March 18, 2006
Supergirl and Legion in JLU's Far From Home
This episode of Justice League Unlimited is for all the hardcore Legion fans who always wanted to see them get animated, Bruce Timm style. Supergirl is the main character from the League, and the story makes for a nice conclusion to her arc since it began in Superman: The Animated Series. The white costume is gone, replaced by the classic outfit, which Kara is wearing to honor Superman. She's feeling a bit out of touch with 21st century Earth, so when the Legion comes calling, it's at a very appropriate time. And this neatly coincides with Supergirl joining the Legion in the DC comic series, as I reported a few months ago.
You'll want to freeze frame this episode several times just to identify the miscelleanous Legionnaires. I was particularly pleased to see Wildfire--I always liked this character, his predicament of being a bodiless form of energy was interesting. Brainiac-5 is well portrayed--when Kara first sees him, she assumes he's evil. That attitude changes by the show's end.
Is it just me, or does every Timm-designed female character look damn sexy? All the girls cute, especially Phantom Girl, but my favorite in this episode is the Emerald Empress. She hypnotizes the entire Legion and sends them against Supergirl, Green Arrow, and Brainiac. Kara really takes a pounding, but she proves worthy to be Superman's cousin. For the Legion fans, this one is a labor of love and it goes by quickly. Let's hope there is more Legion-animated coming our way in the future. Nuff said.
Update: Michael from The Legion Blog says that the new Legion series won't be Timm-inspired, see his comment.
External Links:
Legion Blog article on Far From Home with full screencaps.
March 13, 2006
Chick Fights Galore in JLU's Grudge Fight
Damn! Forgot to preview Justice League Unlimited's episode, "Grudge Fight" before it aired last weekend. Which is a real shame, because this episode has my favorite fetish: girl fights! If you're a Black Canary fan, this one is for you. Dinah has been acting all strange, going out on patrol and almost letting two-bit crooks get the better of her.
The Huntress, who has always had a dicey relationship with Black Canary, notices her lapses and starts trailing Dinah. She discovers that Dinah is fighting on the underground circuit (which previously appeared in the Wildcat episode) run by Roulette. The twist is that instead of heroes fighting criminals, it's heroes vs. heroes-and they are all female! Black Canary is the most popular and victorious of all the heroines in the circuit.
When the Huntress confronts Dinah about her extra curricular activities, they get into a nasty fight in the parking garage. The Huntress discovers that Dinah is under mind control when she kicks Black Canary's earpiece communicator. Snaky Roulette figured out a way to hack into any JLU communicator and put the wearer under her control. The Huntress and Black Canary are captured by Roulette and forced to fight in the arena.
The women have to fight four of the JLU's most formidable heroines: Fire, Vixen, Hawkgirl, and last but not least…Wonder Woman! You can imagine that Dinah's Canary cry isn't much good against WW. If that isn't enough female fighting for you, we've also got Roulette showing off her martial arts skills.
I love this episode. Black Canary is well portrayed as a student of martial arts, and her fiery, competitive relationship with the Huntress is fun to watch. These two can't stop fighting, even up to the very last scene in the show. If you missed "Grudge Fight", well, at least you know what you missed. Nuff said.
March 3, 2006
Flash, Luthor, and Tala in JLU's Great Brain Robbery
The Flash is once again the center of attention in this week's Justice League Unlimited episode: The Great Brain Robbery. This is his best spotlight since Flashpoint and in my opinion, it rates five stars. The League is finally getting around to tracking down the Legion of Doom. Mr. Terrific recalls that Gorilla Grodd once took over Wally's mind during The Brave and the Bold from season one. Dr. Fate digs through the shallowness of Wally's mind to find that lingering Grodd connection and locate the Legion's secret hideaway. Things go awry as Luthor is digging into Grodd's mind at the same moment. Wally's mind winds up in Luthor's body, while Luthor is in the Flash's body on the JLU satellite. You'll see why the Flash is one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe as Luthor uses his abilities to wipe out an army of Leaguers. What happens to Wally, as he tries to pretend to be evil Luthor, is hilarious. He tries to call the League on Luthor's cell phone in the bathroom, only to get interrupted by Dr. Polaris.
Polaris: Are you gonna wash your hands?
Wally-Luthor: No-cause I'm evil!
There's also a great scene where Wally needs to lead a big meeting of villains. I have a feeling that fans will be taking this and over-dubbing it with even funnier results. Tala is sticking to Luthor like a bad rash, having quickly switched her allegiance from Grodd in the previous episode. I feel sorry for Tala during this season of JLU. Just look at the sadness in the picture above. Yeah, she's evil and wants to destroy the world, but she's so desperate for affection that she'll kiss up to a gorilla. She follows Luthor around like a puppy dog, begging for a shag even though all Luthor wants is to revive Braniac. If you listen to Tala's comments in this episode, you will get the picture that Wally took full advantage of her loyalty.
