Bruce Timm To Start Work On New Justice League Cartoon!

SOURCE: ComicBookMovie.com.

When the news broke yesterday that Bruce Timm was stepping down from overseeing all of DC Comics animated movies, we were reassured that he wasn't leaving the company.  That proved true this morning when it was confirmed that Timm will be overseeing a new Justice League cartoon.

This is good news, but I can't help but wonder why - with Warner Bros. unable to get a team together to produce a decent script for the live-action Justice League movie - Timm hasn't been tapped for that role.  Granting that Timm's background is in cartooning and animation, he's proven time and again that he knows the characters and can get a team together.  He could produce a live-action Justice League movie even if someone else directed it.

Justice League #0 - A Review

I'd say that Justice League #0 is the greatest collection of false advertising and empty promises I've seen all year except for one thing - it's an election year in America.  But in all seriousness, this issue was an all-around disappointment.  There is no Justice League to be found here.  Instead we get the continuing misadventures of Billy Batson - #2 on the list of children I most want to see repeatedly slapped, just behind Joffrey Baratheon of A Game Of Thrones.


This issue finally brings us the moment we've been waiting for six months - when bratty Billy meets s wizard, who grants him magic powers by saying the word Shazam.  As hinted before, the wizard - like Diogenes - has been seeking a purely good and honest soul for quite some time.  But unlike Diogenes, he thought he actually had a chance of success.  Not surprisingly, being a mouthy jerk and petty crook, Billy fails to past the purity test.  But being a mouthy jerk, Billy points out that nobody is purely honesty and good - a fact that has somehow been missed by one of the wisest men on the planet for several thousand years.  This leads the wizard to test Billy to see if he has the potential to be good, decide "What the heck?" and give Billy his power just before dropping dead. 

It takes Billy about three minutes to start abusing the holy gift he's been given.  He destroys the car of the local rich jerk and contemplates stealing a fancy new suit that is less conspicuous than his hooded cape and tights.  Thankfully, Billy does have scruples enough to step in after he and his foster-brother stumble across a mugger at work.  Unfortunately, those scruples stop just short of accepting payment from the woman he just saved.


To say that this story defiles everything Billy Batson & Captain Marvel represent would be an epic understatement.  I don't think they decided to have Billy go by the name Shazam because that's what most people outside of comics call the character anyway or because of the continual legal battles with Marvel Comics over the Captain Marvel name.  I think The Powers That Be at DC Comics decided to call this character Shazam because they knew there was no way in Heck that they could ever get away with trying to sell this character to Captain Marvel fans under the name Captain Marvel.

The only justification for Billy's retconned personality I can think of is the misguided belief that an idealistic young man granted power because of his pure spirit has no place in the modern DCU.  To see Billy acting the way he does in this issue is painful.  And to see Geoff Johns writing this story doubles that pain - partly because Johns put the idea that Billy Batson needs to be modernized and made more cynical to bed during his excellent JSA run and partly because - ignoring that Shazam is a betrayal of everything Billy Batson should be - Johns does pace the story well and deliver some good dialogue. 

Thankfully, regardless of what I think of the story, the artwork is amazing throughout.  Gary Frank does a good job illustrating the Shazam story while Johns' frequent Green Lantern collaborator Ethan Van Sciver lends his talents to the back-up story.  This brief tale finally introduces us to the mysterious pink-cloaked woman who has been popping up around the New 52 universe as well as another classic hero we haven't seen before now.


Still, no amount of fine artwork can make this book palatable.  What matter that the face be pretty when the heart is cold and dead?

Billy Batson is supposed to be a decent kid in spite of his hard-luck life.  His positive attitude in the face of all the evils of the world is what leads to his being rewarded with the power to help others.  The character is all about the innocence of youth and the power of idealism.  Even Frank Miller understood that and didn't try to force Captain Marvel into a darker, grittier role when he wrote The Dark Knight Strikes Back.  And it was Billy who took Superman to task for being blinded by his hatred of Lex Luthor in the excellent Justice League Unlimited episode Clash Of The Titans. 


