I wasn't the best reader, I could imagine dialog to go with the panels. Sometimes I made my own stories, sometimes I struggled through the ones that were there. But I loved every minute of them! I didn't really keep my comics at that age, and it's a shame. Really until 1992, I read mostly Batman comics with he occasional Superman. Or maybe there was a colorful DC book out that week and picked it up. I don't recall much about the content of the stories around this time, just that Batman won.
But that was it. Cartoons and comics got me started on the path. The interesting thing is that I more or less became a better reader because of comics. So much for the "They rot your mind" argument. Rot this!
While there are far more influences that I was aware of at the time, looking back 18 to 20 years later, I don't feel the impact. A show like Thundercats is considered a big cult hit, I can tell you I've probably seen about 1 episode.
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