After the Thor movie is released in 2010, Marvel will be doing a follow-up by releasing an animated Thor series on television. The series doesn't yet have a channel where it will be broadcast, but given the big Marvel hoopla nowadays, it probably won't be a problem to find one.

Granted, Thor isn't one of Marvel's top tier, like Spider-Man or the X-Men, but he's easily in the second tier. Given Marvel's current strategy of a shared universe of movies leading to The Avengers movie, the character will only get more popular over time.

To me, the classic Marvel cartoon remains the Spider-Man one from the 60's, but Marvel had a bunch of other cartoons in the 60's of the original Avengers characters, including Thor, based on the Kirby comics of the time. They each had some memorable, albeit brief, opening jingles. After the jump, I've included the one for Thor. Sing it! "Cross the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard..."

OK, now that was just plain fun. What was, you ask? I just got finished watching the less-than-four-minute clip of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer: The Animated Series.

Four years ago, it looked like this series was a go, but somehow, it just went. Our friend Jane Espenson penned some of the scripts, and tells us she's in if the project ever takes off again. And rumors abound that the Buffy animated series may just be revived.

(S03E09) This was a real treat for all of those that love some old-school Team Venture action ("Action, action, action!"). In this episode, we found past and present protagonists and antagonists meeting for the first time in decades. The action-packed cold open featured Jonas Venture, Sr. as a terribly unconvincing Asian stereotype sporting a nipple on his face. You know, that same old story. Of course, this far-fetched disguise was just another part of the Team's plan to bring down Scaramantula and his Fraternity of Torment, a sort of a not quite as impressive Guild of Calamitous Intent boasting the powers of Brainulo and a young Manotaur.

(S03E08) After a surprisingly Jackson Publick heavy run, we finally got another Doc Hammer solo with this episode (the first was "The Buddy System"). Apparently, the first half of the season just worked out to be a lot of Publick episodes and we'll be getting a lot more Doc Hammer scripts in upcoming episodes. Right on, right on.

This episode felt more like a Venture Bros. episode than the backstory-tastic stuff that has been dominating this season. Many hilarious moments, beautiful character interactions and gross-out moments were had.

It took just a few weeks, but the trouble is over. The two sides have met and negotiated a fair arrangement. No, I'm not referring to the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama camps and the Florida and Michigan delegates. No, the news is more animated than that. The powers that be at 20th Century Fox TV have re-signed the actors who voice the The Simpsons.

The principals are signing new four-year deals in which the talent will receive substantial increases in salary. They had been getting $360,000 per episode and were looking for a bump up in that fee to $500,000 per. The negotiated compromise amount is about $400,000 per show. And as expected, instead of a 22 episode season commencing next fall, there'll be 20 shows in the year ahead.

The first animated cartoon wasn't very good. As far as I know, SalesGenie.com is a newcomer to the Super Bowl. Acme Widget boss, Hank Bulleymonger (funny, right?) comes down on his worst salesmen that he needs to double his output or he's fired. SalesGenie.com to the rescue! He gets 100 free sales leads and becomes the Salesman of the year. Never mind that the worst salesman of the year is middle eastern man with seven kids, and any controversy that may or may not bring, the bottom line is it was a lame commercial.

While the thirty years of Star Wars panel featured plenty of video game previews and Lucas-approved montages of the fans that have made him one seriously wealthy man, it also featured a special preview of Family Guy's season premiere - a one hour Star Wars tribute starring Stewie as Lord Vader, of course. Who else were you expecting to don Vader's robes?

The Simpsons promo machine is still going strong, preparing for the family's bigscreen adventure on July 27th. The marketing for this movie has been wonderfully creative, but even though real-life Squishees are delicious, I think my favorite plug has got to be the new fashion spread in the August issue of Harper's Bazaar. "The Simpsons Go to Paris" depicts the Simpson family wearing outfits straight from the seasons' high fashion catwalks. The spread also features Simpson-ized versions of supermodel Linda Evangelista and designers like Marc Jacobs and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Check out this post with scans of the illustrations, helpfully accompanied by real photos of the outfits on the catwalk. Sadly enough, many of the fashions look better in the cartoon world than in the real one. Case in point: Those bizarre "if Carol Burnett had a stage lighting fetish" Viktor & Rolf numbers. And I also find it a little unsettling that Donatella Versace looks healthier in Simpson-yellow than in whatever shade of leather her skin is now.

