BlackGeekdom Science-Fiction from a Different Perspective

Before reading this, if you haven’t read Batman: A Death in the Family this review will contain POSSIBLE SPOILERS.  If you haven’t read it and you are a fan of Batman or DC’s animated movies then you will enjoy this movie.  For those of you who have read it please feel free to read on.

In stores today, Batman: Under the Red Hood is one of the darker stories in the DC universe.  As everyone knows (so it’s not a spoiler) that the Joker killed Robin, Jason Todd, because of a telephone poll done by DC in 1988.  Subsequently, Jason Todd was “resurrected” in the DC universe.  This movie is the animated version of that story.

Bruce Greenwood (Captain Pike in Star Trek) voices Bruce Wayne/Batman instead of Kevin Conroy, the voice that we all know and love.  Greenwood does a fabulous job.  Neil Patrick Harris voices Dick Grayson/Nightwing and Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) voices the Red Hood/Jason Todd.  Both of them were also very good.  I missed Mark Hamill as the Joker but John DiMaggio did well enough.

The story is not unfamiliar to fans of Batman.  I thought they may have glossed over Jason’s resurrection a little fast in order to put in more action sequences.  I would have thought more interaction between him an Ra’s al Ghul would have made for a great subplot.  I really liked the team up with Batman and Nightwing, and how the writers were able to show how it differed from when Batman and Red Hood teamed up.

The animation to me was not as good as DC’s previous animated films, but the story made up for that.  I say see it and enjoy.  Just a reminder, it has graphic violence even for DC animation; it is rated PG-13. (It really is PG-13 and would probably be an R if it were live action.)

Posted under Animation, Comics, Movies, Reviews

YOUNG JUSTICE is an all-new series produced by Warner Bros. Animation and based upon the characters from DC Comics. In YOUNG JUSTICE, being a teenager means proving yourself over and over – to peers, parents, teachers, mentors and, ultimately, to yourself. But what if you’re not just a normal teenager? What if you’re a teenage super hero? How much harder will it be to prove yourself in a world of super powers, super villains and super secrets? Are you ready to come of age in such a world? Are you ready for life or death rites of passage? Are you ready to join the ranks of the great heroes and prove you’re worthy of the Justice League? The members of Young Justice—Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis—are about to find out.

 You can read more  about the show at MTV Splash Page,  but I do have one question that needs to be answered,  whats up with the blonde hair on the the black guys.    First it was Spyke in  X-men Evolution and now with Aqualad in Young Justice, if I didn’t know better you would think the streets are full young black guys with blonde hair who secretly want to be Sysko for Dru Hill.

Posted under Animation

This week Halo Legends was released on DVD and Blu-Ray.  I must admit that I don’t really play first person shooters.  And everyone tells me that Halo is the best of the best.  I have dabbled in the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty franchises and I even downloaded N.O.V.A. for the iPod Touch.  They are fantastic games, but I can’t play them more than 20 minutes at a time.  However, I do watch the cut scenes for many FPS on YouTube.  So, when I heard about this, I thought that it was just going to be a collection of new Halo cut scenes, until I heard it was going to be similar to how Animatrix was to The Matrix.  That got me interested.

The release is comprised of 7 animated short stories.  Each story delves into part of the Halo canon.  Fleshing out some things, and shedding light onto others.  Each episode was done in a different animation style.  Fans will appreciate that the material in the stories are canon.  Fans will like the episodes The Package and The Babysitter since they add to the mythos of the Spartans.  My favorite episode was The Duel.  I liked the animation and the story was a classic.  The Duel also gave you insight into the workings of the Covenant.  But I believe that most fans already know that the Covenant is not as monolithic as one would think.

Overall, I enjoyed watching it and I think anyone whose a fan of animation will appreciate this collection of stories.  I know most of the fans of the game will already have this, I would still recommend it for everyone else.

Posted under Animation, Reviews, Video Games News

According to Rich Johnston at bleedingcool.com  this could be the new Aqualad from a rumored “Young Justice”  animated feature from the folks at DC.

Posted under Animation

Source:  Marvel.com

There are some places you just don’t mess with. Wakanda is one of them. And this Saturday at 8:15 PM on ABC3 Australia, “The Black Panther Animated Series” will show you why!

Deep in the heart of Africa lies Wakanda, an advanced and unconquerable civilization. A family of warrior-kings possessing superior speed, strength and agility has governed this mysterious nation as long as time itself. The latest in this famed line is young King T’Challa, the great hero known worldwide as the Black Panther.

Here’s a preview of Episodes 1 and 2 from The Black Panther Animated Series:

Episode 1: Jan 16 at 8.15pm on ABC3 in Australia

In a top-secret Washington meeting, Intelligence Agent Everett Ross briefs the government on the history of the Black Panther, the warrior king of the African nation of Wakanda. Meanwhile on the other side of the world, the Black Panther must compete to defend his throne in hand-to-hand combat. Featuring the voices of Djimon Hounsou, Kerry Washington, Alfre Woodard and Jill Scott.

