People forget that there is a second Justice League cartoon that came out, most people dismiss it because of the art style and no one really ever talking about it but Justice League Action is surprisingly decent. I won’t say it’s the greatest interpretation but it did a good job at giving us good action moments and fun interactions between characters we love and sometimes don’t get enough spotlight together. So I’ll go ahead and take a look at the entirety of the show which consisted of 52 11 minute episodes and 22 2 minute shorts.
Finally a JLA cartoon and replacing the A for America to Action. This is a welcome change since these superheroes are world heroes. It always seemed odd to have the name of a country since that implies they only protect one place instead of being the protectors of earth that they really are. Especially since their threat levels are usually space and dimensional bound. I like the character designs in general, they are more cartoony but they are nicely stylized. Some do look odd which are actually the popular ones Superman & Batman but the rest range from fine to great.
Justice League Action animated shorts
Unlike the Batman Unlimited shorts that did not have dialog, these do have them and it makes the shorts feel a bit more like the actual show you’re watching. They are fun little stories, you can only do so much with less than 2 minutes. They are able to get the feeling of the animated series and you get about 4 episodes length wise worth of them jumping from one to the next.
Justice League Action:
The main problem is that since they are basically 10 minute adventures, there isn’t enough time to go into a deep plot or anything that requires a bit more time to set up, so the stories are simple and in a way some can be too short to care. You can also see how it’s sometimes annoying, simple and overall for a much younger audience. The format doesn’t help them but I still feel they could’ve done a lot more. The characers are way too chatty and happy going, like they’re playing games so you don’t feel the stakes. Some episodes can be like that while others are just a lot of fun, it depends on how they tackled the adventure.
I do lov eseeing all these lesser known heroes being featured, even if they’re not done as well as say Justice League Unlimited did. The short little bursts of adenture and action can work really well. There’s some great episodes and in general this universe feels like a nice amalgamation of different DC universes even if it does lean a bit on the DCAU more. There’s some Wonder Woman / Supes shipping which I always find fun when they do it. The designs are great but man does this show that Batman and especially superman need trunks to help break the color of their suits. You’ll definitely feel a Bruce Timm esque style and attitude in the show.
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Many episodes are related to magic and it works and many other episodes leave you wanting for more as you can start to get very interested only for the episode to end. Again the name doesn’t lie, it’s action and you get a lot of that and it delivers with the rule of cool there, but sometimes you are left wanting a bit more substance. You want to know who these characters are, a little more of what makes them tick since you enjoy them fighting around. This is why the show will never be remembered fondly by most as there just aren’t enough character moments.
I wish the show had rotated characters a bit more to see too many of the same heroes over and over, this is also true for the villains. It can get repetitive and boring to see them so soon after being introduced. Talking about the villains since they’re the ones getting beat and don’t have time to develop much of a plot they dont’ get to shine like the heroes do. I did like DCs Trinity a lot here even if they oversued them. And even with all I’ve said there’s a couple of heartfelt moments to make it worht a watch. Some misses but some are quite great.
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