Catwoman

The New York Comic-Con is coming up Oct. 13-16, and Warner Bros. has revealed some animated plans for the show.

Warner Home Video, Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation will present “an action-packed hour of first looks” at DC Universe Animated Original Movies that Friday from 3 to 4 p.m., which will include the premiere of the animated short Catwoman, starring Eliza Dushku as the voice of title character. The 15-minute short will be included on the release of Batman: Year One, which arrives Oct. 18 on Blu-ray, DVD, for Download and On Demand.

The panel will also include the first footage to be seen from Justice League: Doom, the next entry in the ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies.

Panelists will include the voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy, DCU executive producer Bruce Timm and casting/dialogue director Andrea Romano … and quite possibly welcome a few surprise guests to the stage. An autograph session with the panelists will immediately follow the panel.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, the latest foray in Warner Brothers’ collection of straight-to-DVD animated movies, is a tired collection of military cliches interspersed with some impressive fight scenes. Words like honor, sacrifice and bravery get batted around like a well-used hacky sack at a Grateful Dead concert, but to little effect, other than to remind you that there’s a big screen, live-action movie starring Ryan Reynolds that will be coming out in theaters any day now.

Hal Jordan

The film opens with a rather jarring sequence that I actually feel compelled to call attention to since it veers so far away from the tone and treatment of the rest of the film. In it, a generic Green Lantern is heading out on patrol when she is attacked and killed by a group of flying shadow monsters. That’s fine in and of itself, except that the movie takes loving care to show her being dismembered by the monsters, with her feet, then hands, midsection and then head rather gruesomely ripped from her body. The fact that there’s no blood or entrails doesn’t make this sequence any less disturbing. In fact, I’d argue it makes it even more disturbing. And I should note at this point that the film is rated PG. Way to do your job, MPAA.

But I digress. It seems the shadow monsters are working for the Lantern’s ancient enemy Krona, who apparently is planning to attack the guardians’ home planet of Oa any day now, once he can get out of his anti-matter universe or wherever it is he’s trapped. A call to arms is raised, and as the Green Lanterns gather and prepare for battle, our hero Hal Jordan starts telling the youngest and newest recruit, Arisia, some of his favorite stories about the Corps and its various members.

Green Lantern attacks

So what we have then is an anthology film, collecting various stories from the comics — some well known, some not so well known — all designed with one purpose: to hammer home again and again how utterly awesome the Green Lanterns are. At times this movie feels more like a recruitment film than a superhero cartoon.

We learn about the very first Green Lantern, Avra, and his selfless courage despite humble beginnings; about Killowog’s tough-as-nails instruction; and about Laira, who receives a decidedly unwelcome homecoming when she returns to her warrior-proud planet on a peacekeeping mission.

Avra

We are also treated to adaptations of two Alan Moore stories, both originally written way back when DC and Moore were bestest buddies. The first and best known, Mogo Doesn’t Socialize, is a rather faithful adaptation, though it adds more backstory than necessary and spoils the big revelation way too soon. I did, however, smile to realize that “Rowdy” Roddy Piper was providing the voice of Mogo’s “nemesis,” Bolphunga the Unrelenting.

The other adaptation is Moore’s “Tygers,” which is turned from a tight, nasty allegory about the dangers of second-guessing yourself into a rather muddled mess, with lots of dialogue between Abin Sur and Sinestro (who plays a supporting role here by the way; this film seeming to take place before his eventual betrayal) about destiny versus free will. I suspect that this is largely due not so much to Kevin O’Neill’s admittedly grotesque illustrations as it is to the fact that it puts Abin Sur in a rather weak light, and makes him seem susceptible to deception, which would be untoward in a film that’s devoted to selling you on the Green Lantern franchise as strongly as possible.

The Guardians are blinded by the light

Like a number of recent DCU films, the animation here varies between stylish and proficient to sloppy and cheap. The fight sequences are, as I said before, extremely well choreographed and rendered, and are easily the highlight of the film. Elsewhere, though, it’s obvious the staff relied on CGI and a few other computer tricks to keep costs down and animate the less kicky-punchy sequences, but only serve to create a “something’s not right here” tone within the mind of the viewer. I will note that, while the look of the film is consistent overall, certain segments, like the Mogo chapter, seem to harken to back to ’70s animation, particularly the Heavy Metal film or a few Ralph Bakashi projects. If intended, it’s an homage that I greatly appreciated.

Green Lanterns attack

But the film’s real flaw is not the animation or its episodic structure. It’s the utter reliance on war movie tropes that were tired back when John Wayne was doing them. Every cliche in the military handbook is trotted out here: the nervous recruit eager to prove herself; the soldier who must choose between family and doing the right thing; the tough, sadistic drill sergeant who actually has a heart of gold; the neophyte who refuses to back down against overwhelming odds; and on and on and on.

The film constantly reminds us how being a Green Lantern is all about sacrifice and bravery, to the point where I expected to see Killowog turn around at some point, remind us that they’re looking for a few good men and suggest we contact our local recruiter. The most egregious effort in this direction is easily a supplemental documentary where Dan DiDio, Geoff Johns and some people with PhDs talk about how Green Lantern shows us what it means to be truly brave and how without him (and, by implication, the rest of the DC universe) we’d all be selfish, petty bastards with no understanding of nobility or the higher good. This isn’t implicit stuff; they actually come out and say this several times, interspersed with images of George Washington, King Arthur and, yes, John F. Kennedy, just in case we didn’t get the point already.

Well, so what? What’s wrong with tales about sacrifice and bravery? Aren’t these important ideals we should strive toward and admire, even when they’re presented in a cartoon? What’s my problem, anyway?

Well first off, all of the Hal’s talk of bravery and what it means to be a Lantern strikes me as a very lazy way to inject a bit of heightened melodrama and unearned grandeur. But then there’s also the issue of spelling everything out. A few weeks ago in one of our What Are You Reading? columns, I criticized Action Comics #900 for its insistence on making sure every story mattered, either by infusing it with unneeded political and social allusions (“torn from today’s headlines” as it were) or by overstating as loudly and explicitly as possible the mythological allusions and general awesomeness of their characters. It’s the old “if we tell you this enough times maybe you’ll believe it” school of storytelling, and Green Lantern: Emerald Knights buys into it 100 percent, to its detriment.

Overstuffed with melodrama and false piety, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is short on character development, plot and any sort of emotional investment. Some Green Lantern fans, even those who serious groove on the mythology and details of the character and universe, may be disappointed to find Hal basically taking the role of a narrator here, though perhaps they’ll enjoy seeing various supporting characters thrown in the spotlight. Others will enjoy the film as a basic action, superhero film — the fight sequences are, as I said, the best thing about the film. Whether those fans pay any heed to the militaristic platitudes presented throughout the movie doesn’t make them any less prominent, however, or any less of a problem.

Emerald Knights aplenty

BleedingCool.com is reporting an unsourced rumor saying that the DC Entertainment animation wing is in the “early stages of development” on a animated adaption of this, which could prove to be the darkest animated work they’ve done. There’s been no confirmation or denial by official sources, leaving fans to speculate on the veracity of this and also who could voice the characters — notably an aged Batman.

