Justice League of America — how the cartoon shows how it is done
Most people think of the Justice League and the DCEU, but for me it is really the cartoon series in the 2000s. I do like the DCEU movies for the most part and yes, I will be writing my impression of the Zack Snyder cut of JLA in a few days. I did like the original JLA to a certain point, but I feel that the cartoon series is a league of its own.
Instead, I’m writing about how a certain band of people that produced, wrote, and directed cartoon shows that really brought in that influence and showed how it can be done with the comics in mind. When I see Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Dan Riba, Rich Fogel, and Dwayne McDuffie, I know that it will be something powerful and special. Since I’m an older comic book fan, these shows (and a few cartoon movies) they made felt very connective of the comic book material and yet still was of their own making.
Enter the Batman the Animated Series. In the early 1990s, this was an ever-popular show. The shows graphical take was a little different than I was used to. Sure, the grittiness of Gotham but I was thinking more of how the people looked, including Batman. Here we’ve seen people artistically drawn in a really good fashion and here was a new type of style of art. It fit the show though. Yet, it wasn’t just the art that really went well with it. It was about story. It was about the characters and how the characters were shown in such a great way. We get to see how Harley Quinn, which was created by the series and now known all over, what her story was and how she became Harley Quinn. We see Joker and why he does the jokes that he does and why he just doesn’t shoot Batman whenever he had the chance. We also see the stories of Bruce Wayne and how he became Batman in a variety of stories, such as the one where he spent time in Japan and studies Ninjutsu.
The other side of the coin were the voice actors. Holy cow, Luke Skywalker is Joker! Yes, Mark Hamill became the Joker and is still known for the voice of Joker even to the video games like the Arkham Series. The voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman is also iconic in how it was done, by Kevin Conroy. This was starting to feel monumental of how the voices and the characters were able to flow so well.
Yet, it wasn’t Batman that I was so fond of, possibly due to the darker themes, but seeing how it holds up now with the new movies going into a different type of direction, it seems that the cartoon series has more character in their characters than the new movies.
What I had been more looking forward to later was the Superman Animated Series. Also, by the same group of people but made in a brighter sense of artwork and that Metropolis looked more like it was in the future, while the Batman series was in the past. This also had good stories and the characters were showing great promise. They tried to do what they can with solving the idea of how to make Superman doable and yet still be near invulnerable. We find that Kryptonite wasn’t the only vulnerability, but magic and his mind could also be manipulated. The comics also had certain issues with this, but they seemed to do pretty well being able to find vulnerabilities in Superman. As Batman made Harley Quinn, Superman had Livewire and also became a bit more known in the comics but not so much as Harley Quinn. Stories we find about the origins of Steel and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), how Superman meets Darkseid, or finding Kara aka Supergirl. They bring out the feeling of the comics within. One of the things they did in one episode arc called “Apocalips… Now,” was the death of particular character named Dan Turpin, who was a homage to the late Jack Kirby. Jack Kirby created Darkseid for DC and it was decided that Dan Turpin was killed by Darkseid himself.
They eventually showed both Superman and Batman together in about three different stories and one of them was a three-episode story titled “The Worlds Finest” which put not just Superman and Batman working together, but also Lex Luther and Joker working together. There were other heroes that were met up like Flash, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), and Aquaman. The stories of Superman didn’t just be in Metropolis but other places and having to deal with Lobo, Maxima, Brainiac, Parasite, and various others that you would many times see in the Superman comics.
The voice actors were also great. Tim Daly was Superman and Clark Kent. Dana Delaney was Lois Lane. Clancy Brown was Lex Luther and still feels like the Luther I think of by voice when I see him in comics now. I didn’t know anything about Clancy Brown until I realized he was in Highlander as the crazy Kurgan going after MacLeod.
So, as a Superman fan, I was happy with the show. I didn’t realize the Justice League was out until later after it had already been out and found it on DVD. When I finally got the first two seasons, I was thrilled seeing the League finally together. They put in two episodes per story due to their feeling that these episodes with as many characters needed enough story to tell as they go. This JLA consisted of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern (John Stewart), Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter.
