News, Reviews and Previews

Welcome to the reviews and previews section on International Hero. I've been asked several times by people writing in to me about what books, comics and DVDs I'd recommend checking out. I'm not sure why anyone thinks my opinion is more valid or interesting than anyone else's, but since people have persisted in asking, I'm going to start a semi-regular reviews section where I cover the odd new release, as well as the odd older gem that takes my fancy. I'll warn readers now that anything I review here is probably going to get a positive review, simply because if I don't like something, I'm unlikely to buy it or waste my time writing about it. As ever, comments below are my opinion only, and your feelings may differ stuff about the stuff I like or dislike.

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, SEASON 1, PART 1

Available on DVD August 17th.
Check out the Official Site. Own it on DVD!

Trying to create a new Batman cartoon in the wake of not one, but two critically acclaimed previous versions (three, if you count Batman Beyond) so firmly entrenched in recent memory must have been a daunting prospect. How do you keep things fresh? Spider-Man has struggled to overcome this challenge - since his highly successful series of the 1990s the web-slinger has had a couple of cartoons that while enjoyable, simply didn't get the audiences they needed and ended after a season apiece. It's not that they ran out of stories to tell; the comics have run for decades and still manage it. It's that they failed to find a way to reinvent themselves so that the fickle television audiences felt they weren't just watching the old series with different art.

Like the comic that this cartoon takes its subtitle from, Batman: The Brave and the Bold revitalises itself by being a team-up show. Each episode sees Batman fighting alongside one or more guest stars from other parts of DC's wider universe. It's a move The Batman series used in it's final season, but while it's not an entirely new idea, it's utilized to great effect. Rather than have follow The Batman's approach and have the title character join forces with DC's other top names (Superman, Wonder Woman, etc), Brave and the Bold prefers to ally the caped crusader with established but perhaps not well known to the wider public types like Green Arrow, Plastic Man and Aquaman, DC stars the wider public might never have heard of , such as Jonah Hex, Guy Gardner and Kamandi, as well as newer heroes like the current incarnation of the Blue Beetle. And personally, I think it was a wise decision; Batman has the star power to bring in the initial audience, and using less recognisable guests (at least, less recognisable to non-comic readers) helps keep things new and interesting for the audience.

Another move to distinguish this series from its immediate predecessors is the art. As can been seen from the cover picture above, this Batman owes less visually to recent movies and more to the Silver Age, or even the 1960s Batman series. And that's a risky choice, because many Batman fans resent the legacy of that series, the decades it took to shake the public perception that Batman was a camp joke character. But fans needn't worry. While this is certainly a lighter version of the Dark Knight than we've seen in a while, one who might demonstrate dry humor on occasion, the character himself isn't treated as as a joke.

This DVD set presents the first half of season one of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, thirteen episodes in total. Diedrich Bader, previously the voice of Zeta in Batman Beyond and the Shadow Thief in The Batman voices the series' star this time round, while a variety of recognisable genre names including Jeffrey Combs and David McCallum provide their vocal talents to the show's other characters. I wouldn't say there are any poor episodes amongst the ones on this collection, but the stand-outs, without a doubt, have to be the last couple of episodes, a two-parter than sees Batman take on his villainous counterpart Owlman and ally himself with alternate reality Batmans, most of whom will seem very familiar to fans of DC's Elseworlds.

In short, Batman: The Brave and the Bold is a fun, engaging cartoon, and a worthy addition to the ranks of DC cartoons, able to hold its head up high alongside its competition. If you enjoy Batman, or DC in general, then I recommend you check this series out.

SECRET ORIGIN: THE STORY OF DC COMICS

While I do reviews on and off, I rarely do press releases for stuff I haven't seen. However, this one looks interesting, so I'm making an exception:

RIVETING DOCUMENTARY NARRATED BY RYAN REYNOLDS CELEBRATES THE CREATIVE TALENT BEHIND THE WORLD’S GREATEST SUPER HEROES

Warner Bros. Pictures presents an enthralling examination of the creative forces behind the World’s Greatest Super Heroes in Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics, an all-new documentary that takes viewers behind the scenes of the iconic company with unprecedented access to the Warner Bros. and DC Comics archives. Narrated by Ryan Reynolds, Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics will be distributed by Warner Home Video on November 9, 2010 on DVD for $24.98 (SRP). Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics will also be available On Demand and for Download.