Episode 2: Jan 16 at 8.42pm on ABC3 in Australia
Having been crowned the new Black Panther, T’Challa must contend with jealousy in the royal court while searching for the man who murdered his father. Unbeknownst to him, a deadly assassin named Klaw is assembling a team of super-villains to attack Wakanda.

Marvel Animation and BET Networks team up to create this epic animated mini-series featuring classic Marvel characters like Captain America
and the Juggernaut in a taut politically charged thriller. For over four decades, fans have eagerly awaited a series adaptation of the first black super hero!

Posted under Animation

Official Press Release

As the voice of Black Lightning, LeVar Burton adds another level of fanboy cache to a cast thick with legends of the super hero genre in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, the next entry in the popular series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies boasts a cast headed by the definitive voices of its three central characters – Kevin Conroy (Batman), Tim Daly (Superman) and Clancy Brown (Lex Luthor), the original voices from the landmark Superman: The Animated Series and Batman: The Animated Series.

Burton is forever beloved by the sci-fi crowd for his memorable performance as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its feature film versions. However, Burton has done far more than go “where no man has gone before.”

In a career that essentially launched with his breakthrough performance in the landmark miniseries Roots, Burton has garnered seven Emmy Awards, three Image Awards, a Peabody as well as a Grammy, and in 1990 was permanently enshrined as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Along the way, Burton has been a virtual fixture on television screens – from his 176 episodes of Next Gen and 150 episodes of Reading Rainbow, to another 41 episodes of The $10,000 Pyramid and 58 episodes as Kwame in Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Along the way, he has also directed several episodes of the last four Star Trek series (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise), appeared in feature films (most notably as Martin Luther King, Jr. in Ali), and even spent some time in the recording booth for Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles and Family Guy.

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Posted under Animation

Here’s the trailer for the Planet Hulk animated feature from SDCC. The film is based on the epic and critically acclaimed story from Incredible Hulk #92-105.  The film is set for release in Feb 2010.

Posted under Animation

In a Q and A sessions on CBR  Marvels Editor in Chief Joe Quesada (and new Chief Creative Officer of Animation) gave an update on the Black Panther Animated series.

“Since you’ve been involved in various Marvel animation projects, by chance have you heard any new developments about BET’s Black Panther animated series? There were some casting announcements a few months ago, but nothing since then not even a release date. Can we still expect it by the end of 2009?”

Joe Quesada:  I’m sort of coming into this in the middle and just got a DVD of the first episodewhich I plan on watching on my flight to SDCC. That said, I asked [Executive Producer] Reggie Hudlin what the status of the BET Black Panther animates series. He wrote back: “There’s a lot I can’t say, but we are deep in production, and there’s some great new additional casting that I can’t talk about right now. The series is now covering in more material than was in the original six issues, which has caused some production delays. So it won’t be airing this year. That said, the cast sports some all-star talent, including: Djimon Honsou as T’Challa, the Black Panther; Kerry Washingtonas Shuri, sister of T’Challa; Alfre Woodard as the Queen Mother and Dondi Reese; Carl Lumbly as Uncle S’Yan; and of course, Stan Lee!”

Posted under Animation

Creators Mshindo I and Gregory Walker and producer/voice artist Wesley Snipes will officially launch their animated science-fiction project, Zulu Mech 1, at Book Expo America in New York on May 30.

Walker, also known as Brother G, is the author of the Shades of Memnon trilogy, developed as a swords-and-sorcery series with an African consciousness. Mshindo I, who has also worked as Mshindo Kuumba, is a graphic artist whose work has included children’s books (Food Adventues With Charles the Chef) and graphic novels (The Fringe).

The basic plot of Zulu Mech 1 involves a kind of a reversal of the Planet of the Apes idea, with humanity as the Earth’s far-future successor civilization. Zulu Mech 1 is set in a utopian near future in which world nations are at peace and Africa is a prosperous united state, only to be invaded by strange, highly intelligent creatures called The Elder Race who come not from outer space, but from inside the Earth and who seek to return to world to the way it was before the dawn of humanity and their own self-destruction. The Elder Race seem unstoppable; in a final effort the Mthunzi family from South Africa stand against them and forge the heroic giant robot Zulu Mech 1.

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Posted under Animation

Press Release

The street date for Green Lantern: First Flight, the fifth entry in the popular DVD series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies, has shifted to July 21, 2009. A co-production of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation, the illuminated hero’s first-ever full-length animated film will be distributed by Warner Home Video. Green Lantern: First Flight will be available as a special edition 2-disc version on DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def for $24.98 (SRP) and $29.99 (SRP), respectively, as well as single disc DVD for $19.98 (SRP). Order due date is June 16, 2009.

Everybody under the age of say 15 whose not a heavy comic reader,  thinks that John Stewart is the Green Lantern because of the Justice League cartoon.   I hope they at least give him a cameo in the film.   So far so good with the straght to DVD films by DC.   The recently released Wonder Woman was a great.  Hopefully this film will be just as good.   The trailer at Yahoo has me hopeful

Posted under Animation