Young Justice

[Watashi]

Wonder Woman and Crisis on Two Earths remain their two best.

Ew. I hated Wonder Woman.

It was basically 300 for girls.

[Watashi]

I actually thought "The New Frontier" was pretty terrible. The only thing I liked about it was the character designs and overall style of the movie. It was certainly pretty.

The New Frontier had a giant floating island made out of dinosaurs called "The Center" voiced by Keith David.

It was destined to be awesome.

[Watashi]

But honestly, the best think DC has done in the past decade is Starcrossed.

[Grouchy]

Because adapting popular story arcs is a rather impotent strategy. The two I mentioned were both original stories. Surprise?

Huh, Crisis on Two Earths was based on Grant Morrison's JLA: Earth 2. Not too closely, but still. Wonder Woman is an original origin story but heavily influenced by the George Perez run from the late '80s.

My take on these films:

Superman: Doomsday - Definitively the worst of the bunch and a sour beginning. My main problem lies in the awkward character work (the Superman / Lois interaction was terrible) and in the confused way in which they tried to adapt the whole Death and Return of Superman thingy into less than 80 minutes. With the proper re-write, though, this would be a good basis for a kick ass live action film.

Justice League: The New Frontier - I haven't read the comic, but I got a kick out of this film. Awesome designs and animation and a good epic feel to it. I don't remember a lot of detail but it has a positive vote from me.

Batman: Gotham Knight - Kind of a disappointment. Some chapters were good, some were simply ugly to watch. I think too much ambition killed this one.

Wonder Woman - My favorite of the bunch. Simply a great superhero film. The themes of female empowerment are handled well and the film's racy dialogue reminded me of something that could be found in classic Hollywood.

Green Lantern: First Flight - Good stuff for the most part, and the idea of approaching it like a cop film (basically Training Day in outer space with Sinestro as Denzel) is a solid one, but this one felt undercooked to me. The script is too blame. Felt like it was going through the motions a bit too fast.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies - Well, the original comic for this is moronic and an example of Loeb at his worst. The movie sort of worked for me because: 1) I didn't expect any substance in the first place 2) Random ass-kicking looks better in motion than in the page.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - Great. It takes all the good stuff from Morrison's comic and improves on the action and in the exploration of this new world. Some of its original ideas (such as Deathstroke President and the Martian Manhunter romantic subplot) are amazing, and it's filled with badass moments.

Batman: Under the Red Hood - Good stuff. I hated the original storyline mainly because of the concept, not because it was bad writing per se. This is a grim film that offers good insight into the life of Batman. A small problem is that (mainly because of its source) it can't really end in a satisfactory way. It follows the conflic between Batman and Jason all the way to the showdown but it doesn't provide an ending.

The short films are maybe even better. Loved the Jonah Hex and the Spectre.

[number8]

What? What's similar about Crisis on Two Earths and Earth-2 besides the fact that they both have the Crime Syndicate as villains?

[Grouchy]

But the Crime Sindycate hadn't appeared for years before Morrison made Earth 2. I think it's safe to say that, even if they only used the concept and not the plot, it's an adaptation of that book.

[number8]

That doesn't make any sense. They've been around for 30 years, and after they got wiped out in Crisis, Mark Waid brought them back Post-Crisis in the 90's before Morrison used them in his JLA run. Why would you assume that McDuffie was adapting Morrison's story if the plot isn't even the same?

[Grouchy]

Mark Waid brought them back Post-Crisis in the 90's before Morrison used them in his JLA run

Well, I didn't know this.

You might be right, but considering the similarities in the title and in the graphic look of the entire Crime Syndicate, I mean, come on. Even if I'm wrong you have to see where I'm coming from.

From Wikipedia: "The premise of Crisis on Two Earths is borrowed from the 1964 Gardner Fox-scripted Justice League of America #29–30 entitled "Crisis on Earth-Three!" as well as the 2000 Grant Morrison JLA: Earth 2 graphic novel"

[number8]

Sure, I'm not denying that it borrows elements, like I'm not denying that Wonder Woman is heavily Perez influenced. I'm just saying they're not adaptations, and as far as DC superhero stories go, they're originals.

[EyesWideOpen]

You guys are crazy these new DC animated films are great. And all since Doomsday (the only one I've seen I didn't like) have been getting very positive reviews.

I'd rather watch these animated films then anything their going to do with live action DC movies.

Hell the Spectre and Jonah Hex shorts are better then any live-action DC movie.

[megladon8]

Ugh, I thought the Jonah Hex short was almost as bad as the live action movie.


In other news, I ordered a copy of Crisis on Two Earths. Looking forward to seeing it.

[Grouchy]

What? The Jonah Hex short was fucking badass. I loved that.

[Watashi]

This is so amazing.

[Wryan]

Damn I missed this. Gonna have to find it when it comes on again.

[number8]

So are people watching this? Because it's totally cool.

[Watashi]

So are people watching this? Because it's totally cool.

I keep forgetting to DVR this.

To the internet I go!

[megladon8]

I'll definitely be picking up the DVD.

We don't get it here.

[Thirdmango]

alright, so to update, I watched all 17 episodes in the past couple days. I am often weary of shows like this and for the most part I'm not caught up on any of the comics. I never even knew there was a Young Justice comic. I looked it up after I started digging on this show and maybe it's just because I'm watching this first but I'm very happy with Dick Grayson being Robin and I'm very happy with the character arc of Superboy. The overall feel of the show is really great, there's always something going on, things they do go on as consequences in later episodes, but still each episode can be watched stand alone. The "Light" have been a really good villain team, and each of the random villains have fitted in nicely, I never expected a villain called "The Sportsmaster" to actually be good, but yet he's pretty cool. The guest acting is really great too, almost every episode I'm thinking, "oh I know that voice, who is that?" Rene Auberjonis in the first episode, Brent Spiner doing The Joker, but probably my favorite voice actor so far has been Rob Lowe doing Captain Marvel is a real treat.

I've never been much of a DC guy, I have a pretty big comic collection but for DC the only things I own are 52, Kingdom Come and The Long Halloween. Plus I haven't seen any of the animated movies you guys were all talking about in earlier parts of the thread.

[Thirdmango]

also I just started watching Green Lantern and I hate the animation so I don't think I can continue.

[Thirdmango]

Young Justice cancelled today. I'm so sad, this is one of my favorite shows. Green Lantern also cancelled but I didn't like it.

[Grouchy]

So I'm one episode short of finishing this.

Not liking this season's ending as much as I liked the first one's (unsurprisingly, it feels rushed), but this was just a brilliant TV series. Here's to Weissman somehow pulling a way to make a third season.

[number8]

Season 1 is on Netflix now!

[Skitch]

And I'm half a dozen episodes deep! Quite enjoying it. Not sure about this niece of MM, though. Did they create her for the show? Their disinterest (and at times flat out refusal) to push more strong female roles in these shows annoys me.

[number8]

Funny. They did invent one character for the show, but it's not her.

[Skitch]

Funny. They did invent one character for the show, but it's not her.

Ha!