MastaRedSnappa Posted May 23, 2007 Report Share Posted May 23, 2007 Growing up a comic book geek, I'm always a sucker for superhero animated series. Any other fans? I'm always looking for shows to watch so please list your favorites. My current favorites are: Teen Titans - There are no new episodes after 5 seasons and 1 made for TV movie but they still show this as re-runs on Cartoon Network. The show, following the adventures of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy, collectively known as the Teen Titans, is skewed for younger audiences with a lot of slapstick humor, broad characterizations/themes, and manga-style art direction (lots of speed lines, static poses, super-deformed body transformations based on the character's emotional state, etc.) but some of the episodes, mainly the ones featuring their arch-villain Slade, are darker in tone, dealing with adult issues of betrayal, psychosis, and obsession. Other episodes have a real classic serialized comic book feel (notably, the final season's episodes featuring the Brotherhood of Evil). My preference is for the serialized episodes over the one-offs but overall, but it's a great re-imagining of a classic comic book team. Justice League (later Justice League Unlimited) - I didn't follow this one religiously so I haven't seen all the episodes (5 seasons) in order or seen all of them for that matter. However, I have always enjoyed watching it (currently showing re-runs on Boomerang) and will start collecting it on DVD now that they are releasing it by seasons. The show follows the core of the Justice League (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl) and later, when Unlimited was added to the title, a huge smorgasbord of secondary heroes. Using the same fantastic art design of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, the Justice League character designs are strong, capturing the spirit of the characters in broad, streamlined form (no unnecessary details like individually defined muscles, etc.). The stories are epic and action-packed, like a comic book come to life. The show is definitely made for older kids and adults though. Some others I've seen recently: Loonatics (Loony Tunes with superpowers did nothing for me), The Legion of Superheroes (it utilizes the same style as The Batman series but I don't find the characters very interesting), and Fantastic Four (only saw one episode but it seemed more like an anime with the FF characters than a classic FF comic book). I'm hoping Marvel will step up with a new animated series (Spider-Man? X-Men? Avengers? Alpha Flight?). They've had excellent success in translating their comic books into movies but seemed to have abandoned TV as a medium (which seems to be the opposite of DC, excluding the fantastic Batman Begins). The medium of TV is perfectly suited for the serialized stories of superhero comic books. Marvel has such a huge stable of superhero characters/teams/villains, there's plenty of material ripe for the picking. If Marvel does do a new animated series, let's hope they don't hire whoever is doing their Ultimate Avengers made-for-DVD movies. The character designs are so blah (to match their storylines, I guess) and at times, the animation is downright horrible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James T Posted May 23, 2007 Report Share Posted May 23, 2007 A new Spider-man series is coming out in 2009 I believe. My favourite is Batman: TAS The DVDs get the most viewing at my house. I really liked the stories of the final season of Batman but really hated the animation. Justice League only started getting good in the final episodes leading to Unlimited. The setup was great and I loved how well they used most of the DC characters. I used to watch the 90's Spider-man, but they've been showing the cartoon recently to help tie-in with Spider-man 3 and I can't believe I watched it. I just found the series dull and boring, and the fact that they reused the animation every chance they got was pretty funny. You can see Spider-man fighting in a building, then all of a sudden, he's doing backflips in the sewers. I'll still watch the new TMNT (not so much of a fan of the Fast Forward, but I'll watch it b/c it's Turtles) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted May 23, 2007 Report Share Posted May 23, 2007 We had a thread about this 6 months or so ago. This one is pretty easy for me Batman Beyond is my favorite super hero series. Terry is a well written character, the stories, the new bad guys, etc.. Old Bruce Wayne cracks me up. And with the help of an episode in JLU ties the series into the overall DC animated mythology very well. After the show ended they made the direct to video movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker which ranks right behind Batman Begins as my favorite batman movie. Also a fan of Batman:TAS-for obvious reasons JL, and JLU. The series got to new heights starting with the mini movie Star Crossed. I can watch that over and over. The first season of JLU is terrific, and is one of the best DC animated seasons ever. The rest of it is good with some excellent episodes sprinkled in. My favorite episode is the episode I mentioned above which brings closure to the Batman Beyond series X-men the Animated series is my favorite Marvel series. Spider-man just does not hold up well at all The new TMNT is right behind Batman Beyond as my second favorite (not Fast Forward). Always been a huge TMNT fan, and this series did it justice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Union Carbine Posted May 23, 2007 Report Share Posted May 23, 2007 My favorite: The Tick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MastaRedSnappa Posted May 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2007 My favorite: The Tick I love the Tick too but I don't consider it a superhero animated series in the traditional sense because it's really a superhero spoof (just like I don't consider Spaceballs to be a sci-fi movie). I never watched much of Batman Beyond. I'll have to check that out. I don't care much for the character designs on The Batman (particularly the Rastafari Joker). I've seen a couple of episodes though and it might be something that grows on me over time. Perhaps I'm not really giving it a fair shake since I was so blown away by Batman: The Animated Series when it came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Union Carbine Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 I love the Tick too but I don't consider it a superhero animated series in the traditional sense because it's really a superhero spoof.That's a fair point. I used to watch the old school Spiderman cartoons and I liked the first Batman animated series. I can't seem to get into them now though......just like I don't consider Spaceballs to be a sci-fi movie...Well, there goes my Megamaid versus Death Star argument... