Queer Duck is not only unique in subject matter as the first gay themed animation series, but also because it made the jump from Icebox.com as a Web toon to a series on cable's Showtime. © 2000 Mishmash Media/Icebox, Inc.

Since cable television and the video market were largely unencumbered by Broadcast Standards and Practices, adult-themed animation was able to gain hold in the United States, and many cartoons that play on our TV sets today would have been unthinkable in 1980. From Beavis and Butthead to South Park to the import Cowboy Bebop, these were not typical Saturday morning toons. The tendency for cartoons to break imaginative boundaries flourished with an innovation that came too late for Erikson's book to address: Web cartoons, along with the software technology that made anyone who could afford it his or her own Bob Clampett. It matters little that Icebox.com went broke or that the Web-based toon boom collapsed in 2001; the ideas and the technologies cannot be put back into the bottle, and some of the most exciting artists working today (such as Xeth Feinberg of Bulbo and Queer Duck fame) started out with primitive Flash animation programs. Their delivery systems are truly worldwide and constantly in production. Several Web toons are making, or have already made, the jump to cable TV and even live-action features.

In this way, the delivery systems have become seamless. Take the case of the aforementioned Queer Duck, a Web toon that originated on Icebox.com in late 2000. After only five episodes appeared on the Web, Icebox.com went bust but the toon caught the eyes of the execs at Showtime. Soon Queer Duck and his fey compatriots were accompanying the cable station's series Queer as Folk. Recently the BBC decided to pick up Queer Duck as an addition to their comedy lineup. It is not unreasonable to assume that DVDs are far behind; in fact, considering the popularity of the series, it would be surprising not to see them. None of this would have been possible ten years ago.

Other Paths of Influence
The impact of more and varied delivery systems for animation affected fandom in other ways. By the 1990s the full influence of what would eventually be called anime was felt due to the ability of multiple delivery systems to channel Japanese product to American audiences. The industry was changed by the need to move animation production overseas in order to save money and meet the voracious demands of network TV, cable and the syndication market. "Runaway" animation, as it was called, was a mixed blessing for the industry and a horror for job-hungry animators in America, but again the delivery system was calling the shots.

Web cartoons did help bring some creators to light: Xeth Feinberg, for example, started by creating Bulbo using Flash animation, now with Queer Duck, he's moved on to a TV series. © 2000 Mishmash Media/Icebox, Inc.

I readily admit the following: Cultural factors may have made a toon boom inevitable; changing standards and mores did enable a more adult style of animation; and globalization would have brought new influences into animation in any case. What I most want to stress is, none of those changes would have registered across the widest audience possible without a multiplicity of affordable delivery systems that represent the cutting edge of entertainment technology. The more systems in existence, the greater the demand for product to deliver, and the more diverse and sophisticated the product becomes. This, in turn, leads to a broader and more knowledgeable fan base -- from which the next generation of animators and writers is born.

From a single delivery system and twenty-two hours of animation in 1940 we have evolved to multiple transmission sources and 24-hour broadcasting of toons today. Whether your choice is the theater, network TV, its cable/satellite counterpart, VCR, DVD, or the Web, toons are now as plentiful as the air you breathe, coming to you via special delivery each and every day. Take a deep breath and enjoy.

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman is a longtime student and fan of animation. He lives in Anderson, Indiana.