Cartoon Network Starring #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeCartoon Network Starring #1 marks the first comic book appearance of the Powerpuff Girls, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, placing it at the origin point of one of the most successful animated franchises of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The issue also inaugurated a deliberately focused anthology format — one show per issue — that represented a meaningful editorial shift from DC's earlier Cartoon Network comics, which had blended multiple Hanna-Barbera properties together. Coming out just months after the television series' November 1998 debut, the comic arrived at the peak of the Powerpuff Girls' cultural momentum, when the show was drawing record Nielsen ratings for Cartoon Network's 6-to-11 demographic. That first appearance anchored an enduring print franchise: the story was later reprinted both as a Burger King promotional giveaway in 2002 and as the opening chapter of the ongoing Powerpuff Girls series, cementing this issue's foundational role in the characters' publishing history.
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The issue was edited by Dana Kurtin with Harvey Richards as assistant editor, continuing the same editorial team that had steered the predecessor title Cartoon Network Presents through its 24-issue run. The creative team was unusually close to the source material: series creator Craig McCracken wrote and penciled the lead Powerpuff Girls story, with his CalArts collaborator and Dexter's Laboratory creator Genndy Tartakovsky sharing a writing credit. Inks were provided by Mike DeCarlo, colors by Dave Tanguay, and letters by Phil Felix — a production crew drawn from DC's standard pool of house talent. The issue was released in both direct-sales and newsstand editions, the latter distinguished by a different barcode configuration, a distribution practice standard for DC at the time.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First comic book appearance of the Powerpuff Girls (Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup), published by DC Comics in September 1999.
- Written by Craig McCracken (creator of The Powerpuff Girls) with co-writing credit to Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of Dexter's Laboratory); pencils by McCracken, inks by Mike DeCarlo, colors by Dave Tanguay, letters by Phil Felix.
- Edited by Dana Kurtin with Harvey Richards as assistant editor — the same editorial team behind the predecessor series Cartoon Network Presents.
- Cartoon Network Starring #1 launched a new anthology format in which each issue spotlighted a single Cartoon Network original series, rather than mixing multiple properties as Cartoon Network Presents had done.
- The series was DC's second Cartoon Network anthology title; it ran 18 issues (1999–2001) before being replaced by the title Cartoon Cartoons.
- The issue exists in two editions: a direct-sales copy and a newsstand variant, both published in September 1999.
- The Powerpuff Girls story from this issue was later reprinted in the Powerpuff Girls Burger King Giveaway #1 (DC, 2002) and in The Powerpuff Girls (DC ongoing series) #1 – Titans of Townsville (November 2003).
- The Powerpuff Girls television series had debuted on Cartoon Network less than a year before this issue's release, on November 18, 1998, making the comic an early extension of the franchise at the height of its initial cultural impact.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Powerpuff Girls [Burger King Giveaway] #1 (2002), The Powerpuff Girls #1 (2003), Powerpuff Girls Classics #1 (2013)
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