Kid Cosmic, a new sci-fi adventure cartoon on Netflix, was created by Craig McCracken who is perhaps most well-known for his work on The Powerpuff Girls, so why does Kid Cosmic feel like such a different show? Kid Cosmic tells the story of Kid, a young boy living in the New Mexico desert. When an alien ship crash lands near his home, Kid finds five stones that grant supernatural powers. Inspired by his favorite superhero comics, Kid turns the stones into rings and dubs himself Kid Cosmic. The premise may seem familiar to fans of The Powerpuff Girls, which also features children who gain supernatural powers, but the two shows have at least one significant difference that sets them apart.
During the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, when The Powerpuff Girls was on television, most animated kids shows like Spongebob Squarepants, Dexter’s Laboratory, and The Fairly Odd Parents told self-contained stories within each installment—including The Powerpuff Girls. The episodic format lent itself well to television, but McCracken knew that Kid Cosmic needed to be a serialized show that told an overarching story from one episode to the next.
As McCracken explains in an interview with Animation Magazine, he had the idea for Kid Cosmic as early as 2009.
…but the more I thought about it, I realized that this needed to be serialized. I can’t do random 11-minute or 22-minute cartoons with this. This character needs to grow and change, so I put it on the backburner. In recent years, as you know, more networks have been open to the idea of serialization in comic adaptations.
With the rise of streaming platforms and binge watching, serialized cartoons now dominate the genre. Avatar: The Last Airbender was ahead of its time in 2005, but in 2021, Netflix is packed with cartoons that feel more like Avatar than Spongebob. The Dragon Prince, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and Voltron: Legendary Defender are some of Netflix’s most popular animated originals aimed at children and families — and they’re all serialized cartoons. Though Kid Cosmic has a retro art style and soundtrack, it feels like a modern cartoon because of its serial format.
For better or worse, Kid Cosmic proves how much children’s cartoons have changed and evolved since the days of The Powerpuff Girls. Netflix likely knows that serial cartoons are more suited for binging, which is great news for creators like McCracken that have been sitting on their serial cartoon ideas for years. It also means that the episodic format feels outdated, though The Powerpuff Girls still has massive nostalgia appeal. Whether or not Kid Cosmic lives up to the legacy of its predecessors, its serial format makes it feel familiar to modern audiences, but quite different The Powerpuff Girls.
