the Justice League of America 
Posted: 11/18/01

[Warning: The following contains spoilers aplenty. It's pretty dorky too.]

When folks heard that the creative staff behind the Batman/Superman animated series were putting together a Justice League cartoon, the news was met with universal excitement. After all, it's like awaiting the latest video game from THQ/AKI: they have such a good track record; you know you won't be disappointed by what they offer next.

I've read interviews in the past where the producers were hesitant to do a Justice League show, citing the inherent problems of focusing on seven characters. Well, something must have happened, perhaps the very successful relaunch of the JLA comic a few years back, because a new Justice League cartoon is upon us.

There have been a few animated outings of the League in years past, namely all those old Superfriends cartoons, which were all pretty cruddy [excluding Challenge of the Superfriends, which remains one of the greater accomplishments of Western civilization]. Man, it must have been easy to write for those shows, since they pretty much tossed logic and continuity into the fifth dimension. I mean, Batman can go into space and travel through time whenever he wants? He carries anti-gravity and freeze lasers with him? Hello?

That's why it's great that Bruce Timm and company are handling the Justice League: they get characters right. They got Batman right. They got Superman right (well, except for Brainiac, I still don't know what the hell that was all about). Hell, they made up Batman Beyond and that felt right too.

Of course, when you do a Justice League cartoon, who do you include? Here are the final seven that made the cut.

JL Role Call:

Superman: Gotta have Big Blue in here, no question. Still looks the same from his animated series, but Tim Daly's not doing the voice anymore (don't know why, he has lots of free time since The Fugitive got cancelled).

Batman: Now, I've just never quite agreed with Batman being in the JLA. Oh, I know why they put him in there: he's arguably DC's most recognizable character, and has proved to be exceedingly popular in previous animated outings. But really, Batman's a loner. I just have a hard time with his rubbing elbows with super-powered folks and fighting alien menaces.

Wonder Woman: The final third of the DC "Big Three." Another no brainer.

Martian Manhunter: Not exactly a must-have character, but I like the him a lot, so I'm glad he's there. And he has been in pretty much every incarnation of the League in comics. I'm pretty sure this is the first time he's been animated.

Flash: Another necessary character. This would be the young-punk-Wally-West version of the Fastest Man Alive, which is about a decade behind the comics, but important for group dynamics. He showed up in a Superman ep a few years back.

Green Lantern (John Stewart): Now, Stewart's my fourth favorite GL (behind Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, and Guy Gardner, but ahead of Alan Scott) [yet my clear favorite host of the Daily Show - TCF], but I understand why he's there; otherwise this would be the Cracker League of America. He is an established character, so it's not like they whipped up Apache Chief or anything. But there's a mild logistical problem: they already introduced Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern on the Superman series. I'm curious as to how they'll address this.

Hawkgirl: I hear she's a popular character in the comics, so she's in instead of Hawkman. Sorry, Hawkman fans (both of you). Anyway, it does help balance out the male/female ratio.

Pretty good core team. They could always have reserves they could call in certain situations. Like, if they go to the bottom of the ocean, call Aquaman. Seriously, if a mission takes you to the moon, why would you need Aquaman?

Anyway, here are some thoughts on the premiere (which ran an hour in total, sans commercials)

• The debut was called "Secret Origins," a wink to the old comic book that revealed the, um, secret origins of DC characters.
• The opening's in CGI, looks nice. And it doesn't look like they scrimped on the animation.
• Thank Heavens Kevin Conroy is still voicing Batman. He's been doing it for what, almost a decade?
• Speaking of inside jokes, Snapper Carr (the TV reporter) was the old JLA mascot in the early days of the comic.
• Hold on. In the last episode of Supes' series, the entire planet hated his guts (after he went on a rampage due to being mind-controlled by Darkseid). Now he waltzes into the U.N. and everyone's okay with it?
• I still can't over the fact that a Martian is named John Jones, even if you do say it with a French accent (yes, I know it's spelt J'Onn J'Onzz). No one called him the Martian Manhunter either. Maybe later. 
• When GL showed up, no one asked "Why does a black guy have the Power Ring?" I guess the producers will either (a) ignore the earlier Green Lantern episode, or (b) explain everything at a later date. Hopefully the latter.
• Everyone seems to know who Hawkgirl is too. Looks like Wonder Woman is the only rookie.
• I got a kick out of the fact that the aliens escaped because J'Onn was sleeping on the job. If he went to bed earlier Earth would have been saved a lot of hassle.
• The JLA revamp kicked off with an invasion story too, but it was actually a Martian invasion (I think, I've only been able to read issue #1).
• Man, I really wish it had been Kyle instead of John, just for that "Wow, I'm hanging out with Earth's Greatest Heroes" vibe.
• During one of the "teasers" they ran before and after commercial breaks, I noticed Lex Luthor, Solomon Grundy, and Cheetah. The Legion of Doom lives!
• The story kinda slowed in the middle. Hey, Batman didn't die, what a shock. Cue big fight scene. 
• Bruce Wayne just happened to have a space station lying around?
• Whoops, guess Batman's not going to be in on every mission. That's probably for the best.

So how was it? It's hard to say. The first episode was basically a meet n' greet. Now that everything's established, the true test will come in the weeks to follow. I do think they got off to a strong start tonight. The animation looked great, and the whole invasion story, while not too original, was suitably epic. I do wish Paul Dini was on board (it's like AKI splitting from THQ), but I think the show will get along fine with who they have.

Now, if only they'd bring the Hall of Doom back…

Joe Gagne
bwo@infi.net

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