Justice League: Doom DVD & Blu-Ray

There are so many cartoon franchises out there. Though, in my opinion, one of the best is those done by DC Comics, Bruce Timm, and Paul Dini. Batman: The Animated Series in the 90s, Superman: The Animated Series, and the Justice League Animated Series have some of the best stories and animation to have been brought to the small screen. While the various cartoon series are no longer shown on television, at least once a year an animated movie is released to DVD. On February 28, 2012, the newest movie was released, Justice League: Doom.

They did change the style of the characters to appear a bit more anime than the original series. The animation is still high quality, though it still seems to lack the flair of the original. So, it was slightly a bit of a disappointment to see this new design, it isn’t as bad as some of the previous incarnations of animated movies for Justice League.

The one thing they didn’t change for the most part was the voices. It is so difficult to think of someone else other than Kevin Conroy to be Batman. He manages to bring forth the very soul of Batman with only his voice. This time, they brought in Tim Daly for the voice of Superman. He was the voice of Superman for the Superman: The Animated Series, but not the Justice League series. While I do enjoy George Newbern from the Justice League series, Tim Daly will always be the voice of Superman to me.  The other voices who have returned are Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, Michael Rosenbaum as The Flash, Carl Lumby as the Martian Manhunter. Nathan Fillion voices the Green Lantern and does a great job as he did in his previous go around as the Green Lantern. Needless to say, I’m so very thrilled with the voice acting.

The story itself is based off of the Tower of Babel storyline from the comics and was adapted by the late Dwayne McDuffie. Batman has created a contingency plan to stop the Justice League heroes is stolen by the Legion of Doom. The plans are designed to stop the heroes in case they go rogue. It’s up to Batman to find a way to defeat his own plans to stop Vandal Savage from destroying the modern world.

Watching the Justice League battle their very nightmares is amazing and quite riveting. Overall, it is one of the better stories, though not the best. It was just great to see the Justice League again, working together to stop a major catastrophe from occurring again. This particular movie was full of action, suspense and drama. The only complaint is there wasn’t enough of an uproar from the Justice League  about Batman’s contingency plan, so it lacked a little emotion there.

The extended features of the Blu-Ray/DVD are nice. There is a tribute to Dwayne McDuffie, as this was his last film before his death. It has family, friends and co-workers speaking about him and his history, and all of the great things he has accomplished. This man not only wrote amazing animated stories, but also was a legend and groundbreaking writer/publisher for comic books. He seemed to be an amazing person with a brilliant mind, who will be greatly missed.
Guarding the Balance: Batman and JLA discusses the story of the movie and the original comic book story. Those discussing it are those from the comic book industry and writers, as well as professors from universities, giving us a reason on why Batman would do what he would did. It’s a good explanation and look into this plotline, and a history lesson.

There’s also a sneak peek at the Superman Vs The Elite, a new animated movie, also based on a comic book story. All we get right now is some voicing, character shots, and story boards. It isn’t very far along just yet, but gives a nice idea of what we will be seeing in the near future.

Cyborg: His Time Has Come is a featurette about the character Cyborg. We get stories from various writers and publishers about this character. It’s interesting to see a secondary character get more focus than the normal group. A very nice touch.

We also get some top picks from Bruce Timm, one of the main creators from the cartoon series. We get two episodes, Wild Cards Part 1 and 2. This is a great bonus for those who loved watching the Justice League show, but don’t have the box set. It definitely brings back some good memories.

The other special features include the normal Audio Commentary that accompanies the actual movie, a digital comic book of Justice League of America: Tower of Babel that the movie is based off of, and trailers.

Overall, this is a great dvd to pick up and I highly recommend those who are fans of the DC animated series to pick this up as soon as you can!