Part of 'Young Justice' Coming to DVD this July

At first glance, I was excited to see that Warner Bros. was putting its new animated series Young Justice on DVD this summer (per DC’s The Source). But wait—do mine four eyes deceiveth me (still in Thor mode folks), or is this DVD release called Young Justice Season 1 Volume 1?

After a double-take, I realized that the first season is being split into two DVD releases, which is not my preferred form of DVD ownership. The site also did not identify if the release was going to be released in the BluRay format, which is a second strike for me. Well, if you’ve perpetually missed this series because you don’t have a DVR or the Cartoon Network, I suggest—at the very least—renting these fine episodes upon their release. Young Justice is DC Universe animation at its best.

Young Justice Season 1 Volume 1 is scheduled for release on July 19^th.

'Young Justice' Toys are a coming....

Among many others. See here.

Young Justice

“Schooled” was the episode that aired last Friday.

If you have been listening to our Podcasts you would have heard more than once how much we just don’t like the current Superboy.

From his t-shirt to his small adventures in Smallville.

But man, he’s a fun character on Young Justice. He still has the t-shirt but add cargo pants and military boots and the whole attire works wonderfully.

It’s these tiny changes that make all the differences.

The story begins with an accident at a city bridge. There, a dozen or so automobiles collide onto one another and a school bus nearly falls to a watery death. Superboy tries to compete with Superman in the saving department but falls a little short.

After Superman shows up Superboy he lectures the youngster about learning to use his powers properly.

Superboy asks Superman to help him but then with his cape between his legs Superman flies off saying Batman will help you.

What a jerk.

Come on Supes…you’re all the family this clone’s got.

Jeez.

Soon after, Black Canary tries to help Superboy with training and anger issues.

It doesn’t work out.

Later the team ends up fighting the android Amazo and are nearly killed. Superboy finally realizes might isn’t always right…using his thinking cap he finds a way to stop the unstoppable tinker toy.

In the end the team wins, gets brownie points from Bats and Superboy grows as a person.

This show keeps getting better and better.

In each episode a character has an arc, learning something for the better.

Last week in "Drop Zone", Robin realized having the most experience doesn’t make him the best leader.

These are the kind of stories that work best for a show like this…it doesn’t always have to be ‘how do we defeat Brainiac’…but rather really good character driven stories. And we are not just talking about the young heroes. Batman meets up with Superman in an attempt to get him to reach out to Superboy. So yeah, it's not only Superboy who needs to grow up here.

BIG FAN…keep it up DC.

Super-Awesome-Ness

Young Justice Clip




New episodes of Young Justice air this Friday at 7pm on the CN.

PS: I hate Superboy's t-shirt look in the comics. But here, it looks great. Go figure.

Bane Appears in this Week's 'Young Justice'

Why wait until The Dark Knight Rises to get your Bane fix. The Batman back-breaker is going to make his venomous first appearance in this week's Young Justice. Check out three clips from this week's stealthy episode.

Young Justice airs on Fridays on the Cartoon Network at 7 p.m./ 6 p.m Central.

'Young Justice' Clip: Speedy Returns

So we haven't seen the last of Speedy yet it appears (see clip below). After being treated like a sidekick by the Justice League, Speedy stormed out of the Hall of Justice leaving Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad behind in the one-hour Young Justice premiere movie that aired in November.

The opener showed a lot of promise, both in animation and storytelling. The folks at DC Entertainment have created another strong entry into an already amazing catalog of animated series and movies.

Young Justice begins airing this Friday on the Cartoon Network at 7 p.m./ 6 p.m. Central.

Review: 'Young Justice'

Young Justice is another in a long line of successful DC Comics animated series from Warner Bros. and DC Universe. This premiere, which aired on the Cartoon Network on Friday night, is guided by the folks who have produced such DC Universe films as Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, and Batman: Under the Red Hood.

The Young Justice comic book series was a precursor to the current run of Teen Titans, but this new series is taking its inspiration and characters from the last forty years of DC history to put together this series. The team includes the original Robin and Kid Flash with Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian.

While the manga-inspired Teen Titans from a few years back had a rabid fan base, it did not embody the spirit of the source material that viewers have come to expect from Warner Bros. animation since Batman: The Animated Series premiered in 1992. Young Justice is accessible to preteen kids and on up to us geezers in our thirties and forties who grew up on comic books.

The story begins with four sidekicks (Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Speedy) who believe they are taking a step closer to their ascension into the Justice League. They soon learn that they are not quite as close as they would like. With the League on a mission, the boys learn about an explosion at Cadmus and decide to investigate; Cadmus is a scientific operation of which Robin advises the group that Batman is suspicious. Their fears are realized once they run into a teenage clone of Superman.