Behind the amazing tales of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and a host of other well-known characters is the equally impressive story of the challenges, creativity and triumphs of the company that brought those characters to life. Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics is both a celebration of the best writers and artists in comics and a thoughtful exploration of 75 years of DC Comics history.

Produced by the Academy Award ® -nominated team behind Spellbound (Feature Documentary), Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics combines excerpts from comics, films and television series with the insight of some of history’s most influential comic book creators and editors, among them Neal Adams, Karen Berger, Mike Carlin, Dan DiDio, Neil Gaiman, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Paul Levitz, Dwayne McDuffie, Grant Morrison, Dennis O’Neil, Paul Pope, Louise Simonson, Mark Waid, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman.

Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics is written and directed by Mac Carter. Jeffrey Blitz (Spellbound, The Office) served as executive producer. Producer is Gregory Noveck and co-producer is Ivan Cohen. Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics is produced by Sean Welch and Janet Eckholm.

“From the bans to the breakthroughs, from humble pulp beginnings to the literary rise of the graphic novel, the story of DC Comics holds a mirror to an ever-evolving enterprise and the society reflected in its comic book pages,” said Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment. “It’s a true American story – Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics is a riveting, exciting, surprising revelation of that fascinating history and the men and women who forged it.”

DC SUPER HEROES and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics.

NEWS: It's DC's 75th Anniversary, and as part of their celebration Warners are making an increasing amount of DC's film and tv catalogue available online. Press release and links below.

Celebrate 75 years of DC Comics with films and TV series inspired by some of the most popular SUPER HEROES including BATMAN, SUPERMAN and other iconic DC Comics characters. To celebrate this milestone, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution is highlighting dozens of movies and shows that are available For Download on iTunes http://bit.ly/WB_DC75, WBshop.com http://bit.ly/WBE_DC75 and more; and via (cable) On Demand on Comcast http://bit.ly/CC_DC75, Time Warner Cable http://bit.ly/TWC_DC75 and others.

With On Demand and Download fans can watch their DC favorites virtually anytime, anywhere. Highlights include the blockbuster film THE DARK KNIGHT with Extras on iTunes, all SUPERMAN movies, and full length DC Universe animated original movies including GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, BATMAN UNDER THE RED HOOD (7/27), SUPERMAN DOOMSDAY and more. Individual episodes and complete seasons of fan favorite DC inspired TV series are also available for download in HD including the complete series of SMALLVILLE, HUMAN TARGET and BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD.

A video montage of clips from Dark Knight, Superman Returns and V for Vendetta can be seen here, and for the first week of August there are DC themed prizes to be won on the Warner Bros. Entertainment Twitter: http://twitter.com/WB_Home_Ent

Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1980s

Available on DVD May 4th.
Check out the Official Site. Own it on DVD!

After a couple of successful volumes covering Saturday morning cartoons from the 1960s and 70s it was inevitable that we'd be getting a sampling from the next decade sooner rather than later. The 1980s was always going to be a tougher decade to sell than the prior collections - time, if nothing else, tends to render many of the older cartoons "classics" in people's minds, and the closer you get to the modern day, the fewer people you have who remember the cartoons from childhood, lessening the nostalgic glow that lets the viewer forgive some of the shortcomings that children's cartoons tend to have when viewed with an adult eye.

So, with that in mind, how does this collection fare in comparison with the ones that preceded it? To be honest, it's a very mixed bag, and as with the other volumes, I find the action/adventure cartoons tend to be more enjoyable than the humour driven ones. Thundarr the Barbarian is unquestionably the highlight of the 2 disc set, with a surprisingly sophisticated (if scientifically implausible) concept behind the apocalyptic world our hero adventures in, and solid storytelling in the episode presented. Far better than it has a right to be, given it was developed from a computer game, Dragon's Lair is another gem in this collection, an enjoyable romp that doesn't take itself too seriously and manages to give a nod to the way the game itself played by giving the viewer an apparent choice of what to do and then showing what would have happened if the wrong choice was made.

