The Canadian company Breakthrough Animation has announced licensing agreements with Playmates Toys and Penguin Books for the cartoon series Atomic Betty, which will debut on the Cartoon Network this fall.  The anime-influenced series features an ordinary schoolgirl, Betty, who when called upon becomes Atomic Betty, Galactic Guardian and Defender of the Cosmos.  Betty is accompanied on her adventures by her faithful robot X-5 and Sparky, her little green Martian friend.  Like the Cartoon Network's Samurai Jack series, Atomic Betty combines an anime-influenced storylines and action sequences with a visual style that owes a debt to the U.P.A. cartoons of the 1950s (as well as to Chuck Jones 1950s creations).

Playmates Toys will launch a full line Atomic Betty toys in 2005 and Penguin Books already has a number of Atomic Betty volumes in the works including a fumetti-style graphic novel, Atomic Betty Mad Libs, and a How to Draw... book.  Stay tuned for further developments.