With the announcement that DC Super Hero Girls is getting a full series at Cartoon Network–with scripts and new character designs by series producer and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic creator Lauren Faust–this could be the brand new smash hit animation that comic book fans have been waiting for.
Launched in 2015, DC Super Hero Girls is a line of action figures and dolls from Mattel that reimagines the most famous women of DC Comics as teen super heroes learning how to save the world at Super Hero High. Focusing on the adventures of Batgirl, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Bumblebee, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy, the line was initially accompanied by young adult novels from Random House and a successful series of online digital shorts.
In only two years, DC Super Hero Girls has become a full blown phenomenon, and a huge presence at comic conventions. With two feature films, three graphic novels, and a new roster of female super heroes including Katana, Starfire, and Frost recently added to the main lineup, these super powered teens have become a force to be reckoned with.
So let us tell you why you should be paying attention to these high school super heroes.
It’s All About Badass Girls
With a name like DC Super Hero Girls you know that this show has girl power galore and it delivers on every level. No matter what medium you meet them in, this team of super heroines is ready for awesome action. From fighting with some of DC’s most fearsome foes to coming first in their finals, these girls are always giving it their all.
With a roster already including Katana and Bumblebee–who’s the heroine of the first movie–DC Super Hero Girls is already more inclusive than your average cape comic and will hopefully continue to create more diverse superheroes to engage and entertain new fans.
It Stars Your Favorite Comic Book Characters
The world of DC Super Hero Girls is far more expansive than just its core team because Super Hero High is filled with many of DC’s classic characters. There’s something innately fun about these high school heroes, battling evil and trying to get homework in on time. With a regular cast including Cyborg, Beast Boy, Cheetah, Star Sapphire, and Hal Jordan among others DC Super Hero Girls is the DC ensemble of your dreams. Even Wonder Woman’s most famous sidekick Steve Trevor has his place as the owner of a local cafe.
Though the series is primarily an introduction for new fans, it doesn’t mean they don’t get their deep cut references in there for the Easter egg fans too. For example, scenes set in the student’s fave hangout, Steve Trevor’s Capes & Cowls Cafe, feature background characters from Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire’s seminal 80s run on Justice League International.
It Was Created by a Bunch of Amazing Woman
Created by Shea Fontana, Lisa Yee, and Aria Moffly, DC Super Hero Girls has one of the rarest things in comics: an all female creative team, giving this property a distinct authenticity from the beginning. Having these ladies leading a line that focuses on all female heroes has been one of DC Super Hero Girls biggest strengths.
From page to screen the creative team has focused on making sure that there are women in all of the important roles. When the series was picked up for a digital only comic, the team behind the successful graphic novels–Shea Fontana and Yancey Labat–added artist Agnes Garbowska to the roster to create the serialized story of Super Hero High. Both DC Super Hero Girls movies were directed by and produced by Jennifer Coyle and Cecilia Aranovich. Lisa Yee’s young readers novels about the super powered team have been a huge part of their success, and the toy designer behind the line, Christine Kim, made sure that the characters need to look like “they could save the save the day rather than being saved.”
The Greatest Power in DC Super Hero Girls is Friendship
There’s a distinct lack of happiness in the world at the moment, and having a show that focuses on the power of friendship–specifically female friendship–is pretty radical. The show itself never strays from the fact that all of the super heroes work better when they work together, which is one of the oldest rules in the comic book.
Though many of comics’ seminal works focus on the darker side of fighting crime, that’s not to say there isn’t a place for a more cheerful positive version of that same fight. DC Super Hero Girls hearkens back to the Golden Age of comics, with outrageous villains and morally driven heroes who do the best thing for everyone rather than just themselves. If you need some bright, beautiful, and bold super heroes in your life right now, DC Super Hero Girls has the heroes for you.
Images: DC Comics/Cartoon Networks
