X-men the Anime

I don't know how essential this latest installment in the X-men saga is.  After all, there has already been several cartoons here stateside involving everyone's favorite mutants.  But, I suppose it can't hurt to try to take Japan as well.  It's a little odd though, because while faithful it's also off in odd ways.  Just in the grammar of body language it feels just a little wrong.  Specially the character of Wolverine who is played more like the ronin in the classic version of "The Seven Samurai." 

The basic plot is that the X men are called to Japan first to find a little mutant girl and then to solve some bigger mysteries like why does the Professor's mutant detector doesn't work in that area of Japan.  There are some bad guys named rather cheekily "U-Men" who look nothing like humans.  They are robot/cyborgs who are interested in harvesting mutant organs.  They save the Japanese girl and Emma Frost who both join the team.  The girl, Hisaki, is a brilliant little piece of patching two cultures together.  Her mutant power is basically creating a psychic mecha.  So we have our giant robot even though this is an X-men show.  The animation is smooth and impressive.  I like how they handled the Beast.  The big mysteries are little "meh" but the action is pretty spot on.  Cyclops is still a massive buzz kill, but what can you expect? 

Overall, worth a watch.

Cartoon Network Does Great

Friday was the premier of the new season of action shows from the Cartoon Network and it was pretty awesome. A special note to "The Brave and the Bold," which is some of the most crazed fun on TV today. The intro had Wonder Woman and somehow they scored the seventies "Wonder Woman" theme and it was just magic. The main story involved the Green Lantern and it put the damn movie to shame. They even managed to make the Lantern's villains (some of the lamest in comic book history) cool. Before now, for example, the Tattoo Man was a joke. Watch the eagle tattoo come to life... ooo scary. But they redesigned the tattoo with a more tribal flair and it worked. Really, why the live action folk aren't taking notes from these guys I'll never know.

Also, I have to say that Young Justice just continues to grow on me. They are keeping a good eye on character relationships without going all soap opera which is a nice change of pace. The villains are very well realized. Cheshire is fast growing on me with her smug competence. The Sportsmaster was another walking DC joke that the Young Justice people have managed to make into a legit badass. Not bad at all.

Bravo Cartoon Network..Bravo..

The Specials

Super hero films are fraught with perils.  The suspension of disbelief is put through the ringer in this genre and any misstep can just destroy the entire piece.  That it attracts folks in Hollywood who think with their special effects budgets doesn't help.  Which is why the Specials is so fun, it's a super hero film with some heart and nearly no special effects.

It's the story of the 3rd (or 4th) best superhero team.  If this was the Marvel Universe they'd be the Defenders.  I can't think of an example for DC except maybe the Outsiders but they have Batman which always ups the cool factor.  At any rate, our special heroes are finally feeling they are going up in the world as they are being honored with action figures which is the super hero version of the Oscar.  Unfortunately, internal strife and incredibly insulting toys lead to a watershed moment where the team might just split up.

The characters are well drawn being both familiar archtypes but with their own personalities.  I like how there are little sub cliques within the team.  The two bad boys,  Weevel and Amok, tend to pal around for example trading snark on their team mates.  The leader is a pompous ass who is not too bright, but on the other hand who else could lead a team of ex villains, people with unspecified bird powers, idiots with super strengths, and idiots who claim the be the world's smartest man.  In the end, even though they are extremely dysfunctional they are also something of a family.

Definitely worth a watch, specially if you are going to watch James Gunn's OTHER superhero film "Super."

Brave and the Bold

No series has taken more chances with the Batman than the Brave and Bold.  Unafraid to mine silver age of comics for all the silliness there, it still manages to be relevant to modern audiences.  It is a high wire trick that demands respect, and it is a show that deserves more viewers.

Last night was the show at its weirdest.  The Bat Mite (an interdimensional weirdo with a batman fixation) brings three of the weirdest batman tales that have ever been told.  The first was an early Mad magazine parody of the cape crusaders.  The second the Manga version of Batman.  Finally, Batman meeting Scooby Doo and the gang. 

All three were excellently done, and treat the source material with respect.  I loved the Mad parody the best because it captures the manic nature of early Mad so well.  Also, it was the best use of a Jerry Lewis type voice since Animaniacs (Oh NICE LADY).  They played around a bit with the scooby doo portion.  They put in Weird Al as the guest celebrity though he wasn't around at the time of the original scooby doo mystery movies.  It's more than forgiveable though, after all a lot of younger viewers might not know who Jerry Reed was.  Besides, if Weird Al was around you know he would have been in the show with bells on, probably with Pee Wee Herman.

Superman Shazam The Return of Black Adam

I liked this more than I thought I would, but that's because it is more parts than whole. Despite the title, the whole Superman and Shazam kabanga is just a small part. This is really a series of four shorts. There's one of the Spectre, Jonah Hex, and Green Arrow.

The Spectre is in many ways the most interesting. He's not a typical hero. He's more hero by way of Freddy Kruger. He's a dead man who embodies the spirit of vengeance and basically he can do whatever he likes. That means if you cross the Spectre you die. But you will die an interesting death. For example, being cut to shreds by your own stolen money. Superman definitely would not approve.

Jonah Hex, as written by western writer Joe R. Lansdale plays things fairly straight. Our bounty hunter is after someone who has already been killed. But Jonah is nothing if not the type to see a job go unfinished. Definitely more "For A Fistful of dollars," and less "Wild, Wild West."

Green Arrow is just a guy who is good with arrows and wants to be today's Robin Hood. In this short he wants to ask long time girl friend Black Canary for her hand, but folks are gunning for his head. This short really profits from a loser censorial tone and we see that arrows are definitely not a good thing to have sticking out your anatomy.

The title bout is pretty good. Both Superman and Captain Marvel (shazam) have the same sort of niche (in fact DC once successfully sued the makers of Captain Marvel into submission), and they work well together. Black Adam sort of looks like Spock crossed with Captain Marvel and he was sort of the first Captain Marvel before going bad. He doesn't like the idea of a new kid in town so he's trying to take care of it. A lot of good super hero throw down here.

The thing that makes this collection REALLY worthwhile is the special features. There they took other episodes from DC cartoons that featured these characters and put them together as sort of a second collection of shorts so you are basically getting a two for one and who doesn't like that?