I'd never even heard of Goldie Gold and Action Jack before watching the episode herein, but my attention was immediately caught by the writer's screen credit for Steve Gerber, creator of (amongst many others) Howard the Duck. What initially appeared to be a somewhat inane and standard action show gradually ramped up the bizarre factor, with our heroine, the world's richest girl, pursuing Incan villains to Peru and then into space, where she seeks refuge in her own orbiting mansion encased in a glass sphere. As Goldie flew her ship in through the open window (yes, an open window into the vacuum of space), and later threw a giant lever in the mansion's kitchen to switch off the artificial gravity, I couldn't help but think "Gerber's too good a writer not to have known how silly this is getting. Shame no one seems to have told the director that this is meant to be played tongue-in-cheek." Very watchable, if you realise the show is meant to be way over the top. Chuck Norris' Karate Commandos and Mister T were both vehicles for their real-world stars; while nowhere near as good as Jackie Chan's much later cartoon, which shares a similar "star vehicle" concept better executed, both are amiable shows which are better than you'd expect, at least once you get past the cringeworthy platitudes the real world Norris and T recorded for the bookends. The worst of the action shows is Galtar and the Golden Lance, which suffers both from excess exposition (show the viewer the background of the leads, don't just tell us), and plot holes you could fly a griffin through - indeed, the writers do pretty much that, when our heroes are menaced by an aquatic monster, only for a griffin-like creature to swoop in without introduction to conveniently save them, carry them to safety, and then vanish equally quickly, leaving you going "Huh, but...?"

Faring less well are the humour cartoons. The best of them, Tex Avery's Kwicky Koala Show, is reminiscent of past cartoons like Droopy or the Looney Tunes of earlier decades; while not as sharp as them, this similarity is, in my opinion, why it holds up so well. The Flintstone Kids, including its Captain Caveman and Son insert, are certainly watchable, but not on a par with the original Flintstone cartoons nor the Captain Caveman set in the modern day. Ed Grimley is just weird; maybe I'm just the wrong demographic, but its insanity did nothing for me, though I can't say it was actually bad, just not my taste. On the other hand, I felt the adventures of the tiny dogs known as The Biskitts was about the most tedious cartoon I'd ever seen...until I saw the Monchhichis next on the disc. Granted, they were clearly aimed at very young kids (which makes the "Not Suitable for Children" warning on the box doubly hilarious), but even with that in mind, I found them a chore to watch, the first time I can honestly say that about any cartoons in any of these collected volumes.

The DVDs' only real special feature, not counting trailers for other volumes in this series, is an interesting introspective behind the making of Thundarr. Like similar behind the scenes features on the other volumes, it's very well made and informative, and the only niggle I have is that there's only the one of these per set.

Overall, if you remember several of these cartoons with fondness from your childhood, I'd say this collection is worth getting. On the other hand, if you are more picky, I'd lobby Warner Bros for a Complete Thundarr box set, and wait until that comes out instead.

Superman: The Complete Animated Series

Available on DVD November 24th.
Check out the Official Site. Own it on DVD!

The success of Tim Burton's Batman movie was directly responsible for the birth of the Batman: Animated Series, still the most successful (commercially and artistically) of all the Dark Knight's cartoon incarnations. It, in turn, gave rise to what would prove to be the single largest comics adaptation animated shared universe, the DC Animated Universe, which now includes Batman: Animated, Superman: Animated, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, Zeta Project, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, between them running from 1992 (when Batman started) to 2006 (when JLU ended). But while Batman: Animated's success got things started, it was this series, Superman: the Animated Series, that proved that first success wasn't a fluke. While it's arguably not as good as most of its DCAU brethren (only Zeta Project is weaker), being one of the lesser lights amongst that illustrious competition doesn't mean it's in any way a poor show - it's still the best of all the animated Superman cartoons (no mean feat, given the stiff competition dating back to the 1940s).

