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Comment by chriskanan | Hacker News Reader

As a child, I thought Dungeons and Dragons, X-Men, Spider Man (the 90s version), and the DCAU series (Batman, Superman, etc.) were really fantastic cartoon series. I've seen some of them since then, and they still hold up really well.

Most of the comic book and related shows today, including Marvel's, seem comparatively unwatchable and immature. They are definitely not designed to be for anyone but the youngest children. Young Justice is a notable exception.

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The 90's really were the golden age of comic book cartoons, and maybe cartoons in general.

Don't forget the other Marvel cartoons as well: Hulk, Iron Man, and Fantastic Four.

Depends what you mean by golden age. In terms of sheer sum of quality, agreed. In terms of maximal amount of quality, and/or affect on the public psyche, Looney Tunes really does hold the mantle. Kids today aren't familiar with a lot of 90s cartoons (though they're familiar with a lot of the characters from other media. But to draw the distinction, what kid today knows who Jubilee is? She was a major character in the X-men cartoon, but only a bit character in the movies), but even though there hasn't really been anything major by Looney Tunes since Space Jam (there have been a couple of short lived things like the Looney Tunes Show, but hardly anything of note), kids still know who they are.

Don't forget Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! That was another great cartoon from the 90s. They don't make these shows like they used to.

Gargoyles.

With a whole bunch of Star trek voice acting!

The soon ending computer animated Turtles series that Nicktoons made (they now own the franchise) has been "interesting". Thanks to the art choice, some episodes were borderline nightmare fuel. And the last season even had a trilogy of episodes set to a Mad Max like future.

And some episodes also involve interaction between characters from the 90s show and the current show.

Never mind that quite often the turtles are seen watching fictional cartoon shows patterned after 80s/90s shows...

Spider-Man doesn't hold up as well. You can tell that it was hampered by standards and practices. Have you notice that he never through a punch?

The DCAU holds up much better. Even Tiny Toons, Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs etc. holds up better.

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