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Well, there goes my Megamaid versus Death Star argument... There's a "suck on the giant ball" joke in there somewhere... I can feel it! Would you count Gargoyles as a superhero show? I guess if TMNT counts then these guys probably do... I have the dvds and it's just as good now as it was back when it aired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 TMNT count's as it was a comic first, and the newer series follows that plot a lot more then the kiddie series did. However i would count Gargoyles as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTello Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 A bit off topic,... but I was wondering if anyone planned on seeing Paprika/? It has gotten good reviews and it certainly looks real puuurdy in that preview. It's just opening this weekend, and it's in limited release, so it may not be in a theater near you just yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 A bit off topic,... but I was wondering if anyone planned on seeing Paprika/? Jiminy Christmas, that trailer looks awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark E Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 I agree with Ron, Gargoyles is still fantastic after all this time. I love the fact that season two is soooooo good, yet you can clearly see that the creators are setting up potential spin-off after potential spin-off . Batman:TAS is still a no-brainer after all this time; one of the best damn comic-to-TV conversions ever, even though you do have the occasional dud episode. Batman Beyond was pretty good, although a little too kiddified for my liking, especially the episodes with Inque. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, the uncensored version, is probably my favorite Batman film ever though. I'm praying that the new Spidey series doesn't suck, although I honestly don't hold out a lot of hope. The reason you'll have a hard time seeing more team-based series from Marvel, if I remember rightly, is because the rights to produce shows for various characters are farmed out all over the place. DC being owned by the WB is a double-edged sword; they can bring any character from the DC universe they want, but all the shows have to go through the WB. Marvel has no such media outlet owning them, ergo, the rights can be sold all willy-nilly everywhere . Hence they were trying to bring Ghost Rider onto Spidey's 90's show, but refused because UPN had an option out for a show based on the character. Yay corporate politics. AND while I'd love to see a well-done Avengers series, you have approximately NO chance in hell of seeing one any time soon after the utter disaster that was the Fox attempt from a few years back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 Bringing this back up as DC announced some direct to video animated movies The first is Superman doomsday which is the Death of Superman Series from years back. The second is Justice League New Frontier which is a take on the comic series from long ago, and has nothing to do with the recent series. I'm actually looking forward to the Superman one more. The second not so much. It has a great voice cast for sure, but why go back and do Justice League totally different when the recent series is so loved. Trailers for both on the 360 marketplace in the comic con area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 I'm actually looking forward to the Superman one more. The second not so much. It has a great voice cast for sure, but why go back and do Justice League totally different when the recent series is so loved. You might want to check out New Frontier (the TPBs). New Frontier is a wonderful book that features incredible art, a great story and interesting characters. I believe that it's widely considered to be a work that will endure. It also won an Eisner last year (or was it the year before?). The Superman/Doomsday stuff? Not so much. I heard somewhere that Darwyn Cooke is consulting on the New Frontier adaptation. If they capture half of what makes the book so great, that adaptation will be the one to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 For fans of the comic it will probably be good. However I am kind of tired of DC redoing their super hero shows over and over and over, expecially when the series they stopped doing were fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 I know what you mean (what turd of a human being would've wanted to see the original Batman TAS go bye-bye?), but adapting New Frontier isn't a mere re-hash. Or maybe I should say, based on the source material, it has the potential to be so much more than a revamp or rehash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony G Posted July 31, 2007 Report Share Posted July 31, 2007 I have been meaning to pick up the Spawn animated series collection. I really enjoyed it when it aired on HBO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dienekes96 Posted August 2, 2007 Report Share Posted August 2, 2007 Darwyn Cooke got his start in the DCAU...every episode of Batman Beyond has his name floating about. So he's old hat with the DCAU team, and accordingly, I expect the New Frontier to reflect the limited series Darwyn did quite well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Just finished up Superman Doomsday. Thought it was pretty good for what they did. Disappointed at what it's not. If you are expecting it to be just like the comic series with the big build up to the Doomsday battle, the 4 supermen aftermath, etc.. You will be very disappointed . The story is changed, how his "death" happened during the battle is changed, etc... Worth a watch though. If I had not read the comic series, I am sure I would have liked it a bit more as it is well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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