DC Showcase Short Films - Review and Analysis

The DC Showcase short-films are a series of animated shorts that started in 2010. They shed spotlight on various characters within the DC Universe. These shorts are part of the broader DC Animated Movie Universe. 

These shorts start with The Spectre, a story that borrows from a lot of sources. It's inspired by the Wrath of the Spectre comics from the 70's but also takes many cues from the more modern Spectre stories. Right before this short came out I had just read Jules Feiffer's book, The Great Comic Book Heroes. I loved the Spectre story that was featured in it, so, I was primed for this. It features a Jim Corrigan here who works in Los Angeles rather than New York, as he did in the original Golden Age Spectre stories. Here, Jim goes after an old flame who paid to have her father, a Hollywood movie star, killed so she could get his money. It's a basic murder plot with horror elements but it does a good job of revealing just who The Spectre is... a cop who was murdered and became a ghost to exact cruel vengeance on criminals. Although this is pretty straightforward, it offers very impressive visuals. The animation is solid too. A strong effort right out of the gate.     

Next is the Jonah Hex short. This is what the film version of Jonah Hex should have been. It's a straight up western story that gives you more of a glimpse into who Jonah Hex is in twelve minutes than that terrible movie ever does. This was the cartoon that made me notice the Jonah Hex character. After watching this, I immediately went to my local comics shop and bought up as much Jonah Hex as I could find. In this story Hex arrives in a town in search of a man called Red Doc, who was killed the day before by a corrupt Madame named Lorraine. Hex meets Lorraine who tries to kill him. Her attempt on his life fails and he forces her to take him to an abandoned mine. When she and Hex go into the mine, we find out that Lorraine has murdered many men for their money and stored their bodies there. As Hex finds and secures the body of Red Doc, Lorraine tries to kill him again. Hex knocks her out and leaves her to die. Lorraine awakens and sees Hex ready to ride off. She offers to make him her new partner, but Hex responds by kicking down the rope, trapping her there. It really is entertaining stuff and makes me wish we could get a Jonah Hex animated series.   

The Green Arrow short is another great one. It feels like an extension of his appearances in Justice League Unlimited. We get an appearance by Black Canary too which is sweet. While this doesn't really explore Oliver Queen's motivations, enough of his personality is presented that you get a feel for who he is. Here, Arrow is tasked with protecting a princess at an airport from an assassination attempt by Count Vertigo. Action ensues and we get to see that, despite his brash arrogance, Green Arrow is really an honorable superhero... who loves Black Canary very much.  

The longest of these short films, Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, has to be the best of the DC Showcase cartoons. It tells the origin of Captain Marvel (now called Shazam in popular media, even though that is the wizard's name). The origin story overlaps with a story Clark Kent is reporting on about underprivileged youth in Fawcett City. When Shazam's encounter with Billy Batson summons Black Adam, a battle between the new superhero, Captain Marvel. and his evil counterpart is unleashed in Fawcett City. Superman shows up to help, and thus we see the first meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel. What I love about this short is just how fun it is. This is the cartoon that made me want to read Captain Marvel and explore the character's history. It's such an engaging story and in the last few years, thanks to this cartoon, I have become a huge Captain Marvel fan.    

With Catwoman, DC decided to continue Selina Kyle's story from Batman: Year One, which is one of DC's best animated adaptations. In this short, Selina Kyle goes after diamond traffickers who have also abducted several women. Selina serves as an anti-hero and brings down the operation, while also managing to keep a little something for herself in the end. It's a really fun cartoon for Catwoman fans. Plus, it's written by Paul Dini, so you can't go wrong.  

Sgt. Rock was fun. I've never really been drawn to war comics and Sgt. Rock is one of those classic Golden Age characters that I know almost nothing about. I went into this expecting a story about WWII combat. Imagine my surprise when Sgt. Rock battles supernatural enemies. Sgt. Rock leading a band of archetypal monsters (DC's weird monster team, The Creature Commandos) against a band of Nazi zombies? Yes, please! 

With the Death animated short, well, I surprisingly really enjoyed it. I'll admit, I never have been too invested in Neil Gaiman's Sandman books (or Gaiman's writing in general) but I like the existential nature of this short and the overall plot of a down-on-his-luck artist coping with personal demons really spoke to me. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the Death character, the story was interesting. I really felt connected to Vincent; a very relatable character.   

The Phantom Stranger feels like a more sophisticated Scooby Doo cartoon. Taking place in the 1970's, it tells the story of a young woman named Marcie who attends a party at an abandoned mansion with her friends. An enigmatic being named Seth tries to seduce her and her friends in an effort to steal their souls. The Phantom Stranger shows up and must save them. Being a casual fan of The Stranger, I really enjoyed this and am glad to see the character get more exposure.  

