Justice League - Season One (DC Comics Classic Collection)

The stories are generally pretty good, but the depiction of the DC superheroes is terrible. Where do I begin?

Every episode makes Superman look more like a wimp. Everything hurts Superman - lasers, lightning, explosions, punches, electricity - everything. He needs to wear breathing apparatus to stay under water. He needs to wear a full spacesuit to travel in space. He completely forgot that he has super speed - faster than a speeding bullet, and all that. He is always out of breath after a fight, or after just lifting a heavy object. In one episode he struggles to carry a fire engine in one hand and a fireman in the other - Wonder Woman has to help him.

Speaking of Wonder Man, she can fly. Where's the invisible jet? No need for it. She's basically Superwoman with a different costume. She's a match for Superman in strength and invulnerability. She does block weapon's fire with her bracelets, but she doesn't really have to - she can survive being thrown through a thick concrete wall or column without suffering a single scratch.

The Flash can dodge missiles and laser blasts, but is not quick enough to step over a small rock that falls in his path. He's always tripping over things.

Hawkgirl is about as invulnerable as Superman and Wonder Woman.

Jon J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, constantly forgets to use his powers. Sometimes he will let flying objects pass through him - other times he will watch an approaching threat, and just take the hit. He never uses his invisibility, only his intangibility. His invulnerability to all but fire is non-existent; like Superman, he gets hurt by everything. He also suffers Superman's poor super strength.

The Green Lantern and Batman are the only superheroes that resemble the DC comic versions.

The show has good artwork and animation, so it's not a total loss.

The first season of Justice League is an achievement and a definite must-have for any superhero fan. It certainly sheds the corny, clichéd writing and cheap animation of its embarrassing relative "Superfriends."

The disk starts out of the gate strong with an entertaining, three-part episode tracing the League's origin. Superman confronts an overwhelming alien power and soon realizes that he can't protect the world on his own anymore. The remaining episodes are generally well-written, certainly by animation standards, and then some. Some fans criticized the first season for presenting an all-too human Superman, who appeared to be getting his rear-end kicked at every turn (reminiscent of Superfriends' Superman: "oh no, this net must be made of some type of Kryptonite alloy!") Although it's understandable that writers wanted to give Superman some good challenges lest he dominate every battle, some fans - this one included - thought it went a bit far.

There are a few weak spots, namely "In Darkest Night" and "War World," (the weakest of all the episodes) but these can be dismissed as but minor aggravations. (And, on an interesting note, the featured villain in War World makes a comeback in Season 3's "For the Man who has Everything" - an episode which received some great reviews (and strongly based on the 1985 comic book Superman Annual #11).

The first season attempts to develop the bonds of friendship and note some of the awkward strains created when seven, very independent and powerful individuals team up together. Former Marine Jon Stewart (Green Lantern) routinely becomes aggravated with the younger and quite immature Wally West (Flash) and frequently questions the aggressive Hawkgirl's judgment and tactics. However, these tensions evaporate over the season, (and Jon and Hawkgirl develop a friendship that ultimately turns to romance in subsequent seasons). The King of Atlantis (Aquaman) makes an entrance, and he is anything but Superfriendly (The Enemy Below). Diana (Wonder Woman) learns about "man's world," trusting her team members, and makes a difficult choice that results in exile from her home world of Themyscria (Paradise Lost). "Injustice for All" features Lex Luthor's faltering attempts to fashion a league of villains against the JL, with Bruce Wayne (Batman) in rare form, nearly losing his life on two occasions. Some team members think he is trying to prove his mettle, dangerously so. And, if you look carefully, you'll see the beginnings of Bruce and Diana's growing affections for one another (The Brave and the Bold).

Each of stories are either two-part or three-part episodes, which I thought was a plus. Look for various heroes (and enemies) to appear later down the line in subsequent seasons.

I grew up during the 70s when cartoons were not supposed to violent. You never saw punches being thrown unless it was Bugs Bunny hitting Elmer over the head with a wooden mallet. In fact, Japanese animations, such as Battle of the Planets, edited out the violent portions of the cartoon and replaced it with a robot (7-Zark-7). I actually do have fond memories of watching the Superfriends, and for their time, it was a decent show. But, the Superfriends lived off the campiness that existed in comics at the time.

I must admit that I had my reservations about the Justice League. Even the Spider-Man cartoon of the 90s didn't show much violence. Finally, animation has reached a point that, to please it's large adult audience, violence is now acceptable, especially since Justice League was a prime-time show and not a Saturday morning cartoon.

What can be said except that all of the characters are done to near perfection. The personalities are intact, and cast of regulars who supply the voices are dead-on. You can hardly mention good voice-work without mentioning Kevin Conroy's Batman. He gives Batman the attitude and intelligence that Batman has. Batman may be a guy without superpowers, but then again, Superman was once quoted in a Justice League comic, "he's the most dangerous man on the planet." Batman's brains and deductive reasoning are virtually second-to-none in entire comic book industry. He can spot weaknesses like a hound dog sniffing out a steak.

George Newbern is very good as Superman. Superman is clearly the powerhouse of the team, despite possible exceptions from Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter. As always, Superman is the iconic comic book character who embodies all that is good and just. While this personality occasionally clashes with Batman's, the two, nevertheless, highly respect each other.

Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor on Smallville) gives the Flash a comedic charge that balances out the team of more serious players. As the youngest member, he's a bit reckless, and always quick with the one-liners. Rosenbaum is often stated that he loves doing comedy, and he certainly got his wish in developing the Flash.

The rest of the cast, Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman), Maria Canals (Hawkgirl), Carl Lumbly (Martian Manhunter), and Phil LaMarr (Green Lantern) are all great. They help to make each character distinct with personalities that are consistent throughout the series.

Marvel's Avengers usually deal with problems on Earth. One could easily argue that the Justice League is the most powerful superhero team in any comic book. Even though they deal with problems on Earth as well, they also need more challenges, and therefore, they are often called away to help deal with crisis on other planets. Their base of operations is on board the Watchtower, a large satellite (in the comic, the watchtower is on the moon) from where they can take off in one of their speedy transports (Javelin) to deal with problems.

The best part of the show is the action. Finally, we're granted great fist-ta-cuffs when there is a fight. We see buildings being crashed into and brought down as well as punches thrown that will rattle your teeth. The Secret Origins episodes deal with the formation of the seven members, as a crisis proves too challenging for any one member to deal with. Batman proclaims himself a part-timer, "I'm not much of a team player. But if you need me, and you will, call me."

Once more, not all of the episodes has the entire line-up. There are adventures with only three or four members. This helps to create different looks as well as not overwhelming a situation that might easily be dealt with if the entire line-up were available.

I also enjoy the long list of guest-star voices. After each episodes, I enjoy looking at who supplied voices. You will recognize some, and others might surprise you.

This first season is great, and the funny part is that the Justice League only got better with each subsequent season. It was a true shame that they stopped after four seasons. This is one of the best animated shows I've ever seen because they finally did a comic book superhero team correctly, and who better to start with than the Justice League?

A big fan of superheroes and comic books? Then you'll really enjoy the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited Series.

Great Collection. As with the Batman and Superman animated series, Justice League continues to bring these classic comic stories to tv in an updated modern twist which stays realatively faithful to comic continuity and charactersation. A great prize for the comic lover.