Why cartoons are my CNN ...

Growing up, I adored a handful of cartoons. They were GI Joe, Transformers, TMNT, and The Super Mario Brothers Super Show (starring Captain Lou Albano).

As I grew up, my tastes shifted more towards super-hero centric stuff. Spider-Man, X-Men, and the greatest cartoon ever created, Batman: The Animated Series. I never knew that I would eventually meet the creative forces behind the cartoon, around 20 years after the cartoon was created.

I guess I look at cartoons nowadays and wonder what kids are taking away from these shows. Anything not on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, or Disney seems very Japanese and boring to me. CN does an amazing job of creating material for both children and adults to enjoy. For example, Adventure Time, the best cartoon on the planet today. Honorable mentions go to Regular Show and Phineas And Ferb, two cartoons both for kids, but easily accessible by adults.

I think it's important to bring the entire family into the entertainment sphere. While I get that the latest Pixar movie is dazzling for children, but full of "meaningful" messages for adults, it shouldn't have to be that way. Parents should enjoy the entertainment their kids enjoy, regardless of it being "valuable" to that parent's agenda or not.

As a kid, I guess my love for animation was fueled by these two computer programs: X-Men Cartoon Maker and Spider-Man Cartoon Maker. These were impossibly fun to use in order to tell my own stories with those characters. I would usually pit Spider-Man against his deadliest foe, the Green Goblin (I believe I had to use Hobgoblin as a stand-in, because GG wasn't in the program). I think nowadays, I'd be embarrassed by these early "movies", but at the same time, slightly proud that I had an outlet for my creativity.

I wish more kids had outlets like that.