Justice League: New Frontier

The cast of the newest DC Comics Animation project Justice League: New Frontier is a star-studded affair. From David Boreanis as the Green Lantern, Kyle Mchlachlan as Superman and Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman to name a few, the cartoon feature is chock full of the kind of star power you’d expect in a live action movie.

The direct to DVD animation feature adaptation of Darwyn Cooke’s epic comic book series has garnered big sales and critical acclaim from comic book fans and non-funny book readers alike. Finally a sophisticated super hero movie has been made that mirrors the hard work that comic book professionals have been developing over the years. A story that is as exciting as it is poignant, New Frontier could very well be the new ‘Watchmen’ for the 21st Century… and the film is no slouch either!

Star Neil Patrick Harris (of Starship Troopers and Doogie Howser fame) voices the Flash in the film and has inherited the ‘comic book bug.’

Harris continues to peruse his local comics stores, even taking a moment during a recent interview to voice his dismay when he thought Los Angeles standard Golden Apple Comics had closed – and relief when he discovered the store had simply moved from its location of nearly three decades.

“I like the impressive art designs of comics,” Harris said. “I’m not so keen on outer worlds and strange proper nouns, but I like Alex Ross and some of the artists like that, so I find myself at the comics store every three or four months doing some shopping. I have a secret comic that I love, a historical comic called Super Magician Comics that Harry Blackstone actually did. I believe they made 12 or 14 of them. But once you start collecting comics, it’s not enough to say ‘Oh, I found issue #8’ – you have to find issue #8 in mint condition, etc. It’s a bad habit.”

My condolences.

Another grown man lost to the world of comic book collecting. I myself have been trying to find ways to cut back on my comic book budget. I discovered that I easily buy roughly 20 monthly comics a month. That’s just bonkers! If only they were not so well done!

Tying into the release of the New Frontier film, DC Comics has released a special follow up comic. Hitting the shelves last week, the features Darwyn Cooke revisiting the fresh world of DC Comics in the 1960’s with Robin, the Flash, Black Canary and a host of other heroes.

I say pick up the movie, swing by the comic shop for a copy of the special and enjoy them both.

But then… I’m infected with the comic book bug.

On Amazon:

Justice League - The New Frontier (Two-Disc Special Edition)
DC: The New Frontier, Vol. 1
DC: The New Frontier, Vol. 2

No more Justice League movie news

It’s official, there will be no Justice League of America movie.

To me, this is great news. I mean, what are the odds of this project being done well in the best of conditions, never mind during a writer’s strike. Maybe the time will help the production team figure out what to do with Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Green Lantern before throwing together a film that sounded half-thought-out to begin with.

My two cents is to base it on Justice by Krueger and Ross.

“JUSTICE LEAGUE” FILM OFFICIALLY SHUT DOWN
by Andy Khouri, Staff Writer
Posted: January 16, 2008 - More From This Author

Variety reported Wednesday evening news that the
Warner Bros. production of “Justice League,” based on
the hit DC Comics super-team, has been officially
shelved.

“Warner Bros. has let the options lapse on the young
cast that director George Miller chose to play DC
superhero staples. The move made it clear that the
project is no longer eyeing a spring start,” Variety
writes. Although cast options have been allowed to
lapse, would-be cast members have been told the studio
is determined to make the film eventually, and with
the same actors.

The shutdown follows numerous obstacles that have
plagued the George Miller-helmed production, including
uncertainty about tax breaks for filming in Australia
and questions about the script. Variety reports that
“Justice League” producers “like” the script written
by Kieran and Michele Mulroney, but that additional
work is needed — work the WGA strike makes
impossible.

No doubt compounding matters is the impending end-date
of the Screen Actors Guild contract, June 1, 2008.
Warner. Bros. would have to begin shooting “Justice
League” immediately in order to complete work with the
cast before they’d walk off set to strike in
solidarity with WGA, which SAG members may choose to
do. That producers have let the “Justice League”
cast’s options lapse is an indicator that the WGA
strike is likely to continue well into 2008.

With “Justice League” indefinitely delayed, Warner
Bros. has what Variety characterizes as a “superhero
gap” in its schedule for 2009, as the status of the
next Superman film is also uncertain.

Recommended:

Justice, Vol. 1
Justice, Vol. 2
Justice, Vol. 3

Super Powers- Galactic Guardians

For fans of the classic Super Friends cartoon series, the 1985-86 Super Powers Team Galactic Guardians is a much more sophisticated series. Gone are the Wonder Twins Zan and Jana and their space monkey Gleek, making the Saturday morning series much more interesting and relying on the actions of the super heroes instead of the teen aliens to solve any problems the team encounters.

