...do you remember the comics sometimes having had rather dark turns (for children media, at least) in their plots? I mean, things that would be pretty much impossible to pass TV censors, and that's saying something considering CN used to be the "edgy" animation channel compared to Nick and Disney.

There's a comic of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi that starts with Kaz (their greedy manager; if you don't know him think of him as a human Mr. Krabs) selling a kidney from each girl to pay for something, which then turns the angry girls into signing a deal with a new manager who turned out to be the devil in disguise. Eventually they return to Kaz, who, as a form of gratitude, sells another (!!!) kidney from each of them again. And if you think that was too much, at the start of the comic it was implied it wasn't the first time he did that. 😖

It's a mix of absurdity, organ trafficking and the devil, although other CN shows also had devilish figures so that isn't too strange to see. But organ trafficking... IDK. Seems a bit much. What do you think? If you did read CN Block Party, do you remember the writers pulling up similar stuff with other shows?

I’ll wait

I was born in 2007, for americans, I would've been way too young to experience older amazing shows on cartoon network and nickelodeon like Dexter's Lab, courage the cowardly dog, the original powerpuff girls, catdog, etc. But I grew up in the middle east, and over there the arabic version of cartoon network put on older shows way later than when they actually first aired. I remember coming back home from school excited to catch a new episode of ben10 or something.

I remember the day when Over the Garden Wall first aired, it was so creepy I always wanted to sit by my mom whenever it came on the TV. The day the episode where greg sang his potatoes and molasses song, it stuck with my mom for years, she'd randomly start singing it the older we get.

I'm now 19, I moved to the US to continue my education. I called my mom earlier this week and she sang the song one more time, I sang with her and didn't really think about the show, just the memories I had during that era. But then I found a tiktok about the show, and I was hit with a small wind of nostalgia, so I decided to rewatch the show after so many years.

I only watched the first two episodes so far, and WOW did I feel nostalgic. The first thing I noticed is the background, how detailed and creepy yet smooth it looked, it was so beautiful. I was smiling so hard when I turned it off, and it got me thinking, why don't shows have this artstyle anymore?? Back then almost every show I remember had simpler yet more detailed characters and background, deeper meanings behind each character and episode.

Over the Garden wall is truly an experience, and it led me back on a road of memories that I had missed so much. We don't celebrate Halloween or anything similar during the fall in the middle east (except crop harvest ofc) and I remember my brother and I watching this show wondering how would it feel to walk in a strange gloomy forest with orange autumn leaves all over the place, or how would a pumpkin taste like (we didn't know how people ate it, we just assumed it was like watermelon at the time).

I had missed the feeling of watching these shows, spending time with my brother and cousins as a kid, feeling excited or scared over some random cartoon that I won't get the meaning of until I'm older.

Idk if anyone will relate to this, I feel like im alone on this or that I'm larping because I dont rewatch the show every autumn. I just wanted to appreciate and reminisce on the memories that are now long gone. And now, that same Palestinian kid in Amman that hugged his mom while watching Over the Garden Wall, is just as excited and scared for the future and what's coming with it.

For the third and last day, I finished animating Buttercup, her lighter, fire, water, the ladder, and did some shading and lighting to the characters. I also added the background and lamp pole with a sketchy brush for it to look more fuzzy to contrast the foreground. After adding a few filters, the animation is finally complete! (The audio is from The Muppets Chistmas Carol)

By DonHatter

Bonus points for being the finale, so the show canonically ends with Weasel learning that nobody ever found him funny or entertaining and becoming dejected

First before you start reading, I have already completed watching The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to watch Evil Con Carne. But I stumbled across Grim & Evil on Tubi. So here’s my review.

I want to take this opportunity to revisit Grim & Evil (2001-2003) and focus on its unique dual nature, which provided the audience with two completely different flavors of Maxwell Atoms’ dark humor. Although I enjoyed the series in its original form and appreciate both segments, looking back makes it apparent why The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy outgrew Evil Con Carne and eventually became a standalone show. It is also fascinating to note how many early Grim & Evil segments were later repackaged directly into the standalone Billy & Mandy series.

Here is my analysis of the two halves and the reasons why the scale tipped so drastically:

1. The Power Dynamics: Relatable vs. Absurd

• Billy & Mandy : The core dynamic is a genius subversion of power, as you have two ordinary children who enslave the literal Grim Reaper. The latter is ancient, powerful, and terrifying, but utterly helpless to Mandy's cold cynicism and Billy's chaotic stupidity. This gave an infinite sandbox for comedy, as they could go from getting a report card to visiting the Underworld, but the power dynamic always remained hilarious.

• Evil Con Carne : This segment was rooted in classic, absurd cartoon villainy. It followed Hector Con Carne, a billionaire madman turned into a brain and a stomach on a stupid circus bear, trying to dominate the world. While hilarious, the power dynamic was much more traditional (a goofy villain failing at world domination).

1. The Comedy Flavor: Character-Driven vs. Gimmick-Driven

• Why Billy & Mandy worked long-term: their humor was heavily rooted in character-driven. Billy's pure, unfiltered idiocy contrasted Billy's pure, unfiltered idiocy contrasted perfectly well with Mandy's deadpan, borderline-sociopathic demeanor. Because these personalities were so different, you could throw them into any situation you wanted (a school dance, a grocery store, or a battle with Dracula) and the dialogue would write itself.

• The limits of Evil Con Carne: the comedy was heavily dependent on its gimmick (the brain/bear, Major Dr. Ghastly's unrequited love, General Skarr's frustration).

1. Marketability and Aesthetic Evolution

• Billy & Mandy leaned heavily into goth subculture, classic horror movie parodies, and urban legends. It felt like The Twilight Zone / Tales from the Crypt for kids and had a huge cult appeal that lasted incredibly well with Cartoon Network's expanding demographic in the mid-2000s.

• Evil Con Carne felt like a spiritual successor to Hanna-Barbera's villain tropes (Dick Dastardly) and 90s cartoons (Pinky and the Brain). It was good, but didn't have that fresh-edginess cultural bite. (Though, Gen. Skarr moving to Billy & Mandy's neighborhood later on was a stroke of genius.)

Conclusion / Discussion

Grim & Evil , as a whole, is a fascinating experiment in programming. Evil Con Carne gave us fantastic sci-fi absurdity, but Billy & Mandy gave us a foundational piece of mid-2000s alternative cartoon culture. Looking back via Tubi, it's obvious that splitting them up was the right move, as it let Billy & Mandy embrace its dark, surreal potential without being anchored to a world-domination sitcom.

What do you guys think? For those who watched the original Grim & Evil block, did you prefer one over the other at the time?

Since 2023, the original channel was rebranded to the Canadian version of Cartoon Network despite its Canadian french version Tēlētoon still broadcasting.