There were a few cartoons that stuck with me but this one was definitely  in the top

 

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the premise, Billy and Mandy are two young children who end up beating the grim reaper in a game of limbo in order to save Billy’s hamster.

The show began as a part of a series of segments but later on received a spin-off series which ran  June 13, 2003, to November 9, 2007.

The show itself was vastly different from the other things that I had seen on Cartoon Network. It was gross (mainly Billy), dark, twisted and bizarre. It seems to be yet another thing that made me want to dig deeper into the creepy and dark side of the world. So many creatures and worlds were explored and I seemed to want more and more. The most infamous characters being Nergal the demon, Hoss Delgado, Eris the goddess of chaos even the one and only Cthulhu.

They introduced all kinds of creatures and worlds each episode, seemingly pushing the boundaries more and more. I’m still shocked that the show actually aired on Cartoon Network. Sure there were shows like Courage the cowardly dog (which itself definitely influenced me as well) but Billy and Mandy always had some disturbing scenes like these:

Now after I’ve grown up, rewatching a few of the episodes I could definitely tell that it was made from someone that loves horror. That can especially be seen in the episode “Home of the ancients” where Grim is sentenced for 50 hours of community service where old monsters and creatures reside including Dracula, Medusa, The Bride of Frankenstein and The Wolfman which were Grim’s childhood heroes. There they have an existential crisis claiming that their time has passed and that the time has come for the newer icons like Freddy and Jason. A great homage to the pillars of horror.

There isn’t anything too special or deep like Princess Mononoke but for a children’s show, there is more than enough, tons of easter eggs and a rich world to get into.