Atom Ant (Boomerang)

ATOM ANT is a mid-'60s Hanna-Barbara cartoon about a superstrong, superfast flying ant. Sometimes he works at the behest of the police, stopping, say, gangs of picnic-stealing ants on motorcycles, and sometimes he fights bad guys on his own. The show's includes cartoon shorts featuring the adventures of the Hillbilly Bears, a sort of combination of the Beverly Hillbillies and the Flintstones.

It's not exactly clear why he's "Atom" Ant; perhaps it's his superpowers making him the futuristic ideal of an ant. Older kids will laugh at his souped-up headquarters -- an anthill featuring a giant computer/telephone a la the Jetsons, along with a large collection of barbells -- but younger ones may well enjoy the flying and the spectacle of an ant lifting cars and the like.

As in Mighty Mouse -- and, really, all the superhero cartoons of the era -- female characters are invariably in peril and stereotypes like Latin lovers abound. While these generally go over the heads of young viewers, older kids will easily spot them for what they are. As for the Hillbilly Bears shorts, there's really very little humor beyond the stereotypes and the pratfalls, but at least it's short.