Everyone’s favorite 10 year old crime fighter is back and this time he is teaming up with Metropolis’ own Guardian in the second entry of the four part “World’s Finest” miniseries. Before I get to the nuts and bolts of the book (and how lucky Guardian must feel to be working with Damian) allow me to address the title of “World Finest” itself.
The title “World’s Finest” to me means the very best our planet has to offer in the way of super hero crime fighters. And for our trouble we are given Guardian and Robin? Please! I just hope the fate of mankind doesn’t come down to a ten year old terror with daddy issues and the cloned head of the Science Police who admits to not knowing much about science.
Yes, the premise of the “World’s Finest” books is to bring together heroes from the spheres of Batman and Superman while the aforementioned are either off world or trapped somewhere in time. The idea, apparently, is to fill the void left by those men. But don’t you think the Dick Grayson Batman would be just a little more than miffed to learn he doesn’t qualify for some reason? Ah well, at least in the next book of this series we get the compelling match-up of Supergirl and Batgirl.
As far this book goes I’ll make it as brief as possible. Not being an artist sometimes I find it difficult to judge someone else’s art work. However, I can only say the cover to this edition was truly uninspiring. As for the art work inside I thought it drifted between overly simplistic to slightly better than average. Perhaps DC is trying to entice a younger newer readership with less sophisticated tastes. The dialog also followed this same basic template. Which to be fair, again may be geared to the younger set with less discerning tastes.
As far as the story goes, which is all I am really interested in, we find Robin in all his petulant ten year old splendor in hot pursuit of a stolen device from Wayne Tech. Damian, as usual, pushes the boundaries of normal crime fighting discipline which leads him to bump heads with the Guardian. In typical boilerplate style the two heroes work against each other more often than with each other. Fortunately they have the Parasite and Mr. Freeze to unite them in their quest to solve the crime. It helps that Parasite and Freeze are easy to track and act like a couple of B leaguers themselves. A battle ensues and the baddies are easily vanquished. Damian gets the Tech back and Guardian gets to lock up the evil doers.
The MacGuffin you ask? We don’t get to see that till the final two pages. Toyman resurfaces from the first World’s Finest edition of this series and with the help of his trusty “Toyboy” Mr. Freeze is hijacked from his impending incarceration as his abilities are apparently integral to the Toyman’s latest contraption an impossibly large Superman/Batman robot that spells nothing but trouble for Supergirl and Batgirl in the next issue. Good luck to them.
World's Finest #2:
Reviewed by Dark Knight Dave
This is another show that you most likely have already seen. You might even already own the individual seasons. For the very first time the series is collected in one form on DVD. The series first aired in the late nineties after the success of Batman: The Animated Series. It featured Big Red saving Metropolis from the perils of many of his own rogues' gallery. It aired over three seasons and ended before the Timmverse continued on with Batman Beyond.
This set consists of seven discs. It has a total of fifty-four episodes for over eleven hundred minutes. There are special features throughout and even a brand new special feature specifically for this set. The new feature focuses on Darkseid.
The series featured all kinds of villains that you have heard of and some new ones that were made for the series. Metallo, Parasite, and Toyman are all present. Many may not know that Mercy Graves was created for the series. The classic voices of Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor and Tim Daly as Superman are obviously present as well. There is even a three-part episode that crosses over with Batman and Gotham City where Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill make an appearance.
Overall, the series is another great release from Warner Bros. I don't have any complaints about this set like I had with the past ones. The discs are still numbered as if they were separate seasons, but I get why now. Another great series to add to this year's Christmas list.
Superman: The Complete Series:
The series became available on November 24, so you can get it at most retailers. If you want to get it from Amazon, click here. Warner Bros. sent over this clip to promote the release as well.
Posted by Dustin
Plastic Man. Plastic Man. Do you know who Plastic Man is? Well, let me give you a little back history. Plastic Man was created by Jack Cole in 1941. He originally appeared in Police Comics which was published by Quality Comics. Plastic Man was originally a crook and con artist. On one of his heists at a chemical plant, he was shot and acid got in his wound. He escaped and found himself in a monastery. Well there he realized that he wanted to change his ways and use his new found powers for good. In 1956, Quality Comics went out of business. DC Comics were distributing the comics for Quality and acquired three properties; Blackhawk, GI Combat, and Plastic Man. Plastic Man was not used very much at first, specifically because Julius Schwartz did not know they owned the rights to him. In 1966, a comic called Dial H for Hero introduced Plastic Man to the DC Universe.
Years later, Plastic Man was introduced to children everywhere through animation. Plastic Man could not be harmed by a punch. His only weakness was extreme cold and hot. Ruby Spears, a production company owned by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, created the series. Plastic Man worked for the government and was like a James Bond-type agent. He traveled in different vehicles provided for him to stop criminals all around the world.
He had a supporting cast that consisted of Penny and Hula Hula. Penny was the typical female for the time frame, always worrying about Plastic Man. Hula Hula was a Hawaiian who had horrible luck. Hula was introduced through a mandate. There were specific ethnicity groups that were not represented on Saturday mornings. They were given a list to choose from and originally called him Coconut. That was deemed a racial slur and his name was changed. The writers for the series wanted to do original Jack Cole stories, but were told by the network that they wanted something different. That is where the crazy slap-stick humor came in.
So now we move onto the DVD set. This set consists of 35 episodes. It aired in 1979 following episodes of Super Friends on ABC. This was not the show that featured Baby Plas. I mention that because while browsing the net for info about the show, I read countless complaints about when the show switched over in 1980and featured Baby Plas. Anyway the show had 35 episodes and the DVD set has all of the episodes.
