Cover: Craig McCracken & Jeff Albrecht

Cartoon Network Starring #5

Jan 2000 · DC · 1.99 USD; 3.25 CAD

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“Black and Blue Period”

About this Issue

Cartoon Network Starring #5 (January 2000) marks the second comic-book appearance of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup — Townsville's kindergarten-aged superheroines — following their debut just four months earlier in Cartoon Network Starring #1 (September 1999). Coming during the show's meteoric rise as Cartoon Network's top-rated original series, this issue helped establish that the Powerpuff Girls had enough reader demand to justify a solo ongoing title, which DC launched just months later in May 2000. The series that grew out of these early anthology appearances ran 70 issues through 2006 under the Johnny DC imprint, making the Powerpuff Girls one of the longest-running DC kids comics of the era. Issue #5 is therefore a direct bridge between the characters' comic debut and their graduation to a full solo run.

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writer Craig McCracken · artist Paul Rudish · artist Cindy Morrow · inker Mike DeCarlo · colorist Dave Tanguay · letterer Phil Felix · cover Craig McCracken, Jeff Albrecht

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History

Cartoon Network Starring was DC Comics' second anthology title devoted to Cartoon Network's original programming, succeeding Cartoon Network Presents and operating on a one-show-per-issue format rather than the multi-feature approach of its predecessor. The series existed specifically to showcase Cartoon Network's in-house 'Cartoon Cartoons' lineup — including Space Ghost Coast to Coast — while deliberately excluding Hanna-Barbera legacy properties. DC obtained the rights to publish Cartoon Network material following Time Warner's 1996 merger with Turner Broadcasting, and Cartoon Network Starring ran 18 issues before being replaced by the anthology title Cartoon Cartoons. The Powerpuff Girls received only two issues of the run — #1 and #5 — before DC spun them off into their own book, reflecting both the show's popularity and the franchise's commercial potential at the turn of the millennium.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published January 2000 by DC Comics as part of the Cartoon Network Starring anthology series (Vol. 1, #5).
Represents the second comic-book appearance of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup; their first was Cartoon Network Starring #1 (September 1999).
Cartoon Network Starring #1 was written and drawn by Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken, with Dexter's Laboratory creator Genndy Tartakovsky as co-writer.
Cartoon Network Starring ran 18 issues total and gave the Powerpuff Girls exactly two issues (#1 and #5) before they graduated to their own solo title.
The solo Powerpuff Girls ongoing series launched in May 2000 under the Johnny DC imprint and ran 70 issues through 2006.
Cartoon Network Starring was the second DC/Cartoon Network anthology, preceded by Cartoon Network Presents and followed by Cartoon Cartoons; each issue spotlighted a single show.
The DC Powerpuff Girls comics had a reciprocal relationship with the TV series — some comic stories were later adapted as animated episodes, and vice versa.
IDW Publishing later acquired the rights to the original DC Powerpuff Girls comic run and re-released it under the banner 'Powerpuff Girls Classic.'