Just how friendly are the Super Friends? 

     Hello one and all and welcome back to another heart pumping episode of the Shadow Knows. So sit back grab some soda and popcorn and enjoy the show. So what pray tell does the Shadow know on this day faithful readers? I know you should never use a microwave to dry your pets. I know, I know you guys are thinking, "But Shadow it would be so much faster." I know it may seem like it is faster, but in reality there are these horrible bursts of microwave energy and before you know it your pet goes poof and blows up. I mean haven't you ever seen Gremlins? That smell would last forever and what a mess to clean up I tell you what. What? I just told you what. So any who now you know and knowing is half the battle. So now on to How I geek on www.Podbean.com with Greg and the gang. Well what I have to report this week Shadow fans is that How I Geek is experiencing technical difficulties and may not be online again for at minimum 30 days. Fear not true believers, for I the Shadow will keep you all posted on it's return and keep you at least slightly entertained with my jovial and juvenile antics. I thank you for your support. 

     So now on to the topic at hand my eager little beavers. To end this month of cartoons turned movies I wracked the caverns my mind and opened every door in the dungeon within. I have searched tirelessly for you my true believers to bring you this topic, battling many hobgoblins I might add. I know the suspense is riveting isn't it (of course the title and picture kinda give it away)? Any who the topic of today is that groovy D.C. Comic justice League. Justice League got it's start in 1960 in the pages of The Brave and the Bold comic series. In the 1950's DC had reintroduced and reinvented some of it's golden age characters and so editor Julius Schwartz asked writer Gardner Fox to reintroduce the Justice Society of America, with what M. Night Shyamalan would call a twist. Being inspired by major league baseball and its two leagues Schwartz decided to name this new group the Justice League of America. The original all star cast for this book was Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman. Their appearances were a immediate success and by the end of 1960 they had a title all of their own. This initial run would last for 261 issues, ending in 1987 (Crisis on Infinite Earth remember Greg) and inspired the creation of the Fantastic Four from Marvel Comics. Justice League would change it's roster several times over the course of it's decades run and has had a few reboots until it's current incarnation run in DC's new 52 comic line. For all it's popularity J.L. has never had any live action movies or TV serials over the years, but has had successful runs as animated cartoons and movies. Soon, we are getting a new live action movie to be released in theaters in the next couple of years (fingers crossed). So now let us dive down deep with Aquaman into the legend that is Justice League.

     In the 60's Justice League got it's animated start on the Superman/Aquaman hour of Adventure (67-68) in three animated shorts. It seems strange that with all the other shorts and characters shown on this show that the JLA would only get 3 shorts. In my humble opinion it just goes to show that DC only put stock in it's big names and could not be bothered with the JLU as a whole. I think that Aquaman is the most underrated character in the DCU these days, but I never really saw him as a stand alone kind of character. So I cannot fathom why they would have done solo episodes back to back with Superman as an animated hour. Alas I digress, these shows all of them (even Aquaman) were decent for the time period they come from. I absolutely loved the JLA episodes though. They were fun to watch even though they came a bit before my time. Now although the Justice League did not get much coverage in it's early years during its Filmation series run, that series did inspire a new series by Hanna-Barbera. So as it were in 1973 we got from the creators of Yogi Bear and Scooby Doo the Super Friends. This show ran from 1973-86. Now here is the interesting thing each version of the Super Friends only ran a season or two before it was canceled. Yet this show ran for 109 episodes over the course of 13 years. Every time a show went down Hanna-Barbera would just rework it and put it out a little different. I can't say I have ever heard of this happening with any other program on television. I mean come on, when a show dies you don't see it reworked and come back out a year later fresh as a daisy. Wouldn't it have been great if this happened to Firefly? Man that would have been sweet, but alas that sort of thing just doesn't usually happen. Now as far as my review of this show Challenge of the Super Friends was my favorite. The Legion of Doom kicked butt, they had a great JLA lineup and the stories were out of this world. The other variations were pretty cool too and so I say unto you young one go and find yourself a copy and watch em. They will be fun, at least I hope so. I know they are for me at any rate. It was sad when this series ended and we had a long wait before the JLA found its way back to us on the TV. From 2001-2006 Cartoon Network gave us Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. This show was great and I can't say enough good things about it. Sadly when it ended it ended an era of DC television that started with Batman the Animated series back in 1992. Even though the histories were a little different, (like John Stewart being Green Lantern and Wally West being the Flash) they gave us great stories and I loved watching this show every chance I could get. This is another series that I suggest that you watch if you get the chance. If you don't like it I will still blame my parents. Alas the closest thing to Justice League we get after this show is Young Justice. This to was a great show from Cartoon Network that followed the Teen Titans, but alas like a lot of good shows that this network has had it never got a chance and they killed it. I guess they like shows that kill brain cells rather then quality television over at CN blah!!! Fear not though because we have gotten many great animated, straight to DVD releases that kick butt.

