Wouldn’t it be cool if you could own a few episodes of your favorite cartoons? What about 10 episodes? What about …200?? Moonscoop must think the same way, because they just signed a deal with GMTV for 200 episodes of its programs. This will include shows like Marvel’s Fantastic Four, Code Lyoko, Cosmic Quantum Ray, the new animated series Hero:108 — all of which will be prepped to appear in its Action Stations block. Other series, like Chloe’s Closet, will be appearing on The Fluffy Club block. And if you’re a cartoon fan like myself, then you’ll be making an appearance for all of them!

Mickey and Spidey, happy together? Looks like it! News across the blogosphere is that the Walt Disney Co. will be buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for a super-hero-sized sum of money (upwards of $4 billion in cash and stock). This brings characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine and others into the family of Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Nemo, WALL-E, and Aladdin. Worlds collide! The two universes of characters, many of whom were created by Walt Disney and Stan Lee, will soon be jointly connected. Disney’s last big company move of this size was to acquire Pixar Animation Studios, Inc. in 2006. Will the house in UP get some flight help from X-Men’s Storm? Will the Fantastic Four take role call in the Mickey Mouse Club? Everything is too new to say just yet, but stay TOONed right here for all the details!

Astro Boy is now less than 3 months from hitting theaters in the US, and we’re starting to get some of the final details on the CG film. This time around, its information on the audio portions of the movie, which will debut October 23rd. Composer John Ottman (who worked on Superman Returns) and sound designer Richard Anderson (who worked on Superman Returns, X-Men, and Fantastic Four) are creating the score and sound design for the Imagi Studios flick. They’ve obviously got the super hero experience!

Marvel Entertainment Inc., has partnered with renowned Japanese animation studio Madhouse and multiple-Eagle Award winner Warren Ellis to create four all new anime versions of classic Marvel Super Heroes: one of which is everyone’s favorite clawed mutant, Wolverine! We started talking about this almost a year ago, but now we can finally get a first glimpse of the work in progress, as Marvel releases a teaser trailer. Check it out after the break!

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Well… kind of!  Marvel Entertainment and Gazillion Entertainment have signed up to develop massively multiplayer online (MMOs) games about Marvel’s universe of characters, from movies and cartoons.  The first game in based on the upcoming Cartoon Network series, Marvel’s Super Hero Squad, which includes Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Thor, fantastic Four, Captain America, and others.   Stay TOONed for more details on the other games!

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The Marvel Universe is hoping to expand into Japan.  Marvel Entertainment, Inc. is partnering with Madhouse, a famous Japanese animation studio to create new characters for the Japanese market.  The two companies will work closely with one another, trying to produce a few new Japanese anime series that are inspired by Marvel’s immense library of characters.  The art will be adapted using a traditional anime style and creating unique back stories intertwining with local culture and Japanese history.

Could this mean Spider-Man swinging his way through Tokyo?  Or Wolverine with samurai sword claws?  The Hulk doing battle with Iron Man in a sushi eating contest?

The first of four new series will launch in the spring of 2010 on the local anime network.  Iron Man and Wolverine will be amongst the stars, but the plans will soon spread to the entire list of characters, from the Fantastic Four to Daredevil to Thor to Captain … America?  We’ll see!  Stay tuned to ToonBarn for more details!