The young heroes are captured and eventually befriended by Superboy who yearns for freedom and an opportunity to meet the Man of Steel. We are treated to a series of excellent action sequences; excellent fight choreography has always been important to the producers as story and characterization. Not to dismiss the story and characterization, because it is all there.

In the Justice League series the characters were never presented as infallible (even Superman) and there is already some of that in this series. Robin doesn’t hesitate to hack into the Justice League’s computer, Speedy gets his way or the highway, and the fledgling team confronts the League in a show of defiance to announce they are joining forces whether or not their mentors approve.

Of course there is room for humor when the script calls for it. After Robin is freed late into the episode he says dryly to Kid Flash’s chagrin: “Lucky Batman isn’t here. He’d have my head for taking so long.” Kid Flash proves he is Wally West in the making when he grabs a part of their opponents decaying face and exclaims “Got your nose!”

I also enjoyed that the team was still obviously learning a thing or two about being heroes. Kid Flash does not appear to be an adept fighter and early on needs rescuing from Robin. Superboy assumes he has all of Superman’s powers but learns at inconvenient times that he indeed does not.

This is easily the best animation that Warner Bros. has ever had on one of its shows. The character designs and animation most resemble the animated shorts that have accompanied the most recent DC Universe movies (The Spectre, Green Arrow, and Jonah Hex).

The voice acting is strong by all the leads who sound for the most part like teens: Jesse McCartney as Robin, Jason Spisak as Kid Flash, Khary Payton as Aqualad, and Nolan North as Superboy. Renee Auberjonois was as distinguishable as ever as the evil Dr. Desmond, the man responsible for the Superboy clone.

For fan boys there is much to enjoy. There’s a big formidable League featured in the episode and, while they are mainly in the background, there are no throwaway character designs. The producers have promised the inclusion of the Justice League in the series and I’m excited to see some more of them (especially an armored up Hawkman).

Like the Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited after it, there appears to be an underlying arc that may be a thread through the rest of the season; that is, Project Cadmus and the unnamed villains who are running the show. One thing is for sure, the torch has been successfully handed from Justice League: Unlimited to Young Justice.

Young Justice will premiere with regular weekly episodes on the Cartoon Network beginning in January.

Six-Minute 'Young Justice' Clip from the New York Comic-Con

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Splash Page posted the non-bootlegged six minute clip from Young Justice that premiered at the New York Comic-Con in September. If you have been a fan of the DC Universe line of animated films you are probably going to get a kick out of this gem. The scene includes classic DC heroes and their protégés taking on a bevy of icy villains.

Young Justice premieres with a one-hour special on Friday, November 26^th on the Cartoon Network. The series begins airing next Spring.

At Long Last! A 'Young Justice' Trailer

It seemed as though we were not going to get a trailer for the new Young Justice series, but Cartoon Network has finally posted the first ad. The team looks to begin small, featuring only Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad. The first episode revolves around the discovery of a Super-experiment—the team roster will eventually also feature Miss Martian, Artemis and that Super kid. Check out the other Young Justice clips here to get a better taste of the show’s tone and characters.

The one-hour premiere movie “Independence Day” will air on the Cartoon Network on Friday November 26^th at 7 p.m./ 6 p.m. Central. Future episodes of Young Justice will begin in Spring 2011 as an ongoing series.

'Young Justice' Preview

When I first saw the trailer for Young Justice, I was impressed and shocked. Impressed at how amazing it looks and shocked that I didn’t see Bruce Timm’s name anywhere in the credits. Well producers Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman have enough street cred to carry the show. Vietti directed Batman: Under the Red Hood and Superman/Doomsday, while Weisman has acted as a supervising producer on The Spectacular Spider-Man.  Additionally, Executive Producer Sam Register has overseen many of the DC Universe line of films, including Batman: Under the Red Hood, Wonder Woman, and Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.

Original Young Justice scribe Peter David confirmed at the San Diego Comic-Con this year that he would be writing some episodes of the series. Along with long runs on the Hulk and X-Factor, David really defined the original Young Justice characters during its original 1990’s run. It was in 2003 when the series ended and morphed into Teen Titans which has been going fairly strong ever since.

The series features Robin, Superboy, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Miss Martian and Artemis (guessing they didn’t use Arrowette due to her lame name). What I have also found surprising is the number of big guns that appear in the show: Superman (Nolan North), Batman (Bruce Greenwood), Green Arrow (Alan Tudyk), Captain Marvel (Rob Lowe), Aquaman (Phil LaMarr) and the rest of the Justice League.

Young Justice premieres on November 26th with a one-hour episode on the Cartoon Network. The series joins the network’s schedule regularly in January 2011.  Get an official glimpse of the series straight from Warner Bros.:



And here's an unofficial glimpse that is certain to please: