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.

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!

The first episode of Batman: The Brave & The Bold at 8PM (EST) on Cartoon Network.   I’ll give you a review next week.   Comicbookresources has a great article about the show.  click the image for the article.

Source: THR.com

Marvel Animation is developing and self-producing a 26 half-hour episode series based on its long-running comic book, with the series targeted to launch in fall 2010, following Marvel’s live-action feature “Thor,” which bows in 2010.

The animated series will follow Thor, the Norse god of thunder, as he defends his mythical home of Asgard against fantastical villains, fiendish hordes, winged creatures and angry giants. The show will take place in various worlds — from mountainous landscapes to places of icy mists and fiery voids — and will include many of the comic’s supporting cast, including Balder the Brave, the Warriors Three and Thor’s evil adopted brother, Loki.

Marvel president of animation Eric Rollman said the series is part of the company’s plan to follow each live-action movie with an animated series and “offer a continued awareness in the marketplace.” It already is in production on cartoon series “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” which will be available for broadcast in 2011, in time for Marvel Studios’ releases of the live-action “The First Avenger: Captain America” and “The Avengers.”

It looks good and I will probably get it, but I am concerned about the price. How much do you charge for a 45 minute DVD?

Its about time I saw the early attempt at an Avengers cartoon in the 90′s and it was lack luster.   The problem was it was missing the core of the team like Thor, Captain America and Iron Man.   That’s like Thanksgiving with no Turkey.   Hopefully this will be Marvels answer to the Justice League cartoon.   The DC Animated Universe is the gold standard in animated superheros, starting with Batman: TAS to Justice League Unlimited.   Before anybody emails  me,  I loved the the animated X-men series at the time, but I always felt like it was good, but it could have been so much better.   Hopefully this Avengers cartoon will raise the bar on Marvel animation.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Marvel Animation, the cartoon division of Marvel Entertainment, is beginning production on “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” the company’s latest animated series.

Film Roman, the company behind “The Simpsons” and “King of the Hill,” has been tapped to produce the 26-episode series, which will be available for broadcast in 2011, in time for Marvel Studios’ releases of the tentpole live-action movies “The First Avenger: Captain America” and “The Avengers.”

“Avengers,” based on the long-running comic, features some of the company’s most popular characters, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Giant Man, and the comely Wasp, who fight forces of evil that no single hero stands a chance against.

Wonder Woman DVD Trailer – Amazon princess Diana rescues Steve Trevor, an Air Force pilot who crashes on her island. Intrigued by her first exposure to the outside world, she leaves the island and becomes the superhero known as Wonder Woman.

Release Date: February 2009 (DVD release)

Trailer for Hulk vs Thor / Hulk vs Wolverine animated DVD trailer. Available Jan 2009

It’s been a while since we’ve done a DVD recommendation.  But yesterday, I watched Batman: Gotham Knight.  This is a compliation of six anime-style movie shorts that bridge the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.   I was really impressed with the animation style of the 6 different vignettes and the stories.  I also liked how the writers were able to have the stories all relate to eachother in some way, quite unlike the Animatrix where each story was independant.   If you are a Batman fan and if you enjoy animation, you will like this.

Source: BET Networks July 15, 2008

BET Networks and Marvel Animation have announced they will unveil “The Black Panther” at the San Diego Comic-Con next week. The series premieres in the first quarter of 2009.

BET Networks and Marvel Animation are teaming up to produce an animated series based on the legendary superhero, THE BLACK PANTHER. Casting is already underway for the series that is slated to premiere in the first quarter of 2009. A special sneak preview will premiere at Comic-Con in July during BET’s panel on Saturday, July 26. The series will be adapted directly from the first six issues of the Marvel Comic written by Reginald Hudlin (issues #1 – #6 “Who Is The Black Panther”).

The partnership between Marvel Animation and BET Networks marks an important milestone in the expansion of the channel’s animation division and the realization of a project that has been a labor of love for BET’s President, Entertainment, Reginald Hudlin.

“As a lifelong comic book reader, I didn’t think anything could top the excitement of writing one of my favorite characters, the Black Panther. I’m so proud I’ve been able to maintain a successful run of the series over the past three years while keeping my ‘day job’ of programming a network. But now to have both of my worlds collide, to have a faithful adaptation of my own work as a prime time series on the network — it’s a dream come true. The Black Panther has always been an inspirational character to me, and now I get to share that inspiration with the widest audience he’s ever had.

“I’m very excited to be working with Marvel. It’s been great working with Joe Quesada and Axel Alonso on the publishing side, and I look forward to a similar experience with Eric Rollman and his team at Marvel Animation.

“I want to give special thanks to Denys Cowan, my SVP of Animation, who is doing a fantastic job of bringing the art of John Romita Jr. to life,” says Hudlin.