The Adam Strange short seems to be a reimagining of the Adam Strange mythos. It's less faithful to the original concept of Adam Strange, DC's version of Flash Gordon, and more about telling a story with a new version of the character. The plot is interesting enough and features a nice amount of action, with Strange fighting to protect a heavily populated asteroid colony from a race of invading insects. For fans of Adam Strange I'm sure this is a treat but I found it kind of boring.   

A Death in the Family is less an animated adaptation of the 4-issue Batman story and more like supplemental material for the Under the Red Hood movie. It would have been nice if they had made this an actual feature-length prequel that adapted the story and explored Jason Todd's time as Robin further. Instead, the short runs just over 20 minutes long, but the full interactive version runs about 90-minutes. It feels like cartilage material was added to Under the Red Hood, which already was a good Batman film. I would have preferred if this cartoon was a straight-up adaptation, as faithful to the comic book story as The Dark Knight Returns movie was to its story. A Death in the Family is one of my favorite Batman stories but this "adaptation" left me cold. 

*NOTE: There are other short-films in the works that I have not yet seen: a Kamandi short, one featuring The Losers team, a Blue Beetle cartoon, and a Constantine story.                                                       

Justice League (2001-2006) - Review and Analysis

In the late 1990's, thanks to the success of the Batman and Superman cartoons, Warner Bros. Animation decided to proceed with plans for a Justice League cartoon. There were many ideas floated around the offices of Warner Animation about how to bring the show to life. First and foremost, Bruce Timm and his team would be the showrunners, for obvious reasons.

The show was originally going to feature the classic Silver and Bronze Age versions of The Justice League. Barry Allen was set to be The Flash, Hal Jordan was going to serve as the show's Green Lantern. Hawkgirl was not going to appear and John Stewart was only supposed to make a cameo appearance. Aquaman was also meant to be a main character. The producers abandoned that approach as they thought it would feel like an extension of the old Super Friends cartoon. More diversity was desired and they wanted the show to feel modern. So, Hal and Barry were deleted and they brought in John Stewart (who was more brash and aggressive than Hal) and Wally West (who was considered by Bruce Timm to be younger and cooler than Barry). Hawkgirl was added for more female representation as well. Martian Manhunter, the alien known as J'onn J'onzz, was originally set to make only a few cameo appearances in a couple episodes. The producers felt, since he was a founding member of the team, that J'onn  should be part of the main cast.

Justice League debuted to much fanfare on Nov. 17th, 2001 on Cartoon Network. The show was clearly an extension of the DC Animated Universe and all the characters were faithful to their comic book counterparts. Kevin Conroy returned as the voice of Batman but Tim Daly was replaced by George Newburn as the voice of Superman. 

The great thing about this show is, because of the ensemble cast and their differing traits and characterizations, a diverse set of plots and adventures could be had. Wild science fiction stories could be told along with the more grounded crime fiction shows. Because it's a team show the character interactions are what make it special. We get to see how each of the main characters approach their roles as superheroes and how they sometimes clash with their teammates. 

In 2004, the show was rebranded as Justice League Unlimited (abbreviated to JLU). Bruce Timm has famously said that the final episode of season 2 was supposed to be the finale but, because of high ratings, Cartoon Network ordered more episodes. Rather than continue on with the same show, Timm and his producers decided to make a new show that was based on those first two seasons. Rather than simply show the Justice League in more cartoons, the new show would feature an expanded cast from all corners of the DC Universe.

The new cast included the original show's stars but now featured Green Arrow, Black Canary, The Question, The Huntress, Supergirl, Booster Gold, and Captain Atom, among others. Justice League Unlimited was a broader show than its predecessor with many multi-part story arcs. It continued to explore the main characters motivations but also seemed more operatic in scope. The fun sense of adventure and banter between the characters remained but I think the new show told better stories. A fun thing for any DC Comics reader to do is to watch the show and see how many tertiary characters you can spot. I always remember seeing some of my favorites (like Swamp Thing) appear briefly in the Watchtower (the Justice League satellite headquarters).

In many ways, this is my favorite superhero cartoon based on DC characters, even if I revisit it less than BTAS or Superman. The expanded cast and the expertly crafted writing and dialogue shows that Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and the other producers really understand these characters and the world they inhabit. Justice League was a great team-up show with a lot of heart. JLU was all that and more, telling deeper, more layered and dramatic stories while still managing to be fun. I know this is a beloved show and I highly recommend it as well. It's reputation is well deserved.