Genndy Tartakovsky's Hellboy: The Cartoon That Needs To Exist

It's hard to believe that Hellboy has been in comics for a full twenty years. It feels like just yesterday that the first issue hit the comic stands. Except it doesn't, because I was a baby when that happened. But, Mike Mignola's demonic anti-hero has been one of my favorite heroes since 2008, when the trailer for the second movie caught my eyes. After watching the films, I went through the early volumes of the comics and have been a fan ever since. But, one question is on my mind:

Why isn't there a Hellboy animated series?

Yes, there were two animated films released between the live-action films. I watched Sword of Storms and thought it was pretty cool. But, two direct-to-video films isn't big enough for the ever-expanding madness of Mignola's world. I want a television series, and I know who would be perfect for such an undertaking. This guy:

That there is Genndy Tartakovsky. If you don't know who he is, let me explain in pictures.

You should really check out the last one, by the way

Tartakovsky is a modern titan of American animation. One of the pioneers behind Cartoon Network, he has since left to work at Sony Pictures Animation. His first film was Hotel Transylvania, which I haven't seen, but I heard it wasn't the worst thing Adam Sandler's been involved with (although, that's not saying much). Now, he is set to direct a sequel to that film, along with a Popeye movie, and an original project of his own creation.

So, Tartakovsky has made the transition into film, and... that's nice. It's nice! I'm glad those suits in the movie industry are recognizing this man's raw talent, but at the same time, HE MUST BE THE ONE WHO WILL CREATE A HELLBOY SHOW. Here are three reasons:

1. He would nail the short stories.

Hellboy comics can be divided into two categories: those that are part of the massive, ongoing arc, and the smaller, self-contained tales. While "Seed of Destruction" and "Wake the Devil" were a wonderful introduction to the character's comic adventures, I didn't become a true Hellboy fanboy until The Chained Coffin and Others. For some reason, the one-shots and the short stories connected with me in ways that the multi-issue arcs did not, at least not initially. To me, Hellboy's greatest appeal is just being able to open up a one-shot and enjoy it without any worries of continuity.

Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack is a masterpiece of self-contained storytelling. He said "no" to serial storytelling and "yes" to stories that would wrap up within one episode. Yes, there was always that lingering  plot thread of Jack trying to get back to the past and defeat Aku, but most of the time, that goal played second fiddle to whatever situation Jack found himself in, whatever odd characters he encountered in that specific episode. You could jump into any episode of Samurai Jack, without having seen any of the other episodes, and still have a good time. I want to see that style of storytelling in a Hellboy cartoon.

2. He would unleash the weird.

Hellboy exists in a world where a demonic special agent in a trench coat is far from the strangest thing in existence. The comics embrace all kinds of monsters, various folk tales, and multiple mythologies. You never know what to expect in a Hellboy comic.

And now, we return to Samurai Jack. If some shows go by a monster-of-the-week formula, Samurai Jack was a genre-of-the-week show. One week, you might find a Kurosawa-inspired samurai tale, but in the next, you'll be looking at an underwater, sci-fi adventure. In one episode Jack dealt with gangsters, and in another he went to a haunted house. Like Mignola, Tartakovsky experimented with a wide array of mythologies.

If Tartakovsky directs a Hellboy animated series, he won't try to down down the craziness; he will embrace it. He could bring the same mish-mash of cultural influences he brought to Samurai Jack, a mish-mash similar to the one Mignola brings to Hellboy.

3. He has a strong grasp on atmosphere.

Many animation directors tend to load up their shows with dialogue, seeing how many jokes they can cram into twenty minutes. There are plenty cases where this works wonderfully, but there is also merit in being able to let the animation speak for itself. Tartakovsky lets the animation speak for itself.

There have been episodes of Samurai Jack that felt more like silent films, and in one episode, I'm pretty sure there wasn't even dialogue. His take on Clone Wars also had some powerful, dialogue-light moments. He uses silence to create moody scenes unlike anything else in American animation.

If there's one thing a Hellboy cartoon needs, it is atmosphere. We need someone who can create the spooky tone that defines Hellboy's journey through the darkness of the human imagination. Tartakovsky proved that he could do creepy in that haunted house episode of Samurai Jack. Hellboy isn't a property that needs a ton of conversation; the hero himself is the strong, silent type. Under Tartakovsky's direction, we could get a cartoon that capture the darkness of the comic book even better than the movies.

So... why doesn't this exist yet?

Why We Don't Need A New Season of Heroes

Hey, did you hear? Heroes is back!

Yep, that show we loved in the first season and then waited for to get better in the following seasons is returning to NBC in 2015 as a thirteen-episode mini-series, titled Heroes: Reborn. As of now, we barely know anything about this follow-up series. Is it a sequel? Prequel? Alternate universe? Are any of the old cast members coming back? Is it going to be all new characters? Episodic? Serial? What the hell were Sylar's actual powers?

With each season, the original Heroes dipped deeper in the ratings until NBC finally got to the end of season four and said, "screw it. These heroes aren't saving the network." As for me, I actually watched every season, and I don't think it was all shit after the Volume One. Yes, Volume Three: "Villains" was a clusterf**k of retcons, but Volume Four got better. And, I don't care what anyone says; I liked when they went to the carnival. So, you might be thinking that I'm in love with the idea of this new mini-series.

