A Celebration of Animation: The 100 Greatest Cartoon Characters in Television History

by Martin "Marty" Gitlin, Joseph Wos

Few morose thoughts permeate the brain when Yosemite Sam calls Bugs Bunny a “long-eared galut” or a frustrated Homer Simpson blurts out his famous catch-word, “D’oh!” A Celebration of Animation explores the best-of-the-best cartoon characters from the 1920s to the 21 st century. Casting a wide net, it includes characters both serious and humorous, and ranging from silly to malevolent. But all the greats gracing this book are sure to trigger nostalgic memories of carefree Saturday mornings or after-school hours with family and friends in front of the TV set.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, History

296 pages, Hardcover

Published March 15, 2018

About the author

MARTIN (MARTY) GITLIN is a freelance book writer and journalist based in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to Diana, Princess of Wales (Greenwood 2008), he has written several history books for students, including works on the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, Battle of The Little Bighorn, and Stock Market Crash of 1929. He has also written biographies of NASCAR drivers Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

Gitlin worked for two decades as a sportswriter, during which time he won more than 45 awards, including first place for general excellence from Associated Press. That organization also selected him as one of the top four feature writers in Ohio.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew I was going to love this book when it had Beast Boy from Teen Titans and the Joker/Harley Quinn team from the original Batman animated series RIGHT ON THE COVER! Of course there are classics in the book such as Tom & Jerry, Astro Boy, Space Ghost and Alvin & the Chipmunks, so it's not just for Generation Yers (Zs? Millennials? What even am I anymore?). What's more is that you get trivia about who voiced the cartoons, changes made during respective seasons, the kinds of music used for more classic Looney Tunes-era cartoons, and what kind of impact many of these cartoons made. I appreciated that some of the more problematic episodes during some of these cartoons' runs was mentioned, because I think it's important to note when our media missteps, and how to correct or acknowledge problems.
Sure, There are some things I would like to change in this book But If you want a trip down memory lane or are generally interested in animation, this book is 1000% worth a look. This will definitely change my Netflix search history for the next few months...

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hold up....Jokey Smurf is on here, but Papa Smurf or Smurfette isn't? Donald Duck, Scrooge Mcduck AND Darkwing Duck make an appearance, but Jem and Tiny Toons are no where to be seen. Penny is here, but not Inspector Gadget? How about Danger Mouse AND Count Duckula, but no Bananaman? A lot of the entries are multiple characters (i.e., Shaggy and Scooby Doo), while others are inexplicably on their own (i.e., Alvin with no Chipmunks, Baby Gonzo instead of Muppy Babies...the explanations really don't hold water).
Seriously, this list is pretty much a hot mess, leaning heavily into the periods between 1989-1999 (31 entries) and 1959-1969 (28 entries)...only 3 entries for all the 1970s. I understand many of the decisions made, it just feels like a father and son reflecting on their childhood television memories.

[Diane Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a lot of fun and brought back a lot of great memories. I do think it could benefit from an index.

[Jaime Guzman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a huge animation fan and when buying a coffee table sized book on the subject of animation you would think it would be filled with tons of pics and drawings of your favorite characters. It doesn't. The book covers 100 animated characters and at the very least it should have 100 pics for each character. Sadly this is not the case either. What I did enjoy is there are bits of trivia and history about the characters and a well thought out decisions on the author's rankings such as why Bugs Bunny ranked #1 instead of Mickey Mouse. I would say don't spend $35 on this book and just check it out from your local library like I did and save your dough.

[Ben Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I disagreed with a number of the decisions but was fascinated by many of the reasons given, alongside learning some great trivia.

[Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author was presenting at our local library to get his book out, I erred on the time and only heard about 15 minutes. What I heard led me to read the book, which was available at the library on my way out.
He knows his stuff, I found it a fun read, and did learn new information.
I agree with the reader who had a complaint that there were not enough pictures of the cartoons.
From before the book's half way point, there's no guarantee there will be a picture of one of the 100 top cartoon characters, which when there jogs my brain to better enjoy the narrative.
Reading about Heckle and Jeckle, or Danger Mouse without any visual, feels like an omission.
I'm sure the author had his reasons, which I possibly could have heard, or asked about, had I been on time for his presentation.

[Judy Aulik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even clearing my mind of all the times I thought, "What is this writer thinking, not including ...?", I truly disliked this work. First of all, about a quarter of the entries had no image of the character discussed. Come on, it's a visual art. It needs pictures to describe it.
Secondly, it's repetitive. Each entry begins with a brief description. However, the summary essentially repeats the phrasing of the main description.
Third, there's a lot of white space on most pages. Take out the blanks and the repetition, and you have a 180 page book, not the nearly 300 pages at which it met the press.
This is one to check out from the library, not to purchase even from a remainder table.

[Bree Sotirovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a slow day at work and I filling the day by reading non-fiction. I picked up A Celebration of Animation from the shelf to see what the number 1 character is, who I will not spoil it by naming. However it is not my favorite character. Some of my favorites were listed but I mostly was just happy if their show was mentioned. Teen Titans Go and Adventure Time are ones that made the cut as well as mentioning Elmer Fudd, Rocky and Bullwinkle. Each character gets about 2 pages of information, however not all of them have a picture included. I forgot who the Wonder Twins were and had to Google them.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this large oversized book, the author ranks 100 cartoon characters. In each entry, we have some trivia, a brief history and the reason why the character is ranked the way they are. The book is put together very nicely sans one major hiccup, the lack of photos. There were a few characters I wasn't fully familiar with and a photo didn't help. I also didn't agree with a lot of the rankings which is to be expected with this sort of book.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a large-format, coffee table book, it's actually an easy read: breezy, informative, if not exactly encyclopedic. However, what lets it down is the surprising lack of visuals. If the royalties were too much money for the publishers of this book, then why make it coffee table sized at all? It revealed some interesting information, but in the end this is less than the sum of its parts.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit misleading since this book is labeled as 100 of the greatest characters characters in TV history but it clearly had much more than 100. It wasn't a bad book but I felt it could use a bit more diversity with its picks. 

[Mattie Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
had solid information about characters and fun facts, needed more pictures and animation facts

[Brianne Friend · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard this author speak at my local library he was very nice and down to earth. This was cute read that could be shared with the whole family. Also very well researched.