Let's end this review with some Wisdom of Solomon, shall we?

"I believe in fair play. I believe in taking people at their word, and giving them that benefit of the doubt. Back home, I've come up against my share of pretty nasty bad guys, but I never had to act the way they did to win a fight. I always found another way. I... I guess I'm saying I like being a hero, a symbol, and that's why I'm quitting the Justice League. You don't act like heroes anymore."

That's why I think I'll be quitting Justice League, too.  Nobody in it acts like a hero anymore.

Justice League: Doom - Just One Month Away!

There's a brief preview of some footage up at Topless Robot but I posted this older trailer so as to share some news that hasn't been making the rounds as well as other bits of news.

* We knew that Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy were reprising the roles of Superman and Batman respectively.

* We knew this script was the last thing Dwayne McDuffie completed before his untimely passing.

*We knew the script was based on Mark Waid's classic JLA story Tower Of Babel.

But we now know the following as well...

* Michael Rosenbaum, Susan Eisenberg and Carl Lumbly are also back, reprising their roles as The Flash, Wonder Woman and The Martian Manhunter respectively.

* Also returning are Phil Morris, Olivia d'Abo and Alexis Denisof, who voiced Vandal Savage, Star Sapphire and Mirror Master in the original Bruce Timm produced Justice League animated series.

* The real big news? Hal Jordan will be once again be voiced by Captain Tightpants himself - Nathan Fillion.

I think this may well be the best animated film DC Comics has made yet.

How Liberalism Started The Comic Book Industry: A Rebuttal.

SOURCE: How Liberalism May Be Hurting Comic Book Sales

I was sent this article, written by a gentleman who believes that the reason the comic book industry is in such dire financial straits is because the writings of liberal writers are driving off conservative readers. Specifically, he cites the following stories.

1. Brightest Day #5, where Aquaman spoke about the dangers of deep-water drilling while combating an oil-spill.

2. Brightest Day #7, where Hawk smashes a jukebox because it is playing a Dixie Chicks song.

3. An issue of Birds of Prey, where Black Canary makes a comment on how unsafe SUVs are.

4. An issue of Alpha Flight, where a superheroine/cop dismisses complaints about her oppressing voters by ticketing him for parking in front of a fire hydrant while voting, saying “Please, sir. We’re Canadian.”

5. The Paradise Lost episode of Justice League, where Superman made disparaging remarks about Capitalism after Wonder Woman compared a shopping mall interior to an Amazon temple. (“Yes, for those who worship their credit cards.”)


To this, I would like to say the following:

1. It is silly to criticize Aquaman for being outspokenly against things that risk polluting the oceans for much the same reason it would be silly to criticize Batman for being outspokenly in favor of mandatory gun registration.

2. I've read the issue in question and Hank says nothing about precisely why the sound of Dixie Chicks music made him break a jukebox. Maybe he was offended because the Dixie Chicks are a group of outspoken liberal women, as Mr. Wagner suggests? Or maybe Hank is a man of taste who doesn't like modern music? Lord knows I've felt like destroying the radio every time I've heard Nickleback. In any case, there is a precedent in many other comics for Hawk losing control of his temper in high-stress situations, independent of his political beliefs. And seeing the woman that he's somewhat conflicted over (Hank and Dawn's relationship is complicated, to put it mildly) growing closer to Deadman while leaving him on his own probably qualifies as a high-stress situation.

3. While I don't know the safety statistics about SUVs compared to other vehicle types off-hand, I would dare say we can take Black Canary at her word. Nobody knows safety like a woman who routinely rides a motorcycle at highway speeds without a helmet or properly padded clothing.

4. I'm not an expert on either Canadian traffic regulations, but I do not believe the rule of law allows for exceptions. Not even in Canada. While one might be forgiven for speeding when taking a pregnant woman or a severely injured person to the hospital, voting is not an emergency situation. Impeding the ability of firemen to do their job, on the other hand, very well could be.

