#jim smith

I just found out that Jim Smith has passed away. I don’t know the details, but he was one of the key artists behind The Ren & Stimpy Show—his wild, expressive style helped define the look and energy of that era of animation. In spite of what you may think of series creator John Kricfalusi, Smith remained one of the only people loyal to him, even working on the doomed Cans Without Labels short.

The last thing Smith posted on his blog was a series of Batman and Superman drawings from March 2016. After that, he disappeared. To my knowledge, it was never reported on. I only knew something was wrong because his family members began leaving comments on old Ren & Stimpy YouTube videos, asking if anyone had information on what happened to him.

Now it seems he's passed away. I didn’t know the man personally, so I won’t pretend to feel a personal loss. But I do hope nothing horrible happened to him, given his years of silence and the fact even his family didn't seem to know what happened to him, and that he passed peacefully. As an admirer of his artwork, I do feel this loss on a cultural level. Smith was potentially the best draftsman on the first two seasons of Ren & Stimpy—perhaps the best seasons of what may have been the greatest comedy cartoon ever made for television.

8 years have passed since Samurai Jack got back to the past...

so what's Genndy Tartakovsky been up to during that 8th year? Not to mention The Cartoon Network of course...

Jellystone!'s Season 4 opener "Cartoon Network vs. Jellystone! Crisis on Infinite Mirths", yet another CN crossover episode, was promoted at SDCC 2024 and premiered on HBO Max; the special will premiere on linear television at 10:30 AM Sunday, May 25th, 2025... only on Cartoon Network!

New Line Cinema has Sony Pictures Animation given back the rights for the 2D raunchy adult animated comedy Fixed as another cost-cutting move on Warner Bros. Discovery's part. It was likely to air on [as] with co-production by Cartoon Network Studios, but now it will stream on Netflix in August 2025, and pictures of the film are revealed.

Dexter's Laboratory: The Complete Series was released on DVD in stores featuring Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip, which was originally set for its own DVD release but decades later became part of the set.

Genndy Tartakovsky revealed some artwork and a part of the script for Sym-Bionic Titan Season 2's opener (technically Season 3 as CN promoted 2 seasons that make Season 1 up) on his Instagram account.

I got 2 Cartoon Network t-shirts that were not totally official CN merch but branded by Port & Company Ring Spun Fan Favorites.

AWorkersignited got #RIPCartoonNetwork trending although there wasn't any official news otherwise of CN in danger of shutting down. Cartoon Network also trended over "reheated leftovers" for Generation Alpha with more Regular Show content to come.

Primal Screen began to wrap production on their final works up and reincarnated as Space Monster Studio.

Toonami Rewind lasted from May 31st, 2024 to December 27, 2024 due to licensing fees for rerunning the 3 anime that they aired (Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z Kai, and Naruto). ACME Night hasn't been active since December 29, 2024, and the Cartoonito branding may end in the US by May 26, 2025.

Samurai Jack aired only 8 episodes of Season 1 on Checkered Past before it was pulled off; it's unknown if it'll return. What a Cartoon! including poor quality butchered prints sourced from The Cartoon Cartoons Show prints also started to occasionally air on the block as well as compilation episodes of Cartoon Planet (1997 version).

Invincible Fight Girl ended up airing on Toonami while Iyanu went to CN; the latter is the most successful Cartoon Network original (though entirely third-party and not even co-produced by the network at all) this year. Duck Dodgers (the series) as well as brief airings of Steven Universe and The Powerpuff Girls reran on CN on weekends. Totally Spies! Season 7 also aired on CN but with new actresses from Distribimage NYC instead of Jennifer Hale and friends due to issues regarding SAG-AFTRA union rates. The Venture Bros. reran from the pilot onward on [as] from August 11, 2024 to May 4, 2025 in celebration of that show's 20th anniversary.

Warner Bros. Discovery may spin some companies off but I'm not sure if Discovery is going to decide to split from WB yet or not.

Genndy Tartakovsky planned to attend a SCAD event but couldn't due to a storm.

Spumco/Ren & Stimpy veteran Jim Smith died as reported on May 2nd, 2025 (6 years after Chris Reccardi - also a Spumco/R&S and Samurai Jack veteran - died). The manliest artist in the world contributed storyboards and prop design to some episodes of Samurai Jack but mostly did character design for Season 2.

Lorenzo Estrada made some fake Uncle Grandpa "Powerhouse-era" Cartoon Network bumpers.

Some Cartoon Cartoons revival shorts are cancelled by WBDiscovery, and, after 4 years since new Gumball content, The Amazing World of Gumball (now titled The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball) will stream exclusively on Hulu instead of airing on TV.

Craig McCracken, Mike Collins, Ricardo Delgado and Andy Bialk have their Twitter/X accounts deactivated probably due to political discourse.

I can't recall much else but I'll modify this post when I've more mental energy to focus.

First year passing

Second year passing

Third year passing

Fourth year passing

Fifth year passing (incomplete)

Sixth year passing (incomplete)

Sing to God by Cardiacs is Transgender!