Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1529871
1979 FRED AND BARNEY MEET THE THING In this hour-long Saturday morning cartoon on NBC, Fred and Barney never actually met the Thing. They were only shown together during the opening title sequence and in some of the breaks between The New Fred and Barney Show and the entirely unrelated The Thing. This strange pairing came about because Marvel Comics had the rights at the time to some of the Hanna-Barbera franchises and was publishing comic books based on them. 1978 THE NEW FANTASTIC FOUR Because the rights to Fantastic Four co-founder Human Torch were tied up, this second animated series based on Marvel's Fantastic Four debuted H.E.R.B.I.E., aka Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-Type, Integrated Electronics. Shortly after, the character appeared in the comic books. entirely unrelated strange pairing came about because Marvel Comics had the rights at the time to some of the Hanna-Barbera franchises and was publishing comic books based on them. Shortly after, the character appeared in the comic books. 20 KEYFRAME LARRY HOUSTON As a kid Larry Houston wanted to move to New York and be a comic artist, but he wound up as a computer repairman for Data General and McDonnell Douglas. Friends in animation knew of his dreams, though. It was the early 1980s when he got a lead on layout jobs at Filmation. Although he failed the Layout Artist test twice, his portfolio was open, revealing comic book pages. He was told he might be better suited for storyboards, and after passing that test with flying colors, he was given a job on the spot. Following annual layoffs, Houston was hired by Marvel Productions on the syndicated Spider-Man series, and from there he stayed on for a network version of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. He worked for over a decade on Marvel shows, going on to become Producer/ Director on X-Men: The Animated Series from 1992 to 1996. Although he retired in 2016, he was called back to consult on the current X-Men '97. While decades have passed with numerous Marvel shows under his belt, he still recalls the thrill of his early days, with his office at the back of the studio two doors down from Stan Lee. "Imagine, here's this kid, I grew up in South Central, I read all the comic books," Houston says. "Then I get a job working for Marvel, and Stan's right there. I'm going, oh my God, I can't believe I'm here." F E AT U R E 1981-83 SPIDERMAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS With the Human Torch tied up once again with rights issues, a new female character was created for this series: Firestar. Along with founding X-Men character Iceman, she teams up with Spider-Man to fight crime—and compete for ratings with D.C.'s Super Friends. Fun side note: Stan Lee narrated the series' second season. LEFT: Larry Houston (center) in front of Stan Lee, with Bob Richardson in the bottom row (right). 1979-80 SPIDERWOMAN Spider-Woman has gone through a few transformations over the years. As Jessica Drew, she was Marvel's first superheroine to star in her own animated series. Then, when she reappeared in the 1990's Iron Man as part of The Marvel Action Hour, she became Julia Carpenter. Jump ahead to Ultimate Spider-Man, running from 2012-2017, and Julia Carpenter was known as Madame Web.