It took far too long, but Justice League finally hit DVD with its first complete season. The show bands together the powers and personalities of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkgirl and The Martian Manhunter as they unite to fight evil that alone they might not be able to defeat. ***

The show is setup in 26 episodes yet in reality there are 12 different stories. The 3 part “Secret Origins” kicks off the season while the 3 part “The Savage Time” ends off the season, serving as bookends for the first season. In-between are 10, 2 part adventures which help flesh out both the origins and motivations of characters and introduce us to all new villains and the DC universe as a whole. ***

The first season of Justice League is a sold first effort, considering what the show evolves into (which is a revolving door of superheroes and villains in long, multipart adventures that have consequences). It’s nice to see that there are no one episodes stories in the show as, frankly, the scope and size of the Justice League does not lend itself well to stand alone episodes. ***

What’s refreshing about the show is that it takes the template that was put forth by both the Batman and Superman animated series and turns the quality up one more notch. This is not your parents Super Friends. You’re not going to see The Wonder Twin running around mumbling things like “Wonder Twin powers activate” but rather grittier type stories that reflect the current trend in comic books. While kids will undoubtedly enjoy these stories of super heroes and their amazing abilities, it’s the grown up kids, who still hold a vast knowledge of comic books who are going to most appreciate this set. ***

Stand out episodes in the set include the episodes “The Enemy Below”, in which Aquaman makes a guest appearance because he’s tired of surface dwellers taking advantage of the ocean. “The Brave and the Bold” also stands out because it is the first team up of just The Flash and Green Lantern, a staple of the comic book diet. These two belong together and this adventure underscores that fact. ***

Image and Sound:

If you’ve been following all the Internet news about the aspect ratio for Justice League, you’re going to be very disappointed. While the set was promised to be widescreen, it is in fact not. Justice League is in full screen and while it doesn’t take away from the coolness of the show, it would have definitely added a nice presence to the set. Still, the show looks really good. The backgrounds are as crisp as animation on DVD gets and the red, blues and greens of all the different super hero costumes pop off the screen. The sound is complimentary to the visuals but I still hate the fact that Superman is voiced by George Newbern instead of Tim Daly, who provided the voice for Superman in Superman: The Animated Series and was much, much better. ***

While there’s a lot of special features listed on the back of the box, in reality, there’s not much here. Inside Justice League: Creators’ Panel Discussion, The Look of the League: Character Design, Storyboards: The Blueprint for Justice and Justice League: The First Mission are all very similar features. In fact, they could have simply spliced all the features together into a 22 minute segment and been done with it. Basically, all the features are panels with the main creators discussing things like character design, who got into the league and why, among other things. They are informative if you don’t know the history behind Justice League but if you’ve been following the show for any length of time, you’ll know most of this information. It is nice to see the creators discuss the fact that they accidentally turned Superman into a weakling and apologized for it! Also, Justice League: The First Mission has a quick look into what almost happened to the show if it was picked up by Kids WB, which included different, younger skewing characters. ***

Three commentaries round out the features on the disc. The commentaries are information heavy, so fans of the show are going to have a lot to discuss as information comes rolling out the mouths of producers and directors such as Bruce Timm, James Tucker, Dan Riba, Rich Fogel and Glen Murakami. Commentaries can be found on “The Enemy Below Part 2”, “Legends Part 2” and “The Savage Time Part 2”. All are worth listening to if you are any sort of fan of the show. ***

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