Eric Rollman, President of Marvel Animation adds, “The Black Panther is a working example of Marvel’s initiative to broaden our fan base by working with new and innovative partners. Reggie and his team can uniquely take material that is near and dear to them and re-imagine it for a whole new audience. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with BET.”

The Black Panther animated series is executive produced by Reginald Hudlin, President, Entertainment and Denys Cowan, SVP Animation for BET Networks. Eric Rollman, President of Marvel Animation, and Cort Lane, Director of Animation Development, are the executives on the series for Marvel.

http://blackgeekdom.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=488

Heres a a clip of the Anime style Gotham Knights.  The DVD bridges the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.  The DVD is out on July 8th.

Gary Dourdan’s Interview about Batman: Gotham Knight

Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

My hope is that this will be Marvels answer to Justice League/Unlimited cartoon. Marvel nails live action films, but they have a real crappy record when it comes to animated television shows. I think they are trending upward recently with the direct to DVD films (Ultimates, Ultimates 2, Iron Man, etc.) and the Sensational Spiderman cartoon, but they have a long way to go before they can match the DCAU.

View Trailer

After watching this trailer it seems like this a marvel version of the recent Teen Titans cartoon which really isn’t a bad idea for Marvel, it could bring younger kids into the fold.   The problem is that this is a Direct to DVD film not a new show on Cartoon Network, Disney, or Kids CW.   Most successful direct to DVD films have a built in audience.   The recent New Frontier DVD was a top dvd the week it was released, because it had a built in audience of older fanboys.   The built in audience for Next Avengers doesn’t have a clue as to who these characters are or what this is about.   Its still early but they will need to really kick the marketing if they want this to be a successful.

Source: USATODAY

The animated feature film The Clone Wars, coming Aug. 15, launches a new era in the Star Wars universe.
Director Dave Filoni says the film delves into the wartime exploits of Anakin Skywalker, who later becomes Darth Vader, and his mentor/friend Obi-Wan Kenobi. It’s about “the mission they are sent on, which brings them together as a mentor and student.”

Following the film in the fall is a new TV series that, Filoni says, “looks at the larger scope of the war and covers many characters and cultures.”

The TV series, set to show on the Cartoon Network and TNT, should not be confused with the short Clone cartoon clips shown earlier on CN. Some episodes even delve into the lives of the cloned warriors, who previously seemed interchangeable. As the live-action prequels revealed, the clones are reproductions of the bounty hunter Jango Fett, father of fan-favorite Boba Fett, himself a clone of his “father.”

“We have the chance to do an episode just about the clones and explore their personalities, which may be more unique than a lot of fans think,” Filoni says. “We also have the chance to use the many different Jedi, who we’ve only glimpsed in the features, which is exciting.”

Source Cyber-Animation.com

I have been waiting for marvel to something that remotely close to the outstanding job that DC did with the DCAU (Justice League Unlimited, Superman TAS, Batman TAS, Batman Beyond).    After watching this trailer I think they may finally come close.  Hopefull this will make up for the awful FF animated series they put out.

This is some of the new stuff they have on Marvel Kids. I think it a perfect example of how CGI could be used instead of traditonal 2D animation.

Source: Lying In The Gutters

Rich Johnston has uncovered the promo trailer for a live action He-man film. You gotta love the 80′s. Now if we could only get a live action Go-Bots movie (just kidding).

The classic afternoon cartoon, Thundercats, is getting the big screen treatment. There hasn’t been any word on casting, but there is a director. Jerry O’Flaherty, art director for popular games such as Gears of War, Unreal Tournament 3, and Command and Conquer, has been named to direct the CG-animated Warner Brothers feature. He’s best known for bringing the movie experience to the video game platform.

This transition seems natural for someone with his experience. He will work with screenwriter Paul Sopocy on the script.

I don’t really know anything much about O’Flaherty. I haven’t played any of the games he’s directed but have only heard good things about them from people who have. However, I do know about the Thundercats, and think that this would be a great movie.

Huey, Riley and Grandpa are back with a vengeance and they are whooping ass.   Its been almost a year and half since we have had a new episode and it was worth the wait.   Aaron McGruder has written a classic with tonight’s episode “Or Die Trying”.   The episode is a satire on Black Folks at the movies theatre.  Grandpa and the boys are going to school young and naive Jasmine on proper movie etiquette Boondocks style.  Which means

1. Sneaking in without paying. 
2. Bringing there own food because the popcorn costs too damn much.
3. Bringing a camcorder to tape it
4. Watching a  movie called “Soul Plane 2: the Blackjacking!”  (definite Oscar winner) the sequel to one of the worst movies ever made.
5. Having  a kung fu showdown  (complete with nun-chucks ) with Uncle Ruckus who is a usher at the theatre

The episode is basically a documentary on a typical Saturday night at a Magic Johnson Theatre.   If the rest of the season is anything like tonight’s episode you should definitely drink some Mountain Dew and stay up for it.   The Boondocks airs Sundays at 11:30 on Cartoon Networks Adult Swim.

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