Whereas the previous cartoon depictions of the DC Comics super stars were based on Alex Toth’s (Space Ghost, Birdman, Johnny Quest) designs, this series used character designs provided by Jose Garcia Lopez, leaving viewers with a much more dynamic and modern-looking group of heroes to watch. This, along with other advancements, is a double-edged sword and it makes the Super Powers Team cartoon a well-crafted series it has little of the charm that the corny Super Friends series had.

New to the team is the character of Cyborg who closely resembles the character that viewers would find waiting for them in the comic book series at the time. This level of detail to match the DC comic books is much appreciated but sadly futile as DC Comics was to drastically re-think the entirety of their comic book line with their Crisis on Infinite Earths, making any attempts to honor the comic creations a nearly pointless effort.

The newly released DVD set is a bit slim on content as the new format consisted mainly of 22 minute-long stories rather than the previous 11 minute-long mini-episodes. With the exception of four episodes, this makes the Super Powers Team series much healthier in plot and character development than any other DC cartoon series seen up to that time. In many ways, this is a precursor to the Bruce Timm Justice League series to follow many moons later.

While there are no real clunkers in the collection (aside from the fact that two stories rely heavily on Darkseid’s attraction to Wonder Woman), the stand-out episode has got to be ‘The Fear.’ Originally planned as a pilot for a revamped Batman cartoon series, this marks the first time the caped crusader’s origin was told in full in cartoon form. A spooky story involving the Scarecrow, this story is such a treat for Batman fans and completely blindsides viewers who were more used to Gleek’s corny jokes in this series. One scene in particular featuring Batman hallucinating his own screams as a child of ‘Mommy! Daddy!’ as he re-experiences his parents’ brutal murder in Crime Alley. I can’t help but wonder what kids made of this one!

Another high-point is the Bizarro World story which is a love/hate episode starring twisted Bizarro versions of Cyborg, Wonder Woman and Firestorm being trained by Mxyzptlk to be better ‘heroes.’ I understand why some consider this one a groaner, but personally I thought it was lots of fun.

Another unexpected surprise is the ‘Death of Superman’ episode that challenged the production team’s ability to stretch the restrictions of the Broadcasting Board.

All in all, this is a very well-done series that lives up to its reputation as a high watermark for the people that would much later return to deliver Batman, Superman and the Justice League cartoons. I was stunned to see names such as writer Alan Burnett and voice director Andrea Romano who are both still working on these characters in The Batman Saturday morning cartoon series and the DC Universe animated films.

Recommended

The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (DC Comics Classic Collection)
Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show - The Complete Series (DC Comics Classic Collection)
Challenge of the Super Friends, Volumes 1-2 (DC Comics Classic Collection)

Justice League casting continues

With the Internet and comic shops around the Nation a-buzz about the upcoming Justice League film, everyone wants to know who will play what super hero.

The follow-up announcement that it will be a cast of relative unknowns baffled many, and really put a kink in the rumor mill.

Nevertheless, we dream on.

Last week word was that Teresa Palmer was to don the red white and blue bikini of the Amazon powerhouse Wonder Woman. However, Australia’s Daily Telegraph recently announced that it is not Teresa Palmer, but super model Megan Gale (pictured left).

Oh good… a super model. How can that be a bad decision?

Tyrese Gibson is still in the running to play Green Lantern, but Common says he isn’t interested.

So far it looks like Ryan Reynolds will play the Flash, but even that is dubious news given the possibility that it may refer to the Flash solo movie.

So it looks like a solid casting announcement is still something for fans to dream about.

It looks like we’ll have Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Green Lantern (John Stewart) as characters for sure.

Personally, I’d like to see Tom Welling as Superman for one thing and casting Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman is just a no-brainer to me, despite her age.

For Batman and the rest…

Who would you cast as the Justice League of America?

According to comicbookresources.com:

“Warner Bros. are confident that filming on the ‘Justice League’ movie will commence unabated regardless of the WGA strike. Casting is allegedly “100% locked,” the cast can’t talk about it, but an announcement is coming this week.”

Justice League movie details

There has been a huge leak of info regarding the upcoming Justice League of America movie. It’ll never be clear if it’s the real deal or not until I’ve paid my money and am sitting stone-faced in the theater, ready to be disappointed, but still… you gotta dream.

