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DVD Reviews: September 2006 DC Comics Animated Releases
Reviewed by Craig Byrne
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September 12 didn't just bring us a DVD of the fifth season of Smallville. We also got two new DC Comics-related releases, one of which includes Cyborg, who made an appearance in Smallville Season Five. What did we think of these DVD's? Read on!

Teen Titans: The Complete Second Season
Website: superheroesdvd.com
Click here to order a copy

Many fans of the DC Comics universe of characters would probably agree that the classic run of The New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Perez was one of the greatest comic book runs of all time; a level matched only by such teams like Claremont & Byrne on the early 80's X-Men.

A few years ago, the folks at Warner Bros. Animation decided to bring the Teen Titans to the Cartoon Network. The series adopted a very Japanese-inspired style that may have been a bit jarring to those who were used to the classic George Perez linework. In some ways, the style was consistent with the Bruce Timm/Paul Dini animated style of Batman: The Animated Series; in some ways it was its very own thing.

Me, I'll be honest: I thought it looked silly. I had the fanboy "How dare they alter the looks of my favorite characters," yadda yadda, you know the drill. I remember meeting one of the writers at Comic-Con and hearing of the enthusiasm he had for the show. But by that time, the show had already run three seasons; I'd be too much behind.

I did tune in about a year ago to see the Brain in Dalek casing. Because, well, anyone who's going to throw in a Doctor Who reference is cool in my book. I liked what I saw. But again, so far behind.

I will note that even with my limited viewing of the show before, that theme song is darn catchy.

But anyway. I was sent a copy of Titans Season 2 for review, and you know what? I loved it. These aren't my Titans. They're redesigned for a new generation, and I think the way they were done was great for this kind of a show. Gothy Raven, extremely sweet Starfire... it works. And these kids look and sound like just that - Teen Titans. These Titans play video games. Ride around in a fancy car. All that. But it's cool.

The show incorporates some of the best storylines of the comic book and retells it, almost Ultimate style. (I would say All-Star but that would mean they were only doing two episodes a year) The very different look for the Terminator - er, I mean Deathstroke, err, Slade works in this setting. Terra looked considerably different too, but the design worked. I'm just used to a big-lipped and buck-toothed Tara, I guess. Cigarettes optional.

Smallville fans might note the appearance of the character of Cyborg in this series. Victor Stone appeared in the Season Five episode "Cyborg." Teen Titans the cartoon stays truer to Victor's comic-book origins.

These 13 episodes, I think would be amusing for a young person and it's not too dumb for the parents watching either. Or, you know, those 28 year olds like myself who enjoy watching these things.

Having seen Season Two now I think I'm going to have to pick up the first season DVD now too. At under $20 a set for 13 episodes, they're a lot of fun. My verdict: 4 out of 5. You can't go much better than this, though a few more extras would have been nice.

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The Batman: The Complete Second Season
Website: superheroesdvd.com
Click here to order a copy

Although I got used to the different style animation of Teen Titans and really came to embrace it, I wasn't as fond of The Batman upon watching it.

For a young person who's never seen previous Batman cartoons, I'm sure it's perfectly fine. But here, it seems the redesigns and revamping were just done for the sake of "making the characters cool" where they really were cool to begin with.

Batman: The Animated Series picked the best elements of the characters and ran with them. Maybe I'm an old fogey, but it just seems that nothing can improve on things like Mark Hamill voicing the Joker, or having characters like Harley Quinn running around. And the joy of B:TAS is, especially in the early days, I never, EVER felt talked down to. It was a series for adults as well as children. Here, it's like "look how COOL these characters are!" but it looks more like a ploy to sell action figures.

Some characters like the Riddler are massively redesigned, and while the redesigns aren't always bad, it still begs the question of what is wrong with giving the characters a consistent look between the mediums. One of my favorite animated series, the X-Men series from the early 90's, ALWAYS had the characters looking like they did in the comics. It's no wonder X-Men sold so well at that time.

But ultimately, it's apples and oranges. The designs aren't bad; they're just not for me. It's kind of like, do you pick up Batman, or do you pick up Detective? Or All-Star Batman & Robin? This is something to itself. I'm sure it's someone's Batman, but it's not mine.

My verdict: 2 out of 5. Some of the stories are entertaining but not as deep as the material you'd see on Batman:TAS. The idea of doing a series with a younger Bruce Wayne is interesting to me, I mean, I do run a Smallville website, but this is just not for me.

Click here to order The Batman Season 2 through Amazon.com and support this site!

Visit the official SuperheroesDVD.com site

Read some of our other DVD reviews! The Adventures of Superman: Season 2 The Adventures of Superman: Seasons 3 & 4 The Dukes of Hazzard: Season 1 The Dukes of Hazzard: Season 2 Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law: Volume 1 Space Ghost: Coast To Coast: Volume 3 Smallville: Season 1 Smallville: Season 2 Smallville: Season 3

Smallville: Season 4 Smallville: Season 5 Wonder Woman: Season 2 Wonder Woman: Season 3 Lois & Clark: Season 1 Lois & Clark: Season 2 Lois & Clark: Season 3 Veronica Mars : Season 2