Running from 1996 to 2000 and 54 episodes in total, the series begins with a three part recounting of Superman's origin, with a slight twist that ties old comic foe Brainiac into Krypton's destruction. As the series progressed, most of Superman's main comic villains are given the opportunity to strut their stuff in animated form, with notable performances by Clancy Brown (Highlander, Earth 2, Carnivale) as Lex Luthor, and Michael Ironside (V, Seaquest 2032) as Darkseid. Like some of the other DCAU series, this animated Superman also managed to add to the comics' mythology, introducing characters popular enough to make the leap back to the parent medium. Batman: Animated gave us Harley Quinn, while here it is Lex's henchwoman Mercy Graves and supervillainess Livewire who later made it into the printed page.

This DVD box set consists of seven discs, including several special features - commentaries on several episodes and documentaries including Superman: Learning to Fly, which looks at the series' creation; Building the Mythology, which examines the cartoon's use of the comics' supporting cast; Menaces of Metropolis, which does the same for Superman's villains; Behind the Cape, which features the cartoon's creators; and the Despot Darkseid, which looks into the influence of Jack Kirby's Fourth World characters, which takes up the whole of the seventh disc. It's a great set, and at $53.98 rrp, it's markedly cheaper than the other DCAU Complete sets. Sadly, part of the reason for this is probably one of the few flaws in this collection - several of the discs (but bizarrely not all) are double sided, meaning you have to handle them with extra care if you don't want to have your discs scratched. Another small let down was that the episode Apokolips...Now! Part II isn't exactly the original broadcast version, with a funeral scene done as a homage to the then-recently deceased Jack Kirby slightly altered, presumably to remove the nod-and-wink scene which shows some of Kirby' Marvel creations in attendance. While I understand copyright issues might have caused this change, I still wish something could have been worked out with Marvel to allow the original version to be included, given the context of why it was there and the cameo nature of the appearances. Still, despite these minor grumbles, this is a series well worth having if you are any sort of fan of animated adaptations of the comics.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Volume 2

Available on DVD October 27th.
Check out the Official Site. Own it on DVD!

Like its 1960s counterpart (below), this is a mixed compilation of cartoons from American Saturday morning TV. Perhaps it's because it is more my own childhood era, or perhaps it's the larger action/adventure component, but I have to admit I much preferred this DVD to the 1960s one. Running a bit over 5 hours, this set includes examples of action cartoons Sea Lab 2020, Shazzan, Valley of the Dinosaurs, the New Adventures of Batman and Robin, and (from the Banana Splits show) Arabian Knights and the Three Musketeers, alongside the comedic escapades of Yogi Bear, Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Tom and Jerry, and Inch High Private Eye - overall, imho, a much stronger selection than its fellow release below. As with any compilation, some parts hold up better than others - I wouldn't miss the Hair Bear Bunch if they hadn't been included in this set, but Valley of the Dinosaurs brought back pleasant memories of Saturday Morning Swap Shop (the show which hosted it in Britain, for non-UK readers of this site), and there's really no such thing as a bad Batman cartoon.

Special Features? As seems to be the Warners' standard, they are few but good quality - in this instance, you get a mini documentary The Power of Shazzan, looking into the backstory and future cartoon influence of Shazzan.

Do you want to get this? It's really down to your tastes. I prefer full series box sets, and will always do so. For me, this set has been an enjoyable way to pass several hours and reminded me that I really need to pick up the Banana Splits DVD set and lobby for Shazzan and Valley of the Dinosaurs to be released in their entirety. I probably wouldn't have gone out and bought this compilation set. That said, I definitely enjoyed the set, and even the cartoons I might not have bought as a series set were worth seeing again. And if you are more into the genre as a whole rather than individual series, or if you just want a selection to spark your childhood nostalgia, this is an excellent set at an excellent price. Though I did chuckle when I noticed the warning on the back of the set, a collection of stories that I grew up watching, which notes that the set is "intended for Adult Collectors and Not Suitable For Children."