The leaked details are good… very good, in fact.

So good, that I wager the script is a fake, but only because I’m a terrible grumpy cynic.

The script seems to be written by someone with a deep understanding for each member of the League and what makes them work. The script includes nods to Kingdom Come (a super hero themed diner) and to the recent Countdown to Infinite Crisis (Brother Eye and the OMACs both feature heavily) along with an opening scene of Barry Allen having a meal with his wife, Iris.

It’s a classic comic book fan’s dream come true.

The script also wastes no time introducing the viewers to the characters which is the way to go here.

The last thing anyone wants to see is a ’secret origin’ story of the JLA (despite the spectacular job by Bruce Timm and Co.). The X-Men trilogy could take its time introducing the viewers to Wolverine, Rogue and the rest because each character carried a heavy emotional story. Unless Mark Waid is writing the script (and it is very good, so… nah) I cannot see how a writer could find an emotional ‘in’ for the Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and the other two guys. They are impenetrable icons.This is the meat of the DC/Marvel debate. DC Comics characters are icons, Marvel characters are flawed ‘people.’ You can have fun with both, but it’s very difficult to make an icon work as a movie. You only have to look at the numerous failed DC Comics films to see that.

Justice League of America, as created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, were walking/talking idioms that kids were encouraged to imitate in their backyards with towels wrapped around their necks.

Writers such as Mark Waid and more recently Jim Krueger have delved deeper into their psyches with the aforementioned Kingdom Come and Justice to name a few, but these superheroes simply come out the other end even more statuesque.

If this movie works at all, it has to be air-tight.

And what was the last air-tight super hero movie you saw?

Correct… Batman Begins.

Fingers crossed, everyone.

Suggested reading/viewing:

Showcase Presents: Justice League of America, Vol. 2
JLA: Liberty and Justice
Kingdom Come
Justice, Vol. 1
Justice League Unlimited - Season Two (DC Comics Classic Collection)

Green Lantern cast?

The Justice League of America movie continues to grind onward in the rumor department.

Currently, actor Tyrese Gibson (of Tranformers) is in the running to play the part of Green Lantern John Stewart.

John Stewart used to be the ‘little known Green Lantern’ or ‘the black Green Lantern‘, until he became part of the Justice League cartoon series. Because of the exposure that the Cartoon Network series earned him, Stewart could easily be seen as the more widely known Lantern at present.

Introduced to the Green Lantern series in 1972 by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, Stewart was chosen by the Guardians of the Galaxy as a ‘replacement’ for Hal Jordan. A kind of intergalactic policeman, Green Lantern (up until then Hal Jordan) wielded a power ring to fight crime. Highly influenced by the EE Doc Smith Lenseman pulp novels, the 1960’s Green Lantern series was an attempt to re-invent the original character from the 1940’s, Alan Scott.

Portrayed as an ‘angry black man,’ John Stewart certainly shook things up in the monthly Green Lantern comic book series. He refused to follow orders, was headstrong and prone to outbursts. In comparison to the level headed king of cool, Hal Jordan, this came as a bit of a shock to readers. Unfortunately, Stewart became less defined as he took his place as Hal’s stand-in during Justice League of America adventures of the early 1980’s and only began to find his place in the DC Universe after Hal Jordan decided to drop the Green Lantern routine and John Stewart finally took his place.

Possibly the most complex of the modern Green Lantern power ring slingers, John Stewart became defined by a key moment in the deluxe mini-series Cosmic Odyssey when he failed to save a planet from destruction. It was this guilt that allowed him to develop through a now standard character arc resulting in a well-rounded character.

After another Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, decided to move on Stewart became the official Green Lantern to the JLA. Stewart was replaced by Hal Jordan when the series returned last year, but has been re-instated by Hal himself. Many readers feel that this is due to the fact that Dwayne McDuffie, writer of the Justice League cartoon where Stewart prospered has taken over the writing duties.

Even though I am a big Hal Jordan fan, I feel that John Stewart really shines in the Justice League comic while Hal was rarely used at all by writer Brad Meltzer. Given that the writer of the monthly Green Lantern series Geoff Johns has re-invented Jordan’s person into an extreme maverick-type, I can’t really see how the character would work in a team book anyway.

Including John Stewart in the Justice League movie is a great decision. I still hope that the script and direction is up to the job, though.