Thanks to its connection to parent company Warner Bros., DC Comics’ animated properties have long outpaced Marvel’s and the recent string of straight-to-DVD animated features only further cements that dominance. In recent years Marvel has made big strides to close that gap, but DC’s animated track record of Batman: The Animated Series, Teen Titans GO! and the Justice League series put them ahead.

Would you like to see this epic series animated? And going further, what other DC stories could be great as a cartoon?

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights

Warner Home Video announced yesterday that the animated movie Green Lantern: Emerald Knights will arrive in stores June 7, 10 days before the release of the big Green Lantern feature film.

The movie has Hal Jordan telling a newly recruited Arisia six interlocking tales of various Green Lanterns, including Abin Sur, Kilowog, Laira and Mogo. The six stories are written by Geoff Johns, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim, Dave Gibbons, Peter J. Tomasi, Eddie Berganza, Alan Burnett and Todd Casey.

It features the voice talent of Nathan Fillion (Firefly), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), musician Henry Rollins, wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper and Wade Williams (Prison Break). The film is executive produced by Bruce Timm and directed by Lauren Montgomery, Jay Oliva and Christopher Berkeley.

The press release also noted that the film will include a preview of the next DC Comics animated movie, Batman: Year One. You can find the entire release after the jump.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights will have its world premiere tomorrow, April 1 at 6 p.m. at WonderCon in San Francisco. A panel discussion by filmmakers and voice cast will immediately follow the screening.

*****

DISCOVER THE ORIGIN OF THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS IN ALL-NEW DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGINAL MOVIE GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD KNIGHTS COMING JUNE 7, 2011 FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO

Primetime TV Stars Nathan Fillion, Elisabeth Moss Headline Voice Cast; Available as Blu-ray Combo Pack & DVD

BURBANK, CA, (March 30, 2011) – The origins of the ultimate intergalactic police force are revealed across six interlocking tales of the legendary Green Lantern Corps in the all-new Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, the next entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies. Building up to the release of the highly anticipated live action film, Green Lantern, in theaters June 17, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights arrives on Blu-Ray™, DVD, On Demand and for Download June 7, 2011 from Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation.

The full-length animated Green Lantern: Emerald Knights will be distributed by Warner Home Video as a Blu-Ray™ Combo Pack and DVD. The film will also be available On Demand and for Download.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights weaves six legendary stories of the Green Lantern Corps’ rich mythology around preparations for an attack by an ancient enemy. As the battle approaches, Hal Jordan mentors new recruit Arisia in the history of the Green Lantern Corps, telling tales of Avra (the first Green Lantern) and several of Hal’s comrades – including Abin Sur, Kilowog, Laira and Mogo. In the end, Arisia must rise to the occasion to help Hal, Sinestro and the entire Green Lantern Corps save the universe from the destructive forces of Krona.

Primetime television stars Nathan Fillion (Castle) and Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) lead a diverse array of performers as the voices behind the Green Lantern Corps.

Fillion provides the voice of the animated film’s central character, Hal Jordan, the human Green Lantern assigned to Sector 2814 (which includes Earth). Fillion has starred in several primetime television series including his current hit Castle as well as Desperate Housewives, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He has also developed a popular cult following as a pair of Joss Whedon’s heroic captains: Capt. Mal Reynolds in the space-western series Firefly and follow-up film, Serenity; and Captain Hammer in Whedon’s internet sensation Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Fillion returns to the DC Universe after his successful turn as Steve Trevor in the animated film Wonder Woman, and has performed voice work on the animated series Justice League, Robot Chicken, The Venture Bros., and several Halo video games.

Moss gives voice to Arisia, a young recruit forced into her first mission on just her third day as a Green Lantern. Prior to starring as the ever-evolving Peggy Olson in AMC’s ground-breaking series Mad Men, Moss was featured on The West Wing, Invasion and Picket Fences. Moss has been active in voiceovers for animation with previous roles in Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, Freakazoid! and It’s Spring Training, Charlie Brown!.

The voice cast for Green Lantern: Emerald Knights also features actor/spoken word artist Henry Rollins (Sons of Anarchy, The Henry Rollins Show) as Kilowog, Jason Isaacs (the Harry Potter films) as Sinestro, legendary professional wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper (They Live) as Bolphunga, Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) as Abin Sur, Kelly Hu (The Vampire Diaries) as Laira and Wade Williams (Prison Break) as Deegan. Radio Hall of Fame commentator/talk show host Michael Jackson voices the esteemed Guardian, Ganthet.

Bruce Timm is executive producer of Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. Directors are Lauren Montgomery, Jay Oliva and Christopher Berkeley. The six interlocking tales are penned by comic book luminaries Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Peter J. Tomasi, Eddie Berganza, Alan Burnett, Todd Casey and Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim.

“Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is filled with wonderful backstory and exposition on the Green Lantern Corps going far beyond Hal Jordan, making this film a perfect complement to the live-action major motion picture, Green Lantern,” said Hersin Magante, WHV Marketing Director, Family & Animation.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights Blu-Ray™ Combo Pack has over 2 1/2 hours of exciting content, including:
• Feature film (est. 75 min)
• Sneak Peak at Batman: Year One, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie
• Behind-the-Scenes look at All-Star Superman
• Featurette: “Only the Bravest: Tales of The Green Lantern Corps” – Bravery is the unique, identifying characteristic of each Green Lantern. Yet what does it mean to be brave? How has the world of Green Lantern and the Corps made bravery into something we can all relate to? This story reveals and defines the bond that holds together the Green Lanterns’ affection for the ring, and the ring’s unwavering loyalty in return.
• Featurette: “Why Green Lantern Matters: The Talent of Geoff Johns” – Geoff Johns is a force to be reckoned with. He’s not only the Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment, he’s a New York Times bestselling writer with a fresh and vibrant storytelling perspective. Johns discusses his contemporary take on the Green Lantern character and why that character resonates in our culture.
• Pod: From Comic Book to Screen: Abin Sur – Take a peek into Geoff John’s “Green Lantern Secret Origin” book which, for the first time, showed fans what really happened to Abin Sur before he crashed landed on Earth, and passed his ring to Hal Jordan.
• Pod: Beautiful … But Deadly – From Comic Book to Screen: Laira Omoto – Green Lantern: Emerald Knights again creatively weaved a riveting comic book short story into the 
intricate plot of the film while introducing the honorable Green Lantern, Laira Omoto. Known as one of the Green Lantern Corps’ fiercest warriors, this mini-featurette takes a deeper look into the history and origin of this humanoid marital artist and her 
family feud with the Golden Dragon!
• Audio Commentary: Dan DiDio and Geoff Johns
• “Green Lantern” Digital Comic Book
• Two bonus episodes from animated television series handpicked by Bruce Timm.
• Standard and high definition versions of the feature film
• Digital copy on disc of the feature film

BASICS
Street Date: June 7, 2011
Order Due Date: May 3, 2011
Languages: English and Spanish

Audio: Dolby Surround Stereo
Color / Closed Captioned
MPAA Rating: PG

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
Blu-ray Combo Pack – $24.98 SRP
Price: SD 1 Disc – $19.98 SRP

BD Combo Pack UPC: 883929136902
1-Disc UPC: 883929137411

All-Star Superman

Warner Bros’ animated adaptation of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All-Star Superman is so reverent and faithful toward the source material that the film, to a certain extent, feels like a pale copy of its inspiration.

