As DC Comics simultaneously celebrates its 75th anniversary and prepares its newest volley of films to take back some market share from Marvel in the superhero movie department, a number of other interesting projects have been cooking on the periphery. The DC animation factory has been cranking out a number of titles over the past few years targeted at older fans featuring some of the mainstays of the DC universe. Some have been pretty good, others have been fairly forgettable. With this DC Showcase, they have collected 4 animated shorts involving some of DC’s B-list, including The Spectre, Green Arrow, Jonah Hex, with Captain Marvel headlining alongside A-list boy scout and Justice League pretty boy, Superman.
Their short story finds the two DC super-heavyweights squaring off against popular-of-late anti-hero Black Adam, in an origin story where streetwise orphan Billy Batson first utters the word “SHAZAM!” to become Earth’s mightiest mortal. As an origin story, it’s a shame it lasts a mere 22 minutes. Not that it’s missing any of the elements of a complete story, I just wish there was more of it.
…while they’re great for a stroll down memory lane, they’re not necessarily fit for introducing your kids to some of these unsung heroes.
I was impressed with the quality of each of these shorts, from the voice casting (top notch), to the music (especially in The Spectre and Jonah Hex’s stories), and the animation itself (adding in the neg dirt and scratches in The Spectre for a little added authenticity was especially cool). The HD presentation didn’t hurt either. The downside is that possibly with the exception of of the Captain Marvel short, none of these are appropriate for young viewers due to their blood, violence, or sexual content. Meaning that while they’re great for a stroll down memory lane, they’re not necessarily fit for introducing your kids to some of these unsung heroes.
What I found particularly special about the blu-ray was a feature not even mentioned on the packaging: long time animation producer Bruce Timm’s picks of 4 “classic” animated from years gone by, including the “Clash” episode of Justice League Unlimited where Captain Marvel and Superman duke it out in a freshly built, but uninhabited city allowing for maximum destruction with minimal casualties. Its probably my favourite episode of that entire series. There’s also a classic episode of Batman: The Animated Series featuring Jonah Hex (which I recall being my first encounter with the guy). On the other side of the special features spectrum, I was disappointed that the digital copy provided wasn’t compatible with my Mac, just Windows. What’s up with that?
The Verdict:For the casual collector or weekend comic book reader, this is a “Renter” at best, it’s meant to appeal to those who are looking for animation involving under-lauded characters like Green Arrow. For the hardcores though, this is a great compilation of rare treats and a “Keeper” for your collection. Bear in mind though that most of the material here can be found on earlier releases – so the truly hardcores out there should double check they don’t have some of these already.
Steve gives it a Keeper, kind of