Who is Tala? She first appeared in Phantom Stranger #4, a demoness who was released from a dimensional prison by that darn interfering ghost chaser, Dr. Thirteen. Neal Adams was the artist who conceived her black dress and medallion. She was one of the few recurring villains that the Stranger faced in one-on-one mystical battles. Tala even finds the Stranger attractive. Yeah, Tala's horniness was established in continuity over 30 years ago! The entire staff of Photon Torpedoes congratualates the JLU staff for rescuing Tala from obscurity! Don't miss this one. Nuff said.
February 25, 2006
Seven Soldiers of Victory in JLU's Patriot Act
Justice League Unlimited's new episode, Patriot Act, features the original Seven Soldiers. Not Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers, but his inspiration. Forty years ago, there were the Seven Soldiers of Victory, an eclectic and diverse group of heroes that banded together during World War 2. I can only assume that the editor or writer who selected the members put a list of heroes on a corkboard and threw darts to choose them at random. The Golden Age Seven Soldiers were:
Shining Knight: Sir Justin, a member of King Arthur's court.
Green Arrow: the Golden Age version of DC's archer.
Speedy: Green Arrow's teenage sidekick.
Star-Spangled Kid: DC's version of Captain America, as a teen.
Stripesy: the Star-Spangled Kid's sidekick. This is the first and only sidekick who was physically bigger and older than the headliner.
Crimson Avenger: one of DC's earliest heroes, he avenges crimes, duh.
Vigilante: Cousin Dick's favorite hero, a country-western hero who rides a motorcycle and uses twin pistols to dispense justice.
I first encountered the SSOV in the Justice League of America, during one of their annual crossover events with Earth-2. DC reprinted some SSOV tales in their 100 page Super Spectaculars, and in the 1980s, Roy Thomas featured them on the cover of All Star Squadron #29 (brilliantly rendered by Jerry Ordway).
Patriot Act is a subtle nod to this odd collection of heroes. Mr. Terrific sends the Shining Knight, Vigilante, Green Arrow, Stargirl, and Stripesy to attend a parade in Metropolis (since Superman is off in a neighboring galaxy). The other heroes fit into the SSOV, but what about the last two? In the DC Universe, the Star Spangled Kid died, and Stargirl adopted his costume and belt, courtesy of her adopted father, who happens to be Stripesy. Stripsey invented a giant Transformer robot that he rides around in, to keep Stargirl out of too much trouble. Stargirl got a power boost and her name when Starman retired and gave her the star lance. That's five members of SSOV-not enough to fight off General Eiling when he becomes an Ultramarine and beats the tar out of any hero on the street. Later in the episode, Green Arrow calls for backup, and Mr. Terrific, running low on resources, sends in Crimson Avenger and Speedy.
There you go, this episode is strictly for the old timers who wanted to see the Seven Soldiers of Victory back in action. It's a riot to see Vigilante and Shining Knight, two people who are anachronisms, interact with the other heroes. I didn't realize what was going on until Crimson Avenger showed up near the end. How great is it that the JSA's Mr. Terrific is taking over Jonn J'onzz role as JLU operations manager? Geoff Johns must be pleased. Nuff said.
February 16, 2006
Deadman Lives Again in Dead Reckoning
Deadman is featured in this Saturday's episode of Justice League Unlimited. I can't recall if he ever appeared in JLU before, but he was in the Batman animated series. What's cool about this episode is that you get to see Nanda Parabat and Rama Kushna.
In the first Deadman series by Neal Adams, Boston Brand was a trapeze artist, shot by an assassin during a performance. Boston discovers that he is ghost, able to possess the bodies of living people. Taking a cue from the popular 60s TV show The Fugitive, Boston travels throughout the world searching for his killer. When that issue is resolved, he travels to a place called Nanda Parabat-a paradise that transforms the most hardened criminals into good people, as long as they stay within Parabat's boundries. Rama Kushna is a god like being who allows Boston's spirit to roam free, seeking justice, restoring balance, even after his original mission of vengeance ended. In the pictures above, you see how Neal Adams tried to present Rama, with this ever changing air of psychedelic mystery. How do you perceive a God? In Adams' presentation, Boston's perception is constantly changing.
The JLU episode "Dead Reckoning" perfectly captures the relationship between Deadman and Rama. What I love about it is that Deadman doesn't take any shit from Rama, nor does he kiss her butt. What the hell, Boston is dead and he's got nothing to lose. The animation tries to convey that psychedelic sense that Neal Adams drew in Strange Adventures.
The writers of this episode changed Nanda Parabat. Rather than a paradise, it's the home of a martial arts master who trained Batman. I suppose this change was made for time considerations-it's easier to explain a bunch of kung fu guys living in an isolated area. Parabat is attacked by Luthor and Grodd's Legion of Doom, who seek a mystical orb that is located within the palace.