That’s not necessarily a damning criticism. Bruce Timm and company took the right approach in attempting to get as close a conversion from page to screen as possible (to do otherwise would have pleased no one). But the comic itself is so rich in detail and episodic in nature that even a trim, streamlined version like this that still manages to hit a number of the right high points feels a bit flabby in comparison. Saying “the book is better” is a rather easy cheat for a critic — the book is almost always better, but I suspect that fans of the comic won’t be able to watch this without running a compare/contrast checklist in their head and find the film coming up a wee bit short. The good news is that those coming fresh to the material probably won’t notice anything wrong at all.

I wasn’t kidding when I said the film is as faithful to the comic as possible. Screenwriter Dwayne McDuffie lifts the dialogue verbatim from the comic whenever he has the opportunity, and he has plenty of them. What’s more, while the animation is a bit sleeker and cleaner than Quitely’s rough, minimalist pen lines, the animators do their best to mimic the artist’s unique character expressions, posture and body types throughout the film and copy his panel composition whenever the opportunity arises. Many fans will no doubt thrill at seeing sequences like Superman kissing a super-powered Lois on the moon not only animated but done as a near-xerox copy of the original, iconic panel.

Lois and Kal-El take flight

More importantly, director Sam Liu manages to maintain the overall contemplative tone and atmosphere of Morrison and Quitely’s masterpiece. It’s certainly one of the most subdued, nakedly sincere and emotional films they’ve ever done, at least compared to past WB/DC films like Under the Red Hood and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. Matching and maintaining this sort of wistful, inspirational attitude from the comic without coming off as corny or false must have been exceedingly tricky, so kudos to Liu and company for getting that rather essential part right.

Indeed, certain sequences, like Clark Kent’s interview with Luthor in prison manage to capture the comic’s balletic farce rather well while still adding some of new bits to it. Occasionally they even manage to top the comic — there’s a gag involving Superman’s star-dense Fortress of Solitude key that actually works better animated than it did in print.

But with only a 76-minute running time, it’s not terribly surprising that a number of sequences would get edited out. As one might expect, the film hones its focus on the Superman/Lex Luthor/Lois Lane triangle, with (in case you’re not familiar with the over-arcing story) Superman finally falling terminally ill to one of Luthor’s traps and attempting to put his affairs in order, especially with Lois, before his time is up.

Lex Luthor

The comic, of course, was as much an ode to the classic Superman stories of the past as it was an exploration of the character itself and what makes him so mythic. Thus, the filmmakers attempt to nod toward this by inserting some of the less plot-essential sequences like the battle of wits between Sampson, Atlas and Superman. The one sequence that unfortunately sticks out like a sore thumb is the one involving the Kryptonian astronauts Bar-El and Lilo. It’s not one of my favorite bits from the comic, and my own preference would have been to ditch that for perhaps the Jimmy Olsen sequence in issue #3 instead, or something from issue #10, where he cures children’s cancer, creates a new pocket universe and saves a girl from committing suicide. The choice to include Bar-El and Lilo makes thematic sense — their arrogant behavior provides a nice contrast to Superman’s own humility — but it does underscore the original material’s episodic nature and make the film feel like it’s trying to take a deep breath before moving on to its finale.

I usually don’t have much to say about the voice work in these films unless I hate it, but everyone does a rather good job this time around. James Denton and Christina Hendricks give a nice gravitas to their characters and the interplay between them works rather well. Special note, however, should be given to Anthony LaPaglia, who nails Luthor’s quiet arrogance and jealousy rather well.

What big hands you have Kal-El

Usually the special features sections of these DVDs are an embarrassment, with lots of unwarranted self-congratulation and allegedly in-depth looks at the histories of various characters and comics that are as shallow as dishwater. For once, however, the supplemental materials are worthwhile.

The main feature is a documentary titled “Superman Now” that features Morrison talking about the origins of the original 12-issue comic and how it came together, as well as a video segment where he shows off his original sketches for the series and talks about how they evolved over time. Even if you’ve heard Morrison talk about these things in past interviews, it’s still entertaining to see him mull over them once again.

There’s also a commentary track featuring Morrison and Timm that vacillates between insightful and glad-handed compliments, where each tells the other how much they love their work. Despite the schmoozing and occasional quiet lapses, there are notable moments, as when Morrison talks about the larger themes he was trying to address in the comic or Timm talks about how tricky it was to capture Quietly’s style in animation. It’s especially interesting to note Timm’s hesitancy about whether this more subdued, thoughtful type of material will play well before the traditional superhero fanboy audience. Would the same crowd, he asks, that cheered at the violence on display in Red Hood appreciate a more restrained film like this? I’d like to think so, but it seemed telling to me that Timm took the time to pose the question at all.

There’s also a preview of the next DCU film, a hodge-podge of Green Lantern stories titled Emerald Knights, no doubt designed as a tie-in to the upcoming live-action film. The most notable (and, honestly, unsurprising) revelation was that they plan on adapting Alan Moore’s “Mogo” story. They’d kind of be silly not to.

Despite my reservations, All-Star Superman is an entertaining movie and should please fans whether they’ve read the original mini-series or not. But there’s also no doubt that the film’s struggles to capture the particular mood of the comic and determine what to prune and what to keep make the film’s pacing a bit bumpy, to put it charitably. It would have been nice to expect a film equal in stature to the comic — nice, but unfair and more than the WB animators could no doubt execute given their financial limitations. At best the film is an enjoyable supplement, one that will allow fans to contemplate just what was so special about the original work that drew them toward it in the first place.

All-Star Superman

Warner Home Video announced this week that the animated adaptation of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All-Star Superman will arrive on DVD and Blu Ray Feb. 22.

Here’s how the press release described the film: “In All-Star Superman, the Man of Steel rescues an ill-fated mission to the Sun (sabotaged by Lex Luthor) and, in the process, is oversaturated by radiation – which accelerates his cell degeneration. Sensing even he will be unable to cheat death, Superman ventures into new realms – finally revealing his secret to Lois, confronting Lex Luthor’s perspective of humanity, and attempting to ensure Earth’s safety before his own impending end with one final, selfless act.”

The film will feature James Denton (Desperate Housewives) as Superman, Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) as Lois Lane, Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace, Happy Feet) as Lex Luthor, Ed Asner (Up) as Perry White and Matthew Gray Gubler (Criminal Minds) as Jimmy Olsen.

The release didn’t mention the inclusion of an animated short, but it will include a preview of their next original animated film, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights.

The complete press release can be found after the jump.

*****

Grant Morrison’s beloved, Eisner Award-winning vision of Superman’s heroic final days on Earth is brought to exquisite animated life in All-Star Superman, the latest entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies coming February 22, 2011 from Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The highly-anticipated, full-length film will be distributed by Warner Home Video as a Blu-Ray™ Combo Pack and 2-Disc Special Edition DVD for $24.98 (SRP), as well as single disc DVD for $19.98 (SRP). The film will also be available On Demand and for Download.

In All-Star Superman, the Man of Steel rescues an ill-fated mission to the Sun (sabotaged by Lex Luthor) and, in the process, is oversaturated by radiation – which accelerates his cell degeneration. Sensing even he will be unable to cheat death, Superman ventures into new realms – finally revealing his secret to Lois, confronting Lex Luthor’s perspective of humanity, and attempting to ensure Earth’s safety before his own impending end with one final, selfless act.