The stories in Justice League had a sense of wonder and almost epic-ness. This wasn’t just the action done on an episode where lots of destruction happens, this was about stories and how they meld them in. As in the story of “A Better World,” where in the first part of the story, the JLA is attacking the White House. As you can see in the video above, you will see what happens. You will find out later that it is of an alternate reality and that reality tries to control the reality of JLA that we know of. This story then becomes even more so later on in JLA Unlimited and going against the American government in fear of the JLA’s power. Other stories such as meeting Vandal Savage who changed time in order to rule by winning World War two for the Germans and the JLA going into the past to stop him.
The voice actors also were monumental and even the guest stars. Superman was different and had George Newbern. Wonder Woman was Susan Eisenberg. The Flash was Michael Rosenbaum who was also starring as Lex Luther in Smallville. Phil Lamarr was Green Lantern. Carl Lumbly was Martian Manhunter, Maria Canals-Barrera was Hawkgirl. Various guest stars did include Mark Hamill, Rene Auberjonais, Robert Picardo, Jennifer Hale, Corey Burton, Clancy Brown, James Marsden, Powers Boothe, Ron Perlman, and James Remar just to name a few. I think when it comes to JLA, they really pushed the envelope.
In Justice League Unlimited, they decided to go all out with as many of the heroes and villains that they could get their hands on. Yes, even Booster Gold had an episode with Elongated Man. There had been so many other heroes that I didn’t even know that I had to learn about such as Vigilante, The Question, Huntress, and Shining Knight. This was where there was more action, but the story wasn’t as too lacking to the point you thought it was all about action. Each episode only included a certain few of the JLA, so you usually didn’t have a story with everyone in it unless it was an action scene. This is where they decided to go all hog wild with what they could do, and they did it well. They even had a continuing story plot that kept going per episode as more serial than usual. This came up with the part where the government vs. the JLA because of what happened in “A Better World.” This story introduced one of the more interesting characters called The Question, who was a conspiracy theorist who wears a mask that is faceless. The conflict get very climatic with three episodes “Flashpoint,” “Panic in the Sky,” and “Divided We Fall.”
Other stories such as the “Great Brain Robbery” was a funny yet provocative. Lex Luther and Flash accidently switch bodies and how Lex finds out more of how Flash’s powers work. Flash tries his best to act all “evil” with the Legion of Doom. Another story is for Hawkgirl and about the past life relationships that Hawkgirl and Hawkman constantly have. It goes through the story that includes a past life with John Stewart and why they fell in love with each other while being married to Hawkman of a particular time period. Task Force X is created with certain villains to take control of the JLA’s watchtower. The show is mostly in their perspective while they are sabotaging the tower.
The actors also were back and added more actors to the fray, like Jeffrey Combs as the Question, CCH Pounder as Amanda Waller, Nathan Fillion as Vigilante, and Ed Asner as Granny Goodness.
The impact of these three series, has made me look at other movies and such and take note of how well the stories are done, how well the characters are done and how connected they seem to be in the comics that I know. Yet, I do have to mention, the comics of today, I haven’t paid as much attention to. Changes of course have been made and sometimes they do well with those changes and other times, not as much. It is now hard for me to keep up at this point since I basically quit around 2010. Lots of changes happened and even certain stories have been recreated in comics. All I can do now is to enjoy as much as I can with the newer movies and shows when I can see them. I do like Young Justice and it feels like it comes similarly with the same team or part of the same team.
Comics wise, I do realize that the comics companies have changed many of their comics so that new readers will not feel as lost as there is so much backlog of stories. You can just look at both Superman and Batman with four different comics series for each and started at around the time of World War Two. Even Marvel has done some level of reboots because they also have a long time of many stories for most of their characters and even some have a lot of comic series such as Spiderman or the many different X-Men type comics. I think the movies also show the thought of rebooting in order to gain more of an audience. The JLA cartoons and Superman/Batman series have such a long history that some of the younger generation or those that don’t have a chance or just don’t read the comics, will be able to really get the gist of all that is in them. The good part is that these movies and even many of the shows out there now, like the CW shows, can show you and give you an interest to read the comics. Most likely you’d start from where the comics are at now and try and work your way backward. Maybe eventually, you’d find the older comics and find how things are a bit different.