JLA Wedding Special/issue 195-197

As incoming writer Dwayne McDuffie premieres on the Justice League of America after possibly the most overly written and confused issues in the title’s long troubled history (I had to keep a crib sheet for who’s internal monologues were which color), I can’t help but breath a sigh of relief.

The ‘real’ JLA is back. I can feel happy about reading this comic again. Life is a little bit better.

I should explain. My love affair with JLA began with issue 200. It was stuffed in my Christmas stocking as an afterthought. The one time in my life that I got comic books for a gift (from someone other than myself) is still the best. I have since discovered that many kids around my age got the same treatment. For those of you not in the know, issue 200 was a double-sized artist jam featuring the original JLA versus the ‘new’ JLA members. If you don’t own it, go immediately to MileHighComics and buy two copies.

I hunted around that double sized issue for the immediate ten or so comics and stuck with the comic until I realized that Don Heck was not George Perez and I dropped it (sorry, Don, I can see the error in my ways now).

But issue 200 really held a lot of ideas and images that have since become hard-wired into my head as representative of the perfect JLA . Green Arrow, Firestorm, Black Canary and Red Tornado were relatively unknown to my Super Friends kid mind and were therefore fascinating. Also, the stories were heavy on self-contained adventures with a fluctuating cast. It also humanized key characters while leaving others stoic and iconic. While we got a clear idea of Firestorm’s inability to get a date and Ollie getting caught in the shower, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman remained edifice-like in their character.

As I dug into the back issues, I found the JLA/JSA cross-over ‘Targets on Two Worlds.’

This is where it gets interesting.

I had no idea who the JSA were and was kind of intrigued by the multiple Earths thing, but moreso about the nutty villains (Psycho Pirate!) and colorful heroes (Hourman jumped off the page). The story made almost no sense to me, but the action was lots of fun and Perez‘ art was (and still is) stunning.

The story involves the Ultra-Humanite enlisting the aid of villains of two worlds to eliminate key heroes of the JSA and JLA. We see The Flash (Jay Garrick) fighting Rag Doll, The Atom Vs. the Floronic Man, Wonder Woman duking it out against the Cheetah around the Washington Monument, and more. But the image that recently jumped to mind was the fight between Firestorm and Killer Frost… which plays out almost exactly like the one from the new JLA Wedding Special (you really thought I was just going off into my past for no reason?).

As if having one of the key writers of the amazing Justice League cartoon weren’t enough reason to celebrate, he has dropped hints at his influences in his first issue, and he is influenced by one of my favorite eras in the series’ history. A time when readers were not limited to the same seven characters every month and the second stringers ruled (in theory, much like the Keith Giffen Justice League series later on).

Billed as a Bachelor Party meets super hero comics, the issue sets up the upcoming storyline in which a new group of super villains teams up to eliminate the Justice League once and for all. Yes, this is the exact plot of Challenge of the Super Friends and the last season of Justice League Unlimited. We even get a shot of the Legion of Doom headquarters in the swamp. Despite the inherent corniness, the issue works.

The cracks about the ultimate bachelor Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow getting married are genuinely funny.It’s weird to think that getting him married is the first interesting thing that has been done with the Green Arrow since he grew a beard and got cranky.

I got quite a giggle out of the Joker, Luthor and Cheetah perfectly mocking the interminably long sequence from Meltzer’s JLA in which the founding members chose who was in and out in a cave (this went on for three issues, no kidding). The swipe at his predecessor’s inadequacies is masterfully done and never detracts from the comic.

In addition, the fact that the issue McDuffie was referencing also involves a master plot by the Secret Society of Super Villains also does my heart proud. In short, if you are a fan of the cartoon or recall that happy event when there was actually something of worth in your Christmas stocking, it’s time to pick up JLA.

More Justice League movie news

It seems that the all-star casting has begun for the upcoming ‘is it really happening’ Justice League of America film.

Recently I read that the film will involve the following; White Martians, Maxwell Lord, Lex Luthor, OMACs, and the death of Wonder Woman.

Let’s just take this in bite size portions…

White Martians - Utilized as the key ingredient in Grant Morrison’s JLA revival, the White Martians are the warriors of Mars (Green Martians such as J’onn J’onzz being the scientist/philosophers class).

Able to change shape and employ telepathic abilities, the pesky aliens terrorized the Earth again in cartoon form when they were used by Bruce Timm to jump start the Justice League animated series. It’s a good idea to use an alien threat as a good enough reason to pool resources, but I’m not getting the impression that this will be an ‘origin story’ for the JLA. Besides… it would be a lot of ground to cover in just 1.5 hours.