The celebrity-packed voice cast is headed by James Denton (Desperate Housewives) as Superman, Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) as Lois Lane, and Anthony LaPaglia (Without A Trace) as Lex Luthor. The stellar cast includes seven-time Emmy® Award winner Ed Asner (Up) as Perry White, Golden Globe® winner Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under) as Ma Kent, Matthew Gray Gubler (Criminal Minds) as Jimmy Olsen and Linda Cardellini (ER) as Nasty.
Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy), Catherine Cavadini (The Powerpuff Girls), Finola Hughes (General Hospital), Alexis Denisof (Angel), Obba Babatunde (That Thing You Do!), Michael Gough (Batman) and John DiMaggio (Futurama) round out the voice cast.

Based on the Eisner Award-winning DC Comics series/graphic novel of the same name by Grant Morrison with illustration by Frank Quitely, All-Star Superman is executive produced by animation guru Bruce Timm and directed by Sam Liu (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths) from a script by acclaimed comics writer Dwayne McDuffie (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths).

All-Star Superman 2-Disc Special Edition DVD features approximately 1 1/2 hours of exciting extra content, including:
• Feature film (est. 75 min)
• Sneak Peak at Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie
• Featurette: “Superman Now” – In a moment of inspiration, Grant Morrison was provided an opportunity to revamp the Man of Steel into something modern, something more relevant for today’s audience. This is the story of All-Star Superman – where it all started, and what it came to be
• Two bonus episodes from animated television series handpicked by Bruce Timm

All-Star Superman Blu-Ray™ Combo Pack will include approximately 2 1/2 hours of intriguing bonus features, starting with all of the content available on the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD and adding:
• Featurette: “Incubating the Idea” – A conversation with Grant Morrison
• Audio Commentary: Bruce Timm and Grant Morrison
• All-Star Superman Digital Comic Book
• Standard and high definition versions of the feature film
• Digital copy on disc of the feature film

“The All-Star Superman comic was the work of two immensely talented creators at the absolute top of their game,” said Geoff Johns, Chief Creative Officer, DC Entertainment. “Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All-Star Superman is one of those modern classics, and I can’t wait to see it brought to life as an animated film.”
“Grant Morrison’s fascinating comic vision comprised all the aspects of a truly great film – action, drama, fantasy, romance, sacrifice and hope – and the animation team of Bruce Timm, Sam Liu and Dwayne McDuffie have passionately translated that vision into an enthralling movie experience no Superman fan can resist,” said Hersin Magante, WHV Marketing Director of Family and Animation. “As the next entry in the ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies, All-Star Superman stands as a shining example of the creative heights possible from the partnership of Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video.”

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse isn’t a travesty, the way the previous Superman/Batman animated film, Public Enemies, was. It wasn’t an affront to my sensibilities or a 80-minute cringe-fest. But it’s not a particularly good film either, and bears a multitude of sins on its shoulders, including clunky exposition, poor to downright confusing characterization, inane dialogue and some surprisingly sloppy animation.

The film adapts Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner’s series of comics about the arrival of the current (or at least current for now) Supergirl. The film opens with Kara Zor-El crashlanding on Earth as a fully grown teenager but suffering from a bit of a memory lapse and not quite in full control of her powers. Batman and Superman subdue her/take her under their wing, Superman takes her on a shopping spree, and then she’s quickly spirited away to Paradise Island to train.

From there she gets kidnapped by Darkseid, who attempts to brainwash her so she can replace Big Barda as the leader of the Female Furies, his elite honor guard (although all they ever seem to do is fight each other). The last third of the movie or so consists of the heroic trio of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman (with Barda along for the ride) infiltrating Apocalypse to save Kara.

The movie runs into problems right from the start when what should be the big scene — Superman realizing that not only is Kara from Krypton, but she’s his cousin as well — falls as flat as a pancake. Any opportunity for poignancy, or at least the chance to provide some depth to Superman, is lost here. What does it really mean for Superman to discover he’s not the last of his race? What does it mean for Kara to find someone to connect with? The film isn’t really interested in these questions, and, as a result, the audience doesn’t generate much interest in the characters beyond their ability to smash stuff up real good.

It doesn’t help that the characters’ motivations and morals seem to switch according to the fancies of the plot. Halfway through there’s a scene where the heroes, along with a bunch of Amazons have to lay to waste an army of Doomsday clones. They completely wade into them, not seeming to worry to much about maiming or killing the monsters. Even Batman gets to hack at a bunch of them with a Gimli-sized axe. The resulting carnage is conveniently swept over afterward with Diana saying “they weren’t really alive anyway” (i.e. they didn’t bleed), but you didn’t really know that when you first started swinging that sword, did you? And aren’t at least some of you supposed to have some sort of code against killing anyway?

It gets worse later on when Big Barda has to impale one of the evil Furies in order to save Wonder Woman, she’s all like “Thanks for that.” But when Granny Goodness is captured and Barda considers getting rid of her for good, Diana is all “no, don’t do it.” Excuse me? It’s obvious, smack-the forehead stuff like this that pulled me completely out of the story time and again.

DC’s revamp of Supergirl came under fire initially for it’s rather overtly sexual and sexist portrayal of the character. While past DCU films haven’t exactly shied away from catering to this particular fanboy niche, Apocalypse thankfully is a relatively chaste affair. Mention must be made, however, of the inexcusable scene where Kara tells Clark she wants to learn about being an Earth girl and so he takes her shopping for shoes and clothes, because nothing says “modern American woman” like mindless consumption.

The voice work overall is one of the high points of the film. Everyone in the cast equates themselves well, particularly Kevin Conroy as Batman, Tim Daly as Superman and Andre Braugher as Darkseid. Unfortunately, most of the actors are poorly served by the unimaginative, cliched dialogue, espeically Braugher, whose Darkseid comes off more like your average supervillain of the month than the grand, Machiavellian dictator his creator Jack Kirby envisioned.

Perhaps the most shocking thing about the film is that the animation, especially in the beginning, seems surprisingly slapdash. Characters movements are minimal and jerky — one scene of Superman pushing a fiery blimp out of Gotham looks like two Colorforms slowly sliding across a board. It’s the kind of thing I expect from an old episode of Gigantor, and not the latest DCU movie. That said, the final big battle between Superman, Kara and Darkseid on Ma and Pa Kent’s farm is well done and livens things up considerably, though not enough to make me forget what came before.

The DVD also comes with a Green Arrow short where he foils a potential kidnapping and battles Merlyn and Count Vertigo. It’s all right, certainly Green Arrow fans will enjoy it though to be honest it didn’t leave much of an impression on me beyond a mere shrug of the shoulders.

What did garner my attention, and not in a good way, is a pair of self-congratulatory documentaries, both of which set my back teeth on edge. The first is on Jack Kirby’s original Fourth World saga, which spends more time trying to sell you on how cool a villain Darkseid is than talk about Kirby and his masterwork. And while Walter Simonson and Bruce Timm offer some thankful insight, everyone else has nothing of any significance to say. In fact, they frequently get things wrong. Was Mark Evanier or any of the countless Kirby scholars not available? Must we constantly trot out Dan DiDio and the rest of the WB staff to spout endless banalities on mythic archetypes and the greatness of character X or story Y?

