Tag: Editorial

Honouring Hanna-Barbera. On Why This Legacy Still Resonates.

Before cable and streaming divided our attention, Hanna-Barbera defined what weekend cartoons meant. From Huckleberry Hound to The Powerpuff Girls, their legacy shaped every generation of animators to follow — and it still ripples through today’s toons.

The Hanna-Barbera Treasury Hardcover
Available to purchase on Amazon USA

Before streaming and before cable carved up the weekend, one studio defined TV animation. As a lifelong fan, it’s bittersweet to see Hanna-Barbera living on mostly through MeTV than in the mainstream. Their influence on the toons we see today like Wylde Park and Oh My God… Yes! still colours everything we watch. The fact their name is not forgotten says it all.

While some of their vast catalogue of toons do not stand the test of time, others do. I tried watching The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan again recently and ouch. The same can be said with Hong Kong Phooey. They used stereoteypes that would not be tolerated today. That said, Top Cat is beloved and actually holds up. But as for others, it’s based on personal taste.

The Golden Age

When Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera launched their independent studio in 1957, they reshaped how animation could work on television. Their cost-saving “limited animation” approach made series economically viable without sacrificing character or charm. The Ruff and Reddy Show led the charge, but it was Huckleberry Hound and Quick Draw McGraw that cemented the formula. The true breakthrough arrived with The Flintstones—a primetime sitcom that proved cartoons weren’t just for kids. When it became a live-action movie, we all knew why it was done: to reignite interest among adults rather than make new fans.

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The Secret Storylines K-Pop Demon Hunters 2 Needs

It’s official: K-Pop Demon Hunters 2 is happening, but fans may wait years. If the sequel leans into folklore, side stories and stronger character arcs, it could become a rare animated follow-up that truly matures with its audience.

K-Pop Demon Hunters movie posterIt’s official—K-Pop Demon Hunters 2 is a go. Fans, however, will have to wait perhaps four years before it arrives. That’s a tough pill to swallow for anyone hoping to see Rumi, Mira, Su-Min, and the rest of the team back in action. What made the debut spectacular was its blend of folklore and modern Korean pop culture—especially Rumi’s reluctant connection to the demon world, which now puts her at a crossroads between fame, duty, and peace.

Although the wait will be long, hopefully it’ll all be worth it. Fans have expectations—especially in seeing what’s next for the lead, and whether her demon boyfriend will come back. That forbidden attraction is what drew me into the tale. The trope is a variation on the Legend of the White Snake, a classic story where a goddess falls for a mortal man. Here, the roles are reversed, giving the story a fresh emotional dynamic. The beliefs about what happens to the soul are also distinct from other cultural takes, which makes this story feel uniquely Korean.

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Chasing Shadows: The Hunt for Ghosts from Curiosity to Credibility (Part Two)

From Crookes’s laboratory séances to Harry Price’s haunted investigations, explore how the hunt for ghosts evolved from curiosity to credibility—and what it reveals about the living.

The Hunt for Ghosts is OnWhen people today venture into haunted houses with cameras, EMF meters, and recorders, they’re unknowingly continuing a tradition that began over a century ago. The hunt for ghosts may look modern, but its roots trace back to figures more grounded and genuine than many of today’s TV personalities—people like John Zaffis and Jason Hawes, who carry a lineage that reaches further back to scholars and spiritualists. There was no such thing as a paranormal pop star then; there were only those who genuinely wanted to understand and not trick a generation.

Yet the modern scene rarely mentions the foundations laid by Sir William Crookes and Harry Price. Today’s investigators might name-drop Edison or Tesla for their “ghost phone” and “spirit radio”—devices meant to pull voices from the aether—but communication is more than asking for a yes or no.

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The History Behind the Hunt for Ghosts: A Timeless Journey Through Belief (Part One)

A look at how humanity’s fascination with ghosts evolved from ancient myths to Victorian spiritualism. The hunt for ghosts isn’t for everyone, and we consider the contributions of people prior to Crookes and Price laid the groundwork for modern investigative techniques.

The Hunt for GhostsAs Halloween approaches, many folks enjoy a ghostly outing—whether for thrills or to glimpse evidence of something beyond. To go on the hunt for ghosts is a pastime few practice year-round, but when the season is right, more people go chasing after a belief. The old idea October 31 is when the veil is thinnest has roots in Neopagan lore, particularly Samhain, the Celtic festival marking the boundary between the living and the dead. Similar ideas echo in Mexico’s Día de los Muertos, celebrated soon after All Saints’ Day.

Whatever the tradition, humanity’s fascination with the afterlife is ancient. Even in Greek literature, ghosts appear not just as spectres but as participants in moral and mythic storytelling. In The Odyssey (Book 11), Odysseus travels to the underworld and summons shades of the dead to question them—a literal “ghost quest.” Centuries later, during the Victorian era—the golden age of spiritualism—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle developed his own fascination with the supernatural, even though his most famous character never took on such a case.

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2 Reasons on Why Disney’s Marvel Zombies Fails to Surprise and Deliver

When Marvel Zombies on Disney Plus feels very compressed and is not part of the comic book canon, this entry feelslike Halloween-season fan service instead of a bold new chapter.

Marvel Zombies PosterWhen Captain America sinks his teeth into his comrades, the Marvel Universe stops being heroic and starts being hungry. Not every zombie-head will appreciate what Marvel Zombies on Disney Plus is really about. When the story first appeared in 2009, I was mildly curious but hardly impressed. The premise seemed like a marketing stunt to boost sales—and to be fair, there’s some truth in that. The early 2000s saw zombie fiction claw its way back into the mainstream. With 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead reviving the genre, it wasn’t shocking that Marvel tapped Robert Kirkman to script a tale where the world’s greatest heroes became the world’s hungriest monsters.

The concept endures because it’s more than gore; it’s shock, novelty, and a grim fascination with corrupted heroism. Seeing Spider-Man or Iron Man as cannibals turns morality inside out. These aren’t mindless corpses but beings who keep shards of their conscience even as hunger consumes them. Those too far gone devolve into primal predators, while the surviving humans live in a shattered world that’s no longer theirs—a true Zombie Earth where no refuge lasts.

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Why Tobin’s Spirit Guide Won’t Stay Dead

In what makes Tobin’s Spirit Guide so spectral is that it’s a living guide to all things undead, on screen and off!

Tobin's Spirit Guide GENERICIn a follow-up to an article I wrote years ago, it seems Tobin’s Spirit Guide refuses to stay buried. First glimpsed in the Ghostbusters films, this fictional tome has resurfaced in updated editions and fan-made replicas, standing tall as a paranormal counterpart to The Necronomicon. The mere mention of either sparks dread and curiosity; the latter famously shifted from literary oddity to pop culture cornerstone.

Both thrive on mystique, but Tobin’s has gone further — evolving from a prop into a fully fledged artefact that fans can hold, study, and expand upon. Whether through video games or painstaking recreations, the Guide has become the shared-universe grimoire of supernatural cinema. Imagine one volume compiling every ghostly entity, from The Exorcist to The Conjuring — I, for one, welcome it.

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