Plot Twist! No, I'm not.

Now, I'm not saying this couldn't be good. In fact, I'd love to see this new show turn out awesome. As someone, who was a fan of the series, I think it would be really nice if this new follow-up restores the property's season one glory.

Nonetheless, NBC's decision to bring back Heroes baffles me. Here's why:

It's Been a Damn Long Time

This mini-series is airing in 2015. The original show ended in 2010. That's five years. When the show ended, I was a sophomore in high school. When the min-series begins, I may very well be a senior in college. A kid who was born when the original show ended can now wipe his own ass.

Now, obviously, certain pop culture franchises have made comebacks from longer hiatuses. Batman Begins struck theaters eight years after Batman and Robin, and successfully brought the film series back from the dead. But, Heroes isn't Batman. Batman is an icon of our pop culture. Sooner or later, the Dark Knight was bound to return. But, Heroes had one well-received season with a climax that disappointed most viewers, plus three other seasons that just didn't hit a chord with audiences.

I don't think Heroes ever truly reached the status of pop culture monument. It started strong, then fizzled out, and has not remained very strong in the public conscience since then. Even my fondest memories of the show are a bit fuzzy at this point. And, while we're talking about this passage of time...

The Bar For Genre Television Has Been Raised

When Heroes was on television, there weren't many drama shows on television dealing with high-concept material. Fantasy and science-fiction weren't that big in prime time, so Heroes might have been the nerdiest show you could watch on a weekly basis.

But, while Heroes went into more comic booky material than your average television drama, it often felt to me that the show was trying to downplay the fantastic. Nobody ran around in tights. There was a bit of hesitation for anyone to use their powers. The show basically said, "let's make superheroes with less of that superhero-iness."

Come 2014, my favorite show on television is one that contains dragons, murderous ice zombies, and a boy who can possess a wolf. Game of Thrones, like Heroes, has tried to make the fantastic grounded, but whereas Heroes interpreted that task as cutting down on the things that makes us love the genre, Game of Thrones says we can keep the fantasy elements and enhance them with wonderful characterization.

I know that Game of Thrones doesn't always shows the dragons, but I recognize that as a mere budgetary limitation. GoT appeals to people who rarely watch fantasy, but it doesn't pander to their supposed needs. With Heroes, I felt like they were just watering down the superhero elements to please all the normal folks. And, about that...

Turns Out General Audiences Do Like Over-The-Top Superheroes

Whenever someone would ask Tim Kring about the clear similarities between X-Men and Heroes, he would say, "oh, yeah. I've actually never checked out X-Men. I guess it's a coincidence." Yes, a coincidence. Because a team of writers that included an actual writer from Marvel Comics had no familiarity with one of the biggest brands in American superheroes, one that already had three financially successful Hollywood films by the time Heroes appeared on television.

Cutting the bull crap, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it: Heroes was a toned-down version of X-Men; it took the superpowers, while removing the flashiness of superhero comics. Back in the day, there was a notion that if you wanted the common viewer to get into superheroes, you would have to remove some of the color. Even the X-Men themselves were toned down on the silver screen; Brian Singer gave them those infamous leather jackets, since he didn't think people would buy super-people running around in costumes covering every color of the rainbow.

In 2012, Brian Singer was proven dead-wrong. The Avengers became the third highest-grossing film of all time, and it had all the splashes of color you'd find in the comic book. The movie revealed that people actually like their superheroes a bit flashy; in a way, over-the-top costumes define superheroes just as much as any superpower.

And, while we're talking about flashiness...

The Show Never Actually Figured Out What It Was

Okay, remember the things I said about Heroes trying to make the superhero genre more "grounded"? Turns out it wasn't even that good at it. It started out fairly subtle, you know, with that "whole we-got-powers-how-we-gonna-go-about-with-regular-life" crap. But, as the show progressed, everything got a little bit goofier. Conspiracies were revealed. Characters who didn't have powers before now had powers. Mohinder became an insect man. And, it all ended at a carnival of super-people. So, subtlety flew out of the window like Nathan Petrelli.

When NBC brings Heroes back, which Heroes are they gonna bring back? Are they going to bring back the drama about people discovering their powers, or are they going to bring back bargain bin X-Men without the costumes?

Season One was the show that people actually watched, so it would make sense to recover that tone. But, so much craziness happened in the following seasons, I wonder if it's even possible to go back to basics. And, that's fine because...

The Show Ended At Exactly The Right Point

When Heroes was cancelled in 2010, the producers entertained the notion of a follow-up TV movie to give the series some closure. And, I said, "to hell with that. I got all the closure I needed." Yes, we got that title card for an extra season that never happened, but remove that, and I think the show's final moment was perfect.

What separated Heroes from X-Men was that in X-Men, the whole world knows about them super-folks, and in Heroes, the super-people were unknown. The show chronicled the world of superpowers before they reached the public awareness. When Claire Bennett jumped off that ferris wheel and quickly recovered in front of the television news crew, that world ended.

So, maybe, it wasn't a great ending in the popular sense of "everybody lives happily ever after." But, it wrapped up the world that Heroes was exploring. Anything that would come after would be... not very different from X-Men at all.

Whether I like it or not, Heroes is coming back. Since this Reborn series is happening, I might as well just wait and see how good it turns out. But, if it ends up being pointless, I told you so.