There’s also a documentary on the history of Supergirl, which is mainly notably for their laughable attempt to explain away the afore-mentioned sexist pandering in the comics, which mainly consists of “Well, the men aren’t drawn realistically either!” Well, that makes everything OK then. A thousand pardons for daring to be offended.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse has its moments — the final battle, the occasional snappy one-liner from Batman — but it’s an oddly disjointed and awkward film that fails to ultimately cohere into anything resembling solid entertainment. Here’s wishing better luck with the upcoming All-Star Superman film.

MTV shares the trailer for the upcoming animated DVD All-Star Superman, which adapts Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s excellent run on the comic of the same name. The animated movie features the voice talent of James Denton, Christina Hendricks and Anthony LaPaglia.

Absolute All-Star Superman

James Denton (Desperate Housewives), Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) and Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace, Happy Feet) have been cast as the voices of Superman, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor in the upcoming All-Star Superman original animated movie. Warner Bros. announced the direct-to-DVD project in San Diego this past summer.

Bruce Timm is executive producing, and Sam Liu, who directed Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, will direct this one as well. Dwayne McDuffie, who wrote Crisis on Two Earths, Justice League Unlimited and many other animated programs (not to mention comics) wrote the script.

The DVD will be released next spring.

Black Adam

Warner Home Video announced today that they plan to release a DVD collecting the animated shorts that have appeared on their other DC Universe Original Animated Movie DVDs thus far. The DVD, titled DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection, will include a new short starring Superman, Shazam! and Black Adam.

The collection, which will include the Spectre short from Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Jonah Hex from Batman: Under the Red Hood and Green Arrow from the upcoming Superman/Batman: Apocalypse DVD, comes out Nov. 9.

Another preview image and the complete press release can be found after the jump.

*****

Captain Marvel

SUPERMAN/SHAZAM! THE RETURN OF BLACK ADAM ANCHORS DC SHOWCASE ORIGINAL SHORTS COLLECTION

THE SPECTRE, JONAH HEX, GREEN ARROW INCLUDED ON COMPILATION DUE NOV. 9 FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO

BURBANK, CA (August 5, 2010) – Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video have expanded the realm of superhero storytelling beyond the popular DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies with the introduction of the DC Showcase, a series of animated shorts featuring characters from the celebrated DC Comics vault. On November 9, 2010, Warner Home Video will distribute the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection, the first quartet of animated adventures featuring the never-before-seen Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam, as a Special Edition Blu-Ray™ for $29.99 (SRP) and single disc DVD for $19.98 (SRP).

DC Showcase animated shorts initially appeared as special bonus content on the 2010 slate of DC Universe Animated Original Movies. The 10- to 12-minute films include The Spectre, Jonah Hex and Green Arrow. All three titles will be presented in extended formats along with the first-ever release of Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam.

In Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam, Clark Kent’s latest interview subject is street kid Billy Batson. What Clark doesn’t know is that Billy is more than a feisty kid with a lot of heart – he has been chosen by an ancient wizard to represent the good of man as the World’s Mightiest Mortal just by invoking the name of the wizard, “Shazam!” Billy’s powers come none-too-soon, as he also discovers he’s being pursued by a centuries’ old, murderous villain, Black Adam – a foe so powerful, even Superman can’t stop him alone. The all-star cast of Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam is led by Jerry O’Connell (Crossing Jordan) as Captain Marvel, George Newbern reprising his Justice League role as Superman, Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) as Black Adam and two-time Emmy Award® winner James Garner (8 Simple Rules) as The Wizard.

Bruce Timm (Superman Doomsday) is executive producer and Joaquim Dos Santos (Justice League, Avatar: The Last Airbender) is director of the first series of DC Showcase titles. Michael Jelenic (Wonder Woman) wrote the 22-minute script

Other shorts included on the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection:

The Spectre – A detective story with an ethereal twist featuring an otherworldly character. The short is written by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), and the voice cast includes Gary Cole (Entourage) and Alyssa Milano (Charmed).

Jonah Hex – The tough-as-nails bounty hunter always gets his man – until someone else gets to him first – in this case a murderous madam who wants to steal more than just his bounty from Jonah Hex. Based on a story from the award-winning Jonah Hex comic series, and scripted by world-renowned author Joe Lansdale. The voice cast is led by Thomas Jane (Hung), Linda Hamilton (The Terminator), Michelle Trachtenberg (Mercy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Michael Rooker (Days of Thunder).

Green Arrow – At the Star City International Airport to pick up his girlfriend, Oliver Queen is forced into action as Green Arrow to protect the 10-year-old Princess of Vlatava from his old nemesis Merlyn the Magnificent and the League of Assassins. Greg Weisman (Young Justice) pens this action-packed tale, which features the voices of Neal McDonough (Desperate Housewives) as the title character and Malcolm McDowell (Entourage) as his foe.

“The DC Showcase once again combines the respective creative talents of DC Comics, Warner Premiere, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video to provide fans with vivid, new experiences alongside characters from within the vast resources of DC Comics,” said Matt Bierman, Senior Vice President Production, Warner Premiere.

“The DC Showcase allows us to expand the DC Universe with short stories based on intriguing characters – from a 1940s comics sensation like The Spectre to a creation of the 1970s like Jonah Hex – just begging to be presented to a very worthy fan base,” said Geoff Johns, Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment.

“Whereas DC Universe films have given fans the broad strokes of superhero entertainment, we know devout comics fans will enjoy seeing the characters in the DC Showcase come to animated life – some for the very first time – and we believe this presentation will open a window for new viewers to experience these unique, textured heroes and villains,” said Amit Desai, WHV Vice President of Family, Animation & Sports Marketing.

DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection 1-Disc Special Edition DVD features more than 1 hour of exciting extra content, including:
• Four animation shorts (est. 62 min)
• Four additional bonus TV series episodes handpicked by Bruce Timm

DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection Blu-Ray™ features more than 2 1/2 hours of exciting extra content, including:
• Four animation shorts (est. 62 min)
• Commentaries by renowned writers Steve Niles, Joe Lansdale, Greg Weisman and Michael Jelenic
• Four additional bonus TV series episodes handpicked by Bruce Timm
• Digital copy online of the shorts

-more-

About Warner Premiere:
Warner Premiere is Warner Bros. Entertainment’s direct-to-consumer production company focused on the development, production and marketing of feature-length content, as well as short form digital content for the growing home entertainment market. Warner Premiere is committed to being at the creative forefront in the evolution of quality product in the direct-to-DVD business and the digital space, creating material that exemplifies the commitment to story, production and brand equity for which Warner Bros. is known.

About Warner Home Video:
With operations in 90 international territories Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video’s film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.

About DC Entertainment:
DC Entertainment, home to such iconic DC Comics properties as Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, MAD Magazine, and Fables, is the creative division charged with strategically integrating across Warner Bros. and Time Warner. DC Entertainment works in concert with many key Warner Bros. divisions to unleash its superheroic characters across all media, including but not limited to film, television, consumer products, home entertainment, and interactive games. Publishing over 1,000 comic books, graphic novels and magazines each year, DC Comics is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world.

