Comic book animated films

I'm a comic geek Ive admit it in the past but one thing i never bothered was watching any of the animated stuff, including the much praised Batman animated series. So on a whim I picked up Wonder Woman and Green Lantern dvds, next day Im out buying Justice League stuff as well as a few Marvel ones (Ultimates!). Like man how in the world did I miss this stuff, its really fun stuff. Green Lantern and Wonder Woman movies are imo fantastic. I guess part of the problem is I always associated comic book animation with being on the level of godawful Superfriends or cheesy Spiderman and Friends crap. The quality of the animation is top notch, voice acting great and more importantly pretty nifty stories that dont try and dumb it down. Hell GL movie is actually adult enough that it gets pg-13 rating. Yes they take liberties with the source material but its so well put together that you dont care. Now I gotta just gotta watch the Ultimates and then track down Batman and Superman stuff on dvd.

So anyone else got any recommendations for animation like this? Im pretty much open to anything that actually tells a story rather then set pieces of huge battles. Right now watching some of Justice League and its really good, watching Wonder Woman be cast out from Paradise Island, the back story on Martian Manhunter and the genocide on his people.

If you're into stories then you should check out the new series of Full Metal Alchemist. It's got a great story to it.

Obviously Batman: TAS is incredibly high quality, not just as a cartoon or a superhero story but even as a show.

To get started in it, I recommend Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, probably the best movie and would serve as a great introduction. It also has some of the origins in it.

The early 90's X-Men cartoon was pretty good for saturday morning fare and covered a surprising amount of material from the comics, mostly faithfully as well. However, the animation hasn't aged as well as Batman and it was not as good in a storytelling/acting sense as Batman:TAS. Of course, very few cartoons are (and this includes Anime).

Yeah ordered the Batman stuff from amazon today since it seems to be stuff everything else is judged on. Finished up season 1 of JLA last night, really good stuff. The Xmen stuff Ive caught a few on cartoon or Disney and didnt impress me much, seemed too dumbed down atleast in comparison to the DC stuff. Ill have to check out Fullmetal Alchemist, not keen on manga stuff but Ill give it a shot.

Batman The Animated Series is top notch(although I'm biased). As is Justice League.

Batman: TAS has its moments of cheese and camp, but makes up for it with amazing episodes here and there (at least when I was really young and the only other shows I could compare it with for maturity of subject material was Gundam Wing and Robotech). Especially when compared to its predecessor Batman series just five years before TAS's debut.

American comic films in general don't get much better than Mask of the Phantasm.


As for Fullmetal Alchemist, it'll be either hit or miss for most people not used to Japanese manga and anime. I recommend instead some Miyazaki movies for your first watch, or perhaps something like Steamboy, or Ghost in the Shell.

There were just such great tragic villains in Batman:TAS. Clayface and Freeze especially.

The new Fullmetal Alchemist is completely amazing. Best anime series ever and probably one of the best "comic book" adaptations.

Fullmetal Alchemist is a perfect blend of action, plot, comic relief style comedy, and atmosphere. Its probably a series to watch if you want to get an idea of what good anime is.

Ghost in the Shell.

This I have a higher opinion of than the new FMA and for similar reasons. The cyberpunk style setting and characters are probably more compatible with interests of people who are not really into anime or are new to it.

Just finished up season 2 of JLA, seriously this is best animated series/movie...cant even imagine something being better then this. Its like watching the Godfather and going yeah ok no mob related movie is gonna top this. The 3 part ender in season 2 is just wow, as were ep with the Joker, the xmas one and Superman's 'death'. I actually felt really bad for Hawkgirl after being just as pissed as rest of JLA was at her, especially when she backstabbed John and knocked him out. Really sad situtation but the writers always kept her true to the character they built her up to be. Plus Im sorry but just something cool as hell as seeing an angry Wonder Woman just wreck everything..."WHO'S NEXT", totally hot cartoon woman there

Its kinda of sad seeing Hawk gone from season 3 opening animation but really there was no way she could remain.