Plastic Man fights various villains such as The Weed, Badladdin, and Disco Mummy. He only fought three villains that were featured in the comics. They were Carrot Man, Dr. Dome, and Toyman. Yes, that's right. I said Carrot Man. Google that and see what comes up.
After watching numerous of the episodes, it reminded me a lot of the Super Friends. This was probably because it was also produced by Hanna-Barbera. The animation had the same feel. Although, the stories themselves, were more like Scooby-Doo humor.
Normally, my complaints with these sets are that there are not enough special features. This is not the case with this set. There is a very informative feature that gives an overview of the history of Plastic Man. There is also a pilot episode for a show that was made only a couple of years ago featuring Plastic Man, voiced by none other than Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob). There are also numerous trailers for WB animation projects including many of the recent DC Animated films. The only problem was that the packaging mis-marked the location of the special features.
Overall, the series takes you back to a time of simpler animation and story-telling. It is definitely worth watching. Always nice to see some of the lesser known heroes in the DC Universe getting some attention.
Plastic Man: The Complete Collection:
The set has already been released and can be found at Best Buy. To get it on Amazon click here.
Check out some of the screen shots from the show:
Posted by Dustin
A week and a half ago, one of our contacts at Warner Bros. sent over a DVD version of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies for us to review. So what better way to review the film then by posting it the day the film comes out so that you can find out what I think of the film and whether it is worth buying or not. Let’s get into it.
When I first heard about this film being made, I was kind of excited. It had been quite some time since I first read the story in Superman/Batman. I debated for a good amount of time of whether I should read it or not before I see the film. Well, one night when I didn’t have a lot to do, I caved and picked up the six issues and read them again. That was probably a mistake. You are probably asking yourself, "Why would that be?" Well, when watching the film, I found myself comparing the two. I was nitpicking the entire film. Not something I normally do when watching a Batman film. I think I was already in line to criticize more than normal since this story is more about Superman than Batman.
The comics were written by Jeph Loeb and the art was done by Ed McGuinness. The story was a little over the top for most comics, but it was the first story arc of a brand new series that DC was launching. So over-the-top/epic is acceptable for first story arcs by my standards. The art was really what made this arc great. McGuinness’ art is amazing. Some may say that the art is too cartoony, but I have a thing for art like that. It is clean and smooth. The story starts off by going through how Lex Luthor has come to be President of the US. It then cuts to a good amount of side story that involves Metallo. We find out later why Metallo was such a large focus early in the story. Without going into a synopsis of each issue, I can say that there are very significant changes to the story in the film.
Instead of following the story from the comics, Stan Berkowitz modified the story to not only be self-contained, but also make sense in the current economy. The Metallo-part of the story is shortened by making him a Secret Service agent for Luthor. This is what makes the entire first issue of the story arc take place in less than 5 minutes. There were specific parts that were taken straight from the comics. Most of them were the one-liners between Batman and Superman. Nice nod to Loeb, but does not make up what was taken out. The first major fight sequence involving a gaggle of villains is pretty close to what it was in the original story, but seemed to be more of a situation where they were trying to say, "We are following the comics," than anything else. I thought that if they wanted to expand a sequence that fight scene would have been it. That wasn’t the case though, as I felt as if I was given just the amount needed, but nothing extra.
The second fight sequence felt way too short. It specifically was cut down and did not have the final outcome that it did in the comics. It worked for the film, but it affected the conclusion of the film. Moving on to the conclusion, the part of the film that dealt with Toyman seemed very rushed. I won’t ruin the end of the film, as I know everyone has not read the comics, but I was disappointed. It was pointed out earlier in the film that the meteor gives off a large amount of radiation that even Superman could not block with a lead suit. When you watch the film, see if you catch the plot hole. Also if you have read the comics, compare the ending in the comics to the ending of the film and ask yourself if it felt "too" epic.
Overall, I can’t say that I was too thrilled with this film. I had high hopes, but felt let down by the end of the film. The run time was the largest letdown. At only sixty-seven minutes long, it was too short. The film could have been longer. When I compare the comics to the film, I can’t understand why it was so short. There were a lot of things that were cut out of the film that were in the comics that could have easily made the film longer. Certain scenes could have been extended to make the film longer. The fight sequence with all of the villains could have been longer and made a little more smooth compared to being cut to a new set of villains like it was done in the comics. Th difference is that eh comics were showing the fight sequence on panels compared to animation. In animation, things should be smoother, not so cut-and-dry. If there was one sequence that could have been different it was that scene.
The pro’s of the film were the art and the voice talent. The art was amazing. It was a splitting image of McGuinness’ art. Superman looked like Superman and Batman looked like Batman pulled straight from the comics. The reunion of Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, and Clancy Brown was great. Hearing all of their voices reminded me of earlier days of watching the animated series on TV. All of them were spot on with their parts. Even though the art was different and it did not follow the normal DCAU, it still worked.
In conclusion, the film was mediocre. It did not blow me away, and for certain parts I was disappointed. To be completely frank, let me ask you a question. Have you ever seen The Batman Superman Movie: World’s Finest? If you answered no, go find it in the five dollar bin at your local store and give it a watch. If you answered yes, did you like Superman/Batman Public Enemies more or less? In my opinion, World’s Finest was better. But the kicker is that World’s Finest is actually three episodes of the Superman animated series. This film seems like it should have been three episodes of an animated series. It had the voices, the feel, and the run time. So should you buy it? You decide that. For myself, this film will be sitting on my shelf for quite some time collecting dust.
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies:
Posted by Dustin