DC SUPER HEROES and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics.
(s10)

About Warner Bros. Animation:
Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) has been producing award-winning original animation since 1930, when it released its first cartoon, “Sinkin’ in the Bathtub.” Since then, WBA’s characters have set the standard for innovative, quality animation. Producing for network and cable television, online, home entertainment and feature films both domestically and internationally, WBA is highly respected for its creative and technical excellence, as well as for maintaining the studio’s rich cartoon heritage. WBA also oversees the creative use and production of animated programming based on classic cartoon characters from the Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics libraries. WBA is one of the most-honored animation studios in history.

Red Hood fires. Bang!

When I heard that the next DC animated movie was going to be Batman: Under the Red Hood, I cringed. For one thing, I’ve never been a big fan of Judd Winick’s writing. For another, when I originally heard that Jason Todd had come back from the dead, I did a facepalm. Must everything be constantly recycled in superhero comics for the sake of fanboy nostalgia? Can’t we just leave some things be? Not that Death in the Family was some great masterpiece (it wasn’t) but can’t we look at least a little bit forward instead of constantly looking over our shoulder, building castle after castle on sand?

So no, I wasn’t particularly excited to watch this latest Warner Bros. adaptation, expecting it to be something along the lines of that dreadful Superman/Batman affair or the horrid Wonder Woman film.

But I didn’t get that. Instead, I got an enjoyable, well-done superhero film that, while it suffers from some of the same problems that plague the other movies in the DCU line, nevertheless remains a solid bit of entertainment that will please the average — dare I say it, even casual — Bat-fan.

Batman!

The plot’s pretty simple, which, considering how knotty and convoluted Batman’s history has been in recent decades, is kind of an achievement in and of itself. While on a far-away mission, Jason Todd, aka Robin Vol. 2,  is kidnapped by the Joker and seemingly killed. Five years pass. Then a new villain, named the Red Hood, appears in Gotham City, slowly taking over the drug trade, currently operated by the venal Black Mask. Is he really a criminal kingpin or is he a vigilante attempting to bring down the criminal element from within? And how did he become so skilled a fighter and acrobat? Is it possible — just possible — that he is actually Jason Todd? Are you kidding me? No, it’s Deputy Dawg — of course it’s Jason Todd! Sheesh.

The Joker! In a parka!

Anyway, the film moves pretty briskly, with plenty of nicely staged action sequences (I particularly liked how they made the acrobatic seem fluid and graceful) and every character’s motivations spelled out broadly enough to be understood with a minimum of effort, but not so broadly that you feel like you’re watching excerpts from Inside the Animator’s Studio: Overacting and Archetypes 101.

Honestly, considering the number of flashbacks, characters and plot threads the film has to juggle, it’s rather impressive that the film is as sleek and straightforward as it is. The filmmakers wisely and deftly manage to avoid attempting to provide lengthy amounts of exposition and backstory. For example. good old Ra’s Al Ghul makes an appearance 2/3 of the way through. Rather than delve into a lengthy explanation of who he is and what is relationship to the Caped Crusader is, only the basic details are given — he’s rich, he’s powerful, he’s a villain but has a strong sense of ethics and personal honor. As a result, my wife, who knows absolutely nothing about Batman mythos beyond the few basics (millionaire fights crime, has snarky butler) and rolls her eyes whenever I delve into the minutia, managed to follow along without once stopping to say “Wait, who’s that?” (OK, she did look up Black Mask on Wikipedia, but that was out of mere curiosity more than anything else.)

Go Batcycle, go!

It’s not all peaches and gravy. The computer animated parts of the film look sloppy, like they were done circa 1992, ruining an early car chase sequence. And while I thought the voice acting was great over all, I didn’t care much for John DiMaggio as the Joker. I found his choice to give the character a deep, baritone off-putting and seemed too heavily based on Ledger’s iconic take.

The film also suffers from a lot of “Hey Wait” moments, as in “Hey wait, just how far away is Ra’s citadel that Batman could get there and back to Gotham City in record time?” And “Hey, wait, Robin just got nearly beaten to death. Shouldn’t he be bleeding more?”

It’s that last one that bothers me the most. I’ve complained about it before, but I grow tired of Bruce Timm and company’s attempts to have it both ways. They want to up the stakes and offer more violent content that both matches the source material and appeals to older fans, but don’t want to get too gross or show too much blood. The end result, however, draws you out of the picture. Even after acknowledging that you’re watching a superhero film where unrealistic things happen, it’s hard to accept that a person can walk away from a severe beating with nary a bruise. I’d prefer they’d aim their films at more of an all-ages audience, but if you want your film to be PG-13, then make it PG-13. At the very least, if you’re going to have a character get smacked in the face with a porcelain toilet bowl, show him losing a tooth or spitting out some blood or something.

Robin! With balls!

The DVD comes with a Jonah Hex short that’s just as anime-influenced, dull and misogynist as the previous Spectre short was. There’s also an incredibly dull and pompous documentary about the history significance of Robin where some “expert” on mythology blathers on and on about the symbolism of masks and what the color green means. I wanted to punch him. There’s also a preview of the upcoming Superman/Batman: Apocalypse film that pretty much dashed any hopes I had of it being good.

Ultimately, what I think I liked about Red Hood is how efficient it is. It didn’t get tied down in endless bat lore, feel the need to cater to fans to the point of becoming fawning or make every single character “edgy” in a slipshod attempt at making the characters more interesting (Black Mask is more evil mob boss here than psychotic). By sidestepping these and other problems that plague a lot of the Batman books (OK, a lot of DC books in general) I find my initial complaints groundless. Red Hood cuts to the core of the story — former disciple rebels against his mentor — and never loses its focus. It did something I thought would never happen: It made me glad to see the return of Jason Todd.

More Red Hood!

Superman/Batman #8

If you needed more proof that the DC Comics animated DVDs are, in fact, continuing, TV Guide reports that a sequel to last year’s Superman/Batman: Public Enemies will come out on Sept. 28.

And just as that first film was based on the first arc of the Superman/Batman comic, this one adapts the second arc of the Jeph Loeb-written comic, which reintroduced Kara Zor-El, AKA Supergirl, to the DC Universe. Superman/Batman: Apocalypse will again star Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy as Superman and Batman, and Firefly/Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles actress Summer Glau as Supergirl.

The movie follows Batman: Under the Red Hood, which comes out at the end of July.

Update: And not even 30 minutes after posting this, Warner Home Video sends out a press release on the animated film, which adds Ed Asner and Andre Braugher to the voice cast. You can read it after the jump.

*****

THE END IS NEAR!
WORLD’S FINEST WAGE WAR WITH DARKSEID IN ALL-NEW DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGINAL MOVIE SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE
AVAILABLE FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO SEPTEMBER 28, 2010!

Andre Braugher, Summer Glau, Ed Asner join popular voices Kevin Conroy & Tim Daly;
New DC Showcase GREEN ARROW on Special Edition Blu-ray & 2-Disc Special Edition DVD

BURBANK, CA, (June 29, 2010) – To save an earthbound Kryptonian, the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight unite once again – this time to battle the powerful forces of Darkseid – in Superman/Batman:Apocalypse, the ninth entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies coming September 28, 2010 from Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation. The highly anticipated, full-length film will be distributed by Warner Home Video as a Special Edition Blu-Ray™ and 2-Disc Special Edition DVD as well as single disc DVD. The film will also be available On Demand and for Download.

