Being an adult means putting aside childish passions of yore and acting your age. That’s why we know we can’t indulge in something as trivial as sitting around watching children’s cartoons all day. Certainly not. No, we are now of an age where we must read about the making of those children’s cartoons, like proper grown-ups. And that’s just what we plan to do this November when a new book about our favorite ’80s animated series hits shelves.
Later this fall, publisher Insight Editions will release Totally Awesome: The Greatest Cartoons of the Eighties, a new book from cartoon historian Andrew Farago. The book will give fans an “inside look at the art and the history of some of the most popular cartoons of the decade,” such as Garfield, Inspector Gadget, Spider-Man, Teenage Ninja Turtles, The Smurfs, and Mighty Mouse, “as told by the writers, animators, voice actors, and other creative talents” behind them.
The book will also feature a foreword by voice actress Russi Taylor, who has played characters like Huey, Dewey, and Louie on the original DuckTales, Minnie Mouse, Baby Gonzo on Muppet Babies, and Martin Prince and the twins Sherri and Terri on The Simpsons.
We didn’t even know “cartoon historian” was a job we could have been working towards all these years (my college GPA would have been so much better), but Farago certainly qualifies for the title. Not only is he the curator of San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum, he wrote The Looney Tunes Treasury, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History, and the upcoming The Complete Peanuts Character Encyclopedia. (That feeling you’re experiencing right now is extreme jealousy. Totally normal.)
Totally Awesome: The Greatest Cartoons of the Eighties hits bookstores on November 28th, which gives us plenty of time to re-watch all our favorite ’80s cartoons first. What? That’s the responsible, adult thing to do to get ready for the book. It’s like, research, or some other mature-sounding thing.
What ’80s cartoon do you hope to learn more about in the book? Take a nostalgia trip to our comments section below to let us know.
Featured Image: DHX Media
Images: Insight Editions
More from the world of ‘toons!
- Check out this scrapped The Simpsons storyline from a beloved episode
- Batman vs. Elmer Fudd is now a radio play
- Douglas Adam’s lost Doctor Who episode is getting animated
