It’s been a decade since we’ve had a Justice League cartoon series. Yes, there are the DC animated features, as well as Young Justice, but nothing that featured the JLA on a regular basis.
Luckily, that will change this fall with the premiere of Justice League Action on Cartoon Network and Thursday’s SDCC panel shed some light on how this show is different from the ones that came before. The panel was moderated by IGN’s Eric Goldman and included producers Butch Lukic, Alan Burnett, and Jim Krieg. Also on the panel were character designer Shane Glines and cast members Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Diedrich Bader (Booster Gold).
Fans were treated to an episode to start off the panel, with Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Cyborg taking on the Toyman, played by Ken Jeong. Just like Teen Titans Go!, each episode of Justice League Action will have 11 minutes of content. According to Krieg, “We basically cut out the first act of the story, that slow build, so we could start right off with the action.”
Another similarity the show has to Titans is the use of humor, which doesn’t seem to mesh with Kevin Conroy’s Batman, but that’s exactly what Kevin likes about this show. “After 24 years of playing Batman, the challenge has always been to keep it consistent and fresh at the same time.” This show has been able to show that putting his version of Batman in these funny situations can make for some hilarious results. Diedrich also added “When I played Batman on Brave and the Bold, I was always the one setting up the jokes. Now I get to say the punchline [as Booster Gold]. As a comedic actor, that’s fun for me. That doesn’t mean this show is going to be the Justice League version of Teen Titans Go! There will be a good balance between the humor and the action. “The writers don’t sacrifice one for the sake of the other,” Conroy said.
Since this IS a Justice League cartoon, we will NOT be short of fellow heroes joining our DC Trinity. Green Arrow, Green Lantern (voiced by Lantern vet Josh Keaton), Star Girl, and Swamp Thing (voiced by Mark Hamill, who is also returning as, of course, the Joker) are among the plethora of characters you will see this season. The villains will be in full force too, as Solomon Grundy, Cheetah, and Lex Luthor (voiced by James Woods) will give the League a run for their money.
From what I saw, we are in for something fresh in a Justice League cartoon. According to Lukic, the 11-minute format helps the writers combine characters without having to “really think about it.” Since there is no need to set up a backstory, they can just have fun with the different combinations.
With Super Friends, it was cool just to see our heroes on TV at all, even if there wasn’t a whole lot there. With Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, we got to see them really jump off the screen for the first time, defending the planet from threats all across the universe. Justice League Action does that as well, but guarantees we will have a little fun along the way.
So what do you think? Are you excited for this new iteration of the animated JLA? How do you think it will stack up against its predecessors? Let me know on Twitter or sound off in the comments below.
Image: Warner Brothers