It's a pretty good episode. All the Deadman stuff is great, but you are going to laugh when Grodd's master plan is revealed. Gorilla City is in this episode, so if you love talking apes, or if you thought all those Art Adams DCU gorilla covers where the greatest thing since Wonder Woman's thong, this episode is for you. Batman is forced to commit a pretty shocking act. The ending has a key development to the rest of the series. Nuff said.
February 9, 2006
Justice League Unlimited Flashes Back to TV
According to the Comics Continuum, Justice League Unlimited is back on Cartoon Network this Saturday. The new episode is called "Flash and Substance". Yum, yum, an all-Flash episode with his Rogues Gallery: Mirror Master, Captain Cold, and the Trickster are slated to appear. Plus they worked Linda Park in there. Now, what is really funny is that over on Ain't It Cool, people in the UK are watching the penultimate episode of JLU already! For once, our friends across the pond get to watch something ahead of the United States. This means...that all these JLU episodes are already torrented. Yep. Nuff said.
January 18, 2006
Justice League Unlimited and DC Animated rumors
Newsarama has a new article by Steve Fritz, where he talks to Bruce Timm about the last Justice League Unlimited season. If the last episodes you saw featured the return of Hawkman and Luthor joining the Legion of Doom, you haven't missed anything. The rumor is that Cartoon Network is holding back on the remainder of the episodes until spring or summer. The sad thing is that Bruce Timm may no longer stay with Warner's animation division. Superman may join Batman on the WB networks. (I've only seen one episode of that new Batman series and I hate it.) Other rumors for a future CN series include Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes, as well as the Doom Patrol. The Supergirl\Legion combo is bolstered by the fact that there is a JLU episode featuring both, and the Legion's comic book series gets Supergirl as a permanent guest-star. The Doom Patrol as an animated series just seems wild and crazy, but I think it could be good. Nuff said.
January 6, 2006
Dwayne McDuffie on Word Balloons and DC's Defenders
Word Balloons has another excellent podcast featuring Dwayne McDuffie, the writer from Milestone, Static, and Justice League Unlimited. It's a great interview because they go back to McDuffie's work on the Deathlok mini-series, Damage Control, and tons of behind the scenes tidbits on JLU. You'll hear about that great Season 3 closing episode with Batman Beyond.
Here's one thing that was confirmed: the episode "Wake the Dead" was a tribute to Marvel's series, the Defenders. I've written in an earlier post about how much I love the original Defenders. I liked this particular episode quite a bit but never made the connection until I read about it on a message board. Dr. Fate is DC's Dr. Strange, Aquaman is DC's Sub-Mariner, and Solomon Grundy is DC's version of the Hulk! Cowabunga! Nuff said.
Posted by Kid Flash at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)June 14, 2005
Billy Batson on TV after 30 years!
Holy Moley! Captain Marvel returned to television last Saturday in one of the best Justice League Unlimited episodes ever. This particular episode was written by Dwayne McDuffie and J.M. DeMatteis (who writes the funny Justice League stuff with Keith Giffen). They found the perfect actor to record Captain Marvel’s dialogue: Jerry O'Connell, from Sliders and Crossing Jordan. His young voice coupled with the script really brought the Big Red Cheese to life (“Golly! Gosh! Nice to meet you, Mr. Superman, sir”). There were many comedic moments in the episode, the best one being Captain Marvel’s naïve ability to trust his fellow man, which unfortunately extends to Lex Luthor. Lex is not only running for President, he’s re-building a whole city area to help the under-employed. Superman isn’t buying any of it, but he fails to see the subtleties of Luthor’s plot, and this puts him on a headlong course against the good Captain. Of course, this leads to a battle between the two superpowers, but it’s comical as they destroy building after building in a mad rampage to stop each other. They’ve never had Superman uses his powers in such an unrestricted manner! I liked some of the other touches that respected Captain Marvel’s past: his eyes were dots and his school name was “C.C. Binder Elementary” after his creator. DC and Warner Brothers are sitting on top of a gold mine and they don’t even know it; Captain Marvel is the ultimate young person’s wish fulfillment fantasy. If Harry Potter can be a successful book and movie franchise, there’s no reason why Billy Batson can’t be as well.
Another cool recent episode of JLU was “Double Date” written by Gail Simone, and if Oracle had made an appearance, this would have been a Birds of Prey episode. Green Arrow and Black Canary had to protect a super-criminal called Mandragora, who is in the Witness Protection Program and waiting to testify against the Mafia. Huntress, who saw Mandragora murder her parents as a child, wants to find Mandragora and kill him. She gets an assist from The Question, voiced by the excellent Jeffrey Combs from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Re-animator. I love this version of the Question, as the writers took him back to his Steve Ditko roots, examining conspiracy theories and digging into the truth, rather than being another kung fu dude like the Denny O’Neil version. Great fun watching Canary and Arrow together and we get to see that famous “Canary Cry” animated at last! I love Canary’s comment (“Ewwww”) at the Huntress’ randy behavior in the last scene. It would be great to have a boxed DVD set of all JL and JLU episodes. Nuff said.
Posted by Kid Flash at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