Batman: TAS was made to win,

Originally Posted by Darth Ravenous

Batman: TAS was made to win,

Yeah got those dvds sitting here waiting to be watched along with Superman one after I finish up season 3-5 on JLA. Ill be pleasant surprise if either can eqhttp://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?p=5918626#post5918626ual season 2 of JLA, shocked if it can surpass it. I just love the continuity of it all, the build up on John/Hawk, the character build up across 2 seasons of even villians like Grundy and Ultra Humanoid, both who actually become sympathetic characters.

Solomon Grundy: If stupid fishman tries to trick Grundy, Grundy will crush.
Aquaman: Charming.

Grundy: birdnose helps grundy but birdnose and friends hate grundy
Hawgirl: grundy help birdnose, birdnose help grundy okay? excuse me now hawkgirl SMASH

Grundy's death actually made me sad

Grundy: Do you think Grundy's soul is waiting for him.
Hawkgirl: Grundy, I don't believe . . . yes, it's waiting for you.
Grundy: Then Grundy . . . gets his reward

I used to watch Batman TAS when I was young quite religiously. I even had that exact Batmobile. Great show, when I was a bit older I saw a few episodes of the JLA and though it was not bad, I like Flash in the show, but I never continued to watch it because I'm not big on animated tv shows. However, i did check out this movie Wolverine Vs. Hulk that came out recently, it was great, I believe the entire thing is on youtube in like three parts, but it's violent and cool.

Originally Posted by Captain Jin

I used to watch Batman TAS when I was young quite religiously. I even had that exact Batmobile. Great show, when I was a bit older I saw a few episodes of the JLA and though it was not bad, I like Flash in the show, but I never continued to watch it because I'm not big on animated tv shows. However, i did check out this movie Wolverine Vs. Hulk that came out recently, it was great, I believe the entire thing is on youtube in like three parts, but it's violent and cool.

Yeah saw the Hulk vs movies, it was fun but what appeals to me with JLA is its pretty deep for animated movie with their characters/storylines...more so then anything Marvel has done. Iron Man current series with Stark as a teen comes close though.

And yeah Flash always cracked me up with his jokes, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman and J'onn are my favorite 3. I like that the series basicallly gave all the characters their spotline, no one was a sidekick or useless...eve Flash

Sadly doesnt look like season 3 of JLA is gonna match season 2.

I liked the Hulk Vs. Wolverine because they took a more mature approach on the action/violence. I would watch the old cartoons like JLA more if they had that approach.

Originally Posted by Captain Jin

I liked the Hulk Vs. Wolverine because they took a more mature approach on the action/violence. I would watch the old cartoons like JLA more if they had that approach.

Well JLA is hardly wimpy in its violence, season 2 Joker ep were pretty brutal with a beat down on Batman, Joker smacking around Harley etc. Besides the Hulk vs thing were meant for DVD releases, Green Lantern, JLA New Frontiers, Wonder Woman dvd movie were pretty violent, several beheadings and a rather gruesome/bloody death in Green Lantern movie. One review over at CBR for WW movie said the violence was too much with WW beheading several people. Hell I thought the Doomsday/Superman fight in their dvd movie was pretty much one of the more brutal animated fight Ive seen, Superman even coughing up blood after being beaten repeatably in the chest while pinned down....its a shame the movie after that point was pretty horrible. GL and WW though are pretty much all around great movies and with a more mature approach to the violence.

I dont disagree a more mature approach with action/violence is indeed a good thing but JLA was meant for tv and its violence level is reasonable enough and more then makes up for it by the more mature story content, which to me is more important. Im all for a good Hulk beat down but I think its rather sad that DC made me care more about Grundy as he ripped apart alien creatures trying to reclaim his soul then I did with Hulk looking to fight Wolverine or Thor. Grundy was basically used in JLA as a DC clone of Hulk, instead of saying smash he said crush but maintained the same simple minded creature personality of savage green hulk. Really hope Disney puts more resources into Marvel's animated line so they produce quality animated stuff.

Ah, well as I say, I've only seen maybe five or six JLA episodes, so I'm not really the best judge of the show haha.