5. There is a world of difference between Capitalism and Consumerism and Superman is clearly decrying the later in this instance. Shopping malls, for the most part, are devoted toward the sale of non-essential goods. And while capitalism does cover the sale of all goods, I'm fairly sure that Pa Kent would have taught his son early on about the difference between the things we want and the things we need. In fact, I dare say that Superman's message here could be interpreted as a conservative one - decrying people buying things they can't afford and don't really need on credit.


All that being said, I still can't get behind the idea that a liberal bias is the sole cause of plummeting comic book sales. While I know a lot of people - myself included - who quit reading Spider-Man after The Powers That Be decided to destroy Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane Watson, I believe that decision had less to do with Marvel spitting upon the sanctity of marriage and more to do with the reasons behind breaking up the marriage being phenomenally stupid. But I digress. My point is that I can't believe a sudden outspoken liberal bias is responsible for driving away conservative readers... because the American comic book industry has always been dominated by outspoken liberals.

Mr. Wagner himself noted Superman's original roots as a socialist champion of the working class - roots he recently returned to in Grant Morrison's Action Comics. But it goes much deeper than that. Most of the founding fathers of American comics fought were fairly progressive fellows.

* Granting that he originally drew the character in an offensive Sambo-style, Will Eisner did create the sidekick character of Ebony White for The Spirit in order to depict a heroic African-American. Eisner also drew Sheena: Queen of the Jungle - the first comic book to headline a female superhero.

* Joe Simon and Jack Kirby depicted Captain America fighting Nazis well-before the USA got involved in World War II. In fact, the duo had to be given police protection due to repeated death-threats by Nazi sympathizers.

* William Moulton Marston was a prominent feminist philosopher, who was brought into the comic book industry after he wrote a column about the great educational potential of comic books while criticizing how male heroes dominated the superhero genre. Publisher Max Gaines took the column to heart and hired Marston to create a character. Wonder Woman was the result.

* Stan Lee depicted student-protesters in a positive-light during his run on Amazing Spider-Man. And we can't forget that The Man was almost singlehandedly responsible for destroying The Comics Code Authority by - ironically enough - publishing an anti-drug comic.

And that's just the ones I know off the top of my head. I'm sure many of you can think of other examples of how liberal the founding fathers of American Comic books were. Feel free to give some examples in the comments below.

Looking To The Stars: Justice League Unbeatable!

This past week, I finally managed to snare a copy of the Justice League: Starcrossed DVD as well as actually sit down and watch all the episodes of Justice League Unlimited that I had been taping since day one. Sounds like it’s time for some reviews.

Starcrossed

The movie that ended the second season of Justice League, this was broken down into three episodes for later broadcast. The DVD is hard to find at the moment, due to the limited number of airings on Cartoon Network. Still, it is well worth the tracking down.

Everyone who has read the “Invasion” mini-series will be familiar with the basic story here: Thanagar invades Earth. The twist here is that Hawkgirl has apparently been a spy for the last few years, but has been totally unaware as to why she has been sent to observe the Earthlings. In a reference that will make Douglas Adams fans scream with delight, we find out that Thanagar is destroying Earth to make a hyperspace bypass, so they can sneak behind the lines of their sworn enemies and destroy their homeworld. This leaves Hawkgirl torn between her adopted homeworld and new boyfriend John Stewart and her actual homeworld and fiancé.

Aside from finally getting an animated equivalent of Hawkman (his name isn’t Katar Hol, but the spirit is still there), this movie is great for hundreds of little touches. We finally get to see Wally West unmasked as well as Alfred reacting to the rest of the Justice League and muttering about Master Bruce leaving trash in the yard as he regards a trussed up Thangarian Wingman.

Sue me. I’m a fan of snooty Brit humor.

Final Score: 10.0 out of 10.

Initiation

The opening episode of Unlimited and a homer hit on its first at bat! I’ll copy to being perhaps a little biased, seeing as how this issue does center around one of my favorite heroes. Yes, Green Arrow gets his first animated treatment since that one episode of Superfriends NOBODY wants to talk about. And it is good.

After being shanghaied onto the newly rebuilt Watchtower, Green Arrow tags along on a mission with Supergirl, Captain Atom and Green Lantern (John Stewart) to stop a rampaging radioactive monster.

