Favorite Childhood Cartoons - Birdman

When we lived in Europe there was very little TV for us to watch. Mostly 3 German channels that went on the air late in the afternoon and went off the air very early in the evening. Besides musical entertainment shows there was very little to enjoy. Except for Saturday and Sunday afternoons when we got ENGLISH cartoons and programs from some French stations though my father said it was because Santa liked us best. Amoung the gems we got to enjoy were shows that probably started my lifelong love of superheroes.


Birdman - lived in a volcanic headquarters with his large pet eagle AVENGER. Birdman was my favorite. I loved the way the music changed and got all heroic and funky when we were inside his super volcano aveary. Even his boss FALCON SEVEN was cool. He wore a patch, smoked a pipe and was only ever seen on the Birdscreen in Birdman's lair. Birdman shot lazer sun beams from his fists (usally accompanied by that cool sound effect all the Hanna Barbara cartoons had for lazer energy blasts) He could also materialize a sun shield out of thin air. Of course since all his power came from the sun the villians he fought always seemed to get him in some dark room, or cave or tunnel that sapped his strenght until he could contact Avenger on their matching necklaces and Avenger could find some way to break a window or flip a lever so Birdman could then recharge. Having the stupidest villian ever didn't hurt his superheroics either but why quibble. He rocked! I also liked the way he called out his name "BIRDMAN!!!!" whenever he flew away much like I used to do with my birdman cape and stuffed parrot (we had to do superhero on the cheap back then).