Cartooniverse

DC Comics’ past attempts at crossovers with other characters owned by Warner Brothers, and their future potential for more.

A few weeks ago, ComicBloc ran an article on Disney television shows that could be revived at Marvel. Since Disney’s buyout of Marvel is still fresh in everyone’s mind, it’s easy to forget that DC Comics has been owned by a corporate media titan of its own for several decades. If Marvel does begin to bring some of Disney’s intellectual property into comics, could it lead to stronger ties between DC and its parent company? It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve experimented with the idea.

Looney Tunes

Yes, it’s true! There was a DCU/Looney Tunes crossover comic book in 2000! Entitled Superman & Bugs Bunny, this four issue mini-series featured Mr. Mxyzptlk and the last dodo combining their respective worlds into a single “DC Looniverse”. DC has also been pumping out a Looney Tunes comic without superheroes in it for seventeen years now, under its Johnny DC imprint.

There may yet be some potential for further crossovers with Warner Brothers’ comedy programs. How about a team-up between the Teen Titans and the Looney Tunes’ protégés from Tiny Toon Adventures? The characters from Loonatics Unleashed and Superman: At Earth’s End could come together in a meeting of edgy futuristic revamps that failed miserably.  There was a Pinky and The Brain comic for two years, but they were never invited to join the Secret Society of Supervillains. And that’s not even getting into Freakazoid’s crossover with the literal Warner brothers (and Warner sister) in Animaniacs #35!

Thundercats

Eighties revivals were all the rage in 2003, and Wildstorm hopped on the bandwagon with several mini-series based on Thundercats, a popular action cartoon that Warner Brothers had acquired as part of a buyout. Introducing Superman to Bugs Bunny wasn’t enough for Mr. Mxyzptlk, so he transported the Man of Tomorrow to the Thundercats’ home, the planet New Thundera, in the Superman/Thundercats one-shot in 2004.

Warner Brothers Animation, the same studio behind Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice, and the upcoming Green Lantern: The Animated Series, recently rebooted Thundercats. Superman and the Thundercats both being restarted in the same year seems as good an excuse for another crossover as any. Maybe he’ll bring the rest of the Justice League this time, to see who would win in a race between Flash and Cheetara.

Hanna Barbera

Speaking of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, viewers of last weeks episode witnessed the first team up between the Caped Crusader and Space Ghost, the star of an old Hanna Barbera action cartoon in the 60’s who later became a talk show host in the 90’s. That wasn’t the first time Batman has encountered a Hanna Barbera character on the show either. In an earlier episode, Bat-Mite presents Batman’s strangest cases, he ran into Scooby Doo and the rest of Mystery Incorporated. Batman and Scooby were already familiar with each other, as they had already worked together in two episodes of The New Scooby Doo movies, The Dynamic Scooby Doo Affair and The Caped Crusader Caper.

Both of Batman’s co-stars have had their own comics at DC before. There was a six issue Space Ghost mini-series in 2005. A Scooby Doo ongoing has been running at Johnny DC for fourteen years now.

While it’s fun to imagine the Legion of Superheroes meeting George Jetson or Vandal Savage choking the life out of Fred Flintstone, if there are going to be more Hanna Barbera crossovers in the future, it seems more realistic to picture them with superhero characters like Birdman, the Galaxy Trio, or Blue Flacon and Dynomutt.

Cartoon Network

While Disney has toyed with the idea of creating a shared universe for their theatrical films in places like the House of Mouse show and the Kingdom Hearts video game series, they’ve never done anything to quite that extent for their television franchises. Time Warner subsidiary Cartoon Network has. Their browser-based MMORPG, Fusionfall, even has the subtitle Cartoon Network Universe. The game’s art style does do an admirable job making it feel natural for these radically different characters to be co-existing with each other.

DC has done several Cartoon Network comics over the years, and they still produce Cartoon Network Action Pack to this day. Maybe it’s time to take the next logical step and make the Cartoon Network Universe an official Earth in the multiverse. Just make sure Lex Luthor doesn’t pronounce the Powerpuff Girls’ name wrong again!