Fan favorites Tim Daly (Private Practice) and Kevin Conroy (China Beach) return to their seminal roles as Superman and Batman, respectively. The celebrity-laden guest cast is headed by Andre Braugher (Men of a Certain Age) as the daunting Darkseid. Sci-Fi heroine Summer Glau (Serenity/Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) provides the voice of Supergirl, and seven-time Emmy Award winner Ed Asner (Up) reprises his Superman: The Animated Series/Justice League role as Granny Goodness.

Based on the DC Comics series/graphic novel “Superman/Batman:Supergirl” by Jeph Loeb, Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is produced by animation legend Bruce Timm and directed by Lauren Montgomery (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths) from a script by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist).

After a spaceship splashes down in Gotham City Harbor, Batman and Superman encounter a mysterious Kryptonian with powers as great as those of the Man of Steel. The Kryptonian is soon revealed to be Kara,
cousin of Superman, who takes her under his wing to educate her about the ways of Earth. However, the villainous Darkseid has other plans. Seeing an opportunity to finally defeat Superman, Darkseid abducts and
gains control of Kara, utilizing the powerful Kryptonian to do his bidding. It’s up to Batman and Superman to save Kara, but they’ll have to take the fight to Darkseid within his hostile world – where unknown, deadly threats lurk around every corner, including a brainwashed Kryptonian able to match Superman blow-for-blow.

In addition to the feature film, the Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Special Edition Blu-Ray™ and 2-Disc Special Edition DVD include the third DC Showcase animated short, Green Arrow. Screenwriter Greg Weisman’s story finds Oliver Queen at the Star City International Airport to pick up his girlfriend, only to be forced into action as Green Arrow to protect the 10-year-old Princess of Vlatava from his old nemesis Merlyn the Magnificent and the League of Assassins. The short features the voices of Neal McDonough (Desperate Housewives) and Malcolm McDowell (Entourage). Bruce Timm is executive producer.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse 2-Disc Special Edition DVD features more
than 1 1/2 hours of exciting extra content, including:
• Feature film (est. 75 min)
• DC Showcase: Green Arrow (10 min)
• Sneak Peak at the Next DC Universe Animated Original Movie (10 min)
• Featurette: Supergirl: The Last Daughter of Krypton – A comprehensive look at The Maiden of Might from her introduction in the classic age of comics to her death in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event to her appearance on Smallville and beyond.
• 2 bonus episodes from animated television series handpicked by Bruce Timm

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Special Edition Blu-Ray™ will include more than 2 1/2 hours of intriguing bonus features, starting with all of the content available on the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD and adding:
• All-New Featurette: The New Gods – This documentary covers Darkseid’s story, particularly in reference to the adaptation of Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. A primer on the wealth of material and
stories contained in the New Gods series, along with a deeper understanding of why these characters – and especially Darkseid – are so memorable and important to the DC pantheon.
• All-New Featurette Pods
• Orion – The mightiest warrior on either New Genesis or Apokolips, Orion follows an almost Shakespearean arc culminating in the slaying of his father, Darkseid. This mini-featurette shines a light on this
classically tragic character.
Mister Miracle – This mini-featurette focuses on the greatest escape artist the universe has ever known and how he was traded in a peace effort to be raised by Darkseid, the enemy of all New Genesis.
• 2 additional bonus TV series episodes handpicked by Bruce Timm
• Digital copy on disc of the feature film

“Great things happen when powerful entities come together, and the partnership of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation is proud to continue this popular film series by once again uniting the two most popular characters in the DC Universe in a story that truly tests their strength, trust, loyalty, ingenuity and heroism,” said Matt Bierman, Senior Vice President Production, Warner Premiere.

“It is a testament to the larger-than-life nature of Jeph Loeb’s blockbuster storylines that two of the first nine DC Universe movies are based on his work,” said Geoff Johns, Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment. “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse lets us see Superman and Batman in action side-by-side again, but this time along with Supergirl and one of DC’s greatest villains, Darkseid.”

“Just as Superman and Batman stand atop the DC canon of characters, so do the respective seminal voices of Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy in the hearts and minds of fans. Superman/Batman: Apocalypse will no doubt
please comic-centric and mainstream audiences alike – particularly in the performances of Daly and Conroy opposite dynamic actors like Andre Braugher and Ed Asner, and fanboy favorite Summer Glau,” said Amit
Desai, WHV Vice President of Family, Animation & Partner Brands.

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Coming out of the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo in April, there were reports that the DC Universe Original Animated Movies might be in trouble. An “exclusive interview” with Bruce Timm (that Timm says was no such thing but the author says was) and subsequent pick-up of it by other outlets kind of left an impression that the movies weren’t doing so well.

Today Warner Home Video sent out a Q&A with Timm on their next film, Batman: Under the Red Hood, which included some clarification about the future of the movies:

QUESTION: There’s been a lot of internet banter regarding the discontinuation of the DCU series based on quotes attributed to an interview in Calgary with you. True or false?

BRUCE TIMM: Kinda false. First of all, it wasn’t an actual one-on-one interview — quotes were taken out of context from longer answers I gave on a panel at the Expo. Bottom line: the DCU films are definitely continuing. We’ve got projects lined up for the next two years at the very least – lots of films in different stages of development and production. I know there are a lot of rumors circulating about future films. Some are true, some are not. I’ll tell you this much – anyone at our DCU/Batman: Under the Red Hood panel at Comic-Con will walk away with a very clear picture of the direction we’re taking the DCU animated movies in the coming year.

Jonah Hex

Warner Bros. sent out the first three images from the Jonah Hex animated short that can be found on the upcoming Batman: Under the Red Hood DVD.

This is the second DC Showcase animated short, following the Spectre one that appeared on the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths DVD earlier this year. “Jonah Hex “is scripted by author Joe Lansdale and features the voices of Thomas Jane, Linda Hamilton, Michelle Trachtenberg and Michael Rooker.

According to the press release, “In the DC Showcase story, the tough-as-nails bounty hunter Jonah Hex
always gets his man – until someone else gets to him first – in this case a murderous madam who wants to steal more than just her bounty from Jonah Hex.”

Batman: Under the Red Hood arrives in stores July 27. Check out a couple more images after the jump.

*****

Jonah Hex

Jonah Hex

Red Hood: The Lost Days #1

Judd Winick and artist Pablo Raimondi are teaming up for a new miniseries called Red Hood: The Lost Days — “a six-issue mini-series revealing the untold story of the man behind the Red Hood. It’s the tale of an angry young man’s transformation into a deadly villain,” according to DC’s The Source blog.

“I’m thrilled to return to this character, and it’s both a joy and challenge to tackle this new story,” Winick said. “LOST DAYS tracks the time from the Red Hood’s rebirth to his return to Gotham. In it, we get to understand this anti-hero in a new way. I think it explains both how he’s sympathetic, and an unrepentant monster. He’s a wonderfully complex character, and I hope this adds some even greater depth to his mythology.”

