Growing up as a '90s kid, I have fond memories of being 5 or 6 years old living in Bremerton, Wash., where my father served in the U.S. Navy. Mom would get me up super early, and we'd drive father to his assigned ship, the USS Arkansas. My reward for not being fussy? When I got home, I was able to watch reruns of X-Men: The Animated Series before school.
X-Men would go on to become one of the most popular animated comic book series of all time, and they adapted so many stories from the comics from "Days of Future Past" to "The Phoenix Saga."
Now before you get upset, yes, I know DC Comics is in the headline, and I've been talking about a Marvel property. But I'm about to get to DC. The only animated '90s comic book series to surpass X-Men in terms of popularity and awards won is Batman: The Animated Series. It actually picked up three Daytime Emmy Awards and one Primetime Emmy and further helped to increase my love of superheroes.
One of the brilliant cartoonists behind Batman, designing most of the characters and giving the series its dark, distinct and metro Gotham feel is Bruce Timm. You may not know the name, but animation buffs will undoubtedly recognize him as one of the most important names in the DC Animated Universe, which includes all manner of cartoons and animated movies.
Timm worked on Batman, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Static Shock and the wildly popular Justice League cartoon that aired on Cartoon Network in 2001. I was 11 at the time, and seeing Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash, The Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl team up to fight Lex Luthor, Gorilla Grodd, Brainiac and more was a dream come true.
Justice League's animated run continued with Justice League: Unlimited, which brought in many more heroes. And Timm continued to influence the distinct art style that carried over from the '90s. But eventually, DC Comics (or more accurately, Warner Bros. Animation) decided to switch things up. Art styles change. I get it.
And between movies like Justice League: The New Frontier, Batman and Superman: Public Enemies, and 2014's Justice League: War, we had all manner of art styles, some I enjoyed, others not so much. After Justice League: War, Warner Bros. Animation decided to stick with a particular style for the next several films. I didn't like it. The style was too detailed, too blocky.
Timm's animated styles were the perfect balance of just the right amount of cartoony (we have too much cartoony now in Justice League Action, and I hate the look) with a great amount of flow for action.
With the art style carried through just about every film from Justice League: War all the way up through Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, we just sacrificed a lot of character individualism for hyper-realistic detail. It's just too much. I was relieved to see the art style change again for Batman and Harley Quinn.
And now DC has put out a return to the good stuff called Justice League vs The Fatal Five. The movie ranges from by the numbers to entertaining enough. But what I really loved about the movie was Timm was back at the helm and revisiting the 2001 Justice League character designs. Actually seeing a main character like Green Lantern struggle with mental health problems such as anxiety and trauma is another fantastic feature of this film because you hardly ever get that in these kinds of stories.
Looking through Facebook and YouTube comments on ads for this movie revealed fans were excited to return to the 2001 art style. Some even named Bruce Timm and gave him credit where it was due. In truth, the movie felt like an 80-minute Cartoon Network special that would have aired in 2007 after JLU was discontinued. And that's exactly what fans like me needed, a refresher on this '90s-style carryover we loved.
Comic books are great. I read them, I own them and I love them.
But not everyone comes to love superheroes through comic books. We have Marvel putting out fantastic movies that teach people about Iron Man. But we also have cartoons to introduce these characters, and I'm glad to see DC bring back a favorite style of mine for their latest debut.
MovieStyle on 04/26/2019