The Marvel Superheroes Have Arrived!

Marvel super-heroes on TV! Here's the official scoop so far - our first stations will begin showing animated films of five - yep, FIVE - of our Marvel heroes in the middle of September. The characters to be featured will be: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Sub-Mariner, and the Hulk - all in full color! What's more, we'll use exactly the same art and stories which have made our mags the sensation of the nation! Production is under way right now, at the famous Grantray-Lawrence Animation Co. in Hollywood..."

-Bullpen Bulletin, October 1966

Well, sort of.

The Ol' Bullpen Page wasn't kidding about The Marvel Superheroes series using "exactly the same art and stories"; panels from the comics were directly incorporated into the cartoon, xeroxed onto the cels and given life via very limited animation techniques and camera work.

Reuse of backgrounds, expressions, and any other bit of celluloid that looked like it had one more go in it was a hallmark of the series, as was wonderful voice acting, courtesy of many great talents from the CBC (Including John Vernon and pretty much anyone who had a speaking part on Wayne & Shuster.) Click to image to the left to browse a YouTube playlist featuring episodes of the series.

Grantray-Lawrence and Krantz Films also produced the immortal Rocket Robin Hood cartoon, and in 1967, the first Spider-Man cartoon, which also featured occasionally wonky animation, swell voice work, and theme songs catchier than herpes and more sanity-damaging than syphilis.