Cartoon Cartoon

If it were not for Walt Disney, kids today (and many adults too!) would have been deprived of a major arena of entertainment. Cartoon - The etymology of this word is from the French word "carton" and from the Italian word “cartone”. Be it a snippet in the corners of a daily newspaper or a graphical and engaging full fledged motion picture, cartoon comes in a variety of flavors - from political to mockery to mystery to fun.

There were times when my patience was tested by my young cousins who used to watch The Cartoon Network for the whole day long, preventing me from watching soap operas! (I know for many of them cartoon is a better alternative, however there were few soaps that I was mad about!). Nevertheless I still have my share of good time pass by sitting in front of the idiot box and watching my favorite cartoon programs.

When I extend cartoon to comics, I get an equally engaging domain of yet another time killer. From Archies to Tintins to Asterix, comics also have its share of assortment. I do not know about the others - for me, it all started with Mickey & Donald. The ever green Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy can still be seen in Disneyland, even when Disney is celebrating its 50th anniversary! Equally popular cartoons are Tom and Jerry, Scooby, Dennis the Menace, Casper, Richie Rich & the men (Bat/Super/Spider)! Many of these characters have their share of motion pictures, captivating the audience - young and old alike.

Here are some cartoon facts that I googled and got -

The earliest cartoon strip, named "The Yellow Kid," was shown in the New York Journal in 1896.

The longest running newspaper comic strip is "The Katzenjammer Kids," which was first published in 1897. It is still in publication.

The most filmed cartoon character - Zorro has been shown in 69 films. Created by Johnston McCully, he was the first comic strip character to be the subject shown in a major film, The Mark of Zorro (USA 1920).

With more thoughts...