The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a big part of my childhood.  I grew up in this sweet spot where the cartoon was incredibly popular and we got the first few movies and a slew of video games.  I entered into Friday’s panel at Room 6BCF with hesitation.  A few animated films that never took off and some jittery cartoon series have since come out and I’ve grown older.  I can safely say, though, that while there are some big changes afoot, I think showrunner Ciro Neili knows just what buttons to push to revitalize this franchise.  During a lively panel we were shown some brief character intros, Neili’s concept art, clips of test footage, and much more.  Jason Biggs (Leonardo), Rob Paulsen (Donatello), Sean Astin (Raphael), Greg Cipes (Michaelangelo), Mae Whitman (April O’Neil), Hoon Lee (Splinter), and Kevin Michael Richardson (Shredder) were all on hand to share their experiences and individual love for the property.  Hit the jump for more details.

A few weeks ago we brought you footage from the first trailer for Cartoon Network’s rebooted Thundercats animated series. Today, we have what seems to be casting confirmation from the new voice of Panthro, Kevin Michael Richardson (The Cleveland Show). While discussing the upcoming series, Richardson claims that the voice of Lion-O is being provided by Will Friedle. Probably best known (by me at least) for his turn as Eric Matthews in ABC’s long-running sitcom Boy Meets World, Friedle also has an extensive amount of voice acting credits under his belt with series’ such as Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Batman Beyond, and Kim Possible.

In addition to Richardson and Friedle, Emmanuelle Chriqui also revealed that she is lending her pipes to an unidentified character for the new-look Thundercats via her recent interview with us. For more on what Richardson had to say about the series, hit the jump to check out his video interview.

UPDATE: We’ve confirmed with the studio that Emmanuelle Chriqu is the voice of Cheetara.

Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam is the latest animated short to be released by the folks in charge of the DC Animated Universe. The Man of Steel, in his Clark Kent guise, is doing a newspaper piece on Billy Bastion, a young orphan with a heart of gold who tries to always see the good in the world. It is this eternal optimism that has also piqued the interest of a mystical being known as the Wizard Shazam. Unbeknowst to Billy, he has been marked by the Wizard in order for him to keep an eye on him. This mystical mark though is also acting as a beacon for the Wizard’s greatest failure, Black Adam.  Continued after the jump: