Legion of Super-Heroes Season Two

Issue 247 of Adventure Comics featuring Superboy in 1958 introduced a super hero club for teenagers in the future, The Legion of Super-Heroes. Since that time, the characters have had an astounding fan following, including current President of DC Comics, Paul Levitz.

 

I’m still scratching my head as to why it took so long to get a cartoon off the ground for this highly animated group, but when it finally arrived, I was happy to see that it captured the energy and enthusiasm of the comics.

Now, it’s coming back for a second year.

Legion of Super-Heroes Season Two Trailer

At the 2007 San Diego Comic Con, a panel of cartoon creators, including producer James Tucker and voice artists Yuri Lowenthal (Superman), Phil Morris (Imperiex), and Alex Polinski (Chameleon Boy) gave the audience a little preview of the upcoming second season.

Taking place a whole year after the recent finale (which saw Superman return to Smallville), the second year promises to raise the stakes and the cast list. New characters will be introduced, including Chameleon Boy, who was described as a shape-shifting trouble maker akin to ‘Eddie Haskell’ of Leave it to Beaver fame.

But Cham will not be alone. In addition, Dreamgirl, Nemesis Kid, Karate Kid, Invisible kid, and Dawnstar will make their first cartoon appearances.

The villain Imperiex will form the basis of the second season’s thread, much the same as the Fatal Five were in season one. The overall feel of the new year is intended to be more ‘Bronze Age’ in comparison to the light and innocent ‘Silver Age’ intentions of the debut season. What this means to non-comic-book fans is that the stories will be edgier with more action and the characters will be more grown up and there will be pairing up between the now older Legionnaires.The most startling addition to the series is a new Superman.

The trailer depicts a Kryptonian duo, and the panel explained that the Legion will be meeting an alternate future Superman who is more aggressive than the well-meaning character we met last year.

Making so many changes so soon into a franchise is a very daring move. Seeing how the characters look older in the trailer got me interested in the new season, but the second Superman gave an added piece of excitement.

The second season of Legion of Super-Heroes is due to premiere on September 22.

Yet another cartoon series that suffered from time slot hell, The Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon was missed by some.

Thankfully, the DVD was invented for just that eventuality.

Suggested viewing/reading:

Legion of Super Heroes Volume 1
Showcase Presents: Legion of Super-Heroes, Vol. 1
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Vol. 3: Strange Visitor From Another Century
Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Vol. 11 (DC Archive Editions)

Justice League: New Frontier trailer

Finally available online, the trailer for the upcoming direct to DVD DC Comics animated film by Darwyn Cooke, Justice League The New Frontier.

An alternate history of sorts (for you continuity buffs), New Frontier takes place in the declining period of the Justice Society of America’s reign as the premiere super hero team. As the McCarthy era witch hunt for Communists takes away the dignity of the Golden Age heroes, a new group of characters emerges to take their place. As the story moves through a dark and tumultuous series of acts involving the Korean War, race riots and an attack from beyond the stars, the Justice League of America slowly forms as defenders of the planet, taking the place of their predecessors, the JSA. The finale of the comic book series sees John F. Kennedy step into office as America looks at the dawn of a new era, a New Frontier.

Expert animators Bruce Timm and creator of the comic book Darwyn Cooke have teamed up to work on what could very well be the best super hero cartoon project ever made.

Check out Lucy Lawless duking it out in the sound studio in this trailer!

The DVD has a posted release date of 1/28/08