Steve Krantz, the producer who helped bring Marvel characters to the television screen, passed away due to complications from pneumonia on January 4 at the age of 83.

Krantz produced The Marvel Superheroes, a limited-animation series featuring The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Sub-Mariner. The series used artwork taken directly from the comic books, often from different artists so that the character designs would sometimes change within a single episode. Marvel Superheroes was a major influence on the graphic style of the Adult Swim series Minoriteam.

Krantz also produced the Spider-Man cartoon in the late '60s, and was also a producer for Ralph Bakshi's films Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic. Bakshi also worked as a writer on Marvel Superheroes. Krantz's other projects included developing series based on books by his wife, the novelist Judith Krantz. His son is 24 executive producer Tony Krantz.

[via Toon Zone]

Jon Benjamin was a force behind two of my favorite animated series, Home Movies and Dr. Katz. He returned briefly with Lucy, Daughter of the Devil on Adult Swim, but now he's teaming up with David Cross of Mr. Show and Arrested Development for a new animated series for Comedy Central called Freak Show. The show centers on a group of super heroes who work as sideshow performers in their day to day lives. Considering Cross' voice work on Adult Swim shows like Tom Goes to the Mayor and Aqua Teen Hungerforce my guess is that this new series is going to be hysterical. There's no solid airdate just yet, though it will most likely air later this year, or in early 2007.