As everyone knows, the internet is full of good and bad stuff. Among the gems, I’ve discovered is the clever and simple site, Don Markstein’s Toonopedia. This site is a wonderful resource for people interested, even remotely, in cartoons and comics. Want to know where you can find Liberty Meadows on-line? Or where to find Bill Holbrook’s Kevin and Kell? Want to find the name of Dagwood Bumstead’s father? Or did you know that DC Comic’s Red Tornado started out as a woman who became a “superhero” because of the Green Lantern? Want to know if there was ever a comic character called, “Mr. Satan”? Here’s the place to find out.
Created by Don Markstein, a former writer for Disney comics, the site is per Markstein’s own words, “…attempt to gather and share information and observations about the toon world — a ‘toon’ being anything that’s done in cartoon form, such as animated films, comic books, etc.”
Keep in the mind the site is not perfect because some the comic links are dead such as the one referring to Calvin and Hobbes which if you’re interested can be found here. I also found some of his info strangely lacking in some areas. For example he mentions that Richard Steven Horvitz was the voice of Billy in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and was also the voice of Invader Zim. But he doesn’t mention that Horvitz also voiced Daggett in The Angry Beavers which came before Zim and Grim. It’s a shortcoming, but in comparison to the knowledge on the site, it’s a small one.
Don Markstein’s Toonopedia is the internet at its best for a person interested in trivia like me. I’ll never know when I’ll get the chance to work Caspar Milquetoast into a conversation, but I do know the site I’ll send my victim to with a “look it up!”