Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett looks at the Marvel and DC animated blocks.

I really do try to be a "keep moving forward" kind of comic book guy but I have to confess sometimes I miss Saturday Morning cartoons.  Okay, sure, there are a couple of broadcast networks that still go through the motions with offerings that range from educational stuff for younger viewers to the CW4Kids collection of moldy reruns, but it's not the same.  And while it's nice living in a 24-7 On Demand (literally if you have Time-Warner Cable) cartoon world I miss the specialness of once a week having a block of entirely new cartoons served up all at once.  But I had pretty much made peace with the fact the economics of television  today has rendered the format redundant... until we suddenly found ourselves with not one but two dedicated animation programming blocks; DC Nation on Cartoon Network and Marvel Universe on Disney XD.

Each has the same format; new episodes are periodically interrupted by what is known in the trade as interstitials, live action and animated wraparound segments.  This is an obvious attempt to make viewing more of an interactive experience and while this sort of thing can be dismal so far most of these short-form shows have been lively and fun.  The contents are eerily similar; both blocks have humorous animated fillers (DC Shorts vs. Marvel Mash-Up, where 70's and 80's Marvel cartoons get supposedly funny soundtracks) and live-action segments where people try to recreate/use superhero weapons in the real world.  Which is how I got to see something I never could have imagined; somebody in the real world shooting Green Arrow’s boxing glove arrow.  If you don't believe me, go to YouTube and look up "DC Nation: Boxing Glove Arrow" and see for yourself.

The one thing missing from these supposedly comic book-centric blocks is the comic books.  As far as I can tell DC Nation has a strict policy to avoid telling kids there are DC superhero comics, which is why I'm glad to see Marvel's "Master Class" segments where Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada shows the kids at home how to draw Marvel characters.

And as for the shows, I've already mentioned in previous columns that I like Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Green Lantern: The Animated Series (even if it is CGI), and as for Young Justice, wow, it's serious.  Comic Book Guys such as myself (meaning men in their 50's) like to complain about how superhero cartoons don't take superheroes seriously enough, there's too much goofy humor, etc.  Well Young Justice is serious, super-serious, with plots as dark as its strangely subdued color scheme.  It's essentially a CW young adult drama where impossibly good looking people deal with their problems mostly by standing around clenched all the time. 

And then we have Ultimate Spider-Man.  I had been wondering how the producers were going to be able to do a series that's sort of based on the Ultimate Universe version of the character when there had recently been one that had done just that, 2008's Spectacular Spider-Man.  Well the answer seems to have been to call the series Ultimate Spider-Man but do a show that’s more like "Spider-Man Goes To Avengers Academy."  Although Mary Jane and Aunt May are still around somewhere in the background, front and center is the premise of Spidey attending a S.H.I.E.L.D. after school program for young superheroes with poor impulse control.

His classmates include Iron Fist, Power Man, Nova and White Tiger and the producers obviously felt the dread specter of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends hovering over them because, to paraphrase Lisa Simpson, these teen heroes don't like each other and aren't afraid to show it.  The bickering and insults are as relentless as they are pointless because, as far as I can see anyway, there's absolutely no other reason for them to not get along, unless all the petty squabbling is just there to create cheap laughs and cheaper drama.

That's the content, now about the execution; I've seen the first three episodes and it's, if you'll forgive the expression, the darnnedest thing.  The show is a constant blur of movement, a frantic, kinetic mixture of serious superhero action and plots and goofy meta humor, not to mention constant fourth wall breaking as well as mash-ups, pop-ups and undoubtedly several other sorts of "ups" I'm too old to "get."  Then there are moments that manage to be goofy, weird and disturbing all at once, like when when one of Doctor Doom's Doombots suddenly opens up like a Matryoshka (a Russian nesting doll) and out spills a half dozen ever smaller, but still deadly Doombots.

You really can't complain about the creative pedigree behind it, which includes Brian Michael Bendis, Paul Dini and the "Man of Action" team (Joe Kelly, Joe Casey, Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau), all of whom seem to have to come together to try and create a new kind of animated series tailored more to the hyperactive astes of modern kids.  I can't say I exactly like it, yet, but I can definitely say I've never seen anything like it before, which as you all know, is exactly what I'm looking for.  Plus, I'm holding onto the possibility that Squirrel Girl will show up.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.