     Yes you heard it right there have been many great DVD releases for the JLA. First off we have New Frontier released in 2008. It takes place from 53-60 and is a origin story of sorts for the JLA. An entity has it's sights set on destroying the Earth and puts it's plans in motion to see it done. The individual members of the JLA come together to defeat said entity. This is a really great movie and definitely gets my full recommendation. Next up is Justice League: Crisis on two Earths from 2010. This movie has a good guy version of Lex Luther seeking the help of the JLA to stop evil versions of themselves in an alternate universe. This movie was freaking awesome and the ending between Owlman and Batman is just... well go watch it cuz you wont be disappointed. I personally loved this movie and well highly recommend it. The next one up is Justice League: Doom. In this story Vandal Savage steals Batman's plans to stop the Justice League (in case of emergency) as a distraction to take over the world. again I can't say enough good things about this movie. It is so well done and just plain awesome. So again I say watch it. The next JLA movie released would be Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox. In this movie the Flash travels back in time to alter a single event and this event changes all of history in a very serious way. Again this in another great DCU, JLA movie and again I recommend it. So finally the last released movie is Justice League: War. This story retells the new 52 Justice League origin story told in the first issues of the new series. Having both read the books and watched the movie what can I say, I loved it and I thought it was awesome. It seems like DC has really been putting out quality movies from their animation department. I don't just mean JLA movies, but also their other titles as well. Coming in the next year we will get two more JLA movies Justice League: Throne of Atlantis and Justice League: Gods and Monsters. Now I say given the quality of movies DC has been putting out I am excited about these movies and can't wait till they come out. My kids are big fans of these movies too and we love to watch them together as part of our bonding time. My kids rule! Finally on this thread of JLA movies with the release of Batman/Superman next year DC will have most of the groundwork set up for a live action JLA movie. To be honest I have reservations about this. It seems that even though DC's animation department is on their game their motion picture department is being run by flying monkeys. You know the ones that throw their poo at the wall to see what sticks and the quality of their movies smells just as bad... blech. I really hope that DC get's their poo together, because I really want to see an awesome JLA movie, but we will just have to wait and see. What I do believe is that the Batman/Superman movie will give us an idea on the quality of JLA movie we will get.

     So this brings me to the final point that I want to make on this lovely evening. It seems to me that the only successes that DC has had have either been Batman or Superman, although there have been a couple stinkers with them as well. The point being is that it seems like they can't ever get it right when it comes to their movie department. I mean Green Lantern wasn't as bad as a lot of people made it out to be. On the other hand Superman returns was really not the greatest Superman movie and tied with Superman IV in stinktatude. The first two Batman movies from the 90's were great, but the last two really need to fall into a bottomless chasm to be lost forever. Now the Christian Bale trilogy were not bad, but the reality is that these stories were not Batman. I don't really know any other way to put it then that. I watched them and I think these seem like great movies, but I just see things unfolding in the movie that say to me this is just not the Batman of the comics. So any who, DC has done alright in the past when it has come to live action TV shows with the 66 Batman for starters. Although it targeted kids it was a fun show to watch. In the late 70's and early 80's we had the Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman. This show changed up a bit over the seasons, but I thought was pretty great when I was a kid. Next up there have been several incarnations of Superman from the movie reel days of the war era (Batman was there too) to the 1950's Superman series a couple Superboy series, Lois and Clark, leading finally to Smallville. All of these variations of Superman have had their good points and bad. I think over-all they have been good and I have really liked them all in truth. Also in the mix we had a Flash series that was far to short lived IMHO. I say that it was another case of a network not giving a show a chance. Now finally in recent history we have the on going Arrow series, a new Flash series and Gotham before there was Batman, but after the Wayne's death series. Arrow is not to bad and I have liked what I have seen, but Ollie in this series does not act like the Ollie in the books. It seems like they are building him up to this Ollie though. So we shall see. I am excited about this new Flash series, although they seem to be portraying Barry Allen more like Wally West IMHO, but again we shall see. The final newbie to come this next season is of course Gotham. This is another series that I am looking forward to. I think there are a lot of great ways they can take this show, but again it also falls under the wait and see how it actually is before I make my final assessment as it were. 

     So that is it this week Shadow fans. So tell me what you think. Isn't Mark Hamill really the only true voice of the Joker? Who are your favorite JLU characters? What are your thoughts on the animation department? Were there any animated movies you didn't like? What about the live action movie, does this thing even have a chance out of the gate? Will Superman and the Flash ever figure out who is faster? I mean what have they done like five races and all end in a tie. I tell ya something is stinky here, or maybe that was just Superman Returns... peeyou. Well folks till next time I will see you from the shadows.