Maxwell Lord - The businessman responsible for the franchise-approach for the JLA in the mid-80’s and regarded as a key connection to an era that many comic book readers regard as a ‘golden age’ of the JLA comic book series by Keith Giffen.

Ofcourse Maxwell Lord ended up being used by DC Comics as a master villain in the now infamous ‘Identity Crisis’ event in which it was revealed that Lord was acquiring information on the world’s heroes in order to shut them down.

Right now, nut-job and occasional actor Mel Gibson is rumored to play the part.

Lex Luthor - The enemy of Superman is rumored to be played by sometimes bald actor Bruce Willis.

OMACs - (stands for One-Man Army Corps, Observational Meta-human Activity Construct, or Omni Mind And Community… depending on what issue of the current series you read) The robotic threat introduced in the Infinite Crisis tie-in series ‘The OMAC Project’ is a complicated villain.

OMACs are part of a counter-measure developed by Batman called Brother Eye that used sleeper agents impregnated with nanobots that, when activated, turn random civilians into hunter/killer drones.

While visually interesting, if the film uses this idea it will muddy the already rocky waters of the film with the ‘who can you trust’ issues raised in the comic books the villains appeared in.

Death of Wonder Woman - Again, in the comic books published a few years back, Wonder Woman discovered that Maxwell Lord was a traitor to the super human community and, with no other recourse, broke his neck. It appeared that the character was headed for a fall after this event as she was arrested and publicly disgraced as a murderer as the video of her killing Lord was played all over the planet.

Again, I doubt this will be in the film, but the story is that one hero may die before the credits roll.

What do you, the reader, think of these rumors?

Justice League movie news (continued)

From IESB.net

The motion capture rumor that we received earlier this week caused us to do some deep digging on the JLA production. Here’s what we have found out. Yes there will be motion capture used in the film but it will not be an all out “motion capture production.” Heavy motion capture will be used for the OMACs, the underwater sequences and such. So, all in all, this will be a traditionally made film with some motion capture characters, pretty much like every big fantasy movie these days. So that appears to be the final word on that subject. Now onto the big stuff!

Bale and Routh are…out, for sure, but who does WB want to replace them with?

Get ready ‘Smallville’ fans, your fantasies of Tom Welling in a cape are getting ready to come true. Yes that’s right, Tom Welling, TV’s Clark Kent, has been approached to take up the Superman role in the Justice League film. This has been a hope of Smallville fans for years and all indications are that WB has finally heard the call.

Justice League film to be CGI?

News from IESB.net says that the Justice League film may be an all motion capture project rather than actors in tights… which I am actually in full support for in this case.

Fantastic Four is part comedy so it’s okay if they look absurd, but the JLA is the pinnacle of super heroics, making a live action adaptation a very risky endeavor if you don’t want the audience snickering over Green Lantern’s long johns.

Making the film all cgi might just deliver the right impact on audiences.Here’s the source email sent to the site admin:

I’m in Europe on business right now, but managed to check my email (filled to the brim with spam of course) and noticed a very interesting message from a contact over at Sony Imageworks.

It seems that although they did cgi work on Superman Returns, there has been no talk of them coming back to work on the sequel. However, and take this with a grain of salt, Imageworks are apparently in the running to provide services on the JLA film, competing with R&H and possibly WETA (the latter being unconfirmed).

But the real interesting thing about this is that the contract is for an all-cgi “photo-real” motion capture movie, much like the upcoming Beowulf.

This is unsurprising, given George Miller’s recent track record with the likes of Happy Feet, and motion capture cgi would certainly account for the casting sessions that are supposedly starting next week, meaning that Miller can cast actors rather than faces for the roles, use their performances and tweak things as he sees fit.

Now a real-looking cgi JLA does seem likely, but I wonder what will become of Man of Steel given that Imageworks won’t be returning for that project. I know there were some rumblings within the company that Singer wasn’t satisfied with their work on Returns and is looking elsewhere for the sequel (ILM would be my preferred choice…but can Singer afford them?) and with Spider-Man 4 on hold (another Imageworks project), a mo-cap JLA would become their only major project for the next few years.

I just wonder if JLA might end up being pushed back….these cgi films take a long time to make, and a photo-real cgi JLA movie is quite a big project.

I’ll try to find out more when I get back to the States,

Jawa Juice