When I heard Speed Racer was coming to Nicktoons, I figured it was the original cartoon, but no such luck. Instead, a newer version is being created to (not) coincide with the upcoming live-action film version from the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), although having both debuting around the same time will definitely result in the kind of synergy studios crave.

The new Speed Racer 'toon is being produced through Lionsgate and Animation Collective, the studio behind Kappa Mikey, an anime-inspired comedy that also airs on Nicktoons.

Oh yeah, it's happening.

Following the soon-to-be -released Transformers and the recently-announced He-Man comes yet another afternoon 'toon from my childhood making its way to the silver screen.

This time, it's ThunderCats, an animated series that aired in the 1980s and focused on a group of warriors that looked like a meld of both human and feline. Warner Bros. has optioned a script from Paul Sopocy for the live-action CGI feature-length adaptation.

Over the past few weeks, I have seen multiple commercials for Comedy Central's new animated show, Lil' Bush. It didn't even remotely interest me, because it simply sounded like a compilation of the easiest possible Bush jokes... "If you don't X, the terrorists win", "I'm the decider", etc. But as it turns out, I may have to give this show a try, because my life is dictated by rock and all things rocking.

In this recent interview with Fuse TV, Lil' Bush creator Donick Cary talked about the stars that have contributed their voices to the show. The list includes Frank Black, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Dave Grohl. Also, Iggy Pop -- Iggy friggin' Pop -- plays Lil' Bush's buddy, Lil' Rummy.

Did Donald Rumsfeld just get a little cooler? Yeah, maybe.

[via CC Insider]

Cool news for Family Guy fans: the series will be going into syndication in 24 of the top 25 markets, including Minneapolis (which probably doesn't mean much to any of you, but I live in Minneapolis).

While I'm not as fanatical about Family Guy as some, I think it's perfect for syndication. It's a series with the kind of light humor that's perfect for playing in the background while you clean your house on a lazy afternoon, and I don't think it'll suffer too much from the obligatory editing that often happens when a program goes into syndication. When a show is as heavy on non sequitur gags as Family Guy, cutting one or two doesn't hurt the overall flow of the episode too much.

So there you go: between airings on FOX, Adult Swim, TBS and now a syndicated run, you'll be able to get your daily allowance of Family Guy. If you can learn to grow your own food inside your house, you'll never have to leave.

The second installment in the Hellboy animated movies for Cartoon Network will air at 7 p.m. on March 17. Hellboy: Blood and Iron borrows heavily from Wake the Devil, the second Hellboy paperback, according to the series' production blog. This second installment was originally envisioned as an origin story, but that concept was too close to the theatrical release, so a (mostly) new story was developed.

The third and final installment, Hellboy: The Phantom Claw is still in the script stage, and according to the production blog, will have more of a "mad scientist/weird technology" vibe, making it quite different than the previous two movies.

As mentioned before, actors from the Hellboy movie also provide voices for the animated version, including Ron Pearlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones. Original Hellboy creator and Hellboy movie co-writer Mike Mignola also co-wrote the scripts for the animated versions.

[via Toon Zone]

While you're in the process of preparing yourself both physically and mentally for the release of The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters on April 13, make sure you snatch up the soundtrack, which comes out on April 10. I haven't purchased the soundtrack for an animated movie since The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, but I may have to get my greasy hands on this one. It'll feature a brand new version of the ATHF theme from Schooly D, not to mention tracks by The Hold Steady, Mastodon, Killer Mike, and Nine Pound Hammer (the band behind the 12 Oz Mouse theme). The CD will also feature sound bites from the movie and skits.

While this is Adult Swim and Williams Street first foray into animated movies, they've been collaborating with underground musicians for some time now. Check out this page for a bunch of downloadable audio goodness.

The Cartoon Network series Ben 10, about a young boy who uses a mysterious device called the Omnitrix to change into different super heroes, is being developed into both a full-length made-for-TV animated movie, and a live-action movie, also presumably for television.

None of the reports from the Cartoon Network upfronts have any details on who will star in the live-action movie, or even what the movie will be about. I myself have never seen the show, though since I tend to spend a lot of time on animation blogs I've heard some good things about it. The show just seemed to be geared towards a much younger crowd, even though I can and have enjoyed cartoons not necessarily intended for grown ups. Do any of you watch it or have kids who watch it? Does a live-action version make sense?