Category Archives: DC
Review: Justice League: Doom
‘Tower of Babel’ was better. But then the book is always better than the movie adaptation. Still, the latest release from DC Comics’ animated movies is an alright film, with a killer ending. Justice League: Doom features great animation, solid characters and a fun plot. The problem is that it’s kind of boring and run-of-the-mill. This could have been a made-for-TV movie of the Justice League cartoon from a few years ago. There’s just nothing special about it, nothing that warrants its existence in the animated movie library.
But who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? A Justice League movie is a Justice League movie.
Movie rating: 3/5: Alright!
Unless it’s a stupid Justice League movie. There were a lot of times during this film where I was rolling my eyes at just how stupid some of the ideas and plot points were. The villains, especially, were acting ridiculous, and some of their plans were downright dumb. These are the people Vandal Savage has hired to rid the world of the Justice League? These are the plans they come up with? But all of that foolishness is undercut by some pretty great characterization, especially on the part of the Justice League. They look fantastic, and the animation is top notch.
The ending is spectacular, really getting to the hearts of these characters. The problem, though, is that this is a stand alone movie. These character moments aren’t going to pay off anywhere else. There are aesthetic similarities with previous animated movies, so perhaps this is the same Justice League as those movies. But still, it’s mostly stand alone.
So what was the point?
Review: Teen Titans #6
Here we have a weird little story that misses the chance to have some meaningful downtime and instead introduces and dispatches a weird new super-villain. What could have been a good character-building opportunity as the Titans lick their wounds instead becomes crammed with silliness and nonsense, and only a small trace of what I would have liked. A guest appearance by Static Shock is utterly wasted, and Skittles returns mostly for the hell of it.
Teen Titans #6
Teen Titans #6 is a big missed opportunity, but it’s not a bad comic.
Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.
This issue would have been the perfect opportunity for writer Scott Lobdell to slow down and flesh out his characters. He’s doing an OK job in that regard so far, but I would still prefer a lot more work on who these teenagers are and why they’re willing to hang out with each other. They just got their butts kicked in their first superhero fight, but all of them seem to shrug it off like no big deal. None of them seem to be emotionally effected by Superboy’s ass-kicking attack. They just roll right on to the next plot point involving Kid Flash’s out of control powers.
Instead of an issue focusing entirely on the Titans, we get a several new supporting or guest characters. None of them are very interesting.
A Plastic Man Cartoon? For Reals?
Beyond the silliness that is an actual, honest-to-god Plastic Man cartoon.
Plastic Man is a DC Comics superhero with the ability to, as I’m sure you just watched, strength and shape his body into anything he wants. He’s a comedian, known for being a very silly sort of guy. Which means he’s perfectly suited for a silly willy, diffy daffy kids cartoon courtesy of Cartoon Network. Though he’s not going to get a full show. Instead, Plastic Man is going to get a few animated shorts to go alongside DC’s new DC Nation block of shows, which will include Young Justice and the new animated Green Lantern series.
What’s that you say? A DC Nation animated block? Tell us more, Sean!
Gladly. After the jump.
Static Shock Fan Film is On Its Way
Those creative types out there in Internet land are once again making one of my favorite sorts of Youtube videos: superhero fan films! This time, Stefan Dezil and company have made one called Static Shock: Blackout, which is due in March. The teaser trailer was released earlier this month. Static Shock is a black, teenager superhero created by the late great Dwayne McDuffie. He had a popular cartoon show on The WB several years ago, and is one of the most prominent black characters in comics.
It’s also one of the first titles canceled in the New 52 reboot by DC Comics. Oops.
Well these fans will show you why Static Shock can be cool. The electricity effects are actually pretty damn badass.
6 Best Animated Robins
Batman and Robin are like a rock concert. Batman is this brilliant, blazing, glorious rock star, the idolized hero of millions who burns brighter and rocks harder than anyone else ever will. All the other superheroes, like Superman or Wonder Woman, they’re competing rock stars. Maybe they’ll do an album together or hang out at a charity together, but in the end they have their own bands and their own concerts. Batman views them as rivals. But Robin is unique among other superheroes.
Robin is the guy with the backstage pass.
Animated Batman Lego series anyone?
If Batman is arguably the greatest, most popular superhero, Robin is the fan who Batman lets hang out back stage. We can’t be our favorite rock star. We can’t be Batman. But in some ways, we can be like Robin. We can be the fan with the backstage pass. We can hang out with Batman and learn all of his secrets. We’ll be there for Batman when he’s in a tough spot, or we’ll be by his side when he’s kicking ass. We can be the fan that Batman actually likes hanging out with, the one he shares a beer with. And maybe someday, when Batman needs us the most, he’ll invite us on stage to jam with him.
And then we will prove that it has all be worth it, and we will rock hard enough to impress Batman.
I think that nicely sums up one of the reasons why I like Robin. He’s the guy that Batman trusts above all others, the one that Batman likes hanging out with. The one superhero who is truly in Batman’s inner circle. But Robin is not just ‘Batman’s Pal’, he’s Batman-in-training. He’s Batman’s assistant. That’s what it means to be his sidekick. I plan on doing a lot more with Robin on this blog, but for now let’s take a look at one enterprise that seems to do Robin right: animation.
Here are the top 6 animated Robins, ranked worst to best!
***This list was inspired by friend-of-the-site Momma Pwncess! Thank you!
Henchman-4-Hire 