For the record, the full list of cartoons represented in this set is Hair Bear Bunch, New Adventures of Gilligan, Sea Lab 2020, Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Shazzan, Yogi's Gang, Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, Valley of the Dinosaurs, Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show, Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Inch High Private Eye and New Adventures of Batman and Robin.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Volume 2

Available on DVD October 27th.
Check out the Official Site. Own it on DVD!

This compilation DVD is a strange beast, carrying, as it does, a selection of widely varied cartoons which were shown on American TV on Saturday mornings. If you are nostalgic for the era in general, there's no question you get your money's worth, as you get a wide selection, from Quick Draw McGraw to Bugs Bunny to Atom Ant to the Jetsons to Tom and Jerry to Road Runner to Young Samson; all told, just shy of 5 hours worth of cartoons on this 2 disc set for just under $27 (and cheaper on many sites). But that wide selection, in one respect this collection's strength, is also its weakness. It's neither truly fish nor fowl, with funny animal comic short features lurking alongside longer adventure cartoons. Watching all these different shows back to back, you tend to notice more the similarities between certain character designs (something the extra features actually mentions, pointing out the physical similarities between Magilla the Gorilla's pet shop owner Mr. Peebles and the Jetsons' Cosmo Spacely), as well as the use of the same voice artists across multiple cartoons. It also lends itself to unfavourable comparisons - watching Hanna Barbera comedy shorts followed immediately by Warner Bros comedy shorts only makes you realise just how much funnier Bugs, Sylvester, Wile E. Coyote and (the non-Warners) Tom and Jerry are than Quick Draw, Wally Gator and Peter Potamus. It isn't really fair - Hanna Barbera tries hard, and their shorts aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination (okay, Hillbilly Bears is no gem), but they don't hold a candle to the Looney Tunes' antics. Some fare better than others - Touche Turtle retains his charm, and Atom Ant remains a strong contender, but where Hanna Barbera does better is the less comedic action shows, like Young Samson and Goliath or Adventures of Young Gulliver - though simplistic compared to some modern cartoons, they are still fun romps, and because they aren't trying to go for laughs every few seconds, they aren't outperformed by their neighbours.

Special Features, as with most Warner Bros' cartoon releases, are minimal but well done - there's an interesting featurette Completely Bananas discussing the Magilla Gorilla show's development and impact on cartoons. The main meat, as always, are the cartoons themselves - the DVDs contain samplings of Quick Draw McGraw, the Space Kidettes, Young Samson and Goliath, Bugs Bunny, Sylvester (both with and without Tweety Pie), Porky Pig, Adventures of Young Gulliver, Wally Gator, Lippy the Lion, Touche Turtle, The Jetsons, Peter Potamus, Breezly and Sneezly, Yippie, Yappie, Yahooey, Road Runner, Atom Ant, Precious Pupp, Hillbilly Bears, Tom & Jerry, Magilla Gorilla, Punkin Puss and Ricochet Rabbit. I personally lean towards collected series rather than compilations like this - if you are into Jetsons for instance, you'll already have the episode here as part of your Jetsons Complete Collection DVD. On the other hand, there's several cartoons here whose series haven't been released as a set, and perhaps never will be. If you are a fan of the wider genre, or seeking to refresh the feelings of a childhood of Saturdays in front of the TV, then this set is probably for you. For me, it has simply whetted my appetite for Complete Series collections for Atom Ant, Samson & Goliath and Touche Turtle, as well as more sets of Tom & Jerry and the Looney Tunes.

Plastic Man: The Complete Collection

Available on DVD October 20th.
Check out the Official Site. Own it on DVD!

