When I was younger I didn't like "funny" heroes. I realize now that what I didn't like were the stories where the "heroes" only succeeded in spite of themselves, or through another agency such as a cat sidekick (yes Hong Kong Phooey, I'm looking in your direction). Since I've gotten older I know that I like fun heroes, such as Atom Ant, The Impossibles and Underdog, since they still did all the super stuff and fought villains, even if the fourth wall got broken to bits by all the characters. Now I am amazed to find out just how funny some of them were.
Take Atom Ant- there's plenty of funny super stuff going on during any given episode, but the narrator, hero and villain often get some clever asides to the audience.
Hanna-Barbera were masters at this sort of cartoon, which they excelled at from their days with Tom and Jerry. Timing is everything with comedy, or even life.
Quickdraw McGRaw wasn't quite a superhero, but he did have the alter ego of El Kabong, which made him more heroic. Sure, Baba Louie helped him out a lot, but he had a good heart.
Now where's my Atom Ant DVD set?
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