Even Cartoon Stars Have To Grow Up... And Isiah Stephens Shows Us How They Do!!!

Even though I am 35 years old I still love me some cartoons. I always have and I always will. The highlight of my cartoon watching life was obviously my childhood Saturday mornings, but the pinnacle has to be my late teens in the 90's when cartoons took over all time slots available. I am talking about a time when Cartoon Network realized they were a real network and began airing great ORIGINAL programming in prime time (Dexter's Lab), when Comedy Central decided to back two crazy maniacs and their show about 4 wild kids as the flagship of the network (South Park), and Nickelodeon continued its streak of big time long lasting hits (Rugrats)... the 90's were a time when cartoons were taken from the morning and into the stratosphere. So now that some time has passed it is only right to imagine what those characters may look like if they have grown up. Artist Isiah Stephens has done a great job on some of the casts, and they are spot on. You can see more of Stephens work by clicking here, and you can see the rest after the jump...

    

CCD's 1st Look At Black Dynamite: The Animated Series

Black Dynamite may very well be the funniest movie I have seen in the past 10 years. A perfect exploitation movie in every sense of the word, with an awesome cast (Michael Jai White, Tommy Davidson, Arsenio Hall, Kym Whitley, etc,), some of the most racist slurs ever uttered on film, and a great directorial debut from my main man Scott Sanders (click here to see why he is CCD's favorite director!). If you haven't seen it, it is streaming on Netflix now. But you better get to it quick, because Black Dynamite: The animated Series is coming to Cartoon Network on July 15th!!!! Made by the dudes who brought you The Boondocks and voiced by the actors from the movie itself, this one is going to be epic!!!! Check out the trailer after the jump and beware of Kung Fu trickery, you moon crickets....

Here is the poster:

And here is the trailer:

Adventure Time by No Sleep Jinx

Cartoons nowadays don't have shit on the cartoons of the 80's... I'm not trying to be a curmudgeon or anything like that, but it is just true. The recent generation (post 2000) of cartoons have been lacking in originality and fun, but as in any case there are exceptions to the rule. Adventure Time with Finn & Jake happens to be one of those exceptions. It is a great show that has just started it's fourth season and hearkens back to the good ole days of 80's cartoon bliss. The animation is cool, the characters are fun, and it has just the right level of obnoxious humor and subliminal messaging that makes an adult feel OK about watching it. With over 100+ episodes in the books it is safe to say that Finn & Jake are going to be remembered for a long time. Check out artist Tara Billinger (NoSleepJinx on Deviant Art) as she takes on the crew, even including some of the extended characters from the show such as my personal fave The Ice King!!!! See the full size pic after the jump...

If You Never Watched Anime Before, The New Lupin the 3rd Feature Is A Good Place To Start...

Back in my college days of the early 200's I watched an awful lot of Cartoon Network. Dexter's Laboratory, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and many other animated titles filled the airways. But this era is mostly known for the anime comeback that was taking place on the network. Ghost In The Machine, Cowboy Bebop, Fist of the Northstar... all of these series were gaining new life and new fans across America. This is where I fell in love with Lupin the 3rd, the anime about the gentleman thief. Lupin comes from a long line of thieves, and he is so good he often tells his victims AHEAD of time he plans on robbing them. Lupin was the basis for the Night Fox character in Ocean's 12 & 13. Lupin and his gang of misfits travel the globe pulling heists and having fun. It is truly a great show. In April, Japanese network Toho announced a new 13 episode prequel series entitled Lupin the 3rd: The Woman Called Fujiko Mane which will flashback to the beginning of Lupin & his crew and their earliest jobs. The trailer doesn't have a whole lot of animation, but it is super retro and I love this series so I am posting it anyway. If you want a good time watching anime, dig up the older versions of Lupin. You will not be disappointed. Click after the jump for the full trailer...



 

3 Trailers That Couldn't Be More Different, But Are All Interesting In Their Own Way...

Trailers for TV Shows & Movies come out everyday, but rarely do three come out in one day that are SO different and appealing to me all at once. This happened yesterday, so I figured it would make a great post since the project were all so different. First up, we have David Cronenberg's newest flick Cosmopolis trailer,. You get a post Twilight Robert Pattinson  in a film adaption WRITTEN by Cronenberg himself (he hasn't written his last few films, and while they are good they haven't been his signature weird style). This one looks completely bizarre, and I am really interested to see it considering all the hype surrounding Cronenberg's last film "A Dangerous Method". The second trailer is from Stephanie Meyer's OTHER novel (she wrote the Twilight series) The Host. Considering the amount of fans she has and the fact that The Host sold very well in it's own right, this movie should do well. But when you add Saoirse Ronan (Hannah, The Lovely Bones) as the lead role, you get my attention instantly (I love this kid!). This one looks cool (plus I read the book and it was pretty good...really creepy). Finally, we get a sneak peak at season 2 of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes from Cartoon Network!!! This is by far one of THE BEST cartoons made in the last 10 years, and I can't wait to see what is in store for the gang. Plus, you gotta love that this incarnation of The Avengers includes Wasp & Giant Man. How could they leave these two out of the movie? Grrrr... c'mon Marvel!!! Plus if you watch the trailer, you can see: Ms. Marvel, The Fantastic Four, Skrulls, Scarlet Witch, The Vision. and Red Hulk just to name a few... Wow!!! Enjoy all three clips after the jump, and tell me what you think in the comment section below...



Cosmopolis trailer:




The Host:

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes:

The New Thundercat Cartoon Is Looking Better & Better With Each Preview We See

I have seen and covered multiple preview clips for the new Thundercats reboot cartoon that is premiering on July 29th, and I can honestly say that every thing that I see from the cartoon looks very impressive. I am a fan of the Japanmation/Anime twinge that Cartoon Network took with this cartoon, and I feel the characters are all shaping up to be awesome. Couple that with the fact that they included Snarf, yet made him unable to talk (anybody who has sat through some episodes of the old show as an adult knows how annoying Snarf can be!) seems to be the capper for me. Just as I was getting ready for the show to premiere in two weeks, my boy Lockheed sends me another 10 minute preview that shows a ton of new footage. Here it is for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of AOL TV. I will be watching this one... how about you guys? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

The New Thundercats Show Is Shaping Up Nicely....

In case you guys missed it (like me), about a month back the folks over at Cartoon Network released a 2.5 minute trailer for their upcoming Thundercats cartoon series. I liked the anime style look of the characters that was released last year, so I was looking forward to this one. See the footage for yourself:


THUNDERCATS 2011 trailer - Watch more Funny  Videos

Well, in the past few days some more footage from the show has been released... and I think it lokks great!!!! There is no embeddable version of the new footage, but you can click here to head over to Cartoon Networks page and watch it. If you are a fan of Thundercats, I suggest you do! After you have seen the new footage, come back here and tell me what you guys think about this new series in the comment section below. I am ready for it... are you? Thundercatsssssssssssss HOOOOOOOOO!!!