Cartoon Recap

My DVR was full of superhero cartoons this weekend, so I felt it was my civic duty to watch some of them. While I’m going to talk about each of them individually, I have to say I came away pretty happy. It has been a long time since there were so many quality superhero cartoons on TV at once. I know some people don’t like the happy Batman in the Brave and the Bold; but that cartoon has managed to bring the Haunted Tank and J.A.K.E. the GI. Robot to the small screen. That’s pretty amazing. I’m going to talk about these episode/movies in the order I watched them, so don’t think I’m rating them against each other or anything.

Check out the Cartoons after the jump.

Young Justice
Considering I was posting about the show in July, it should be fairly obvious I was excited about it. So how was it? When it finished I believe I whined like a three year old, “I don’t wanna wait. I want more now!” Continuity in this one is a crazy mixed up world that as a comic fan makes your head hurt. Example: Kid Flash is Wally but he is with the new Aqualad and Conner. Again, if you can get past that you get something highly enjoyable. The episode made it look like a boys club, with Miss Martian only appearing at the end. Strangely appropriate since that book that led to Young Justice (JLA:World Without Grownups) starred Impulse, Robin, and Superboy. I can not wait to see what happens when Speedy shows back up. The way he left you know that the writers have plans for him. This will not be the last time we talk about this show.

Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
More specifically I watched the two part episode Gamma World. When I watched the first two episodes of Avengers, I liked all the obscure villains but wasn’t really thrilled with the cartoon. The art style and some of the animation felt off too. Then I saw the first episode with Captain America and started warming to the show. The action choreography really picked up. Then I saw Gamma World and it blew me away. Doc Samson? Check. Awesome Black Widow vs Hawkeye fight? Check. U-Foes and the Wrecking crew? Check. While I won’t give anything away, there is a Thor moment against the Absorbing man that had me clapping and shouting in excitement. So yeah, I’m a fan now.

Firebreather
I realize Firebreather isn’t as well known as the first two properties. I actually have the original mini-series, the follow up one-shot, and the mini-series where he teamed up with other young heroes. Even though I’ve fallen behind on his current continuity I like the character a lot. The cartoon movie does a lot of it right. Switching up some of the character is ok. The animation doesn’t feel smooth; especially on the big monsters. I don’t know if it was intended to mimic the way Godzilla used to move in the old movies or not, but it didn’t work for me.

The story and the animation deviate from the source material especially when it comes to Belloc, Duncan’s father. In the comic you get this craggy looking red dragon. I’m not sure what it is in the movie. And his face keeps changing in the move between dragon and human-ish. I love his lair in the comics, it is full of ancient treasures and artworks. In the movie it looks like the old movie Superman’s fortress of solitude.

After living with me, my wife has gotten pretty geek knowledgeable, but she came into this movie blind. Afterwards she read the first trade. Turns out she liked the designs of Duncan in the movie better. In fact she liked a lot of the story in the movie better, although we both agreed that the animation didn’t seem to flow very smoothly. I don’t know if another Firebreather movie or show has been optioned at this point, but I hope it happens. I really like Duncan and would be happy to see more of him.  Apparently I've also got another Firebreather trade to pick up.
Did you see any of these? Thoughts? Comments? Let us know.