And here’s today’s “Why didn’t they start doing this sooner?” moment — the release of the comic will coincide with the release of the Under the Red Hood DVD, DC’s next entry in their animated movie series. Typically when a big blockbuster film hits theaters, comic companies release a barrage of comic tie-ins to maybe pull in new readers. I can’t remember DC doing anything like that, at least this overtly, with any of their previous animated DVD releases, but maybe I’m forgetting something. Many of the DVDs, of course, have been based on existing stories, like New Frontiers and the Death of Superman, so there’s always the opportunity to sell from the backlist, but actually creating a tie-in comic seems like something worth trying as well.

Update: Someone in our comments section points out that there was, indeed, a New Frontiers special that came out back in 2008 when the animated DVD hit that I, obviously, didn’t remember.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

Confession time: I’ve always had a soft spot for the whole alternate universe concept vis a vis superheroes. The idea of folks like Superman having completely different adventures — maybe even being completely different people! — just thrilled me as a young comic book collector for reasons I can’t really quite to explain (although the cynic in me might say it might have had something to do with the fact that these stories were allowed the grace of an actual ending). Whatever the reason, imaginary stories, parallel worlds, alternate universes, Earths 1-52, I loved em all. As a kid my big addiction was trying to get a complete run of the first run of Marvel’s “What If?” series (it wasn’t that hard).

So when Warner Brothers announced that their next straight-to-DVD animated film was going to be titled Crisis on Two Earths I acted a bit like Hugh Herbert. On the other hand, the company’s last offering, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, was abysmal, and left a bad taste in my mouth for days. Would this new film run along similar lines? Was I foolish to get my hopes up?

I needn’t have worried. Crisis on Two Earths is a fun, action-packed superhero cartoon. It’s not particularly deep or thoughtful (the two-part Justice League cartoon that’s on the second disc offers more in the way of character development and philosophical insight), but it’s solidly written (by Dwayne McDuffie), animated, acted and otherwise produced. I wasn’t in thrall to it, but I didn’t feel my time was being wasted either (and these days that’s a big compliment as far as I’m concerned). It’s certainly one of the more entertaining DC movies I’ve watched.

The story starts when the Lex Luthor from an alternate reality (or Earth 3 as we DC nerds know it) shows up in the “main” DC world asking for help from Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the gang (see the image at the top of this post). His problem? On his world, the Justice League’s counterparts, known as the Crime Syndicate, are kicking ass and taking names, with only the heroic Luthor (up being down on this planet, you see) being barely able to keep the peace. What’s more, the Syndicate is putting together an ultimate weapon that would make the threat of nuclear weapons (the world’s only threat against them at this point) useless.

Crime Syndicate

From there it’s basically a mosaic of well-choreographed fight scenes, interspersed with cameos from some of the lesser stars in DC’s roster. A lot of those kinds of guest appearances annoy me to a degree in the sense that I always get the feeling that DC is trying way too hard to convince me that their characters are really, really awesome, even when they’re not — i.e. “Look, Aquaman’s beating up the evil Marvel family even though he’s much weaker than they are! Isn’t he great? Why aren’t you reading more Aquaman comics?” (I confess I did like seeing who ended up as the President, though).

Still, there’s a lot of nice touches here. I liked, for example, how Superman’s counterpart, Ultraman, acted like a big goombah — Ray Liotta meets Charles Atlas. I also enjoyed how Superwoman suggested all the kink laden in Wonder Woman’s DNA without ever becoming too suggestive.

The most interesting character of them all was easily Owlman — a psychotic version of Batman voiced very nicely by James Woods — which is not surprising, considering they spend most of the time focusing on him. He’s clearly the big villain of the film, so it won’t be too surprising when I say the whole film comes down to him and the Caped Crusader battling it out for the safety of the entire multiverse. As a result, a lot of the other characters — Green Lantern, the Flash — are given short shrift, but Owlman’s such an entertaining bad guy I really didn’t mind.

The only serious problem I had was with the dreary subplot involving the Martian Manhunter wooing the President’s daughter. It didn’t do anything to further the plot, kept grinding the movie down to a near-halt and only serves to underscore how much of a third banana J’onn J’onzz is, since he doesn’t actually help the rest of the League at all, except to provide a little deus ex machina at the end.

The Spectre

The DVD comes with a few extras that are worth noting, the main one being a short starring The Spectre. Written by Steve Niles, the cartoon sports an anime-heavy style quite different from Crisis‘ sleek, streamlined look, with a 70s setting that feels straight out of Boogie Nights, bell bottoms and all. I’ve never been a big Spectre fan — I’ve always thought he was far too powerful and aloof to be interesting — and this short really didn’t do anything to change my mind. It’s stylish, but bubble-headed and obvious — there’s no real mystery surrounding the plot, despite the pretense of one.

The DVD also boasts a preview of the next DC film, Under the Red Hood, which, I’m sorry, looks godawful, and a documentary of sorts titled “DCU: The New World,” wherein Dan Didio, Geoff Johns, Paul Levitz and a bunch of other folks talk about how gobsmackingly awesome Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis were. Since I absolutely loathe both of those comics and consider them to be responsible for a host of bad decisions that currently plague the comics industry, I don’t think I have to offer too much of my opinion for you to glean my feelings toward this pompous bit of fluffery. (I will note, however, that the most amazing thing about the doc is how they never once talk about the plot to either series, so that a newcomer could watch the thing and still not have the slightest idea what either comic is about.)

Still, it wasn’t enough to dampen my enjoyment of Crisis on Two Earths. It remains a smart, solid film that DC fans in particular are going to get a kick out of. Especially if you’ve got a thing for that whole “alternate universe” booshwah.

The Flash

The Spectre

Next month Warner Home Video will release their next DC Universe Original Animated Movie, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Included on the DVD will be a new short in what they’re calling their “DC Showcase” series. This first one features the Spectre. From the press release:

The Spectre focuses on a detective story with an ethereal twist, featuring the otherworldly character originally introduced by DC Comics in 1940. The short is written by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and directed by Joaquim Dos Santos (G.I Joe: Resolute). The voice cast is led by Gary Cole (Entourage) as the title character and Alyssa Milano (Charmed) as Aimee Brenner.

The Spectre will be distributed February 23 by Warner Home Video as part of the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Blu-ray/DVD.

Check out a couple of additional images after the jump.

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from The Spectre

from The Spectre

The Jester

Warner Home Video sent out a pre-holiday treat last week — four new images from the upcoming animated release Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, which comes out in February. The direct-to-DVD release pits the Justice League against their evil counterparts, the Crime Syndicate. Up above is the Jester, a heroic version of the Joker from the Crime Syndicate’s world. After the jump you’ll find a really angry Jimmy Olsen, the Flash and a Crime Syndicate group shot.

If you haven’t checked out the latest trailer, you can find it here.

Jimmy Olsen vs. Superman

The Flash

Crime Syndicate

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

Comic Book Resources posted the newest trailer for the the seventh entry in the ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies series, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. The story pits the League and a good version of Lex Luthor against their classic enemies/doppelgangers, the Crime Syndicate.

If you’ve watched the entire trailer, then you know that they threw in a fun little touch in the form of the leader of the United States on Earth 2, a familiar-looking President Wilson. And in the picture above, sent out by Warner Bros. today, you can see that his daughter, Rose, will also be making an appearance.

The DVD comes out Feb. 23.