comics
Spider-Man: Ultimate, but not Spectacular?
According to Marvel.com, a new series, Ultimate Spider-Man will premiere Fall 2011 on Disney XD. Eric S. Rollman, President of Marvel Animation says “Ultimate Spider-Man will be a unique journey exploring our favorite web-slinger as he teams up with other fan favorite Marvel Super Heroes in never before seen stories with a new life filled with great challenges, new friends, intense action and character growth.”
There has not been any updates on the fate of Spectacular Spider-Man which is also shown on Disney XD. It seems that Ultimate will be replacement for Spectacular, which was produced by Sony Pictures. Ultimate will have big shoes to fill, as Spectacular Spider-Man was a well-written show with a fresh take on the Spider-Man franchise.
Is this a “Golden Age” for animated PG-13 features?
For years, I’ve complained how about most people in the US view animation as medium for children’s movies and TV shows (with comedy shows like the Simpsons and Family Guy being an exception.) With the latest Justice League feature debuting at #2, could we be finally coming around to accepting animation as venue for more mature features?
Bruce Timm, Dwayne McDuffie and the rest of the crew on Justice League Unlimited did an amazing job of writing smart and mature story lines, while working within the restrictions of a TV-Y7 rating. With the DC Comics Direct-To-Video releases, we get the opportunity to see what they can do without the TV rating restrictions. The results are awesome comic book adaptation presented as they should be.
Watching Videos Over the Holidays
The holidays are a great time to chill out and watch some old videos that are collecting dust on your shelf. Saturday, I watched 8 Man After, DBZ Treee of Might, and DBZ Dead Zone.
It’s always fun to watch old Streamline Pictures anime becuase they seem to use the same 5 voices for all of their dubs. But I still enjoy Streamline Pics like 8 Man After. Plenty of good action, nice story and good animation that holds up pretty well today. I wish it could have been fleshed out into a full series, instead of an OAV.
The DBZ movies were fun just to see how the DBZ characters have evolved over time. Gohan, the litte kid with so much hidden power. Piccolo, (in Dead Zone) is training for a re-match with his nemisis Goku! And Goku, who hasn’t figured out the Super Saiyan thing yet, relies on his Kaiô-ken to fight his enemies.
Later, I plan to watch Voltron: Fleet of Doom. I’m still mad, reflecting on my elementary school days when all my friends came in and told me how cool it was to see BOTH Voltrons TOGETHER! Of course, I never saw that episode until I was an adult. I may watch some of my DC Animation DVDs too.
What are you watching over the holidays?
Justice League: The New Frontier review
It is an accomplished, serious and adult adaptation that keeps every ounce of the original story’s brilliance. What we have here is a serious adult superhero story straight out of the Silver Age, but with the weight of the best of modern age storytelling.
read more from Ain’t It Cool News
“Futurama,” “Doomsday” Blaze New Markets for Old Series
Doomsday has sold 600,000 units since it was released, which is 30% ahead of Warners’ own internal predictions. New Frontier is also tracking ahead of expected preorders.
Read more from Toon Zone.
New Dr. Strange Site
Marvel has launched a new web site for the new Dr. Strange film:
http://www.marvel.com/doctorstrange
Grow Up?
While reviewing the anime film, Paprika, Newsweek‘s David Ansen wonders why Americans aren’t more open to animated films for adults.
There’s no reason the imaginative freedom that animation allows shouldn’t be unleashed on adult themes, especially when graphic novels have entered the literary mainstream and when CGI has blurred the line between live action and animation in films like “300.” Outside the United States, animators are not so likely to be confined to the ghetto of kiddie movies.
Read more at Newsweek.
Official Doomsday Site
Waner Bros. Entertainment has created an official web site for the movie Superman: Doomsday.
John Semper Talks Spider-Man: The Animated Series
John Semper served as the series producer/story editor for Spider-Man: The Animated Series. He was given the daunting task of adapting Spider-Man’s long comic book history onto the small screen and now speaks to The Marvel Animation Age about his work on the series.
Read more at The Marvel Animation Age