The voice casting is, as has been the norm for all the WB series, flawless. Green Arrow in particular is a real delight and word has it that the actor who voiced him, Kin Shriner, reportedly showed up for the recording sessions in a homemade Green Arrow costume. You can tell he’s enthusiastic about the part even without that little bit of trivia, as he plays Ollie with just the right amount of charming smartass. They brought back Nicholle Tom to do Supergirl and I didn’t realize how much I missed her on Superman until this episode. Though she seems a little closer to Power Girl attitude-wise (I can’t picture the pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El telling Captain Atom to “pull the stick out”), she’s a perfect foil to the more serious heroes on the team.

One complaint: big a fan of Ollie as I am, even I don’t think he could shut down a giant radiation spewing robot with just ONE perfect shot with a carbon rod into the reactor. I’d think it would take quite a few more than that, but what do I know of nuclear physics?

Final Score: 9.0 out of 10.

For The Man Who Has Everything

Based on the legendary story by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons with a script by long time JLA writer J. M. DeMatteis, this episode manages the neat trick of taking a well known story, making it seem new and even tying it into the continuity of the show.

Former Warworld despot Mongul has attacked Superman with a birthday present. In this case, a parasitic plant called The Black Mercy, which causes its’ host to hallucinate their perfect dream world even as it leaves their body immobile and slowly wasting away. Wonder Woman exhausts most of the Fortress of Solitude armory fighting Mongul even as Batman tries to free Superman from a prison that he doesn’t want to leave.

The script perfectly captures the key story as well as a few infamous lines from the original. While Superman telling Mongul to “BURN!” as he uses his heat vision at close range is very fitting under the circumstances, there seems to be something a bit off about Wonder Woman telling Mongul to “Go… To… Hell…”, with the last word being blocked out by the blast of a gun (It was printed in the original comics). Still, it is the subtle touches that make this story really sing. Things like Superman’s dream wife, Loanna, looking like Lana Lang, sounding like Lois Lane (Dana Delany does the voice again) and working as a reporter covering fashion expos on Krypton just add to the humor for us long time fans of the series and indeed Superman in general. One other nice subtle touch: as Clark begins to suspect his dream world IS a dream, little details start to change. His father Jor-El, alive and well, speaks for a while… and then suddenly, for one line, his voice is that of Pa Kent.

Final Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Kid Stuff

The concept here is an oldie and a goodie. Mordred, the immortal and eternally young son of Morgan LeFay uses a magical artifact to exile all adults to Limbo. Morgan uses a spell to deage Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern leaving the World’s Finest preteens to save the world.

Based on equal parts “Sins of Youth” and “World Without Grown Ups”, this is the first episode to suffer from the new “one episode” stories. While the episode is quite amusing with John Stewart needing glasses and creating a Kyle Rayner style mask to fix his eyes and the exclamation that a baby Demon Etrigan with a dirty diaper “is REALLY a job for Superman!”, there are more than a few plot holes. How did Etrigan get changed into a Baby when he wasn’t there for Morgan LeFay’s spell to effect him? More, when Morgan LeFay shows up later to undo her spell, why does he just idly let her go when the whole “Knight of Shadows” episode of Justice League showed that he would stop at nothing to bring her to justice? Also, am I the only one who wonders where the heck the Teen Titans or Captain Marvel were when this happened?

Final Score: 6.0 out of 10.

Hawk and Dove

The weakest of the new episodes thus far, it centers around Wonder Woman recruiting a pair of superheroes, Hawk and Dove, to help her stop a war. Hawk and Dove are brothers; one a conservative hothead and the other a liberal pacifist. Hawk wants to beat the snot out of people while Dove wants to try and get the leaders to talk to each other, even as an Olympian-forged robot wreaks havoc in the name of Ares.