An excellent addition to the growing library of DC comic-related cartoon releases, this set includes all 35 episodes (around 5 and 3/4 hours spread over 4 discs) of Plastic Man from the Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, a surprisingly fun show which sees Plastic Man as a jetset adventurer travelling the world foiling a variety of outrageous villains that wouldn't look out of place if they turned up in the 1990's Tick cartoon (which is a good thing, in case anyone was wondering). With a few exceptions - notably Carrot-Man and Doctor Dome - all Plas' foes are created specifically for the cartoon. I'm not sure if those in charge of producing the show felt Plastic Man's comic villains lacked pizzaz (which seems unlikely, because the comic ones are just as bizarre), but the weird and wacky villains help make this a suitably kooky show. Similarly replaced is Plastic Man's comic sidekick, Woozy Winks, with the equally bumbling Hula Hula. The adventures themselves are a mixed bag - running around a quarter hour long apiece, none are really as funny as the comics that inspired them, with Scooby Doo's mystery solving format clearly an undue influence instead, but they are still a largely entertaining and amiable watching experience. However, caveat emptor! Though the title of this box set identifies this as the "Complete Collection" that's not entirely accurate. While every Plastic Man episode is included, none of the related Baby Plas and Plastic Family episodes, nor the unrelated cartoons that aired as part of the show (Mighty Man & Yukk, Fangface and Fangpuss, and Rickety Rocket). That's a shame, because while conceivably those last three could one day get their own individual releases, there's probably neither sufficient content nor market to release Baby Plas and Plastic Family independent of the main cartoon.

There's some nice stuff on the extras front too - the 15 minute Plas-tastic: A Brief History of Plastic Man featurette is nicely informative if you are new to the character, but the really cool addition is the 10 minute long unaired pilot for Cartoon Network's 2006 Plastic Man series that never came to fruition. Though the lack of true completeness in this "complete" set is slightly disappointing, this remains a box set I heartily recommend.

Available on DVD August 25th.
Check out the official site. Own it on DVD!

As befits a show now entering it's eighth  year, Smallville has built up its own mythology, having gradually incorporated its own take on much of the comic version of Superman's history, supporting cast, villains and fellow heroes. But the question on fans' lips this year was "can the show survive without Lex Luthor?" For seven years Michael Rosenbaum's morally ambiguous Lex provided many of the strongest character moments the show enjoyed. With his departure two characters stepped in to fill the void: Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman), LuthorCorp's new head, and Davis Bloome (Sam Witwer), who discovers he is the Kryptonian living weapon Doomsday. Having learned from Lex that the best villains are sympathetic ones, the ones you hope might avoid becoming irredeemably evil, Witwer turns in a stellar performance as a man trapped by his destiny, modifying him from the one-note villain he was in the comics. Another element of Smallville's ongoing success has been that it hasn't remained static - it has some idea of where it is eventually heading, and isn't afraid to slowly move its cast in that direction. Thus we now see less of Smallville itself, as Clark becomes a Daily Planet reporter in Metropolis, the romance between Clark Kent and Lois Lane hots up, and Clark begins fighting crime at superspeed dressed in red and blue; but the show doesn't forget those that could so easily have been left behind in the midst of this progress, with Kristen Kreuk's Lana Lang returning to star in a multi-episode arc in the middle of the season. We see more of Clark's fellow heroes, particularly Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley), a.k.a. the Green Arrow, now a series regular, and even more elements of Superman's mythos are successfully and enjoyably added to the mix, with the best example being the introduction of the 30th century's Legion of Super-Heroes. All told, it's an excellent season, and though Lex is missed, the show proves it has the legs to stand without him, as the tension builds to the season finale and the final clash between Clark and Doomsday.

The box set comes with commentary tracks on two episodes, a slew of unaired scenes, and two featurettes, "In The Director's Chair: Behind the Lens and Calling the Shots with Allison Mack" which follows series regular Mack as she takes her debut turn behind the camera directing the episode "Power", and "Smallville's Doomsday: The Making of a Monster" which looks at how the show went about building its own version of the classic comic villain.

All in all, the Season 8 set is definitely recommended if you are a fan of Superman or this show.

Super Friends The Lost Episodes
Available on DVD August 11th.
Check out the official site. Own it on DVD!

The so-called Lost Episodes are an oddity. In the 1980s, older Super Friends cartoons began to get syndicated runs during the weekday. Meanwhile, a new series was produced to run for the 1983 to '84 Saturday morning slot - 8 episodes each consisting of 3 seven minute shorts (hence the 24 "episodes" touted on the DVD cover) were produced before someone at ABC bizarrely decided they didn't want the new stories "competing" with the old, and pulled the plug. Super Friends returned to Saturday morning the next year, and one of the three parters aired then, while the remainder eventually got syndicated release as part of Superman/Batman Adventures in 1986, thus only really being lost to Saturday mornings. Nonetheless, they remain a curious blip in the long running Super Friends cartoon saga.