The voice acting is dead on here, with Jason Harvey and Fred Savage (who played the ever-fighting brothers on “The Wonder Years”) perfectly playing the mis-matched superheroic brothers. But the script has some problems, with Ares (playing the part of a mortal arms dealer) loosing his cool with the farmer leading a band of revolutionaries, using the phrase “stupid mortals”, delivering his dogma about how humanity’s purpose is to die for his amusement… and the only response is a muted (not in so many words) “Get out of my house.” Mythological fans as well as Wonder Woman readers may also wonder why Hephaestus, who hardly had a loving relationship with his brother Ares in ANY medium, would ever take part in such a mad scheme as selling god-forged weapons to mortals, much less take joy in it.

Final Score: 4.0 out of 10.

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. NEW Matt Website.

The Mount - TV Time

Never before have so many superhero-related TV shows been on prime-time television than in this time in history. Never before have I written an article about all these TV shows. Never before have I had so much gushing praise to write about something. So without further ado, let's talk about Smallville, The Tick and Justice League.

Smallville: WB : Tuesday Nights at 9:00 EST (8:00 CST)

The breakout hit of the three shows so far, Smallville has been described as "Dawson's Creek with superpowers". It's all about life, friendship and love in a small town. The fact that the small town is Smallsville, Kansas and that a teenage Clark Kent, Lana Lang, Pete Ross and Lex Luthor are among the friends and that there are weird green rocks that seem to be bestowing odd powers on people at random is just a coincidence.

There seems to be a pattern to the episodes I've seen so far, with a "monster of the week" theme driving the plot. Hopefully the show can move beyond this, as having one person a week besides Clark developing a superpower and abusing it is going to get really old, really fast.

The acting is good, for the most part. None of the younger actors really stand out, except for Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor). Also worth noting is John Glover, who plays Lex's father.

A quick fun fact: this is the third time John Glover has been involved in a DC Comics related project. He was the voice of The Riddler in "Batman: The Animated Series" and played Jason Wodrue in "Batman and Robin".

Overall, this isn't the kind of thing I'd watch every week, but I think I'm a little out of the target audience. Regardless, it's pretty good if you don't mind angsty teen melodrama.

Assessment: Okay. Will likely have a long life if the ratings stay constant.

The Tick: Fox : Thursday Nights at 8:30 EST (7:30 CST)

The cult indie hit comes to the small screen again: This Time, Alive! A big blue superhero known only as "The Tick" comes to "The City", looking for adventure and an archenemy to call his own. He teams up with Arthur (an accountant who bought a moth suit at an auction), Bat-Manuel (Half Bat-Man, Half Rico-Suave) and Captain Liberty (Wonder Woman, with a streak of strumpet) to fight the forces of evil.

With only two episodes aired so far, it's a bit hard to gage the direction of the show so far. Overall, the humor and characterization from the comics seems transported very well into the show. Patrick Warburton cuts a fine figure as The Tick, giving the role the right mix of obliviousness and innocence, with just a bit of pomposity as he says dramatic lines that would make Adam West wince. David Burke finds the right mix of wannabee hero and bunny rabbit in his portrayal of Arthur.

That said, I really have to question some of the writing so far. For instance, in an early scene The Tick "rescues" some people from a broken coffee machine. As he beats the machine into submission, he says proudly "Java Devil: you are now my bitch!" While the line is funny, it really doesn't fit with Tick's innocent image for him to be saying the B-word. It also makes it seem kind of odd later when he doesn't get any of Bat-Manuel's sexual innuendoes. It's a running gag in fact, with two variations on the line...

Bat-Manuel: (winking) .... if you know what I mean?

Tick: No.

There seems to be a lot of sexual humor for a superhero show. Not that there hasn't always been a link between superheroes and sex jokes. I mean, how long have we had men say, while looking at Wonder Woman, "I wouldn't mind HER tying me up with that Lasso Of Truth". Still, we come about one level below Larry Nevin's "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" essay at some points, with jokes about Bat-Manuel and Captain Liberty's escapades on the rooftops while Arthur and Tick are trying to save Jimmy Carter from being assassinated.

In fact, the second episode centers around the team having to hide the body of legendary "Superman-esque" hero "The Immortal" after he dies while making love to Captain Liberty in order to preserve his image. Very little is said about the image of the other heroes, Captain Liberty's virtue or Arthur's reaction to his childhood hero dying in such a manner. I'm not saying that such humor is bad, but that it seems to be a big part of the humor of the show... and the comic was funny enough without having to stoop to such humor.

Assessment: I really did enjoy the show and think it may easily be the best of the three new superhero shows. Sadly, most of the humor and concept is a little off the wall for most of America. That and a lousy time-slot on Thursday nights will probably mean a quick death for this bug.

Justice League: Cartoon Network : Monday Nights at 9:30 EST (8:30 CST)

Probably the most eagerly anticipated of the three, Justice League is an animated series based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name.

Produced by the same team that created Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, this show matches the animation style of the show well. It also brings back most of the voice cast from before. Kevin Conroy and Michael Rosenbaum return as Batman and The Flash but Tim Daly isn't on hand to continue voicing Superman. He is replaced by George Newbern.

Five episodes have aired so far- the three-part pilot "Secret Origins" and a two parter entitled "In Darkest Night".

"Secret Origins" details the formation of the League after an alien invasion nearly destroys the Earth. Superman and Batman investigate a series of odd break-ins at aerospace-related businesses, leading them to a captured J'onn J'onzz. J'onn informs them of a race of parasitic aliens that killed the Martian race which is now on Earth. Joining them are established heroes The Flash, Green Lantern John Stewart, the Thangarian Hawkgirl... and a newcomer; Princess Diana of Themyscria, who is summoned away from the Island of the Amazons by a telepathic message by J'onn.

"In Darkest Night" details the trial of John Stewart, who supposedly blew up a planet while trying to stop a pirate. Abandoned his fellow Corps members, his only hope lies in the rest of the Justice League being able to prove his innocence.

Justice League is a real treat for old time DC Comics fans and anybody who likes to play "spot the reference". Between numerous references to "The Martian Chronicles" and "War of the Worlds" and cameos by Snapper Carr, Kanjar Ro and a host of other obscure characters, one might think that Dennis Miller had a hand in writing the scripts.

There is also an outstanding use of humor; both personality based (Batman's subtle grimace as he has to swing in through an opening as the rest of the team flies) and wise-cracking. I'm especially fond of Ajuris 5's solution to dealing with mercenary lawyers. (You have to see it to get it).

Sadly, the show does have some significant problems. While the show is a treat for comic fans, the writers assume that the audience is already familiar with most of the characters and concepts involved. I watched the show with some friends who didn't know much about superheroes past Batman and Superman. I found myself quickly trying to answer...

1) How many powers does Martian Manhunter have anyway? There were a lot of cries of "How?" whenever J'onn got a pensive look trying to make telepathic contact and said "I can sense it." J'onn "senses" things a lot.

2) There's more than one Green Lantern? (There's a lot of them... they're space cops)

3) Who are the little blue guys watching everything?

4) Why can't Superman just use his heat vision here?

5) I thought Green Lantern was a white guy?

6) Where is Hawkgirl from?

Of course most of these questions are answered by the end of "In Darkest Night", but it leaves everyone confused until the near the end of Part Two, when the Guardians and their relation to the Manhunters and GL Corps is explained in detail. We never get much explanation of Hawkgirl's powers (are the wings natural or what?) although we do find out she's from "Thangar" (this brought out a course of "huhs"?) or what exactly a Martian can do. It's hard to tell whether J'onn is becoming intangible or invisible. No background has been given for The Flash or Hawkgirl yet, and very little has been given to John Stewart.

There's also some characterization that is bound to irritate, if not offend the classic DC fans. For example, Superman, ever the staunch moralist, seems to have no qualms about taking the lives of alien invaders in "Secret Origins". The Flash is played more as comic relief than as a merely wisecracking hero. Batman here is too close to the Grant Morrison "I can do anything" characterization. John Stewart's characterization here is different than in any other written incarnation; not necessarily bad... just different.

Assessment: Sure to be a hit with comic fans and cartoon lovers alike, but it may be too inaccessible and "insider" for most people.