As with most of the Super Friends installments, the stars are the Justice League stalwarts Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman (with Green Lantern, who makes the cover, actually only guesting in a couple of stories - Hawkman and Hawkgirl also turn up). Joining them are the cartoon creations the Wonder Twins and their space-monkey Gleek, as well as the cartoons' well meaning but cringeworthy attempts to introduce some diversity to what otherwise might have been the Super WASPS, Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, Samurai and El Dorado. Opposing them are classic comic foes including the Legion of Doom, Brainiac and Mr, Mxyzptlk, and far less classic, created for the cartoon, villains such as (I kid you not - see the images below) Hippohulk and Superfrog. There are some great stories in here - Superman returning to Krypton prior to its destruction to meet his parents, the Phantom Zone villains using time travel to attack Superboy in Smallville, Gorilla Grodd taking on the entire assembled Super Friends, and a visit to Bizarro World - but be warned, there's also some of the worst stories the Super Friends ever had too, such as when Batman and Superman get turned into a humanoid bat and eagle respectively, though even they are watchable in a so-bad-it's-good way.

There are no special features beyond the option to download some comics digitally and some trailers, which is somewhat of a disappointment, but it's nearly 3 hours of cartoon fun on 2 discs for $26.98, which isn't an unreasonable price (and you can get it cheaper on places like Amazon).

Yes, it is Batman and Superman, looking kind of dumb, though not as dumb as...

but to show you it isn't all like this, here's how it normally looks.

Check out the official site. Own it on DVD!

Original Spider-Man Season 1 Volume 1
Available on DVD August 24th.

Despite being Marvel's top character (then and now), Spider-Man was far from the first of Stan Lee's heroes to be made into a cartoon. In 1966 "The Marvel Superheroes" had brought no less than five of Spidey's contemporaries to cartoons - Captain America, Iron Man, Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Hulk and Thor. Though it may not look it to contemporary eyes, used to the slick cartoons of today, Spider-Man, debuting only a year later, was a quantum leap forward for Marvel cartoons.  The animation was smoother, unlike its predecessors which had had minimal animation over static backgrounds, and it had original stories, while The Marvel Superheroes mostly adapted comic storylines verbatim. Alongside Spider-Man's comic book adversaries like Dr. Octopus, viewers were introduced to new foes created just for the cartoon...though to be fair, most of them weren't that memorable. Nevertheless, for a generation of kids, this was their introduction to Spider-Man, and the series' catchy theme tune remains in the public consciousness to this day.

It does have some links to The Marvel Superheroes though - voice actor Paul Soles, who provides Spider-Man, also provided Bruce Banner's voice in the Hulk segments of The Marvel Superheroes (and in recognition of this, recently appeared in a small role in the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie). Peg Dixon, who voiced Peter Parker's love interest, was quintuple timing him, as she was also Namor's love Dorma, Bruce Banner's girlfriend Betty Ross, Thor's paramour Jane Foster, and Iron Man's secretary and secret admirer Pepper Potts! And J. Jonah Jameson's voice, Paul Kligman, might have been antagonistic to Spider-Man, but as Thunderbolt Ross he was adversarial to the Hulk, and he was downright evil as Captain America's foe the Red Skull.

Trivia aside, back to the DVD at hand. The 1967 Spider-Man jumps straight in at the deep end without wasting time on an origin story. This set includes the first six episodes, which see him taking on Dr. Octopus, the Lizard, alien Plutonians, Electro and others, running a little over 2 hours. The plots are hardly complex, but they aren't meant to be; the cartoon is not pretentious, and all it tries to be is good clean fun, and on that count it succeeds. My only hesitation in recommending this set is that this series ran for 3 years and a total of 52 episodes. On that front, there's several volumes to come. If you are the kind of buyer who just wants to dip in, then smaller volumes like this are ideal; if you are a collector, you might want to wait for the inevitable full series box set.

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